A Story From West Besmenia

A Story From West Besmenia Eine Geschichte aus Westbesmenien
English language movie poster
Directed by	Alfred Buchringer
Screenplay by	Alfred Buchringer
Based on	A Story From West Besmenia by Johannes Dünn
Produced by	Viktor Fadenreich
Starring	Adrian Techter Christian Göller Richard Herzog Laura Burgmann
Production companies	Laufer-Göhring Produktion Alphamovie
Distributed by	Bincent Film
Release date	July 24, 2022
Running time	1h 45min
Country	Besmenia
Language	Besmenian
Budget	BS 8,4 million

A Story From West Besmenia is a 2022 Besmenian comedy drama roadmovie. The film follows two friends' journey to the Inner Besmenian border during the West Besmenian Revolution. The film is based on the 2004 book A Story From West Besmenia by Johannes Dünn.

Plot

In early May 1966, 24-year-old Franz Töpfer is living in Ochsenbeinfurt in West Besmenia. He works for his father in the butcher's shop, a job he doesn't really like, but due to the economic crisis he has no other choice. Franz generally hates West Besmenia and its authoritarian regime, and wishes to flee to East Besmenia to visit his grandparents, which are living in Freiz, whom he never met. His best friend Rudolf Menzel, whom he has known since childhood and lives across the street, also has the desire to go to East Besmenia. They decide to drive with Rudolf's car to the Inner Besmenian border in search of an old secret tunnel, rumored to have been built in the 1930s, from where they could escape to East Besmenia. The two then start packing for the trip. Shortly before leaving, Franz steals the money from his father. When they set off at 5 a.m., they are observed by the Ochsenbeinfurt-based agent of the State Security of Besmenia (SSB) Herbert Maukel, who is the neighbor of the two.

Franz and Rudolf drive from Ochsenbeinfurt to the West Besmenian capital Melmingen, where there is a traffic jam due to a state parade, which, contrary to the expectations of dictator Lars Schreim, is met with angry looks from the residents of Melmingen. Meanwhile, SSB agent Herbert Maukel is hired to follow Franz and Rudolf to prevent a possible escape to East Besmenia. When Franz and Rudolf drive out of Melmingen the next day, their car crashes into a tree. The two manage to escape from the car with all their belongings before it explodes. After the car accident, the two are forced to walk. After about a day, the two reach a farm where they are allowed to live temporarily with the farmer's permission. A few days later, Maukel appears at the farm because, according to his information, Franz and Rudolf should be staying there. Maukel is talking to the farmer there, while Franz and Rudolf are secretly watching the conversation. After the farmer refused to testify and allegedly knew nothing about Franz and Rudolf, Maukel shot him. Franz and Rudolf flee immediately and fortunately are not seen by Maukel.

After the two have to keep walking, they come across a base of West Besmenian Army troops in a wooded area. Fearing being killed by the troops, Franz and Rudolf pretend to be supporters of the BNU dictatorship. The two receive food and new clothes from the army troops. They also learn that there has been a state of war in West Besmenia for a few days. When a few days later a group of BNU opponents attacked the army base, Franz and Rudolf tried to escape by stealing a off-road vehicle from the West Besmenian Army. Shortly before fleeing, they meet the revolutionist Helga Kräuter. The two convince Helga that they are also opponents of the authoritarian regime before all three flee in the army vehicle. As they flee, they are observed by Maukel, who resumes the pursuit. After one day, the three make a stopover in a small village, which luckily has not yet been affected by the revolution. The three stop at a motel. While Rudolf is out to get food and drink, Franz spends the night with Helga. When Rudolf finds this out in the morning, he reacts angrily because he is also in love with Helga, yells at Franz and continues the journey in the army vehicle alone. Franz has a bad conscience and separates from Helga.

Franz is hitchhiked few days later to a village in the near of the Inner Besmenian border to East Besmenia. From there he walks before standing at the border to East Besmenia. Franz notices that the section of the border where he is, with two destroyed border towers and the corpses of border soldiers, was probably the site of the revolution before. Franz immediately looks for the location of the alleged secret tunnel, which turns out to be a lie. Shortly before Franz tries to climb over the fence, he walks over Maukel. Maukel reveals to Franz that he has been working for the State Security of Besmenia for many years and wants to kill him to prevent his escape. At that moment, Rudolf appears, who overwhelms Maukel and shoots him with his own gun. Afterwards, Franz and Rudolf are reconciled. The film ends with Franz and Rudolf going over the destroyed border, and are now on East Besmenian territory.

Cast

• Adrian Techter as Franz Töpfer
• Christian Göller as Rudolf Menzel
• Richard Herzog as Herbert Maukel
• Laura Burgmann as Helga Kräuter

Background and production

The film humorously portrays life in West Besmenia before and during the 1966 revolution. Problems of the time, such as the economic crisis or the violation of human rights, are discussed in the film. At the same time, the film is not always historically accurate and in some cases deliberately exaggerates typical problems of the West Besmenian population in order to create a plot

Trivia

- On a map of West Besmenia that Rudolf has with him, you can see Hömmel, the fictional location from the Tom Teufel comics.