Police call 110: The death of the pelican

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Episode of the series Polizeiruf 110
Original title The death of the pelican
Country of production GDR
original language German
Production
company		 Television of the GDR
length 98 minutes
classification Episode 134 ( List )
First broadcast January 1, 1990 on GDR 1
Rod
Director Rainer Bear
script Rainer Bear
production Television of the GDR
music Giacomo Puccini
Karl-Ernst Sasse (arrangement)
camera Franz Ritschel
cut Marion Fiedler
occupation

The Death of the Pelican is a German crime film by Rainer Bär from 1990. The television film was released as the 134th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 .

action

Opera singer Gerda Bachmann wants to divorce her husband, the flight captain Herbert. According to Gerda's wishes, their son Robert should stay with her and both lawyers know that the mother's son will be awarded. Although she is away from home a lot with her artist job, she can still offer the boy a more stable life than his father, who is always out of the country for days as a pilot. When Herbert brings Robert back to Gerda, he makes it clear to her that under no circumstances will he give up without a fight. He grows more and more into his anger, drinks schnapps and threatens to go to extremes for his son. Then he leaves Gerda angry. In front of the house he meets Lieutenant Thomas Grawe, who lives on the same corridor as Gerda. Both hold small talk and Herbert asks what Grawe would do if his daughter was taken away from him. He makes the comparison that he will fight for his child like a pelican and, if necessary, let his feathers pull out. Grawe is picked up in the car and Herbert, amazed by what he has told the stranger, drives away. He almost runs over a motorcyclist he overlooks, but the driver only slips. A little later Herbert is again in front of Gerda's door. He is now transformed and confesses to Gerda that he ran over a man. He will now leave her Robert without a fight, since she has him in hand with the knowledge. Gerda is not comfortable being used by him as a "confidant" and she only promises Herbert that she will not go to the police on her own. However, if she questions her, she won't lie for Herbert.

Some time later, Gerda found an anonymous letter in the mail with a newspaper clipping. It reports on an accident on February 15, 1989 - the day of Herbert's last visit - in which a man was killed. The perpetrator who fled the accident is still wanted. Gerda alerts Herbert, who claims to have received the same anonymous letter. A little later Gerda receives another letter with the death notice of the person who died in the accident. A third letter in turn contains the photo of a man with a mourning rim and Gerda assumes that it is the one who was killed. She is desperate because she does not know who is behind the programs and what they are doing. In everyday life she becomes more and more sensitive and agitated, begins to swallow medication to counteract her nervousness, and forgets to pick up her son from kindergarten. Contrary to her husband's claim that he would do without Robert, Gerda's life is now being scrutinized by the youth welfare office, and the carers do not get a good impression.

Meanwhile, Gerda believes several times that she can see the allegedly dead man in town. However, she can never ask him. One day - she has just spotted the man through a shop window - she meets her friend Marianne, whom she has not seen for a long time. She hopes that she can confide in her and asks her to wait for her in the evening after the performance. Gerda sings the main role in Madama Butterfly , but collapses on stage when she thinks she sees the supposed dead person. In her dressing room she tells Marianne about Herbert's deed. She has a plan: She wants to look for the dead man's grave in the cemetery and get the address from the cemetery attendant so that the descendants can find out whether the man in the photo is also the dead man. She implements the plan with Marianne and then goes to the house whose address Marianne has written down for her. However, she only finds one demolition house. She calls Lieutenant Thomas Grawe, with whom she has already spoken once in the house, and tells him about Herbert's deed and the anonymous letters. He is surprised and shows her the picture of the real victim - a different man than the picture sent to Gerda. He is also puzzled that Gerda was actively referred to the newspaper article had she never discovered it without it. Gerda realizes that she was manipulated by Herbert, he had wanted to give everything to take the boy away from her. In the evening Gerda has another performance as Madame Butterfly. Herbert is back in the country and goes to Gerda's cloakroom, where he meets Marianne. It becomes clear that he and Marianne are secretly a couple and planned the hoax together. The ominous deceased was their mutual acquaintance, Schubert; Herbert, on the other hand, was never actually involved in an accident that resulted in death. The police have long since arrested the real culprit. Gerda overhears the gleeful conversation between Herbert and Marianne, goes to her husband and stabs him with a theater dagger. Meanwhile, while looking at a picture of a pelican, Oberleutnant Grawe learned that pelicans might defend their children until they die. With a bad feeling he rushes to the opera, but comes too late.

production

The Komische Oper Berlin, a location for the film

The death of the pelican was the first police call 110 to be broadcast after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The location was among others the Komische Oper Berlin . The film was shot on 15 March to 31 May 1989. The costumes of the film created Karin Pas that Filmbauten come from Lothar Holler . The film had its television premiere on January 1, 1990 on GDR 1 . The audience participation was 31.5 percent.

It was the 134th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 . Lieutenant Thomas Grawe investigated his 23rd case. Zsusza Nyertes is dubbed by Cornelia Schmaus ; her song of Madama Butterfly was sung by Edith Chmiel . The critics described The Death of the Pelikan as a suspense crime thriller in Hitchcock style .

literature

  • Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-360-00958-4 , pp. 181-183.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, p. 142.
  2. ^ Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, p. 182.
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