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Hilde Grutzke (Tatja Seibt) and commissioner candidate Ross (André Kaczmarczyk, l.): Full throttle with the senior mobile
Photo: Rudolf Wernicke / rbb
One fights the stress with pills and alcohol, the other acts like a crane or a cobra. Adam Raczek, who was quite alone in the East German countryside after the departure of his colleague Olga Lenski, finally has a strong opponent. It's detective inspector candidate Vincent Ross, who, with his kohl-covered eyes and large yoga set, is pretty much the opposite of the boss Raczek: gender-fluid, stylish and mindful.
The Polish boomer with a motorbike and a lack of impulse control and the German hipster with a wraparound skirt and a broken psychology degree, they are the new great odd couple of Sunday crime novels.
There is only a ten-year age difference between Raczek actor Lucas Gregorowicz (born 1976) and Ross actor André Kaczmarczyk (born 1986), but in their first joint "police call" they lightly mark the fault line between the generation blocks with their characters again and again - and beyond the 40th blatantly divergent images of men and total lack of understanding for each other included.
The two investigators only want the best for each other: during an introductory barbecue, Raczek puts a couple of nice meat patties on the iron for the vegetarian Ross, because the male body absolutely needs animal protein, and Yogi tries to get Raczek's testosterone bulwark, which is burping full of beef and pork, down Ross tried a few breathing exercises with him in vain.
This generational banter could easily be annoying if it hadn't been so casually incorporated into the plot.
The wild Hilde
The opening episode of the newly established »Polizeiruf« team is also about a generational conflict: the knife murder of a young Hallodri leads Raczek and Ross into an intricate family drama, the focus of which is the resolute grandmother of the victim. Her name is Hilde Grutzke and, despite the seemingly precarious surroundings, she was able to collect a few hundred thousand euros from obscure sources, which some people in her environment are apparently after.
Tatja Seibt (born 1944) plays the grandmother as an indestructible, chain-smoking matriarch who mows her way through the psycho-thicket with an oxygen bottle and mobile home for the elderly.
She treats the rest of the family with disgust and contempt - all lollipops except Mom.
In an enchanting scene, Seibt as wild Hilde drives the wheelchair scooter over Commissioner Raczek's motorbike.
Grutzke and Raczek: biker bullies among themselves.
Eastern Outpost of Sunday Crime
With "Hilde's legacy" the German-Polish "police call" finds a rough and at the same time cheerful tone.
In the past, the eastern outpost of German crime entertainment often suffered from the fact that important social issues (Reich citizens, right-wing populism, Catholic fundamentalism) were staged gray on gray.
The actually commendable idea of directing the perspective of the large television audience to the German-Polish border in order to create awareness for this corner, which has been rather neglected by the media, unfortunately often only led to Frankfurt/Oder and Słubice being perceived as bleak across the board and really averted his gaze.
The relaunch of the border »Polizeiruf« was now carried out by Eoin Moore, who had already set the peculiarly ambivalent tone in the Rostock »Polizeiruf«.
He just gave Charly Hübner a big exit as Commissioner Bukow.
Director and author Moore, coming from the proletarian drama, always succeeded in Rostock in portraying social fringe zones with anger, wit and dignity.
It's similar now in the episode »Hilde's Legacy« (co-author: Anika Wangard).
The slashing and stabbing in Hilde's run-down family leads to a complex psychological drama, and the funny-looking clash of old and new male images by Raczek and Ross then suddenly turns into irreconcilable harshness.
Once the two investigators are sitting in the car and lovingly drinking a bottle of Polish schnapps.
Then it turns out that the level-headed boy has taken his pills away from the old man addicted to protein and pills – and he already has the paws of the other man on his throat, who is completely uncaringly demanding his poison.
It's quite possible that »Polizeiruf« with Gregorowicz and Kaczmarczyk will establish itself as a large generation laboratory for the sometimes very outdated Sunday crime novel.
Rating:
8 out of 10 points
"Police call 110: Hilde's legacy",
Sunday, 8:15 p.m., Das Erste