Allentsteig

A film portrait of the Allentsteig military training area, the last blank spot on the Austrian map. The Nazis evacuated 42 villages - driving more than 7,000 people from their homes - to set it up in 1938. Allied occupying forces and the Austrian state continued to use the facility after the Second World War. Director Nikolaus Geyrhalter observes the military exercises carried out there - everything from small arms training to huge tank maneuvers - without comment but with a keen eye for humorous details. He also highlights other aspects of Allentsteig, such as the way the residents of the adjoining village of the same name live happily alongside the soldiers, so long as no shells land nearby. And we accompany a group of now-elderly evicted residents on a visit to their birthplace. The film also contrasts the tightly organized military operations with the way the natural environment is left to its own devices on this piece of land. While it is true that 80% of the terrain could contain unexploded shells and that the animal population grows up to the sound of gunfire, on the Allentsteig nature reserve, flora and fauna are undisturbed by everyday human activity, electricity pylons or construction work. There, nature is gradually eradicating human influences from the landscape.