Wholetrain (2006)

The graffiti crew KSB (the abbreviation stands for Keep Steel Burning) consists of four young men who paint graffiti on trains at night, while neglecting other parts of their lives, such as school (Achim), work (Elyas), and fatherhood (Tino). When a rival crew called ATL (Above The Law) appears on the scene, the groups clash both physically and artistically. David is released on probation and immediately meets up with his crew to go spraying. After that, he increasingly considers leaving the graffiti scene. This thought takes firmer hold after another confrontation with the police. His conviction has left him heavily in debt. His probation officer draws his attention to an art professor. David is the group’s leader and mentor to the young Achim, who comes from a sheltered home, draws during class, and skips school. As a result, Achim’s parents plan to send him to boarding school. Tino is the father of young Kenny, whom he looks after sporadically and carelessly. He leads a chaotic life devoted entirely to graffiti, lives with his sister and mother, and has been caught riding without a ticket several times, so his mother gives him money to finally buy a monthly pass. Tino successfully courts Tamara, who is connected to both rival crews. After a clash with ATL, the two fall out. When talking with his friends, Tino speaks disparagingly about his father, who has remarried and lives in America, yet he eagerly awaits letters from him. Elyas works both at an auto-body paint shop, where he steals spray cans, and at his father’s snack bar. He is suspicious of the young Achim, especially of his reliability and reticence. After repeatedly losing confrontations with ATL, the KSB crew tries to paint an entire train (a “wholetrain”). The attempt fails when police officers catch them by surprise. One of the officers saves David from being hit by a passing train. The officer then tries to pull David’s mask off, and David knocks him to the ground. All four manage to escape, but Tino loses his travel pass as he flees. The police then search Tino’s family’s apartment. Tino returns, sees a police officer outside his apartment door, and successfully flees. The officers show his mother the monthly pass that led them to the apartment. Tino is then checked on a bus. He flees from the ticket inspector and is killed in an accident. The rest of the group gets the news while barbecuing for Elyas’s birthday, where a conciliatory Tamara also appears. After visiting Tino’s grieving family, David goes to the art academy and presents his drawings. The professor praises his work highly for its technique and style. Mid-sentence, David leaves the room without a word. He retrieves the crew’s spray cans from their locker and begins spraying tributes to Tino across Berlin in broad daylight. In the same piece, he uses both Tino’s legal name and his graffiti name. That evening, the rival crews KSB and ATL meet and paint an entire train together, including a portrait of Tino, who died in the accident. The film ends with cuts between the train traveling through the city and images of Deutsche Bahn employees chemically cleaning it.