Austrian Sten Ruzowitzki is still best remembered for the excellent Holocaust drama “Forgeries” from 2007, which brought his country the Oscar for best foreign film. After that, Ruzowitsky also tried his hand at Hollywood with two not-so-good films (Deadfall, Patient Zero), and this dark thriller set in 1920 Vienna seemed to me like an Austrian attempt to respond to “Sin City”. Everything in “Hinterland” seems completely unnatural, almost comic book-like, which is not surprising because practically the entire film was shot in front of a green screen, and all the scenes and scenography were added there by computer. And all of that seems somehow grotesque, distorted so that Vienna in 1920 seems more like a dystopian place, and not like a real, living city.
In addition to the comic role models such as the characters, especially the main protagonist who reminded me of Mickey Rourke’s character from “Sin City”, I have the impression that “Hinterland” was partly created under the influence of German expressionism. However, this visual play seems quite unnatural and distracts the viewer from the story, which is actually quite generic and reminds us of the story we could follow in the recent American series “Alienist”. Peter Perg (a rather weak Murathan Muslu) is a former Viennese police inspector who returned home after spending two years in Russian captivity.
Everything has changed. The empire has been replaced by a republic, war veterans are somehow looked down upon by everyone, and the streets are full of war invalids. Many people remember the rich and successful empire with nostalgia, and everyone in the police will remember the once most successful inspector, all the more so because the sadistic serial killer turned on his colleagues or former prisoners. A tortured detective will join the investigation even though he himself will be the target of a maniacal killer who kills people in a grotesque way and leaves clues for the police. In the end, it will turn out that these murders are connected to his days in the concentration camp, and although the idea was solid, the Austrian “Sin City” turned out to be a mediocre film at best.