Special Police Assignment 1987

Directed by Joachim Kreck

A film about soccer without a ball and without players ... The film gives a description of the preventive measures taken by the police to cope with a huge crowd attending a popular spectacle. It deliberately and almost completely dispenses with verbal statements, allowing atmosphere and original sound to speak for themselves. The clip-clop of (police) horses' hooves, the sound of the engines of police vehicles, of helicopters and water cannons, of walkie-talkies as well as video camera surveillance and the distribution of truncheons on the one hand, and the heaving crowd of fans, their pleasure, their disappointment, their shouts of support. The chronological record of a - peaceful - day of soccer does not apportion blame, without comment and stimulates discussion weather the "special police assignment" is really necessary. —JK