The Lucona case
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Lucona case |
| Country of production |
Germany , Austria |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1993 |
| length | 115 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jack Gold |
| script | Jim Hawkins |
| production | Gerhard Czepe |
| music | John Scott |
| camera | Gernot Roll |
| cut | Keith Palmer |
| occupation | |
| |
The Lucona case is a German - Austrian political thriller from 1993 based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Hans Pretterebner and, slightly alienated, deals with the Lucona affair , one of the largest Austrian political scandals.
action
The Austrian coffee house owner and businessman Rudi Waltz, darling of Viennese high society in the 1970s , runs a club in which prominent politicians hang out with noble hookers. Waltz records their sexual acts with a hidden film camera on VHS , so that he has reinsurance for his sometimes windy business, since he can blackmail the politicians with the video material if necessary.
Waltz also has good contacts with the Austrian Armed Forces , including Defense Minister Klaus Weidenfeld. Waltz hopes to make his big coup in 1976/77 with a huge insurance fraud . Together with the Italian gangster Enzo Lombardi, he starts a sophisticated company. A shipping company founded especially in Switzerland chartered the cargo ship Lucona including an international crew under the leadership of the Dutch captain Leuwen. Leuven to an alleged 20 million dollars expensive cargo to Hong Kong transport. This is supposedly a uranium processing plant that can be used to produce yellow cake , which in turn can be used to construct atomic bombs .
In fact, the Lucona only transports scrap that comes from a dismantled coal conveyor system. On the way to Hong Kong, the ship is said to be blown up using a time fuse using explosives illegally obtained by Waltz from the armed forces . The death of all crew members is deliberately taken into account so that no witnesses are available. For the transport, Waltz received the support of befriended politicians, to whom he suggested that Austria could indirectly become a nuclear power in this way .
When the explosive charge explodes in the middle of the Indian Ocean , the ship sinks as quickly as planned, but unexpectedly six of the 12 crew members who are rescued by a Turkish ship survive . The journalist Hans Strasser, who has been on Waltz's heels for a long time, researches the sinking of the freighter and finally publishes a book about it, which becomes the basis of a lawsuit against Waltz. However, Waltz claims the Lucona was captain of Leuven embezzled been and pass along with their precious cargo to unknown third parties abroad. Since there is no reliable evidence, Waltz threatens to be acquitted.
However, the court orders a search for the wreck of the Lucona . The wreck is discovered at a depth of 4000 m through the use of a diving robot . Traces show that the ship was blown up. Waltz is sentenced by the court to life imprisonment for six murders, among other things . The defense minister is found shot, although it remains to be seen whether it is suicide , as officially reported, or murder.
Historical background, production notes
Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Hans Pretterebner, the film deals with the “Lucona Affair”, the focus of which was the Austrian coffeehouse owner Udo Proksch . The names of the protagonists have apparently all been changed, but the original ship name of the Lucona was used . The film was shot from November 1991 to January 1993 in Vienna, Venice and the Mexican port city of Veracruz . The role model for the figure of Defense Minister Weidenfeld was Brigadier Karl Lütgendorf .
criticism
“(...) In the film, Jürgen Prochnow ( Das Boot ) stylizes the investigative journalist as an ascetic, noble fighter for law and democracy. The star of the flick, however, is the Briton David Suchet, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company , who embodies the jack-of-all-trades Udo Proksch in such a ghostly way that trepidation was noticeable in the knowledgeable premiere audience. Vienna would not be Vienna if the premiere of the Faction film had not degenerated into an operetta: In front of the premiere cinema, imitation “Lucona” scrap thundered and steamed. And at the premiere gala, waiters in convict robes served Saurüssel - in memory of Mr. Udo, who rose from swineherd to society favorite and is now languishing in jail. "
The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.
Lore
The film was broadcast several times on German television and released on DVD by Pidax in 2015 .
Web links
- The case Lucona in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Lucona case at filmportal.de
- The Lucona case at prisma.de
- Still photos at kino.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schmäh mit Saurüssel: In Vienna the “Lucona” scandal is coming back to life - in the film as in reality . In: Der Spiegel . No. 19 , 1993 ( online ).
- ↑ The Lucona case at pidax-film.de