Enlarge image
Christoph Maria Herbst as Markus Braun with Wirecard colleagues in "The Big Fake"
Photo:
Gordon Muehle / TVNOW
"What is a break-in in a bank," asked Brecht, "against the establishment of a bank?" Especially when it is a question of a "bank" in quotation marks and its business is fraudulent.
Before Wirecard became one of the biggest fraud cases in German post-war history, it was one of their biggest success stories.
From the greasy junk to the stock exchange group, at times valued higher than Deutsche Bank.
The company from Aschheim near Munich had the confidence of small investors and the ear of the Chancellor.
Until the company went bankrupt and all the money, a lot of money, suddenly disappeared as without a trace as one of the masterminds himself.
The story of Wirecard AG is a business thriller with more narrative threads and characters than the scriptwriters Raymond (also director) and Hannah Ley could have imagined.
It is also a story of how easily a deception can take place when the lie and greed are big enough.
Enlarge image
Scene from "The Big Fake"
Photo: Gordon Muehle / TVNOW
By the way, »The Big Fake« also tells us that the implementation of such a complex subject is not child's play.
Just eight months after the insolvency of Wirecard AG, UFA GmbH is now putting its story on the screens as a fictionalized docudrama.
First on the streaming service TVNow (March 31), later at prime time on the mother station RTL (April 22) on conventional television.
Does this work?
Yes and no
The action begins when what already seems to have been built on sand begins to crumble.
You don't really know because discretion (or also: concealment) was part of Wirecard's business model.
Unlike conventional financial service providers, Wirecard has specialized in processing payments on the Internet and collecting commissions for them.
In the case of payment transactions that are allegedly more than 200 billion euros recently - provided that they are not air bookings.
It is already annoying the »Financial Times«, and the chairman of the supervisory board (Götz Schubert) demands a special audit by the auditors from KPMG to dispel the rumors.
Markus Braun is annoyed by this, but it doesn't bother him.
Christoph Maria Herbst ("Stromberg") plays this "algorithm on two legs" with seriousness obsessed with details.
more on the subject
Secret chats, absurd deals: Inside Wirecard
His hyper-controlled CEO thinks bigger, further and faster than any subordinate.
When things get tough, we only recognize it from the rhythmic convulsions of his cheek muscles.
There is no such thing as a private life, the man lives for his vision.
While still in the underground car park, he gives his chauffeur share tips: “Buy, buy!” It remains unclear until the end whether this Braun is “highly criminal” or simply obsessed with himself and his power.
When he lets go of his snootiness and at the end yells for "Time!", Which he lacks, the character almost becomes tragic.
Enlarge image
Marsalek (Franz Hartwig) and Braun (Christoph Maria Herbst) in conversation
Photo: Gordon Muehle / TVNOW
Jan Marsalek with Franz Hartwig (»Der Pass«) is equally ingeniously cast in his demonic driving ability.
The still volatile "man for the rough", IT and the particularly dubious Asian business always address the audience directly: "Now it's getting serious!" Lie in bed or with business partners and employees in charming quarters.
The scenes at the "bank" in the Philippines, whose "employees" were only initiated amateur actors - hired to deceive the auditors who had traveled to the country, were pretty and close to the point of comedy.
Who exactly is duping whom with what, who just believes in the obscure billions or who likes to be fooled, that remains just as inexplicable as Wirecard's business model remains inexplicable.
Enlarge image
Nina Kunzendorf as an investigative investigative journalist
Photo: Gordon Muehle / TVNOW
This is what happens to the investigative journalist (Nina Kunzendorf), who also comes across granite and in the end, like everyone else, is overtaken by the events.
Your role functions as a hinge to the third level of »The Great Fake«.
Because in numerous interviews with companions and those affected, from cheated small investors to duped employees to critical colleagues, what can be said about the affair in journalism is documented here.
more on the subject
Say what is.
DER SPIEGEL podcast: The Wirecard bosses and their Oscar-worthy final performance by Christina Pohl
Sometimes re-enacted, sometimes in person, sometimes via zoom, numerous actors are available to answer questions.
Among them are personalities so eloquent and rich in gestures that they could also be mistaken for actors.
In addition to the money messenger or the professional intimidator from the demi-world, the dazzling Fahmi Quadir also makes her appearance.
As the manager of a hedge fund, Quadir has bet on falling Wirecard shares and is referred to in the film as a »short seller«, which would be translated correctly as »short seller«, but does not help the layperson by a long way.
Instead, we see the flamboyant lady walking her royal poodle.
Other interviewees also raise more questions than they answer.
Who is and where does this James Freis, last-minute CEO of Wirecard suddenly come from?
What is speculation, what is research?
The political backing that Wirecard enjoyed for a long time also remains underexposed.
The proceedings are still ongoing.
“The big fake” wants to be everything, business investigative journalism and psychological character studies, social play and crime thriller, and the film does not take every hurdle on the way to this goal.
Without prior knowledge, an action that is already obscure in reality can hardly be followed.
Which creates a confusion that corresponds very well to the company's shell games.
“The big fake”
will be shown on TVNow on March 31st and on RTL on April 22nd
If there is one topic that one would have liked to have followed over several episodes, it is this one.
The fictional as well as the documentary parts have their own qualities.
But they do not want to be put together into a homogeneous whole.
The problem is perhaps less the form than the time.
A lot has been achieved here in a very short period of time, which takes an hour and a half - and stands on each other's feet.
Establishing a bank is not only more lucrative, but also more difficult to portray than a robbery.
