There is no escape from the curse of the evil deed: In this mafia thriller, Tobias Moretti, a successful winemaker, is caught up with his shabby past.
Berlin – He runs an excellent winery in the middle of the idyllic South Tyrolean landscape. The winemaker Matteo DeCanin (Tobias Moretti) brought it to reputation and prosperity.
His wife Stefania (Ursina Lardi) takes care of well-to-do customers and the 19-year-old daughter Laura (Antonia Moretti) knows that she is in good hands with her loyal parents.
A mysterious stranger appears out of nowhere: Nino Sorrentino (Fabrizio Romagnoli) comes from Calabria and at the same time from Matteo’s past. The two know each other from another life that Matteo wanted to leave behind for good. Back then, more than 20 years ago, his name was Lorenzo and willingly did the dirty work for the Mafia – murder included.
Now he’s supposed to do a job for Nino again, and if he doesn’t spur, his family, who don’t know anything about the Mafia past, are in mortal danger. And of course Matteo cannot confide in the police. The two-parter “Im Netz der Camorra” runs on Monday (September 6th) and Tuesday (September 7th) at 8:15 pm on ZDF.
The Austrian director Andreas Prochaska (“Das Boot”), who is also responsible for the script together with Ben von Rönne, has staged a mafia thriller with a top-class cast that functions primarily as a great drama about guilt and atonement. It is the story of the deep fall of the respected winemaker and family man who, in the midst of his prosperity, is overtaken by his filthy past. A kind of “everyone” between grapevines, except that Death speaks Italian here.
The dramatic height of the fall is immense: he is just trying the finest wines with his cellar master, a little later he is brutally humiliated by his former mafia friend, who has him completely in his hand. Of course, this constellation amounts to a bloody showdown.
For an accomplished actor like Tobias Moretti, the role of the fallen successful man is no problem. But the far too static script leaves him with little room for development: He always has to make the same, worried expression about the bad game, his guilty conscience runs like a shadow in front of him and darkens everything.
The part of the police investigator Adrin Erlacher (Harald Windisch) is much more interesting. He comes along quietly and thoughtfully. His caustic boss (Melika Foroutan) hinders him as best she can, but Erlacher is a stoic and goes his own way. He saves the illegal migrant and witness Akua Mbaye (Precious Mariam Sanusi) from the Mafiosi, and yet he cannot prevent the death of his colleague Bernatti (Lukas Watzl). That is real tragedy, but it is not as pathetic as in the case of the winemaker.
Despite some inconsistencies, this two-parter remains exciting until the end. By the way, the shooting was a premiere for Tobias Moretti: He was in front of the camera for the first time with his daughter Antonia. And she does her job really well as a higher daughter who has her own secrets. Until the bitter end, where she too pays a heavy price for the sins of the fallen father. dpa
