A portrait of the Swabian village of Ödenwaldstetten, made in collaboration with Kurt Ulrich. The film shows the life and work of the inhabitants and documents how the process of industrialisation has impacted the rural culture of the village community. “For me, it is an image of Germany and its history encapsulated in one village. If you broach the subject of history in Ödenwaldstetten, like elsewhere in Germany, you’ll always end up confronting what happened during the Nazi period. But if you brought up this subject in those days, you’d be accused of ‘fouling one’s own nest.’ Therefore the film was controversial because it directly confronted the Nazi past, resulting in the form of the film being criticised as ‘unprofessional’. In Ödenwaldstetten, I only used the farmers’ statements. I lived with an old farmer for a couple of weeks and, whilst drinking beers during the evenings, I’d take note of his comments, which word for word became the so-called commentary... Before it was aired I was asked to make some modifications to it, with the argument that the public wouldn’t understand the film. The farmers’ statements couldn’t be presented on their own, they needed to be explained. I refused to make any changes to it and interpreted such a request as disdainful towards the viewers.” (Peter Nestler)
