They called him the most peculiar character in Germany’s legal history. He was certainly the heaviest- at several hundreds of pounds, Donald “Big Mack” Stellwag was at the center of so many shenanigans that he even served prison time for a crime he didn’t commit.
The True Crime feature length documentary Big Mack: Gangsters and Gold is a 90 minute journey back in time to the early 90s, when a re-unified Germany was still in its infancy.
Stellwag tells much of his own story from a reclining position- presumably he is so big he cannot rise from his own bed. Unsurprisingly, he was bullied as a younger person and grew up to be a drug addict.
In the early nineties, he’s linked to a bank robbery by the German TV program Aktenzeichen XY. They describe the perpetrator as “very tall and noticeably obese.” Just like Stellwag. A controversial expert witness convinces the judges of Stellwag’s guilt based on an analysis of his earlobe, which they claim is distinctive.
Despite his alibi, he is convicted and spends nine years in prison. Less than two weeks after his release, he finds out that the real perpetrator has been caught. Stellwag is exonerated—and becomes an absolute media sensation. The consistency and veracity of his tales of life behind bars are inconsistent, and we are ambiguous as to the details.
However, when a gold transporter is hijacked near the A81 highway and 1.8 million euros worth of gold is stolen, everything changes. The ringleader of the heist, notorious gangster rapper Xatar, gives a revealing testimony in court. The gold thieves and their victims have one thing in common: They all know Donald Stellwag. Has he now committed the crime for which he’s already served time in prison?
To the extent that the doc gets interesting, it’s in this final third where things get a little interesting, if slightly confusing. Most of the storytelling is not as interesting as the actual story is. In other words, a better edited piece, written with more suspense (yes, docs are written, even though they are actual.)
True Crime lover that I am, I’d recommend moving this behind much better docs already in your queue.
You can watch in German with English subtitles, or dubbed in English, now on Netflix