The hammer killer

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Movie
Original title The hammer killer
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1990
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director Bernd Schadewald
script Fred Breinersdorfer
production Artur Brauner
music Ingfried Hoffmann
camera Ingo Hamer
cut Rudi Reinbold
occupation

Der Hammermörder is a German feature film from 1990 based on the novel of the same name by Fred Breinersdorfer , who also wrote the screenplay . The film is based on the true story of the serial killer Norbert Poehlke .

action

The film is set in the Stuttgart area in the mid-1980s . Erich Rohloff is a simple police officer and a loving family man. The family lives in their own home, and in the construction of which they completely took over financially, despite a small lottery win. The house is threatened with loss, and craftsmen are pushing for their bills to be paid. The father also suffers from the wishes of his children that cannot be fulfilled, at the same time he is desperately trying to ensure that “the people” should have a good impression of his family.

Therefore, nobody should find out about the financial misery, the Rohloffs live extremely frugally in everyday life, but outwardly, status symbols are presented like an expensive Mercedes. Rohloff is apparently pathologically dependent on such things, he expresses himself grossly disparagingly to friends about people who only drive a small car and live in a rented apartment - this makes the contrast between expectations and reality even clearer. In reality, the family's financial situation is becoming more and more hopeless: the bank refuses to increase the loan because it has already attached the police chief's salary and therefore the family doesn't have any money left to support themselves. There is also a quarrel between the spouses, Rohloff accuses his wife of not being able to handle money or of hiding large amounts from him, he also claims that she is neglecting the household and the two sons, which makes a bad impression on "the people" make. It becomes clear that Rohloff couldn't cope with the death of her daughter a few years ago. In addition, he is apparently a weak personality: He likes to appear as the "master of the house" to his wife and roughly reprimands her, but as soon as angry craftsmen appear who demand money, he leaves the argument to her and hides from the creditors.

One day Rohloff suddenly has a large sum of money at his disposal. He explains to his wife that he is guarding fur transports as a part-time job for a certain Wagner . The identity of this man remains unclear, when the money is used up, Ms. Rohloff storms her husband (who regularly leaves the house for his alleged part-time job) to finally demand the outstanding wages from Wagner , but Rohloff cannot defend himself emphatically against the poor payment behavior of his client because he earns the money "black" and therefore nobody is allowed to find out about it. After all, it even happens that the family sits in a cold room at Christmas because the heating oil has been used up and the supplier only takes action against payment in advance or that they embarrassingly cannot pay the bill in the café when they go to the zoo. But then Wagner allegedly pays , so that the family no longer has any financial problems, at least for a short time. However, the money is not used wisely: For example, without his wife's consent, Rohloff orders new furniture, although the old ones are actually still completely in order: They still come from the old rented apartment and, in his opinion, do not fit into the “representative” house.

During this time, bank robberies are being committed by a single perpetrator in the area. The perpetrator always proceeds in the same way. He first procures a getaway car, shooting the driver each time, and then raids a bank by smashing the security glass of the checkout counter with a sledgehammer. The press is quick to call him the hammer killer . A large manhunt is initiated. The police also begin to investigate within their own ranks because the perpetrator used a typical police weapon. A police officer who has a lot of money for no apparent reason is arrested relatively quickly. When this news got around, Rohloff is suddenly in a good mood and balanced than he has been for a long time. In a circle of colleagues, he said that such an unscrupulous murderer deserved the death penalty . But it soon turns out that the suspect is innocent. Now all police officers have to present their service weapons for examination.

Erich Rohloff is also under suspicion, but can initially wriggle out of the matter. His wife has also become suspicious - when a hammer left behind by the perpetrator is shown on a television program, it looks familiar. Her husband reacts violently in this situation and turns off the television in anger. So that his wife cannot watch the search for the hammer murderer announced in the TV show Aktenzeichen XY ... unsolved , he manipulates the television, but his wife manages to repair it. She also discovers that an apparently newly bought sledgehammer hangs in the basement of the house.

When the noose closes and Rohloff's wife tells him in his face that she thinks he is the hammer murderer, he shoots his wife and the eldest son and flees to Italy by the sea with the youngest son . Here he shoots the boy and then himself.

People portrayed in the film

actor role Real person
Christian Redl Erich Rohloff Norbert Poehlke (†)
Ulrike Kriener Christa Rohloff Ingeborg Poehlke (†)
Silvan Oesterle Steffen Rohloff Adrian Poehlke (†)
Timmy cousin Andy Rohloff Gabriel Poehlke (†)

The film follows the events around Norbert Poehlke largely authentically as far as they were determined by the investigative authorities. However, the events taking place within the family are fictitious, especially in relation to the relationship between the spouses. The film shows that the perpetrator's wife is suspicious of it at a very early stage and finally speaks to her husband about it. In the real criminal case of Poehlke, this could no longer be determined after the death of all those involved, even if there were indications that Ms. Poehlke must have recognized her husband at least towards the end of the intensive manhunt.

Reviews

  • Lexicon of international film : A chamber-style crime film based on an authentic case, which concentrates on the development of a petty-bourgeois catastrophe without exciting effects and achieves intensity and density through its good leading actors.
  • Cinema : Director Bernd Schadewald converted the meticulously researched case into a sensitive psychodrama with convincing actors. There were several Grimme prizes for this, including for the author Fred Breinersdorfer (various " Tatorte ", " Sophie Scholl - The Last Days ", " Attorney Abel "), leading actors Christian Redl and Ulrike Kriener (both played in "Eine geht noch ") as his wife. Conclusion: suggestive perpetrator psychogram, disturbing

Awards

Bernd Schadewald, Christian Redl and Ulrike Kriener were awarded silver with the Adolf Grimme Prize in 1991 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The Hammer Killer. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 4, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. Cinema.de: film review