A nuke in a briefcase and the most stressful game of hot potato ever filmed.
A terrorist drives a car to Hamburg's Rathausmarkt and unloads an unknown device that he claims can cause radioactive contamination. A special unit tries to subdue the man, but this reveals that the only way to prevent the explosion is to constantly readjust a transmitter, so they have to let him go.
Writing
Ruthless logic trap — no heroes, only damage control.
Acting
Degen's sweaty desperation carries the entire film.
Direction
Görlitz makes Hamburg feel like a pressure cooker.
Director
Christian Görlitz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made for German TV in 1988, this captured literal Cold War fears months before the Berlin Wall fell — the anxiety aged weirdly.
The 'constantly readjust' mechanism was reportedly inspired by real nuclear fail-safes, because 80s military planners were actual supervillains.
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