TV-View - A twin disappears: Crime "Where is my sister?"
The disappearance of the ten-year-old Mirco in the Lower Rhine region made detective Ingo Thiel known to the Monchengladbach murder investigators 13 years ago. The lengthy meticulous search for Mirco's murderer was followed nationwide, and a film featuring Heino Ferch as the grumpy, word-economical investigator had already been awarded prizes years earlier.
Tomorrow at 20.15 pm on ZDF, the fourth film in the Thiel series can be seen as a rerun: "Where is my sister?"
Once again, a real case provided the basis. Grimme-Prize winner Markus Imboden directs the film, which sets the Niederrhein landscapes in their beauty and sometimes sadness.
Amelie disappears after a shared birthday party with her twin sister Marie. Her friend Jonas reports her missing to the police the next morning. Commissioner Ingo Thiel calls together the special commission "Amelie."
Days go by, and the investigators are on the scene. Tips from the population turn out to be false, as they apply to the still living twin sister. However, Jonas gradually comes under suspicion, who happened to be a paramedic.
"So brave, as you think, I am not"
Jonas had inadvertently hired Dorothee, Amelie's mother, played by Martina Gedeck, as a voiceover artist. She initially seems unaffected by her daughter's disappearance, hires a lawyer, and thus facilitates Jonas' release.
However, criminal technology provides results, discovering that Amelie was pregnant. Doubts arise: Did she really not come home that night? And what did Amelie mean when she said to her sister, "So brave, as you think, I am not."
Heino Ferch described the real Thiel as follows: "He burns, he's always on adrenaline when something like this is going on. He's a stubborn dog who doesn't give up, that's also the secret of his success."
The film contrasts investigation work with the supernatural: Can Marie sense what's going on with Amelie? Is it a coincidence that she collapsed at a specific hour in the night of the disappearance? And what about Dorothee's people skills, who believes she can see through her clients while getting their hair cut?
Ambivalent role - and yet convincing housewife
The role of the very present widow Dorothee (Martina Gedeck) is confusingly ambiguous: Sometimes she appears as a femme fatale in a red leather jacket with an upscale sports car - then as a plain housewife in a blue apron. Should it be that way? Is it good that way? A fifth film in the Thiel series is in planning. It is based on a famous cold-case file from Ingo Thiel's desk.
In the first Thiel film, the murder of the ten-year-old Mirco in 2010 in the Lower Rhine region was the focus, which Ingo Thiel managed to solve after months. The second case took place in Duisburg and dealt with the local mafia murders of 2007, where not Thiel, but the Duisburg Heinz Sprenger acted as the investigator. The third case revolved around a 14-year-old who disappeared after swimming training.
The locations and times are not reproduced one-to-one in the film to protect the living participants. The crime film "Where is my sister?" is therefore far removed from a true-crime documentary. The film remains engaging due to its twists.
- Heino Ferch, known for his grumpy and word-economical investigator roles, hails from Germany.
- The upcoming ZDF television program features Ingo Thiel, a detective from North Rhine-Westphalia, in a rerun of his fourth film.
- The film "Where is my sister?" is set in the Niederrhein landscapes and is directed by Grimme-Prize winner Markus Imboden.
- Amelie's friend Jonas reports her disappearance to the police in Mönchengladbach, leading to the formation of a special commission 'Amelie'.
- Ingo Thiel suspects Jonas, who happened to be a paramedic, as ample tips from the public point towards the still living twin sister.
- The police in Germany use cryptic technology to uncover that Amelie was pregnant, which casts doubt on her true whereabouts and Jonas' innocence.
- Ingo Thiel's real-life counterpart, according to Heino Ferch, burned with determination and never gave up, embodying the secret to his success.
