Gefährliche Wahrheit (2021)

Maren Gehrke works as a journalist for the Tageskurier, the local newspaper of a financially struggling publishing company. Her team is led by Paula Oberländer-Schaffrath (“Posch”) and includes the experienced Hans Buttke, her former boyfriend Benno Frick, and young Sarah Karimi, who handles online coverage. Maren lives alone, and her relationship with her widowed father is almost completely broken because she exploited her mother’s illness for journalistic purposes. She is having an affair with Dr. Martin Hellrich of the public prosecutor’s office, from whom she also repeatedly obtains information. When a fire breaks out in a run-down apartment block, Maren and Hans are quick to arrive and report on it. Maren even manages to resuscitate a young girl. Three people die in the fire, however, including a 14-year-old boy. Rumors of a racially motivated attack soon circulate online, along with accusations that the property company WiDuBai and its chairman, Carsten Altmann, failed to provide adequate fire-safety measures. Maren sets out to investigate the background. A witness then contacts her and, when they meet, shows her an old video. In it, the tipsy city councilwoman Vera Siegerland announces the fire in advance, which would point to a crime. The witness says he has more explosive information, but will only hand it over in exchange for payment. Maren manages to persuade the publishing-company head, Freydank, to provide the money. Her colleague Benno thinks she is pursuing a misguided lead. Maren meets the witness, who identifies himself as Lukas Schaub, in a hotel room. He works in WiDuBai’s IT department and came across documents at work showing that the housing estate was to be sold to Arab investors. Everyone involved—especially Altmann and the city—would make a great deal of money from the sale. Schaub is afraid and wants to leave town with the money. He also gives Maren some photographs showing her investigating a fatal traffic accident that happened years earlier. Shortly afterward, Altmann’s henchmen murder Schaub, after Benno gives Altmann Schaub’s name as a favor to a friend. The city councilwoman also suddenly dies of a heart attack, which makes Maren suspicious. Maren tries to find out why the photographs from the traffic accident were in WiDuBai’s possession. She obtains the case file through Hellrich and goes to see her colleague Hans, who was with her at the accident scene back then, to discuss the matter. They discover that Mayor Gehring caused the fatal accident and was shielded by Altmann, who was working as a police inspector at the time. In return, Gehring later helped advance Altmann’s career. Hans also tells Maren that Benno and Altmann had been friends for a long time through the local soccer club. They had a deal: Altmann gave Benno police information in advance, and in return Benno wrote favorably about Altmann. They helped each other advance their careers. Altmann is also planning to rescue the publishing company financially, which would benefit Benno once again, since he has just been promoted to management alongside Sarah after Posch suffered a severe herniated disc. Maren suddenly receives the investor-deal documents from Schaub’s server. He had set it up so that the data would be sent to Maren automatically unless he stopped it by entering a PIN—a step he could no longer take after his death. Maren is therefore able to expose everything, and those involved are arrested or forced to leave their positions. Maren and Sarah stream the revelations online, making it a success for the publishing company. Without Altmann’s millions, however, the company becomes insolvent, and Maren and all the other employees lose their jobs.