The Massacre of Anroechte (Das Massaker von Anröchte)

Anroechte is the scene of a massacre as people are randomly beheaded. When detectives Konka and Walter investigate, they discover the dark side of the small town. An absurd crime film that plays with the conventions of the crime genre.

The film opens with a massacre: Hun horsemen storm the small town of Anroechte, beheading people at random. The next day Detective Inspector Konka and his assistant Walter arrive to investigate. At first the mayor claims to know nothing about the murders. Anröchte is a tourist attraction and he does not want its reputation ruined. Witnesses point to a weekly event among the local youth. Many arrests are made, but there is no sign of the Huns. The clues lead nowhere. Konka's attempt to find a motive fails. He realises that in a world where murder is indiscriminate and meaningless, motives are a distraction. The most important thing is to catch the culprit. Konka and Walter set off.

Hannah Dörr's extraordinary feature film is based on a text by the playwright Wolfram Lotz, in which he takes a satirical glance at small German towns. Dörr's Anroechte becomes the town of Oberhausen, in the middle of the Ruhr region. While the two detectives investigate a very strange crime, Hannah Dörr thus explores above all the absurdities of the Ruhr region. Germany's poorest and most densely populated region is deeply marked by its coal-mining history. The director herself describes it this way: “I was fascinated by the different street façades that tell of past ages, of designs for urban life and society. Among the industrial buildings, highways, and closed shops, I searched for answers to Walter's key questions: Where does evil come from? How do we live in a world that is only a moment in time?”

Together with an ensemble of professional and amateur actors from Oberhausen, including the inclusive theatre collective Blindflug, Hannah Dörr cleverly plays with the motifs and conventions of the (German) crime genre, creating numerous absurd scenes and pointed dialogues.

Image © Hannah Dörr