Kokain - Das Tagebuch der Inga L. (1986)

Weapons are needed time and again in the Middle East, Africa, or Latin America. Their price is high. It ruins the health of millions of people. In some regions, people fight for everything and nothing, sometimes for freedom, sometimes out of religious fanaticism. And the cost is the lives of countless men and women, mostly in Europe and the United States. Only rarely does anyone manage to escape the snares of international drug traffickers. Somehow, Inge has met a dark-looking foreigner. She is fascinated by his mysterious nature. It was easy for him to persuade her to travel to Hamburg. By now, she is also ready to put her money worries behind her by dreaming of earning a large sum quickly. St. Pauli’s entertainment district provides the two with what seems like a comfortable place to stay. Thus two people meet, with just one thing on their minds: getting rich quickly. But her boyfriend is already deeply involved in the drug scene. This makes it easy for him to set her up in a basement bar. He knows the owner as a dealer’s accomplice. When the dealer’s boss wants to involve him in the illegal business, he has to hand Inge over to him as security and make her work in a seedy lodging house. There, she soon realizes that she means nothing to him and has become merely a tool for his selfish ends. When he starts putting more effort into the younger Petra than into her, the truth becomes obvious to her. She rebels, wins the younger woman over to her side, and comes to believe she can free Petra from the hard drug she is dependent on. Instead, she tries to get her cocaine as a substitute, hoping it will help her kick the habit. It proves to be a fatal mistake. mini|Still from the film When a rival of her former boyfriend, from whom she has firmly turned away, tries to force her to provide the services of her hidden trade—prostitution—for his benefit, she impulsively flees with her friend. The two wander restlessly around the big city. Then they hatch a plan to kidnap the bar owner, who gave them shelter for the first time, and force him to betray his drug customers. In this way, they turn the tables. The film thereby stirs up emancipatory resentments, since it is directed against all their former exploiters. But when they come face to face with the top boss, she has no choice but to accept his cunning offer to continue building up the drug trade together with him. They are already too deeply entangled in illegal dealings. He wants to smuggle weapons. She needs cocaine to save her friend. Flight seems to them the only remaining hope. But the scene is tenacious, bitter, and merciless. As the drug gang’s vigilante justice closes in on them, the ice-cold boss is already hurrying to the plane to pursue the next international arms deal. He is indifferent to those left behind. No one will find out what becomes of them. The plot does more than simply warn. At times, it comes across as sympathetic, as well as cautionary.