

When tanks roll into paradise, 800 villagers rewrite democracy.
A documentary about a proposed military training area in Rothenthurm, Central Switzerland, and the village's resistance to those plans.
Direction
Beeler captures raw town hall democracy.
Production
Stunning Swiss landscapes vs military machinery.
Writing
Dry Swiss bureaucracy becomes black comedy.

Director
Edwin Beeler
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This captures Switzerland's direct democracy at peak 1980s tension—citizens literally voting on federal military policy.