A disgruntled detective steps in dog poop and the subject is this one crime scene set: “Anyone who has shit on their shoe …” It smells bad from now on when investigator Berg (Hans-Jochen Wagner) shows up, and so that the shit thing is really understood by everyone, there is in Sara’s confession many references to it. Of course, this has to do with the case Berg is currently working on with his colleague Tobler (Eva Löbau). Sara Manzer (Johanna Wokalek) plays the central role in it, and yes, she has something to do with it too. Her old life as a rich publisher’s daughter and party animal. And her recent life in prison. She was there because she is said to have stabbed her father while he was drunk. “I just want to look forward with you guys,” she tells her friends on the day of her release.
But the next day, state power is again at the door. An ex-cop has been stabbed near the house where she lives. Wasn’t she in prison for manslaughter? At the victim’s home, her file is next to files from JFK and Olof Palme, the man has followed up prominent criminal cases. How Sara Manzer fits into the series is unclear, it is probably the Black Forest that connects her with the dead man, and when the plot gets too boring, the camera pans across the dark forest.
Many themes in one film: the game sometimes seems tense
Berg and Tobler work their way through the case solidly under the direction of Kai Wessel. Sometimes their game seems tense, perhaps because they have to accommodate all the topics that are also in Astrid Ströher’s script: the poor technical equipment of the police, gazers, the hatred of investigators on social media.
The investigators are conventional, but it’s also nice when the private life of the inspectors doesn’t play a role. That leaves room for Johanna Wokalek’s great game. It is not characterized by excessive gestures, but by the calm that carries the film. She’s not the wacky woman she was before jail, but she’s not a broken person either. She has found herself and does things that are not immediately obvious, which is a blessing in this crime story, which otherwise tries to be so clear. You can understand how life can draw you without rubbing it in your face.
The first, Sunday, 8:15 p.m