https://youtu.be/jF4H5dhhA6I (German only)
This was better done than most examples of this sub-genre with its mix of re-enactments and talking heads although it did not completely many of the clichés of this sort of film – characters, either real-life ones or anonymized actors in re-enactments purposefully walking down ill-lit corridors, atmospheric night shots with misty light, thoughtful examination of old files etc. etc.
The use of excerpts from the perpetrator’s statement towards the end of the second episode (of only three; commendably brief and focused and each episode a bit over 30 minutes) added a new and fascinating layer to the unfolding story. But his full story remained rather vague – no neat explanations/solutions or what demons drove him to act the way he did – although there was an element which almost suggested that he did it because he could. The effect of the killings on people who knew the victims (and his sister) was powerfully conveyed however. It would have been fascinating though, to have heard from (or even had some information about) the killer’s partner. Who was he? Did they remain together? Did the partner know or suspect anything? Interestingly, there was almost no reference to the partner other than glancing ones in the perpetrator’s statement.
But one amusing aspect of this was the seemingly utter ignorance of the police force about aspects of gay life (and this in Berlin). Gay men go naked in to dark rooms with a lot of other naked gay men; why would they do that? What were they doing? And a relative of one of the victims who was killed in his apartment: ‘Of course he must have known him quite well to invite him to his apartment!’ Er, no…Maximum of four text messages perhaps?!