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Borowski (Axel Milberg, center) and Sahin (Almila Bagriacik) take a look around the Wacken grounds: Zart'n'heavy

Photograph:

Thorsten Jander / NDR

The scenario:

Heavy metal and family planning. Inspector Sahin (Almila Bagriacik) and colleague Borowski (Axel Milberg) investigate the death of an infant whose body was found near a street strip. The trail leads them to Wacken, where preparations for the famous festival are currently underway. The investigative duo meets the owner of the local cowl-wearer pub, who is waiting with his wife for the birth of their long-planned first child. To a single mother who paints her teenage son's fingernails black for the opening of the festival. And the village policewoman who cleans up her couch potato son's place full of beer bottles, leftover food and metal paraphernalia. Complicated family relationships everywhere you look.

The highlight:

What is it like to live in the middle of the metal circus? The enthusiasm for Wacken saints such as Judas Priest, Metallica and Motörhead, who can also be heard in the soundtrack, is also about here – but the filmmakers Agnes Pluch (script) and director Ayse Polat (director) are more interested in how the people who have to get this circus going once a year deal with their longings, problems and abysses. Delicate'n'heavy, so to speak. Occasionally, the plot unfortunately gets tangled up between metal folklore and milieu study.

The picture:

Borowski's boss in an ironed leather jacket. At the end of the case, Detective Inspector Schladitz (Thomas Kügel) jets off from Kiel in carnivalesque frock attire to make a fuss about metalheads on the opening night of Wacken. Not a pretty sight.

The Dialogue:

Wacken veteran Thomas Jensen (the real festival founder Thomas Jensen during a cameo appearance) is introduced by the village policewoman to the investigative duo who have arrived from Kiel. When the two are alone again, there is a highlight of North German eloquence:

Village policewoman: "And?"

Wacken founder: "Clever from Kiel, eh?"

Village policewoman tormented: "Yoah."

The song:

»Pisces« by Jinjer . The Ukrainian band's song is playing, while the aforementioned mother is getting her son dressed up for the big metal party. Tatiana Shmailyuk's vocals, which alternate between guttural death metal grunts and melancholic indulgences, fit into the mood of this »Tatort«.

The rating:

6 out of 10 points. Interesting approach to tell the story of Germany's biggest heavy metal festival – but the tender and the hard of the story could have been worked out even more sharply in each case.

The analysis:

Read more here!

»Crime Scene: Borowski and the Innocent Child of Wacken«, Sunday, 20.15 p.m., Das Erste