In 9 AD the Roman empire was expanding in every direction. The arrogant governor Publius Quinctilius Varus marched northeast from the Rhine forts with three legions, intending to teach the unruly Germanic barbarians who was boss. Hermann, chieftain of the Cherusci, organized the pastoral tribes into united resistance against Rome, and all the Germans in the world fell upon Varus' men as they were strung out on the march thru the rainy, muddy thickets of the Teutoburg Forest. Cold, tired, outnumbered and unable to form their killing-machine Legionary formation, the Romans were slaughtered almost to a man.
Not exactly an action movie, this satirical deconstruction of the legend of Hermann's Battle attempts humorous elements reminiscent of Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Eric the Viking, with mixed results. It helps to understand the filmmaker's attitude if you know that, just as the King Arthur stories were one of the basic building blocks of British identity, so the mythos built up around Hermann was one of the foundations of German identity. In any case, some of the jokes and sight-gags will sail past the ear of a viewer unfamiliar with the underlying legends' place in German culture.
In German and Latin (with German subtitles).
Not exactly an action movie, this satirical deconstruction of the legend of Hermann's Battle attempts humorous elements reminiscent of Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Eric the Viking, with mixed results. It helps to understand the filmmaker's attitude if you know that, just as the King Arthur stories were one of the basic building blocks of British identity, so the mythos built up around Hermann was one of the foundations of German identity. In any case, some of the jokes and sight-gags will sail past the ear of a viewer unfamiliar with the underlying legends' place in German culture.
In German and Latin (with German subtitles).
