About: Tatort: Salzleiche" (Crimescene: Salt-corpse") first aired Sunday, November 16th 2008, 0815pm.
Just one week after the latest nuclear-waste-train crossed Germany towards the terminal-disposal-site in Gorleben, State of Lower-Saxony this "tatort"-epsiode picks up the authentic setting as background for the latest case to be investigated by State-Bureau-Of-Investigation (German: "Landeskriminalamt, LKA") Lieutenant Charlotte Lindholm (Maria Furtwängler). The storage-facility is a former salt-mine and along with the "Runway West" of the Frankfurter Airport- one of the most notorious battlegrounds for The People vs. The State. Allthroughout the 70s, 80s and 90s there were rallies, activist-operations, dogfights between organized locals, environmental groups and police-forces.
In fact, once more massive protests accompanied and periodically blocked or slowed-down the latest toxic-train, annoyed police-units carried away protesters, occasionally loosing their nerves, politicians revealed themselves as opportunistic, power-seeking ignorants same old same old... That was late October, early November now.
On the salt-dumps near the nuclear site a corpse was found, washed out of the salt where it was dug- by latest rainfalls. The trail leads Lindholm to Gorleben, a place of her mother's rebellious phase against "the system" during the late 70s when Lindholm joined her at most occasions by the age of approximately seven. It turns out, the dead man was undercover-agent for the German counter-espionage, and his death the side-effect of his fake undercover-biography near Gorleben. Lindholm gets into a twirl of international nuclear black-trading and has to go to Barcelona to follow some loose ends.
After Lindholm gave birth to her child a year ago, her commissioner tried to force her to do more office-work which kinda annoyed Lindholm; now he knows more than he tells her in the briefings and lets her go for Spain totally uninformed, knowing that the German version of the MI6 wants her there as a teaser. First to go, last to know. "That was derelict!" Lindholm shouts at him in the end.
Lindholm is always good for droll and clumsy situations with a self-ironic sense of humor. For instance here, when she shows a pic with her at age 9 on a rally at Gorleben to an elderly local woman, stating: "Here look, that kid's me. Cute, eh?" and the woman just replies: "Yeah, but, gosh kiddo! It's 30 years away!" (Lindholm caught off-guard).
Also great is a scene where Lindholm needs contents from the dead man's cellphone and has to ask an illegal hacker for help. As a sign of convenience he gives her a joint of marijuana, watching what she will do before he works for her. Lindholm pauses but then does the right thing takes a draw. The following scenes showing her stoned which is hilarious! I can already hear the protests from the public and the factual police against the filmmakers and authors for daring to show a stoned police-officer in prime-time. Relax, for Christ's sake!
This one is an okay thriller, but what makes it really great is the integration of current events into the plot (more up-to-date is impossible) which shows that "tatort" is more than just a detective-series, but can at best be a valuable, almost documentary reflection of life in Germany today.
Just one week after the latest nuclear-waste-train crossed Germany towards the terminal-disposal-site in Gorleben, State of Lower-Saxony this "tatort"-epsiode picks up the authentic setting as background for the latest case to be investigated by State-Bureau-Of-Investigation (German: "Landeskriminalamt, LKA") Lieutenant Charlotte Lindholm (Maria Furtwängler). The storage-facility is a former salt-mine and along with the "Runway West" of the Frankfurter Airport- one of the most notorious battlegrounds for The People vs. The State. Allthroughout the 70s, 80s and 90s there were rallies, activist-operations, dogfights between organized locals, environmental groups and police-forces.
In fact, once more massive protests accompanied and periodically blocked or slowed-down the latest toxic-train, annoyed police-units carried away protesters, occasionally loosing their nerves, politicians revealed themselves as opportunistic, power-seeking ignorants same old same old... That was late October, early November now.
On the salt-dumps near the nuclear site a corpse was found, washed out of the salt where it was dug- by latest rainfalls. The trail leads Lindholm to Gorleben, a place of her mother's rebellious phase against "the system" during the late 70s when Lindholm joined her at most occasions by the age of approximately seven. It turns out, the dead man was undercover-agent for the German counter-espionage, and his death the side-effect of his fake undercover-biography near Gorleben. Lindholm gets into a twirl of international nuclear black-trading and has to go to Barcelona to follow some loose ends.
After Lindholm gave birth to her child a year ago, her commissioner tried to force her to do more office-work which kinda annoyed Lindholm; now he knows more than he tells her in the briefings and lets her go for Spain totally uninformed, knowing that the German version of the MI6 wants her there as a teaser. First to go, last to know. "That was derelict!" Lindholm shouts at him in the end.
Lindholm is always good for droll and clumsy situations with a self-ironic sense of humor. For instance here, when she shows a pic with her at age 9 on a rally at Gorleben to an elderly local woman, stating: "Here look, that kid's me. Cute, eh?" and the woman just replies: "Yeah, but, gosh kiddo! It's 30 years away!" (Lindholm caught off-guard).
Also great is a scene where Lindholm needs contents from the dead man's cellphone and has to ask an illegal hacker for help. As a sign of convenience he gives her a joint of marijuana, watching what she will do before he works for her. Lindholm pauses but then does the right thing takes a draw. The following scenes showing her stoned which is hilarious! I can already hear the protests from the public and the factual police against the filmmakers and authors for daring to show a stoned police-officer in prime-time. Relax, for Christ's sake!
This one is an okay thriller, but what makes it really great is the integration of current events into the plot (more up-to-date is impossible) which shows that "tatort" is more than just a detective-series, but can at best be a valuable, almost documentary reflection of life in Germany today.
