Das stolze und traurige Leben des Matthias Kneissl

Mathias Kneissl was Bavaria's last genuine robber. The movie, based on 19th century historical sources, depicts the last year in the life of this famous outlaw and folk-hero. At the age of 23 he is released from jail after completing an unjustified sentence of six years. He now goes astray to rob the money for his and his girlfriend's emigration to America. After shooting a policeman, Mathias Kneissl remains at large for a number of months. Not until he is betrayed by his girlfriend did the police track him down, three hundred soldiers surrounding the barricaded farmhouse in which he his hiding. The ensuing siege lasts several days. Finally, severely wounded, Kneissel is pulled from the farmhouse ruins. He recovers in a Munich hospital only to be executed in 1902. He is 27 years old.