"Hartwig Seeler - Gefährliche Erinnerung" is a German television film that had its premiere back in spring 2019, so this film will soon have its second anniversary, which makes it neither a really new nor relatively old film I guess you could say. Or maybe it is old already, depending on when you read this review of mine. It is another ARD Degeto production, so it runs for the usual slightly under 1.5 hours as they always do. The director is Johannes Fabrick from Austria and he is also the writer, which does not happen too often with Degeto films honestly and it's more frequently the case that they have two writers and a different director, but here it was mostly Fabrick. So he would have taken the praise, but reality is he mostly gets the blame given the (lack of) overall quality. The fact that he is also the writer is a bit of a surprise because it did not happen too often apparently during his career as he mostly focused on directing. The script could have been better for sure, but if we compare it to other Degeto projects, it certainly also could have been worse. Anyway, if you take a look at Fabrick's body of work, then also the names of some of his films (Hexenküsse, Verbotene Küsse, Schlaflos in Oldenburg, Im Zweifel für die Liebe), even if you have not seen them, make it kinda obvious that you should not expect a lot of quality from this one here, one of his most recent releases. From those I mentioned, I saw Im Zweifel für die Liebe and that one was indeed really bad, definitely worse than this one here. Still this one here is not exactly a revelation either, especially if we are looking at Fabrick's great deal of experienced as he started making movies back in the mid90s already. Seems to be another case of quantity over quality, which may also explain why an over 60-year-old filmmaker would agree to work with Degeto in the face of their utter absence of talent.
The name in the title (first two words) is the protagonist and Hartwig is certainly a bit of an unusual name for a male here in Germany. Okay, for a female too I guess. Hedwig is more common. But I would say it is also especially uncommon for a younger male in German, even if the protagonist is not a spring chicken or anything. But you'd expect somebody aged 60+. Anyway, the name you also see in a 2020 movie that was a sequel to this one here, even if the stories seem unrelated. So there is probably the possibility that they could turn this into a series. I hope not though. It does not seem this good overall and I doubt they will improve with future episodes. This also has to do with the lead actor. That one would be Matthias Koeberlin. Had to scroll down a bit, the cast list here is really not in order. Anyway, Koeberlin is an actor, whoch looks younger than he is I'd say, but that's the only positive thing. Don't think he is a particularly good actor and some of the stuff (not just ARD, but also other channels) has been unwatchable at times. This film may not be unwatchable and also may not be his worst work or any of his worst, but it's still a considerable gap to high-quality territory. As for the supporting cast, there are reall not too many familiar faces. However, looking at everybody's photos here on imdb, there seem to be quite a few stunning or at least mildly attractive women. This includes Becht and Hellwig who got the roles of the central female characters here as well. One I totally want to mention too is Michael Wittenborn. He is an actor with great recognition value. I am not sure if he is the most talented fella out there, but I think he is better than the rest probably here. Have seen him in other stuff and I kinda like him. Here he plays the desperate father of a young woman gone missing. For some strange reason, he is listed last here on imdb in the cast list, although he should be easily among the top five if we look at the screen time.
Okay, I already made a few references to the story, so you basically know what this is about. The good thing here is I actually cared to find out if Wittenborn's character was really a sex offender or completely innocent too see who is to blame. So they got me curious, which probably also had a lot to do with Wittenborn. Maybe, with most other actors, I might have taken away another two stars. I also liked that the way this cult is depicted is not as if they are true villains or highly unlikable or complete lunatics. Not all going on with them may be 100% clean and clear, but they mst not be abolished or something. There are shades in this film and that is certainly a good thing. These make up at least for some of the flaws, even if there are just too many flaws eventually. The idea of this lone wolf private eye did not feel too convincing honestly the way it was depicted. Also how he is so good at his job that on one occasion we find out former colleagues wish he would return. Koeberlin was also not the right man for this job, no matter how hard they tried to depict him as tough. The scene with the girl falling into the water for example and him jumping in there immediately to catch her and this way save her life was not exactly one of the film's best ideas. Very much for the sake of it. During the film I was kinda glad that at least we do not get some cringeworthy romance story here, but for once focus on other aspects and then what happens towards the end? Koeberlin's character makes out with the girl who was his mentor at the cult. Sigh. I guess the blonde girl he is supposed to find was not a good choice for that with her worries about being sexually abused, but they had to get in romance as always with Degeto. Speaking of said romantic interest, she has her own history of sexual abuse as we find out on one occasion. This is also where the films definitely tried to be too much and the talent was not there to include this story line realistically. On the contrary, it almost felt disrespectful to victims that actually went through something like that with hpw much it felt for the sake of it here. And let's not even get started on the element of coincidence once again where they always mess up with Degeto. Several examples there. One would be how the other woman randomly shows up at the restaurant Koeberlin's character is eating. Pretty cool though he was eating alone and did not care, even if the lone-wolf component still wasn't working.
As for the girl he is supposed to find, I also struggled with here and there. The best example is really how she seems so enlightened and so happy to be in the group there on the island and yet, when she ends up in the hospital (the exact reasons or how it happened feels still strange), all of a sudden she tells Becht's character that she does not want to go back. All of a sudden. And that she kinda blames the latter too. Until then, we were led to believe it is paradise there. Okay, I already mentioned the scene in which she is in danger of drowning and there are other weak moments. The exact explanation also did almost nothing for me. Our protagonist comes to the 100% correct solution (although he is not a psychologist, not a doctor, nothing) that there is not one solution. She was not abused as a child, but there were situations from her childhood that felt in a way with the burden she had to carry that it was too much for a young girl, so to some extent emotional abuse you could say. Her father's unhappy relationship with her mother back then is also thrown in randomly for explanation purposes. I mean all this was a key story, not a subplot. This was at the veyr center of the film and taking that into account, they really needed better elaboration overall for this to come only close to being a quality watch. I do not approve. This already begins with the selection of the lead actor here. I stated that I think Koeberlin has done worse in the past, but lead actor material he still isn't from what I have seen here. This also includes the scenes with the security folks and everything.
Okay, that's pretty much it. I would also add that the attention to detail here was not superb. Smaller insignificant scenes were included, but added very little to the overall outcome. Good thing is they also did not make the overall outcome any worse I would say as it happened so many other times with Degeto. I believe the talent was not there overall. As usually, loud soundtracks are blasted into our ears to make us overlook the fact that depth in terms of characters and story is not really there, even if they (i.e. Fabrick) want us to believe it is. The vision is not there for a true quality outcome, especially behind the camera. This is why some scenes feel a bit cringeworthy too, like how in the second half the male protagonist takes off into the water with his boat as if he was looking for some meaningful solution away from humans. And I already said that the explanation that is presented to us here as the solution was also one that did not win me over in terms of how credible it felt. Really unfortunate in my opinion. Here and there, the film had potential for a better outcome, but maybe I am just biased with this position because of my perception of and soft spot for Wittenborn. Those who don't know him or like him less wil maybe be not so generous I suppose. Also one thing that felt strange was that the detective protagonist felt the need to be there when the father is reunited with his daughter. It's highly personal, so I think it wasn't right. It felt right though that they did the meeting outside with room for her to immediately get away, but I still would have though a scene with a psychiatrist or something would have been more realistic. Also felt strange how her fear was gone completely all of a sudden with all that happened before, only because of the shoddy explanation that her mind tricked her. So yes, too much wrong with the outcome here. Pretentious quotes too. No need for one or more sequels. Skip the watch. This one film is one too many already.
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