The Betrayal (4/10)

The Betrayal (4/10)

Joska, who led the robbery and was able to escape the LKA at the warehouse, demands gang leader Andrei uses money from the criminal enterprise's kitty to support his arrested comrades. But Andrei tramples the criminal organisation's honour code beneath his feet. He advises Joska to just find new people.  

Marek Gorsky, looking through a police file, recognises Joska Bodrov as the man who was able to escape the gang's arrest. But when the SWAT team storms Joska's flat the young Russian receives them quite relaxed in his whirlpool bath. Joska Bodrov has got himself an alibi. He has had drugs, weapons and his pit bull removed from the flat. Gorsky is certain Joska Bodrov was warned. There must be a leak at the LKA. After a few hours Joska Bodrov has to be released back onto the streets.  

The only other toehold for further investigations is the Sokolov villa. Here, Gorsky finds a souvenir photograph of Sokolov, an Asian man and his brother Grischa. The face of a fourth man has been scratched off. A lead that could take him to Grischa's murderer?   Gorsky shows his sister Stella the photo. She pretends not to know the man, although she recognises her husband Mischa's clothing and posture. She confronts Mischa with what she knows and gives him the choice of either trusting her or ending the relationship. Mischa introduces Stella to the criminal enterprise's business.  

When Mischa turns up in Gorsky's flat at night to celebrate the first successful cooperation, the arrest of the gang at the warehouse, he is sent packing. He is a police office, Gorsky tells him, and rejects his brother-in-law's fraternity.

"Films that throb and pulsate, full of raging, wild, delirious life. (...) Graf's far-reaching, wide-ranging cops and robbers saga is epic, larger-than-life TV moviemaking." Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin

"500 minutes of suspense, in ten chock-full episodes, on a par with any big-budget blockbuster. (...) A gift to the audience and a piece of big-screen drama of the sort we need more of (...) The cast is stunning..." Frankfurter Allgemeine