Räuber Kneißl

Marcus H. Rosenmüller's entertaining story of the legendary Mathias Kneißl, who rose to fame as a robber in rural Bavaria around 1900. Hunted by the gendarmerie, Kneißl became a folk hero among the townspeople because he rebelled against the authorities with wit and cunning. A notorious career that began quite harmlessly: At first, the penniless Kneißls kept their heads above water as poachers and with petty thefts. However, when their father is beaten to death while on the run and their mother (Maria Furtwängler) ends up in prison, their son Mathias (Maximilian Brückner) is also (innocently) imprisoned after a shoot-out. The young man vows to lead a decent life after his release. He wants to realize his ambitious plans for the future, namely to go to America with the love of his life, Mathilde, through hard work. But when no one wants to give the “prisoner” work, the outcast Mathias embarks on a raid on wealthy farmers. “Rosenmüller finds haunting images for Kneißl's hopelessness and tragedy: How he entrenches himself behind fences and walls, how he hides in chambers where his reflection still seems trapped in the mirror frame. In contrast, the images of longing for freedom, the sun-drenched moments of happiness with Mathilde: when he picks her up from Munich on his bike and storms towards freedom like in 'Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid'. Kneißl's longing for America is explicitly captured in Western references: from the brothel scene to the Peckinpah showdown fireworks.” (Rainer Gansera, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung)