Beerland

Actually, Matt Sweetwood, an American living in Germany, wanted to use his parents' visit to show them why Germans love their beer so much. And what better event to do that than Munich's Oktoberfest. But the trip turns into a real nightmare. First, it takes Matt and his parents ages to even get a drink, and then their enjoyment of their beer is completely ruined by pushy drunks and completely overcrowded beer tents. It can't be that the Germans love that about their beer. Matt is now determined to solve the mystery of the Germans' beer culture. And so he sets off on a journey across the country to find answers to the many questions that have been tormenting him since his visit to the Oktoberfest. Along the way, he learns about the Purity Law, finds out what brewing beer has to do with the invention of the refrigerator, witnesses the historic Beer War in Dorfen, Upper Bavaria, and takes part in a typical regulars' table in his adopted hometown of Berlin. He visits the Bamberg region, which has the highest density of breweries in the world, and also learns here how to drink beer properly. And at the Cologne Carnival he discovers that you can also drink your beer hands-free. It's an adventurous journey, at the end of which Matt must realize that there are many reasons why Germany is a true Beerland.

With his charming documentary Beerland, Matt Sweetwood, who grew up in Puritan Missouri, has made much more than just a film about beer. To be sure, viewers here certainly learn interesting facts about the history of brewing and beer consumption, brewing techniques and rituals associated with beer drinking. But as Sweetwood comes to the conclusion at the end that it is not so much a question of how much or which beer, but with whom one drinks it, his film also increasingly becomes a portrait of the Germans themselves. With a fair amount of self-irony, some amusing animation and plenty of everyday absurdities, the American paints a picture of the Germans that may confirm some common clichés, but which is overall very differentiated and, above all, always endearing.

You never get the feeling that Sweetwood is condescending about the Germans and their sometimes very special pub culture. He may not really understand some of it, but he always brings himself fully into it, always takes his subject seriously, and is clearly genuinely trying to get to the bottom of the Germans' fondness for their beer. There are a few moments when the filmmaker could have displayed a thoroughly justified arrogance. But even in such moments Sweetwood exercises restraint, maintains the position of the observer from the outside and leaves the evaluation to the viewer alone.

So Beerland never degenerates into a bitter satire about the Germans, but rather into a very amusing, surprising, charming and definitely interesting documentary about their national drink. And therefore then also applies: Even for viewers who prefer to reach for the soda than the cool blonde, absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp