Eismayer
Life in an Austrian Armed Forces boot camp takes an unusual turn in David Wagner’s true-life drama.
David Wagner's film is set in a boot camp of the Austrian Armed Forces where recruits arrive to line up ready to be assigned appropriately. Among the young men is a Bosnian, Mario Falak (Luka Dimic), who being a foreigner might wish to fit in more readily by not drawing any extra attention to himself. But Mario is gay and chooses not to conceal that fact. He finds himself in a group being trained by Sergeant Major Eismayer (Gerhard Liebmann) who, like most drill instructors in movies and like many in real life too, is portrayed as a harsh disciplinarian who inspires fear in the men under his command.
This opening might well lead one to expect that Eismayer would follow the well-established conventions that belong to dramas that play out during training in barracks. However, Wagner, who is the writer here as well as being the director, is telling a story based on true events and what we see frequently upturns the expectations that we bring to this kind of tale. Having first been described by the recruits and then seen just before he enters to address them, Eismayer is certainly given a strong entrance into the film and for some time the movie does follow the usual pattern of such films. Nevertheless, when Captain Karnaval (Christopher Schärf) summons Eismayer it is to tell him that his harsh manner is not appropriate and that it could discourage new recruits. That's a modest surprise, but what follows takes things considerably further in that direction.
It could be argued that a critic should not disclose how this film develops since that reduces the impact of the unexpected that is so central to Eismayer. Normally that is a view that I would share whenever a film chooses to show its hand only gradually, but in this instance I think that an exception can be made. But for anyone unhappy with that I will first say that the leading actors here, Liebmann and Dimic, are both first-rate. Furthermore, for a first full feature Wagner’s film shows remarkable directorial assurance aided by some admirably sharp editing by Stephen Bechinger and there is fine colour photographer too (this by Serafin Spitzer). As a screen writer Wagner is not quite so sure-footed but Eismayer is worth seeing and has indeed gained numerous awards including wins for both of its lead actors and for the film itself including the Grand Prize at the 2022 Venice International Critics’ Week. What I add below is for those who want further advanced knowledge of how the film develops.
A central feature of Eismayer is that its true story challenges the stereotypical notion that gay men are so very much the opposite of macho that they could never be at home in the military. While we know early on that Mario Falak is gay, it emerges only gradually that, tough as he appears, Charles Eismayer is gay too. We learn how on recognising his sexuality in his youth Eismayer had been encouraged to get over it and to take up a military career, a course proposed to make a man of him. Not only had he done this but, on meeting Christina (Julia Koschitz) and finding her attractive, he had led himself to imagine that his gay feelings might be a passing phase. Consequently, the drill officer is now a married man and the father of a young son (Lion Tatzber). Nevertheless - and despite the barracks setting being so unpropitious - he and Mario Falak find themselves falling in love and then having to decide what to do about it. It feels right to reveal this since otherwise the film’s prime audience, a gay male one, might disdain a work in which military training plays such a strong role.
The eventual outcome is true to real life but to my mind the weakness of Eismayer lies in the fact that Wagner’s screenplay includes a number of scenes that fail to tell the rather unlikely story in a way that makes us fully believe in its truth. When so much in Eismayer is so good that is inevitably somewhat disappointing but it is not such as to prevent this from being a film worthy of your attention.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Gerhard Liebmann, Luka Dimic, Julia Koschitz, Anton Noori, Christopher Schärf, Karl Fischer, Lion Tatzber, Lukas Johne, Harry Lampl, Joshua Jagersberger, Paul Winkler, Thomas Otrok, Adriano Bonamore.
Dir David Wagner, Pro Sabine Gruber and Arash T. Riahi, Screenplay David Wagner, Ph Serafin Spitzer, Art Dir Raphael Caric and Thiare Galleguillos, Ed Stephen Bechinger, Music Lylit, Costumes Monika Buttinger.
Golden Girls Filmproduktion/Loco Films/ORF/ZDF/Arte-Peccadillo Pictures.
87 mins. Austria/Germany. 2022. US Rel: 6 October 2023. UK Rel: 20 November 2023. Available on digital platforms. Cert. 15.
