"Warum läuft Herr R. Amok" is a West German German-language film from 1970 and writer and director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was only in his early 20s when he shot this movie. It is among his first color films and it's a common trend for his early works that they were rather short, so this one also stays comfortably under the 90.minute mark. But still it delivers lots of quality instead of quantity. Fassbinder already had a circle of actors that he regularly cast in his films and you will find many familiar names here, most of all Kurt Raab who plays Herr R. So what is the answer to the English title of this film? Why does Herr R. run amok? It's a very interesting character study of a man who snaps at some point just because he does not fit in with the society he's living in. I personally think Herr R. is a very intelligent man, who understands a lot more than others do, but who is also not capable of articulating his emotions properly. This may be due to personal boundaries, but I also believe it is due to boundaries put on him by society. There are not many moments where we see what really goes through his mind and how he feels, because he is a very quiet guy. But there are scenes when we hear him speak and that tell us a lot about him and how he is seen by others. One scene would be when he and a colleague are in a car talking about another colleague. He defends her and it shows that he is actually a good guy who does not like speaking about others behind their back. or is it just facade? There are two more scenes that tell us how others perceive him. One would be at a record store when he starts singing and the two women laugh at him. The other is possibly the most important scene of the film, the dinner with his colleagues at Herr Raab's home when he gives a speech and it was so priceless to watch his colleague react to said speech, how they disrespect him worse than you could ever imagine and how they try at the same time to keep up their serious facade. Brilliant brilliant work by Fassbinder and the actors in there. The scenes with his mother disrespecting his wife is also nicely done. All in all, I think this was a very good watch and it is among my favorite Fassbinder films. Then again, I am probably a bit biased as I really like Kurt Raab as an actor. He gives a prime example of a performance that is completely subtle from start to (almost) finish and yet he does so much with his character, which is of course also because of Fassbinder's outstanding writing. Quite a shame that they received little more for their effort here other than Raab's German Film Award nomination. The ending also deserves a word. The major spoiler in the title already tells us that it is not what he does at the end, but absolutely why he does it and everybody will probably find a different reason. It may also have to do with the irreparable damage the cigarettes have done to him and lets be honest the doctor is a gigantic amateur if he keeps telling Raab there is no physical damage done and if he tells him to stop smoking immediately as if it was so easy when he smoked 40 cigarettes a day until then. But back to the ending. The scene at the office is another highlight at the very end, not only because the boss' statement that Raab killed his family (after no such thing had been said), but especially because it shows us too that we are somebody who does not know Herr R. at all while the camera makes it look as if we were a colleague of the man going with the other colleagues to the bathroom. This film is really impressive looking at Fassbinder's young age. Most filmmakers cannot come up with such a piece during their entire careers, let alone in their 20s. For me it's a contender of favorite Fassbinder film. I highly recommend the watch.
