![]() Ricky on Rezzori is a German man who is returning to Munich after serving in the Vietnam War for the Americans. On his arrival, he meets up with his old contact Franz, who sets him up doing contract killings for a group of crooked detectives. Fed up with their inability to catch Tony, a prominent underground figure, the detectives have no issue using Ricky to do their bidding. After completing his assignment, Ricky requests a woman be sent up to his hotel room. However, the detectives get word of Ricky's request, sending one of their own wives, Rosa, to Ricky's room in order to spy on the killer. Rosa begins to fall hard for Ricky whin in turn sends Jan, her husband, into a jealous rage, taking out a hit on both his wife and Ricky. Rainer Werner Fassbinder's American Soldier is an unconventional detective story that's an homage to the American Gangster film. Shot in a stark black and white and full of misogynistic characters, this is a film very much drawing from Noir-type films of Sam Fuller. The film's narratie isn't particularly interesting but Fassbinder injects the film with an unyielding amount of machoism and unpredictability to the point that it hardly matters. I particularly found Fassbender's treatment of woman in the film fascinating, with nearly every female character being objectified and treated like dirt, presenting an exaggerated version of Noir's machoism. Fassbender has turned Munich into a city of sadness, with almost every character in the film desperately alone. There is one truly dark sequence where a hotel maid commits suicide in a hallway after being rejected by her lover, only to be ignored completely by two guests who walk past her, paying her no mind whatsoever. Rainer Werner Fassbinder's American Soldier is not one of his best films, feeling quite divulgent from most of his other work, but it's certainly worth your time.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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