Höllental

Young police officers are supposed to enforce the law and suppress their personal opinions. After their training, protected by bullet proof vests, shields and a gun, they are sent out on the streets. This documentary accompanies students at a German police academy over the course of their first year. A remote location in Saxony-Anhalt. Real-life simulations and practice at the shooting range are the preparation for the second phase of their training - going out on the streets and facing the real world. It's their first year at the academy and on the beat, and these young men and women are often confronted with realities that take them to their limits. This documantary takes an uncensored look at the German police for the very first time.

The guided tours in the Reichstag building are well attended; there’s lots of laughter at the simulated vote on a bill. At the Bundestag’s “Infomobile” in Dresden, a citizen complains that the government is out of touch with the people. SPD parliamentarians attend a workshop to practise strategies for dealing with right-wing populist topics. A crowd chants: close the borders! Journalists from the taz and Bild-Zeitung newspapers discuss the issues of the day. An editorial team from TV station MDR produces a report entitled “Attack on Democracy – the New Right.”

Altmark is located in the northern part of the German region of Saxony-Anhalt. This area of the country is sparsely populated and rural, and is mostly defined by agriculture and a rather frugal architecture reminiscent of that of the Hanseatic cities. It's here that an extensive military site was built in the 1930s. It is used as a training area for the German army and also includes a garrison town, in which parts of the military corps reside. The site covers a surface area of 323 square kilometres. It is the third-biggest military area in Germany and the most modern in Europe.