Maria Furtwängler (56) has been shining as a “crime scene” commissioner for 20 years. In 2002, the actress slipped into her prime role of Commissioner Charlotte Lindholm for the first time. Next Sunday (October 9, 2022, 8:20 p.m. in the first) she is investigating in “The revenge on the world” for the 30th time. The creators of the NDR thriller surprisingly relied on a rather conservative, conventional, old-school Sunday evening thriller for the anniversary. Is it still worth taking a look at Göttingen?
The ideal world of Göttingen is shaken by a serial sex offender who ambushes women in remote corners and forces them to engage in sexual activity. The “Viking”, as the man is called in the press, has so far left his victims alive. When the body of the student Mira is found in a small park by a lake, Charlotte Lindholm and Anaïs Schmitz (Florence Kasumba, 45) wonder if the “Viking” could have gone a step further this time. An eyewitness describes the perpetrator as a man of immigrant origin. But the witness appears biased, is his testimony really reliable? In order not to lose any time, Charlotte Lindholm initiates an extended origin analysis of the DNA from the crime scene…
Unfortunately not. Unless you’re a big Lindholm fan. It is true that “The Revenge on the World” is a classic Sunday evening thriller that does without avant-garde gimmicks, outlines current social problems and dispenses with secondary scenes of war such as a psychogram of the protagonists. So far, so familiar, but also extremely despondent. The biggest problem: The film is full of platitudes, stereotypes and unrealistic scenarios. There are plenty of examples: Lindholm in a men’s pub, Lindholm wants to interrogate a soccer player on the field, or Lindholm is talking to an Afghan refugee about the local national sport of buzkaschi. A lot of heavy food.
The film music is also largely reminiscent of “The Three ???” radio play cassettes from days long gone and the character Lindholm is drawn without depth and is completely interchangeable. That’s much better. There is certainly a tension curve in the 90 minutes, but two minutes after the credits have rolled many viewers have surely forgotten half of the film. What was it now? About delinquent fugitives? About a serial rapist in the middle of Göttingen? Or is it a relationship act? Or something completely different? One could have expected more for a 20th anniversary of a long-established “Tatort” commissioner.
