Blood money (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Blood money |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2013 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | René Heisig |
| script | René Heisig, Regine Bielefeldt , Kai-Uwe Hasenheit |
| production |
Mark Horyna , Michael Souvignier |
| music | Oli Biehler |
| camera | Peter Nix |
| cut | Horst Reiter |
| occupation | |
| |
Blutgeld is a TV film by ZDF that is based on real events. It deals with the problems with HIV-contaminated blood products in Germany in the 1980s . The television film was first broadcast on ZDF on October 28, 2013, after which a half-hour documentary was shown on the subject.
action
Beginning of the 1970s : Marianne Seifert fears for the lives of her sons, they are hemophiliacs , even the smallest injury can be fatal.
When Ralf, the youngest child, had a bicycle accident, Marianne found out about a new type of treatment called factor VIII . Twelve years later, the coagulant obtained thanks to blood donations enabled the brothers to lead a normal life. But by HIV -verseuchte blood products they fall ill, how many other patients to AIDS . The industry and the responsible medical professionals recognize the danger that this poses to them and try to take active action to minimize the damage. In particular, pressure is being exerted on the Federal Health Office not to suddenly take the products suspected of being contaminated from the market, since there is not a sufficient amount of safe products available and life would be acutely endangered.
First Stefan dies of the consequences of his AIDS illness, but his death is initially justified with pneumonia. Ralf doesn't just want to accept his infection, which he attributes to the treatment with factor VIII, and fight back; but his brother Thomas wants to keep the topic as small as possible in order to protect himself and his family in public. The brothers get into an argument about this and Thomas turns away from Ralf, who informs possible victims of infection in his environment and asks them to take an HIV test when he threatens to suggest his wife to have a test as well.
Some time later, by chance, Ralf learns of the discrimination against Thomas' son Tobias, who is no longer allowed to take part in physical education at school and is bullied by his classmates. He gets into an argument with his brother again, because he has confronted the headmistress with the subject without consulting him - Thomas wants to nip any excitement about his illness in the bud in order to prevent negative consequences for his career and family. The brothers break up and Thomas instructs Ralf not to approach the family any more. The pharmaceutical industry submits a settlement offer to the sick in order to nip a possible impending legal dispute in the bud. The monetary compensation should only be paid out if all those affected agree to it. The industry hopes to be able to get out of the affair cheaply. Since the sick would probably not be able to go through years of litigation due to their state of health, it is hoped that they would accept the relatively low settlement amount without further legal action. Meanwhile, Ralf is continuing his studies and will not give up on investigating factor VIII and HIV infection. Together with his girlfriend, the doctor Martina, he tries to collect evidence to be able to trace the HIV infection back to the treatments with contaminated blood products.
Meanwhile, Thomas' health is deteriorating noticeably. The brothers reconciled in the hospital and Ralf promises not to give up. Meanwhile, Thomas dies of AIDS. Ralf thinks that he has finally found evidence and confronts politics and the pharmaceutical industry with his findings in a meeting at the Federal Health Office, which are, however, dismissed as inconclusive. At a meeting of the bleeding association, the plenary will discuss whether the offer from the industry should be accepted; Ultimately, despite Ralf's requests, approval is obtained. As a result of his statements, a father contacted Ralf, whose son was also infected with HIV - and for whom, due to his age of only six years, only the transmission route via factor VIII is considered. Ralf confronts the attending doctor, who actually agrees to make a statement after a second interview. Ralf now feels safe to have a witness and thus be able to face the industry. However, the doctor commits suicide and Ralf is again without evidence.
After careful consideration, Ralf reveals himself in a television interview and thus brings the scandal to the public.
reception
Audience ratings
The first broadcast of Blutgeld on October 28, 2013 was seen by a total of 4.29 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 13.0% for ZDF; in the group of 14 to 49 year old viewers , 1.15 million viewers and a market share of 9.1% were achieved.
criticism
“'Blutgeld' by René Heisig is by far not as powerful as 'Contergan', but it thrives on the power of the (many well-known) actors and the emotional power of exemplary situations. That doesn't happen entirely without dramaturgical clichés; but the director and camera hold back and give the unheard-of, true story from the 80s about the blood medicine that was administered by doctors, although they and the authorities knew that it was probably HIV-infected. "
Audio film award
The audio description of the film spoken by Armin Hauser was awarded the German Audio Film Prize in the television category in 2014.
Web links
- Blood money in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Blood money at zdf.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for blood money . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ↑ TV film "Blutgeld": "All the people involved are fictitious" on welt.de.
- ↑ quotenmeter.de : “Blood money” far from “Contergan” success , accessed on October 29, 2013.
- ↑ tittelbach.tv: TV film "Blutgeld" , accessed on October 29, 2013.
- ↑ blood money in the audio film database of Hörfilm e. V.
- ↑ 12th German Audio Film Award 2014