Free Rainer

Rainer is the worst kind of television producer - a man who always places the dollar above all, and couldn't care less about the profoundly negative effect his desensitizing programming has on the general public. A cocaine-addicted scumbag whose latest creation is a show in which the sperm of three men races to win them a date with a jiggling, gyrating floozy, Rainer's outrageously outré shows kill more brain cells that nitrous oxide, and are always a surefire hit - but foreshadowing events suggest that this irresponsible style of entertainment seems to be losing its steam. One day, the master of small-screen exploitation is involved in a near-fatal automobile accident, and the trauma of the event somehow changes something deep within his drug-addled brain. Now after seeing the error of his former ways, Rainer vows to redeem himself by creating the kind of culturally responsible programming that he has always viewed with contempt and distain. But programming about politics and media responsibility just don't draw the kind of crowd as Rainer's previous, more sensationalistic efforts, and when his latest programs fail to draw the kind of ratings the network is used to, he is unceremoniously fired. Now determined more than ever before to alter the German perception of entertainment on a massive, culturally wide level, the scheming producer rallies a collection of societal outcasts and hatches an ingenious plan to manipulate the set-top boxes that tabulate ratings and record the viewing habits of "average" German citizens.

Cast:
Moritz Bleibtreu
Elsa Sophie Gambard
Milan Peschel
Gregor Bloéb

Director: Hans Weingartner
Writer: Katharina Held, Hans Weingartner
Runtime: 130 min
Genre: Drama
Language: German
Subtitles: Greek
Production Year: 2007