Laurent Wyss - Director - Script

2023-02-06

Peter K. - alone against the state

Born in 1977 in Bienne, CH. Laurent Wyss worked as a director, after a long journalistic career in news. This was followed by several commercials and the realisation of documentary series. In 2014 he realizes his first feature film «Manche Hunde müssen sterben». The film was shown at the Francais d’Helvetie Film Festival and various swiss cinemas.

Laurent Wyss - Directors statement

While Peter Hans Kneubühl was still on the run in September 2010, I wanted to know who this man was, going so far to defend his home. I began to investigate this story down to the smallest detail - the press coverage, the community response, the court transcripts, and his writings. In the course of my research, I realized that the psyche of this suppo- sedly “insane” man would be the central point of my story. When interviewing him, I found Peter Hans Kneubühl to be the loneliest man I ever met, scarred by his youth. Yet he was also intelligent and incisive, frustrated by the inheritance battle and losing the home where he had cared for his mother. The lack of social and legal support, given Peter K.’s obvious fragility, seemed egregious. His fears of an invasive government became a reality due to the system’s inflexibility and lack of compassion.

I used his writings, the actual press, and court transcripts to develop the subjective nar- rative style of the film to bring us inside Peter’s narrowing vision and experience his world falling apart.

In my research I found that many inheritance cases and familial legal battles regularly spiral out of control. In Peter K’s case, his inability to communicate with his sister, or act with a lawyer, led to his frustrated, violent preparations, and acts. These suspicious ac- tions aroused the suspicions of local officials, leading them to choose aggressive rather than assistive or conciliatory responses. This cycle escalated, fulfilling Peter K’s belief in a repressive surveillance state, and the government’s belief in his pathological antisocial insanity. These failures to communicate ignored Peter’s years of compassionate care for his mother, and ignored the city’s assistive programs and services. The goal of serving the public and private good was forgotten by both parties, and the most primitive public order reigned. The modern tragedy of the isolated in an isolating land.