Il quarto stato

I try to avoid reading or watching anything about the movies I'm going to watch, as was the case with this movie here. That's why I guess I expected something different only knowing the title. The movie came to be a neat little conspiracy thriller, based a bit on experiences the filmmaker himself had when he visited Russia. He does mention this in the Audio Commentary which can be found on the German release of the movie (which was shot in English).

Moritz Bleibtreu, a very well known and accomplished actor in Germany, does a decent job, playing an everyman (his character being a journalist). The story moves along fine, but it should have tried to stay focused on its main theme. As it is the usual downfalls (coincidences and convenient momentum) do not help the movie, but it still is a nice little entry into the conspiracy movie "genre".