Bandits Reviews

Take the rogue feminism of THELMA & LOUISE, mix in some of ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL's punk-rock energy, and you've got something close to Katja von Garnier's exciting feature, the best all-girl rock flick since LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS. Luna (Jasmin Tabatabai), Emma (Katja Riemann), Angel (Nicolette Krebitz) and Marie (Jutta Hoffman) are inmates in a German women's prison who, as part of their rehabilitation therapy, form the punky garage band the Bandits. They're invited to play at a Policemen's Ball, but when the sexist guard accompanying the girls to the event gets nasty, Luna smashes him in the face and the Bandits are off and running in a stolen police van. Now officially on the lam, the band becomes an overnight media sensation with a hit single, thanks to an unscrupulous, coke-snorting record exec (Peter Sattman) who's got an old Bandits demo and the smarts to know a great gimmick when he sees one. Keeping one step ahead of a sleazy detective (Hannes Jaenicke) who's on their tail, the girls tear up the German countryside, playing impromptu gigs and burning all their bridges on a headlong rock-and-roll road trip into oblivion. The whole film is shot and edited like a feature-length music video and for once, that's just as it should be. Whenever the break-neck pace threatens to lag, von Garnier and cowriter Uwe Wilhelm just insert a musical interlude or a fantasy sequence featuring the sexy boy toy (Werner Schreyer) taken hostage by the girls. But amid the flourishes, there's plenty of heart; the film's politics are sincere and — most importantly — the music is solid, from the garagey cover of "All Along the Watchtower" that opens the film to the stirring, percussive rendition of St. Etienne's "Hobart Paving" that accompanies a surprisingly powerful climax. (In German, with English subtitles.)