Schultze is a recently retired German miner facing impending death and leading a god-awful supremely sad and boring life. His only outlet is playing polkas on his accordion which he does with a fatalistic reluctance until one day he accidental tunes his radio to a station that is playing zydeco music which combines blues with R & B’, and he becomes totally hooked with this ‘exotic’ sounding music. He become obsessed with his discovery and insists on playing only that from now on lie a man possessed, so much so that his local music club votes to send him to a music festival in Texas almost as a way to get him out of town.
When the trip to Texas turns out to be a major disappointment, Shultze does the right thing and buys a boat and heads across the Gulf to Louisiana to search out his new love. Barely speaking more than a few words of English. There is a bittersweet touch to Schultze’s visit to the American South when he realizes that essentially that his own life is so boring because he never thought about planning for how to spend his free time. There are times when viewing this very deadpan comedy unfold at such a slow pace that it makes watching paint drying seem quite heady. However this debut feature that won several awards for writer/director Michael Schorr is one of those movies that remains in your conscience a long time afterwards and makes you appreciate what a wonderful soliloquy it was to the inevitability of growing old.
With a perfect performance by veteran actor Horst Krause, this 2003 box office smash from Germany , is a sheer joy.
