“The Collini Case”
Court thriller with Elyas M’Barek and Franco Nero
“The Collini case”: Fabrizio Collini (Franco Nero, front) and his lawyer Caspar Leinen (Elyas M’Barek).
© ARD Degeto / Constantin Film Verleih
When good and bad are close together: With “The Collini Case”, director Marco Kreuzpaintner has succeeded in making an exciting book adaptation.
The book adaptation “Der Fall Collini” based on Ferdinand von Schirach (57), which opened in German cinemas on April 18, 2019 and is now celebrating its TV premiere (8:15 pm, the first), provides an important history lesson embedded in one gripping thriller. “Fack ju Göhte” star Elyas M’Barek (39) has to recognize the limits of establishing the truth in court as a young lawyer Caspar Leinen in the compulsory defense of a murderer. In addition to M’Barek, a cast in particular ensures that the novel is implemented successfully.
“The Collini Case”: In the fight against a law and for justice
Caspar Leinen (Elyas M’Barek) faces a major challenge: In his first case as a lawyer, he has to take on the legal defense of Fabrizio Collini (Franco Nero). The Italian shot and killed the major German industrialist Hans Meyer (Manfred Zapatka) in his Berlin hotel suite for no apparent reason.
For Leinen, the case turns into a rollercoaster between emotion and understanding, because: The victim is the grandfather of his childhood sweetheart Johanna (Alexandra Maria Lara). In addition, the powerful entrepreneur had looked after him like a surrogate father. The young lawyer tries to live up to his mandate in court. But Collini is not ready to testify and defense attorney legend Richard Mattinger (Heiner Lauterbach) skilfully plays his chess moves – until Leinen encounters a legal scandal that takes a surprising turn.
It is about the so-called Dreher Act, which was passed by the German Bundestag in 1968 and assessed numerous war crimes as manslaughter and not murder – whereby many acts by Nazi perpetrators were suddenly statute-barred and remained unpunished. A look at Collini’s past shows Leinen that the defendant’s father and the former SS officer Hans Meyer were directly affected by this law – both as victims and as profiteers. The fight for justice begins …
Franco Nero as Collini: A few words with a strong message
Elyas M’Barek is the focus of the film as a committed lawyer Caspar Leinen. As a viewer, you are happy with him that the filmmakers had the right nose and enabled him to successfully switch to the more serious subject in 2019. Linen’s inner turmoil between the harmonious past with Meyer and his granddaughter and the ultimately prevailing obligation of his client Collini in the here and now brings M’Barek approachable onto the screen. In addition to him, Heiner Lauterbach (68) convince as the overestimating star lawyer Richard Mattinger and Alexandra Maria Lara (42) as a fighter for their family, who in the end has to cope with a bitter truth.
But even if the German actors are convincing in their roles, it is above all Franco Nero (79) who helps the film to achieve a credible implementation with his title role. The Italian actor has played in more than 200 mafia films and spaghetti westerns to date, and his experience is a gift for German production. With little speaking, Nero implements the aloof Collini perfectly with just looks, facial expressions and gestures.
After Ferdinand von Schirach brought the play “Terror” (2015) to the theater stages and TV (“Terror – Your Judgment”, 2016), “Der Fall Collini” (2011) was his first novel ever to hit the big screen made. With a strong cast and authentic setting – especially the sober courtroom and the Italian hometown of Collinis – director Marco Kreuzpaintner (44, “Beat”) found a suitable staging for the book, which has sold more than 500,000 copies in Germany.
The material of the novel is rightly given a cinematic monument, because the almost forgotten judicial scandal in Nazi history raises one of the big questions: What is legal and what is justice? In the end, the sobering answer remains: the two are not always in harmony.