You Lose If You're Afraid (7/10)

You Lose If You're Afraid (7/10)

Andrei brings the ¤500,000 to the Odessa to become part-owner of ten slot machine arcades. Like two cool businessmen Mischa and Andrei seal the deal. But Stella warns Mischa about Andrei and thus makes it unmistakably plain her claim to be more than just the beautiful woman by Mischa's side.  

Uncle Sascha enters Jelena's life. Kolya the pimp hits Jelena in the Bocca restaurant, in which Uncle Sascha is having dinner with old friends. Sascha merely walks up to the table where Andrei's group is sitting and takes Jelena with him. Andrei, who knows the position Sascha embodies, whistles Kolya back and allows it to happen. Sascha asks Andrei for Jelena's passport and brings the young woman to one of his flats.  

Marek Gorsky in the meantime learns the truth of his brother Grisha's murder. He has found Lisa, Grischa's girlfriend: Sokolov and Grischa were business partners. They ran a cigarette ring in Poland and smuggled them into Germany. At a meeting Sokolov shot Grischa. Mischa was after her because she saw the murder. On top of which Uncle Sascha, who financed Grisha's business, must know more. But Uncle Sascha refuses to say anything when Gorsky asks him about Sokolov and Grischa. By surprise, Gorsky again meets Jelena, the young Ukrainian, in Uncle Sascha's workshop. Jelena now has a job in a fast food restaurant, organised by Uncle Sascha. Svetlana, in contrast, experiences how her dream of life in the rich West falls apart. Kolya finds money she held back from him. He sells Svetlana to pimps from Belorussia.

"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