Justice (film)

Movie
Original title	Judiciary
Country of production	Germany , Switzerland
original language	German
Publishing year	1993
length	106 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Hans W. Geißendörfer
script	Friedrich Dürrenmatt , Hans W. Geißendörfer
production	Maximilian Schell , Rudolf Santschi , Thomas Wommer
music	Frank Loef
camera	Hans-Günther Bücking
cut	Annette Dorn
occupation
Maximilian Schell : Isaak Kohler Thomas Heinze : Felix late Anna Thalbach : Helene Kohler Mathias Gnädinger : Commander Norbert Schwientek : Stüssi-Leupin Ulrike Kriener : Use joy Suzanne von Borsody : Daphne Winter Hark Bohm : Prof. Winter Carole Piguet : Monika Steiermann Diethelm Stix : Jämmerlin Dietrich Siegl : Dr. Benno Martin Semmelrogge : Lucky Stefan Gubser : press photographer

Justice is the film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Friedrich Dürrenmatt from 1993.

action

The Zurich government councilor Dr. H. c. Isaak Kohler publicly shoots the Germanist Prof. Winter in the overcrowded Du Théâtre restaurant and is arrested shortly thereafter without resistance. In a show trial he is, despite some lack of evidence and no clear motive to 20 years in prison sentenced because there is no doubt the action. Kohler, very wealthy, once highly respected and popular, commissioned the young lawyer Spät from prison to re-examine his case under the assumption that he was not the murderer - assuming scientific interest. For lack of money and in the hope of a business upturn, Spät finally accepts.

A private detective commissioned by Spät is again collecting evidence of the case, which has now been several months. It becomes clear that the formally catastrophic process - no murder weapon found, neither a clear confession nor a comprehensible motive, no recording of testimony - makes the judgment legally untenable. With the help of Spät's investigations and after the related process, which Spät does not lead for reasons of conscience, Kohler is acquitted. Since nobody was able to explain Kohler's act from the start anyway and his likeable appearance casts a spell over everyone, the acquittal is generally accepted. The suicide of another suspect - the former Swiss pistol shooting champion, Dr. Benno - appears like an admission of guilt that has not been pursued. Late has ruined his reputation and completely lost his self-respect through this assignment, calls himself a “rotten whore specialist” and sees only one way to restore justice: the murder of Kohler with subsequent suicide.

Murder and suicide fail. It is slowly becoming clear: Government Councilor Dr. H. c. Isaak Kohler staged a murder that was only one piece of the puzzle in a complex and well thought-out personal vengeance campaign by skillfully exploiting human weaknesses and the limits of the modern judicial apparatus.

Others

Justice was in the running for the Oscar awards in 1994 as the German contribution for the best foreign language film , but was not nominated.

Awards

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

Golden Globe Award 1994

nominated as:

• Best foreign language film

literature

• Friedrich Dürrenmatt : Justice . (Paperback). Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 1998, 237 pages, ISBN 978-3-257-23065-9

Web links

• Justice in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Justice at filmportal.de (with 5 still images and film poster )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2009 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107296/awards