I believe that there are some true rebels in the Freedom Party, is how a local politician from a working-class district in Vienna analyzes the situation, and his eyes fill with childlike enthusiasm when talking about a political movement which promises satisfaction after numerous disappointments. Order and cleanliness are important, hastens the retired paint dealer to remind us. After working for 40 years, he is forced to make due with the minimum pension because foreign governments dictate what our people do.

The spectrum of people living in a black-and-white world, the figures portrayed in Grasser's documentary entitled Die Wahlkämpfer, is broad and includes the cheated and the unfairly disadvantaged, upstanding and honest citizens. Originally produced during the election campaign seven years ago, it showed how Haider's Freedom Party gradually became a serious threat to the political establishment then run by the Social Democrats and the conservatives. When the Freedom Party formed a coalition government with the People's Party in February 2000, this document gained new significance. In Die Wahlkämpfer, Grasser attempts to portray the party's rise to political power while leaving out Jörg Haider, its true protagonist, for the most part and concentrating on the question of what enabled its success. In addition to the angry voices from the street, primarily ambitious young workers for the party do the talking. Their job is to give this Party of Winners a human face and determine the potential for gaining political ground as fast as possible with little more than the simplistic image of welfare cheats and other moochers and some hearty back-slapping. This recipe seems to be as successful as it is uncomplicated. If it were not for one of the few shots of Jörg Haider, showing him after a round of tennis: He admits that, while rushing past the sunny Carinthian lakes to yet another party event, he sometimes thinks that there is more to life.
 

 

Karin Schiefer
(2000)