When there's no war, you have to make one.
When I attended HorrorHound Weekend last month, the last thing I expected to find was somebody selling Fassbinder DVD sets, but I did, and I wound up buying one because it contained a film (1971's Whity) that is no longer available through Netflix. Before I watch that, though, there's the small matter of the other film in the set, Pioneers in Ingolstadt, which was made for television the same year. Adapted by Fassbinder from the play by Marieluise Fleisser (which dates back to the '20s), the film is about a terminally shy, hopelessly virginal maid (Hanna Schygulla) who finds herself abandoned by her more experienced friend (Irm Hermann) when a group of army engineers comes to town, ostensibly to build a bridge. Schygulla falls for a private (Harry Baer) who has a habit of sleeping around and knocking up girls wherever he goes, while Hermann sleeps with soldiers for money, earning the enmity of a nice girl (Carla Egerer) who worries about their reputations.
Meanwhile, Schygulla's employer (Walter Sedlmayr) pushes his son (Rudolf Waldemar Brem) to make a play for her and even promises to buy him a car if he beds her. And Baer, through no fault of his own, manages to land in hot water with his sergeant (Klaus Löwitsch), creating a situation that eventually spills over to his whole platoon (whose ranks include Günther Kaufmann). Baer's not the only disgruntled one, though. "A real war would be better than what we have now," Kaufmann grumbles. "At least you'd know you were someone when you died." Kind of makes you wonder what his hurry is.