What to Do in Case of Fire? (2001)
What To Do In Case of Fire? tells the humorous and touching story of six former creative anarchists who lived as house squatters in Berlin during its heyday in the 80s when Berlin was still an island in the middle of the former eastern Germany. At the end of the 80s they went their separate ways with the exception of Tim and Hotte, who have remained true to their ideals and continue to fight the issues they did as a group. In 2000, with Berlin as Germany's new capital, an event happens forcing the group out of existential reason to reunite and, ultimately, come to grips with the reason they separated 12 years ago.
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Redundant and unnecessary.
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Great Film overall
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
What a fantastic film! The opening sequence alone is a dazzler, and the whole premise of how to handle one's youthful indiscretions (and how others should handle them) is very well played out indeed. This film is a visual delight, and the fact that you can understand the various characters' metamorphoses, both in the gap of time missed and in the film itself, easily complements the brilliant cinematography.The protagonists were a group of young anarchists with a film camera that have all morphed into various dimmer, adult versions of themselves. It's that camera work that gets them in trouble and reunites this group. The timing is fast, the dialogue crisp, and the characters dynamic, humorous, and touching. At first I was a bit disappointed with the ending. Seemed too Hollywood. But in retrospect, I realized that Hollywood would never have allowed such an ending.Let it burn!
The films that I have seen out of Germany are limited I admit, but the ones I have been seeing are just wonderful. I have added to my list of German favorites which include RUN LOLA RUN and THE HARMONISTS, the charming an edgy dramedy WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF FIRE? The characters in this film simply crackle. The plot about a reunion of 80's anarchists zooms along to its conclusion. The film is both funny and real.
This was so so bad, they tried so hard at every moment to be Hollywoood... this was crap. I felt betrayed by the time it was over. Just cliche after cliche. Run fast from this Hollywood wannbe movie. The characterers were never developed, the plot was a farce and noting worked. Even parts that seemed to be redeeming turned out crap... it's a bad joke.... do not see this thing.
I finally found a German film, with English subtitles at the DVD rental store. Having seen Til Schweiger in Driven recently I was excited to see him in an authentic German production. And the film starts out well as we see the 6 radical friends going from being anarchists to most of them living pretty normal live, even to the point of betraying their original believes. In some ways I think people that lived through this might have a depth of understanding which I'm lacking having been brought up in very protective environment in Iceland. Therefore for an outsider, I felt that the film should have spent a little bit more time on defining what they were objecting to, what drove them, if you like. And the film had a strange balance of reality and humor, which did work, though unusual. When the film neared to its closure I felt it lost height a bit, becoming a little bit too Americanized. Unusual and well worth seeing. 7/10