The “crime scene” in the quick check
Swiss themed salad
By Julian Vetten
4/29/2023 3:22 p.m
Is the Italian mafia laundering money at Swiss charity events? “Seilschaft” begins as a detective thriller about cynical money-making on the backs of the poor – and then takes an absurd 180-degree turn.
What happens?
The day after the big charity gala organized by a Swiss fund for development aid, the evening’s moderator is found murdered in the suite of his posh hotel – with a bolt-sized hole in his head, but no toes. Shortly thereafter, they appear in the mail from the organizer of the evening. And while the Zurich inspectors Grandjean (Anna Pieri Zuercher) and Ott (Carol Schuler) are still wondering whether the Italian Ndrangheta was involved, the next corpse appears from the bottom of Lake Zurich: the dead man, a successful entrepreneur , was also a guest at the charity event.
Also in the boxing club is determined.
(Photo: ARD Degeto / SRF / Sava Hlavacek)
However, corpse number three doesn’t want to fit the pattern at all: the director of a youth home had neither invested millions in hedge funds nor had any other visible connections to the mafia’s money laundering business. Grandjean and Ott are increasingly at a loss until they discover a hot new lead in a Zurich boxing club.
What is it really about?
A very good question that probably not even the makers of “Seilschaft” can answer. It all starts as a gripping, investigative crime thriller about the bigotry of the upper ten thousand, cynical money-making in the name of charity and the mafia’s amazing money-laundering methods. Then, after a good half hour, the film takes a 180 degree turn towards child abuse. However, this fails thoroughly because the “crime scene” raises the important topic much too template-like and superficially.
Wegzapp-Moment?
It is well known that one should stop when it is most beautiful. In the new Zurich “crime scene” this is the case after the third murder.
Wow-Factor?
The director of the youth center’s anaphylactic shock, triggered by an oak processionary moth shoved under her tongue while she was sleeping, has something of the dark ballet about it. In general, the three murders in the first half hour – if I may say so – are beautifully staged.
How is it?
“Rope” starts as an 8 out of 10 and ends as a 4, at most. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think the screenwriters were killed and replaced halfway through – maybe by the ‘Ndrangheta.