Ich gelobe (1995)

The film tells of the rather unspectacular life and the far more extravagant thoughts of a young man named Berger from eastern Austria during his compulsory military service as a conscript in the Austrian Armed Forces in 1980. Scenes show everyday life as a soldier: outdoor training with monotonous drills in bad weather, and boring classroom lessons. The aim is to turn conscripts with a school-leaving qualification into reserve officers, so that they will be able to lead soldiers in a possible future emergency. A break from the military routine comes through personal conversations and jokes among the other soldiers, both on and off duty, especially during weekend leave. For fun, they call out to prostitutes from their car, or go to bars to unwind with alcohol and let their thoughts and gazes linger on women. But Berger also has an artistic streak: he paints his fantastical pictures on the door of the barracks toilet, plays in a band, and often daydreams (sometimes appearing as a knight in full armor, with or without a horse, or seeing such a knight). The Middle Ages are repeatedly alluded to, not only through the knightly figure but also through a book shown in the film, with pictures by Hieronymus Bosch, and through hurdy-gurdy music. After his military service, Berger wants to become a painter. His father, who runs a cinema in the small town with the active support of the whole family, is not at all pleased with his son's career choice. He considers attending art academy merely a disguised form of unwillingness to work, and would prefer his son to enter the workforce straight after completing his school-leaving exams—for example, at an insurance company, as one of Berger's fellow soldiers intends to do. Things do not go the way Berger would like with women, either. Nothing happens in bed with those who interest him, such as his girlfriend Veronika, and he wants nothing to do with those who seem willing, because he wants intimacy only in connection with “pure love.” But gradually, physical desire—and above all, the futile search for perfectly pure love—seems to triumph over romance, when one evening two of his fellow soldiers visit a brothel during a drive through Vienna together.