Tough Enough

Tough Enough (Knallhart, 2006) is a German social thriller you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Detlev Buck and based on Gregor Tessnow's novel. The setting is Berlin's Neukölln district — raw, crowded, and governed by rules the state stopped enforcing years ago.

Fifteen-year-old Michael and his mother move from their villa in wealthy Zehlendorf into a high-rise block where school teaches you to fight, not study. A local crime boss spots Michael's innocent face and offers him a straightforward deal: deliver packages, earn money, earn protection. Michael takes it. The slide into deeper trouble is gradual and almost logical — which is what makes the film unsettling rather than melodramatic. David Kross, who later starred in The Reader (2008), played Michael at sixteen. Watch Tough Enough online on iFILM.