Schultze Gets The Blues

From the opening scenes of the mines, you are drawn into the world of Schultze, a salt miner/musician who retires to a life that seems little more than an unending stretch of mundane routines. When he hears a piece of music on the radio late one night, his life is transformed and he discovers that he still has vitality left in him and he embarks upon a trip to the heartland of Zydeco music: Louisiana. Throughout the film are several different themes: the salt mines, honour and music. The mines show that Schultze has spent much of his life buried, both emotionally and musically. His musical talent is slowly starting to dissolve into stagnation and his personal life is disastrous. While visiting his mother in a retirement home, he meets a woman with such overwhelming fire and zest for life he runs from her advances and buries his desire until it is too late to do anything about it. Honour plays a big role in shaping Schultze's character. also Honour is why he plays the same piece of music each year at the festival: to placate the old timers and out of respect for his late father, who taught him to play the accordion. It is also the reason why he is so afraid to change his music; he doesn't want to do anything disruptive. A barmaid convinces him to play the piece of music that inspired him and all hell breaks loose. Music is paramount to the development of the story in that since there is such a language barrier between Schultze and the Americans, the one thing that is universal is music and dancing. Schultze's love of music and desire to interact with those performing it is one of the most important points of the movie. The Germans love their polka, there's no denying that. When you start to mess with it, they get angry and this movie proves it. (Paramount)