Dead Heart (1986): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1986, Dead Heart is a documentary film directed by Oliver Herbrich, running about 44 minutes.

What it’s about. The Australians call the endless deserts in the interior of the continent the "dead heart". Here lies the town of Birdsville, 23 houses and a bar with a liquor license. The long-awaited telephone connection arrived in 1979, 90 years after it had been applied for. For one weekend, this place at the end of the world turns into a cauldron when 5,000 Australians, tired of civilization, invade for the annual horse race, the "Birdsville Cup". They come in buses, off-road vehicles, motorcycles and sports planes and have become a veritable plague. Because here, everyone can do what they've always wanted to do: for example, get drunk until they drop and never get up again. The collective mass drinking reaches its peak on Saturday night. By Monday morning, the fun is over. What remains is a village with 23 houses, a bar and a street littered with 80,000 empty beer cans.

Who’s in it. Dead Heart stars Franz A. Huber as Narrator (voice), Benita Rinner as Narrator (voice) and Detlev Kügow as Narrator (voice).

How it landed. With an audience score of 9.0/10, Dead Heart sits among the best-reviewed titles in the catalogue.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Dead Heart page.

If you liked it. Fans of Dead Heart tend to enjoy One Direction: This Is Us, Burn the Stage: The Movie, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself - Japan Edition and Senna.