"Helden in Tirol" or "Heroes in Tyrol" is a German/Swiss co-production that resulted in this 105-minute film back in 2008, so this one has its 20th anniversary next year. It is among the more known career efforts by the late Austrian writer and director Niki List. As a non-German/Austrian or even as a non-European you probably won't know too many cast members here. I personally am from Germany and the only names that sound to me in a way where I heard them already were Vitasek, Neuhauser and most of all Pistor. But that's it. The movie itself is basically a parody of the well-known and frequently-represented Heimatfilm genre, a genre that is entirely non-existent in most other areas of the world. But it was pretty big here in Central Europe, especially in the Alps region. So this entire film is basically a spoof, but sadly not a very good one at all. And as comedy is really the only genre where the film tries to deliver, it is especially crucial that it fails there for the most part. The cast is nothing special either. Nobody stands out here and the bigger successes are already that they made some of the most absurd moments work. So the actors are really the last I would blame for the outcome. As for List, he also worked on Weiner Beinhart and you can see it at times as there is a moment here and there when it feels a bit like a live action Werner film, but these are moments that also make clear that the approach works much better (if not "only") in animation. Still, overall the creative idea is visible at times, but the execution just never reaches a level where this film is remotely worth seeing. Thanks to the decent premise, however, and the fact that it never looks amateurish or anything, I believe that this film cannot be called a failure despite its many flaws and lengths. 90 minutes would have been enough. All in all, as you obviously know by now, I give this film a thumbs-down and don't recommend checking it out. Go for something else instead.
Review of Helden in Tirol
