Eat.
In the new “Helen Dorn” thriller, an industrialist dies while hunting. Was it an accident or was it murder?
Helen Dorn’s (Anna Loos) incredulous look says it all. Out of the blue, forensic scientist Weyer (Tristan Seith) has started to change, he phonetizes brackets, slashes or colons, talks about Schütz:in. Helen can’t resist pointing out the bug crawling into his jumpsuit, prompting a moderate panic attack. Because Weyer and nature up close don’t go together. But this nature in the form of a forest full of crawling creatures is the scene of a possible crime.
Random hit or sniper? Helen Dorn cannot rule out anything at first
Rolf Kanther, head of a medium-sized military technology company, was sitting on his high seat with his daughter Sonja (Sina Martens) while hunting when a bullet hit him in the forehead. Because of the highly sensitive business area, LKA Commissioner Dorn has been entrusted with the investigation. The shot from a sniper rifle must have been fired from a great distance, but the location of the traces is not clear. An almost unbelievable accidental hit cannot be ruled out, nor can the perfectly executed murder of a sniper, a trained sharpshooter.
The traumatized daughter, with whom Kanther wanted to reconcile after a period of estrangement on the hunting trip, cannot help. Kanther’s wife Marianne (Ursina Lardi) doesn’t want or isn’t allowed to help, invoking the obligation of secrecy. Just this much: Helen should do her best to come to the conclusion “death by accident”. Dorn’s LKA supervisor Bock (Christoph Tomanek) also demands this.
Erbin was vehemently against the arms deal
When the will is read, it turns out that Sonja, of all people, who had fallen out with her father over the military orientation of the company, inherits his shares and, above all, his patents. Against the will of the mother, against the recommendations of Kanther’s friend and partner Peer Sailer (Peter Lohmeyer). The company was apparently about to be taken over by a European armaments consortium, and the patents were crucial to the business. With Sonja as the heir, the deal is likely to end.
By then, author and director Friedemann Fromm had already spun a gripping, humorously interrupted (Weyer) story with ever-new but always coherent ramifications, with the powerful visual support of cameraman Heinz Wehsling.
But we are no closer to clarifying the case, from which the stubborn Helen Dorn is finally released by her boss Bock (which she, Weyer and coroner Alighieri studiously ignore). Because it gets even more complex, and Helen’s father Richard Dorn (Ernst Stötzner) takes care of that. The success of Kanther’s company rested on a dark secret. And that is closely related to a spectacular case in which the then detective inspector Richard Dorn was involved 30 years ago and which he was never able to solve.
Four stars out of five
“Helen Dorn: The right to remain silent” will be shown on ZDF on Saturday, February 11th at 8:15 p.m. The episode is also available in the ZDF media library.
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