Who Am I: Kein System ist sicher

"Who Am I: No System Is Safe" is the sophomore feature from up and coming German director Baran bo Odar - who gained recognition after his first feature film- "The Silence"- led critics to name him as a "Director to Watch Out For" in 2011.

WHOAMI is the digital alias of a young but talented hacker named Benjamin Engel. Ben is a nobody in real life- just another freak who goes unnoticed by the world. However, as soon as he logs in online, he fancies himself a sort of superhero.

After teaching himself to code at the age of 14, Ben began to wander into the "Darknet"...where all the "Big Players" of the hacking realm were known to dwell. Here he found himself becoming especially influenced by a fellow hacker named MRX.

MRX had developed a 3-fold manifesto, which was embraced by the hacking world:

1) No System Is Safe. 2) Aim for the Impossible. 3) Enjoy the meat world as much as the net world.

He was the "somebody" Ben was striving to become.

Everything changes for Ben after a happenstance meeting with an outgoing "script kiddie" named Max- who is better at hacking people than he is the internet. The two had met during community service- which Ben was serving for hacking into a University server from which he was trying to steal exam questions for his childhood obsession, Marie. The two young men quickly realize they have similar ambitions and become friends with one another.

Max introduces Ben to Stephan- a software wiz- and Paul- a master of hardware. Ben's specialty is machine code...and together the four consider themselves a force to be reckoned with. They inevitably team up to create CLAY (Clowns Laughing At You)- an activist oriented hacker collective that quickly become renown for pulling off stunts akin to Yippies and the Yes Men- in an attempt to gain global recognition and prove that they too can be one of the "Big Players".

Their drive shifts, though, when a hacker named Krypton is found murdered. Word on the Darknet is that FR1ENDS- one of the "Big Players" who are known to be a group of hackers employed by the Russian Mafia- had killed Krypton because he was an informant for the feds.

The CLAY crew are incredibly disturbed by these revelations, while still trying to win the admonition of their hacking idol- MRX. This encourages them to focus on two actions: to discover the identity of MRX and actively work to stop FR1ENDS. Little do they know, this will all culminate into one massive hack that is more "social engineering", than it is limited to computer hacking.

Will Ben and CLAY be able to play all sides against each other, achieve their goals, and escape scot-free? That's the plan. But a double twist at the end will keep you guessing.

Story-wise "Who Am I" has a tone similar to that of other anarchy oriented films from Germany, like "What To Do In Case of Fire" or Hans Weingartner's "Free Rainer" and "The Edukators"; plot-wise it is reminiscent of 90's crime gem "Fresh"; while, stylistically one can detect the influence of Jeunet and Caro films, like "Amelie". Be sure to keep an eye out for the Fight Club mise-en-scene foreshadowing ruse too.

With great style, a lot of subtle details (you may miss the first time around), and an intriguing soundtrack, Odar has managed to bring us a film that is mysterious, exciting, and thought provoking. It will certainly command your attention from start to finish. Hackers and other revolutionary-minded individuals will particularly enjoy it. Recommended.

7.5 out of 10.

I am German. So I know Germany doesn't really make a whole lot of good or just even watchable films. Well but this sure is a watchable movie.

I have seen the movie back in 2014 when it came to the cinemas here and I was blown away by it. I've never really seen such a great film made by a German movie studio. And it's not only good for a German movie. It's good overall.

Hacker movies often are boring and not well made. Here that is not the case. Hacking is showed how it is really done and it makes sense and does not look silly. The action is well done and everything is well acted. The cast is interesting and all characters are different from each other. That makes for an amazing ride that you can't take your eyes off.

The end of this movie is really Christopher Nolan like and you don't know what the HACK you've just seen. I love it so much.

You can go see this movie more than just once, you can easily see if like five or six times in my opinion. So have fun and give this a chance.

Understanding hackers work requires high technical expertise; and their reasons are rarely clear. It could be economic profit, idealistic rebellion against society, egomaniac superiority or plain sadism. In any case; it is not easy to it is difficult to portrait real hackers in movies. BLACKHAT is recent failure but this German thriller really gets the point a offer an interesting enigma sometimes quite unpredictable and never boring. It is better to know little about what happens in order to enjoy the full mystery. Let's say that the movie starts with Benjamin, being debriefed by an EuroPol agent about his and other groups hacking activities. The high point of the movie is showing how difficult is to hack and where are the weakest points in every kind of security.

As interesting as the movie becomes; it is important to note that it is not a Hollywood movie. Not car crashes and very realistic action scenes.

Even though I live in Germany, it's been years since I have watched a German movie. The local cinema and made-for-TV movie market is saturated by cheaply produced romcoms and documentary-style WW2-movies. 'Who Am I' caught my attention with its very different theme. And it turned out being a very enjoyable watch. The first interrogation theme felt a bit overacted and over-directed to me and made me worry if they would try to hard to be "cool and different", but luckily the movie quickly found a good pace and well-balanced direction. It moves at a fast pace, with quite some jumps forth and back in time, but the director keeps it well structured, so that the audience doesn't get lost in the twists and turns. The visual effects are very well done, I especially liked the visuals of the 'dark net', depicting the online interaction between hackers as scenes in an underground train. There are some minor plot holes, and I found myself able to guess some things which would happen next, but the end of the movie will manage to surprise most viewers (now, how often can you say that any more?), and the fast pace and compelling characters (throughout well acted) will keep you hooked. This isn't a groundbreaking movie, but I see good potential for it to draw the attention of an international audience, which hopefully will lead to some more German movies in he near future who also dare to address unusual themes.

I am German but usually I don't like most of the German movies. To slow, to toned down no emphasis on score, lack of creativity. And then I saw the trailer for Who am I. I went to the movie theater fixed to hate it. But I didn't. Because aside from the movie taking place in Germany and having German actors it comes across like a Hollywood movie.

First the cast. Tom Schilling delivers a really good performance as the outsider, shy, invisible for everybody. - Elyas M'Barek, well he does what he can, he is being the cool guy with some cool lines but thats about it. - Wotan Wilke Möhring is always great no exception this time. Bulked up, tattooed all over, very funny even though he has not that many lines. - Antoine Monot Jr. also very funny. - Trine Dyrholm very believable in her role, achieving very much with very little - Hannah Herzsprung sadly is terrible in this movie. She just doesn't fit in that role

Why is that movie good? Welll it has all the components. 1)A good script not outstanding but good. 2)Some good actors 3)a very cool soundtrack. You have this recurring theme you also hear in the trailer. And another theme that to be honest is very very similar to one from the dark knight. Still good. :-) And its not often that you remember a score of German movie. 4)Visuel effects and camera - camera: some really nice pans, tilts etc. 5) visual effects: benjamin takes ritalin and that is kind of like the movie is constructed. you have this wild parties, with slow motions and the electronic music underlining the whole "never-sleep-always-in-action" theme. Especially the "chatrooms" shown as a subway wagon where the hackers come together, great visual

I heard someone who didn't like the movie saying that after the movie there is nothing you think about for maybe one or two day. Well thats something you shouldn't expect from this movie. This is not a movie saying people watch what you do surfing through the net. Its not like enemy of the state. Its about hackers. And not even that. Its an action thriller and sometimes a drama. About a boy trying to make in impact in the world trying to get recognized. Its a popcorn movie. And of course there a better ones but if you look at the German movie market you won't find a better one. Finally we can be cool. :-)