Lawyer Silva (Jürgen Tarrach) and his assistant Marcia (Vidina Popov) are determined to solve the case of a suspected priest. (ARD Degeto / Armanda Claro)
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The opponents of the Thursday thriller located in other European countries will be allowed to groan again. In his fifth case, “condemned to silence”, lawyer Silva (Jürgen Tarrach) is asked by the uncle of his assistant Marcia (Vidina Popov) to help a priest. Cristovao Lima (Timur Isik) has come under suspicion of abusing and killing a boy from his community. Marcia’s uncle, as well as the lawyer and his assistant, who had been asked for help, may not believe that. They see themselves all the more on the side of the secretive priest when it turns out that he is taking care of poor and neglected children from the street. Research begins that threatens to walk the fine line between charity and pedophilia.
A difficult witness
Silva (Jürgen Tarrach) gets to know the street boy Figo (Martim Oliveira). He stole his cell phone. (ARD Degeto / Armanda Claro)
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One can confirm to the makers of the “Lisbon crime thriller”, the screenwriter Thomas Freundner and the director Tim Trageser, in spite of the fact that they have dealt with the speculatively mined subject of child abuse with skill and empathy. There is also the fact that such a Lisbon thriller demands a good deal of romantic city perspectives (was shot in autumn 2019). After all, the case literally takes place around a church tower in the middle of Lisbon’s old town. Parallel to the flying office of the lawyer Silva in his guesthouse over the Tejo, there are plenty of views over the roofs of Lisbon. The suspect priest, whom Timur Isik also plays surprisingly unpathetic in the German dubbing, had obviously often taken children with him to the bell tower to let them enjoy the view and to be “39 and a half meters closer to the Lord God”. Hitchcock and his “39 steps” should say hello.
Now, with a certain obstinacy, he holds the dead Pele, a member of a youth gang made up of football children from the community, in his arms. All have given themselves the names of their role models from Pele to Figo and Marta. There is no question that it seems a little theatrical. But there are also beautiful, completely natural-looking scenes, for example when a little thief wants to return the stolen cell phone to the lawyer for a finder’s fee and rummages in a bag: “Choose it yourself!” It is also a stolen wallet that leads lawyer Silva to the perpetrator. With an orchestral sound, the story of the Good Shepherd and his defender, otherwise framed by restrained Fado sounds, is drawn up to the tragic finale. – One might call it questionable, but Jürgen Tarrach has established himself a little further here as Silva lawyer in the German-Portuguese film Lisbon. – Another new episode, “The Prodigal Daughter,” airs November 26th on First.
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