The Fourth State

The Fourth State is a 2012 German thriller film directed by Dennis Gansel and starring Moritz Bleibtreu, Kasia Smutniak, Max Riemelt, Rade Serbedzija, Mark Ivanir and Isabella Vinet. It premiered in Germany on March 8, 2012. The working title was The Year of the Snake. Plot The film opens with a man leaving his Moscow apartment building. On his way out he notices strange activity in the basement, but ignores it. As he leaves, the entire apartment building is destroyed in an explosion. 13 years later, the German tabloid journalist Paul Jensen (Moritz Bleibtreu) arrives in Moscow to work on a magazine owned by his late father's friend Onjegin (Rade Serbedzija). One day while buying a sandwich Paul witnesses the customer in front of him being assassinated in the street. Paul's photographer partner Dima (Max Riemelt) tells Paul that the victim was a famous journalist whose TV show got canceled due to him being critical of the government.