THE INHERITORS World Cinema

This slyly political feature is as much
about Austria’s rural class system in the
1930s as it is a wry commentary on the
nature of utopia. The title refers to seven
servants and the windfall they receive
when their landowner boss dies under
suspicious circumstances. In his will, their
mocking master leaves his estate to his
employees, quietly convinced that his gift
will quickly become a curse for the deadbroke
workers.
But the group members christen
themselves “one-seventh farmers,” form a
cooperative and get to work on a new
social order that starts to rattle their
gentry neighbors and the local law
enforcement as much as it transforms the
former peasants’ view of the world. Using
a cinematographer with a painterly eye
for landscapes and· rural life comparable
to the Dutch masters, Ruzowitzky sets a
tone and visual style as timeless as his
themes.
Filmography:
Temo (1996)
Print Source:
Stratosphere Entertainment