Plot Summary

German movie set in the future where there is a village existing only to maintain a game preserve for the ruling class and whose inhabitants are kept happy by popping pills. Written and directed by Uwe Brandner, the movie operates on many levels of love-hate relationships, but it is primarily a political parable about fascism and freedom. A young teacher comes to a remote village , which rich gentlemen have chosen as their hunting ground. The residents are happy and nice to each other. Any dissatisfaction that arises is wiped away with freely available drugs or with the clubs of the village police. A gamekeeper who makes sure that the high lords' hunting parties are not endangered becomes the new teacher in the village's first friend. They fall in love, and the gamekeepers gift of love is a gun, which will eventually break their relationship as a confrontation ensues as the teacher starts poaching with his new gun.