The Collini Case Review

The Collini Case is a German courtroom drama that worked as a personal drama and looked into Germany’s dark history.

Casper Leinen (Elyas M’Barek) is a young lawyer who is given his first case as a public defendant. His client is Fabrizio Collini (Franco Nero), an Italian national who has lived in Germany for 30 years. The man he killed was Hans Meyer (Manfred Zapatka) a popular businessman. The added complication for Leinen is he was close to the Meyer family and taking this case provides personal and professional challenges.

Courtroom dramas are often associated with Hollywood. Many John Grisham novels have been adapted and the 1990s were seen as a golden period for legal dramas. So, it was interesting to see a courtroom drama from another nation. There were differences due to Germany having a different legal system: Germany uses a judge system instead of a jury system and their courts look different from American and British ones. The German film also had a universality like the ethics of law and the main character having to do research and investigating for his client.

The Collini Case was an underdog story. Leinen was a new lawyer, he had only passed the bar three months ago. His first scene at court was meeting the judge and prosecutor for a preliminary meeting and the judge embarrassed Leinen by asking him why was he wearing his robes? In the courtroom, he was facing off against an experienced legal team that included his old professor. He sits alone and opposite a larger prosecution team. Leinen’s legal team was just him, his stepfather and a woman from a takeaway who speaks Italian.

The other issue affecting Leinen’s defence was his client’s reluctance to talk. The evidence was stacked against Collini and Leinen couldn’t see why Collini committed the crime. His investigation took him to a small village in Italy and events from the Second World War. World War II lingers large on the German psyche and The Collini Case explores this. It leads to an examination of these actions on personal and national issues.

The incident involved a war crime in Italy and how it touched many people. It forced a lot of people to look at Meyer differently, including Leinen. In flashbacks, Meyer was shown to be a father figure to Leinen and he was seen as a family friend. Meyer showed no prejudice towards Leinen regarding his ethnicity.

As well as showing a lot of Germans of a certain generation being involved in the war, The Collini Case addressed some of Germany’s post-war policy. The film looked at a policy that was implicated in 1968. The West German authorities tried to move on from the war crimes but to the victims they can’t move on.

By taking this case Leinen went into conflict with the Meyers, particularly Johanna (Alexandra Maria Lara), Hans’ granddaughter. Leinen and Johanna were friends and in flashbacks were shown to be a couple. Johanna was bitter towards Leinen and gave a biting comment when she said he would have been working in a kebab shop if it weren’t for her grandfather.

The director, Marco Kreuzpaintner, and the screenwriters do an admirable job at trying to pack so much story and themes into a two-hour film. They were able to show this through flashbacks to show the complicated relationships. They were able to hold the interest of the audience due to Leinin’s investigation and highlighting issues that audiences outside of Germany may not be aware of.

The Collini Case was based on a novel by Ferdinand von Schirach. Von Schirach was a lawyer before became an author. However, the trial in the film felt unrealistic. Leinin takes a case where he had an obvious conflict of interest, but for the sake of drama it was acceptable. However, some of the witnesses called during the trial made The Collini Case unbelievable. It was like The Collini Case was trying to be a Hollywood film.

The Collini Case was a strong combination of legal and historical drama. It was able to highlight issues that are still affecting Germany whilst having a personal edge.