The Prodigal Son (2009)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The lost Son |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2009 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nina Grosse |
| script |
Fred Breinersdorfer Léonie-Claire Breinersdorfer |
| production |
Oliver Berben Fred Breinersdorfer |
| music | Dürbeck & Dohmen |
| camera | Busso from Müller |
| cut | Jens Klüber |
| occupation | |
| |
The prodigal son is the title of a German television film that was produced in 2009 by the production company Moovie - the art of entertainment in cooperation with the NDR under the direction of Nina Grosse . The main roles were played by Kostja Ullmann and Katja Flint . The film drama deals with the threat of terrorism in Germany based on radical Islamist converts. Hamburg and Hanover were the locations for the film.
action
Accused of having supported an Islamist terrorist group , the German Rainer Schröder served a long prison term in Israel and is now being deported prematurely to his home country . In Germany, however, he is also being investigated for supporting radical Islamist groups. His mother, Stefanie Schröder, is happily surprised by the son's return. She tries to forget the troubled past when her husband, who has since died, threw her son out of the house because of his constant talk about jihad . She trusts her lost son when he says he has left the holy war behind.
Chief Inspector Buchner from the LKA does not believe in the change of heart and has Rainer observed, which makes his reintegration into society even more difficult. Even when the public prosecutor drops the case against Rainer, Buchner continues the shadowing. Soon the mother will go to court to end the surveillance . Buchner cannot provide any real evidence and the family is right. But even within the family there were soon tensions between Rainer and his younger brother Markus. Rainer, who has now adopted the name Omar and wants to be called that, tries more and more to impose his radical religious beliefs and rules of conduct on his family: He detests the decadent freedom of movement of the western world, which in his opinion indulges in pleasure addiction and leisure stress deeply. When he gets violent in a dispute with his brother Markus, he leaves the house.
The mother is in despair when she realizes that Rainer's return destroys the last solidarity in the family. Eventually she throws him out of the house, as her husband used to do. While the LKA is continuing its investigations, Stefanie now also has more and more doubts as to whether Rainer has actually left his past behind, as he claims. She recognizes the increasing aggressiveness of her son, learns of dubious contacts and discovers the confessional video of a previous attack on his PC . Another piece of evidence finally leads to the clear conclusion that Rainer is not as harmless as believed and is apparently on the verge of perpetrating an attack.
Stefanie realizes that Rainer has a suitcase with him that she has never seen before. She follows her son to a subway station and tries to get a policewoman to intervene and informs Buchner. The advancing reinforcements arrive too late, however, and the policewoman takes up a gun, but loses her nerve and fails to shoot. Stefanie snatches the gun from her, and when she is sure that Rainer will pull a trigger on the suitcase in the next moment, she shoots him down.
Reviews
"Cleverly constructed TV drama that keeps the protagonist's 'question of guilt' open for a long time and cleverly illuminates a social climate between unreflected tolerance and prejudice."
“'The Prodigal Son' is a powerful, universal drama, a drama of double loss. But you never get the impression that the topic is interchangeable. For that, Fred and daughter Léonie-Claire Breinersdorfer have anchored it too realistically in German reality. [...] It is the actors who differentiate the simple story, who strike the nuances, and Katja Flints Stefanie Schröder with her lioness mentality is the one who takes the audience by the hand. This is extraordinarily pure, dry, played unadorned. Too much dramaturgical sophistication would even be out of place. "
“The drama of the film, which manages without effects and artificial tension arcs, arises from the characters, from the question of the son's true motives and the mother's desperate hope. […] How permeable Katja Flint, with whom Nina Grosse last shot the Franziska Luginsland films, and Kostja Ullmann play this rollercoaster of emotions, is worth seeing. "
Awards
- Bernd Burgemeister TV Prize 2009
- Nomination for the competitions of the TV Film Festival Baden-Baden 2011
- Nomination to Katja Flint for the Bambi as best national actress 2011
Web links
- The Prodigal Son in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The prodigal son at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ The prodigal son. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 25, 2017 .
- ^ TV review “The Prodigal Son” , accessed on February 25, 2011
- ^ Review , accessed on February 25, 2011