- Hey Staschko! - Huh?
Come here!
Krabat ...
I didn't betray Tonda.
You have to believe me.
I have a job for you.
In the new year at the beginning of each month,
you will hide two sacks of flour for the farmers of Schwarzkolm.
Do you remember the fallen tree in the moor?
Under the root is a small hollow which protects the flour against rain.
What are you talking about?
Do you want to leave?
I'll always remain your friend.
So, just as nature seemed to prepare for winter,
the trees lost their leaves and the days became shorter,
so it also seemed that a strange law of nature afflicted the Master.
His hair was gray and straggly, his movements weary,
and his patience shorter with each day that passed at the mill.
On the last day of the year the Master left the mill, old and haggard,
and to Krabat it was incomprehensible that nobody dared to question this,
no one seemed to be surprised.
The silence in Koselbruch was eerie.
The mill stood still.
And in the eyes of the boys it seemed as if they knew,
that something bad would happen.
Get that junk out of here.
- Tonight is New Year's Eve. - Away with it!
Or is a scar not enough for you?
Andrusch!
Back off!
Krabat should get that junk out of here. We don't want it.
Throw it away.
You'll bring them no joy with it.
The animals are provided for and all the doors are locked.
It's all done.
Let's go to bed.
Don't worry about me.
Try to go with the flow of things.
You didn't talk like that before.
Quite possibly ...
... but many things are changing.
Krabat ...
There is somebody you can trust.
Don't rely so much on your mind. Listen to your heart.
You'll find him.
Come well over into the new year.
Tonda's not here.
Tonda!
Lie back down!
There's nothing we can do.
- His neck's broken. - A wrong step maybe ...
In the dark.
Why was the grave already dug?
Did you know that someone would die?
Sit here, Staschko.
What's going on here?
Tonda was just buried a few hours ago
and you drink and laugh as if nothing had happened.
We have a new senior artisan.
The wait is over.
The Master has chosen Hanzo.
Hanzo has what it takes.
- Well-being. - Well-being.
Leave him.
Where were you when Tonda died, Master?
I was very fond of Tonda.
But death is our master and we all must submit.
You are young, Krabat, but one day you will understand that.
With wings hasten away.
Search for him who shall replace the deceased.
The wheel of the mill will only turn to the twelfth hour again,
when twelve serve me,
and the name of the deceased is finally forgotten.
The mill, now it grinds again.
Don't be afraid, we're the artisans.
I'm Hanzo. That's Lyschko, Andrusch,
Staschko, Kito, Petar ...
Krabat?
Lobosch?
Krabat!
You look different.
I can't sleep.
How do you know him?
We went begging together.
He was like my little brother.
Until I met up with you.
He's wearing Tonda's clothes.
I know.
After the death of a boy, a new one always follows.
The eternal cycle of the mill.
One of us is sacrificed to the Gevatter.
The Master returns rejuvenated, and the new boy replaces the old.
So it will go for me.
Sooner or later for you, too.
There's no way out.
We're all doomed.
We can never leave here.
Krabat, turn around.
Follow the voice of the Master.
Krabat, listen to me.
Turn around, Krabat, turn around.
As Krabat finally put the narrowness of Koselbruch behind him,
and before him only the breath of freedom loomed,
it didn't strike him at all that the grain stood already in ears,
and overnight it had become summer.
Was it all just deceit?
You were right.
The Master has done it with all of us.
He blinds us with his magic.
That's his greatest spell.
We must put an end to the Master.
All my chores are done. You can be proud of me.
I'm proud of you, Lobosch.
Krabat?
I thought I'd never see you again.
- Do we have you to thank for the flour? - Wait.
You know my name?
One of the boys called you that,
when you saved us from the riders.
That was Tonda.
How is he?
He's dead.
He had to die, because ...
... because he had a girl.
Hey!
Don't you want to know my name?
Better not.
I don't want to endanger you.
Go to where one died violently.
Spend Easter Vigil there and return in the morning light,
as the custom requires.
Go to where one died violently.
Spend Easter Vigil there and return in the morning light,
as the custom requires.
Go to where one died violently.
Spend Easter Vigil there ...
Thanks for not betraying me.
Hmmm?
Stop pretending.
Every month two sacks of flour are missing in the chamber.
- You must have noticed. - Yes, I have.
Haven't you ever asked yourself what I do with it?
No.
You trust nobody.
Maybe you're right.
Since Tonda's death I know that you're all too afraid to be honest.
Everyone thinks only of his own life.
As do you.
That's why it was so quiet,
and no Easter bells and no singing were heard.
The only noise that Krabat heard
was the beating of his fear-filled heart,
worried only about one thing:
His girl.
Kantorka.
I'm so glad that nothing happened to you.
Kantorka? Is that what you call me?
Choir leader.
I know no one with a more beautiful voice.
Krabat?
What are you doing here?
I'm staying here. I'm not going back any more.
What are you talking about?
The sun is coming up.
Go, Juro, go alone. I'm staying here.
The Master will not get me.
Krabat.
There is no escape.
Not on this path.
Juro?
- You're not stuttering at all. - Come with me.
Otherwise we'll all be punished.
And not only us, but her, too.
I want to help you, but you have to trust me.
How can I trust anybody at the mill?
Listen to your heart.
Are you the friend of whom Tonda spoke?
Meet again at the tree root. At the beginning of the month.
Come on.
Faster.
- Where's your pentagram? - Never mind.
Your pentagram is missing.
This is some weather.
Because of the rain.
Yours, too.
Be quiet.
The spell circle will protect us.
There is only one way out. It's very dangerous.
- Tell me what you know ... - ... or what?
- You'll blacken me with the Master? - Never!
Forgive me.
You must control your feelings, your willpower.
Do not be distracted.
Not by a noise,
and certainly not by the voice of the Master.
So must you be on the inside.
Without a crack.
What do I have to do?
Your girl must ask for you freely on the last day of the year.
The Master will test your willpower.
He will set traps for you, create hallucinations.
Everything to dissuade you from taking the right path.
- I know that I can do it. - That's also what Tonda said.
On the last day of the year you need to come to the mill and ask for me freely.
Not before. Only on this day is it possible.
What should I do?
- I'll send somebody to you. - How will I recognize him?
We need a sign.
I need something sharp to cut with.
Here.
Why haven't you ever tried it?
Why don't you challenge the Master?
Because I don't have a girl.
Trust only the one who brings you the ring.
He's is our ally and will tell you what to do.
In the coming weeks Juro and Krabat used every spare minute
to strengthen Krabat's willpower,
and to make him immune against all external influences.
And with each passing day in which he became better,
there rose in him also the longing for Kantorka.
No matter what happens,
the Master can never find out her name.
Tonda!
Tonda! Tonda!
Tonda!
The year went forward, and as on all other new moon nights,
the Gevatter brought a heavy load to Koselbruch.
Again the boys were tense and irritable,
since no one knew on whom the lot this time should fall.
Go. Faster. Go.
Each handled it in his own way.
Now it appeared who was to be the next.
Get up.
I'm the next ...
On the day before New Year's Eve the waiting became torture for Krabat.
Nevertheless, he didn't let on and was restrained.
Only hours separated him from sending for Kantorka,
and saving Merten from certain death.
Juro, guard it well.
Tomorrow night you have to bring it to my girl.
Have you seen Merten anywhere?
In the grinding chamber, quickly ...
You can't escape from me, Merten.
Not even if you creep away like a cockroach into the smallest cracks.
That's enough.
I hate you.
You're brave, Krabat, but there's no way out.
Not for you or for anyone. I decide who dies.
Take him away.
Why do you stand there and stare at me?
Do you think I like this?
Dead, he's no use to me at all!
Whoever brings me the girl of the lover among you,
before she reaches the mill of her own free will ...
... shall be set free.
- We were so close ... - Save your words.
All the months we have practiced together.
I thought you would have understood.
What? Cold-heartedness?
Resolve.
How will your girl manage it now?
Every one of them would hand her over immediately and sacrifice her.
I won't let her come.
What then?
Then I'll be the next.
If you're a friend, destroy the ring.
Promise me.
Krabat ...
Come in.
Happiness and your power have left you.
Because you have followed the wrong path.
There is still time to turn around.
In you are the abilities to be a great magician.
Don't throw that away.
Don't let Juro influence you.
I know he's behind this.
You're surprised.
Do you know what Juro is to me?
Filthy scum.
Someone who does not step forward himself to fight,
and instead always sends forth others.
First Janko, then Tonda ...
They were stupid enough to believe him.
For what, really?
You forget something.
Maybe because it plays no role in your life.
As for the women: a millstone remains a millstone.
It pulls you down.
The Krabat that I knew wanted to be a magician.
How about it?
I offer you your life.
For this and for all years.
I have more to offer you than this peasant girl.
Shake on it.
Perhaps you don't want to die?
If I don't die, then who?
Make a suggestion. Lyschko? Agreed? Shake on it, now.
I can't stand Lyschko,
but he is my coworker.
You will not make me responsible for his death!
You have understood nothing.
Play your game with somebody else.
Not with me, I'm going.
You go if I permit it.
Someday your power will cease, and then the Gevatter will come for you.
Go to the barn and take the spade.
In Koselbruch is your grave to shovel.
That shall be your last chore.
Come over well into the new year.
Krabat ...
I've hidden the ring ...
What's this?
Go to the black chamber ...
... and wait for me there.
A girl.
What?
You promised me.
What do you want here?
- I ask you for a boy. - Your boy.
And who shall that be?
It's Krabat who I love.
What's your name?
Can you recognize him among them ...
... girl without a name?
Sure.
This test will absolve Krabat,
or kill him and his girl.
If you can show me your boy, you may take him with you.
That's him.
Are you quite certain?
Yes. That is Krabat.
What's all this?
Stop it.
What's all this?
Your time has run out.
Against love you have no magic.
Let's go.
Out. Out.
Come on.
Thank you.
Don't thank me.
When I went to get the ring, it was already gone.
Who brought you the ring?
Lyschko did.
Lyschko?
He had sworn to us that we must all stick together.
Was?
The boys left the mill tiredly,
but full of hope for a separate, self-determined future.
The war in the German countries ended,
and when I, Krabat, tell the story today,
Tonda's words still ring for me like a bitter truth:
"Everything in this world has its price."
And if we also had to give up the magic,
and were ordinary boys again,
we gained from it, however, something
which is to be exchanged for nothing in the world:
Our freedom.
Translation and subtitles: sled1025 - March 2009