GROOM – THE FRITZ HAARMANN STORY (AT)

1924 – After a long period of dissatisfaction, Inspector Hermann Lange makes the decision to leave the French-occupied Ruhr region in order to transfer to Hanover. His colleagues in the Bochum police department did not abide by the law or morality, which contradicts Hermann Lange’s ethical principles. However, the quagmire he thought he was escaping turns out to be deeper, darker, and muddier than ever before. His colleagues in Hanover are corrupt and show little interest in solving the cases of missing persons in their city. Two colleagues are assigned to Lange by the police headquarters. One – Karl Lanzendorfer – is young and inexperienced, the other – Heinrich Rätz – uses questionable and brutal methods to solve his cases. Annegret Erdner, a former schoolteacher looking for her missing husband who demonstrates considerable detective talent in the process, becomes a competent partner for Lange. When a vast quantity of human bones and skulls are found in the Leine River, which can be attributed to 20 murdered young men, everyone realizes they are facing a crime of unprecedented proportions. It is Annegret who directs suspicion toward the black marketeer, meat dealer, and police informant Fritz Haarmann, a notorious local fence from whom several police officers also benefit. Hermann Lange makes no headway with his ethical methods and must decide whether to throw them overboard in order to solve this case…