Grave Decisions (2006) Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot

Director: Marcus H. Rosenmüller (as Marcus Hausham Rosenmüller)
Writers: Marcus H. Rosenmüller (screenplay) (as Marcus Hausham Rosenmüller), Christian Lerch (screenplay)
Stars: Markus Krojer, Fritz Karl, Jürgen Tonkel

Marcus H. Rosenmüller's first feature movie deals with a boy thinking that he is responsible for his mother's death and his unusual way to fight his feelings of guilt. 11-year-old Sebastian lives with his father and brother Franz in a Bavarian village. One day, he learns that his mother died on his birthday, which makes him believe he was to blame for her death. Dreaming of purgatory, Sebastian sees only two ways to avoid this divine punishment: becoming an immortal rock star or find a new wife for his father…

I'd never have thought that a German, well it's actually more a Bavarian movie, could be this exceptional anymore. But it continues the line of rare Bavarian films that capture life in all its facets, in the great tradition of Franz Xaver Bogner's "Irgendwie & Sowieso" from the 1980s. It's true and funny, sad and heartwarming, telling a grand story with an outstandingly authentic cast, an exceptionally good soundtrack in beautiful pictures. If you want to be entertained well for an evening and you want more than just a cheap laugh, go see this movie (despite its strange title, meaning something like "The sooner you die, the longer you'll be dead") and see Bavaria beyond all kitsch!

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