“Tatort” repeat from Hamburg
Police brutality and left-wing autonomous violence: Julia Grosz gets caught between the two fronts
In “Tatort” from Hamburg, Commissioner Julia Grosz (Franziska Weisz) takes the case personally: She therefore investigates undercover in the left-wing scene.
© NDR/O-Young Kwon / ARD
In order to investigate her friend’s disappearance, “Tatort” detective Grosz infiltrates her left-wing autonomous community. Falke deals with a series of arson attacks on police officers. Are the two related?
- 4 out of 5 points
- Successful film about the spiral of violence between the police and left-wing autonomous groups.
What’s the matter?
A police officer’s wife is critically injured in an arson attack. The case fits into a series of politically motivated acts of violence that are presumably carried out by the left-wing autonomous scene. At the same time, an LKA officer who was undercover in the area disappears. Since it is an old friend of Julia Grosz (Franziska Weisz), the inspector infiltrates her shared apartment under a false identity. Meanwhile, Thorsten Falke (Wotan Wilke Möhring) tries to solve the arson attack. Over time, it dawns on the investigators that the two cases are connected.
Why is “Crime Scene: Shadow Life” worth it?
The case takes place in Hamburg, the city where left-wing extremists from all over Europe wreaked havoc in 2017. But the police also often reacted with excessive brutality. This ““Crime Scene” doesn’t let any sympathy shine through for either side. Not for the police officers, who are too harsh when making arrests. And also not for the ideological do-gooders, for whom the police apparatus is per se fascist, sexist and racist and every officer is automatically guilty. “Shadow life ” (Book: Lena Fakler, director: Mia Spengler) shows, however, that these are not static blocks: that the majority of police officers do not strike and try to educate their own ranks. And that not everyone in the left-wing autonomous scene Police officers are dehumanized as “bull pigs.” There remains the insight that both sides can take to heart: “If we are as violent as them, then we are no better.”
What bothers?
No matter how well the topic is chosen and prepared, the viewer begins to suspect very early on that the “social problem” here is just a decoration and that the solution to the case – as so often – actually lies in the personal. And as so often, as a viewer you ask yourself: Why don’t you just tell a personal story?
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The commissioners?
While the “Tatort: Tyrannmord” broadcast in March 2022 was completely tailored to Thorsten Falke, this time the focus is on Julia Grosz: We find out a little more about the past of the investigator, who was once in love with a woman – but then didn’t stand up for her feelings.
Turn on or off?
Despite small weaknesses, it’s a worthwhile “crime scene” – tune in!
The “Tatort” episode “Schattenleben” was first broadcast on June 12, 2022. ARD will repeat the case on Sunday, March 31, 2024, at 8:15 p.m.