When it comes to "In The Basement" - If Austrian director, Ulrich Seidl was actually trying to prove to the viewer that his fellow citizens were, indeed, all a bunch of imbeciles, then, yes, he certainly achieved his desired goal, commendably.
I mean, had even one of these certified kooks been shown doing something inspiring, or interesting, or worth remembering down in their basements, then I wouldn't have formed such a negative perspective of Austrian people, as a whole, while watching this documentary.
But Seidl sure put these people in an unfavourable and dislikable light.
And, on top of that - I can't believe that these apparently "regular citizens" actually agreed to expose their stupid side to the general public, as they did..... Like, if their neighbours didn't already know about the nonsense that went on in these peoples' basements - Well - They certainly do now.
To be honest here - Since this wasn't a "hidden camera" production, and since these people knew that all this "odd" activity of theirs was being filmed - I think that, for the most part, all of this quirkiness was, in fact, pretty much staged for effect and overall shock-value.
