Quick check
“Tatort” from Bremen
Cosmopolitan episode film: This “crime scene” takes place in two countries
Investigators Linda Selb (Luise Wolfram, center) and Liv Moormann (Jasna Fritzi Bauer, right) with the corpse of Dr. Bjorn Kehrer.
© Radio Bremen / Michael Ihle / ARD
Second case for Bremen investigators Linda Selb and Liv Moormann: They have to solve the murder of a doctor. Her colleague Mads Andersen is caught up with his past in Copenhagen.
- 4 out of 5 points
- Successful episode film by star director Oliver Hirschbiegel
What’s the matter?
The physician Dr. Björn Kehrer (Markus Knüfke) is called to the port of Bremen at midnight for an emergency. Once there, he finds no one. Instead, a car suddenly rushes towards him and hits him. Kehrer ran a family doctor’s practice and volunteered to treat refugees and the homeless. His doctor’s assistant Kirsten Beck (Lisa Jopt) describes him as a good person and a Samaritan. “He took care of everyone: religion, skin color – regardless of whether they were insured or not.” Nevertheless, she seems to be hiding something and is targeted by investigators Liv Moormann (Jasna Fritzi Bauer) and Linda Selb (Luise Wolfram). The activist Ann Gelsen (Anna Bachmann) is also suspected. Her brother is spastic and Dr. Kehrer refused him treatment – now the boy is in a coma and fighting for his life. And then there is the crew of a freighter that was anchored in port at the time of the murder. What did the men see or do they have something to do with the case themselves?
Why is the “crime scene” worthwhile?
How do you want to lead your life? What do social constraints and family expectations do to a person? Is there a way out of misery and poverty? These questions form the central framework of the film. Scriptwriter Christian Jeltsch and director Oliver Hirschbiegel discuss them, like in an episode film, based on different fates. There is the doctor’s assistant as a single mother of three children, the activist who falls in love with a daughter from a wealthy family and contains containers with her to distribute food to the needy, or the tobacco entrepreneur who continues to puff his cigars despite lung cancer. All of these people are united by their relationship with the doctor who was killed. How these connections are unraveled step by step and in the end everything leads to the murderer is exciting and entertaining.
What bothers?
In addition to the actual investigation of the murder, there is a parallel plot, which partly takes place in Copenhagen and relates to the past of investigator Mads Andersen (Dar Salim). He worked as an undercover agent before starting the police service in Bremen. Even if it is nice to see the “Tatort” cosmopolitan, jumping back and forth sometimes disturbs the narrative structure.
The commissioners?
“Back or just visiting?”, With these words BKA investigator Linda Selb greeted her colleague Mads Andersen. He was supposed to be recruited for a job in the Ministry of the Interior in Copenhagen, but decided against it. In Bremen he investigates on his own, while his colleagues Selb and Moormann are mostly on the road in a double pack. One scores with morbid humor, the other with specialist knowledge. A duo with potential. In the long run it must be clear whether Mads Andersen is part of the investigative team or not. In the third Bremer case, which is to be broadcast in the coming year, he is not there.
Turn on or off?
Well worth seeing second case of the new “Tatort” team from Bremen. You should tune in.
Also read:
The rookie and the Viking: The new team on the Weser comes into service