This film opens in 1986; two men in a car follow a young girl as she cycles down a farm track; one of them gets out, rapes and murders her. The other man does nothing to stop him but leaves town almost immediately afterwards. Returning to the present we see another young girl cycling away from home after an argument with her parents. She does not return and her bicycle is found at the site of the previous killing. No body is found but that matches with the original case where it wasn't found for some time. The police obviously realise the two cases are connected and after further investigations it looks as if there may have been a third girl although as her disappearance wasn't the same they are unsure; all they know is that a red car was seen at the time and one was seen at the same time as the 1986 case. Before learning exactly who killed the girl and why we don't just see the police investigation but also the effect it has had on her family and the actions of the two men we saw at the start; one of who is clearly trying to get back in touch with the other.
This German crime drama was quite interesting in the way that it didn't only follow the police but also the families of the two missing girls and the men responsible for their grief. This led to some uncomfortable scenes when one of the two went to visit the mother of the first girl and later when a pregnant police woman visits the other to ask about the car he drove in the eighties. The actors did a good job although some of the characters were a little cliché; the main policeman was dealing with the death of his own wife and he disagreed with his boss about the case for example. The way the action moved between the protagonists kept the story interesting in a way that could be disturbing at times; this sense was heightened by the music used. Without giving blatant spoilers I will say the resolution is quite disturbing although given what had gone before it didn't exactly shock me. Overall I'd say this was worth watching but I'm not sure it is the sort of film I'd want to watch more than once.
This German crime drama was quite interesting in the way that it didn't only follow the police but also the families of the two missing girls and the men responsible for their grief. This led to some uncomfortable scenes when one of the two went to visit the mother of the first girl and later when a pregnant police woman visits the other to ask about the car he drove in the eighties. The actors did a good job although some of the characters were a little cliché; the main policeman was dealing with the death of his own wife and he disagreed with his boss about the case for example. The way the action moved between the protagonists kept the story interesting in a way that could be disturbing at times; this sense was heightened by the music used. Without giving blatant spoilers I will say the resolution is quite disturbing although given what had gone before it didn't exactly shock me. Overall I'd say this was worth watching but I'm not sure it is the sort of film I'd want to watch more than once.