Free to Run

The tragedy of the Order of the Solar Temple has been - and remains to this day - a highly complex criminal and judicial puzzle which, according to some, is still unsolved. Using archive footage and never-before-seen eyewitness accounts, this series dissects the drift of a communal utopia towards annihilation by bullets and fire.

October 8, 2005. Togo, one of Africa's poorest countries, qualifies for the World Cup for the first time in its history. The achievement is not only historic; it also hastens the end of the bloody civil war that has been ravaging the country for several months. On the eve of the World Cup opening in Germany, hopes are high in Lomé, the capital of Togo, that the national team will restore pride and prosperity to an entire people. However, disillusionment quickly sets in. The team had not even entered the competition when it was already beset by endless internal problems. What if soccer, in the end, was nothing more than a reflection of the deep-seated problems that have been plaguing Africa for years?

It is the story of two young Swiss people who couldn't be more different and who meet in ski races around the world. From 1972 to 1975, from Sapporo to Kitzbühel to Wengen, Bernhard Russi and Roland Collombin fought a relentless battle for the title of the world's best ski racer.