“crime scene: demolition edge”
How will the new Cologne thriller be?
Freddy Schenk (Dietmar Bär, left) and Max Ballauf (Klaus J. Behrendt) investigate the “crime scene: demolition edge”.
© WDR Communication/Editorial Image
Desperation spreads at “crime scene: demolition edge”. Ballauf and Schenk investigate in a village that had to make way for opencast mining.
It’s going to be sad, it’s going to be bleak, but it’s going to be good. Without wanting to reveal too much in advance: the new Cologne “crime scene: demolition edge” (March 26, 8:15 p.m., the first) has it all. Ballauf (Klaus J. Behrendt, 63) and Schenk (Dietmar Bär, 62) have to deal with the problems of a declining village community. Their former home had to give way to opencast mining, which not only leaves behind visual damage to buildings and the landscape, but also has deep psychological effects on people.
That’s what the Cologne “crime scene: demolition edge” is all about
Almost all of Alt-Bützenich is deserted and barricaded. At night, a security service checks that everything is in order. It was decided that the houses and the church would have to give way to opencast mining. Then climate change will bring new hope: the old village can stay. But the once sworn village community has long since lost itself with the move to Neu-Bützenich. as dr Christian Franzen (Leopold von Verschuer, 62), the local doctor, is informed that his vacant house has been broken into, he sets off immediately – but does not return home. His wife Betje (Lou Strenger, 31) goes to the police, who find her husband shot dead in the old village.
Although everyone here was a patient of the doctor, he was not particularly popular. During their investigations, detectives Max Ballauf (Behrendt) and Freddy Schenk (Bär) uncover a torn community. Time cannot simply be turned back here in the lignite mining area. While Schenk always drives to Cologne after work, Ballauf makes friends with the former innkeeper Karin Bongartz, who tells him a lot about the old village and the now radically changed life in the countryside near Cologne.
Is it worth turning on?
This “crime scene” is certainly not fun. Some pictures are too uncomfortable. But nevertheless or precisely because of this, “Abbruch Kante” is extremely worth seeing. The film captivates for 90 minutes with an exciting case, as usual strong Cologne investigators and a constant feeling of unease. The latter is mainly due to the setting of the ball-and-gift thriller. The inspectors investigate in an unreal world not far from their actual home, the prosperous city of Cologne.
But the destroyed landscape and the desolate, desolate villages that had to give way to opencast mining or will soon have to do so are the real protagonists in “Abbruch Kante”. The tragic fates of people who were completely uprooted by open-pit mining and the associated consequences are shown with a great deal of empathy. A topic that cannot be put on the agenda often enough – even in thrillers. Rating: “Crime scene: demolition edge” is highly recommended in all respects.