Supermarkt (1974) - Roland Klick

Taking place in the grimy, garbage-filled streets of Hamburg, Germany, Roland Klick's Supermarkt tells the story of Willi, a young, petty thief who seems almost always on the run from the police or other hoodlums.  Reduced to stealing coins from a tip jar, Willi is one of life's victims, a man who presumably could use a helping hand.  Roland Klick is one of those forgotten filmmakers that deserves far more respect than he gets.  With Supermarkt, Klick has crafted a grim, extremely well-paced social commentary about the boundaries society places, chronicling Willi's attempt to "make it" in society.   Klick presents a world in which upper mobility is pretty much non-existent, with Willi's past always coming back to haunt his present intentions.  Throughout the film Willi meets various people intent on helping him, most notably a journalist intent on writing an article about Willi's failures in life.  What is most interesting about these series of encounters is how they inadvertently force Willi to become even more deeply involved in the criminal world.  In the beginning of the film, WIlli is basically stealing coins from a tip jar but by the end he is committing much more serious crimes such as armed robbery and even murder.  Even the wealthy or "well-adjusted" members in society are basically leaches, latching on to Willis in an attempt to get something out of him for their own personal gain.  Truthfully, I believe this could the largest takeaway of the entire film, with Klick making a pretty grim, yet profound statement about the selfishness of man.  The final shot of Klick's Supermarkt perfectly captures many of the themes touched on in the film, individual vs. society, societal barriers, etc.  showing Willi as a man who appears to have been accepted into society, though the viewer knows he never conformed in doing so.   Supermarkt is not a film interested in politics or making some sort of grandiose statement about rich vs. poor, it's instead a fascinating exploration of humanity and society which captures the unfair nature of life and the importance of doing things for yourself.

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