The docudrama "Shot in the Night" tells the emotional and at the same time factual story of how the fatal attack on the president of the Kassel government came about. It tells of the first right-wing extremist motivated murder of a politician since the time of National Socialism. The film is based on intensive research and interviews with those involved on location. Above all, the screenplay is based on the transcripts of Stephan Ernst's first confession, which he later recanted and replaced with two new confessions. These transcripts make it disturbingly clear how Ernst became increasingly radicalized and how Walter Lübcke, as a representative of a caring attitude towards refugees, became the target of his hatred. The 90-minute film (directed by Raymond Ley) combines scenic elements with documentary material and also reconstructs the citizens' meeting in Lohfelden, Hesse, which was Walter Lübcke's undoing: There, he uncompromisingly stood up for the values of democracy and became the bogeyman of the right-wing scene that very evening - initially on the Internet. In the end, the hateful words turned into deeds, and the silence of the spectators in Lohfelden grew into a feeling of shame for many today, as they report to the camera.
At the center of the play scenes is the interrogation of Stephan Ernst (played by Robin Sondermann), who gives the two investigators Norbert Bartels (Joachim Król) and Petra Lischke (Katja Bürkle) an insight into his thought processes. How did the murder of Walter Lübcke come about? What triggered the hatred that led to his senseless death? The dense and atmospheric production by director Raymond Ley ("My Daughter Anne Frank," "Death of a Cadet") provides a frightening insight into the world of thought of right-wing extremist perpetrators and also processes the social mood that over the years nourished the soil for ever more extreme acts.
In addition, people from Walter Lübcke's innermost circle have their say in the film: friends from his home village, political companions such as the Hessian Minister of Justice Eva Kühne-Hörmann or also the Kassel pastor Arno Wilke, who was the last person to see Lübcke and was still sitting with him on the terrace on the evening of June 01, 2019, where the district president was later to be shot.
In the montage of play scenes, documentary material and very personal interviews, an impressive mosaic has thus emerged, which shows what this political murder means for Wolfhagen-Istha, but also for Germany. A completely new look at the events of June 2019 - and at what followed. An ARD co-production of HR, NDR, SWR and RBB with the film production company AVE Publishing in Berlin, supported by HessenFilm.
