Wilsberg: Street of Tears

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Episode in the Wilsberg series
Original title Road of tears
Country of production Germany
original language German
Production
company		 Cologne film production
on behalf of ZDF
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
classification Episode 55 ( List )
First broadcast November 11, 2017 on ZDF
Rod
Director Dominic Müller
script Sandra Lüpkes
Jürgen Kehrer
production Sabine de Mardt
Anton Moho
music Matthias Weber
camera Ralf M. Mendle
cut Clemens Erbach
occupation

Street of Tears is the 55th episode in the Wilsberg TV series . The film is based on the Wilsberg character by Jürgen Kehrer . It was first broadcast on November 11, 2017 on ZDF . Directed by Dominic Müller , the script was written by Jürgen Kehrer and Sandra Lüpkes .

action

The schoolgirl Emelie Boll goes home alone after a visit to the disco. Ekkehardt Talkötter, who happens to be driving a car, takes her with him and drops her in front of her parents' house. When Ekki visits his friend, private detective Georg Wilsberg, the next day, he hears on the radio that the girl is missing and that a witness has seen his red car. Since half of Münster hears the missing person report , it doesn't take long and Ekki's car is recognized. This begins a prejudice and digital hunt by the population and the Internet community. Ekki tries to avoid this by turning himself in to the police when he realizes that he is believed to be the culprit. It helps him not to be wanted by the police, but the concerned citizens continue to see in him the man who a few years ago kidnapped two girls on this street and then killed them. Commissioner Anna Springer is therefore trying to consult the police psychologist on the current case, who was already involved in the other two murders. But Hiltrud Appeldorn refuses to work together because she has withdrawn from everything for two years to look after her sick husband.

Emelie's parents are extremely concerned because they too know about the kidnapping cases in the past. Actually, their marriage is at the end and they are just about to separate amicably, whereby Alex Holtkamp is supposed to assist them as a lawyer. In this way, they expand Alex's competencies to be represented in front of the press. Although they don't want to show themselves to the press in front of the cameras, Alex can convince them to at least send an appeal over the Internet, from where the first signs of life Emelies have already appeared in the form of short videos.

Georg Wilsberg sees only one way to end the hunt for Ekki by helping to find the real culprit. He sees a first possibility in using the Internet to let the concerned citizens help with the search for Emelie. Alex takes the action in hand and can actually mobilize friends and acquaintances of the missing persons. Under Wilsberg's direction, they comb through the forest to find any clues. Wilsberg meets Hiltrud Appeldorn, who seems to be interested in the girl's fate. In order to persuade her to help, Wilsberg visits the psychologist at home. There he has to see how the woman takes care of her husband who is suffering from dementia and who is sitting in a wheelchair. Out of a mixture of sympathy and interest in Hiltrud Appeldorn, he invites her in the evening. In doing so, she witnesses how one of the angry citizens is about to hit Ekki in his car. On the spur of the moment, she steers her car against the approaching vehicle. Ekki is rescued, but Appeldorn has to be brought to the clinic with a slight traumatic brain injury . Wilsberg visits her immediately and she asks him to take care of the medication for her husband. When he does this, he has the impression that Hein Appeldorn is much more active than it was last time.

Among the evidence from the two old cases is a bunch of keys that was found near the place where the last corpse was deposited. It can be assumed that one of the keys belongs to the girl's hiding place. An IT expert finds out which companies have used the right lock systems in recent years. After excluding all buildings that are less in question, a motorway bridge near Münster remains in the end. Overbeck looks there immediately, but cannot find Emelie in the cavity of the bridge. However, there are clear indications that the two girls were detained here a few years ago.

After Wilsberg compares the second key in the bunch of keys with the Appeldorn's front door key, it is clear to him why the psychologist has suddenly withdrawn: She wants to protect her family because both keys are identical. Appeldorn's son Markus is suspected of having committed a crime, which the Internet community cannot hide this time either. A hunt for the young man who happens to be employed by Emelie's parents immediately begins.

Wilsberg does not investigate in this direction, but researches about Markus' father. He used to build highways and worked as a taxi driver in the early stages of his illness. A regular tour was a discotheque in which the two previous victims had frequented. When analyzing the drugs that Hiltrud Appeldorn administered to her husband, it turns out that these are absolutely unusual in dementia because they worsen the clinical picture. It is clear to Wilsberg that Appeldorn began to calm her husband down after she discovered the bunch of keys at the police station and she discovered that the perpetrator profile she had created herself applied to her own husband. However, he cannot have anything to do with Emelie's disappearance, so that now the suspicion against Markus remains. Although he protests his innocence, he is mercilessly threatened by the Internet mob. When the situation threatens to escalate, Emelie suddenly appears safe and sound and explains that she only wanted her parents to worry about her. Nobody would actually be interested in what she wanted to change with her action.

Hein Appeldorn is taken to a nursing home and his wife arrested. In the end, Emelie also has to answer legally for pretending to be a criminal offense.

background

The Road of Tears contains hidden references to Münster's former Olympic rider Hendrik Snoek . Snoek was kidnapped in 1976 and was found alive in a cavity in a motorway bridge on the A45 in Sauerland . A motorway bridge also plays a role in this Wilsberg, although it does not exist at the Münster-Süd motorway junction .

Parts of the episode were filmed at the Aggertal cave in Ründeroth, a district of Engelskirchen. You can see the discotheque, which really exists there, and the small reception building of the cave, which was re-flagged for the filming of the “club home”.

The running gag "Bielefeld" takes place in this episode in minute 24, when Overbeck discovers that Dustin has various previous convictions and that the JVA Bielefeld-Sennestadt was only allowed to leave the prison on probation.

The song at the end of the episode is Comfortably Numb by Dar Williams .

The Road of Tears appeared on DVD together with the episode MünsterLeaks from Polarfilm .

reception

Audience rating

When Straße der Tränen was first broadcast on ZDF on November 11, 2017 , the film was seen by a total of 7.16 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 23.2 percent.

criticism

Ulrich Feld wrote in the Frankfurter Neue Presse : “In keeping with the title, the 55th Wilsberg crime thriller has a very serious narrative tone and is skilfully trimmed for high tension by director Dominic Müller. The solution [in the end] is surprising, but Emilie's parents' break-up marriage provides an acceptable rationale. "

Tilmann P. Gangloff from tittelbach.tv said: “Unlike the majority of the fifty or more 'Wilsberg' episodes to date, 'Street of Tears' […] is not a crime comedy, but almost a thriller. […] The common thread of history is not least the confrontation between the analogue and the digital world, which leads to some educational-sounding dialogues. "

The Stern editorial team came to the conclusion: "The episode 'Wilsberg: Straße der Tänen' [...] comes across as an educational do-gooder and overall a bit wooden." "The story of the conflict between the offline and online world is degenerating [... ] unnecessary to the reminder. No fan of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Co. needs Commissioner Springer's pointing finger when it comes to hasty convictions. With a little more tension and better dialogues between the main actors [...] the story would have great potential. "" But all the characters suffer from the implausible implementation. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b film review at stern.de, accessed on December 3, 2017.
  2. ^ A b Tilmann P. Gangloff : Lansink, Korittke, Klink, Lüpkes / Kehrer, Müller. The natural enemy - the Internet Film review at tittelbach.tv, accessed on December 3, 2017.
  3. ↑ Street of Tears: Not much comedy this time at fnp.de, accessed on December 3, 2017.
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