18/32
Twelve years after his escape, professional criminal Trojan returns to Berlin. A valuable painting will soon be stolen in the city. But a carefully planned heist quickly spirals out of control. Next up is Im Schatten (2010). During the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, the audience could see how the professional criminal Trojan Horse (Misel MATICEVIC) from IM SCHATTEN (2010) had to leave the capital indefinitely. Trojan horses still operate quite similarly: old-fashioned crimes like stealing material things like watches, cash, and paintings. No ties to the mafia or clan structure, a lone warrior, only occasionally and out of necessity in a team! When a coup in the Ruhr region fails, the Trojan must return to Berlin to use old contacts (Marie-Lou SELLEM). And indeed: the Trojan horse and three companions (Timas SEYFI, Marie LEUENBERGER, Bilge BINGÜL) manage to steal a valuable painting by Caspar David FRIEDRICH. But then trouble starts with the mysterious client Viktor (Alexander FEHLING)… Braunschweig-born director Thomas ARSLAN’s BERLINALE 2010 IM SCHATTEN hit like a long-awaited genre bomb. An interesting genre film, shot in Germany, is told using the cinematographic tools of the Berlin School. Extremely exciting, with rare dialogue and explosive moments of violence! ARSLAN continues this with seemingly no problems in VERBRANNTE ERDE. Gangster films are still rare in German cinema. The images of cinematographer Reinhold VORSCHNEIDER (also IM SCHATTEN) tell the story of the people living in Germany’s shadow with stark precision. Dark places, in the shadow of nearby images, but far from the perception of the police and ordinary residents. Berlin appears as both an ally and an adversary to the film’s characters. The subdued music of Norwegian composer Ola FLOTTUM (Worst Man in the World, 2021) contributes greatly to this tense atmosphere. It shows the capital city you know but doesn’t. Many viewers will be able to recognize this urban development with all its roads from their surroundings. Creepy places are not far from us: the scorched earth in the shadows Miselis MATČEVIČIUS (CRIMINAL EYE / BABYLON BERLIN) is again very convincing in Trojan, which we will probably see more of (Thomas ARSLAN is planning! a kind of Trojan trilogy). GERMAN FILM AWARD nominee Marie Lou SELLEM (2024 nominee for KNOCHEN UND NAMEN / BONES AND NAMES) is the icy mediator. But GERMAN FILM PROCESSING winner Alexander FEHLING (2019 for DAS ENDE DER WAHRHEIT / THE END OF TRUTH) is awfully good and certainly doesn’t need to hide behind classic villains like Klaus KINSKIS and Michael FASSBENDER. Thomas ARSLAN doesn’t want to spend as much time on the third film of the Troy trilogy as he did between 2010 and 2024. It’s still interesting!