On the surface, Beer Battle is a mad example of cinéma vérité. The camera observes an inebriated crowd of people at the Munich Oktoberfest as they react to the provocations of an impertinent individualist (again, played by the director). In one extended sequence, Achternbusch moves through rows of the intoxicants, swipes a hat, drinks from strangers’ mugs, flirts with women, and annoys people until he barely escapes the attacks of the guests and is forced to hide under a bench in front of the beer tent. As in much of the director’s work, the film interweaves private obsession and public experience, here appropriating the raucous annual event—a reveling mass of thousands that features sideshows, beer tents, and sundry other diversions—into a personal encounter he would later describe as "a kamikaze mission."