The work-shy, lazy Germanicus is taken to Rome by slave traders and sold straight to the nouveau riche Roman Tusnelda. He manages to escape, but only to end up in the next misery as a taster at the imperial court. When the emperor dies, he is arrested as an emperor's assassin and is to be thrown to the tigers in the arena.With the help of the black slave Saba, he manages to win the deadly fight and is proclaimed - against his will - the new emperor of the Roman Empire.His pragmatic ideas as a statesman explain why the Roman Empire ended so abruptly. At the side of Saba, who is elevated to empress, he returns to his home village of Sumpfing, where he now promises himself completely new perspectives ...
Acting
Gerhard Polt's permanently exhausted everyman energy
Costume
Roman gear that looks suspiciously like bedsheets
Writing
Gags explaining actual historical collapse via laziness
Director
Hanns Christian Müller
Gerhard Polt
Germanikus
Gisela Schneeberger
Tusnelda
Rufus Beck
Prefect
Aïssatou Thiam
Saba
Anke Engelke
Mrs. Senator
Bernhard Hoëcker
Roman Salesman
Hilmi Sözer
Roman Slave Hunter
Manfred Lehmann
Sejanus
Martin Schneider
Figaro Nino
Tom Gerhardt
Almosius
Moritz Bleibtreu
Emperor Titus
Irm Hermann
Germanikus' Mother
Nikolaus Paryla
Sigurd
Annette Frier
Brunhilda
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gerhard Polt is a legendary Bavarian cabaret artist; this film weaponizes his regional everyman persona against imperial grandeur.
Director Hanns Christian Müller co-wrote the iconic German comedy 'Kir Royal'—this film shares that one's fondness for elites getting humiliated.
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