Einer von uns beiden

Stony broke college dropout Bernd Ziegenhals discovers that the dissertation by a renowned Berlin sociologist is a plagiary. The professor, Dr Rüdiger Kolczyk, initially gives in to Ziegenhals’ blackmail and pays up, but he is out for revenge. When he tries to bluff his way out of more payments, Ziegenhals ups the ante. It turns personal. The psychological tug-of-war between the two escalates, with the threat level rising to include bodily harm, arson and attempted murder …
Kolczyk’s work in this film deals with “criminality as a social phenomenon”, which is also how Berlin sociology professor and novelist Horst Bosetzky (aka “-ky”) described it in his “socio-thriller” that was the basis for Wolfgang Petersen’s film. In his linear storytelling, the director augmented the atmospheric depictions of the posh Wannsee suburbs and inner-city Kreuzberg with action sequences including car chases and shoot-outs. With this, his first theatrical feature, Petersen, a graduate of the dffb film school, established himself as what Hans C. Blumenberg described as a “young German pro” who would go on to become a “Hollywood professional”.