babybirdie22 What a fantastic film! The opening sequence alone is a dazzler, and the whole premise of how to handle one's youthful indiscretions (and how others should handle them) is very well played out indeed. This film is a visual delight, and the fact that you can understand the various characters' metamorphoses, both in the gap of time missed and in the film itself, easily complements the brilliant cinematography.The protagonists were a group of young anarchists with a film camera that have all morphed into various dimmer, adult versions of themselves. It's that camera work that gets them in trouble and reunites this group. The timing is fast, the dialogue crisp, and the characters dynamic, humorous, and touching. At first I was a bit disappointed with the ending. Seemed too Hollywood. But in retrospect, I realized that Hollywood would never have allowed such an ending.Let it burn!

Erich Honecker OK. I just watched this film and, while it was an exciting action picture, it was horribly inaccurate. So bad in fact it was inexcusable. Had Hollywood turned out this crock, I could have forgiven them, but this was a German production and I expected a lot more from them.I lived in Berlin for most of the Eighties. Part of that time was spent in Kreutzberg, among the Anarchists. I knew many of them and even took part in some of their demos. I could write volumes on how these people think and act and, believe me, it was nothing like this movie depicted.In the movie, the characters were too clean and smart. Also they were all straight and the girls were pretty. And they were quite capable of launching a James Bond style breaking to a top security police fortress.In reality they were dirty, burnt-out looking, as often as not gay/lesbian and didn't mind flirting it. Many were drug users, came from broken homes, were sexually abused as kids, and had the organizing skills of Beavis and Butthead. If the girls were half way decent looking, they were probably prostituting themselves or working in strip shows to make a living. Nearly all of them were on welfare. Not to mention the frequent riots and vandalism that came with the lifestyle. Certainly nothing like the happy-go-lucky characters the movie depicts.I never ever heard of any Anarchists moving out and becoming Yuppies. Not even in the Nineties. Usually they just stayed in place until they were forced out of their squats and into concrete block neighborhoods in East Berlin.Also the police are not that stupid. Nobody ever broke into Tempelhof and stole the riot trucks or blew up the archives. Get real! This stuff never happened and should not be depicted as though it did. The worst part of it for me is that back then, the media depicted the Anarchists as the lowest trash who should be locked up immediately or disposed of by any means necessary. Now they are cashing in on them by making action movies with sexy Anarchist good guys.It's as if, 10 years from now, Hollywood made an action movie featuring Osama Bin Laden and his Mujahadeen as the good guys and put Michelle Yeoh in as the female lead. That bad! Enjoy this movie but History it ain't!

pifas No matter what good things people may say about this film, What to do in case of fire is just one step far from becoming a dull experience. It's spine bone is made out of contrivances, holes and cliché characters. It's not as ironic or clever as I thought it would be based on the plot read on the back cover, and this group of so called "idealistic" people don't catch our attention because there's no way you can feel their commitment neither back then, when they performed minor terrorist acts in the twilight of the eighties, nor now, when they must stop police's investigation about a delayed home made bomb that set off in 2000, and links the bunch with it. Now, almost fifteen years later, they all have changed but two, whom stay "true to the cause": one is a lawyer, other is a yuppie, one more is a teacher or so, and other one is a mother. Can this changed minds reunite to stop what started when their ideals were radical? You'd be better off never finding out (although you guess the ending long before the end). German movies has put me down in the past and I ought knew this one shouldn't be different (the most recent being Das experiment). I´ll never learn. Usually, they start up with a nice welcome, but as the story unfolds, they loose ground and focus on narrative; I think they just don't know how to tell a story properly 'cause that is exactly what happens here: the beginning perhaps is not a compelling one but at least seems like fun, but then, the movie rolls on and you find out this amateur effort in every possible way is going nowhere. Now, in What..., the visual matters may find every now and then some good eye candy stuff, but overall, just when the end credits starts to roll, you realize this none other thing but a waste of time and money. The one you paid to see it, and the one they spent on it. They say two times in the movie: "what to do in case of fire?", "let it burn". Well then, let's just follow it's advice and set on fire this one to let it burn until it's consumed to ashes.

roisred My sister and I rented this movie becuase she was searching for someother movie to watch in German class besides "Europa, Europa". I didn't come into the movie with any expectations, and was really pleasantly surprised by how fun and compeling it was. I know nothing about German anarchists, maybe they were terrorits and shouldn't be sympathized with, but I was definatly rooting for them to get away. There were some less than perfect stuff (the rekindling of a romance is not well handled, nor is the love-interest interesting at all), but there were so many good things, they are easily overlooked by less nit-picking movie watchers.The German punk soundtrack is a definate plus.Jean