<p>　　ynopsis from Time Out Film Guide: Between the seemingly idyllic opening and closing scenes depicting a rural community, first at church, then at the village festival, Fleischmann attacks that community&#39;s prejudices and ignorance without remorse. His very precisely observed portrait of Bavarian life begins with little more than a display of the villagers&#39; constant ribbing, bawdy humour, continuous gossip, and more than a hint of their slow-wittedness. With the return of a young man, their idle malice and childish clowning, always on the edge of unpleasantness, receive some focus: quite without foundation, the lad is victimised as a homosexual. The crippling conformity of their ingrained conservatism leads the villagers to reject anything &#39;different&#39;: a young widow is ostracised, more for her crippled lover and idiot son than her morals; a teacher is frozen out because she&#39;s educated; the casual destruction of the young &#39;homosexual&#39; is given no more thought than the cutting up of a pig. Not Germany in the &#39;30s but the &#39;70s; nevertheless the political parallels are clear. An impressive film.</p>