Shooting Of The Pontiff

Credits

Length: 1 x 52
Format: 16:9, HD
Language: Deutsch
Directed by: Werner Köhne, Moritz Enders
DoP: Stefano Pancaldi
Producer: Michael Trabitzsch
Co-producer: SD cinematografica
TV co-producer: ZDF/ARTE
Year: 2015


Rome. 13th May 1981, 5 pm. Pope John Paul II floats across St Peter’s Square in an open popemobile, through a thronging mass of people. Thousands cheer the representative of God on earth.
Suddenly shots ring out over the square. The pope sinks down into his seat. His private secretary, his personal adjutant, his bodyguards know immediately what has happened: an assassination attempt! An attack on Christ’s representative on earth.

For a moment there is deathly silence. Then there is turmoil. The incensed crowd wants to beat the would-be assassin to death. The police manage to prevent this. The assassin is led away. His name: Mehmet Ali Agca. He is to gain sad notoriety.

Mere minutes later an ambulance races to the Gemelli clinic with sirens howling. While four surgeons fight to save the life of the Pope, initial speculations about the deed and motives of the assailant are aired. Who is this Mehmet Ali Agca? A mentally instable perpetrator acting alone? A terrorist? Or was he a mere tool in an international plot?
After the assassination attempt, described as the “crime of the century”, three judicial enquiries and two court trials take place. However the hearings have revealed more questions than answers. To this day, more than a quarter of a century later, there is still no conclusive answer to the question: what was the real reason for the crime?

Mere minutes later an ambulance races to the Gemelli clinic with sirens howling. While four surgeons fight to save the life of the Pope, initial speculations about the deed and motives of the assailant are aired. Who is this Mehmet Ali Agca? A mentally instable perpetrator acting alone? A terrorist? Or was he a mere tool in an international plot?
After the assassination attempt, described as the “crime of the century”, three judicial enquiries and two court trials take place. However the hearings have revealed more questions than answers. To this day, more than a quarter of a century later, there is still no conclusive answer to the question: what was the real reason for the crime?

While four surgeons fight to save the life of the Pope, initial speculations about the deed and motives of the assailant are aired. Who is this Mehmet Ali Agca? A mentally instable perpetrator acting alone? A terrorist? Or was he a mere tool in an international plot?
After the assassination attempt, described as the “crime of the century”, three judicial enquiries and two court trials take place. However the hearings have revealed more questions than answers. To this day, more than a quarter of a century later, there is still no conclusive answer to the question: what was the real reason for the crime?





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