Crime scene: The dead Chinese
| Episode of the series Tatort | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The dead Chinese |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Production company |
HR and Degeto Film |
| length | 86 minutes |
| classification | Episode 716 ( List ) |
| First broadcast | December 28, 2008 on First German Television |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hendrik Handloegten |
| script |
David Keller , Hendrik Handloegten |
| production | Jörg Himstedt |
| music |
Bertram Denzel , Erik Huhn |
| camera | Peter Przybylski |
| cut | Stefan Blue |
| occupation | |
| |
The dead Chinese is a television film from the crime series Tatort of ARD and ORF . The film was produced by HR and aired for the first time on December 28, 2008 in the program Das Erste . For the Frankfurt investigators Dellwo and Sänger this 716th crime scene episode is their 14th joint case. The investigators have to solve the murder of a human trafficker. The story becomes particularly explosive when it becomes known that somewhere in Frankfurt am Main there is a container with Chinese refugees without food and water. So begins a race against time to save these people.
action
Chinese Tony Wang wants to spend the night at the airport hotel in Frankfurt am Main so that he can fly to the USA the next morning. There he meets some compatriots who leave him in an argument. Shortly thereafter, the traveling salesman Shavkat Nazarov sits down at his table, they drink together until late at night and visit the fitness room to process all the alcohol more quickly. The young Chinese Wen Hai Wan, who works as a cleaner at the airport, later finds his compatriot dead under the weight bench . Since he is all alone, he secretly takes his passport.
When Dellwo and Sänger arrive at the airport, the airport manager greets them sullenly, as police investigations are very unsuitable for him right now. An important conference is currently taking place with over 600 Chinese participants, which is very important for the airport. The investigators promise to work as discreetly as possible and first try to find out who the dead person is - which turns out to be very difficult because neither clothes, papers nor room keys can be found. Only one ring with the engraved name "Stefanie" could be found. He can be identified from the drink bill in the bar, which Wang paid with a credit card, and his guest, Shavkat Nazarov, is an important witness. However, he is now on his way to Berlin, but is expected to return to the hotel in the evening.
Wen Hai Wan has since assumed the identity of Tony Wang, without knowing what kind of situation he gets into. Wang lives with his wife in Germany, but he was on his way to America; So Wan's ticket to New York comes in handy, because he can finally see his family again, who live in America. However, crooks Robert Roetgen and Jens Richter are waiting for the real Tony Wang at the airport. Wen Hai Wan now carries the identification mark, a bag with the Swiss flag. Since he does not look at the two of them, they are unsure and fear that he wants to pile up. Without further ado they force him to get into their car, take him to a warehouse and want the money for their delivery. Roetgen recently started doing illegal business with human traffickers. But he doesn't know how to deal with Wang. He is just silent and can escape in an unobserved moment.
It seems strange to the singer that the cleaning crew did not find the dead person, as they are usually always the first to do something early in the morning. The hotel manager acts very strangely when she asks about the cleaning staff provided by a service company. At the hotel bar, she starts talking to the young Chinese woman, Min Li Sun. She has been looking for her parents for a year. They wanted to travel to Europe illegally, but never got there.
Dellwo can now speak to Shavkat Nazarov, who is back from Berlin. From him he learns that Wang was a human trafficker who offered him a container full of illegal immigrants if he would pay well. For the investigators, the search for the container is more important than the search for the murderer, because the people could still live in there. But without an exact location or container number, it is difficult to find it.
Dellwo learns from the airport police that someone else is now posing for Wang and paying with his check card. Singer has since checked the cleaning company and found that a Wen Hai Wan is missing there. When he is picked up at his accommodation, it reveals that countless Chinese are housed there, all of whom are illegal in Germany and are being exploited by an entire organization. Wan can be arrested and hardly speaks here either. With the help of Min Li Sun, who has made herself available as an interpreter, he makes himself understood and Singer doubts that he is Tony Wang's killer.
Roetgens friend Richter is now nervous and wants to get his money by force. He found Tony Wang's address and is going there. He kidnaps Wang's wife and puts her in the container with the others. Shortly afterwards, the message came on Wang's cell phone that he should go to the container port with 300,000 euros if he wanted his wife back alive. The investigators send Wen Hai Wan to the agreed place as a decoy and can arrest Roertgen and Richter there as well as find out the container number and free the people from their prison.
In the end, it turns out that Min Li Sun found out that Tony Wang was responsible for her parents' disappearance and death. She consciously sought contact with him and wanted to confront him in the fitness studio and pressed the weights of the system onto the Wang underneath so that he died as a result. She didn't want that, but she thinks: "It's good that he's dead."
background
The film was shot by HR and in cooperation with Degeto Film Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area.
reception
Audience ratings
The first broadcast of Der tote Chinese on December 28, 2008 was seen by a total of 6.62 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 18.9 percent for Das Erste .
criticism
Rainer Tittelbach from tittelbach.tv appraised the acting achievements: “In addition to Andrea Sawatzki and Jörg Schüttauf, Matthias Brandt and Johanna Wokalek also act clearly and coolly. The two little gangsters, whose actions show the whole tragedy of their miserable existence, are also impressive: Andreas Schmidt and Thorsten Merten express despair and brutality in equal measure. Even if the suspense of the crime story comes to a standstill because of too many question marks - it is the deeper truths of the story, the details, the atmospheric images that make this 'crime scene' extraordinary. "
Tilmann P. Gangloff stated: “Hendrik Handloegten shows how to tell a story about a remarkable ensemble, deliberately puzzles it out and in this way ensures constant tension without a single shot being fired: The obligatory fatality is in the Frankfurt gym Airport hotel choked under a dumbbell. [...] This 'crime scene' [impresses] not least because of its complexity; even if it takes a while to find your way between the different levels. "
Christian Buß wrote about this crime scene on Taz.net : The director's gaze remains “artfully focused on the location of the modern flow of people and goods: While the soundtrack opens up stoically plucking krautrock loops, you can see people self-lost measuring the long corridors of the airport: Everywhere Apparently dead and tired of life hum on treadmills and in passenger carts through the airport ambience. "
The critics of the television magazine TV Spielfilm said that this crime scene “is staged with an extremely dense atmosphere and […] brings us a lively, gripping criticism of globalization”.
Web links
- Crime scene: The dead Chinese in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Summary of the plot of Der tote Chinese on the ARD website
- The dead Chinese in the crime scene fund
- The dead Chinese at Tatort-Fans.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Production details and audience rating at tatort-fundus.de, accessed on April 7, 2014.
- ^ Rainer Tittelbach: Film review on tittelbach.tv, accessed on April 7, 2014.
- ^ Tilmann P. Gangloff : Critique of the film on Kino.de , accessed on April 7, 2014.
- ↑ Christian Buß : Von Menschen und Gütern on taz.net, accessed on April 7, 2014.
- ↑ Short review on tvspielfilm.de, accessed on April 7, 2014.
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previous episode December 21, 2008: Granite |
Crime scene follow |
next episode January 4th, 2008: Tree of Redemption |
Oskar (2002) | Femicide (2003) | Evil (2003) | Janus (2004) | Heart Failure (2004) | Where's Max Gravert? (2005) | Vacancy (2005) | The last race (2006) | Hunter's Day (2006) | Between Us (2007) | Before it gets dark (2007) | The early farewell (2008) | Sisters of Arms (2008) | The Dead Chinese (2008) | Neuland (2009) | Architecture of a Death (2009) | Because they're bad (2010) | At the end of the day (2010)