Police call 110: Dark summer

Episode of the series Polizeiruf 110
Original title	Dark summer
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production company	AllMedia Pictures on behalf of NDR
length	90 minutes
classification	Episode 282 ( List )
First broadcast	January 14, 2007 on Das Erste
Rod
Director	Hendrik Handloegten
script	Ulli Stephan
production	Heike Richter-Karst
music	Dieter Schleip
camera	Peter Przybylski
cut	Silke Botsch
occupation
Uwe Steimle : Jens Hinrichs, chief detective Felix Eitner : Markus Tellheim, chief detective Sarah Horváth : Svenja Rascher Ingeborg Westphal : Anne Hellmann Maja Schöne : Elke Rascher Julius Terhedebrugge : Phillip Uhlig Hermann Beyer : father Hinrichs Thorsten Merten : Scherf, pharmacist Axel Werner : Hellmann Connor Mills : Tobias Rascher Us Conradi : Else Breuer Thomas Lawinky : Boris Burbin Peter Benedict : Udo Rascher Anna Lena Werner : Biggy Katharina Heyer : Dr. Niethnagel, coroner Jacqueline Macaulay : Mrs. Scherf

Dunkler Sommer is a German crime film by Hendrik Handloegten from 2007. The television film was released as the 282nd episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 . The Commissioner Hinrichs is investigating his 27th case. For his colleague Tellheim it is the third case.

action

The recently released family man, Udo Rascher, is found dead in a lonely forest. Someone had taken the trouble to bury the body under a mountain of stones.

Elke Rascher broke up with her violent husband when he went to prison. Her two children, Swenja and Tobias, live with their grandparents, because their mother has to pay for the maintenance herself, works in Frankfurt am Main and can only be at home on weekends.

The investigating commissioners Jens Hinrichs and Markus Tellheim suspect the perpetrator in the circle of the family, as the victim had previously had a bitter argument with them. Based on the forensic medical examination, it is clear that Rascher was completely drunk and suffocated in the straw or was. Tellheim and Hinrichs discover a field barn not far from Rascher's in-laws. They look for traces and can thus prove that Rascher died under one of the large bales of straw. Tellheim takes Rascher's wife into custody for the time being, as she has no alibi at the time of the crime. Her daughter Swenja immediately reports to the presidium and reveals to the investigators that her mother has a secret boyfriend and that she had stayed there all weekend. After Tellheim locates the man and learns that Elke Rascher has always been his great love, he thinks it is possible that he has gotten his rival out of the way. Hinrichs, however, has a different lead, so that Ms. Rascher is released again. He has found various pieces of evidence against Rascher's daughter and when he and Tellheim go to the Hellmans and express his suspicions, Swenja's grandfather appears with a rifle in his hand and explains that it was he who killed Udo Rascher. Rascher would have been in front of the house late in the evening shortly after his release and would have "yelled around". After his father-in-law fired a warning shot, Rascher would have fled to the barn, where he would have "killed" him. The inspectors do not believe him as the victim had no gunshot wounds. While they are still discussing whether Hellmann or even his wife was actually the perpetrator, Swenja is about to commit suicide. The neighbor boy Kai, whom she had taken into her confidence, can get help just in time. In her emotional distress, Svenia confesses that she followed her father into the barn. She thought he was sleeping when he was lying on the floor, but when he suddenly looked at her, she got scared and dropped a bale of straw on him. The next day, she and Kai took her dead father into the forest in a handcart and "buried" there.

background

Dark Summer was in on January 14, 2007 First for prime time broadcast for the first time.

criticism

Tilmann P. Gangloff from tittelbach.tv writes appreciatively: “Director Hendrik Handloegten lives up to his reputation as an 'author', even if he 'only' directs. As a result, the film hardly seems to move at times. [...] But then the great cast, pleasantly calmly staged three-fold family drama takes its course ... "

The critics of the TV magazine TV Spielfilm gave it the best possible rating (thumbs up) and said: “Strong pictures and not a word too many”.

Rate Meter only rates the film as “poor”, but finds: “Musically, the film is excellent. By using the same melody on the piano, the viewer soon feels at home. The pictures are particularly convincing anyway. Much of the film is set outside in the great outdoors. [...] Above all, the acting performances of the young actors deserve praise. Despite the difficult subject, they deal with their task in a highly professional manner and embody their characters realistically. ”[…]“ But the film's greatest weakness lies in the story. It was probably the basic idea to create a somewhat scary scenario. […] The pace of the crime thriller, however, is far too slow, […] The final sprint is by no means a sprint, but rather resembles the 50-meter run of a recently operated leg. The solution to the case is in no way surprising, since the viewer knows the perpetrator from the start. "

Web links

• Police 110: Dark Summer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Summary of the plot of the film on the ARD website

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tilmann P. Gangloff : Uwe Steimle, Felix Eitner, Horváth, Handloegten. Hot and cool thriller from Schwerin, a film review at tittelbach.tv, accessed on November 14, 2016.
2. ↑ Polizeiruf 110: Dunkler Sommer at tvspielfilm.de , accessed on August 27, 2016.
3. ^ Film review at quotenmeter.de , accessed on November 14, 2016.

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