“Police call 110” from Munich
Pleasant journey to “Wokistan”: Johanna Wokalek’s strong debut
Chief Detective Cris Blohm (Johanna Wokalek) and Chief Detective Otto Ikwuakwu (Bless Amada) have to solve the murder of a research assistant in this “Police Call 110”.
© Ariane Krampe Film Production/BR/Hendrik Heiden / ARD
Johanna Wokalek starts her job in “Polizeiruf 110” – and shows off her strengths in her first assignment: The case reveals humor and doesn’t shy away from dealing with current issues.
- 5 out of 5 points
- Strong debut from Johanna Wokalek as a “police call” investigator – who lives primarily from the script.
What’s the matter?
“Rapist” is written on the body that is found in Munich. The dead man was a research assistant at the Institute for Postcolonial Studies – but was he also a rapist? Inspector Cris Blohm (Johanna Wokalek) tries to find out together with her colleague Otto Ikwuakwu (Bless Amada). But the university employees flatly refuse to cooperate with the police. In laborious individual interviews, the investigators only gradually come closer to the solution.
Why is this “police call 110” worth it?
It was long overdue that a crime thriller finally deals with what is known in modern German as “woke”. In “Little Boxes” the academic milieu of the postcolonial and Gender studies humorously skewered. There are students who fundamentally suspect white people of racism. A genderfluid teacher who wants to be addressed as Professx and believes consensual sex between men and women “under patriarchal conditions” is fundamentally impossible. Even the police department is caught up in the spirit of the times and is demanding a different wording: “We no longer say perpetrator, we now say perpetrator.”
The trick of this film, written by Stefan Weigl (“Time of the Cannibals”): It is the black man Otto Ikwuakwu who rejects the focus of research on discrimination. “Exploitation, genocide, genital mutilation, burqa – everything is secondary. The main thing is that no one uses the N-word,” says the investigator, who refuses to constantly be seen as a victim. “Sometimes it’s not racism. Sometimes it’s just stupidity,” is his experience.
What bothers?
Despite the deliberate humorous exaggeration, the fact that racism and gender research is worthwhile and provides important insights for everyday dealings in a multicultural society is sometimes lost here. The perspective of the white majority society dominates. The sentence from a black student who says to Inspector Blohm is almost lost: “Would you like to spend a day in my body? I bet you would shoot yourself after half an hour.”
The commissioner?
It’s anything but love at first sight: Cris Blohm doesn’t want a partner, as she gets along very well with the cozy Dennis Eden (Stephan Zinner). Otto Ikwuakwu, on the other hand, is cold and distant and insists on the formal you. “I like people who don’t have a sense of humor,” claims Blohm – and tries to break the ice. Which she almost succeeds in.
Turn on or off?
We can expect a lot more from this “police call” team. You definitely shouldn’t miss the debut!
These “police call” episodes most recently came from Munich: