Wer immer hofft stirbt singend is a bagatelle bordering on the burlesque, in which Kluge combines (historical) visual material and nostalgic images of various disasters with very graphically elaborated title card texts. The somewhat awkward Mexican Banda music underlines the bittersweet character of the work.
In a neighborhood bar, a mysterious man tells a group of friends the story of an aspiring soccer player who, 50 years ago, tried out for an English club but who had the peculiar characteristic that he could only play soccer in flip-flops.
For 750 years, the local colosseum was the only place to go if you were looking for some action. What began as human sacrifice during funeral rites for wealthy families resulted in a violent, bloody battle staged in front of 50,000 fans.
