What To Do In Case of Fire / Was tun, wenn's brennt? (2001): You Must See This Movie

All posts in this blog are intended to highlight movies (either really good or really bad) that run the risk of being overlooked by the public. Great movies that are well known to the general public need not apply.

The following movie is in the Good category:

The German movie What To Do In Case of Fire, original name Was tun, wenn's brennt? (2001) is about a long disbanded group of anarchists who are forced back together when a bomb they planted in Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall over a decade earlier finally detonates. With the police now after them, the group is forced back together and forced to examine their old life including why they left (except for one of them who's still active), and the life they now have.

This movie is a great look at how our ideals change as we get older and start a new life, and how we must sometimes reconcile who we were with who we are now. I've seen comments online from people commenting on historical inaccuracies, and it's true that some of the things that happen in this movie would probably not play out in real life. That said, I think there are some universal truths to this movie, about how youthful ideals get replaced with practicalities as we age, and how sometimes people who stubbornly hold on to the old ways get get left behind. Plus the use of the song Everlasting by Manic Street Preachers really helps the mood the movie is trying to convey ("In the beginning, when we were winning..."). And yes, the movie does answer the titular question at the very end. It is due to the movie's universal truths and character studies that I deem this movie to be a hidden gem worthy of the You Must See This Movie designation.

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