Die Schweizermacher

A very nice Swiss film, a comedy with genuine Swiss characters. The film proves in a wonderful way the opposite of the cliché about the Swiss humour.

The film is nowadays, nearly 30 years after its production, more actual than ever, disclosing a lot of the hidden intolerance of our Swiss mainstream community against everything which does not fit into what this community expects to be "Swiss behaviour".

The story is about how people can get Swiss citizenship. It is not exaggerated at all! (I as well had to enjoy this procedure few years ago, with the local police officers, coming into our house, checking what we where eating, asking us what we think about the Swiss Army, where do we go for shopping, talking to the neighbourhood, etc.).

I love this film.

The movie is still very up to date in terms of migration background and the difficulties of integrating. If the movie would be shot today it would definitely lack the political incorrectness, which is the essence of it all. Of course some of the finest swiss actors participate, giving it a unique touch One of my absolute all-time top favorite movie, and certainly one of those flicks you can watch over and over again.....play it again Sam. Oh yes a few other highlights of swiss flicks: Der schwarze Tanner, Höhenfeuer, Sonnyboy, and of course just recently released Sennentuntschi. Especially Sennentuntschi a combination of Thriller, Mysthic, and bloody Facts will be kept in mind.

Hilarious with several laugh-out-loud moments, it's a biting satire on a topic that was unknown to me until recently. Simple, unpretentious, even unambitious, but extremely enjoyable, and a time capsule of the 70s.

For anyone who lives in Switzerland, this is a must-see.

It's true although exaggerated (sometimes !), very funny, touching, and just well made.

It brings to the fore all the foibles of the Swiss, strengths and weaknesses, and it's just a great movie to watch.

It's romantic too !

I highly recommend it to anyone who lives in or has lived in Switzerland, including all Swiss !!!

Emil is wonderful in it too, and I wish he had made more films, he is perfect in this role.

I sometimes have a hard time buying it since it's getting old, but I've found it a few times and given it to friends.

Get your copy now, if you can.

I'm a non-Switzy who lives in Switzerland (although not for very long yet), and I am uncertain about what this country is really like. Of course there are all the stereotypes about cleanliness and orderliness and blind adherence to the rules, but then there is the daily reality of what I see here (which isn't as neurotic as you would imagine). I really enjoyed Die Schweizermacher. It was funny and interesting and the characters were likable (except Bodmer, of course, who was so endearingly and reliably unlikeable). The man shooting pigeons and Bodmer going home every night to eat the dinner made by his mother were simple and inconspicuous ironies, and the friendly nature of the other cop (whose name I've forgotten) was a pleasing contrast. I can't help but believe, though, that it was all based in a murky and xenophobic truth about Switzies and that secretly nothing has changed. Aah the Swiss. They're so strange.