German judge Elke Seeberg's orderly world turns upside-down when a terrorist bomb explodes in a Berlin bus and the federal police come bursting through her door: Allegedly her teenage daughter played a part in the attack and is now on the run. What follows is a Kafkaesque nightmare of illegal round-the-clock surveillance by the Secret Service, public denunciation, and the collapse of her career. But when Federal Agent Buch helps her put together some pieces of the puzzle on her own, the fear of terrorists quickly gives way to the paranoia against an all-powerful state encroaching on all her rights.
Reviews
Film Perfection
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.
"Unterm Radar" is a German small-screen movie from 2015, so this one is still new, relatively new as it was made two years ago the day I am writing this review. I must admit I am not familiar with any of the three writers here, even if I see two of them have been pretty prolific for a long time. But the cast of this 90-minute movie includes more familiar names like Paul, Ferch, Hinrichs etc. The story seems somewhat fine initially, but the ways in which the plot spins in all directions are just ridiculously unrealistic. This includes for example the story about Hinrich's character, which is such a shame as he is a really good actor. This includes the daughter story line. This includes all the parts about secret organizations etc. And this includes of course Paul's character having to go solo all the way against the bad guys. And there is more than that. Having seen Paul in other works recently, I can't deny she somewhat grew on me, but here she sadly has some really bad moments once again. So yeah, it may partially be because of the horrible story paths they took here, but also her line delivery was really really bad at times. And Ferch? Well, this is exactly his kind of movie to be honest. Tries to be really dramatic, relevant and mind-blowing, but comes short in all areas really. So his performance looks probably more lackluster than it actually is. What is especially shocking is probably that there are two writers here and they still messed up instead of telling each other about the flaws. Needless to say that the completely unrealistic happy ending eventually sinks this film even further if that is still possible. Do yourself a favor and watch something else instead.
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