Berlin Hero

The final film from Wolfgang Becker (Good Bye, Lenin!), completed shortly before his passing, BERLIN HERO is a sharp, bittersweet satire adapted from Maxim Leo’s 2022 novel about an ordinary man swept up in an extraordinary lie.

Berlin, 2019. As the city marks 30 years since the fall of the Wall, Micha Hartung (Charly Hübner) is barely getting by, running - and living in - a failing video store. But when a magazine journalist (Leon Ullrich) uncovers a long-forgotten incident from his past, everything changes. As a railway worker in the German Democratic Republic, Micha once mistakenly sent a train across the border into the West. Reimagined as a bold act of defiance, the story is spun into a media sensation, casting Micha as the mastermind behind the biggest mass escape in GDR history. Reluctant at first, Micha is soon caught in the glare of fame – which also has its perks, as he meets his dream woman, Paula (Christiane Paul). He never imagined an ordinary guy like him could attract someone so successful, educated and witty, but like the rest of his life, this budding love story threatens to descend into a chaos of miscommunication and lies.