The Sudden Fortune of the Good People of Kombach

In 1819, a desperate band of Hessian peasants hold up a tax-wagon, only to find their sudden wealth even more dangerous than the threat of starvation that provoked them; they have brought the full legal, intellectual and moral weight of the ruling class down upon themselves, and they have no defences. Schlöndorff chronicles the situation rather than the individual characters, and uses elements like an anachronistic score to undercut a merely emotional involvement. His analysis of the events as a chapter in an ongoing class struggle tends to the obvious; the movie functions best as a kick in the teeth to the romantic notion of jolly rustics. Bonus for collectors: Fassbinder appears in a tiny bit part.