“Tatort” today from Vienna: Eisner, Fellner and the dead man from the pigsty

“Tatort” from Vienna
It’s about the sausage: Eisner, Fellner and the dead man from the pigsty

A pig farmer was murdered. There are numerous suspects for the Vienna commissioners Eisner and Fellner. The investigation runs between regional idyll and EU corruption swamp.

What’s the matter?

The Viennese investigators Moritz Eisner (Harald Krassnitzer) and Bibi Fellner (Adele Neuhauser) have to go to the countryside. The farmer Max Winkler lies dead in his pigsty. Winkler and his wife Irene are the fifth generation to run the business. The once idyllic farm has long since become a large company with factory farming. Profits and profits seemed to be more important to the dead man than the welfare of his animals. This led to many conflicts. Winkler clashed with his father-in-law, who preferred to keep the farm small, and animal rights activists also made life difficult for the pig farmer. Winkler had also entered into business with a Bulgarian agricultural group – but this connection also only caused problems. Eisner and Fellner are dealing with numerous motives and several suspects.

Why is “Crime Scene: Farmers Dying” worth it?

The film deals with questions that are hotly topical and likely to affect many people: How much meat can we eat with a clear conscience and what are we willing to pay for it? “Don’t you think that most people don’t care where sausage comes from?” Bibi Fellner asks her colleague Moritz Eisner. He answers: “Many people wouldn’t be able to afford meat otherwise. First comes the eating, then comes the morals.” However, it’s not just about the consumer perspective. The challenge that many farmers face is also discussed: managing the balancing act between species-appropriate husbandry and lucrative business management. In this context, screenwriter Lukas Sturm brings animal rights activists and EU funding into play. He has created a complex, informative film that manages to link social issues and a criminal case. And the dry humor that the Viennese team is known for is not neglected either.

What bothers?

Numerous characters are drawn in very clichéd ways: the Romanian unskilled workers who are portrayed as potential criminals, the naive village policewoman who gets on the inspectors’ nerves with her ignorance, the nerdy IT specialists and the radical animal rights activist who loudly pleads: “Meat is Murder”. Fewer stereotypes would have been appropriate here.

The commissioners?

Moritz Eisner can certainly gain something from the investigations away from the city. His colleague Bibi Fellner, on the other hand, is completely different. She wants to get back to the city as quickly as possible. “I have a hard time with idylls,” she says, commenting on the silence in the country with the words: “If a cat meows, that’s noise pollution.” Things get funny when the inspectors get caught up in cleaning the stables, get soaking wet and end up investigating in borrowed clothes and rubber boots.

Turn on or off?

Worthwhile, but not for the faint-hearted: The scenes from the pig farm are sometimes violent, especially the corpse of the dead man, which was badly mauled by the pigs.

Commissioners Moritz Eisner and Bibi Fellner also investigated these cases: