"The Barschel Case" is a three-hour German political thriller that premiered at the Munich Film Festival in 2015 and was broadcast on ARD in 2016. Using the fictional character of a journalist, it deals with the real-life theories surrounding the death of Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein Uwe Barschel. The film won several awards, including best TV film at the Munich Film Festival. 

The film begins with a warning: "This film is not a documentary, but a feature film," it says at the beginning of Kilian Riedhof's "Der Fall Barschel". The second warning comes on the same text panel: "The answers in this feature film are based on plausible theses and circumstantial evidence, not on proof." So let us be warned. Afterwards, 3sat shows the 30 documentary extra minutes under the title "Barschel - Das Rätsel" (Barschell - A mystery) by Stephan Lamby and Patrik Baab. (Source: dokumentarfilm.info)

Plot: After surviving a plane crash with serious injuries, Uwe Barschel surprisingly loses ground in the Schleswig-Holstein election campaign. Shortly before the ballot, he comes under additional pressure: According to a news magazine, he allegedly spied on his popular rival Björn Engholm and started a smear campaign against him with the support of the shady media consultant Reiner Pfeiffer.

Publicly, Barschel denies everything with his word of honor, but the up-and-coming reporters David Burger and Olaf Nissen uncover a lie. As a result, the prime minister is forced to resign, and the newspaper celebrates wildly. When Barschel is found dead in the bathtub of a Geneva hotel shortly afterwards, the affair takes on a new dimension: Although the investigators assume a suicide, his family speaks of murder.

Obsessively, Burger follows each new lead for years, making the case seem ever more monstrous: illegal arms deals via the GDR, links to the submarine deal with South Africa, and even a possible connection to the Iran-Contra affair.

Increasingly, all reference to his former life as well as friends and family is lost. Instead, Burger, who begins an affair with the photographer Giselle, dives deeper and deeper into a world of shady informants. (Source: Wikipedia)