Police 110: La Paloma

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Episode of the series Polizeiruf 110
Original title La Paloma
Country of production Germany
original language German
Production
company		 Bavaria Film
on behalf of WDR
length 90 minutes
classification Episode 218 ( List )
First broadcast May 7, 2000 on Das Erste
Rod
Director Ulrich Stark
script Michael Fengler ,
Margot Rothkirch
production Veith von Fürstenberg
music Birger Heymann
camera Wolf Siegelmann
cut Felicitas Lainer
occupation

La Paloma is a German crime film directed by Ulrich Stark from the year 2000. The television film was released as the 218th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 .

action

After a recorded complaint about a car theft, the patrolmen Sigi Möller and Kalle Küppers noticed the so-called “train bomber” between their place of work in Volpe and Sülze, who was sawing down a power pole and bringing it down on the train tracks. Both police officers can prevent worse. Shortly afterwards, a special commission from the Federal Criminal Police Office took over part of the rooms in the Volpen police headquarters, wanting to catch the perpetrator from here. Meanwhile, Sigi and Kalle are dealing with the usual cases: They catch their “old friend” Ricco, friend of the night bar owner Alexis, as a car thief. Pensioner Franz Plonner in turn appears to report his neighbor Wilhelm Griebnitz for murdering pigeons. When the investigators come to Griebnitz's house, they find the man dead. Apparently he was killed with a spade. Plonner is suspected of having destroyed Griebnitz's greenhouse in a fit of anger with a spade on the day of the crime.

Sigi and Kalle are only halfway through the investigation. Sigi has had a row with his girlfriend Gabi from the Cologne criminal police since she cheated on him some time ago. Since then he has been flirting with his unknown e-mail partner “La Paloma” by e-mail under the name “Wagtail”. Kalle, in turn, is certain that BKA officer Dr. Ulla Müller-Bertram will sooner or later no longer be able to resist his charm.

The train bomber wants several million marks in various currencies as well as a fixed amount of diamonds from the investigators to stop his actions. Ricco, who is with Plonner at the station for questioning, also sees the diamonds that have already been organized. He makes the desperate Plonner, who cannot feed his pigeons in time due to the interrogation, to flee with him. Sigi and Gabi lock them both in a cell while they take Kalle hostage. Plonner returns to the police station after feeding the pigeons, while Ricco remains missing. A little later, the train bomber reports again and gives instructions on how to hand over the diamonds. Although the voice profile doesn't match the real blackmailer, Dr. Ulla Müller-Bertram to hand over a diamond. Ricco, who is the free rider, guides Ulla to a dovecote. Finally, the diamonds are packed in small bags and carried away by the pigeons. Ricco, whose loft includes the pigeons, is able to flee. The assassin in turn learns a little later that "his" diamonds have already been picked up by someone else.

The wealthy Karl-August Bewersdorf, who is a kindergarten friend of Kalles and Volpe has just financed the restoration of the market fountain, receives a visit from Alexis, who brings him a diamond for examination and suggests that she has more precious stones. All the pigeons have arrived in the meantime. Sigi and Kalle shadowed Alexis to find Ricco. Now Sigi not only witnesses the meeting with Alexis, but is also present when shortly afterwards a debt collection company appears in front of Karl-August's villa and seizes the man's car because the last leasing installments were not paid. A check shows that Karl-Augusts is heavily indebted. The BKA has meanwhile been able to isolate a background noise that was heard during the blackmailer calls of the assassin and that sounds like a scratching and rattling.

Sigi and Kalle learn the whereabouts of Alexis. Here they find the woman and Ricco dead. Both were apparently anesthetized with champagne and then strangled. There is no trace of the diamonds. It becomes clear that the murderer of the two must also be the assassin, since only he knew about the theft of the diamonds. Both suspect that Karl-August is the culprit. A trap - Sigi pretends that Alexis and Ricco were injured and brought to the hospital - does not snap because Karl-August learns from Mayor Huffer that the couple are dead. Sigi and Kalle still have a suspicion, so the noise from the phone call resembles the scratching of Karl-August's sheepdog, with the collar rattling. They record the scratching sound of the dog and finally realize that Karl-August has hidden the stolen diamonds in the dog's collar. In the end, they can hand over Karl-August to the BKA as the perpetrator and also procure the diamonds. Franz Plonner's neighbor Wilhelm Griebnitz, on the other hand, inflicted his own spade wounds to stress Plonner, and in the excitement he forgot to take his medication, so that he died as a result of a heart attack. All cases have been resolved and Sigi and Gabi rush off, they want to meet their e-mail partner “Wagtail” or “La Paloma”. In the end, they realize that the two of them have been writing to each other all along and make up.

production

Brilon's market square with Petrusbrunnen, a location for the film

La Paloma was filmed from January 19 to February 23, 2000 “at arctic temperatures” in Brilon and especially in Munich. The action location Volpe is a fictional small town with phonetic allusions to the district town of Olpe . The film shows trains of the Austrian Federal Railways that have been redesigned as trains of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . At the time of filming, the Reichsbahn had been part of Deutsche Bahn for a number of years and had a new logo. Deutsche Bahn, on the other hand, had refused permission to film its trains “concerned about its image, which had already been damaged by accidents, delays and real blackmailers”. In the end credits of the film, thanks are given to the city of Brilon and the Austrian Federal Railways. The scenes with the trains were partly filmed at night in the community of Munderfing - at the Wiesenham level crossing and in Ach and Katztal. Rosemarie Hettmann created the costumes for the film .

The film had its television premiere on May 7, 2000 on Das Erste . The audience participation was 19.19 percent (= 5.49 million viewers) and was thus the most watched program of the day after Formula 1 and the Tagesschau . On August 21, 2008 the film was released on DVD in the series Wir in Nordrhein-Westfalen - Our collected works by WDR. It was the 218th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 . Sigi Möller and Kalle Küppers investigated in their 5th case.

criticism

In La Paloma, the focus is "less on a sophisticated crime story than on the play of bizarre characters," stated the Stuttgarter Zeitung , and stated that in this film Andreas Kunze "[shoot] the bird" because he " to wrest a hilarious figure from the figure of the upright hillbilly even without any significant facial exertion. “The plot is multi-layered, ironic, in places almost grotesquely exaggerated, full of humor and situational comedy. This crime thriller never takes itself that seriously, it is amusing and very entertaining ", praised the Trierische Volksfreund , and found that Sigi Möller and Kalle Küppers have" lost none of their liveliness "even six years after their start as investigators. "Weird birds and absurd scenes soon make the case a minor matter," said the TV Spielfilm , and the Leipziger Volkszeitung summarized: "Weird types, absurd situations, witty dialogues and pointed cuts give Ulrich Stark's 'Police Call' crime thriller a pleasant freshness. The whole thing is really crazy and still - or perhaps because of it - pleasantly normal. "

For the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , La Paloma was “a confused but also entertaining case. [...] But there were too many side scenes that watered down the story a bit. ”“ The plot is like a maze that Sigi and Kalle can only find out because they have more knowledge of human nature than all of the criminal profiles of the BKA put together, ”wrote the Ostthüringer Zeitung . The Sächsische Zeitung found that the film was "weird clothes, [but] probably not for die-hard thriller fans".

literature

  • Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, pp. 227–228.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Preview for “Polizeiruf 110: La Paloma” on bavaria-film.de, April 10, 2000.
  2. ^ Police call 110: La Paloma on bavaria-film.de
  3. ↑ See Polizeiruf 110: La Paloma on eisenbahnen-der-welt.de
  4. ↑ a b Thomas Gehringer: Dead pigeons and dead pigeon killers . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , May 6, 2000, p. 40.
  5. ↑ Film crime heroes as guests . In: Oberösterreichische Nachrichten , February 29, 2000.
  6. ^ Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, p. 227.
  7. ↑ Rating hits from May 7, 2000 . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , May 9, 2000, p. 12.
  8. ↑ Susanne Larischmainz: Country eggs in the Sauerland snow. New episodes of the crime series “Polizeiruf 110” . In: Trierischer Volksfreund , May 6, 2000.
  9. ^ Police call 110: La Paloma on tvspielfilm.de
  10. ^ Christiane Kern: Superbullen . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , May 9, 2000, p. 12.
  11. ↑ Uwe Deeke: provincial crime . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , May 8, 2000.
  12. ↑ Angelika Bohn: Landei wins . In: Ostthüringer Zeitung , May 9, 2000.
  13. ↑ Elke Zöller: Weird clothes . In: Sächsische Zeitung , May 9, 2000, p. 17.
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