Crime scene: close to the border

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Episode of the series Tatort
Original title Close to the limit
Country of production Germany
original language German
Production
company		 Maran Film on behalf of SWR
length 88 minutes
classification Episode 690 ( List )
First broadcast March 9, 2008 on Das Erste
Rod
Director Elmar Fischer
script Holger Karsten Schmidt
production Uwe Franke ,
Sabine Tettenborn
music Matthias legs
camera Ralf Nowak
cut Olga Barthel
occupation

Hart on the border is a television film from the crime series Tatort . The report produced by Maran Film on behalf of Südwestrundfunk was broadcast for the first time on March 9, 2008 on Das Erste . It is the 690th episode in the series and the first case of the Stuttgart investigative team Lannert and Bootz .

The discovery of a dead girl allows the investigators to penetrate the criminal machinations of a dubious adoption agency, where even child trafficking is not shied away from in order to make a profit.

action

Thorsten Lannert starts his new job in Stuttgart and is welcomed with a glass of champagne, since it is his new colleague Sebastian Bootz's birthday. Prosecutor Alvarez also sends you on a mission. A homeless man saw a child floating in the river and brought him ashore. The coroner finds that the child did not drown, but died of cardiac arrest. The only clue to find out the girl's identity is a missing link on the ring finger of the right hand. However, there is no corresponding missing person report. Therefore the newspaper tries to find out who the girl could be. The married couple Melanie and Rainer Bongartz report immediately, who miss their daughter Sara, who was adopted a month ago. Lannert and Bootz visit the Bongartz and learn that the couple had illegally adopted the child for a five-figure sum. Two days ago, however, Sara was picked up by Alexander Fauser from the adoption company New-Life because allegedly there were still papers to be obtained. They haven't seen Sara since. Since nobody can be found under the name Fauser, Lannert and Bootz decide to pretend to be a couple at New-Life and want to adopt a child. The public prosecutor finds the proposal amusing at first, but then agrees.

The campaign was successful and Alexander Fauser got in touch the same evening. They make an appointment, but Fauser realizes that it is a trap and flees. In the chase through downtown Stuttgart, the investigators fail to catch up with Fauser. Thereupon the public prosecutor arranges a house search at New-Life, since Fauser could only get in contact with the child-seekers through the adoption company.

Forensic scientist Nika Banovic finds a remarkable amount of pollen from everlasting flowers in the hair of the dead child. Lannert then asks the homeless man who found the child again. He remembers that the girl had flowers in her hair. From this, Bootz concludes that Sara was not indifferent to the perpetrator and that he buried her in the river. That would mean that Fauser would be out of the question, because someone who deals with children must not have feelings for them.

Lannert, on the other hand, notices that in the photos that the Bongartz couple took of Sara, the child is nowhere missing a piece of finger. This suggests that the dead child cannot be Sara. It may be a twin, so just from the photo in the newspaper, the Bongartz thought it was their daughter. So the investigators go to the Bongartz again and ask them if they know anything about a twin sister. Since her Sara hardly spoke German, she could not talk about it, but Melanie Bongartz remembers calling her doll Lena and always playing as if it were her sister.

Bootz now receives a clue about Fauser's identity. Apparently his name is Michael Lehmann and lives in an old office building in Zuffenhausen . In the past he would have rented children there for dubious purposes before he switched to the adoption business. The building in question is searched immediately and the hiding place is found, but Fauser and the child are no longer there.

In order to find the person who buried the dead child in the river, the official burial of Sara is to be arranged. The investigators hope that they can use it to expose the person. Eva Stein from New-Life appears among many others at the bogus burial. She is approached by Lannert and Bootz and confesses that she buried Lena in the river after she had a high fever and then died from it. The child would have found her Frank Lüders, with whom she has a relationship. Lannert and Bootz go to Lüders to confront him. He justified his actions with the misery of the children in Belarus, which he could no longer see. Bootz asks him to help find Sara and so he tells them that Lehmann is on the way to the Czech border with the child. He wants to hand Sara over to her middleman there so that she can be brought back to Belarus. The death and the public interest made it too risky for Lehmann and Lüders to keep this child in Germany. A task force is sent out immediately and Lehmann can be seen from the helicopter accompanied by the child. Before the police are on site, Lehmann has already exchanged Sara for new children, who are now being freed by the officers. Lannert and Bootz continue to search for Sara, and they come to the border with the Czech Republic. While the uniformed officers stay behind, Lannert and Bootz go alone to Czech territory. Not far from the border they can discover and free Sara.

Lüders was taken into custody and the Guardianship Court later decides on Sara's whereabouts with the Bongartz family.

background

The shooting took place under the working title Sara-Lena in Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Karlsruhe. The song Heaven at the end of the film is sung by Nils Hamdorf. At the core of the story there are numerous parallels to the Schimanski crime thriller Stuffed Animals from 1982. Screenwriter Holger Karsten Schmidt rejected the plagiarism charge.

reception

Audience ratings

The first broadcast of Hart an der Grenz on March 1, 2009 was seen by 7.90 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 21.8 percent for Das Erste . The episode reached 123rd place out of a possible 916 on Tatortblog.

Reviews

At Stern.de , Kathrin Buchner particularly rates “The rough hamburger and the smart ambitious, plus two racy ladies with a migration background: To end the era of the Swabian sluggishness of Inspector Bienzle, the SWR brought up hot guys, fast cars and a child's corpse. “But she also criticizes the fact that“ Swabian is no longer spoken ”and says that even if“ fast-paced sleds are racing around the Stuttgart Palace, a revolution has not yet happened. This requires more creative staging ideas. The first Lannert-Bootz episode is a new start, without a doubt, but by no means the big hit. "

Rainer Tittelbach from tittelbach.tv praises this new team with the words: “Richy Müller, Felix Klare & Co are not taking on a particularly difficult inheritance. All the more surprising are the freshness and the power with which the new Stuttgart team goes to work right from the start. And that is not only due to two strong actors, but also to the concept, which only touches on biographical questions and catapults the two newcomers into their first case. "

The website: How was the crime scene? initially feels the episode as “un-Swabian” because only “flawless High German” is spoken and continues to say to the new team: “The murder that the two of them have to solve at the beginning offers little scope to make a lasting impression: the framework for one seedy adoption agency and an identical pair of twins hardly offers any fresh ideas, but at least gives the two the opportunity to get in touch as a gay couple. It's fun, it lifts the 690th crime scene [...] but still not above the gray average. "

At Moviesection.de, on the other hand, Melanie Frommholz awards all five possible stars and judges: “For the opening case, screenwriter Holger Karsten Schmidt and director Elmar Fischer worked hard and created an all-round successful“ crime scene ”. [...] Funny dialogues and comedy situations alternate with serious tones and hot chases through the city of Stuttgart. "Hart at the border" is consistently fast and wins with this tactic. "

Francois Werner at Tatort Fundus says: “A strong film, a strong team! The first crime scene in Stuttgart is a real highlight - with the right mix of suspense, humor, action and ambition; the investigator characters are interesting, personable and funny. The film is entertaining and has a good tempo. "

The critics of the television magazine TV-Spielfilm said about the entertaining crime thriller: "A good start for the likeable couple".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Working title and audience rating at tatort-fundus.de, accessed on February 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ Heaven - Theme song Tatort "Hart an Der Grenz" on itunes.apple.com, accessed February 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Ranking list on tatort-blog.de, accessed on February 3, 2014.
  4. ↑ Kathrin Buchner Die Kinderleiche im Neckar on stern.de, accessed on February 4, 2014.
  5. ^ Rainer Tittelbach film review on tittelbach.tv, accessed on February 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ That was the crime scene on wiewardertatort.blogspot.de, accessed on February 4, 2014.
  7. ↑ Melanie Frommholz review on moviesection.de, accessed on February 4, 2014.
  8. ^ Francois Werner film review on tatort-fundus.de, accessed on February 4, 2014.
  9. ↑ Short review on tvspielfilm.de, accessed on February 4, 2014.
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