Verbrannte Erde

Following In the Shadows, the film Scorched Earth is the second part of Thomas Arslan’s Trojan trilogy. Twelve years after career criminal Trojan was forced to flee Berlin, the search for contracts leads him back to the city. Trojan is broke and urgently needs a new job. But Berlin has changed and his old contacts are no longer of much use. Plus, Trojan’s maxim of only ever working for cash is hard to follow in an increasingly digitalised world. So it takes some time before the middlewoman Rebecca finally offers him the prospect of a lucrative contract: a painting by Caspar David Friedrich is to be stolen from a museum. The heist unites Trojan with getaway driver Diana, his former mate Luca and the young Chris. Everything looks promising, but the shadowy client and his henchman Victor have their own plans for the painting. Soon it becomes less about the money and more about getting out alive. (Berlinale)