Bella Block: White Nights
| Episode in the Bella Block series | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Original title | White Nights | ||
| Country of production | Germany | ||
| original language | German | ||
| Production company |
UFA | ||
| length | 90 minutes | ||
| classification | Episode 23 ( list ) | ||
| First broadcast | October 27, 2007 on ZDF | ||
| Rod | |||
| Director | Christian von Castelberg | ||
| script | Katrin Bühlig | ||
| production | Norbert Sauer | ||
| music | Karim Sebastian Elias | ||
| camera | Reinhard Schatzmann | ||
| cut | Inken Gudewer | ||
| occupation | |||
| |||
| chronology | |||
| |||
White Nights is a crime film in the crime series Bella Block by director Christian von Castelberg from 2007. In the lead role , Hannelore Hoger embodies the Hamburg chief inspector Bella Block, who, after conspicuous “unfortunate” deaths in home births, follows a trail to Russia.
action
Midwife Irene Häusler and her friend Frank Burska run a lucrative business: They smuggle pregnant Russian women into Germany, who are offered there to women who cannot have children of their own. In practice, the two of them act in such a way that the midwife helps with the home births, issues the birth certificates to the German women, and then smuggles the Russian women back home. Irene agrees this practice with her conscience, because in Russia there was a threat of abortion of the fetuses. Furthermore, in their eyes it is only right that German women can receive their long-awaited “child of their own” in this way, which would not have been possible naturally with these women.
But something goes wrong with two births: The two young mothers are found dead in Germany shortly after they have given birth. Since the circumstances of the death have not been clarified and personal injury resulting in death or even murder may be possible, Bella Block begins her investigation.
The baby of the second dead person carries a rare blood disease, which quickly puts the inspector on the trail of midwife Irene. In the interviews, however, this does not appear to be very cooperative and is therefore suspected of being directly involved in the deaths of Russian mothers. The alleged mother of the second baby, Andrea Baumann, is also suspected of being involved in the circumstances of the unexplained deaths. When there is an urgent suspicion against the midwife, she cannot be found. The state of the investigation is that she is probably on her way to Saint Petersburg to avoid prosecution by the German authorities at her boyfriend's house. Thus, the investigative work of the Hamburg Commissioner Bella Block would actually end at this point.
The plot of the film takes a surprising turn when suddenly the midwife calls for help on the answering machine of the Hamburg police station. Apparently she is being threatened and detained in Saint Petersburg. This is reason enough for Bella Block to fly to Russia to rescue Irene from her predicament. She is accompanied by her partner Simon Abendroth, who has a college friend there. Together with a liaison officer from the Federal Criminal Police Office, Thorsten Müller, Bella Block made contact with the dead mother's family and delivered the terrible news that the woman did not survive the birth of her child in Germany. In the further course of the event, she also receives an indication of where the midwife Irene could be.
She finds what she is looking for in the hospital where Ludmilla, Frank's wife, runs the Russian organization “Happy Children”. Ludmilla was about to have Irene burned in the crematorium. The commissioner succeeds in preventing the murder of the midwife at the last second. At the same time, Frank tries to evade access and flees. Bella's partner Simon and his college friend Yevgeny take up the chase. Not proceeding very professionally and not necessarily receiving Bella's approval for his approach, he ultimately helps to ensure that Frank can also be convicted of the act by the Commissioner.
In the subsequent interrogation, Bella Block realizes what really happened: Andrea Baumann, the woman to whom the child was issued in Germany, got into an argument with the baby's real mother because she suddenly no longer had her serf child wanted to give away. Andrea Baumann then murdered the young Russian mother. In the further course it becomes clear who is responsible for the death of the first Russian mother in Germany: Frank Burska is convicted of the murder.
The plot ends when Bella Block enables the family of the second mother, who was killed in Germany, to have an honorable funeral in Russia. The Commissioner also ensures that their newborn son comes into his family.
However, none of this changes the fact that midwife Irene and her friend Frank continue their human trafficking and smuggling business to Germany, because a new identity can easily be acquired in Russia.
Production notes
Norbert Sauer produced the 23rd episode of the Bella Block series for UFA on behalf of ZDF . The film was shot in Hamburg and Saint Petersburg . Filming began on August 1, 2006 and ended on September 5 of the same year. The first performance of this episode of the crime series was at the Munich Film Festival on June 27, 2007.
release date
Bella Block - White Nights was broadcast for the first time on October 27, 2007 on ZDF.
Reviews
TV Spielfilm is of the opinion that the film is "[e] in a complex and moving crime thriller about human trafficking and illegal adoption practice". The summary of the program guide is: “Hard stuff that lasts a long time”.
Rainer Tittelbach sums up that no matter how much the film, well played by the actors, may touch the audience's feelings, “[...] author Bühlig gets bogged down in too many (women's) stories. An overly long 'Bella Block' with too much 'meaning' and too little crime. "
Awards
The screenwriter Katrin Bühlig received the German Television Award for Bella Block - White Nights in 2008 .
Web links
- Bella Block: White Nights in the Lexicon of International Films
- Bella Block: White Nights in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Bella Block: White Nights in the online film database
- Bella Block - White Nights at Tittelbach.tv
- Bella Block - White Nights at Kino.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ White nights. In: filmportal.de. Retrieved October 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Two thousand and one. Film Lexicon FILMS from AZ - Bella Block - White Nights. In: zweiausendeins.de. Retrieved October 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Bella Block: White Nights - Film Review - Film - TV SPIELFILM. In: tvspielfilm.de. Retrieved October 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Bella Block - White Nights - Review of the film - Tittelbach.tv. In: tittelbach.tv. Retrieved October 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Bella Block: White Nights - STIMME.de. (No longer available online.) In: Stimme.de. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; accessed on October 22, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
The Commissioner (1994) | Love Death (1995) | Greed for Money (1997) | Death of a Girl (1997) | On the hunt (1998) | Whispered Murders (1999) | Farewell in the Light (2000) | Blind love (2000) | At the end of the lie (2000) | Guilt and Love (2001) | Bitter Suspicion (2001) | In the name of honor (2002) | Deadly Proximity (2003) | Kurschatten (2003) | The opposite of love (2004) | Behind the mirrors (2004) | The freedom of wolves (2004) | ... because they don't know what they are doing (2005) | The carpenter's wife (2005) | The happiness of others (2006) | Murder Under the Cross (2006) | Blackout (2007) | White Nights (2007) | Trip to China (2008) | False love (2008) | The Commissioner's Silence (2009) | Providence (2009) | The Black Room (2010) | Stab in the heart (2011) | The Passenger and the Girl (2012) | Unter den Linden (2012) | Dog children (2013) | Indicted (2013) | Forever and Always (2014) | The most beautiful night of life (2015) | Still Waters (2017) | On the Edge (2018)