The man in the mask
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The man in the mask |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1994 |
| length | 197 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Peter Schulze-Rohr |
| script | Fred Breinersdorfer |
| production | Susan Schulte |
| camera | Johannes Hollmann |
| cut | Carola Hülsebus |
| occupation | |
| |
The man with the mask is a two-part television film by Peter Schulze-Rohr and Fred Breinersdorfer produced by Südwestfunk (SWF) in 1994 .
action
First part of
West Germany around 1990: a masked serial rapist, popularly known as “Zorro”, terrifies a university town. Among other things, he asks his victims to say the sentence: “I am a whore.” Chief Public Prosecutor Arthur Schild and Detective Inspector Konrad Gawileck are exposed to great public pressure to catch the perpetrator. They hastily arrested a chaplain who attracted attention to prostitutes with suspicious sexual desires, but it turns out that he is innocent - a disgrace for Schild and Gawileck. Meanwhile, Arthur Schild is worried about his son Bernd. The successful and career-oriented law student, a member of a traditional student union , has never had a girlfriend and is remarkably cautious in this regard. Bernd's mother in particular, an extremely conservative and tough woman, puts her son under considerable pressure to finally present a potential daughter-in-law shortly before the exam. When Ms. Schild finds books with violent pornography in her son's car and confronts him in horror, Bernd excuses himself that he wanted to subjugate a fellow student from the connection in order to play a trick on him.
Bernd tied up with Irene Häussler, a self-confident and emancipated student of rather simple origin. But she seems to his mother, who from above simply describes her as "the jeans girl", apparently not sufficiently elegant and befitting. Irene complains to a friend that Bernd seems strangely uptight and that he hasn't even kissed her properly. When she finally wants to seduce Bernd, he freaks out. Besides being aggressive, he explains to Irene that it is only the man's right to take the first step in sex and calls her a "whore". Irene then began to suspect that Bernd might be the rapist they were looking for.
"Zorro" strikes again shortly afterwards, his victim is the 18-year-old Mascha Thiemann. She also reacts stunned when the police officers do not want to know particularly sensitive and intimate details about her sexual preferences and apparently mock that she was still a virgin . Irene gets in contact with Mascha and, when talking about the circumstances of the crime, she comes to believe that Bernd Schild is the "man in the mask". She goes to the police with this tip. But Mascha Thiemann can not clearly identify Bernd in a comparison . Arthur Schild, as the suspect's father, is withdrawn from the investigation, but he does everything possible to steer the suspicion away from his son at his good friend Inspector Gawileck. He even hushed up evidence. Gawileck threatens Irene with a criminal complaint for defamation and false suspicion, if she does not immediately withdraw her suspicious statements. The investigation against Bernd is closed.
Part
Two Three years have passed, Bernd Schild passed his exams with distinction and is now working as a judge. The rape series has also been torn down for three years. The "Zorro" case is unresolved in the files. Mascha Thiemann has not overcome the emotional trauma of the brutal rape and takes her own life. The only mourners at her undignified social funeral are Irene Häussler and Steffen, a friend of Mascha's. Irene is still convinced of Bernd's culprit. She goes to him and tells him about Mascha's suicide , but Bernd only reacts to it with an arrogant grin and mockery. Together with Steffen, Irene dares to attack Bernd again at the judicial authorities. Since the accused is now a judge and the attorney general intervenes, the matter can no longer be turned off so easily. When Commissioner Gawileck found out during the investigation that a few years earlier in another university town a rape had exactly the same pattern and that Bernd Schild was there for a revision course at that time , he now also believes in Bernd's perpetration.
Bernd is suspended from duty , taken into custody and charged. He makes a remark to his father that can be understood as a confession. Arthur Schild then exercised his right to refuse to testify as a close relative at the court hearing . Bernd Schild continues to deny the offense in court and barely lets his lawyer, a renowned student colleague of his father's, speak, but defends himself in a rhetorically impressive way. In the final sequence, Bernd is acquitted for lack of evidence. The presiding judge states - formally and legally completely correct - that an acquittal must be made if a defendant could not be convicted beyond doubt. Whether Bernd Schild was guilty or not, only he himself and probably his father knew, though he had the right to remain silent.
background
Sebastian Koch played one of his first major leading roles in The Man with the Mask . Nicolette Krebitz was on the verge of her big breakthrough as a well-known actress, which she achieved in the same year with the feature film Zoé , of all things . The two parts of the film were on 15 and 17 April 1994 at the First Channel of ARD erstausgestrahlt.
criticism
- "The 200 minutes of broadcasting were a real pleasure to watch an old-fashioned television game that was interested in people and all the nuances and moods between them." ( Frankfurter Rundschau )
- "[...] disappointing, how carelessly and incidentally the author deals with the female roles, how tragically inflated the male protagonists appear." ( Funkkorrespondenz )
Awards and nominations
- Winner of the Golden Gong 1994 for script and direction
- Telestar nomination in 1994 for script and direction