Previously, the only impression of German films was "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class";
But in 2014, Who Am I: No System Of Absolute Safety swept the world with great acclaim, giving a new appreciation for German cinema.
Before seeing the full name, it is easy to misunderstand it as the action movie "Who Am I" made by Jackie Chan.
Although the names are similar, this "Who I Am" has nothing to do with the action movie.
The whole film tells the story of how the male protagonist changed from a small person to a well-known cyber criminal, and finally successfully exonerated himself.
This article deals with serious spoilers, but many of the details in the film cannot be described clearly in a few words.
If you want to experience the brilliance of this movie more deeply, it is better to watch it in its entirety.
What's more, this movie has always been full of controversy, and I believe that everyone will have a different understanding after watching it.
The film begins with the male protagonist narrating his experience to the female investigator.
The male protagonist Benjamin's parents died when he was young, only his grandmother took care of him, he was lonely, boring, and a complete loser.
At a young age, he and his grandmother depended on each other, and in order to amuse her, he learned to do magic.
Magic is also mentioned at the end, which can be said to be a big foreshadowing!
At the age of fourteen he became addicted to web programming and successfully entered the dark web to roam the online world with other hackers.
It has to be mentioned that the visual performance of the dark web in this film is a party in the dim subway;
The Trojan virus and IP tracker are props in the hand, allowing people to quickly understand what is happening on the network.
There is a Benjamin on the dark web, and even mrx, the icon of the hacking world.
Benjamin learned from MRX's experience and kept mrx's three rules in mind:
First, no system is secure;
Second, dare to do it and win;
Third, have fun in virtual spaces and meeting spaces (don't limit your fun to virtual worlds).
Benjamin meets his first love, Mary, during a pizza delivery;
Mary jokes that she got the law exam papers, but Benjamin actually goes to school to steal information.
When the copy of the test paper was completed, he was found by the guards and punished for 50 hours of public service.
While doing public service, Benjamin became acquainted with Max, who was able to speak and lead;
Max discovers that Benjamin knows computer languages and invites him to a party.
Benjamin arrives at the party, where Max introduces him to "programming guru" Steven and "hardware maniac" Paul, and gives him a "simple" test.
When we meet again, Max mentions three rules for MRX;
He told Benjamin that humans are the biggest security breaches, and that the greatest and most effective hacking technique is "social engineering."
Social engineering emerged as a formal discipline around the 1960s, and the broad definition of social engineering is:
The most common application of theories and the gradual solution of complex social problems through the use of natural, social and institutional approaches is "human flesh".
With the increasingly developed network, the security of personal information is becoming more and more unguarded;
Various social networks and resources are shared, making it very easy to obtain information;
How to protect your information has become a hot topic for a while.
Benjamin joins their small organization, and the four want to do something "big" together.
They named themselves "CLAY" (short for clown laugh at you, meaning the clown is laughing at you), and recorded the video wearing a homemade clown mask.
They hacked into the systems of drug manufacturers' buildings, attacked the ordering systems of e-commerce companies, and hacked pornographic platforms.
As CLAY was in the air, MRX said it didn't care about these little roles at all.
In order to prove himself to idol MRX, CLAY attacked the German Intelligence Service.
Who would have thought that MRX would sell the server data of the German intelligence bureau stolen by CLAY to a Russian cyber gang;
Based on this data, Russian cyber gangs learned that the hacker Krypton was fighting for the government and killed Krypton.
At this point, CLAY realized that they were in big trouble.
Desperate, CLAY thought that only finding mrx's true identity could prove their innocence.
They stole data from interpol databases, implanted a Trojan virus in the data and pretended it was a gift to MRX, hoping to discover the true face of MRX, but was recognized by MRX.
Benjamin returns to the residence to find Max, Paul, and Steven killed.
Benjamin, who is in the interrogation room in exchange for WITNESS PROTECTION with MRX's real identity, wants to disappear and become a humble little person again.
The plan was so successful that Hannah, with Benjamin's assistance, managed to capture MRX.
In fact, MRX is just a 19-year-old genius teenager.
You think that's the end of it! No, that's the climax of the whole movie!
Although the case was solved, Hannah always felt in her heart that things were not so simple.
She begins to visit Benjamin's classmates and doctors and discovers that Benjamin is a patient with multiple personalities;
Max, Paul, and Stephan are non-existent people.
Witness protection programs cannot protect the mentally ill.
Benjamin wept bitterly, and Hannah looked at the grief-stricken Benjamin and decided to let Benjamin have a way to live.
Just when everyone thought it was over, Benjamin on the ship changed the image of cowering, he was calm and confident.
At this time, Paul, Max and Stephen, who were already dead, and even Mary, appeared next to Benjamin.
It turned out that everything was a lie, just to convince Hannah that everyone else didn't exist.
The hot topic of discussion in this film is whether Benjamin is multiple personalities or not.
Many viewers believe that the last person to appear on the ship is actually another personality that Benjamin splits.
But if Benjamin is multiple personalities and as smart as he is, why should he leave a loophole for Hannah to investigate, and how can he completely make Hannah abandon his principles and let him go?
If Benjamin is not a multiple personality, why can Paul, Max, and Stephen leave no trace?
A lot of people say that Who I Am is a lot like Fight Club or Deadly ID, and the only thing that feels similar is multiple personalities.
In comparison, "Hackers," which also depicts hacker movies, is more similar to "Who Am I."
The Hacker is a film co-starring John Lee Miller, the American version of Sherlock Holmes, and Angelina Jolie, the character of Laura in Tomb Raider;
The male and female protagonists in the film are framed, and in order to clear their own charges, they disregard the previous suspicions and join forces to fight back.
Benjamin mentioned that MRX is based on the traps that the other party sets for themselves;
MRX took advantage of CLAY's arrogance to his advantage, and Benjamin used MRX's conceit to catch MRX.
Perhaps indeed, as the film says, he learned "the most effective and greatest fantasy art of all hacking methods— social engineering";
But he didn't just cheat on MRX, he also had female investigators and viewers.
As the movie says, "Everyone will only see what he wants to see." ”
In addition, shortly after the release of the movie, south Korean nuclear power plants were attacked by malicious code emails called "nuclear power plant opposition groups";
One can't help but think of CLAY attacking drug manufacturing buildings against animal cruelty, and maybe the hackers in the movie have been living around us, but we haven't found out yet.