Police call 110: The stranger

Episode of the series Polizeiruf 110
Original title	The stranger
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production company	Polyphon Film- und Fernseh GmbH for NDR
length	84 minutes
classification	Episode 188 ( List )
First broadcast	April 27, 1997 on Das Erste
Rod
Director	Manfred Stelzer
script	Rainer Butt Jürgen Pomorin
production	Barbara Beauvais Beatrice Kramm
music	Joachim von Gerndt
camera	Oliver Jakob
cut	Hedy Altschiller Renate Engelmann
occupation
Kurt Böwe : Kurt Groth Uwe Steimle : Jens Hinrichs Karin Baal : innkeeper Karl Kranzkowski : Kruger Horst Krause : Johann Lühmann Ingo Naujoks : Stefan Bender Victor Schefé : Jobst Lühmann Nora Jensen : Susann Schweitzer HH Müller : Chief Detective Dr. Stuber Arno Reckers : Grocer Bernd Stegemann : Crooked Legs Gabriele Völsch : Juliane Groth Horst Rehberg : station master Frank Apitz : Blaumann

Der Fremde is a German crime film with western elements by Manfred Stelzer from 1997. The television film was released as the 188th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 .

action

One day a stranger appears on his bike in the village of Plüschow. He doesn't talk much, stays in the only inn in the village and causes wild speculation among the villagers Krüger, the innkeeper and the brothers Johann and Jobst Lühmann. Nobody knows what he wants, especially since the man named Stefan Bender seems to be exploring the area on his bike during the day. After Bender's arrival, a so-called lightning break-in takes place in the village, in which the safe of the local Postbank branch is stolen. After a short time, two more new faces appear in Plüschow: Chief Detective Jens Hinrichs and Detective Superintendent Kurt Groth. With keen sympathy from the village population, both begin investigations into the robbery, which is part of a series. In the past twelve days, eight such burglaries were known. Hinrichs suspects Romanian gangs to be the masterminds.

During his research, Hinrichs found barrels with toxic paint and solvents in a meadow, the contents of which had already seeped into the ground. He passes out from the vapors and after awakening starts working on this as a new case. For him, the barrels are organized environmental crime. Since he runs into Bender again and again during his explorations, he believes that he is active for Greenpeace . The villagers also see Bender as an environmental activist and become restless.

Hinrichs and Groth are also pursuing the Postbank robbery. It is noticeable that shortly before the robbery, the owner of the local garbage dump, Susann Schweitzer, paid in a sum of 80,000 D-Marks . The sum resulted from a larger, completed deal, according to Schweitzer. Hazardous waste is always properly disposed of with her. She has nothing to do with the poison barrels in the meadow.

Groth's granddaughter Juliane appears in the village and brings Hinrichs a cable for his computer. Although she actually wants to leave immediately, she changes her mind when Bender is injured and brought into the dining room. While driving, he was thrown from the saddle by a rope stretched across the road. Juliane takes care of him and later goes cycling with him. In doing so she notices Bender targeting trucks coming from the landfill; he collects soil that has got caught in the tire treads and has it examined in laboratories. Hinrichs and Groth meanwhile solve the planned cases and even more: Alarmed by the presence of the investigators and Benders, the Lühmann brothers confess that they are storing paper pulp barrels in their stable that they use to fertilize the fields. Now they have realized that they are harming the environment and vow to make it better. The investigators are made aware of the landfill via an anonymous letter, in which several barrels of paint and solvents happened to be stored, but which were apparently driven in through a hole in the fence. A comparison of the letter with completed crossword puzzles leads the investigators to farmer Krüger, who admits the barrel storage. By chance, Hinrichs also comes across the Romanian gang who have set up a camp in the forest near Plüschow. A manhunt is initiated and the gang is placed not far from Rostock .

However, Bender is following his lead with Juliane, especially since landfill owner Susann Schweitzer presents herself to the investigators with a white vest. Bender and Juliane are stowaways on a truck that transports the contaminated earth from the landfill. They land in the port of Wismar , where the earth is loaded onto ships that are supposed to go to Norway . The landfill saves a lot of money through illegal disposal abroad. Juliane calls Groth, but is overwhelmed by the port manager. Using the ship's horn and the data in Bender's computer, Hinrichs and Groth can determine Julian's whereabouts and now also know about the earth. You are going to Wismar, where the ship to Norway has just left. Since Groth suspects that Juliane is on the ship, he and Hinrichs row into the sailing line in a small boat. The ship comes to a halt shortly before the boat, even if Juliane and Bender are safely in the harbor. Susann Schweitzer has to give up her landfill. Bender, in turn, says goodbye to Juliane, even if both have grown closer during the time together, and rides off on his bike.

production

Wismar seaport, a location for the film

The Stranger was filmed in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from July 1996, including in Plüschow and in the Wismar seaport . The film has numerous Western elements that are presented in a humorous way in the film. This includes, among other things, film music, title presentation, clothing of the actors, scene settings typical of the genre, part of the dialogues, the main character as a silent stranger and other actors in Western-typical roles (salon lady, little villains, sheriffs, etc.). The costumes of the film created Heidi Plätz that Filmbauten derived from Marion Strohschein . The film had its television premiere on April 27, 1997 in the first . The audience participation was 19.1 percent.

It was the 188th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 . The inspectors Hinrichs and Groth investigated in their 8th case.

criticism

The Frankfurter Rundschau called Der Fremde a “crime thriller 'western' that takes place in the wild east, here in the endless expanse of the province of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania”. “It wasn't a crime thriller, it was a Western - an 'Ossi' Western from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,” wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung , and praised the fact that the scriptwriters “fortunately didn't switch to the crime scene at once, Instead, instead of consistently relying on westerns, or better: relying on the ironic stylization of westerns. "For the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, it was not the crime story that was decisive, but the type of staging:" Manfred Stelzers in particular was in a good mood Production in the style of a western parody, under the motto: 'Here in the north people take their time' to savor a humorous story with relish. ”The main actors Steimle, Böwe, Krause and Naujoks were“ the guarantors for an amusing evening ”. "Director Manfred Stelzer lets the 90 minutes oscillate between swank, crime thriller and Western", stated Der Tagesspiegel , while TV Spielfilm described the episode as "Western satire with Eastern bulls in cowboy boots".

Web links

• Police 110: The stranger in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Police call 110: The Stranger at filmportal.de
• Police call 110: The Stranger on Das Erste.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Hans-Heinrich Obuch: Westerns in the East . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 29, 1997, p. 18.
2. ^ Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, p. 197.
3. ↑ KW: Police call 110. Showdown in the port of Wismar . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , April 26, 1997, p. 23.
4. ↑ Emmanuel van Stein: Refreshing . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , April 29, 1997.
5. ↑ Joachim Huber: Pülschow, a joke . In: Der Tagesspiegel , April 29, 1997, p. 27.
6. ^ Police call 110: The Stranger on tvspielfilm.de

previous episode March 16, 1997: Daisies

Police Call 110 Follow

next episode May 11, 1997: Beyond Death