The Robber

In watching The Robber, I couldn't help but notice the similarities to this year's Drive. You don't have the blood and cotton candy aesthetic that Refn so expertly delivered that made the latter film really sing, but the titular character is a similar blank state and this story also plays out in a muted way that lets the action do most of the talking instead of the characters. Which sometimes and works and sometimes doesn't. The action scenes are intense and feel really authentic and as we start to get a better understanding of the character, the piece really starts to do some work.

My problem is that we never properly get inside the head of this character, a similar problem that I had with Drive. We get his motivation and the final stretch of the film is tragic and beautiful because of that, but I felt that the whole thing would have been a lot more impressive if I was given an opportunity to emotionally connect with the main character. Unfortunately, the film never allows me to do this because he's presented in such a blank, unemotional light that it becomes more about the ideas than the person. Which is all well and good and the film is certainly impressive, but it holds it back from being something that I could put all of my praise behind and without that wildly unique style that Refn created with his film, this similar project doesn't compare too much.

Still, there's a lot to admire here and aside from the action pieces I really admired the lead performance from Andreas Lust, who was aces in a devastating role in 2009's Revanche. Here he isn't given a lot to work with as an actor, but he commands the screen and presents a character who you simultaneously want to know more about and want to run and hide from. He's fascinating and intimidating, but part of you stands on his side. I just wish I had connected enough so that all of me could be with him.

Well I say it's a true story it is, as usual, based on real facts. The film is about a marathon runner called Johann Rettenberger played by the uber brilliant Andreas Lust ('Munich'). After being released from prison for armed robbery he goes on to win a Viennese marathon. He is though a loner and his parole officer is concerned that he seems to shun the company of others – 'the loneliness of the long distance runner' personified as it were.

He soon moves in with an old flame who is still carrying a torch for him. He meanwhile remains as cold as a fish and aside from practice runs he starts to do armed robberies all over Austria. He seems to love the thrill of the chase as much as the loot he is making off with. What follows is a really extraordinary story of a life quite literally on the run. This is in German with good English sub titles.

This is a very well made film, with Lust putting in an excellent performance of a man who is so far removed from societal norms that he has his completely own set of values. This is based on a novel but the real story comes from Johan Kastenberger who did all his robberies in a Ronald Regan mask and his story is probably more sensational than as depicted here. Either way a really superb way to spend 100 minutes and a film I can recommend to all lovers of Euro based crime cinema.

I have always found runners and cyclists to be a strange lot. Why would they devote hours of their time to sweating except to get some kind of a rush similar to drug addicts?

This film shows that life clearly, as Johann (Andreas Lust) gets out of prison and, rather than seek a life of fame and glory as a long distance runner and settle down with a woman who loves him, he pursues a life of crime. He is seeking the same or a higher rush that he gets from running.

He doesn't quit running, but uses it to aid in stealing. It's never about money, as we never see him spend any. He just stores thousands of Euros under his bed. He even maintains a blank look as Erika (Franziska Weisz) tries to get some emotion out of him. His life is wrapped up in the rush he gets from stealing.

Both primary actors gave very good performances in a film that had you on the edge as time ran out for Johann.

Johann Kastenberger (Andreas Lust), real life bank robber, would have been considered just another thief but for his second interest -- marathon running. He was still an interesting conundrum as a bank robber, though, in that he never spent any of his ill gained cash. He couldn't put it in a bank, not even a Swiss one, for fear of detection. He couldn't get it out of the country. He didn't seem to want to buy anything anyway. So, it just stayed in a bag under his bed -- not really the best plan for hiding money. We never really find out why he had this compulsion to rob banks, and in the process steal getaway cars. He just did it, and it didn't even seem to make him happy. There was nothing about Johann that expressed happiness, not even his relationship with his girlfriend, Erika (Franzeska Weisz). But what made him a biopic worthy character was his other compulsion -- to run. He was a champion marathon runner who while even in prison, maintained his training regime running circles in the yard and using his own treadmill in his tiny prison cell. When asked by a prison official how his life would change when he got out, he said, 'I won't have to run in circles anymore.' This review is continued at exm.nr/BonnisSteiger . Thanks.

Austrian-German co-production, Der Räuber (The Robber, 2010), based on the real events, tells the story about the long-distance runner, who could've lived a decent life, having a loving and caring girlfriend, a solid place to stay, and an extraordinary talent for long-distance running that he could've easily made a good living on, but instead, he additionally specializes and excels in bank robbing, becoming an addict of such an unusual activity for no other obvious reason but for possible "beauty of a criminal campaign" and adrenaline rush received along. (He's hinted times and again that he couldn't have cared less about the stolen money itself, by jamming it into black rubbish plastic bags, as if he was going to trash it.) One of those life stories that you cannot help but get unpleasantly amazed with how all the reasonable prerequisites for a good life, though inexplicably, yet seemingly so unnecessarily, get flushed down the drain, apparently faithfully presented in the movie with understandable, ergo acceptable lack of intention to ease the answers to the hard whys.