A Perfect Crime

A good doc detailing the unsolved murder of German politician Rohwedder during the reunification era. The interviews are relevant and good use of archival footage. The storyline jumps around a bit, but does a good job of setting the political climate. Good dubbing.

...and, as an East-German, who had to wait 30 years for a docu-series (or really much of anything in the media in general) that actually managed to present a balanced representation of the politics and social and economic complexities surrounding the so-called "reunification" of Germany, I say, "Kudos to the filmmakers".

This part of German history has always been presented from a one-sided viewpoint. Parallel to (although maybe not quite the same as), "history is written by the victorious".

The one thing that bugs me is the English title and Netflix's decision to cast this as a true crime series. It is so much more a history docu, and a politically charged one at that. And, in that, it succeeds.

"A Perfect Crime" offers not only an interesting murder case through well directed interviews, great structure and good pacing, but also gives a deep insight of the political climate and it's effect on the economical structure and peoples life in East Germany after the fall of the DDR. It engages the viewer by encouraging to draw your own conclusion of the murder through interviewing several people with diffrent perspectives, all making good cases for their perception of the events that took place. It's neatly edited and looks great most of the time. The only downsides of the documentary are small inconsistencies of the reconstructed scenes, where in some scenes there is cleary put effort into making it look authentic, but sometimes is just clearly taking place in the modern time. However this is quickly overshadowed as it is just a minor flaw that doesn't hinder the viewer in any way of enjoying the documentary. All in all it is more than just a murder case, but an important timepiece of german history.

The assassination of Rohwedder and other 'capitalists' are so professionally executed that it raises questions. High-ranking key figures from that time comment on the difficulties and hostility around the reunification.

The title 'A Perfect Crime' doesn't do this high-quality documentary justice. This isn't some fictional action movie about a bank heist. I learned a lot, which i never would have expected from a Netflix documentary.

For what it's worth this is a bit of an unsatisfying true crime story but actually it's so much more than that! If you are actually German, you absolutely have to watch this (my opinion), it's a jewel! I'm afraid for almost everyone else it might be interesting but of little relevance ...

When these events took place, I was barely a teenager and very much busy with myself. I had noticed how my parents were struggling to find their way after everything had turned upside down but they did a good job in keeping it away from us (children). I simply wasn't aware just how traumatic the experience must have been for at least half of the East-German population. I was aware that the western politicians arrogantly dismissed everything that was done or made in the GDR and they surely have not foreseen the damage they would inflict. Until this day (30 years later) the results of it can be seen heard and felt. Several generations of East- Germans were traumatized and have passed this feeling along to their children. There is still a rift going through this country which now manifests itself in the success of the AfD (right wing populist party) after the leftists (Ex-"Communists") have failed to deliver any kind of consolation over the past three decades.