Vorstadtkrokodile (2009)

About ten-year-old Hannes has to climb onto the roof of an old brickworks as an initiation test to join the Crocodile Gang. He slips and ends up in mortal danger, hanging first from the gutter and finally from nothing but a thin chain. Kai, who is paraplegic, sees what happens through a telescope and calls the fire department. At the last moment, rescuers arrive at the brickworks and manage to deploy their air cushion, so Hannes survives the fall unharmed. The firefighters tell Hannes the caller’s name, and he visits Kai to thank him. Kai, who has not yet made any friends in his new neighborhood and feels pressured by his mother because of it, would like to get to know the gang. At first, though, all the children except Maria, the only girl, object to Hannes’s suggestion. So Kai has to rely on making contacts through SchülerVZ and similar sites. One night, while chatting online, he hears glass shatter outside. He turns away from the computer and witnesses three motorcyclists breaking into a shop. The €1,000 reward offered for catching the serial burglars interests the gang too—especially Hannes, whose mother can barely make a living and eventually becomes a victim of one of the robberies herself. Hannes finally takes Kai to the Crocodile Gang’s former headquarters, where they arrive just as the children discover that their treehouse has burned down. Kai leads them to the old brickworks, where they find a warehouse full of goods—the burglars’ hideout, evidently. Using Kai’s observations and the tire tracks on the brickworks grounds, the children begin investigating the area. In the process, they cross paths with various motorcyclists, especially Dennis, the older brother of gang member Frank, and his two friends, Kevin and Achmed. The conflict culminates in the three motorcyclists attacking Kai. He initially defends himself by throwing a melon at them, then makes a dramatic getaway. During the escape, a speed camera catches him, and he eventually crashes among the tables and chairs of a street café. For Hannes, the attack is the signal to finally go to the police and report what they have seen of the burglars. Until then, the gang had refused to do so out of consideration for Frank and because they lacked conclusive proof. But at the police station, the Crocodiles discover not only that Kai has since been identified through the speed-camera photograph, but also that the burglars have managed to shift the blame for the break-ins onto a group of Albanians. So they decide to obtain rock-solid evidence and lie in wait for the burglars at the brickworks on the last night before it is demolished, planning to film and photograph them as they take the stolen goods away. The plan works, and the Crocodile Gang gets the reward. They use the money to buy Kai a handbike. Contrary to his mother’s original plans, he will not be sent to a special school after all. Maria, who has been in love with Hannes from the start, receives her first kiss from him during the demolition of the brickworks. Finally, Hannes’s mother can report that she has passed her exams, giving her and her son hope for a better future.