Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Revanche

(Austria, 2008)

It means “revenge.” A small-time hood plans a bank robbery with his Ukrainian prostitute girlfriend. “Nothing can go wrong,” he says. Yeah, right. A cop comes across her sitting in the getaway car, has no idea what’s coming down, but there he is when the idiot comes flying out of the bank. The robber puts the cop down on the ground and gets in the car, drives away. The cop gets up, fires a round he will always maintain was aimed at the tires, and puts one though the girl’s head.

It turns out the cop and the robber’s grandfather are neighbors out in the country. The rest of the movie studies the reactions of both men. The cop is sinking into depression, can’t get over the shooting. The robber is thinking about killing the cop for revenge, but can’t seem to get up the nerve to do it. I won’t reveal the ending, but it was pretty honest, I thought.