Der Schattenmann Online

Realistic staging, outstanding actors. After the failure of a police trap, where his best friend Otto was murdered, the job of the "Schattenmann", detective superintendent Charlie Held, is to hunt down the mighty "Godfather of Frankfurt", Jan Herzog, undercover. Thus, Held is rather motivated, but he soon begins to enjoy the pleasant life of a business man and protege, friend and successor in spe of Herzog and at the side of the attractive Barbara, particularly when he comes to know that it wasn't Herzog who ordered to kill Otto, whereas his real life as a simple police man with wife (terrific: Julia Stemberger), daughter and terrace house soon becomes dreary and visibly annoying. Although Held alias von Hellberg is impersonated ambivalently, whereas his friend King (likeable and convincing: Heinz Hoenig), who is also working undercover as the bodyguard and and driver of von Hellberg, stays morally correct and is actually more sympathetic than Held, you feel with Held and can imagine, why he overlooks more and more the corruption in politics and milieu, even murder, and becomes part of the whole thing. One reason for this is, that Herzog, who is perfectly impersonated by Mario Adorf, isn't presented throughout as the big evil, but also as a good father and reliable friend, who has thoroughly his moral standards, but is unscrupulous when carrying through his operations. The fatal end seems to be avoidable, a concatenation of betrayal, revenge and accidents, caused by over-zealous officials, irreverent and stupid killers, who overshoot the mark, and the vengeance of Held that goes one step too far at the end. Although the movie is divided into five parts with circa two hours each, there are no lengths in it, it is alternately thrilling, moving, sad and funny and all in all an enjoyment that you can watch more than once. In my opinion the best project of Dieter Wedel and surely in the Top Ten of German movies in the Nineties.

"Der Schattenmann", which means "The Man in the Shadows", is a German mini-series from 1996, so this one is already over 20 years old and it was made by Dieter Wedel, the man who you could call the king of German mini-series because there are other projects in his body of work that attracted great attention too. Anyway, this one here consists of five episodes with the shorter ones clocking in at the 100-minute mark and the longer ones (the first and last, I think) making it past the 2-hour mark. The entire thing is under 10 hours long, so if you got the "Sitzfleisch", you can watch it on one day in fact. But you can also watch it an episode per day the way it was aired back then. When Dietl calls, the big names come, like Adorf, Hoenig, Strack, Lauterbach, Rudolph, Hentsch, Mendl and a few others. Not sure I would include Kurt here too, even if he is the center of the film, but back in the 90s he may not have been that known yet. This project is basically the story of a police detective who goes undercover into the nearest circle of a German crime boss. There are moments when the film wants us to wonder if he actually turns into a criminal too with the sweet life there, lots of money and power and a potentially new hot blonde girlfriend, but I personally never thought he would and eventually I was proved right.

It is basically Adorf who holds this entire project together and who is also the main reason why I give it a thumbs-up as a whole. I think he could have made a good Godfather à la Brando too and this performance is the closest he may have been in his career. The aura just works so much in his favor. Episodes 1 and 2 were solid, then there is a decline for episodes 3 and 4 and the final episode is improved again, which is the positive deal-breaker for the entire thing. Yes there are moments when it all feels dramatic for the sake of it instead of authentic, but that's pretty much the case in every German (crime) movie, even 2 decades later. Anyway, this was a pretty brave project on the other hand too as it is not scared of daring plot twists like crucial characters dying or the ending is the very best example too as it surprises you eventually after everything before looked so much like a happy ending. I did not mention female actors before, but there's some in here too who were fairly known already back then. Sadly almost all of them with a decent amount of screen time faced tragic fates afterward (Maranow, Nitsch, Engelbrecht) and died way before their time. But they left us something. It may not be a perfect ten for sure as one of the two other reviewers wants us to believe (honestly this is not one of the best films you have ever seen), but it is a pretty decent watch from start to finish with some better, some weaker moments. It is a nicely atmospheric work that is also quite gritty at times and this means quite something for sure. And what is even more impressive is how Dietl got good performances out of almost anybody here, even those actors who usually impress through charisma and recognition value rather than range or talent. And there are quite a few in here. Dietl recently said that he has the script for a mafia / organized crime (mini) series lying in his desk for a long time. I am not too curious about it to be honest, but if it gets as good as this one here, then I hope it gets made. I give "Der Schattenmann" a thumbs-up.

Although I'm not particularly into German television, this miniseries caught my attention when it was first aired in 1996. It had a lot of cliches and a strong resemblance with 1997's "Donnie Brasco".

Undercover cop infiltrates criminal organisation and then feels bad about selling out his new friends. That's basically it.

So if you like this setting and are able to get a hold of this series (that is, if you are able to receive German television, you speak German and you have the luck that it is aired again), it's well worth your time. The acting is good (the cast includes some of Germany's finest actors) and so is the plot. 7/10