Indien () is a 1993 Austrian tragicomic road movie directed by Paul Harather. It was Austria's submission to the 66th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it was not nominated.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences It is one of the most successful films of Austrian Cinema and has developed a cult following.
Plot Heinz Bösel and Kurt Fellner are inspectors for the tourist office in Lower Austria, travelling through the province to check guesthouses and inns for hygiene and regulatory compliance. The two men are sharply mismatched: Bösel is taciturn, coarse, fond of alcohol, and willing to overlook violations in exchange for food and drink, while Fellner is talkative, pedantic, and eager to display his knowledge, often annoying Bösel with questions from Trivial Pursuit.
At first the two men irritate and repel each other. During the course of their journey, however, their antagonism gives way to companionship. Bösel confides in Fellner about his failed marriage and his estranged family, while Fellner, after discovering that his girlfriend has been unfaithful, also begins to drink. The two inspectors gradually develop a close friendship, sharing their loneliness, humiliations, and small abuses of authority as they continue their rounds through rural Austria.
Their journey is interrupted when Fellner suffers severe pain and is taken to hospital. He is eventually diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer. Bösel, now deeply attached to him, visits him regularly and tries to protect him from the full weight of the diagnosis. As Fellner's condition worsens, Bösel helps him fulfil his remaining wishes, including playing a simple melody and hearing birdsong one last time. He brings him a keyboard and later wheels his hospital bed into the park, where Fellner dies in his arms.
After saying goodbye to Fellner, Bösel encounters an Indian newspaper seller in the hospital park. The man is listening to the same Indian music that Fellner loved and peels a banana in the same distinctive way. The encounter suggests Fellner's belief in reincarnation and offers Bösel a brief moment of consolation.
Awards Thomas Pluch Screenplay Prize to Alfred Dorfer and Josef Hader, 1993 Grand prize of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 1994 At the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis in 1994, Prize of the Saarland Premier to director Paul Harather, and audience prize Österreichischer Filmpreis in 1994
Cast Josef Hader – Heinzi Bösel Alfred Dorfer – Kurt Fellner Karl Markovics – Kirchingerwirt
See also Cinema of Austria List of submissions to the 66th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film List of Austrian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
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