This Week at the Movies: Watching You - The World of Palantir and Alex Karp

It is the most secretive company in Silicon Valley, with a boss who is as eccentric as he is mysterious: Palantir's 'Gotham' software is probably the most powerful data analysis tool in the world - in other words, the most dangerous surveillance programme that helps the powerful of this world to control citizens and apprehend criminals - or even members of the opposition. On the other hand, Palantir helps Ukraine to defend itself against the Russian invaders. The head of the extremely discreet company is Alex Karp, the son of hippie parents, a law graduate, close friend of the right-wing conservative billionaire and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel and in close contact with numerous heads of state. In "Watching You - The World of Palantir and Alex Karp", award-winning documentary filmmaker Klaus Stern reconstructs the career of the unapproachable entrepreneur and his company, and searches for answers to the question of what drives Karp. Is he essentially a do-gooder - or driven by fantasies of omnipotence? Even if there is no clear answer to this question and Alex Karp was not willing to be interviewed, the film offers exciting, even frightening insights into a world that prefers to operate behind closed doors and yet concerns each and every one of us. After all, Karp himself says about his activities: "If I were young, I would probably also demonstrate against myself."