Comedies about a nation's hero always risk to be a tricky business, and the Swiss still tend to be a bit touchy about William Tell. The fact that there has been no public controversy about this film is unfortunately less due to historical insight by viewers than to the inability of its creators to tap into the satirical potential of the story. The Tell of this movie is an Austrian lured by the promise of a Swiss passport, i. e. citizenship, to sabotage the building of an Austrian castle. Anachronisms like the German poet Schiller (author of the play "Wilhelm Tell") as a tourist and characters from the Heidi-stories are mixed into this without adding to the plot. Some crude allusions to zoophily as well as some jokes that have longer beards than the unfortunate women duped by Tell made me cringe, especially as they made no sense to the plot. And for it to be a farce there are to few funny moments. Only at the very end we get a glimpse at what a satire this could have been when the European stars surround the map of Switzerland. So, unless you have made a vow to view every Swiss film there is, you may skip this one without second thoughts, and if you watch it by accident, you will not want to repeat the experience.
