3. Der Todesking
Suicide based mayhem from the great man of transgressive Teutonic cinema - Jorg Buttgereit - Der Todesking is gruelling, harrowing viewing which I would only recommend to those of you who are immersed in extreme cinema. The theme of the film is a downer to begin with dealing as it does with people killing themselves. The film takes the seven days of the week and fills each day with an act of suicide vignette. We see a man calmly writing suicide notes, taking pills, getting into the bath and dying. And that's just Monday! Further days include a man banging his head on the wall whilst in a state of extreme distress, a man shooting himself after killing his frigid wife, an empty bridge with the name and age of each suicide victim transposed upon it. The days of the week are interspersed with shots of a decaying body just to make things more pleasant. The best film about suicide I have ever seen, Der Todesking is not afraid to jump in and take the subject by the balls. It is horrible and gruelling to watch, but the treatment of suicide through the different days of the week offers up a different facet each time on the matter in hand. The film really brings suicide to life and puts a chill down your spine as you realise how easy it is to fall into a suicidal state of mind. Buttgereit made a devastating film about suicide - but suicide is not a topic most people want to see in a film. Therefore it remains a gruelling semi-horror, semi-art house obscurity.