A group of people wearing overalls, glasses and anti-radiation masks advance in a desert region right down to the sea. It's a sci-fi film set in Portugal which has run out of film and money. Director Fritz Munro leaves for Los Angeles and finds out that the producer is in the mafia's sight. At the end the director will aim at the killers with his film camera. With The State of Things Wender is able to create alternating complete standstill and an exasperating intimism, one of his greatest films. A reflection on cinema and death.<%YOUTUBE=em8j0597KIY%>