Product Details

• Actors: Katja Riemann, Jasmin Tabatabai, Nicolette Krebitz, Jutta Hoffmann, Hannes Jaenicke
• Directors: Katja von Garnier
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: German (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Ingram Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: March 21, 2000
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0767847121
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,114 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #8 in	Movies & TV > Cult Movies > Prison
  #89 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > European Cinema > Germany > Drama

• For more information about "Bandits" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Four tough women in a German penitentiary join forces to form a rock band. When administrators take them to perform at a policeman's ball, the prisoners escape, kidnapping a convenient boy-toy hostage (Werner Schreyer), along the way. Their band, Bandits, becomes a national sensation as the women continue to evade the police. The movie is a wild ride, with quite a respectable score of rock songs--some catchy, some haunting--composed and performed by Bandits members themselves. All are sung in English (which seems to be the universal language of rock & roll). But although the picture is a lot of fun, it's no Spice World; there's a harder edge, a deeper agenda here. These women were all prisoners for a reason. Each fugitive's story is gradually revealed as the plot progresses. Luna (sultry Jasmin Tabatabai), the lead singer and guitarist, is a loose canon with a real attitude problem. And she likes to rob banks. Emma (Katja Riemann), the brains of the group, had a successful jazz career in America before her abusive boyfriend drove her over the edge. Marie (Jutta Hoffmann), the band's middle-aged keyboard player, is suicidal: something to do with her involvement in her husband's death. Angel (lovely Nicolette Krebitz), is the team's weak link; she can't be trusted. As the Bandits pull off each increasingly improbable narrow escape, the film takes on the radiance of myth, ascending ultimately to an apocalyptic finale. --Laura Mirsky

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful rock musical/comedy/drama hybrid., August 12, 2000

By	D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Six out of ten directors these days use music-video techniques in narrative film, and most of them in a hackneyed way, but in Bandits Katja von Garnier shows them how it should be done. Utilizing the kinetic energy of music-video techniques but blending them seamlessly with charged cinematic storytelling, a crackling script, and uniformly good acting, von Garnier's film is a playful and satisfying journey, one of the few rock-band stories to have held my gaze.

The movie's first asset is its diverse lead characters: Jasmin Tabatabai is electrifying as loose cannon Luna, while also having penned most of the songs on the soundtrack. During the music-video sequences, which are so expertly edited and nicely timed in the film so they don't seem jarring at all, she becomes a rock goddess, while also holding her own with comic timing and during the more sensitive sequences. Katja Riemann is great as brainy, middle-aged drummer Emma, and when Emma and Luna share their heart-to-heart on the street after Luna's drunken binge, it's the most beautiful moment in the film, where von Garnier reins in her camera and lets the actors breathe. Not-too-bright, vulnerable bassist Angel (Nicolette Krebitz) and melancholy keyboardist Marie (Jutta Hoffman) round out the band, helping to provide shades, diversity and tension.

The music itself isn't for everybody, but the sheer diversity of styles incorporated in this movie is refreshing: From hard rock to riot-grrl punk, from girl pop to acoustic folk, from blues to a lounge act (destined to go bad, L7 style) -- though it's not perfect music, it fits the tone of the movie perfectly, augmented by the fact that it *is* written and performed by the Bandits of the movie (aside from covers).

In the end, like Run Lola Run, Bandits negotiates its stylistic innovations such as disrupted time (absolutely brilliant editing by Hans Funck), dramatic ellipses and "invisible" payoffs with a sense of fun and moments of true catharsis to make a grandly enjoyable whole.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Let the Trashy Cover Fool You, December 19, 2003

By	Lucy P. Bishop (St Petersburg FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

these ladies kick a**! The Bandits are four imprisoned German women with wildly different personalties who play in a prison rock band. When an opportunity to escape presents itself, they take it, led by the luscious Katja Riemann, a major star in Germany. While they're on the run, a record producer puts out a CD of the demo tape they've sent him and they become overnight hits. From here on out it's sort of "Thelma & Louise" meet "A Hard Days Night", with humor. The actresses wrote most of the songs, which are in English, and perform all the vocals and instrumentation. This is a movie that can be enjoyed by feminists and male chauvanists alike.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Getting!, April 3, 2002

By	Richard Gomez "Princess' Dad" (College Station, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bandits [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was one of those movies that came on while I was on the computer with the TV on in the background. After a few minutes I was watching this terrific story and enjoying the music of these four German women. After watching it a couple of times after that, I came to Amazon.com and bought the CD, which is wonderful! I am decided to buy the movie and would recommend it to others!