Der Eisbär (1998)

The film begins with a badly wounded man driving an elegant vintage Mercedes to the hot-tempered gangster boss known as the “Health Inspector.” The Health Inspector gets into the car with him, furious that someone has apparently wolfed down a huge number of burgers in his car, and asks the man who did it. But the man cannot get a word out because he is so badly injured. The Health Inspector then switches off the car radio, setting off a car bomb that had been planted beforehand. The main story then begins, taking place several hours before the car explodes. Nico, an attractive professional hitwoman, is hired by two accomplices to deliver the vintage car to the Health Inspector. A bomb has been planted in it to kill him. If the plan fails, none of them will live through the night, one of the thugs reckons. Nico sets off, then lets two immature young men, Fabian and Reza, steal the car from her. They drive around the city at night, hoping to pick up girls. When they discover one of Nico’s guns, they carry out a bizarre robbery at a fast-food restaurant: instead of money, they demand 40 “meat rolls.” In despair, Nico goes to Paul’s Corner pub to get drunk. Leo works as a hitman under the well-known alias “Polar Bear.” On his last assignment, he kills the target, who was supposed to be left alive. But Leo does not receive this information until after the job has already been done. His boss, the Health Inspector, sends his henchmen after him to eliminate him. In despair, Leo also goes to Paul’s Corner pub. There he meets Nico and falls in love with her. In the finale, all the parties meet in a Mexican standoff: Leo and Nico, Fabian and Reza, Leo’s pursuers, and two police officers. They threaten one another with handguns and scream hysterically. In the ensuing shootout between the police and the killers, most of those involved are killed. Nico and Leo are also hit by bullets. One of the killers who were sent to kill Leo survives the shootout, as do the four of them. He is the man who then drives the car to the Health Inspector in the opening scene, so the attempted assassination of the gangster boss succeeds after all, albeit unintentionally. Leo drives Fabian, Reza, and Nico out of the city. On the highway, he lets Fabian and Reza go, first pressing a wad of cash into their hands, then drives with Nico to a remote meadow. There, both of them eventually succumb to their gunshot wounds in the car. Fabian and Reza hitch a ride in a truck and are delighted with the money.