West Side Story gets a German thrash metal makeover — and nobody sings.
Two youth gangs of the low class generation in the '80s fight in a war. The "Sharks" and "Council" defend their territories with their lives. Violence, hatred and brutality are commonplace soundtracked by thrash metal music. As the conflict grows, it comes to the final battle: a man-versus-man duel for Richy, the leader of the "Sharks".
Direction
Bernd Schadewald's unflinching verité style.
Sound
Thrash metal score that weaponizes noise.
Acting
Non-professional cast brings terrifying authenticity.
Director
Bernd Schadewald
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in Dortmund's Nordstadt, one of Germany's most deprived areas in the 1980s, with actual local youth rather than actors.
Director Schadewald was a theatre director who made this his only film; he died in 1998 and Verlierer remained virtually unseen outside Germany until recent rediscovery.
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