German Crime Story: Gefesselt

A very good cast and a beautiful scenery, they really achieved to create this 80/90s immersion.

As a german, i would say the main story and the small side plots are pretty coherent and authentic, even though it's showing the worst side of 90s germany. The cruel mixture of absurd happy facade, with one man like "Raik" could go very far or even away was very good depicted.

It's difficult to judge if it is legit to allow airing such a show where all the details of the sufferer are exposed in maybe an overdramatized way, nonetheless, from cinematic point of view and as some kind of german production, it is quite a good work.

"German Crime Story: Deadlock" tells a story that is very close to that of the "acid barrel murderer" or with the real name "Lutz Reinstrom", who in the 80s in Hamburg-Rahlstedt in his bunker under his house, cruelly tortured women, killed them, threw their remains into a barrel of hydrochloric acid, and then buried it deep in the earth before filling the hole with cement.

Although this series is based on the Lutz Reinstrom case, it is not a detailed retelling of the events. The names of the perpetrator and his victims have also been changed here. That's why Lutz Reinstrom bears the name "Raik Doorman" here.

I just don't understand why they felt it was necessary when the core story is 1:1 the same anyway.

A lot was written around it, but basically the series tells the story of Lutz Reinstrom - so why change the names?

In terms of acting, two actors stand out particularly positively.

On the one hand, there is Oliver Masucci, who embodies the main character Raik Doormann, and on the other hand, Nikola Kastner, who embodies Cornelia Kessler - one of Raik's victims.

I didn't like the end of the series at all, which felt very odd.

In general you can say the series has a high level of production, but I just don't find a reason for this series to exist. Why does this series exist? What should it say?

For example, let's take another true crime series that probably also acted as a motivation for this series - DAHMER. As the name suggests, "DAHMER" told the story of Jeffrey Dahmer, who was one of the most horrific serial killers in the United States.

But "DAHMER" had a moral and a message. Using the extreme example of Jeffrey Dahmer, the series has shown what too little love and attention in childhood can do to a person's later life. Dahmer didn't get much love from his parents and so he got it from other people out of necessity, but then he didn't want to let them go anymore and killed them so that they "stay with him". Jeffrey Dahmer was a cruel but also sad and sick man.

In contrast, Lutz Reinstrom or Raik Doorman, as he is called here, is not a person who is somehow mentally ill and through this series gives the viewer an insight into his head - no, Lutz Reinstrom is just a selfish asshole who doesn't care about the people around him at all. A processing of his actions simply has no added value.

At least the show does a good job of portraying the sexism and degradation of women in the 80's...

Raik Doormann lives a middle-class life with his wife and son in a housing estate on the northeastern edge of Hamburg. In his typical German row house, the viewer is led deeper and deeper into the abysses. Both into those of Doormann's soul and into the depths of his house. There he has built himself a nuclear shelter, which he uses for his cruel deeds.

The focus is on the cruel manipulative character of Raik Doormann, who has an extreme sadomasochistic tendency and is also a chauvinistic narcissist. Oliver Masucci gives the character of Doormann an eerie voice that makes the character's sayings seem even more repulsive. Sometimes purringly seductive, sometimes with a distinctly Hanseatic twang. But again and again he strives to seem chummy and jovial, as if seeking the applause of other misogynists. He even admits to small weaknesses, such as his sadomasochistic tendencies. But all this is just a clever red herring to distract from his gruesome murders. Fortunately, there is hardly any explanatory psychoanalysis of his character in the plot. The viewer is allowed to make up his own mind. Oliver Masucci embodies the sleazy codger in an extremely convincing manner, and the rest of the cast delivers equally credible performances.

This character is both a figure of fascination and a sausage. It is above all the presence and acting talent of Oliver Masucci that captivate one. The character's behavior, on the other hand, with its manipulative lies, egocentric excuses and barbaric deeds, is brazen and perfidious.

In addition to all the torture agonies, the bad treatment of men with women is also in the foreground here. When a victim is paraded, laughed at and ridiculed during the trial, Doormann directly addresses his victim and claims that it was all consensual and that the victim wanted it that way, it sticks in your throat. When Doormann asks the question "Is being a woman like being handicapped?", one feels as a viewer for this man only disgust, disgust and definitely also the urge to shout out loud against this attitude of contempt for women.

The empathy-less man-catcher is contrasted with a young female inspector. Nela Langenbeck (Angelina Häntsch) is a commissioner with the Hamburg police and fights not only against crime, but also against the misogynistic structures of the police apparatus of the 1990s. Commissioner Nela Langenbeck's work environment is toxic and it takes her a long time to find support. She is the only one who listens to the victim and does everything in her power to get him behind bars. In order to expose the mask of the petty bourgeois filous to this supposedly harmless muzzler, it is inevitable to see the horror and the disgusting images. Both dramaturgically and cinematically, "Gefesselt" is on an outstanding level and doesn't need to hide behind "Dahmer". Despite the familiar outcome, the series succeeds in captivating the viewer throughout the entire six episodes.

The narrative structure in different time levels, I felt partly not so happily chosen. The artistic stylistic devices, for example the yellowish color filter, which always provides a certain retro look and equally uneasiness, is not new, but achieves the desired result. The ever-present uncomfortableness and distastefulness that keeps the viewer from any smiles here. The settings of the series are based on the 80s and seem intentionally monotonous. Dramaturgically, "Tied Up" does everything right. There are many subtle messages cleverly woven into the narrative. With the decline of the furrier's trade, a piece of Doormann's traditional masculinity is also lost. Even the former eroticism of the furs no longer catches on. Doormann is a discontinued model. In the first episode, his son asks, "Does only Mom earn the money now?" Promptly after, Elke Berger is put on the hook and Doormann hopes for the big bucks. It is no coincidence that he has chosen a prostitute (Nina Gnädig) as his partner, with whom he wants to escape to Costa Rica. Power, money and sex are his elixir of life.

------------- Conclusion: Worth seeing - Thanks to an excellent production and a great acting performance, the portrayal of this monster captivates the viewer until the last minute and appeals not only to crime fans. A pull that I could not escape.

The idea that, however expertly dramatised, the detailed and extended recreation of the obscene crimes of a vicious psychopath should be presented as entertainment is a sign of something very wrong with the particular production chain that published this, and their view of their audience.

If you are 'inspired' by the true story of an abuser of women, serial torturer and murderer there is something very wrong with you.

What next? The 'inspired by a true story' dramatisation of the experiments of Mengele? An in depth recreation of the crimes of Brady and Hindley? An imaginary story of how Suzy Lamplugh died? There, three sick ideas for Amazon to chew on.

The creators of this nasty show will pretend that its disturbing nature shows that it is successful - if their aim was to disturb and nothing more. If your wish is to be disturbed (at the expense of the victims and their families), then you need a word with yourself.

This German True Crime Show is on top of Storytelling and making. After you watched this Show you are sick of men like Trump, Weinstein and others.

The anthology series shows how toxic masculinity was anchored in the system and life in Germany in the 80s and 90s. Modern, exciting and intensely told, the show is in no way inferior to series like Dahmer. For some people it might be to strong. But the Horror is in your mind, there is not to much blood in it. But the charakters are rich and deep.

Raik Dormann's voice is strange at first. That's because the killer's voice was like that. Also tied up is a struggle for the truth. Which narrative is believed. Raik Dormann is a storyteller that people like to believe. As up-to-date as rarely a show. Watch it.