Das finstere Tal / The Dark Valley (2014) - Something fresh and different: Heimatfilm meets western and film noir - 8/10 (13/07/15)

"The Dark Valley" is a truly unique film. It mixes the usually stereotypical Heimatfilm genre with classic Italian American western parts and adds a gloomy film noir atmosphere to it. This genre is extremely rare and precious in German-speaking regions where one gets mostly exposed to the stereotypical Heimatfilm and extremely redundant crime fiction genres. I wish there were more movies like this from these countries.

This collaboration between German, Austrian and Italian artists takes place in a dark and isolated valley in the Alps where a sinister family has established a reign of terror and controls everybody and everything. One day, a silent cowboy from Texas that seems to hide a dark secret comes to town just before the winter arrives and asks to stay there. As soon as the snow is falling the valley becomes a natural prison and one of the members of the sinister family gets brutally killed in the fog while cutting down a tree. A few days later, another member of the family gets murdered during a hunting trip in the woods. Soon, the surviving family members suspect the charismatic cowboy to be connected to these horrible crimes and the young man has to go into hiding.

While the story itself might not be original and the pace of the movie a little bit slow at times, the rest of the film is absolutely outstanding. The acting is charismatic and realistic. The Tyrolean dialect adds a lot to the authenticity of this great film. This accent is a little bit tough to understand at times for somebody from North-Western Germany like me but it adds a lot of charm to the film. The locations are just as stunning. The churches, farms and stores are broken, dark and dirty and the mountains, rivers and woods are misty, somber and wild. The dark lighting techniques and the menacing yet decent soundtrack only add to the atmosphere. The numerous fight scenes and shootings are brutal, graphic and raw but never feel exaggerated. The film has almost no special effects and feels almost like a documentary at times. There aren't many dialogues in this film but like many great films, it doesn't need overlong conversations since the overall atmosphere, body language and the landscapes are speaking for themselves.

This haunting movie is highly recommendable for anyone who likes westerns, those interested in German, Austrian and Italian culture and fans of profound and sinister movies. You won't forget this outstanding experiment anytime soon and I'm really hungry for more.