Before Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese created the best Netflix series in my opinion (and one of the best ever and anywhere, or at least the ones I've met), they made the movie "Who Am I". As with some artists, we see that some ideas or ideas that originated in an earlier work develop into another. As for "Dark", I will probably post my long text, which is his interpretation, in late spring. I was supposed to do it in 2020, but unfortunately the excess of duties and other texts meant that those to whom I have to devote a lot of time and attention went to the background and covered with dust. Moving on to the main topic, I wrote two short reviews of Who Am I, but this was at a time when my writing skills were, to put it bluntly, shit. In addition, I only saw this movie once at the time, so both texts were quite vague and my impression was too dry. This time they are fresh because I showed "Who Am I" to my girlfriend 1.5 weeks ago.
Oh, before I get to the plot summary, be warned - this is a German film. Some people have a problem with languages other than English, but in the case of the production of Aries because Odar, it is in my opinion less noticeable. His works are made on the level of good Hollywood movies. I mean a scenario that touches on an interesting topic, and at the same time is appropriately assimilated by an average viewer. In addition, he has mastered the same technical smartness that Americans have mastered the best of all nations (at least in mainstream high-budget cinema) in terms of directing, emotional expression, leading actors, shooting, using special effects, combining these and other aspects into what we call a film. When I saw "Dark" for the first time, and before that "Who Am I", the German language irritated me, but I didn't feel it in both productions. Well, going to the plot, you can see that Mr. Odar was inspired by "Fight Club", but to explain it, I would have to explain the finale, which I do not want to do. So let me start from a different side, but in the same way, did you watch the series "Mr Robot"? Well, its creators clearly watched "Who Am I" (as well as the above-mentioned "Fight Club"). I've only seen most of the episodes from season 1, and aside from the brilliant first episode, I consider the show a wasted potential. They lacked the film skills shown by the director of the production I am discussing.
Who Am I tells the story of Benjamin, an alienated, shy, generally gifted and intelligent teen hacker. In these respects, he resembles John Carmack, an exceptionally genius programmer. At some point in his life, Benjamin meets Max and his companions, with whom he performs various actions. From smaller cases that attract the attention of German police services, but are ignored (and even ridiculed by some) by the hacker elite, to the really big ones. I mean breaking into the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the Federal Intelligence Service, such a German CIA. We will also see them attacking German neo-Nazis, which is one of my favorite scenes. In addition, we get to know Benjamin more closely, we see how he closes himself more and more in his bubble and limits his existence to a smaller and smaller part of reality.
On the technical side, as I wrote in the second paragraph, "Who Am I" presents a solid Hollywood level. It has the right pace, it is not boring at any stage, and we are not overwhelmed by the excess of information that we have to absorb. It is similar in the case of showing computer hacking. I know, some things have been shown in an excessively simplified way, but it seems to me (and I am writing this from the perspective of an almost complete layman) that he has achieved a reasonable balance between real hacking and an image attractive to the viewer. However, this does not apply to portraying the relationship between European hackers. I mean their conversations on IRC communicators, which were shown in the metro ride convention in the middle of the night. Some reviewers found it bothering or even laughing, but from my perspective it was a good thing. As a teenager, I could sit and talk or write to people for hours. Be it in the form of private chats or forums - public or with limited access for ordinary people. Sometimes I imagined this type of meeting in a similar way - child's imagination, a storm of hormones, excitement. It can be seen that way, and it is not exotic, just quite natural for this group of people.
To sum up, "Who Am I" is a film that made a big impression on me and, just like in the case of "Dark", I will definitely come back to it every few years. It is both an effective show and a thought-provoking image. Due to the fact that it is only a 100-minute film, and not a 3-season, long-hour series, we do not have so many references to interpersonal relations, relations between society and the individual, presentation of the cause and effect sequence and the consequences of our actions. The film is not made of rubber, so most of these things have been kept to a minimum or we do not have them at all and only a glimpse into the human interior. I rate Who Am I on 9/10, a great show worth watching until the end. Oh, one more thing - fans of "Dark" will see an actor they know. I don't know about you, but I like watching little-known actors in different movies, it's a nice feeling.