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August 30, 2011

The Robber (2011)

Benjamin Heisenberg's The Robber is, at least for this viewer, the most ecstatic crime picture since Revanche, with which it shares a lead actor. It's based on the true story of Johann Rettenberger, a champion long-distance runner whose other pastime was robbing banks. It doesn't aspire towards the gently revelatory quality as Götz Spielmann's masterpiece, and perhaps could be perceived as more generic (in that it follows the structure of a traditional thriller), but it's every bit as masterful a study of character, just as beautifully photographed and in possession of some formally astounding chase scenes.

It's also the most astute look at the running mentality I've ever seen on film. By running mentality I mean the compulsion to push one's body to increasingly greater perambulatory limits, the primary benefit of which is the satisfaction of achieving an escalating set of goals. Official races are competitive but, at least for this runner (who has not yet but will soon run a full marathon for the first time), their superseding purpose is almost entirely singular. When one finishes a run, the overwhelming satisfaction of having completed it is quickly overridden by the statistical query of How did I do? which naturally leads to: What can I do better? It is not an achievement one rests upon.

The Robber captures this mindset, and thus we understand that the protagonist's compulsive running not only aides him in his compulsive criminal activity but justifies it. Not morally, of course, but when we're intended to side with a sociopath, morals are not the grounds for empathy required. Why does he rob banks if he has no interest in financial gain? For the same reason why someone might run a grueling race. What do you get out of it? You want to to quit, or you want to run another. That this character keeps running is as far as the film needs to go in explaining his motivations. It's a beautiful, symmetrical method of exposition by Heisenberg and co-writer Martin Prinz, and it makes for a rich, moving and appropriately breathtaking experience. No need to be a runner to love it.

Posted by David Lowery at August 30, 2011 12:58 AM