Who Am I: Kein System ist sicher

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. :-)

I haven't seen a big amount of them (probably to due because not many of them are made) but the ones I have seen have, even if they were somewhat entertaining they always seem to fail on the technology-aspect to the point that you wonder if the scriptwriters even have used a computer at some times.

Here it's pretty clear that the script-writer has a lot of knowledge of how hacking works and computers in general, even though I'm sure that some who know the field still have a lot to complain about but for the average Joe in the technical aspects of computer technology most things makes sense.

As far as the whole story goes, I mean sure it's not as realistic as it would be if someone would document the life of a hacker surely and it's more of a thriller than a drama but it's not all that far-fetched that you roll your eyes or anything and it entertains most certainly.

Acting is stellar as well.

So yeah even if you are getting second thoughts when you find out that it's a German movie, it's definitely worth going through the 'tough task' of reading subtitles I assure you and no I haven't seen an English speaking hacker-movie that tops this one so yes definitely recommended.

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.

"Who Am I" is a German cyber-crime mindfak thriller whose story I can not go into too much because of the risk of spoilers. The film is technically competent, the acting is good, the tempo and music will drive you and keep your attention without a problem. The story itself seems to be a classic seven, but multiple plot-twists at the very end have thrilled me. Through film permeate almost unnoticeable homages to a cult 'Fight Club', that will, if you notice them, lead you to assume the outcome of this story. You will guess wrong. Only before the very end I finally understood some seemingly insignificant details and solved the puzzle... again wrong. Now, after the second viewing, I'm not so enthusiastic as I was the first time, which is expected for mindfak based on the unexpected twists and turns, but far from that I was bored and I enjoyed it from start to finish. The most sincere recommendation.

8/10