The Austrian crime drama The Robber takes inspiration from the career of Johann Kastenberger, a.k.a. "Pump-Gun Ronnie," an outlaw who knocked over Austrian banks in the 1980s while wearing a Ronald Reagan mask. At the time of his bank heists, Kastenberger lead a double life as a prodigious marathon racer and some of his records still stand today.

Based on Martin Prinz' novel, The Robber presents fictionalized racer/criminal Johann Rettenberger (Andreas Lust), whom we meet in prison: he runs laps in the exercise yard, then returns to cell to train on a treadmill. Rettenberger remains impassive in the face of the touchy-feely counselors who encourage him to go straight upon his release. He amps up his training and wins high-profile marathons, but also commits armed bank hold-ups while wearing a mask that's only slightly more impassive than his own face.

Rettenberger seems almost indifferent to his sacks of ill-gotten gain, and we soon realize that he actually covets the adrenaline — it's like a runner's high with lives on the line. In perhaps The Robber's most revelatory moment, he returns home from a theft and removes one of those athlete's heart-monitors from across his chest. When he looks at the results on his computer, the "spike" obviously indicates the time of the robbery. Sports equipment also provides a metaphor when he's trying out new running shoes, and a high-tech videotape of his stride records only the footwear, as if he's a ghost, and nothing exists but the race.