"Die Kinder der Toten"

It's summer and people need entertainment!  Enter the city with free outdoor cinema!  It's remarkably pleasant to go, even with all the cement around Matadero, since they start the films at 10:30pm, and they're right off Madrid Río and the river.  There's often a pleasant breeze for movie goers to enjoy.

I saw an Austrian film, tauted as examining Austria's history of racism, and there is certainly some fun poked at xenophobia.  They have some joking misunderstandings between "Syrian" and "Styrian".  The Austrian's are depicted as typical folk of their region, with the traditional dress, although maybe not exactly the traditional attitude.  Several people are staying at a guesthouse, including a mother-daughter pair, which doesn't seem to be too harmonious.  The mother is constantly jabbing at the daughter about what a disappointment she is.  They all go off on a bus tour, passing by a factory once owned by a local Nazi, and closed off to the public by his widow.  Then, they have an accident.  The daughter dies, but as her spirit walks through the mountain wilderness she realizes that she isn't alone.  Her doppelganger is following her.  Or she is following the doppelganger, it's never really clear.  She ends up in the factory, where the widow is having a sort of seance through film. People see memories of their loved ones and try to communicate with them, and this time the not-quite-dead daughter can pass into that world beyond the screen and bring them back.  She goes through the film, like a background character in other people's movies, but aware of the film.  She stares at each scene's main characters with a mixture of interest and disgust.  Finally, she manages to tear open the screen - and all the memories pour out as Halloween style zombies.

They don't go on a brain-eating rampage, but instead pile into the guest house restaurant and have a party with the living.  The Syrians have also turned into zombies apparently, clawing to get onto the Dutch tour bus that caused the traffic accident towards the beginning.  But, they get shoved off and have to go back to the guest house, where they invade the kitchen and start cooking up typical Syrian dishes.  The living and the zombies seem to find a way to celebrate together, although I don't know if this means they will live together on normal days.  Maybe every day will have to be a holiday now.

Like any good art film, there has to be something weird or difficult, and this film is silent.  It's in color, but with intertitles.  And like the old silent films, there are some weird close-ups of the characters as they're talking.  There's a soundtrack, of course, but not memorable at all.  I can't even recall what kind of music it was.  At least it wasn't distracting.

It's one of those movies that I don't regret seeing, but mostly because it was free.  If I had to pay for my ticket at a festical, I might be more willing to complain.