Congo (2010)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Congo |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2010 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Peter Keglevic |
| script | Alexander Adolph |
| production | Christian Granderath |
| music | Jürgen Corner |
| camera | Busso from Müller |
| cut | Moune Barius |
| occupation | |
| |
Congo is a TV movie of the director Peter Keglevic from the year 2010. In the lead role embodies Maria Simon the military police - officer Nicole Ziegler, in the Congo their first foreign assignment was and was commissioned on site the supposed suicide educate a German soldier.
action
Lieutenant Nicole Ziegler is not only completing her first assignment abroad in the Republic of the Congo, but she is also supposed to investigate why a soldier of the German Armed Forces killed himself there. Often she dares to stand up to the company commander of the contingent stationed there, Captain Kosak. Right from the start she made it clear to him that she had no intention of giving a superficial death report for the soldier. Rather, she is determined to research the exact circumstances of the suicide and map them in detail in her report.
After initial disputes, Captain Kosak agrees to help Nicole with her investigation. Together they try to solve the supposed suicide of the soldier. It seems to be within the realm of possibility that a murder of the soldier should be covered up.
In the course of her research, Nicole found a video on the dead soldier's cell phone showing how a local child was killed by a bullet shot by a German soldier in the face.
It turns out that the shooting video was filmed in a location about a two-hour drive from the company base. Nicole sets out on the journey to the village with Captain Kosak and the two soldiers involved, Sergeant Marco Bogner and Corporal Philip Althaus, who were present with the dead Sergeant that day. There is not much to learn on site, but they meet an emotionally shaken villager who tells the linguist Noëlle that a short time after the Germans were in the village, their children were killed by a local radicalized group of violence.
On the way back to the base, where Captain Kosak is sitting alone in a jeep with the two soldiers involved, he asks the two of them urgently whether they shot the shooting video, to which he receives no response from either of them. This makes it clear to him that the video was actually shot by them and, in his anger and rage over this circumstance, he hits the dashboard several times, but without commenting on it on the way back.
Back at the base, Nicole learns from the site commander that he has notified the German public prosecutor's office of the shooting video and the suspicions against his own soldiers by telephone. He also tells Nicole that her research in the camp is detrimental to the morale of the troops. A new investigation team will arrive from Germany, then she can break off her investigation and return to Germany. When Nicole complains that she will not accept it if a new team takes over her investigation and will probably ask less “uncomfortable” questions in order to be able to close the case as soon as possible. Nicole suggests to the commander that she will conduct further investigations outside the camp, regardless of her military rank. The commander refuses, as he cannot answer for such an approach. He then informs her in an official tone that her on-site assignment has ended immediately.
Nicole then meets in civilian clothes with the language mediator Noëlle and tells her that she wants to find out more outside the camp. Then both leave the camp. With suspicious looks from the soldiers, the two of them sit down in an old Renault 4 and drive off. After a long drive through rough terrain, they come to a village where they meet the linguist's cousin. She was there when the shooting video was filmed; her voice can be heard on the video. She reports that the German soldiers in their area always did nothing but good. Until the incident two weeks ago when Marco, Rene and Philip arrested two local children in an empty hut. The two children were under strong suspicion that they belonged to the radicalized group that bullies their own people. Eugene, the name of the boy who was shot, protested in front of the soldiers that "Crocodile" (the name of the radicalized group) will turn the soldiers into elephants and that they will never be able to locate the group. Then the boy begins a prayer and the shot goes off, immediately killing him. The linguist's cousin tells Nicole that Sergeant Rene shot the boy. She also says that immediately after the shot, she took the other boy by the hand and escaped with him from the village.
Nicole asks the linguist's cousin to confirm her statement in an official protocol so that the crime can be punished accordingly. She refuses.
But now Patrice appears in the action, the other boy who was held in the hut by the German soldiers at the time. The linguist asks Nicole whether his testimony will result in the soldiers who have committed criminal offenses being sent back home. Nicole confirms this, but the linguist Patrice does not want to force a statement in the German camp because she does not consider it safe. Nicole agrees that his testimony will be recorded outside the German camp, in a village school.
Back at the camp, Nicole asked Hauptmann Kosak for assistance in recording the statement that was supposed to be made outside the camp. This consistently refuses and reminds Nicole that her investigation on site has ended. Nicole then goes to the site commander in his private rooms. He first pours Nicole an alcoholic drink so that she can toast with her. In the further course it becomes clear that the commander also has a private interest in Nicole. But she cleverly refuses and asks for technical security support when questioning the boy in the village church. The commander agrees.
Together with Captain Kosak, who was probably obliged by the site commander to guard the group, and other soldiers, Nicole makes her way to the village church. The group travels the impassable terrain with three armed jeeps of the Bundeswehr. Once in the village, Nicole is surprised that several snipers have already holed up there to ensure the safety of the group.
The captain Kosak informs Nicole on the spot that the task of the forces deployed is no longer defined as securing the group, but rather the soldiers have the task of arresting the linguist and Patrice, as the two are suspected of being the radicalized group belong and Nicole and the investigative team only intends to ambush them.
Nicole immediately grabs her private cell phone and calls the site commander, who deliberately does not pick up the receiver. Nicole finds herself exposed to a hopeless situation and suspects that the Bundeswehr command will shoot the linguist and Patrice on the spot. Nicole takes off her protective vest in front of Captain Kosak and hurries to the village church, where it has been agreed to keep the minutes. There she meets the two of them and informs them that the order of the Bundeswehr Command has changed. Patrice then flees the church and is immediately killed by the snipers. The linguist snatches Nicole's embrace and flees into the jungle. Nicole runs after her, falls in the rough terrain and passes out on the spot. When she wakes up in sunlight, an armed local fighter approaches her. Scared to death, Nicole pulls her service weapon and fires several shots in rapid succession into the air in a panic, whereupon the potential attacker evades the location. When the situation has calmed down and Nicole has no more ammunition, Captain Kosak suddenly appears from the background and carries Nicole out of the danger area on his shoulders.
Back at the German camp, Nicole goes to the site commander again and gives her final report. When asked by the commander whether her report should be made public, Nicole replied that the report would reveal the truth. The commander then makes it clear to her that this one truth is not important. Rather, it is about the fact that there is war in the Congo and that it would not be of any use if the Bundeswehr showed weaknesses. Then Nicole leaves the room without a word.
The plot of the film ends with Commander Lonsky speaking a defused version of the facts on his dictaphone by saying that Sergeant Renz's death was almost certainly due to a depression disorder. The true circumstances of the death of Sergeant Renz therefore remain in the dark.
production
Christian Granderath produced the film for teamWorx on behalf of ZDF. The film was shot in October and November 2009 in Port St. Johns and Cape Town in South Africa .
publication
Congo was shown for the first time on June 28, 2010 at the Munich Film Festival . The first broadcast on German television was on October 18, 2010 on ZDF and reached 3.96 million viewers and a market share of 11.9 percent.
Reviews
TV Spielfilm states: "Tricky: Without black and white painting, the (fictional) military thriller asks the question of the meaning of such operations". The summary of the program guide is: "Go where it hurts: outstanding!"
Rainer Tittelbach sums up: “The story is fictional, based on conversations with soldiers”. The film critic's final sentence is: “The film quietly advertises for understanding for people. It's gripping, psychologically and cinematically perfect. A Top 5 Film 2010 ”.
Awards
Christian Granderath received the Bernd Burgemeister TV Prize for Congo at the Munich Film Festival 2010 for the production of the best TV film in the festival's program. The film was also nominated for the 2011 Grimme Prize and the 2010 Baden-Baden TV Film Festival competitions .
Web links
- Congo in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Congo at filmportal.de
- Congo at Moviepilot
Individual evidence
- ↑ Certificate of Release for Congo . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , August 2010 (PDF; test number: 124 141 V).
- ↑ a b Congo at filmportal.de , accessed on November 26, 2015
- ↑ a b Congo - review of the film - Tittelbach.tv. In: tittelbach.tv. Retrieved November 25, 2015 .
- ^ Congo - film criticism - film - TV feature film. In: tvspielfilm.de. Retrieved November 25, 2015 .
- ↑ Grimme Prize 2011 - nominations. ( Memento of May 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ↑ David Denk: Looking down from above. In: Taz.de of November 21, 2010