The Collini Case is your typical courtroom affair
Fans of the gripping cinematic courtroom dramas like A FEW GOOD MEN and MUSIC BOX will certainly want to check out THE COLLINI CASE, a brand-new award winning drama, based on the international best-seller of the same name by Ferdinand Von Schirach.
An industrial magnate, respected and established, Hans Meyer (Manfred Zapatka), is seemingly shot at point blank range in the Presidential Suite of the hotel he is staying at by ageing German-Italian Fabrizio Collini (Franco Nero, DIE HARD 2, FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE).
Enter fresh out of law school Caspar Leinen (Elyas M’Barek), who has been assigned to take on the case, for whom it has additional resonance and emotional attachment, not least due to the fact that he had a relationship with the victim’s grand-daughter Johanna (Alexandra Maria Lara) and was a surrogate son to Hans.
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Complicating matters even further is the fact that representing the prosecution is Leinen’s old law professor, Richard Mattinger (Heiner Lauterbach) who is a legend in the legal system in Germany and is more than convinced that Collini is guilty based on the evidence, forensically and physically based on the victim’s body when he was discovered.
Leinen finds Collini a frustrating client, not least in the fact that he refuses to initially make a statement and doesn’t really want to talk, but eventually he speaks up, emotionally, and starts to reveal some thoughts about the background and context, which suddenly begins to take a much more broader direction as Leinen begins to delve deeper into not only the case, but also the past of decades before…
This is your typical courtroom affair, with the traditional scenes of research and revelation that make these types of films consistently compelling (you can see somebody like Tom Cruise or Matthew McConaughey doing a American remake, which seems to be the way forward). However, the more personal touch in this film, which is reminiscent of the dynamic between Jessica Lange and Armin Mueller-Stahl in MUSIC BOX, adds to the conflict and drama.
Veteran actor Nero is always watchable, but the main cast acquit themselves well in a competent film adaptation that legal fans will lap up.
