23

Director: Hans-Christian Schmid

1998 / 99min / DCP

Schmid spins a cracking thriller out of the real case of Karl Koch, aka “hagbard,” a West German hacker prodigy who put his talents to use for the KGB in the waning years of the Cold War, the circumstances surrounding his death in 1989 at age 23—officially ruled a suicide—continuing to stir up debate to this day. August Diehl (Inglorious Basterds, A Hidden Life), in his breakthrough role, took home Best Lead Actor at the German Film Awards for his compelling, increasingly harried performance as Koch, who we follow from revolutionary idealism into a spiral of disillusion, monomaniacal obsession, persecution complex jitters, and addiction, crumbling under the pressure applied to him by his handlers and the chickens-coming-home-to-roost consequences of his hacktivism. (And remember: just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you…)