In the prime of life
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | In the prime of life |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2011 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hartmut Schoen |
| script | Hartmut Schoen |
| production | Ulrich Lenze |
| music | Matthias Frey |
| camera | Bernhard Keller |
| cut | Vessela Martschewski |
| occupation | |
| |
In the prime of life is a German TV movie of Hartmut Schoen from 2011 with Senta Berger in the role of a police officer's widow, whose husband of a RAF was murdered -Terroristen.
action
Erika Welves is the widow of a police officer who was shot dead cold by an RAF terrorist during a police check in the early 1970s . Since then she has been severely traumatized and is repeatedly reminded of the stroke of fate as soon as she sees a man with a mustache, like the one her husband's murderer wore. She cannot let go of the past, which is also reflected in her apartment, which is still in the 1970s style. Her daughter Jenny asks her to finally draw a line and look into the future. However, after journalist Max Beiler interviewed Erika for a report on the RAF, Erika feels more determined than ever to reopen her husband's case, especially since it was never completely cleared up and instead swept under the carpet by the authorities and the media. In addition, after testifying against other RAF members, the perpetrator was released shortly after his arrest and provided with enough money so that he could build a new existence as a key witness under a false name.
With the help of Max Beiler's notebook, Erika finds contacts who are familiar with her husband's murder case. So did Matthias Brühl, her husband's former colleague, who had survived the RAF attack but, like Erika, never got over it. He wants to shoot himself with a pistol in front of Erika's eyes, but in the end he does not implement this due to the appearance of bystanders. Then Erika seeks out the retired federal prosecutor Friedrich Gehlmann, who tells her sensitively about the former court case and suggests possible involvement of the secret services, but prefers to remain silent when Erika complains indignantly that the German judiciary fails above all against not prominent RAF victims like her husband have.
Finally, through a photo, Erika finds out that the RAF terrorist's mother lives in the Netherlands . In order to be able to drive there on her own, Erika takes driving lessons. The helpful electrical dealer Karl Wenzelburger again offers her to go to Holland with him . When she meets Ms. Schulz, the mother of the RAF terrorist, she confesses that she always expected Erika's sudden visit and that she often moved out of guilt. Her son, who is actually to blame, was said to have died in a car accident in the 1990s. Ms. Schulz apologizes to Erika for the suffering her son has done to Erika. Erika hugs her and drives back to Germany with tears in her eyes.
background
The plot of the film, partly built up in flashbacks, is fictional. Nevertheless, parallels can be drawn with RAF member Gerhard Müller , who was responsible for the first RAF police murder in 1971, later testified against Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin as a witness, was released and probably still lives under a false name as part of a witness protection program.
The shooting for In the prime took place in Cologne . On December 14, 2011, the film was shown on television for the first time by ARD . The film was nominated for the 2012 Grimme Prize .
Reviews
According to Jochen Hieber from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Senta Berger is “narrow-lipped like never before” and shows a “will in every attitude to do justice to Erika Welves”. It offers the viewer “a heroic game”, which however is not completely convincing due to the script and the direction. In the end, in the best years it is “a problematic film of the problematic kind”.
Christian Buß from Spiegel Online was won over by the film "as a drama about a police widow who still sees RAF murderers everywhere". It is not only thanks to Senta Berger that the film has become “a great actor's piece”, “in which the German autumn waves threateningly into the present”. The lexicon of international film described In the prime as a "[g] ut cast (television) drama about grief, atonement and the raison d'etre". Prisma found that Senta Berger had proven "here once again" that "she is rightly one of Germany's best character actresses".
Web links
- In the best years in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Interview with Senta Berger: What a cruel rage! on spiegel.de
- Report on the shooting in Cologne on nachrichten.net
- Pictures of the shooting in Cologne on polizeioldtimer.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Jochen Hieber: Your world has stood still since his death . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 13, 2011.
- ↑ Christian Buß : RAF film with Senta Berger: Erika, the fight goes on! . In: Spiegel Online , December 13, 2011.
- ↑ In the prime of life. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ cf. prisma.de