State of the Nation

Frightening if often terribly funny documentary compilation by four young directors who are helping Austria become one of the world's most interesting film producing nations. Austria is also, of course, shifting alarmingly to the right, and that's the topic here. Why do people find Jörg Haider's ideas tolerable, let alone appealing? The episodes are shot and assembled in different styles, but all offer arresting insights into notions of normality, identity, politics, poverty and paranoia, and they make for compelling if profoundly disturbing viewing.