''What to Do in Case of Fire?'' () is a 2002 German film directed by

Gregor Schnitzler Gregor Schnitzler (born 1964) is a German film director. He directed more than fifteen films since 1991. His best-known films are '' What to Do in Case of Fire?'' and '' The Cloud'' based on the novel by Gudrun Pausewang. His father, Conrad, was ...

. It premiered in November 2001 at the German film festival Kinofest

Lünen Lünen () is a town with around 86,000 inhabitants in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located north of Dortmund, on both banks of the Lippe (river), River Lippe. It is the largest town of the Unna (district), Unna district and part of the R ...

and was released to theaters in 2002. Part comedy, part action and part drama, the movie is set in contemporary

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and stars German action star

Til Schweiger Tilman Valentin Schweiger (; born 19 December 1963) is a German actor and filmmaker. He became known in the 1990s for films such as '' Manta, Manta'', '' Der bewegte Mann'' and '' Knockin' on Heaven's Door''. He went on to star in international ...

. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Set in Berlin, the film opens in 1987 to show a group of radicals battling police, but soon moves to the modern day to present the same radical characters brought together once more by an act they carried out in their anti-establishment heyday. In 1987, the main characters of the film are

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

in an abandoned building in

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in ...

and making propaganda films. In one of these films, they demonstrate how to make a homemade bomb out of a

pressure cooker A pressure cooker is a sealed vessel for cooking food with the use of high pressure steam and water or a water-based liquid, a process called pressure cooking. The high pressure limits boiling and creates higher temperatures not possible at low ...

and chemicals available over the counter, and they plant the bomb in a vacant villa in

Grunewald Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany: * Grunewald (forest) * Grunewald (locality) Grünewald may refer to: * Grünewald (surname) * Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany * Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...

. However, the timer sticks, and the bomb does not go off until 12 years later, when it is jostled by a

real estate broker Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

and a potential buyer. They are injured in the blast, and the police are pressured to hunt down the "terrorists" responsible. Two of the original anarchists, Tim (Schweiger) and Hotte (Martin Feifel), still live in the original building and engage in anti-police graffiti, anti-

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

protests and petty theft. The current owner of the building, a

nouveau riche ; ), new rich, or new money (in contrast to old money; ) is a social class of the rich whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. These people previously had belonged to a lower social cla ...

Turk named Bülent, cannot evict them, because Hotte is disabled, having lost his legs. (It is later revealed that they were crushed by a

water cannon A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining. ...

during a

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

.) While Tim is out, the police raid the building in a sweep for clues to the bombing and confiscate their cache of old films, including the incriminating bomb-making film. They cart the films off to the fortresslike police headquarters, a former

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n military

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

. One by one, Tim and Hotte visit the former members of their group to warn them of the bust. They are distressed by the news, having gone on with their lives: Nele (

Nadja Uhl Nadja Uhl (; born 23 May 1972) is a German actress. Uhl grew up in the town of Franzburg, near her birth city of Stralsund. She lived with her mother in a three-generation house, shared with aunts and her grandparents, who had moved in sh ...

) is a single mother of two young children; "Terror" (Matthias Matschke) is an attorney; Maik (Sebastian Blomberg) runs an advertising agency that exploits

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

imagery; and Flo (Doris Schretzmayer), Tim's former lover, has evidently gone

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

, although her circumstances are never fully explained, and is about to get married. They balk when Tim and Hotte propose breaking into the police headquarters and destroying the evidence, but Terror's counter-suggestion that they should turn themselves in is met with even stronger disagreement, and finally the former radicals devise the plan of infiltrating the headquarters by pretending to be a

television news News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tel ...

crew. A rift within the police department makes their plan possible: Manowsky (

Klaus Löwitsch Klaus Löwitsch (8 April 1936 – 3 December 2002) was a German actor, best known in Germany for his starring role in the television detective series '' Peter Strohm''. He appeared in several films directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, begin ...

), an old-school Berlin cop, wants to use aggressive tactics and avoid press coverage, while Henkel (Devid Striesow), a technocrat from

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, prefers more modern, less intrusive methods and is eager to earn good

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

for the department. Henkel gives the "TV crew" a tour of the police headquarters, including the

evidence room Property rooms, or evidence rooms, are secure areas used to store seized property, stolen property, and evidence to be used in court. They are typically located in a police station. Evidence or property in most cases may only be handled by techni ...

where the films are stashed. Manowsky interrupts the tour, and the former radicals barely manage to slip away. To destroy the films, the radicals decide to smuggle a second homemade bomb into the evidence room as a

Trojan horse In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse () was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer, Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending ...

: all the evidence is stored alphabetically according to the street where it was found, so they need only plant the bomb in a suspicious-looking crate in their old building and entice the police into picking it up. What the other radicals do not know is that Hotte intends to smuggle himself into the evidence room inside the crate along with the bomb, to make sure it's placed correctly. Hotte, without his wheelchair (he uses a dolly), is trapped in the evidence room when the emergency exit door is jammed. Frantically, he uses the phone in the room to call his compatriots, but they are all away from their phones. In desperation he calls Bülent, who at that moment is trying to talk Tim into abandoning their apartment and accepting a payoff for their few remaining goods. Tim rushes to Hotte's aid. The others eventually get Hotte's message and come to rescue him as well, but meanwhile, Manowsky intercepts Hotte and Tim in the evidence room. After a taunting lecture on their inability to let go of past ideals, Manowsky prepares to arrest the two, but the others arrive just in time to distract him. Tim seizes Manowsky's

handcuffs Handcuffs are Physical restraint, restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists in proximity to each other. They comprise two parts, linked together by a Link chain, chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each cuff has a rotating arm whi ...

and shackles him to the evidence cage. He threatens to leave the bomb in Manowsky's lap, but the others persuade him not to commit outright murder. Tim tosses Manowsky the handcuff keys, and the radicals flee as an alarm sounds. Pursued by police through the headquarters, the former radicals stumble upon a water cannon and use it to drive back the police and escape. As Manowsky and Henkel observe their flight, Henkel confidently predicts that the evidence will lead to their capture. However, Manowskymoved by the radicals' compassion, by his annoyance with Henkel and by reflection on his own long-held idealshas left the bomb in the evidence room, and it destroys the evidence. The group of friends walk through the streets of Berlin and end up on the floor of an

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

car. Tim then pulls the incriminating film out of his bag, holds a lighter to it, and asks aloud: "What do you do if there's a fire?", and the friends answer, "Let it burn!" The film contains mild nudity, mild drug use, and mature language.

Cast

as Tim *

Sebastian Blomberg Sebastian Blomberg is a German actor. He is known for his role as Rudi Dutschke in the 2008 film ''The Baader Meinhof Complex''. Early life and education Sebastian Blomberg was born in Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany. Career Blomberg has app ...

as Maik *

Martin Feifel Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * Mart� ...

as Hotte *

as Nele *

Doris Schretzmayer Doris may refer to: People and fictional characters * Doris (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters * Doris (surname), a list of people * Doris (singer), stage name of Swedish rock and pop singer Doris Svensson (194 ...

as Flo * Matthias Matschke as Terror *

as Manowski *

Devid Striesow Devid Striesow (born 1 October 1973 in Bergen auf Rügen, East Germany) is a German actor. After his school education, he moved to Berlin to start an apprenticeship as a goldsmith but the goldsmith's business went bankrupt before Striesow cou ...

as Henkel * Barbara Philipp as Pritt

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 24 critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it has a score of 47% based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Kevin Thomas of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

called it "Thoughtful, even stinging at times, and lots of fun." Megan Lehmann of the

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

wrote: "It's all entertaining enough, but don't look for any hefty anti-establishment message in what is essentially a whip-crack of a buddy movie that ends with a whimper." Elvis Mitchell of

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

wrote: "This is a picture that Maik, the firebrand turned savvy ad man, would be envious of: it hijacks the heat of revolution and turns it into a sales tool."

References

External links

* * {{Anarchism 2001 films Films about anarchism Films set in Berlin German drama films 2000s German-language films Punk films Columbia Pictures films Films about squatting Squatting in Germany 2000s German films