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''Who Am I'' (; ) is a
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
techno-thriller A techno-thriller or technothriller is a hybrid genre drawing from science fiction, thrillers, spy fiction, action, and war novels. They include a disproportionate amount (relative to other genres) of technical details on their subject matter ...
film co-
written Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...
and directed by Baran bo Odar. It is centered on a
computer hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bug (computing), bugs or exp ...
group in
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 ...
geared towards global fame. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin (director), David Dobkin's film ''The Judge (2014 film), The Judg ...
. The film was shot in Berlin and
Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
. Because of its storyline and some elements, the film is often compared to ''
Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel ''Fight Club (novel), Fight Club'' by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays The Narrator (F ...
'' and ''
Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and dissoci ...
.''


Plot

Benjamin Engel, a hacker from
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 ...
, sits in an interrogation room. The officer in charge tells Hanne Lindberg, Head of the Cyber Division of
Europol Europol, officially the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU). Established in 1998, it is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and serves as the central hub for coordinating c ...
, that Benjamin asked to conduct the interrogation. Benjamin says that he has information regarding FR13NDS (), a notorious hacking group of four members connected to the
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n cyber mafia, and MRX, an infamous hacker known on
Darknet A darknet or dark net is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol. Two typical darknet types are social n ...
; he tells her that he could give them both to Hanne if she listens to him. Having no choice, Hanne sits down. Benjamin tells Hanne that he is like a
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
: like many heroes, he, too, has no parents; he never met his father as he abandoned the family when Benjamin was born, and his mother committed suicide when he was 8. He lives alone with his ailing grandmother. He regards his "superpower" as invisibility, as he was never noticed by most people during his childhood, due to him being socially awkward. He says he learned programming and hacked his first system when he was 14. Though he felt like a loser in real life, he felt a sense of belonging on the Internet. While spending most of his time on Darknet, he met his hacking hero, MRX, whose identity no one knows and who can hack into any system. Benjamin aspires to be like him. However, as he was unable to attend university, he worked as a pizza delivery boy to pay the bills. He tells Hanne that, one night while he delivered pizzas to a group of students, he saw Marie, a girl with whom he was in love since his school days. Hearing her having trouble with examinations, he decided to help her and be a 'superhero'. He went to the university, hacked into its servers to download the exam questions—but he was caught by a security guard and arrested. Having no prior criminal record, he was forced to perform community service as a punishment. He tells Hanne that while working on cleaning the streets as punishment, he met Max, a fellow hacker, who Benjamin feels is the opposite of himself; a charismatic, cocky and confident individual. Later, Max had introduced him to his colleagues Stephan and Paul. After Benjamin proved himself as a hacker, Max explained to him that the concept of social engineering is the greatest form of hacking. They decide to form a hacking group, called "Clowns Laughing At You", nicknamed CLAY, and they use Benjamin's house as a base of operations, since Benjamin was forced to send his grandmother to a nursing home due to her
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
. They cause general mayhem around Berlin in a form of pranking, becoming popular around social media. However, MRX, with whom is Max obsessed, mocks them outright. Infuriated, Max wants to perform a more outrageous feat of hacking, and Benjamin suggest hacking the main building of BND (German Central Intelligence). Impressed by this outrageous idea, the group agrees with Benjamin and decide to hack the BND in order to impress MRX. Using
dumpster diving Dumpster diving (also totting, skipping, skip diving or skip salvage) is wikt:salvage, salvaging from large commercial, residential, industrial and construction containers for unwanted items discarded by their owners but deemed useful to the ...
and
phishing Phishing is a form of social engineering and a scam where attackers deceive people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware such as viruses, worms, adware, or ransomware. Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticate ...
to gain access to the BND building, they manage to hack the internal servers and hack the printers to print their logo, titled "NO SYSTEM IS SAFE", all around the building, impressing MRX. However, when they go to a club and celebrate, Benjamin notices Max kissing Marie. Infuriated, Benjamin refuses to let them into the house, also offending Marie when she visits him due to his anger. Feeling inferior, he secretly contacts MRX, offering him valuable information: a database from BND's private servers, which he hacked while he was in the BND building, which impresses MRX. When the group arrives the next day, Benjamin is still furious and attacks Max, who responds by beating him up. However, Paul, watching the TV, hears on the news that one of the members of FR13NDS, nicknamed Krypton, was murdered. Benjamin admits that he gave the information from the BND to MRX, and after checking them, realizes that the information identified Krypton as a double agent working with Hanne to expose MRX and FR13NDS, and CLAY is now labeled as a terrorist group for hacking the information. Seeking to clear their name for the murder, Benjamin contacts MRX, who instructs them to hack into the Europol database in exchange for MRX's identity, giving them a hacking tool to help. After dissolving their hard drives in acid to erase data, they travel to Europol's headquarters in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
in order to try and break their way in—but it's impossible to find a way inside. The headquarters dump their trash in a secured building, the sewers are locked, and phishing attempts failed. However, while checking out the building, Benjamin notices a group of scholars visiting the building, and one of them drops his visitor card. Using Max's advice about social engineering, Benjamin manages to gain access to the building by fooling a guard and plants a hacking device inside. He then hacks into the internal Europol servers and provides MRX with an entrance, secretly encoded inside a double
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 ...
so MRX will be exposed when he tries to gain access. However, MRX, anticipating this, takes a snapshot of Benjamin via his webcam, exposing him. Benjamin is forced to flee when a group of Russian mobsters finds him; he evades them in the subway. Benjamin returns to the hotel where he was staying with the trio, only to find them murdered. Having no other choice and knowing that FRI3NDS would kill him, he decided to turn himself in to Hanne, proving that he is serious after stating that he hacked her profile and learned personal information about her. Hanne, who was suspended for her failure to capture them and is desperate to apprehend FRI3NDS and MRX, agrees to put Benjamin into a witness protection program in exchange for capturing them. Benjamin logs in as MRX himself and spreads lies about MRX being a snitch, forcing the real MRX to force his way into the Darknet servers with unsafe methods, allowing Benjamin to expose him. MRX is exposed as a 19-year-old American boy from
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, whom the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
arrests in a coffee shop. However, after agreeing to give Benjamin the witness exchange program, Hanne notices a wound going through his palm (the same wound that Max got after running a nail through his hand), and realizes that Max, Stephan and Paul are all made-up characters. Distraught, she visits Benjamin's doctor, who states that his mother had multiple personality disorder and committed suicide because of it, learning that it can be genetically inherited. Hanne connects various plot holes in Benjamin's story and realizes that "he" alone was CLAY; he committed all the atrocities, he hacked into the BND alone, and he planted the WWII bullets from his grandmother in the hotel to make it look like they were killed, imagining the trio due to his illness. Hanne confronts Benjamin, who has an emotional breakdown, as people with mental disorders cannot be given witness protection. However, Hanne changes her mind and allows him access to the witness protection program, revealed to be an "actual" program containing information about all citizens of Germany; Benjamin changes his identity here. Hanne, dropping Benjamin off, states that she let him go because he truly wants to stay invisible, and lets him go on the condition that he never hacks again. Benjamin, now sporting blonde hair, is standing alone on a Scandlines ferry heading north. However, he is suddenly joined by Marie, Max, Stephan and Paul. In narration, Benjamin states that he performed "the greatest social engineering hack" ever; the scene shifts back to Benjamin going back to the hotel, finding the guys alive and well; he instructs them to flee since MRX knows his identity, but they refuse to leave him behind. After Marie visits them and confirms that mentally ill subjects cannot be granted witness protection, they devise a plan for Benjamin to go to Hanne and dictate the story, deliberately giving plot holes which she will most likely decipher, and then using her grief for him to give him access to the witness protection program, and also spiking his hand with a nail to make the story seem truthful. In the server room, it was revealed that Benjamin didn't change his identity, he "erased" it completely. Benjamin states that Hanne will eventually realize his deception, but she won't hunt him down as she got what she wanted. Indeed, at a press conference announcing the defeat of FR13NDS and MRX, Hanne, having an epiphany, smiles as she realizes the truth.


Cast

*
Tom Schilling Tom Schilling (born 10 February 1982) is a German film and television actor. Life and acting career Schilling grew up in the formerly East German borough of Berlin Mitte. He was discovered at the age of 12 by stage director Thomas Heise, an ...
as Benjamin Engel *
Elyas M'Barek Elyas M'Barek (; born 29 May 1982) is an Austrian actor based in Germany. He gained recognition for his roles in the comedy television series '' Türkisch für Anfänger'' and the 2013 comedy film '' Fack ju Göhte.'' Early life M'Barek was bo ...
as Max *
Hannah Herzsprung Hannah Herzsprung () is a German actress. Biography Hannah Herzsprung is the daughter of actor Bernd Herzsprung and fashion designer Barbara Engel. She debuted as an actress in 1997 in the BR series '' Aus heiterem Himmel'', where she playe ...
as Marie *
Wotan Wilke Möhring Wotan Wilke Möhring (born 23 May 1967) is a German actor. Biography Möhring was born in Augustdorf near Detmold and grew up in Herne. His father was an army officer and his mother worked as a teacher. He has a sister and two brothers. O ...
as Stephan * Antoine Monot, Jr. as Paul *
Trine Dyrholm Trine Dyrholm (; born 15 April 1972) is a Danish actress, singer and songwriter. Dyrholm received national recognition when she placed third in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix as a 14-year-old singer. Four years later, she again achieved national r ...
as Hanne Lindberg * Stephan Kampwirth as Martin Bohmer * Leonard Carow as MRX * Lena Dörrie as BKA Investigator


Allusions and parallels

* Clay's first action is directed against the right-wing party NBD, an allusion to the NPD. Clay slips them a disparaging
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
commercial at their party meeting, which is shown in front of the party members. * The main character of the film ''
Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel ''Fight Club (novel), Fight Club'' by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays The Narrator (F ...
'' has a dissociative identity disorder, as does Benjamin apparently. A Fight Club
film poster A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...
hangs in Benjamin's room. * In the BND's list of employees, their “nicknames” can be found alongside their real names. These come from the
DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
and
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
universes (e.g. Krypton). * When Benjamin is in the car with Hanne Lindberg shortly before his release, a person can briefly be seen in the background watching the action. This led to speculation about a second part. In an interview, Odar revealed:
"Who Am I"—der singende, tanzende Abschaum der Onlinewelt
', Lisa Ludwig (September 24, 2014), Vice, retrieved July 31, 2018
* In an interview, Odar confirmed that he had staged Hannah Herzsprung's role in such a way that she never really notices or looks at the boys. Likewise, Odar confesses: However, he leaves the question of the friends' existence open to the viewer. The question of whether Benjamin's friends are real or imaginary is therefore still unresolved at the end. * The painting “La reproduction interdite” (1937) by the Belgian surrealist
René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgium, Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature ...
appears several times in the film. A copy hangs in the office of the doctor who is treating Benjamin's grandmother. In the scene after the BND hack, in which the protagonists celebrate their success, the motif appears again. We see Benjamin standing in front of a mirror in the toilet from behind. In the mirror, however, we do not see his reflection but, just as in “The Forbidden Reproduction”, his back. * In the credits at the end of the film, the program code of the Back Orifice software, a remote maintenance software that is generally considered a
rootkit A rootkit is a collection of computer software, typically malicious, designed to enable access to a computer or an area of its software that is not otherwise allowed (for example, to an unauthorized user) and often masks its existence or the exist ...
and thus a tool of hackers, is shown in the background.


Reception

The film premiered in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
. It was also screened at the 17th European Union Film Festival. The film won three German Movie Awards and the
Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American Animated film, animated Coming of age, coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'', the ...
for Best German Film.


Other versions

Warner Bros. struck a deal in 2014 to remake the film.
David Goyer David Samuel Goyer (born December 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, novelist, and comic book writer. He is best known for writing the screenplays and stories for several superhero films, including '' Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' (1998), t ...
is set to direct the film. The script will be written by Dan Wiedenhaupt, who wrote the Albert Hughes-directed '' The Solutrean''. The film will be produced by Goyer and his Phantom Four banner, along with Kevin Turen and Langley Park's Kevin McCormick.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Who Am I 2014 films 2014 thriller films 2010s German-language films 2010s English-language films German thriller films English-language German films Films about computing Films shot in Berlin Fiction about malware Techno-thriller films Works about computer hacking 2010s German films Columbia Pictures films English-language thriller films