Stromberg - Der Film (2014)

The founding of Capitol Insurance reaches its 50th anniversary, and a celebration is planned. Company management invites the entire workforce to a country hotel in Botzenburg. Stromberg decides that his Claims Department will not attend the celebration. Like most of his colleagues, Berthold “Ernie” Heisterkamp, now Stromberg’s deputy, cannot understand the decision, since he “applied for a job at headquarters.” This leads to the first power struggle between the two. Later, Stromberg happens to learn from the janitor that Capitol is planning massive staff cuts in the near future and that its Cologne location is to be closed. This makes him fear for his future, so he decides to go to the celebration after all, hoping to secure himself a job at headquarters. The entire department, including Stromberg, “Ernie,” Jennifer, Ulf, and Tanja, along with her foster son Marvin, sets off for Botzenburg. A coach hired from Finsdorf-based Happy Tours arrives late. After an argument with Stromberg over the broken coach toilet, the bad-tempered, severely sleep-deprived driver withdraws to the back seat during a break and falls asleep there. To avoid arriving late in Botzenburg, Stromberg takes the wheel on the spot, despite Ernie’s vehement protests, and gets the now good-humored staff to their destination. Because of Stromberg’s poor planning, the fully booked hotel has room for him only in Ernie’s room. The trip is marked by a power struggle between Stromberg and Ernie, which Stromberg ultimately wins. He even makes a good impression on Klinkhammer, a member of the executive board responsible for personnel, whom he meets for the first time on arriving at the hotel and initially puts off with racist and sexist remarks, but later impresses with his entertaining skills. He saves the dull gala evening by presenting a satirical film about Capitol that he has made himself, in contrast to Mrs. Berkel’s unimaginative Capitol promotional clip, “Trust Is the Way,” and by performing a catchy song he has hastily composed (“Let Papa Handle That”). Klinkhammer offers Stromberg a job at headquarters so he will have someone to announce the mass layoffs in “the language of the people.” On the spur of the moment, Klinkhammer provides Stromberg with his own company car and an invitation to the “board party” after the main event, at a remote country house. Stromberg drives to the party with Jennifer. However, it turns out to be an orgy involving the male board members and prostitutes, which Stromberg leaves because his love for Jennifer has been rekindled. This sets off a chain of events: Klinkhammer is disappointed in Stromberg and has the key to the company car taken away from him. Shortly afterward, Stromberg receives his notice of dismissal without notice, which he uses as an opportunity to tell the other employees ahead of time about the planned mass layoffs. This sparks a protest movement against Capitol, joined by more and more employees and attracting considerable media attention. As the movement gains momentum, Stromberg is singled out as its leader and even becomes a nationwide symbol against capitalism. The film ends with Stromberg holding an unspecified, but apparently high-ranking, position in the SPD. When he arrives at the Willy Brandt House in Berlin, Frank-Walter Steinmeier greets him. He then gives interviews and comments that he is now “right at the top.”