Stralsund: Murderous pursuit

Episode in the Stralsund series
Original title	Murderous pursuit
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production ; company	Network Movie film and television production
length	90 minutes
classification	Episode 1
First broadcast	March 30, 2009 on ZDF
Rod
Director	Martin Eigler
script	Martin Eigler, ; Sven S. Poser
production	Reinhold Elschot ; Andi Wecker
music	Oliver Kranz
camera	Christoph Chassée
cut	Jörg Kadler
occupation
	Katharina Wackernagel : Nina Petersen, detective inspector; Janek Rieke : Stefan Prinz, detective inspector; Harald Schrott : Michael Broder; Bernadette Heerwagen : Lisa Becker ; or Mona; Alexander Scheer : Wolf Broder; Kirsten Block : Susanne Winkler, KHK'in; Andreas Schröders : Stein, technician; Christoph Hohmann : Lüdge, head of operations; Thomas Wüpper : Norbert Rahn, MEK manager ; Phillip Schwarz : Werner, police officer; Hans Löw : Holtmann; Claudia Rieschel : Mrs. Becker; Benjamin Morik : Meixner; Doreen Nixdorf : Officer at the headquarters; Annekathrin Bach : Monika Gebhardt; Christoph Tomanek : hostage; Heiko Suhr : insurance broker, hostage; Pheline Roggan , Regine Schönfelder : Hostages Set Free; Stefan Hollekamp : computer specialist;
chronology
	Successor → ; Out of Control

Murderous pursuit is a German television film by Martin Eigler from 2009. It is the pilot film for the ZDF crime series Stralsund . In the main roles, Katharina Wackernagel and Janek Rieke can be seen as a team of policemen who are trying to find out why their supervisor and department manager Susanne Winkler, played by Kirsten Block , could fall into the hands of a hostage taker. The main guest stars of this episode are Harald Schrott , Bernadette Heerwagen and Alexander Scheer .

action

Chief Inspector Susanne Winkler rushed to leave her office after a call on her cell phone. Her journey in the car takes her to an insurance company building, the foyer of which she enters. She stops for a moment and then enters an office room. There, too, there is a yawning emptiness. All of a sudden she feels the barrel of a pistol on her neck. She recognizes a masked person who asks her wordlessly to put her hands behind her back. Cable ties are tied around her wrists and she is dragged into an adjacent open plan office and cuffed to a desk chair. Not far from her are six other people, probably insurance employees, who are gagged and tied up. Winkler sees this through an open door. Still without a word, the stranger means to the Commissioner to dial the emergency number and read out what is written on the two pieces of paper he is holding out to her: your name and rank and that she is the victim of a hostage-taking, the hostage-taker has six more people in his power, demand two million euros ransom and you have two hours to provide the money. The next message contains the instruction that the ransom should be deposited in small unnumbered bills within an hour in a suitcase in the warehouse of the old VEB agricultural machinery manufacturer "Red Banner". Only a policeman is allowed to deliver the money. In addition, the hostage-taker demands that Michael Broder, inmate of the Stralsund prison, be released.

Susanne Winkler is the head of the Stralsund detective office and the superior of the inspectors Nina Petersen and Stefan Prinz. Petersen is considered an interrogation specialist, which she is currently proving in another case, the Holtmann case. In the meantime, Norbert Rahn, acting head of the MEK , has arrived at the police station with his people. Prinz explains that Broder is a murderer who took over financially in the repair of a residential complex and then burned the whole block down. The insurance company hired a detective to prove the fire to Broder. He shot that one. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Winkler led the investigation into the case at the time. Petersen adds that Ms. Winkler probably suspected something, because she gave her the file for review this morning.

In the meantime, the approximate location from which the calls originated has been determined; further investigations show that the Northern Lights insurance company is probably the location of the hostage-taking. That is the insurance company involved at the time. Petersen speaks to Broder to get him to go to the scene with her. Broder is bitter. He still claims he was not the arsonist. The insurance company did everything possible to make it look like arson so as not to have to pay the sum insured. The man he then shot didn't deserve better, he went along with it to earn his bonus. He lied all the time. Broder thinks that if the colleague who screwed up his case kindly please him, something might work. Petersen explains to him that this colleague is one of the hostages and wants to know who the hostage-taker is. That could only be his brother Wolf, “that idiot”, says Broder.

Petersen is certain that the hostage taker has an accomplice, and there are various signs of this. Broder speaks to his brother, but he does not let him dissuade him from his plan. Petersen and Prinz now know that a woman is involved with Wolf Broder. A computer specialist has succeeded in establishing a connection to the insurance office so that longer passages of what is being said can be understood. It is obvious that Susanne Winkler knows the young woman. She calls her Mona and says she only came here because she hadn't heard from her for so long and was worried about her. Mona kisses the inspector. When Wolf Broder sees this, he freaks out completely. Winkler implores Mona to end it now, if Michael Broder finds out about their relationship, she'll be afraid for her. Mona replies: “You broke up with me, Micha would never have done that.” Winkler tries to calm Mona and explain to her why she thought this separation was necessary. Even though Mona is torn, she can't believe that Susanne just wanted her best. Quite surprisingly, she then confesses to the inspector that Broder is in prison for her because she started the fire.

The situation escalates, the hostage taker wants his brother to be sent to him; Winkler's people want to get their boss off. However, Broder is resolutely reluctant to allow Winkler to go. On the part of the police you have to give your consent, as Wolf Broder threatens to shoot a man. Petersen insists that two hostages should then be released. There are disagreements. A shot is fired. Shortly afterwards, Susanne Winkler is pushed in front of the door in her office chair. She is bleeding profusely in the chest area. While Broder changes over to his brother, the emergency doctor can only determine the death of Susanne Winkler.

There are no more voices to be heard, Petersen believes that the Broder brothers and Mona somehow escaped. The remaining three hostages can be rescued from their predicament. The officers discover a breakthrough that leads into a canal, through which the Broders and Mona must have escaped. Meanwhile, Petersen looks around Winkler's apartment. She finds a notebook from which it emerges that Winkler and that Mona had an affair for months. Meanwhile, Wolf Broder's body is discovered in the canal.

Petersen can also put the Holtmann case, whose interrogation she carried out at the beginning, to the files; the man confessed to having killed his father-in-law. However, the young inspector's testimony also helps to the extent that she suspects what has happened to Broder and Mona. Going it alone, however, puts her in mortal danger. Lisa Becker is hiding behind Mona, she had borrowed the ID of a friend named Monika Gebhardt and visited Broder in prison with this document. Together with Broder, she fled to her mother's pension a little outside of the city. There Nina Petersen falls into Broder's power. With her as a hostage, he wants to secure the escape abroad. Petersen manages, however, to drive a wedge between the couple, who are already suspicious of each other. She also learns that the shot at Winkler came from Monas resp. Lisa's gun was released and was accidentally and that Mona shot Wolf Broder. This then also points the gun at Micha Broder, who can duck away and is arrested as a result. "Mona" walks down the street as if none of this was any of her business.

production

Production notes, publication

The film was produced by Network Movie , Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne, production management: Wolfgang Cimera , production management: Madeleine Remy, responsible ZDF editor Martin R. Neumann .

Murderous Persecution was filmed between May 14 and June 14, 2008 in Stralsund and the surrounding area as well as in Hamburg and was first broadcast on ZDF on March 30, 2009 during prime time .

The first four episodes of Stralsund were released on DVD by Studio Hamburg Enterprises on March 24, 2016.

background

Katharina Wackernagel explained about her role and the dilemma her character got into in the first episode: "[The Commissioner] is forced to make decisions that are completely new to her." She herself can handle difficult situations quite well , at least not showing anything: “I believe that I can well maintain the appearance of reacting clearly under pressure. In myself it often looks very different, but I was also able to use this feeling for the figure. "

reception

Audience rating

The film was watched by 5.59 million viewers, which corresponds to a market share of 17.3%.

criticism

TV Spielfilm gave one for claim, two for action and three of three possible points for excitement, pointed the thumbs up and drew the conclusion: "Versatile, captivating, top cast!"

Julian Miller fromquotemeter.de saw it completely differently and said that the "dramaturgy" already made "a very shabby impression" and "at the latest after the end of the hostage-taking" the story wandered around "completely aimless and confused". There is "no clear topic" and also "everything is repeated a dozen times". “Just as flat as the plot” are “the characters, all of which have degenerated into horrible one-dimensional archetypes”. “Until the end” it was “not clear what the film [wanted] to be and as a chamber play the concept would have worked a lot better”. “One would have“ really expected more from Martin Eigler ”, it was concluded in conclusion,“ but unfortunately his new project [was] his own failure ”. The quota meter then only hit 40%.

Rainer Tittelbach from tittelbach.tv, on the other hand, also said that this crime thriller “is dramaturgically not without weaknesses”, “but works very well in the flow of (genre) images”. A “compact blackmail crime thriller that unwinds its 'murderous persecution' in 24 hours” has “not existed for a long time”, the critic explained, but since the genre is “well known”, one quickly “got a taste for it again” ". "Access was made easier" by a varied cast: Katharina Wackernagel as a policewoman - not warm ?! " Ice-cold gangsters - one likes to put up with that. ”Tittelbach awarded 3 ½ of 6 possible stars.

The film portal Filmdienst spoke of a "often enigmatic (television) crime film for an exciting race against time", but restricted it, "which does not meet its high demands on the complexity of the plot and the characters either in terms of acting or dramaturgy" fortune.

tpg from Kino.de, on the other hand, was full of praise: “The prologue is just the calm before the storm: After a short introduction, the tension really skyrockets. Ninety minutes of high tension follow; Take a deep breath is not back in fashion until the end. ”It was also said that this film was“ a textbook thriller ”. "The fact that the story and its staging turned out to be so dense and concentrated" is "also the result of a collaboration that has now spanned many years [...] and is the fifth joint script by writer Sven Poser and director Martin Eigler". The cast was mentioned as another great strength of this film. "The film impresses above all because of the sophisticated script, which, with its sophistication, could almost serve as a template for crimes." "An enormous part of the consistently high level of tension" also has "the thriller music by Oliver Kranz" [...].

In the taz , Stefan Niklas wrote that the director and author placed "more emphasis on tension than on feelings and motifs", but that "in no way means that the overall extremely worth seeing film is crudely staged". Only the end has “something of a 'crime scene' quality, that means: After 90 minutes it has to be over”. Conclusion: “And so this CSI Stralsund with ' Swordfish ' bonds, after a short detour to Bonnie and Clyde, must in the end become a completely normal crime thriller on the Second German Television.” Niklas said before, even if “'Stralsund - Murderous Persecution 'doesn't want to be a German crime thriller, but a thriller ":" The whole thing isn't playing in LA and not even in Berlin, but in tranquil Stralsund. "The story is certainly" anything but new, but exciting in the American style and told in an entertaining way ”.

Thomas Gehringer from Potsdam's Latest News brought another connection to an American film into play, namely, he wrote: And finally, Eigler and Poser quoted a little dramaturgically 'The Silence of the Lambs'. The question of who is ringing the right doorbell, the upgraded special task force or the individual policewoman, is a classic moment of tension. And that works very well here, even if Katharina Wackernagel is not Jodie Foster and Stralsund, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, not Belvedere, Ohio. However, Gehringer disliked the fact that the “eventful thriller” promised “clearly too much” in the first part of the title, because “ little more than a commercial area that could also be located elsewhere” was shown of the “ small town included in the world cultural heritage ” .