''Die Scheinheiligen'', or ''The Hypocrites'',Directory of World Cinema: Germany, Volume 10 p.115
edited by Michelle Langford is a German low-budget comedy film, written and directed by Thomas Kronthaler and based on a true incident in his hometown of

Irschenberg Irschenberg is a municipality in the district of Miesbach in the German state of Bavaria, about southeast of Munich. It consists of numerous hamlets situated on the ''Irschenberg'' hill range. The hill is a notorious ascent of the Bundesautoba ...

. It became popular particularly in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n cinemas.

Plot

The local

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

are planning the construction of a motorway exit with a fast-food restaurant, for which they need the property of Magdalena Trenner, a rich old woman who is unpopular in the village until she takes in a traveling carpenter, Johannes, and later an

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and m ...

named Theophile. With their help she regains popularity among the villagers and prevents the mayor's numerous plots to get his hands on her land from succeeding. When she dies the mayor thinks he has won, but Johannes tricks them into believing she left a will leaving her entire property to the local

scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpack ...

. A fight starts at the end of which the mayor has to abandon his plans.

Cast

* Maria Singer as Magdalena Trenner * Johannes Demmel as Johannes * Michael Emina as Theophile * Andreas Lechner as the priest * Werner Rom as the mayor * Wolfgang Fischer as policeman Bene

References

External links

* 2001 comedy films 2001 films 2000s German-language films Films set in Bavaria German comedy films 2000s German films {{2000s-Germany-film-stub