[woman] You didn't wake me.
You were sleeping.
You can't bear to have breakfast with me.
I've boiled you an egg. See? I'd hardly have boiled you an egg
if I didn't want to see you. Um, tea or coffee?
Does any woman ever stay long enough
to find out what the hell goes on in your head?
What are you doing tonight?
I'm seeing my daughter.
Your daughter? You've kept very quiet about her.
Have I?
Well, she's been abroad for a year.
Did you say tea?
I'm going.
Have fun with your daughter.
[door shuts]
[train approaching]
[brakes squealing]
[woman speaks German]
[woman] Tickets, please.
Tickets. Excuse me.
Tickets.
Tickets, please.
[panting]
[gagging]
[thunder rumbles]
[vomiting]
[woman] Oh!
Hey. Hey, you!
[faucet turning on]
Your feet. Your feet.
[boy sobbing]
Hey, kid.
Up.
It's all right.
There. Where do you live?
It's just up here. I'll be fine now. Thank you.
Goodbye.
Look after yourself.
I'm worried about him. He looks terrible.
The boy's saying he doesn't need a doctor.
- He does. - I don't need a doctor.
- Good, then. - Peter.
We're not going to argue about this.
Remind me. How old are you, now?
[mother] Michael's 15.
- [doctor] It's scarlet fever. - [sighs]
[doctor] He'll be in bed for several months, at least.
Complete isolation.
Emily, keep away. He's contagious.
Emily!
[mother] How are you feeling?
Better.
I meant to tell you...
...the day I got ill, a woman helped me.
She helped you?
Yes. She brought me home.
Do you have her address?
- [banging] - [indistinct chatter]
[men shouting in German]
[woman singing in German on record]
- [Michael] Hello? - [woman] Yes?
[music continues]
I brought you these flowers to say thank you.
Put them over there in the sink.
I would have come earlier, I've been in bed three months.
- You are better now? - Yes. Thank you.
- Have you always been weak? - Oh, no. I've never been sick before.
It's incredibly boring. There's nothing to do.
I couldn't even be bothered to read.
Well, thank you again.
Wait.
I'll walk with you. I have to go to work.
Wait in the hall while I change.
[coin clatters on floor]
[men chattering outside]
[women chattering]
[woman shouts in German]
[man grunts]
[Michael gasps]
[footsteps approaching]
There are two more buckets downstairs.
You can fill them and bring them up.
[Michael coughing]
[laughs]
[woman laughing]
You look ridiculous. Look at you, kid.
[laughs]
You can't go home like that.
Take off your clothes. I'll run you a bath.
[water running]
Do you always take a bath in your trousers?
[clears throat]
It's all right. I won't look.
I'll get you a towel.
[moans]
[whispers] So that's why you came back.
[whispers] You're so beautiful.
[whispers] What are you talking about?
Look at me, kid.
Mm! Mm!
Slowly.
Slowly...
Shh.
[silverware clattering]
[blows, slurps]
[clock ticking]
[panting, moaning]
[moaning]
[panting]
You've inconvenienced your mother.
How many more times? I've said I'm sorry.
- You scared her. - I got lost, that's all.
That's why I was late. Can I have some more?
How can anyone get lost in their own hometown?
I meant to head for the castle, I ended up at the field.
- Opposite directions. - None of your business.
- He's lying. - He's not lying.
Michael never lies.
I've decided I want to go back to school tomorrow.
- The doctor says you need three weeks. - Well, I'm going.
[mother] Peter?
[sighs]
[children shouting]
- Hey! - Ooh!
- [grunts] - Like this?
That's right.
[moans]
No, not so fast.
Ah!
It's all right.
Do it again.
Mm...
Oh!
What's your name?
- What? - Your name.
- Why do you want to know? - I've been here three times.
I want to know your name. What's wrong with that?
[laughs] Nothing, kid.
There's nothing wrong with that.
- It's Hanna. - You look so suspicious.
- What's yours, kid? - Michael.
Michael. Hmm.
So I'm with a Michael.
Hanna.
[teacher] The notion of secrecy is central to Western literature.
You may say the whole idea of character
is defined by people
holding specific information,
which, for various reasons,
sometimes perverse, sometimes noble,
they are determined not to disclose.
[laughs]
[Hanna] You never tell me what you've been studying.
Studying?
At school.
- Do you learn languages? - Yes.
- What languages? - Latin.
- Say something in Latin. - [laughing]
[speaking Latin]
It's Horace.
It's wonderful.
Do you want some Greek?
[reading in Greek]
It's beautiful.
How can you tell?
How do you know, when you've no idea what it means?
What are you studying in German?
I'm studying a play.
By a writer called Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. You heard of him?
The play's called Emilia Galotti. You can read it.
I'd rather listen to you.
All right.
"Act One. Scene One.
The setting: one of the prince's chambers.
The Prince..."
I'm not very good.
Go on.
"Complaints, nothing but complaints.
For goodness sake, is there anything left but work?
Just imagine that people actually envy us."
You're good at it, aren't you?
Good at what?
Reading.
What's funny?
I didn't think I was good at anything.
[boys shouting]
[whistling, clapping]
Whoo!
[bell clangs]
[footsteps approaching]
What are you doing? What is this?
Why did you behave as if you didn't know me?
You didn't want to know me! You could see I was in the first carriage!
- So why did you sit in the second? - What did you think I was doing?
- Why did you think I was there? - How should I know?
Now, I've been working. I need a bath.
And I'd like to be by myself.
Would you please leave?!
I... I didn't mean to upset you.
You don't have the power to upset me.
You don't matter enough to upset me.
[gas heater turns on, water runs]
[sniffling]
I don't know what to say.
I've never been with a woman before.
We've been together four weeks,
and I can't live without you.
I can't.
Even the thought of it kills me.
I sat in the second carriage because I thought you might kiss me.
Kid, you thought we could make love in a tram?
Is it true what you said?
That I don't matter to you?
Do you forgive me?
Do you love me?
- Do you have a book? - Yes, I have.
I took one with me this morning.
- What is it? - The Odyssey, by Homer.
It's my homework.
We're changing the order we do things.
Read to me first, kid. Then we make love.
- [Michael] The Odyssey, by Homer. - What's an odyssey?
A journey. He sets out on a journey.
[Hanna] Good.
"Sing to me of the man, Muse The man of twists and turns
Driven time and again off course Once he had plundered
- The hallowed heights of Troy" - Come here.
[Michael] "He pressed her hand to his lips.
She was dead.
- Past all help, or need of it." - [sobbing]
[panting]
[Michael] "I poked into the place a ways, encountered a little open patch
as big as a bedroom, all hung around with vines,
and found a man lying there asleep.
And, by jings, it was my old Jim.
'When you landed, I reckoned I could catch up with you
on the land without having to shout at you. But when I see that house,
I begin to go slow."' [laughs]
"Lady Chatterley felt his naked flesh against her
as he came into her.
For a moment, he was still inside her..."
This is disgusting.
Where did you get this?
- I borrowed it from someone at school. - Oh...
You should be ashamed.
Go on.
[blows raspberry]
"'Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles in a thundering typhoon!
It is water! ' 'But what on earth did you expect it to be?"'
- Whiskey. - "'Whiskey, by thunder, whiskey! '
'Whiskey? Come now, captain, you can't be serious."'
That's enough for today, kid.
I was wondering, do you think you could get some time off?
Maybe we could go on a trip.
- What sort of trip? - A cycling holiday.
Just two days.
I've got a guide book. I've worked out the route.
Look. What do you think?
I think you like planning, don't you?
[sighing]
[Michael] "I'm not frightened.
I'm not frightened of anything.
The more I suffer, the more I love.
Danger will only increase my love.
It will sharpen it. It will give it spice.
I'll be the only angel you need.
You will leave life even more beautiful than you entered it.
Heaven will take you back and look at you and say,
'Only one thing can make a soul complete, and that thing is love."'
[laughing]
- Hello. - Hello.
[boys laughing]
- [woman] Excuse me. - Hello.
Do you know what you'd like?
- Um... - What are you having?
- You order. I'll have what you have. - OK.
Um...
Two frankfurters, two potato salads and two beers, please.
[boys laughing]
[sighs]
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- I hope your mother was happy. - Thank you.
She enjoyed her meal very much.
Come on.
[laughing, shouting]
Here, let me show you where we're going.
It's OK, kid.
I don't want to know.
[choir singing]
[choir continues singing]
[choir stops singing]
- What are you doing? - I'm writing a poem. About you.
- Can I hear it? - It's not ready.
I'll read it to you one day.
[bicycle bells ringing]
[choral music plays in car]
[music continues]
[shuts off music]
- Morning, Hendrick. - Good morning, Mr. Berg.
- You're in court 306. - Thank you.
- You all right, Michael? - I'm fine.
- Hurry. You know what she's like. - [Michael] See you later!
Good luck.
[man] Please stand.
Please sit down.
[woman] The defendant, please.
- [indistinct chatter] - [whistling]
They're coming.
- Hello. - Hello.
- What did she say? - [teacher] Good morning, ladies.
Welcome your new fellow-students. Treat them with courtesy.
- Sit down. - Hello.
- My name's Sophie. - I'm Michael.
[teacher] The Odyssey.
Take our your books.
Everyone believes Homer's subject is homecoming.
In fact, The Odyssey is a book about a journey.
Home is a place you dream of.
Berg, I don't mean to distract you, but we're meant to study Homer, not Sophie.
- [laughter] - [shouting]
- It's wonderful, isn't it? - Wonderful.
It's gonna be a great summer.
- Why do you leave early? - He always leaves early.
- Do you have somewhere to go? - See you tomorrow.
[Michael] Sorry I'm late.
I got held up at school.
I have a new book.
The Lady with a Little Dog.
By Anton Chekhov.
"The talk was that a new face had appeared on the promenade,
a lady with a little dog."
[man] Schmitz, one moment, please.
I read the reports on you. Every single one. Excellent work.
You'll be working in the office.
You got promoted. Congratulations.
- [boy] Yee-haw! - Ah! [laughs]
[boy] Let's get out of here!
Come on! Michael, we're leaving. Let's go!
Come on, Michael!
It's meant to be a surprise for your birthday.
- [boy] Come on! - [boy 2] What's the matter?
- I'm sorry. Really. - [Sophie] We thought you'd like it.
[boy] We've got beer! We're gonna dance!
I promised someone.
[girl] Michael, please!
[Michael] "Here and there the reflection of the stars and the lights,
on the bank quivered and trembled."
- [Hanna] Oh, kid, kid. - What?
- Stop. - What's wrong now?
Nothing's wrong.
It's nothing.
You know, you never ask.
You never bother to ask how I am!
[Hanna] You never say.
It just happens to be my birthday.
It's my birthday, that's all!
You've never even asked when it is.
- If you want a fight, kid... - I don't want a fight!
- What's wrong with you?! - What business is it of yours?!
It's always on your terms. Everything.
We do what you want. It's always what you want.
- My friends were giving me a party. - Why are you here?
Go back to your party. Is that what you want?
Mm! Mm!
It's always me that has to apologize.
You don't have to apologize. No one has to apologize.
War and Peace, kid.
[panting]
Now, you must go back to your friends.
[chanting]
Are you all right?
[indistinct chatter]
It's him.
Good.
Get the boy something to eat.
[father] I think we all knew you'd come back to us eventually.
Mr. Berg? It is 8:00.
Your daughter.
Thank you.
[indistinct chatter]
Julia.
[laughing]
- I've not kept you waiting? - I was early.
Welcome back. [laughs]
So how will you decide?
I don't know.
I'm happy back in Berlin, I suppose.
- You've seen your mother? - Mm-hmm.
I wanted to get away. That's all.
It was Paris, but it could have been anywhere.
Away from your parents?
I'm aware I was difficult.
I wasn't always open with you.
I'm not open with anyone.
I knew you were distant.
You know... I always assumed it was my fault.
Julia.
How wrong can you be?
[sobbing]
- [Julia] I'll see you very soon. - [Michael] See you soon.
- [Julia] Good night, Dad. - [Michael] Good night.
[woman] Those of you for the special seminar group,
please stay on in this room.
Professor Rohl will be here in a moment.
Well, we seem to be quite a small group.
A small group and a select one.
Clearly, this is going to be a unique seminar.
We are going to start with a reading list, gentlemen.
Karl Jaspers...
- And ladies. - ... The Question of German Guilt.
[# Creation: Making Time]
[girl] So this is where you are.
Yes.
Come in.
- You take work seriously. - I don't know.
You're rather a serious boy.
It's how I was brought up.
What about you? Are you serious?
You're sure you want to work tonight?
Yeah.
But I won't work every night.
See you tomorrow.
- Yes. Exactly - That's right.
You need a hand.
[crowd shouting]
[siren wailing]
[crowd chanting]
- Why all the police? - They're worried about demonstrators.
- For or against? - Both.
[girl] Wow. It's a circus.
[man] All rise.
All photographers are now asked to leave.
This court is now in session. Please sit down.
[judge] First thing I'm going to do is hear motions
from each of the defendants' lawyers.
They're arguing that there's no reason to keep the defendants in jail
until the outcome of the forthcoming trial.
- I'll take these cases one by one. - Want a pen?
- I got a pen. - [judge] Hanna Schmitz.
- Your name is Hanna Schmitz? - [Hanna] Yes.
[judge] Can you speak louder please?
- [Hanna] My name is Hanna Schmitz. - [judge] Thank you.
- You were born on October 21 st, 1922? - [Hanna] Yes.
[judge] At Hermannstadt.
- And you're now 43 years old? - [Hanna] Yes.
- [judge] You joined the SS in 1943? - Yes.
[judge] What was your reason for joining?
You were working at the Siemens factory at the time?
Yes.
[judge] You'd recently been offered a promotion.
Why did you prefer to join the SS?
- Objection. - [judge] I'll re-phrase my question.
I'm trying to ascertain
if she joined the SS freely, hmm?
Of her own free will.
- I heard there were jobs. - [judge] Go on.
[Hanna] I was working at Siemens
when I heard the SS was recruiting.
[judge] Did you know the kind of work you'd be expected to do?
They were looking for guards.
- I applied for a job. - [judge] You worked first at Auschwitz?
- [Hanna] Yes. - [judge] Until 1944.
Then you were moved to a smaller camp near Kraków?
- [Hanna] Yes. - Are you OK?
- [judge] You helped move prisoners... - I'm fine.
...west in the winter of 1944 in the so-called death marches?
- So, what did you think? - I don't know.
It wasn't quite what I was expecting.
Wasn't it? In what way? What were you expecting?
I thought it was exciting.
[Rohl] Exciting? Why?
Why did you think it was exciting?
Because it's justice.
- [shouting] - [glass breaking]
[inaudible]
Societies think they operate by something called morality,
but they don't.
They operate by something called law.
You're not guilty of anything merely by working at Auschwitz.
Eight thousand people worked at Auschwitz.
Precisely 19 have been convicted, and only six for murder.
To prove murder, you have to prove intent.
That's the law.
The question is never was it wrong,
but was it legal.
And not by our laws, no.
- By the laws at the time. - But isn't that...
- [Rohl] What? ...narrow?
Oh, yes. The law is narrow.
On the other hand,
I suspect people who kill other people
tend to be aware that it's wrong.
[judge] Miss Schmitz, you're familiar with this book?
- Yes. - Parts of it
have already been read out in court.
It's by a survivor,
a prisoner who survived.
Ilana Mather.
She was in the camp when she was a child, wasn't she?