. This is the story of a small Bavarian village's inability to cope with an "outsider"-one of their own, actually, on his return from a psychiatric institution. Albert is a large, gentle man who controls with difficulty the unwieldy movements of his body, and who stutters when he speaks. (His resemblance to Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, whether intended or not, is striking.) He may or may not be developmentally disabled but in the context of this film, it doesn't matter: his more tangible problem, drinking, grew out of a lifelong ostracism. On his return from the hospital, Albert is shunted out of the way by his family; the local townspeople make him the butt of ridicule, women brusquely reject his approaches. Gradually, Albert builds a protective wall by taking on the role given to him: he becomes the village idiot. Josef Rödl made this remarkable film in the village where he was raised; it is one of the most uncompromising portraits of rural life ever filmed. The villagers play themselves, and Fritz Binner, with whom Rödl went to school, recreates his own past in the portrayal of Albert. It is also a provocative picture of a complex relationship that develops when a person with a disability or difference is despised (or pitied) by an unenlightened community: like the Elephant Man, in committing suicide Albert does the executioner's work for him. (Binner himself died of alcoholism not long after the film was completed.) Rödl dedicates the film to Binner, "and all of those people who are not strong enough to defend themselves...In general, one can say that a community always needs a scapegoat...The representation of the nature, essence and function of this rural community is the political content of this film. Thus, Albert is a political figure..."