Theo Berger

A highly subjective documentary about the life of “professional criminal“ Bernhard Kimmel, who became a serious criminal as a teenager after the end of the war in 1945 by committing petty crimes with found weapons and made a name for himself as the head of the Palatinate Al-Capone gang in the early 1960s. Peter Fleischmann observed Kimmel between 1970 and 1987, interviewing acquaintances, police officers and repeatedly Kimmel himself, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1985 for the murder of a police officer. The grand design of the long-term observation of a human life itself contributes to the creation of legends and is criminologically and psychologically unfounded.

The autobiographical portrait of Theo Berger, who gained notoriety as the king of burglaries and escapes and spent most of his life in prison. His criminal career includes over 150 crimes committed since the age of 18. Theo Berger was sentenced twice to 15 years and twice to preventive detention. The film was made during his parole, which he received after contracting leukemia. But less than six months after filming was completed, Theo Berger was arrested again. Unprepared for a life in freedom, he was involved in a bank robbery. He was sentenced to a further 12 years in prison.