__UNKNOWN
__
US, 2011, 111 minutes, Colour.
Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch.
Directed by Jaume Collet- Serra.

Based on a French best-seller, this is action thriller time, enjoyably so. The author is Didier van Cauwalaert and the novel, ‘Out of my Head’.

For those who know the city of Berlin, there is the extra thrill of seeing so much of the city, recognisable landmarks, as well as lots of atmosphere and detail. Berlin in winter, just the right time for this kind of conspiracy tale.

When an agreeable couple from the US arrive in Berlin for a biotechnical summit, financed by a Middle Eastern prince, and promising to make announcements about crops that will alter the prospects for world hunger, it all sounds good. But, before you can say Liam Neeson, we and he realise that a bag has been left behind at the airport and he rushes to a taxi (driven by Diane Kruger as a Balkan illegal). A spectacular crash ensues, the taxi goes into the river and the driver rescues the scientist and she disappears. He lies in coma for four days. Nobody looks for him. He doesn’t seem to have lost his memory but when he goes back to the hotel, his wife does not recognise him and there is a man who has taken his place, name, identification, memories and all.

The film is the protagonist’s fighting to prove he is who he says, despite several attempts on his life, the enlisting of a former Stasi agent who regrets all the changes in Germany (Bruno Ganz in a scene-stealing performance), tracking down the taxi driver, and a climax with assassination attempts and explosions.

You probably have to be working overtime if you guess what the twists are going to be. But they come. Once they are revealed, it all fits into place, even some episodes and behaviour which you might have thought impossible.

With Liam Neeson as the beleaguered hero, it means that we identify strongly with him and share his anxiety. January Jones is his wife. Aidan Quinn the man who takes his place. Frank Langella a colleague.

Of course, it is far-fetched. Isn’t it?

(The advantage of seeing Unknown at the Friedrichstadt Palast screening during the Berlinale and not at the critics’ show was seeing it with hundreds of paying patrons who thoroughly enjoyed it and clapped and cheered at the end. After all, some of it was set just near the theatre and we had come through one of the stations shown on our way.)

1. A successful action thriller? Plot, characters, twists and solution?

2. The thriller conventions: identity, conspiracy, assassination attempts, chases, deaths?

3. The Berlin locations, the details of the city, picturesque, the less picturesque parts, used for realism? Recognisable landmarks? The musical score?

4. The title, the reference to Martin Harris, his identity, loss of identity, the mystery, the revelation?

5. The arrival with Liz in Berlin, a nice couple, loving on the plane, the flight, the taxi, Liz being bossy, the snow, the sights of Berlin, the luggage left at the airport, the Hotel Adlon, checking in, his hurrying away, the plausibility of this plotline? In retrospect?

6. The taxi, the traffic, the alternate route, the accident, suspicious but real? The container, the crash, the taxi going into the river, Martin unconscious, Gina saving him, in hospital, his heart stopping for some minutes, the treatment, the coma for four days, his wife not searching for him?

7. The doctor, his advice? Martin leaving the hospital, going to the Hotel Adlon, the discussions with the manager, at the desk, seeing Liz, intruding into the room, her not recognising him? The new Martin? His credentials? Persuasive? The manager and his dilemma, the police? Martin leaving, going to the taxi company, the man’s complaints, Biko and his information about Gina? Going to the diner, seeing Gina, her refusal? Going back to the hospital, the further tests, the nurse and her kindness, the advice, the assassin’s killing the nurse and the doctor, Martin getting the scissors, his escape? The pursuit throughout the hospital?

8. The nurse, the information about Jurgen? Martin visiting him? His room, photos, his being ex-Stasi, his wry comments, his believing in his job in the past, his sadness that the East had gone? His work, taking on the case, believing Martin, his airport contacts, the photo, verifying the arrival? The meeting with Gina, the information? His phoning Doctor Cole? Cole’s visit, Jurgen knowing what was to happen, taking the cyanide? The extra touch with the character of Jurgen and his East German background?

9. Gina, as a character, her help, the apartment and its dinginess, the people next door, Biko arriving, the taxi, the assassin killing him, coming into the apartment, the fight with Gina, Martin escaping over the roofs? The fight with the assassin?

10. Martin in himself, the audience believing him, the good man, his wife not recognising him, the mystery?

11. The car chase, his driving, the dangers, the later explanation of his profession making this credible? Gina, on the lookout at the gallery, taking the taxi?

12. Meeting Liz, the gallery, Gina and the warning, the assassin at the gallery, the mystery of Liz’s recognising him?

13. The decision to go back to the airport, the lost luggage, the key for opening it? The book? His father’s book – the gift, the code numbers? Working them out?

14. The vague memories in Martin’s memory, his relationship with Liz, the photos? His meeting with Cole, the discovery of the truth, assassin, creating the memories, creating the life story, the implants? His creating Doctor Harris? The other man as the alternative, Plan B? Going to the Adlon three months earlier, planting the bomb, checking the footage?

15. The television news items, the information, the nature of the conference, Doctor Bressler and his research, the contacts with Doctor Harris? In his laboratory with the alternate Martin? The prince, the philanthropy? The reception at the hotel, the biotechnical conference?

16. The plot, Cole and his organising his assassins? The planting of the bomb to kill Bressler? The plan for stealing his patents, Liz and her skills, the technological downloading of the information? Her going to dispose of the bomb, the explosion?

17. Martin, persuading the hotel manager that he was telling the truth? The fight with the alternate Martin? The repercussions of the explosions? The prince hurried out? Bressler and his search for his daughters – and the numbers as the code for the names of his daughters in horticultural terms?

18. The speech by Bressler, his giving the world the patent, the possibilities of fending off world famine? The information about investment firms and their stocks dropping?

19. The new passport for Gina, the money? Her future? Martin’s future – and the possibility of his reforming?