Das Erbe der Bergler

From the heights, the wild haymakers mowing with scythes in the steep planges look like ants. At the beginning of the film, it is precisely these ants that tell the connoisseur about the weather, which decides whether it is possible to mow at all. With unrivaled precision, Erich Langjahr succeeds in making the traditional work of the men, who wear special wooden shoes with grips, visible. In doing so, he tenderly and with great feeling for the duration of processes shows how everything from the ant to the smallest nail to the rope thread leading spectacularly down into the valley interacts to make possible a work that honors the mountain and the hay. A modernity inscribes itself in the shadows of the mountain slopes, which could help, and yet threatens existences and nature. (Patrick Holzapfel)