Bandits
Bandits is a German feature film from 1997 about four women who found a band in prison and suddenly escape. It was filmed under the direction of Katja von Garnier with Katja Riemann , Jasmin Tabatabai , Nicolette Krebitz , Jutta Hoffmann and Hannes Jaenicke . Torsten Breuer was responsible for the camera and image creation.
action
Bandits tells the story of four women who get to know each other in prison and use an opportunity to escape. Emma Moor was a member of a jazz band whose bandleader she badly abused and who she then shot. Angelika “Angel” Kleinschmidt is imprisoned for fraudulent marriage, the violent Ludmilla “Luna” Nabiba for serious robbery. The fourth in the group, Marie Irrgang, poisoned her husband with arsenic , shows schizoid tendencies and is suicidal .
The women start a band as part of a rehabilitation program and have the opportunity to play at a police ball. On the way there, there is an opportunity to escape, which is used spontaneously. The television only reports about two other escapees, which leads Luna to get in touch with a reporter who interviews her and films her playing music. The music producer Michael Gold sees this on TV, who fishes the demo tape received from the group from the wastebasket and, in the course of the great media attention that the four get, smells big business. On their way towards the port of Hamburg, the quartet hears one of their songs on the radio, takes their share of gold without hesitation and thus ensures their escape.
Meanwhile, the band's fan base grows, and they give a spontaneous concert in a club, which is suddenly ended by the appearance of Inspector Schwarz and the police. The women can avoid arrest by taking the American tourist West hostage and thus being able to leave the club. The good-looking hostage causes unrest in the group and is first seduced by Angel before she sleeps with Luna. Without further ado, the quartet separates from him again and continues the escape alone.
The police continue to pursue the "bandits" and finally surround them on a bridge. Marie dies a surprising, natural death in the getaway car, Luna and Angel jump from the bridge into the river and Emma is arrested. The two remaining fugitives manage to kidnap their own investigators and free Emma from custody. The police are left behind again and the hunt continues. Thanks to a contact from Marie, the girls have made it clear that they are musicians on a cruise ship in order to leave the country.
While the police also received evidence of fan mail for the bandits, Inspector Schwarz followed his instincts and had the local cultural scene monitored. In fact, the bandits are organizing a farewell concert on the port area and once again the police are preparing the access. Armed forces secure all entrances to the port building, on the roof of which the refugees are giving their last concert. Again, the search seems certain until the women jump from the roof of the building into the audience for the song Catch me .
In a surreal sequence, images of the stage diving number alternate with a shot of a ship towards which the three band members are running. The deceased Marie appears at the railing of the ship in a red evening dress. Snipers take position. Three hands stretch out towards Marie's hand, while the last sounds of the farewell song are softly underlaid with gun salvos.
background
The shooting took place from August 19, 1996 to October 25, 1996 in Munich , Bad Neustadt , Hamburg and Nuremberg .
Soundtrack
General
Jasmin Tabatabai , Nicolette Krebitz and Katja Riemann, together with producers Udo Arndt and Peter Weihe , wrote the soundtrack for the film, in which the music is part of the plot through music video sequences and band appearances . The soundtrack was sold over 700,000 copies and received a gold record . It contains the single Catch Me (a cover of the song Hobart Paving by the British band Saint Etienne ), as well as Puppet and All Along the Watchtower .
Two versions of the soundtrack were released, the normal version and an abbreviated version containing not 17 but 14 tracks.
Although Katja Riemann, unlike Nicolette Krebitz and Jasmin Tabatabai, did not have any relevant musical experience, she took on the drums part, which is the most difficult to synchronize with the soundtrack, as even viewers who do not master the instrument themselves can notice possible errors. Riemann was musically prepared for her role by Curt Cress , who also took over the playback for her role.
Track list
- Puppet (music and text: Tabatabai) - 3:58
- If I Were God (M / T: Tabatabai) - 1:52
- It's Alright (M: Krebitz / T: Krebitz, Riemann) - 2:24
- Crystal Cowboy (M: Krebitz, Tabatabai / T: Krebitz) - 3:01
- Catch Me (Short) (M / T: Pete Wiggs, Stanley ) - 4:01
- Another Sad Song (M / T: Tabatabai) - 2:40
- Blinded (M: Tabatabai, Colloseus / T: Tabatabai) - 2:53
- Like It (M / T: Tabatabai) - 3:04
- All Along The Watchtower (M / T: Dylan ) - 3:57
- Shadows (M / T: Riemann) - 3:21
- Time Is Now (M: Krebitz, Tabatabai / T: Krebitz) - 4:45
- Photographer (M / T: Krebitz, Tabatabai) - 2:38
- Ain't Nobody's Buziness If I Do (M / T: Grainger, Robbins) - 1:51
- If I were a bird ' (trad.) - 1:47
- Puppet (Luna & Angel) (M / T: Tabatabai) - 3:26
- Catch Me (film) (M / T: Pete Wiggs, Stanley ) - 6:34
- Puppet Chase (M: Tabatabai, miner, master / T: Tabatabai) - 3:26
Awards
- German Film Award : Filmband in Gold, best actress: Katja Riemann
- Bavarian Film Prize : Prize for Music in Film: Katja Riemann, Jasmin Tabatabai, Nicolette Krebitz
Web links
- Bandits in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Bandits at filmportal.de
- bandits - a fan page for the film
- Katja von Garnier - The Making of "bandits"
- Production company Olga Film GmbH
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bandits. In: filmportal.de . German Film Institute , accessed on December 8, 2018 .