Dies rigorose Leben (1983)

Sometime during the 1960s, somewhere in a godforsaken corner of the United States, in the dusty South, where the sun blazes and everyone else dreams of getting away as quickly as possible. Heat, dirt, and boredom shape everyday life in a desolate little town where two German immigrant families arrived several decades ago and have been unable to leave ever since. Their dreams of boundless freedom in the “Golden West” have long since been swept away by the desert wind, which sets the rhythm of life here. Only the young people still hope that one day they might find a different way of life from this one, which has all the “charm” of a dead end. But their rebellion needs a spark, and one day it begins to flicker… At the center of the story are Rosa and Joseph, who are in love. But she plays a cruel game with him: one day, when he protects her from a rapist and kills him in the process, Rosa leaves Joseph to walk into a trap and does not stand by him when he is unjustly convicted of murder. Rosa has now gained a measure of freedom, especially since she can take over Joseph’s gas station. One day, a trucker who stops here offers her the chance to leave this desolation behind once and for all. Just as she decides to go with him, Joseph suddenly returns. He is driven by just one thing: revenge. Long-suppressed emotions within the clans and among their individual members threaten to make the powder keg explode. In the end, the gas station is ablaze, and Rosa and Joseph finally have a reason to leave everything behind and set off toward an uncertain future.