Thriller: News from Fitzek: Thriller “The Way Home” on Prime Video

Danger often lurks on the way home: When women walk home in the dark, waiting for a taxi or bus, they are repeatedly followed, threatened or sexually harassed by men. The home phone, which was set up in 2011 specifically for these situations, has since then accompanied female callers safely home every evening.

The very need for such volunteer work is depressing. For the psychological thriller “The Way Home,” which starts on Amazon Prime Video on January 16th, the telephone service serves as the starting signal for a dark trip through the Berlin night.

It’s St. Nicholas Eve: Jules Tannberg (Sabin Tambrea) sits at the desk with a headset and, as a volunteer on the escort telephone, accompanies women safely home. On television he sees a program about the so-called calendar killer, hosted by thriller author Sebastian Fitzek, whose novel serves as the basis for the film.

Then the former firefighter receives a disturbing call: a young woman who identifies herself as Klara Vernet (Luise Heyer) claims that she will die that evening. “I’m going to be killed tonight. He announced it.”

The real horror awaits on the way home

The calendar killer took her to a cellar and put the date December 6th on the wall. written. On that day either she or her husband Martin (Friedrich Mücke) will die.

In flashbacks, the audience learns who is spreading the real horror: Klara’s husband, a state secretary, regularly beats his wife and offers her to strange men to be whipped.

For a long time in the 90-minute thriller, the calendar killer is more of an abstract threat; the greatest horror comes from domestic violence, which the perpetrator repeatedly tries to justify: “Why didn’t you leave long ago? You allowed everything to happen, Klara . Every punch, every kick.” Jules also can’t understand why the mother of a little daughter hasn’t separated yet.

Accusations that affected women hear again and again. “It’s not easy at all to separate. Especially if you have children. Then, in addition to economic dependency, there is also emotional dependency. And women are often not even believed, even in the closest family circle,” says thriller author Fitzek zum Unfortunately, the very real problem of domestic violence.

That’s why the topic is so important to Fitzek

The Berlin writer says that the topic only came to mind when he was writing the novel. “The topic is close to my heart because I know people in my immediate surroundings who have become victims of domestic violence, had to break away from toxic relationships and are still receiving psychological treatment today.”

The entertaining thriller, which largely takes place in just one night and comes with a completely unexpected plot twist, is particularly impressive thanks to the extremely realistic dialogues on the subject of domestic violence and a strong trio of main actors.

“In Germany, one in four women experiences physical or sexual violence in a relationship at least once in their life,” is what it says at the end of the film and also on the homepage of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs. Many women are obviously not only afraid of the way home, but above all of the end of the way home – their own four walls.