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Tough Enough

Tough Enough

(Knallhart), Detlev Buck / NĚM, 2006
German version / Czech subtitles, 99 min

Fifteen-year-old Michael Polischka is thrown into a gritty urban world when his mother breaks up with her rich doctor boyfriend. With little money of her own, Miriam is forced to move them into a dumpy apartment in a rough ethnic neighbourhood, far from the posh suburbs they had grown accustomed to. Beatings and extortion by a gang of violent bullies makes public high school miserable for Michael. Michael learns the ropes about the neighbourhood from his likeable new buddies Crille and his younger half-brother Matze, a couple of neglected and undisciplined delinquents. A chance meeting with urbane crime lord Hamal and his henchman Barut turns Michael’s life around. The thugs take him under their wing, protecting him from the high school gang. Michael’s honest face makes him the perfect guy for drug deliveries to local dealers. One day Polischka makes the drop with his usual proficiency. But on the way back, Erol grabs the rucksack containing the cash from Polischka. Michael is now obliged to provide Hamal with some new proof of his loyalty. And this time the test won’t just involve money...