Der Papagei (1992)

Dieter “Did” Stricker has spent his whole life scraping by as an actor, singer, and voice actor. Thrown out by his wife, Wilma, and keeping himself afloat as a street vendor, he is completely broke again, though he tries to hide it from others. Then he runs into an old acquaintance, Rainer, an advertising executive and unsuccessful hotelier who offers him the prospect of a lucrative job. Rainer is currently campaign manager for the far-right party “National Socialist German Union” (NSDU) in the Bavarian state election. The party lacks a convincing public face, and Rainer persuades its leadership, headed by notary Egon Fuchsmühl, to appoint Stricker as its nominal lead candidate. As a trained speaker, he is to deliver the texts supplied by the party convincingly to the electorate, then disappear again after the election. Stricker is an overwhelming success. He has the halls roaring with a blend of populist claims, corny jokes, and self-mockery. This style displeases the party’s stuffy, bourgeois leaders, but the poll numbers rise, and Stricker’s sudden popularity also restores his self-confidence. He begins an affair with Helga, a young waitress. Gradually, the press takes an interest in Stricker and discovers that the supposed widower is, in fact, married and was thrown out by his wife because of his alcoholism. Outraged, Fuchsmühl throws Stricker and Rainer out. But Dieter Stricker has become too important to the party, which now wants him back; Stricker, however, wants nothing more to do with the “brown shit.” Rainer manages to reconcile Dieter with Wilma, and Dieter agrees to keep working for the NSDU—though he intends to find out as much about the party as he can and pass it on to journalist Apfelbaum, who had contacted him earlier. There is indeed plenty to uncover, since the NSDU is being funded illegally by meat-industry magnate Schlemmer and shady American sources. Apfelbaum, however, wants proof. After several attempts, Stricker manages, shortly before the election, to get hold of the contents of Fuchsmühl’s secret briefcase by force. When he hands the documents over to Apfelbaum, it turns out that Rainer had set her on him. Stricker signs a statement of resignation on health grounds. In the election, the NSDU enters parliament and announces Stricker’s resignation. He withdraws to the countryside.