Shalom General

A phlegmatic civilian servant and a military officer paralysed to the point of a neck brace wage ‘war’ on the nursing ward of an old people's home.

‘But anyone who thinks Gruber's film is a boring, well-balanced dossier on the subject of care for the elderly is mistaken. Shalom General is a witty, precisely composed film, a ray of hope in the Saarbrücken competition. Andreas Kilb, Die Zeit

‘Andreas Gruber has ventured far into taboo zones with Shalom General, but he tells his story so carefully, sensitively and with a masterful mixture of directness and respect, tenderness and curiosity that the taboos are not broken, but dissolve as if by themselves. Shalom General thus becomes a comedy about real solidarity beyond all ideologies that is as loving as it is fierce. ‘H.G. Pflaum, Süddeutsche Zeitung

‘A cinematic stroke of luck’. Thomas Rothschild, Frankfurter Rundschau

‘A young Austrian cineaste films a strange fight in an old people's home. The gaze is not cold, but attentive, relaxed and healing.... Andreas Gruber's film is tough, but strangely not sad.....t a time when society was fleeing the reality of old age, the Austrian director decided to confront it.’ LE MONDE, Paris.

Wednesday, 27 November, 8:15 pm
In the presence of leading actor Rainer Egger