This documentary, Ulrich Seidl's full-length film debut, examines the lives of the street newspaper sellers in Vienna, a mixture of men from Turkey, India, Pakistan, Egypt and Eastern Europe, standing out in all weathers, peddling the trivial Viennese tabloids. We see their lives on the street, their cramped living quarters, their minders, the 'training' days, and the inhumane process which keeps them working endless hour for little reward.

A reconstruction of the "concept film," which Gertrude Stein ("a rose is a rose is a rose") suggested to Charlie Chaplin in the 1920s. (E.S.jr.)