State of the Nation

You can learn about Austria from the newspaper or from television, you can talk about Austria in the pub, you can explain Austria to foreigners, foreigners can explain Austria, you can try to explain Austria to yourself or you can cross Austria to get to know it again. All this is what this film tries to do. Four directors have set out on a search for traces through Austria after the change of government, which should show the political and social condition of its people. They have searched for microcosms and found people in whom the private is mixed with the political. Barbara Albert has made women, especially workers and single parents, her main subject. Michael Glawogger has circumnavigated Austria as a hitchhiker. Ulrich Seidl dealt with a notorious writer of reading letters and with a married couple who - surrounded by foreigners - see themselves as true saviors of the fatherland. Michael Sturminger visited Austrian living rooms with TV presenter Dieter Chmelar. Four directors, four views and many realities.