The Robber

BASED ON THE TRUE STORY Of a world class athlete turned criminal.

Based on the real-life story of one of Austria’s most-wanted bank robbers, The Robber is a breathless thriller “as lean and taut as its marathon-winning title character.” (LA Times).

Johann Rettenberger leads a double life as a championship runner and serial bank robber, sprinting between heists (and away from police cars) as many as three times a day. As portrayed in a riveting central performance by Andreas Lust (Munich), Rettenberger is an obsessive loner more concerned with his lap times than other human beings. Once he falls into a relationship with a social worker, Erika (Franziska Weisz), it becomes impossible to hide his crimes, and the violence he reserved for his robberies starts seeping into his daily life.

Director Benjamin Heisenberg has created a powerful, visceral study of a pathological adrenaline junkie. But The Robber, which is already slated for a Hollywood remake, is more than that: It’s also an action movie filled with “turbocharged chase-and-escape sequences” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) that will leave you gasping.