“Look into the Kastl”: Gripping documentary thriller about the EG Bührle art theft

Within 95 seconds on February 10, 2008, three perpetrators stole four paintings from the EG Bührle collection in Zurich, including a Monet, Degas and van Gogh as well as Paul Cézanne’s “The Boy with the Red Vest”, estimated value: a good 100 million euros. Two works were discovered in the getaway car a short time later. The clues lead to a Serbian gang, the “Pink Panthers”. A middleman can trigger a work. Whereupon the police send an undercover investigator to the fence. The scenic documentary “It happened on …” (yesterday, 3sat) chronicles one of the largest art thefts in Europe. She cleverly combines an emotionally gripping story with insights into undercover investigations.

There are still some open questions mixed into the homage to the strong-nerved police: Does the end justify the means? And what about an investigator who uses them? “Was it worth it?” the daughter will ask her father at the end (in the film). As is often the case in life, there are several answers. Even if everything went well.