Actress Henny Reents immersed herself in the structures of “major police situations” for her role as police leader in two “special situation” crime stories: attacks, rampages, hostage-taking. The result was a portrait of one of the most stressful jobs in the world.
Links marked with a symbol or underline are affiliate links. If a purchase is made, we will receive one commission – at no extra cost to you! More info
Photo: RTL / Nadja Klier
teleschau: How much does the “special situation” police team, as shown in the films, have to do with reality?
Henny Reents: I can only fall back on what I learned in my preparation for the shooting: If there are so-called “large-scale situations” – terrorist attacks, killing sprees or hostage-taking – then the teams and their work look something like ours described in films. The space, the type of communication, and last but not least my job as a police officer.
We don’t find out in the film what kind of training your character received. How does one become a “special situation” officer?
It’s a long-term education. Just being nominated for it is something like the “Champions League” of policing.
Photo: NDR / Gordon Timpen
“She ‘may’ do everything, so to speak, and has the ultimate decision-making power”
You spoke at length with a real “special situation” boss. How does she get into such a case?
Without a piece of paper and without a pen, she says. It’s about feeling for the situation. Therefore, to filter out as much information as possible from different sources. A special feature is, for example, that she must not be spoken to, but all communication comes from her. She “may” do everything, so to speak, and has the ultimate decision-making power. That’s sometimes 1,000 police officers or more that she has under her during an operation.
A team of specialists is presented in the film. Who is “really” all in the room?
The so-called “connectors” to SEK (special task force, ed.), MEK (mobile task force, ed.), psychologists, a specialist from the press office. The public prosecutor’s office is also in the room, but we left that out in the film because it would have gone beyond the dramaturgical framework.
Can such a “special situation” be convened quickly everywhere in Germany?
As far as I know, there are some such devices in Germany. In any case, they exist in Berlin and Hamburg, where I researched. And they really work in such a room with walls of screens, but maybe not quite as bombastic as in the films (laughs).
Photo: © Frank Dicks / eitelsonnenschein GmbH / Turner Broadcasting System Europe Limited – a WarnerMedia Company
“It’s a high-energy job”
The pressure that the male superiors put on your character seems almost unrealistically great in the film. What did the real police chief say about the atmosphere of her job?
I’ve been told there’s an incredible power struggle going on behind the scenes. Because they are decisions of incredible importance. After all, it’s a matter of life and death. It’s almost a political office, you can’t afford to be weak. I have spoken to police leaders for many hours. I was impressed that these people always remain awake and solution-oriented. It’s a high-energy job. For people who think very quickly and don’t have any hangers-on.
But don’t you also need the ability to empathize with the perpetrators? So a great understanding of people – about what actors also need?
Yes, that’s right. But it’s also a little different from what we do as actors. We need to be able to observe people, understand them in an empathetic way. For police officers, it’s about sensing what could happen next. “Being ahead of the curve,” as they call it, is a very crucial talent or skill that is in demand. It’s all about anticipating all possible moves.
A large part of the reconnaissance takes place via the evaluation of surveillance cameras. You know that from countries like China or Qatar. But are there so many cameras in this country that the police can follow a person virtually?
I can’t tell you that, but I know that the special situation police have access to all cameras and that it is one of their most important “tools” that they work with. One tries to extract the smallest information from these images. It is often the only means, the only approach, with which one initially works in special situations. The film is by no means unrealistic in this regard.
“I became very different when I had to give the order to shoot in the film”
You would like to continue with this basic idea of a detective story after the two films, wouldn’t you?
Yes of course. It’s designed as a series, and now we have to see how audiences take it. For me as an actress who has acted in many crime novels, it was really a new approach within the genre: the workings of the special situation, the power structures, the unbelievable stress. Also the patriarchal structures in the police – as of course also in other classic institutions: They also exist here, as I was told.
Could you do this job yourself?
No, absolutely not. I couldn’t sleep at night anymore. You have to integrate a lot of information very quickly, block out everything that interferes and have very fine antennas in a different way than I have. Actually a contradiction in terms. I would feel overwhelmed by the responsibility. You have to be incredibly tough mentally.
So a completely different “mind set” than what you need as an actress?
Henny Reents: Like I said, it’s similar and very different at the same time. As an actress, I also need very fine antennae, like the police chief, but with a different focus. She needs a threat radar, I need more human observation skills. Maybe I’m being a little more empathetic, the police are about responsibility. I felt very different when I had to give a shoot order in the film. I don’t want to imagine having to give such an order in real life.
“I’m in the middle of my life and I’m in the mood for new things”
Her role as police officer Lona Vogt in “Nord bei Nordwest” was incredibly popular. But even beyond that, they were often cast as investigators. Do you have the air of a cop?
I think that’s the outside perception that I’m playing so many cops. I recently played a politician in Jan Böhmermann’s “The Conference of Interior Ministers” or a fully tattooed, traumatized performance artist in the French ARTE series “The Black Butterflies” – neither of which were police officers. But because so many people saw “Nord bei Nordwest” so incredibly many people saved me as a police officer. Germany is simply a crime stronghold. An unbelievable amount of crime fiction is produced in perception.
Did you leave “Nord bei Nordwest” because you were annoyed by your “perception” as a commissioner?
No not that. I know what I owe to this series, but I’m someone who just keeps needing something new to keep me happy at work. Further development gives me incredible satisfaction – not only at work, but also privately. I did “Nord bei Nordwest” for six years and then had the feeling: Well, now you’re repeating yourself if you stick with it any longer. I’m in the middle of my life and I’m in the mood for new things. That’s why I just had to set off again – to new shores.
“Sonderlage – A Hamburg thriller: The attack” (Tuesday, February 14, 8:15 p.m.) and “Sonderlage – A Hamburg thriller: The child will die” (February 21) on RTL and also in advance RTL+.
