ROSE
Masuria, the borderland between East Prussia and Poland. The year 1945.
- You aren't from here? - No. From Poland.
Poland is here now.
At the crossing
to the right
and next over the lake...
...alongside...
Please be gentle to her.
She's lost a daughter recently.
OK?
Thank you.
I'm looking for Rose Kwiatkowska.
I was present at your husband's death.
He wanted me to return this.
How did he die?
You can sleep here tonight.
Is it far to the town?
It depends which way...
Could...
Could you help me?
I have potatoes in the field, which is mined.
But I'm no sapper.
I thought every soldier knows how to.
Exactly. When the military come, they'll clear it of mines.
- What military? - Well...
Polish.
Nobody will live to see it.
Thank you for the food.
Is there a barber there?
There's nothing there whatsoever.
Thank you.
What's going on here? What's this gathering?
Nothing to wait for.
You need to write an application... in Polish.
Next a conversation in Polish too.
Those with a certificate of belonging to the Polish nation,
will be helped as if our own citizens.
Others. Germans, that is, will get a date of displacement.
Is this clear?
What, you dimwits, you don't get it?
We're good people, but not all understand the Polish speech.
We've come to ask you for grain to sow.
Nothing to eat, the cattle's been stolen.
- They've forbidden us to mow grass. - Who?
You know who: The Russian commander...
Stop it!
What? You don't like the Red Army, huh?
Where are your sons? Your fathers?
In the Wehrmacht, the SS !!! You raised your hand
against the homeland and what?! And you want grain yet?!
What're you doing, man!???
You have no fear of God?
Hitler mugs, lousy Luthers!
Eat dirt!
Not a thing of your own here!
Please don't assemble.
Can you do it?
Sure enough. You're my first customer.
I saw Polish flags on farmhouses.
Just squatters.
From Kurpie, Masuria, from God knows where.
Before the war, they'd come for seasonal labor. And now...
They rob whatever the Germans have left.
Don't settle in an inhabited house.
The Masuren who speak Polish will be treated differently...
What would you like to do here?
I don't know yet. Maybe office work?
In line with politics would be best.
Good. Thank you. I'll look around.
What happened?
Nothing. They've come to show off their Polishness.
We thought they were Germans, but they're Polish. A surprise.
- We're hungry. - Everything's ready, Comrade Captain
You've seen what it looks like, and would like to move in, yes?
To take over the farm?
Didn't you want it yourself?
All right. I'll clear it of mines and leave.
All I can pay you with are these potatoes.
OK.
I'll need tools and wire.
Here.
Johann was right.
Only the Germans treated us like people.
Leave it.
You go first.
Thank you.
I'll clear some more field and we'll plant them.
Hello. I've brought potatoes from Rose Kwiatkowska.
Nobody needs presents from that slut.
- Behave yourself. - Whore.
What're you doing?
Russian schmatte!
She didn't get it right.
What did she do before the war?
She was active in the folk library.
She spoke Polish and was considered pro-Polish.
We're bringing harvest...
January saw a great, terrifying exodus of the Masuren.
And then returns in chaos,
without hope
that there was still something to return to.
Only Rose returned.
Then in March,
the Soviet command was stationed
on Rose's farm.
You crazy???!!! We need no more field.
Enough. Oh, my God, I was afraid that...
Come have something to eat!
- I need a couple of things. - So do I.
I have good stuff... green.
Look at what I've bought.
Who did it to you?
They said...
they'd hang me if I don't leave.
How are you?
Fine.
I must go some place.
But I'll be back soon.
Look.
A round of cartridges here.
This is how you reload and shoot.
Repeat.
I need a doctor!
Please help me.
Please help me!
I need a doctor. My wife is dying. I'm Polish. Help me, OK?
More water, clean cloth, table spreads, whatever...
She's aborted... Lost a lot of blood. Must stay in bed.
She needs to be washed, but not by herself in this condition...
Someone must help.
This antibiotic will contract the uterus.
I'll show you how to give her a shot.
I'm no gynecologist, but...
everything must be OK.
You live...
You've come out.
I had to.
You won't hide here.
I'm not.
Sooner or later someone will recognize you.
They won't round up everybody.
If they don't jail you, they'll grind you down like those Masuren.
How's Ann?
She's dead.
Good to see you, thank you.
Drop by my place, citizen, for medicines.
We'll find a specialist and will decide what to do next.
No.
This is a body part like any other.
I won't watch.
Go to the attic and call Jadwiga.
She is my daughter.
Go.
Mother's asking you downstairs.
When the Russians came...
We ran away to the seaside to get on board ships...
Whereas they...
would all the time...
I can't any more.
Speak Polish. Your mother does.
My dad spoke German.
- Praise the Lord. - Hello.
For ever and ever.
We're repatriates from Wilno.
From the first transport...
We've settled behind the wood.
This means... we're neighbors.
That's good. It'll be easier to live.
We have a chicken and eggs.
Welcome inside.
But...
That's Mamulka, our bread winner. We were afraid to leave her home.
Tie her to the tree.
We'll see from the window.
Come.
- A beautiful farm. - Thank you.
May we prosper...
Your health.
They'd say, don't get off. I see they were wrong.
Mines everywhere, but they say you've cleared a field of them.
I have.
But why isn't that boundary strip not cleared?
Just in case.
Your health.
Everything's gonna be fine... We'll help one another.
Julian.
Look, Vladek... Like two turtledoves.
Well... like us once.
Oh, you... stupid you...
Tadek, you don't have enough for yourselves.
- Clear my field of mines. - I will,
but you'll plant nothing before the winter.
You aren't helping me, Vladek.
When she died, we all sewed a dress for her
with a thread without a knot.
- Granny? - Uh-huh.
A superstition, that?
We Masuren believe
that the soul remains by the body till the funeral.
Hence a stool always by the coffin.
So that the soul could sit for a while?
Yeah.
When the body is moved out, we open the windows...
so that it could fly away...
And we leave an axe on the doorstep.
What for?
I don't know.
To kill evil?
Just in case.
Hi.
A fine one?
Yes.
The Bible... the word of God...
knows no division into nations, races, or origins.
We live in fear and mute protest
that the punishment we incur is cruel beyond measure.
It's not for us to judge that.
Don't forget
that you're Masuren
rooted in this ground.
Without you this earth will be nameless.
Centuries ago, your forefathers
came here from the neighboring lands,
also, and in the first place, from Poland.
You have a chance to stay here,
although it's hard.
I'm speaking German to you for the last time.
From now on, services will be conducted in Polish.
This is a condition for me to be your pastor...
I think we must wait
till law and order begin to function.
This is our homeland, our soil, our faith.
Gretchen and I want to stay.
We'll sign their forms.
We're bringing harvest, for the lady of the house.
A rich crop has been yielded. Now we ask for a glass of beer.
- Beer? - Beer.
Someone's coming along.
I have an official letter to Mrs. Rose Kwiatkowska.
- Is this you? - Yes.
Good bye.
You'll be German to them. They'll displace you.
So they will.
So do it for Jadwiga. It's her land too.
But I am! Got that? Would you sign it?!
Take over this land. I trust you.
Leave it and go to sleep.
If she doesn't sign, she'll be deported to Germany.
The land will go to displaced persons.
I see. But I'm living there. I've cleared a whole field of mines.
So you are that sapper.
You fancied the woman, yes?
So marry her. Every other man does it.
- Only lone women in Masuria. - You may be right...
Could you advice something?
Where do you have the dollars from?
For the building fund or the orphans. You decide.
Maybe something could be done...
A sapper and with a growing potential...
Thank you.
Good bye.
- What would you like? - Beer.
Ha!
Remember me?
The fall of 1943 near Połaniec.
Our People's Guard met you the Home Army.
Yes, I remember. You were the security of the staff.
What're you doing here? Where from?
I solidify the people's power... in the Security Service.
I'm looking for young, clever, and true patriots.
I'm through with soldiering.
- You clear fields of mines? - A peaceful job.
You have a woman. A German.
No, Masuren. She speaks Polish.
Don't believe the nonsense. Everyone's German here.
How did they vote in the plebiscite, huh?
And the elections of '32 and '33?
Hitler had the biggest support from here.
Yes?! We hear that we're returning to our land,
because there're Poles here. And you claim they're German.
Maybe once when they spoke a Polish dialect. And now?
That Polish identity?
Nonsense! But a necessary argument to grant Poland these lands.
Maybe it's worthwhile
- to persuade them? - But what for?
It'd give rise to a huge German minority...
The point is for the nation to be homogenous.
What did der Führer say in '32?
I don't believe there's ein Land in Germany as loyal as the Masuren Land.
Bringing your family here?
Only an uncle is left,
but in Siberia, not of his own will.
How everything's been fucked up! Fuck it all!
I'm sitting with a class enemy, but drinking brotherhood in arms!
Were I one, I'd blew up trains, rather than clear fields of mines.
You know him? A Russian bandit, he.
Vasil! Leave him alone!
Bandit or not, he doesn't attack his own kind.
Take care.
I've sold eggs and milk and bought a skirt.
We can drink.
A half pint, darling.
That s.o .b . Stalin and the other one from America!
Louder and you'll return to the east, but farther on.
You've left the patrimony and come back to the motherland.
- Was this Poland? - Maybe not, but it is now...
Vladek...
Oh, Mother of God...
Who are you?
We're Polish, displaced from Russia.
I live over here. Get it?
You live over there? Then you're German.
No, I'm Polish. I live over there. Get it?
You live here, so you German.
My cow... My Mamulka!
Hey, leave him. Don't shoot. Quiet...
Stalin, you understand? Stalin, understand?
He ordered us to live here. Understand?
Look. You Russian, me Russian, he Russian.
The cow's Russian, too. Drink.
- Those Russkies steal everything. - Shut up.
Your health.
Good?
- Good? - Good.
Good.
You Russian, me Russian, the cow's Russian.
He German.
What German?
Hey! Leave it.
Mother!
We must find his leg.
We'll ask Masuren for help.
Masuren?... You mean Germans!
Tadek, why run risks?! Everyone says they'll deport Rose.
Tadek, I can't.
I have kids. I can't! See?!
Half a year ago.
We'll check lymph nodes.
Raise your hand. A little.
The other hand.
We'll listen to your lungs. OK?
Does it hurt here?
Fragments of fetus left inside.
Seems like carcinoma.
No, I can't.
Come. Get up.
The Vladeks are burning!
The Vladeks are burning.
You'll sleep here.
Julian.
What about Rose, Tadek?
No decision yet.
The Security Service have taken your documents...
They sometimes do it.
Of course, I bear that in mind... But...
we have a report now.
Comrades from the Province have arrived.
I'm sorry.
The other's not here yet. Maybe in a week's time.
I need more morphine.
Do I know this bicycle, or am I imagining...
- How is she? - Not good.
- Where did you get it? - From the UNRRA. Hide it.
They're trying to uncover me. The Security Service has my documents.
You must escape.
- I can't. - Tadek, she'll die.
And they'll deport the daughter to Germany.
You must think about yourself.
Someone shot from a sniper's rifle.
I don't know anything. The neighbors' house burned down.
We haven't done anything to her.
Get out of here!
Get out!
Hush, hush...
They never felt Polish.
Eighty years ago,
they didn't feel German either.
But we Germans destroyed their identity,
their ethnic autonomy.
And now the Poles
will finish the job.
Father,
should something happen to me...
I'll take care of your family.
This is a revolution and as such requires to act decisively.
Nothing depends on your woman.
Frau Kwiatkowski and her daughter have been negatively verified.
They'll be deported to Germany. Look...
the place and date where they have to report.
- Unless... - What?
You don't want to fight, I understand. But that's another matter.
I proposed you to the HQ.
- You did what? - Just sign it.
This farm, she, her daughter.
You're a scumbag!
Have it your way.
Bitch...
bitch.
Your smile and the look in your eyes... more valuable than gold...
than honor.
She's mine! She's mine!
Julian.
We're leaving.
Amalka has an aunt near Skierniewice.
No way to live here.
You wanted to rebuild the house.
They have spoiled my Amalka.
It's shame forever...
Nobody has spoiled her.
But for your fucking brawling, they wouldn't have raped her.
My wife was raped and killed, almost simultaneously.
Am I to be happy she is dead?
Rose has been raped so many times that she's dying now!
You hold a grudge against me? This is really shameful!
The pastor will take care of everything.
Do you agree?
Jadwiga...
And you?
Jadwiga...
Please...
"...so when love grows to reach the desire
of unfinished endurance, or when friendship
becomes so strong that it begins to fear its end,
then you look back into the childhood of the one you love.
The present seems insufficient and short. So when you know...
So when you know that the future is not to be,
you try to win...
So when you know that the future is not to be,
you try to win the past, which...
and I to want to declare my first joys..."
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not unto temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thy is the Kingdom
the Power and the Glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Spiritus sancti Deus
per omnia secula seculorum
Amen.
In the name of the Holy Trinity,
take this ring, a sign of marital faith.
May it be an advance of heavenly blessing
and help to attain eternal salvation.
Remember what Mother used to say:
The pastor will help you.
Don't wait for me.
Plan your life and be happy.
Stay.
Illegal possession of weapons, dollars...
You wanted to ask the Masuren for help?! To set up a self-defense committee?
And Vasil?
We have a witness who claims you've shot him.
Not true. But I hope he's biting the dust.
Tadek! He worked for the NKVD.
He intimidated the Masuren with your permission.
Years later, they'll thank us for it. Get it?
And Poland will be here! With or without you!
Such a Poland? Then without me, comrade.
What were you doing in August, 1944?
Did you come out?
No. I fought my way through to Warsaw, to the Rising.
Where did you get the dollars?
- Where did you get the dollars? - I found them.
Father's name?
What were you doing...
Fought my way to Warsaw.
The farm.
Where did you get the dollars?
I found them.
Father's name?
It paid to marry, huh?
What were you doing in August...
Where did you...
... and the Son and the Holy Spirit...
Amen.
You don't fit in with this world.
The year 1956.
What's this train?
The Germans are returning to the "Reich".
They've left their farms and hightail.
She is not here.
She's waiting for you.
Come!
Careful!
Julian.
Subrip & Sync: easytobeaman
Subtitles by Jerzy Siemasz