Crime scene: Powerless
| Episode of the series Tatort | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Powerless |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Production company |
RBB & ARD Degeto |
| length | 88 minutes |
| classification | Episode 858 ( list ) |
| First broadcast | January 6, 2013 on Das Erste |
| Rod | |
| Director | Klaus Krämer |
| script | Klaus Krämer |
| production | Askania Media film production |
| music | Christine Aufderhaar |
| camera | Ralph Netzer |
| cut | Monika Schindler |
| occupation | |
| |
Powerless is a television film from the crime series Tatort . The program produced by Askania Media Filmproduktion for RBB and ARD Degeto was first broadcast on January 6, 2013 on Erste . The depiction of the police work was carried out in particularly close coordination with the Berlin police.
action
The nine-year-old Benjamin is brought to the apartment of his drum teacher Jo Schelling by his mother Linda Steiner. After the agreed time, the mother wants to pick up her son, but the music teacher does not open the door even after ringing the doorbell several times. The police called for help find Schelling tied up and gagged in the rehearsal room. When asked where Benjamin was, he replied that Benjamin was kidnapped .
The inspectors Till Ritter and Felix Stark visit the parents of the kidnapped child and ask them about private details. Ms. Steiner feels heard by the questions and only reveals further information at the express request of the officials. It becomes clear that the Steiner family is very wealthy, as Hermann Steiner is the second chairman of the board of the Reling-Bank, a larger private bank . The question immediately arises for Ritter whether the kidnapping of Benjamin is of a business nature. The officers have the Steiner family guard the house and are present day and night. During the daily mail check with the family, an envelope appears without a sender. The content is a DVD with a video of Benjamin. Benjamin announces that the ransom demand will take place in two parts. In the first part, the kidnapper demands 500,000 euros. Handover: Alexanderplatz , Berlin. Since the Steiners' financial means allow this, the requested amount will be handed over at Alexanderplatz, which is monitored by plainclothes policemen. Instead of fleeing, however, the recipient randomly distributes the ransom on Alexanderplatz and then allows himself to be arrested by the inspectors without resistance.
Investigations by the criminal police can determine the identity of the perpetrator: It is Uwe Braun, who is a homeless person , and no further data, such as internet connection or bank details, can be determined. Braun refuses to reveal Benjamin's whereabouts in front of the commissioners and only wants to tell the boy's parents the second part of the ransom in person. In this comparison, Hermann Steiner recognizes the perpetrator again, but Steiner cannot at first remember where from. Braun communicated the second part of his demand: Ten million euros should be delivered to the presidium, only then would he announce Benjamin's whereabouts, whose water supplies, according to Braun's statements, are becoming scarce over time. While in the interrogation room , Steiner was able to find out how he knew the perpetrator by calling a former colleague. This is a legal dispute that went back 20 years. The commissioners make it clear to Braun that under no circumstances will he leave the presidium with the money. Braun's ultimatum leads to an extreme escalation of the situation. In a business meeting, the criminal psychologist Weinert diagnosed that Braun was not a psychopath because he knew exactly what he was doing. However, she is not sure whether to believe him that there is very little water available for the child; however, she trusts the kidnapper to do everything. In another interrogation, Uwe Braun is confronted with his conscience: How should his children live on as children of a murderer? Braun does not give an answer to this, but instead asks something to eat and a drink. Lutz Weber, who served Braun the meal, was outraged at how he could eat and drink something under these circumstances.
In a conversation between the commissioners and Belling, Braun's former lawyer , it becomes clear what legal dispute was 20 years ago. Braun had applied for a patent and founded a company. For this step he needed a loan from the DSG-Bank, where Steiner was his advisor. As the company's success was delayed, the bank canceled the loan, whereupon he lost his company, money and family. In the legal dispute, the bank was accused of having acted out of profit interest, but Braun and Belling were unsuccessful in court. When the commissioners urged him to reveal Benjamin's location in order to reduce the sentence , Braun replied that he didn't care to be in prison because he had no prospects for years. The perpetrator confirms that he did not act out of greed or out of revenge against Mr. Steiner. He supports this point of view with his action on Alexanderplatz.
In the discussion that followed, Ritter and Stark are certain that Braun feels morally right, which would confirm the ability to reject all feelings. The phone call with Michael Braun, Uwe Braun's son, reveals that Braun was addicted to alcohol after the collapse of his company . After the withdrawal, however, Michael was able to deal with him even worse than before, which is why his therapist advised him to break off contact with the father. When the officials asked to face his father, he asked for time to think it over.
In the afternoon of the following day, a meeting of the investigators takes place, in which it is reported that Braun was seen by passers-by in Brandenburg . In the meantime, Michael Braun travels from Zurich to confront his father. But he doesn't know how to approach him after all these years. At the request of his son, Braun explains the sign he was referring to: He found a newspaper article about Hermann Steiner, which is about food speculation by the railing bank. According to Braun, the bank's behavior drove 40 million people into poverty. A billion people in the world are now starving. Since Braun is aware of the Steiners' fortune, he portrays the loss of ten million euros for the family as not painful. The interrogation is interrupted, but continued on the same day with Linda Steiner. This was previously in the hospital with her husband, who had suffered a nervous breakdown .
At the beginning of the interrogation, Linda Steiner apologizes to Uwe Braun on behalf of her husband for what happened in the past and for her husband's behavior as a young bank manager. She tells the perpetrator that after ten years of childlessness, Benjamin is the family's greatest happiness. However, this happiness was over since the kidnapping. Linda Steiner explains that the police incapacitate the parents, make them powerless , because the family's lawyer has told the family that the police will not allow the money to be handed over to the bureau. Thus, all negotiations with the kidnapper are pointless. The latter is concerned and reaches for a glass of water that is on the table. Linda Steiner rebukes him: “Don't you dare drink in front of me.” Braun makes the mother of the kidnapped child an offer: He will release the child if she promises to donate ten million euros to good causes. Linda Steiner is ready to do this. Braun reveals the whereabouts of Benjamin, an old house in a deserted area in Brandenburg . He begins to cry and is stunned.
Linda Steiner immediately flies to the house in a helicopter with the inspectors and some police officers. In front of the bolted and boarded up door, she assures the officers that she will donate the money if Benjamin is still alive. You will find Benjamin in a back room - quite comfortable - with enough water, food, a place to sleep and games to pass the time.
reception
Audience ratings
The first broadcast of the episode on January 6, 2013 on Das Erste achieved a market share of 21.1% of all television viewers with 8.01 million viewers. This crime scene scored above average for the evening program of the first, but was subject to the ZDF three-parter Das Adlon. A family saga .
Reviews
“In the big moments, this quiet intimate play is reminiscent of Götz George and Jürgen Hentsch in Totmacher , the weaker moments include the director's idea to turn the personal motive of the perpetrator into a political one. Nevertheless: it is a very courageous crime scene. Those who like fuss and noise will not stick with it. Those who endure the silence will enjoy the silence. "
"Exceptional staging, an outstanding leading actor [Edgar Selge] and a grandiose ending."
“This" crime scene "is a moving mind game with depth, which convinces by the fact that it focuses on the powerlessness and does not want to be everything at the same time. You can watch such a thriller again in the repetition - the tension remains. "
“The points on which this extraordinary film concentrates [...] are the almost bureaucratic questioning of the parents and the grueling interrogation with the kidnapper - and so the work of the Berlin detective duo in the“ Tatort. Powerless ”is certainly closer to the reality of police work than we normally experience in German television productions. The plot seems unbelievable, but has a long lasting effect because of the socio-critical explosiveness underlying the perpetrator's motive. "
Web links
- Powerless in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Scene of the crime: "Powerless" on the Berlin-Brandenburg radio station
- Summary of the plot of Machtlos on the ARD website
- Powerless with the crime scene fund
- Powerless at Tatort-Fans.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://presseservice.rbb-online.de/pressetermine/2012/12/20130106_tatort_machtlos_sum_stand_20_11_2012.pdf
- ↑ http://www.quotenmeter.de/cms/?p1=n&p2=61325&p3=
- ↑ Holger Gertz: Who endures the silence. Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 6, 2013, accessed on March 10, 2015 .
- ↑ Amina Linke: ARD crime scene "Powerless": The AZ criticism. Evening newspaper, January 6, 2013, accessed March 10, 2015 .
- ↑ Verena Pommerenke: When you have nothing to lose. Stern, January 6, 2013, accessed March 10, 2015 .
- ↑ Karen Krüger: Ten million for the child. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 6, 2013, accessed on March 10, 2015 .
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