A senior in need of care has died. He fell down the stairs. Or was he pushed? At least that's what his widow believes and accuses the geriatric nurse Anne Werner (outstanding: Katharina Marie Schubert). The commissioners Thorsten Lannert (Richy Müller) and Sebastian Bootz (Felix Klare) find no evidence of a crime. Nevertheless, they are suspicious: Two weeks earlier, a pensioner who was being cared for by Werner's mobile nursing service died under unclear circumstances. In order to shed light on the matter, the investigators summon the woman - and interrogate her for two days.
"Anne and Death" is dedicated to a problem that is rarely discussed on television: the nursing shortage. Good, humane care for seniors is time-consuming and expensive. In order to keep costs under control, the care facility is completely rationalized. Everything is clocked through and economically optimised, every service timed precisely: three minutes for hair care, five minutes for washing. Affection and warmth can sometimes fall by the wayside.
The "crime scene" also takes a look at the life of the nurse, who is paid 1,500 euros for her hard job and also has to support her son as a single parent. He should have it better than her one day. So that he doesn't stand out among all the middle-class children at high school, she tries to disguise his social background. She sews designer labels onto his cheap jeans and drives 20 kilometers to go to the discounter so that the neighbors don't notice. Because her son should not be an "alpha Kevin". Rarely have the social consequences of relative poverty been described so clearly.
For a long time this is a gripping film that keeps in suspense how the pensioners got their deaths. Unfortunately, the suspense doesn't last until the end. The case runs out of steam, the resolution is a little disappointing.
Confronted with the fate of people in need of care, the inspectors think about their own future as senior citizens. Do they cling to each day that is left to them - or do they long for the quick end?
Equally social drama as crime thriller - this "crime scene" is also worth repeating. Because the topic of how we want to remunerate nursing staff is more relevant than ever.
"Tatort: Anne and Death" was first broadcast on May 19, 2019. ARD repeats the case on Sunday, July 24, 2022 at 8:15 p.m.
