“Down in the valley” brings a whole range of topics from teenage pregnancies to incest to stray wolves. But while minus times minus usually equals plus, in the “crime scene” it’s sometimes the other way around.
What happens?
More than a decade after the mysterious disappearance of a 15-year-old, construction workers dig up the young woman’s body in a sleepy Black Forest town. For the Freiburg detectives Tobler (Eva Löbau) and Berg (Hans-Jochen Wagner), the journey to the scene of the crime is a déjà vu: the two had already conducted the unsuccessful investigations back then, today the same witnesses have to be questioned against the same backgrounds. Apart from the age of the people, hardly anything has changed in the village. There is even a girl who looks amazingly like the dead woman – it is her daughter.
Tobler and Berg finally want to clear up the case with the help of the new information, but for now they have their hands full trying to clear up the confused family and friendship relationships in the village. The main suspect from back then, a violent criminal with a previous conviction, is not only back from prison and in the village, but also still has a surprisingly good connection to his cousin, the father of the dead man. He, in turn, wants nothing to do with his granddaughter’s alleged father. So it’s already complicated in the Black Forest anyway. And then there is a second death.
What is it really about?
There is no lack of meaning in “Down in the Valley”, on the contrary, the film has a whole vendor’s tray: How about teenage pregnancy and how society deals with it? Or would you prefer a testimony about the oppressive narrowness of village life? Horror and incest lurk behind the pretty Black Forest facade? Or, because it’s already served on a silver platter with a stray wolf: are the black sheep the problem or is it ultimately the herd itself?
Away-Zapp-Moment?
The danger at this Black Forest “crime scene” is more in sleeping away than zapping away. If you still want to risk it, but are afraid of losing your night’s sleep, a practical tip inspired by Albert Einstein himself is a good idea: just hold the remote control in your hand and don’t sit too soft. When changing from light to deep sleep, the wrists relax, the rattling of the remote control is the best alarm clock.
Wow-Factor?
The wintry Black Forest is wonderful to look at. But it’s exciting what kind of microclimate there is: Several scenes start in 20 centimeters deep snow and end with a phone call and a few hundred meters further in brown mud.
How was it?
5.5 out of 10 points. “Down in the valley” is complex and could be an exciting thriller. Subjunctive because the case drags on like old chewing gum: good that the search for the perpetrator remains open to the end. But it would be nicer if the journey there were told in an exciting way.
