The Hamburg federal police officers Falke and Grosz have been investigating ten cases together. It was often Grosz who had to save the wild hawk from entanglements of the past.
Many feelings, many glasses of milk and several arson attacks: The new Hamburg “crime scene” entitled “Schattenleben” revolves in two strands around the left-wing scene in the Hanseatic city.
This time, federal police officer Julia Grosz (Franziska Weisz) is the focus of Sunday crime in the first (June 12, 8:15 p.m.). Her partner Thorsten Falke (Wotan Wilke Möhring) moves into the second row – to play an important role in the end.
Because Grosz infiltrates the left-wing Flint scene undercover on his own initiative. Flint stands for women who are lesbian, non-binary, intersex or trans. There she is looking for her friend and colleague Ela. She was previously an undercover investigator in this scene. But because she suddenly felt threatened and no longer trusted anyone, she sought contact with her former summer love – Julia Grosz. But the meeting with the frightened Ela ended abruptly and since then she has disappeared.
The thriller goes against clichés
In Ela’s shared apartment, Grosz meets, among others, Nana (Gina Haller), Ela’s partner. Not only does she appear impulsive, but also aggressive and difficult to catch. And then it turns out that Ela is actually married to a policeman. How militant is the scene, who lied to whom and who are the good guys? For the federal police officer, the boundaries suddenly become blurred in her research.
At the same time, Falke is investigating an arson attack on a police station in which a woman died. During the investigation, he and his short-term partner Thomas Okonjo (Jonathan Kwesi Aikins) uncover several cases of covered-up police violence. And the team suddenly ends up with Ela’s husband during the investigation. In the end, are the two cases connected?
The “crime scene” case “Schattenleben” by Mia Spengler – her second after “Goldene Zeiten” with the Falke-Grosz duo – manages to be exciting to the end. The film tackles clichés and prejudices as sharp-tongued as it is clever. Leftists against cops. Straight vs Lesbian. Dark-skinned versus white. Prejudices lurk everywhere and are often weakened on closer inspection.
Strong feminine handwriting
The police are also criticized when, for example, Okonjo describes the investigations of undercover police officers in the scene as “playing with people’s feelings”. Police violence against leftists and reports that go nowhere play a role. The violence of the left scene itself also gets a place.
What is also special about this “crime scene” based on a screenplay by Lena Fakler is that it bears a strong female signature. Not only was attention paid to a diverse composition, but around 65 percent of the most important positions in the team are also occupied by women.
Grosz is now allowed to disclose her homosexual experiences for the first time – after a crush on a colleague was at least hinted at a few episodes ago. “So you were the hete that broke Ela’s heart back then,” says Nana, leaving all the paths open for further development of the federal police officer’s heart.
