Jägerschlacht (1982)

In the year 1833, absolute power in the land lies in the hands of the Church and the noble territorial rulers, represented here by the despotic Landgrave, who acts on behalf of his king. One of the subjects oppressed by the authorities is Andreas Hornsteiner, a farm owner who begins to resist their persecution. In those days, anyone who did so would feel the full force of the authorities—and that meant bloody revenge. It all begins with a comparatively minor breach of the law: Farmer Hornsteiner defies the grazing ban imposed by the ruler and, as he does every year, drives his cattle up to the high alpine pastures. Since Hornsteiner has a reputation as a mix of Andreas Hofer, William Tell, and Michael Kohlhaas, the royal gamekeeper and his men are already waiting for him there. They kill all his cows as a brutal warning. According to the territorial rulers, the animals’ incessant bell-ringing would scare away the game the high nobility wanted to hunt. On top of the enormous losses Farmer Hornsteiner has to bear, he is also ordered to pay a hefty fine. The situation escalates. Hornsteiner now starts killing the game himself, chamois after chamois. He intends to use the meat, sold for 50 guilders per animal, to recoup his losses. The king’s stags, too, are not spared. It is not long before the challenged authorities strike back brutally. They murder Hornsteiner’s friend, torture his brother, burn down his farm, and finally abduct his mother, who then takes her own life in prison. Now Hornsteiner has had enough, and he begins to pay them back in kind. A true hunters’ battle begins. Andreas takes the king’s minions out one by one, until he is fighting alone with a shotgun against an entire army. After he also shoots the Landgrave in the high mountains, he is effectively declared an outlaw. Andreas Hornsteiner is left with only two choices: flee the country or die. The hunted man eventually escapes across the glaciers to a new homeland …