Crime scene: Wolf hour

Episode of the series Tatort
Original title	Wolf hour
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production ; company	WDR
length	87 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
classification	Episode 710 ( List )
First broadcast	November 9, 2008 on Das Erste
Rod
Director	Kilian Riedhof
script	Kilian Riedhof ; Marc Blöbaum
production	Sonja Goslicki ; Anke Scheib
music	Peter Hinderthür
camera	Marcus Kanter
cut	Melanie Margalith
occupation
	Axel Prahl : KHK Frank Thiel ; Jan Josef Liefers : Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne ; Friederike Kempter : Nadeshda Krusenstern ; Christine Urspruch : Silke "Alberich" Haller ; Mechthild Großmann : Public Prosecutor Wilhelmine Klemm ; Claus D. Clausnitzer : Herbert Thiel ; Thomas Dannemann : André Pütz; Katharina Lorenz : Anna Schäfer; Arnd Klawitter : Sascha Kröger; Jörg Pilawa : journalist; Daniel Johannes : Official; Marc Neblung : barman; Claudia Riva : Valerie; as well as Bettina Engelhardt , Martha Fessehatzion , Alberto Fortuzzi , Annabelle Leip , Jana Schulz

Wolfsstunde is a television film from the television crime film series Tatort by ARD and ORF . The film was produced by WDR and first broadcast on November 9, 2008. It is the 710th episode in the crime scene series and the 14th case with Axel Prahl and Jan Josef Liefers . In this episode, the Münster investigators are dealing with a serial offender whose trail Thiel follows undeterred like a "lone wolf", while Boerne and Klemm consider a relationship offender to be guilty.

action

The body of the young student Julia Braun is found bound, gagged and naked in her apartment. Professor Boerne determined the time of death to be 3.30 am, the so-called "wolf hour". Since a similar rape case occurred 11 months ago, it will be included in the investigation. At that time, when the victim's apartment was broken into, a screwdriver was also used in the same way as a tool to open the balcony door. This suggests a serial offender and Thiel is investigating in this direction. For Klemm and Boerne, however, André Pütz, Julia Braun's ex-boyfriend, turned out to be the main suspect, because he had been harassing the young woman lately and was also demonstrably in Julia's apartment on the evening of the crime. That is enough to write him out for a manhunt and arrest him. Only Thiel is not convinced, continues to investigate, but is not supported by anyone and is considered revised for colleagues and employees. When André Pütz has to be brought from the prison to the hospital because of stomach cramps, he tries to escape, runs in front of a car, is run over and dies of his injuries.

Thiel traces the traces of the older cases and finds out that Anna Schäfer, the burglary victim, was also raped. Maybe she wasn't killed because she didn't fight back. When she happens to meet the man in a shopping mall, she can recognize him by his voice. Using the recordings of several surveillance cameras, Thiel can trace the suspect's path to the parking garage and find out his identity via his license plate. Thiel arrests Kröger, who is released by Klemm behind Thiel's back because she doesn't want to believe him again. Then he throws down and wants or should relax. On the way to the St. Pauli game, however, his beliefs about the case catch up with him. Boerne, too, has concerns about KLemm's more convenient solution. He and Alberich analyze Kröger's DNA and thus establish the connection they are looking for. Thiel was right from the start. While a SEK wants to put Sascha Kröger in his apartment, he is already hidden in Anna's apartment in order to attack her again. Anna falls into his trap. Since Thiel is already on the way to her, he can still overwhelm him in time. Professor Boerne also arrives shortly afterwards with reinforcements, and Kröger can be arrested.

background

The shooting locations were Münster, the area around Münster and Cologne. The term "wolf hour" stems from the fact that hardly anyone is awake between three and four o'clock in the morning except for the wolves (here probably to be understood as a metaphor for Thiel, who in this episode becomes a "lone wolf" more than usual among his own friends ). In Tatort: Spieglein, Spieglein (2019) saw the episode wolf hour a sequel, in this Kröger takes revenge on the two investigators by enticing a woman out of prison to murder people who are similar to the investigators.

reception

criticism

Kino.de found that the usual teasing between Boerne and Thiel this time more hurtful than usual and sharper in tone, occasional humorous interludes should break up the unfamiliar gloom of the film . Thiel is also more emotionally involved than we are used to. The staging shows unexpected images, but the patience of the audience is sometimes strained enormously .

“Sometimes the 'Tatort' crime thrillers from Münster seem almost like crime thriller parodies. Measured against this, 'Wolf hour' is unusually intense and cruel. "

- kino.de