Hello, folks...
Well... I'll start again...
I've...
Well, it doesn't matter.
I'll just start.
When finally we were old enough, it was time to take our shoes
Behind us went the gentle click of the door to our nursery room
Father gave us his blue hat and his old overcoat
Mother gave us all her tears, and a spoonful of sugar on toast
And the grass keeps growing back,
wild and high and green
'Fl! the sickles circle their tracks,
they don't mean to be mean
And the grass keeps growing back
Sutures all our wounds
Sometimes strong and sometimes slack,
just like me and you
When finally we were old enough, we shoved under the bed
Our all-too-ofien mended wings, and God said, oh thank God
At night the city battens down the hatches overhead
And if you hold your head too high, you won't get any rest
And the grass keeps growing back,
wild and... And so on and so forth.
The record's done.
Now I'm looking for a band to go on tour with me.
The question is: Do you want to be that band?
Sorry I'm late. They wanted to practice right away.
Never mind.
Coffee? - No, thanks.
My ticker's already doing 180.
Take a seat. - Thanks.
Still doing the puppet shows?
I try to.
Kids are a great audience.
I perform for adults.
Yes, of course. Yes...
That's right.
Your recent question... - That you haven't answered.
I haven't shouted it from the rooftops, no.
A lot of people have a kneejerk reaction to that topic.
But since you've asked...
Yes...
It's true...
I was Grigori. - Of course you were.
It could only have been you.
And what makes you so certain?
Details.
Every paradise is ignorance...
I don't follow you.
Have you read it all?
Such a huge tome?
We could take a look at it together, at the things I said.
And then? - Well, clarify everything.
Clarify? What do you want to clarify?
Sorry. My son...
Thanks. - I'm going to be a dad soon.
Congratulations.
Don't do that, Emil. Dad's having an important conversation, OK?
Are we going out? - Yes, later.
Go to your room now...
I remember your puppet play well, the one in...
Cottbus.
That was banned.
Well...
I'm not proud of the Stasi thing. Really.
And?
I understand your anger.
They were on my case too:
stage ban, travel ban, the whole works.
I'm not angry.
OK, listen...
Maybe I told them things...
Gerhard, if you want to apologize... - Apologize?
Well, I'd need to know what for first.
You don't know what you should apologize for?
I want to know if I said what's in there. - You did. - What?
You should know that yourself! - I can't remember!
Watch out!
Did someone drive over your leg, little fella?
Come here.
Gundi?
What are you doing?
Hello, tubby. - Hi.
Gundi! - Oh, yeah...
It's just an injured hedgehog, I...
I'll take it outside in a minute.
What are you looking for? - A fruit bowl.
A fruit bowl? - Yeah.
Why not use a plate?
Because I'm looking for my fruit bowl.
And a golden fork to go with it? - Leave me alone! - To make a mess?
Who's going to tidy that up?
It's not my fault I can't find anything here.
But it's mine? - Let's not argue.
I didn't volunteer to do the housework. - That's clear.
What's that supposed to mean? - It's like a pigsty here.
It's good no one visits us.
Well, young lady...
This is good.
Conny Schickor? The father's here.
Already? - No, I'm... - Your wife's fine. Don't worry.
But she's... - Go on. - All right...
Gundi?
Hey, Conny!
Well, "Dad"?
Am I interrupting? - No.
You're the first.
Stolen? - Of course.
They're the best.
Oh, God!
Hello!
So small...
and so perfect. - She's called Yvonne.
Nice.
So are you back? For good?
I've just come from band practice. I'm playing again.
Really? Aren't you fed up with it?
No, it's better than being a choirmaster.
I used to do harmony arrangements.
Where? - In the army.
I see. - They threw me out, though.
Well, singing never was your strength. - No, for refusing to obey orders.
It was mad, having to salute every officer and NCO.
I even started saluting the postman!
Yeah...
Well, nothing's changed here.
Huh? Nothing's changed?
You're married, you have a child!
Why did you come back to Hoyerswerda?
Mrs. Schickor? Someone else to see you.
Wenni!
Sir! Your child has arrived!
Daddy's coming. - Congratulations. - Thanks.
Darling!
Everything's fine.
Want to hold her?
I have to go on shift. - At the opencast mine?
Of course! I'm an excavator driver!
Really?
How long have you been an excavator driver, Helga?
Forever.
You're lucky.
An old digger like this must have a soul like an old tree.
OK, it's working again.
Why aren't you at your post? - Well...
As if we didn't have enough accidents! Back to your doghouse! - OK!
I'm not saying anything.
"Flower..."
"In sand..."
"You pallid flower in sand..."
The nozzle's blocked.
Fucking shit!
Hoyerswerda,
We're true to you,
You pallid flower in sand.
Hot, loud, dusty and run-down,
You finest town in the land.
And again!
Louder!
There's still a lot to do. You need to listen to the lyrics.
"Then she flies away..." It's got to... - Can't we carry on tomorrow?
Then go home. I'm not forcing anyone...
Maybe my kids would like to see me.
OK. Those who want to carry on are welcome to, the rest can go home.
I don't care.
Shouldn't we just leave it?
The stain?
As a reminder that you wanted to kill me?
You often sing about death.
Peace, Conny.
Let's have a cup of coffee.
Has your mother been having a clear-out again?
I can't throw anything away.
Remember the puppeteer? - The one who was always jealous of you? - Yeah.
He approached me...
He read my name in his file.
My code name.
In his Stasi file? - Yes.
I went to see him, but...
He just left me dangling.
You couldn't remember anything?
Not even talking to the Stasi about him?
No.
At least not at first.
Make a list of anyone else you can remember.
It always helps me if I've forgotten something.
You know...
In the spring, our garden is...
inflamed with birdsong.
Hi, Helga. - Hello.
Thanks. - You're welcome.
I'm a loser.
I bet on the right horse,
but it didn't win...
It's great that you're all here, in spite of the weather.
This is my first gig here... Come closer.
This is my first gig with my new band!
And our first song
is for a very special lady.
You all know her...
"Brigitta."
I am a miner like my father, and I went down
But my son won't be a miner here, that's clear now
The tracks are rusty, the conveyor belt is bare
Nobody wanB brown coal from here or anywhere
I was a miner, never learned anything more
I did my part in winter helping keep this land warm
Just like all of us!
My lungs are like two pouches full of lumps of coal
In my heart are ashes, in my veins alcohol
Oh my mine, Brigitta, is flat broke
And the final seam was sold long ago
And my excavator, it's dead in the meadow
And the earthquake has nowhere to go
...as Comrade Walde, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party Cottbus,
candidate for the politburo, reported to the 11th Central Committee Conference,
we mine and energy workers are entering winter 76/77 with optimism...
Look, this is by me.
You know about poetry. It's probably shit, but sometimes the muse overcomes me.
Point of order 4: candidatures.
Colleague Gundermann... - You're right, it's shit.
I thought so.
Colleague Gundermann? - Yes, sorry...
Your candidature...
Right, yes... At last!
The question is: Can we accept you?
You're his guarantor, Helmut. His timekeeping's been poor, hasn't it?
Not anymore. He's worked hard on himself.
He's learning to be an excavator driver: night school, training, the whole works.
And he's still in the singing club. - And...
What happened in the army?
Why did they throw you out?
General Heinz Hoffmann visited our unit, and we had to sing a song about his life.
And you didn't want to?
Well, no...
It's a personality cult, I'm sorry.
For better or worse, the Comrade always speaks his mind.
Why do you want to join the party, Colleague? In simple words.
Because the ideals of communism are also my own personal ideals.
If the ideology didn't already exist, I could've thought it up myself.
Can you be more concrete?
What motivates you?
The inadequate communication between the management and us.
For example, this new norm has been introduced.
We're now supposed to achieve a target of 4,000 cubic meters per shift.
An engineer comes down
and says hourly production is to be worked out by bucket-wheel revolutions.
But this is what happens: the bucket wheel turns like this.
But if I raise the cutting boom, the bucket wheel keeps turning.
The buckets are empty, it keeps turning.
The counter keeps running and on paper we achieve our targets.
But we're not producing anything.
I could show up for the night shift, turn on the excavator and go to sleep.
That's happened.
We've mentioned this umpteen times, but nothing happens.
That has to change.
In you go!
Who doesn't want to get in her stroller? - You scared me!
Yvonne!
Look at your lovely stroller... - I told you not to keep meeting me here.
They turned me down. - Who, the party?
Are you too wild for them? - I'll try again.
Anyway, we've walked home together since school.
We never walked home together! - What?
If anything, you ran after me.
Hold tight. So? Now you're running after me.
Watch out!
Gundi! Wait!
I've got to go to the department store.
Where is the department store, over there?
I'd heard they'd got cotton diapers there.
I wanted two packs and the bitch said: "Just one per household."
I said: "But I have two kids."
"So?" she said. Then Gundi said: "I need one, too."
Good. We can use them, huh?
What? That wasn't a trick with the two kids?
No. - Oh!
Third month. - I see!
That's great!
Conny, don't lift that heavy thing in your condition!
Got it? - Yes. - You have.
Are you staying for dinner?
No, I can't. - I've put some music to your lyric.
I'm on the night shift, Wenni.
Pity...
Another time, huh?
Where will I touch down when the tank runs out?
Where is a runway free for me?
When the altimeter eats the numbers down
Will the receiver hear my plea?
In the dead of night, the frequencies were full
I showed up on their radars here and there
And the voices jumbled in the headphones, shrill
And I could see the ground lights, bright and clear
But at crack of dawn I had to head back up
On my radio, no signal heard
I tumbled then I found the gentle winds again
And now I'm still here circling the earth
Where will I touch down when the tank runs out...
Great! Great song!
Does it continue? - Who are you?
An admirer.
What is there to admire here?
The majesty of a failure?
More than you think, at any rate.
Who are you?
It's about foreign assignments.
Foreign...
Yes, the West is still superior to us when it comes to biscuits, eh?
And... foreign...
Foreign assignments, right.
That is: gigs in non-socialist countries.
I see...
I thought you meant you wanted me to be a spy. - No, no.
I mean your singing club. You should get a whiff of West wind, eh?
So far, only half of us were allowed to go. - And you weren't one of them. - No.
I stick to the "double-deck bus principle."
Which is?
Well, when they took us to the power plant in the seventh grade,
most kids crowded over to one side of the bus so they could gape at some old jalopy,
so some of us had to race over to the other side to stop the bus from tipping over.
Very praiseworthy.
So you've no desire to go?
On the contrary. - We'd like to let you all go. As a group.
But would you vouch for everyone in your club,
if you traveled to the West?
Of course.
Really? For all of them?
If they were approached by the West German secret service or the CIA?
Trust me, they know how to approach people.
If we really let you all travel to the West,
then we need someone trustworthy to go along.
Gently does it.
Not so juddery.
This looks like mine.
It's actually for fruit.
But I use it as an ashtray.
I wasn't expecting visitors.
Listen, Volker...
The thing is...
I don't want you to get a shock if you read your Stasi file some time soon. - Huh?
I worked for the Stasi.
It started around '76.
No!
YOU?
I made reports to them about you too.
About me?
But I was such a quiet guy.
A plain one at most.
They asked specifically about you.
Are you still on the wagon? - Yes.
Well?
What did you tell them?
That you...
That you had visitors from the West one time.
Well... Apart from that...
Apart from that, I told them lots of good things about you. Really.
Lots of good things.
Should I stop, or what?
No, carry on.
I said you were reliable...
Reliable? - Yes! - Really? - Yes!
Yeah...
You really don't want any? - No, no.
Suit yourself.
Well, I'm really glad you came round. Really.
I worked for the Stasi, too.
They approached me in '78/'79.
On your recommendation, it would seem.
"Reliable" and so on.
What?
And they mainly put me on your case.
I thought you'd really drop me in it. - Don't be stupid.
And what did you tell them?
This and that.
I used to make recordings for them, of your concerts.
They were interested in audience reactions.
And so I always came along, as your biggest fan, see?
They basically wanted to watch you 24/7.
I'll bet I wasn't the only one.
But I didn't do everything they asked me to.
Like, when you got married,
they wanted me to start something with Conny.
They wanted me to ruin your marriage...
Cause it to break down.
But I refused. I didn't want to.
Although... When I think of Conny, huh?
You reek of alcohol. - I went to see Volker.
That's why.
And how was the gig? - Pretty easy.
Who's that? - That's a journalist.
She wants to do an interview with me, about the concert.
I'm sorry.
Doesn't she have a car? - I thought they were well paid for their lies...
Oh, and there are a few more of them at home.
Could you make a soup or something?
Hi, I'm Irene. Nice to meet you.
And congratulations. She's called Linda, isn't she?
He'll be doing solo gigs after the tour.
Call again in six weeks and we'll arrange something.
Yes, OK...
Gundi? - What is it? - I need you.
I've got to prepare for the tour, Conny.
I've fed her...
changed her diapers...
That freaking telephone!
Conny, go to bed now. Go on.
Hey, Linda!
You're such a sweet loudmouth!
Micha, I've got another one.
We can test it now. - OK.
Come here. - Just a sec.
It sounds goddamn awful.
I want them to understand the lyrics. - I don't know the desk.
Turn on the other mic, please. - I don't think it's working.
Yeah...
Turn it on. - What's the matter now?
I'll look for the fuse box. - Shit! Come on, lads. - Shit!
Anyone got a lighter? - No, I don't smoke.
I'd like to be the brother of the trees again
We'll watch as all our wounds are healed
I'd like the birds to move into the boughs again
We'll share sweet cherries for our meals
I want to talk to dogs and cats and elephants
I want to know the language of the grass
What it whispers to the bluest summer night's end
I've wanted it so long to come to pass
Don't ask me when, don't ask me how
True it? just a song, but just a song
will have to do for now
Don't ask me when, don't ask me how,
True it's just a song but just a song will have to do for now
Right...
Gundi? - I have to go.
Not even a glass of wine? - Early shift. Bye.
Bye. - How long are you going to keep your day job?
See you later, Terminator!
Amazing guy! - Cheers.
Bottoms up. - Cheers.
I am ever more astonished by the amount of things I don't comprehend.
As you can see...
I'm capable of learning.
This is Maximilian Hamacher,
a human trafficker residing in West Berlin: your target.
The Comrades want you to make contact with him,
and get him to incriminate himself by talking about subversive acts.
Then you'll invite him here to Berlin, where we'll arrest him.
Think you can manage that?
Why not?
Because you might have to do things you're not accustomed to.
...bureaucrats, cowards, and the constant repression!
Now they've banned me from performing, the whole works. I've had it up to here.
Don't worry. I'll find a good publisher for your lyrics in West Berlin.
I'd like to hop over the Wall. But how?
Difficult...
Do you know a trafficker?
What?
A human trafficker? No, I don't like them.
Those guys enrich themselves on your misery. Disgusting.
I love Hungary. To freedom!
Cheers! - Cheers!
Invite me?
To East Berlin? No, my friend.
Wild horses couldn't drag me there. Much too depressing.
I might not get back out and be in the shit, just like you.
In the shit?
What kind of fucked-up system imprisons its own people?
Sends them to jail for dissenting?
It could be such a nice country...
It is a nice country!
It's been proven
that the CIA was involved in 57 attempted coups.
In 57! Worldwide!
But we don't want to bust anyone for it! And why not?
No military industrial complex,
therefore...
no militarism, no aggression.
The Comrades suggested we award you a gift in kind.
A fruit bowl. Congratulations.
Is this the booby prize, or what? - No. Why?
You showed class-consciousness. The Comrades were very satisfied.
Really? So this is the expression of your highest recognition?
For future assignments we should maybe consider
that you neither smoke, nor drink, and that you find it difficult to tell untruths.
Speaking of the future:
is our cooperation all set?
TO Italy!
Cheers! - Cheers!
Cheers!
Amazing, they're letting us all out together. - Of course, it's the first time.
We'll have to buy some new clothes. - Buy something there.
Why so quiet?
Aren't you looking forward to Italy? - Course I am.
I can already see you all shopping
and leaving me to prepare the program. - You need a woman!
Anne in my office is single, too.
Do you know him over there? - Why?
Well, just casually.
And?
You're a waste of time today.
He's my father.
Go on! Really? Then go over to him.
We haven't spoken in ten years.
Why?
He shut me out.
Oh my!
It's not that bad really.
I'd better get back over there.
So when's the baby due?
Can't be long now.
What can't be long now?
You broke right into my heart,
like into a vacant house
You opened wide the windows and doors
Now light flows in and out
I'd made my peace so long before
But you're such a sweet loudmouth
I'd grown comfortable in my thick skin,
but you came and cut me out
Oh the salad days are coming, Linda
We saved up so long for you
What can I tell you, children
Thought I was old, but now I'm brand-new
I knew which way the wind would blow
And I no longer cared a bit
If the Grim Reaper'd told me where to go
I wouldn't have played hard-to-get
My pistol was already loaded
with the final round
I buried it under the cherry tree
Turns out I'm sticking around
Oh the salad days are coming, Linda
We saved up so long for you
What can I tell you, children
Thought I was old, but now I'm brand-new
You broke right into my heart,
like into a vacant house
You opened wide the windows and doors
Now light flows in and out
Oh I thought I would never find my way
back to candy land
But maybe you can show me how
just take me by the hand
"If you don't like the taste, why did you shove it down your throat?"
"If he doesn't suit you, why do you say it's OK?"
"If it's too horrible for you, why didn't you sweeten it?"
"Loud, proud. Light, fight."
If he doesn't suit you, why did you touch him?
Good morning!
Good morning, Helga.
It's freezing out. - Yeah?
How was the gig, my boy?
Well... - Watch out: you might become a real star!
Listen, Helga... - Yeah?
Can I...? - Ask me something?
You remember winter '79, when the embankment came down?
Indeed I do.
That's when our Helmut was killed.
I've often tried to imagine it... - What?
Him sitting up there in his cabin and the embankment suddenly beginning to slide...
and slide.
That's how I feel sometimes.
Are you suddenly afraid of heights?
No, that's not it, but...
It's like this:
we all build an inner framework, like a set of shelves.
And we put everything in there: our experiences,
memories, emotions, everything that accumulates over the years.
And the thing grows higher and higher, higher and higher.
And shaky! - Right.
And one day you open one of the bottom drawers,
and you look inside and think: What?
How did that get in there? It doesn't fit.
But you can't pull it out, because the whole thing will collapse.
Gundi...
You need to get some sleep. You're wasting your life, messing it up.
Why do you have to sing?
Well, why does someone cook?
So the others can have a tasty meal. - But you can't have everything.
But "but" is my favorite word.
I used to work for the Stasi, Helga.
I thought so, my boy.
But...
What can you do?
If you have a file, you have to request to see it.
Cottbus sends it to us, we read it, classify it...
How long will that take?
One or two years. We've got thousands of requests.
In addition to the documents we haven't checked yet.
Two years...
Well...
You didn't have it easy with your music. Come on.
We're sorting and collating.
New stuff comes in all the time,
then we have to amend it and re-file it.
I'm not supposed to do this... Ga, Ge, Gu...
But I'll have a look to see if there's a file on you at all.
Thank you.
There is indeed: here's the index number.
With this number we'll find your code name.
Code name? - Everyone got one, both informers and victims.
I'm sorry. Many files have disappeared.
I see...
Well... Thanks anyway.
We'll inform you as soon as something turns up.
Mr. Gundermann! Wait! I've found something! Code name "Grigori."
You've got an offender's file. Why?
You of all people?
Well...
Real Socialism devoured its adherents as well as its opponents.
It was just a few conversations.
Betrayal is betrayal.
No matter if you had three or 30 or 300 conversations with them.
Now leave! - And the file?
Which one? All I can find is your offender's file. Maybe you have a victim's file as well, but...
Many still haven't turned up.
Can I at least have this one? - The offender's file?
No, of course you can't. - But why not?
Why not?
Are you serious?
We have a duty to the victims.
People come here who were abused by the Stasi,
who were locked up, terrorized, traumatized for life.
Please go.
But I wasn't one of those.
I was a communist.
You can be a communist without being a swine.
It's a question of character.
The miners at the We/zow lignite mine
have dug the first coal at the new Spreetal Northeast Opencast Mine.
Werner Walde this morning with the miners of Discharge Boomn 25.
The politburo candidate and First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party Cottbus
informed himself about the planned start under complicated weather conditions.
We achieve our target's
and are a loyal partner to the national economy.
The Comrades' work enables us to guarantee our country's energy supply.
And the workers here are very proud of that. - Very nice. Well done!
Best wishes from the workers of the House of Culture as well. - Thank you, girl.
Yes...
Any questions? No? Well...
Yes. I've got a question...
Comrade!
Go ahead.
Why are you driving a Western car, while everyone else here has a Trabant?
And what are your long-term concepts for our energy policy?
I don't understand the question. - Well...
Our mine here was put into operation early,
which is causing a lot of problems.
From the absence of facilities for the workers, to the point
that your organization's planning is totally unrealistic.
That's enough, Comrade Gundermann! - Carry on.
We can only achieve your targets if we ignore health and safety.
It's only a matter of time till someone's killed... - Stop your doom-mongering, Colleague!
Comrade. - You know what winning coal means to our economy? - Yes.
That's why I'm asking about concepts. We can't keep burning up our country forever.
You're a smart-ass, huh?
Look at the bigger picture. - Yes, but...
What is the bigger picture? - Leave it.
We can be proud of our achievements.
We've created a socialist state on German soil.
Irreversibly!
"A new social system has only beaten the old one when it is more productive!“
Karl Marx. - Shut up! What are you doing here anyway?
If you think I did this for a laugh, I'll smack you!
As far as I know, you weren't invited. - I'll smack you as well!
Gundi, leave it.
You can't just clear off like this! - Why not?
You have to apologize! - Apologize?
What for?
You have a real talent for destroying what you've built.
They'll throw you out of the party!
Do you know what that'll mean for us? For the band?
You know what, Conny?
I couldn't care less right now. - Must you always swim against the tide?
If I have to. - But that's no life, Gun...
Not too much longer,
till the candles in your lit blue eyes will burn down
And all the green boys
who pretended they were your most loyal friends
Will by then have all skipped town.
Stay up tonight, Brunhilde,
there's one more feast to go
The clock will strike, Brunhilde,
but I'll hold its hands like so
And you'll give in, Brunhilde,
cuz I'm tougher than you know
What could be better than standing on stage
with the singer-songwriting legend of the century?
Although we probably won't be on stage together.
We'll play one after the other, I guess.
Do you think you'll be able to talk to him?
Well, meeting the big fish has never been my ultimate goal in life.
But would you like to...
Would you like to have a jam with him on the guitar?
Sure, that'd be great, but...
Two shitty guitarists joining forces: that would be interesting.
He's supposed to be...
...quite a grumpy guy. - Well, maybe he is.
But the art is often more important than the artist.
Dylan s songs are the main thing for me.
Could you imagine giving up your work on the excavator to just do music?
No, I don't want to earn my living from playing my songs.
I'd rather earn the money I need for my family by working.
You just looked at Conny. What do you think, Conny?
It's up to him.
OK, so all the best for" . - They could tell you how shitty you look.
...you've ruined everything...
this old Berlin custom E alive and...
The Gauck Commission is a veritable minefield where regular explosions occur.
Some mines self-detonate, but most are set off by the people concerned,
as was the case with Christa Wolf. Or they're set off by whistle-blowers,
as in the case of Heiner Miiller, who was registered with the Stasi
as an unofficial collaborator.
Was the last president R RC N Y oz =I e )
and Germany's most eminent dramatist a Stasi spy?
A file number... - You could come clean about it.
“Indicates that Heiner MUIler was listed as an unofficial Stasi collaborator...
Or are you going to wait for someone to blow the whistle on you?
Maybe in the middle of the tour?
Children's hands always smell of chocolate, don't they?
Why should Daddy fill up the tank of his American car with Arab petrol
to drive to an opencast mine where he operates a Russian excavator
to dig up East Germany's last brown coal to generate electricity,
if he can use the sun's energy free of charge?
Look, sweety, we're going to make a garden shower.
So we'll paint the tub black. - After the tour...
What's the plan?
Are you going to stick around for a while? For more than a few hours, I mean.
I don't think so.
That's great! Put plenty of paint on it.
Great. - Daddy can take a shower!
- Yeah, Mummy too!
So nothing's going to change?
Put plenty of paint on it.
And we'll never perform together again...
I have to do this now, Conny.
I'm stuck in the loop now.
We'll make the next record, go on tour, then another record.
Then probably another tour. What can I do?
On the other hand, you're my manager now...
Oh, she doesn't like that.
You know...
I'd love to find my happiness without robbing you of yours, but...
You can forget about me showering in the garden!
From the wreath of flowers around my hat
Fall the snow-white petals of ages
Falling too are the coal-black petals of wrath
They get all mixed up on these pages
Rarely does my heart speak through my mouth
Unsure fingers comb for chances
In the curbside dirt behind the house
I'm growing fond of my own fences
I'm not allowed past here, or what? - What's that all about? - For fuck's sake!
It's him! - Hold that.
What are they talking about? - Arranging our next tour?
You just spoke to him? - Sure. He's no idea where he's playing!
What did you talk about? - That Springsteen's the king...
And I'm running out of time now, I can't play cat and mouse
Or prove my loyalty to the authorities
Or cool off smoking motors with the liquid from my blood
Or turn my back on yet another love
And I'm running out of time now
Won't get back
into that line
Where there's people selling out For a nickel and a dime
And I'm running out of time now
I'll take up that fabled glove
I'm not running in the rat race,
I'd rather race with doves
Well, isn't this nice?
I'm glad you came to visit me, lad.
I did ask myself if we'd ever see each other again.
I went to the Gauck Commission.
I wanted to see my file.
I didn't know you can have more than one.
Those Gauck crooks stole all our ideas.
Except we didn't call it "victim's file" or "offender's file."
Well. My victim's file...
It's disappeared.
And I'm not even allowed to read my offender's file.
Don't you know any journalists?
They have access to all the files. - I know.
Anyone can get hold of my file, except me.
Don't worry about it!
As long as we know what we were fighting for.
Cheers, boy. To our ideals!
You don't happen to have anything here, do you?
Any files or documents?
What do you care? Your case was dead and buried long ago.
But now someone's come along
and dug it all up again.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, boy.
I wish things had turned out better with us, too.
Better?
Yes.
I was really disappointed
when you stopped turning up. - Listen...
At some point, you stopped listening to me. You were happy to be rid of me.
That's not true!
You were one of my best guys. - Really?
Seriously? - Really.
Hard-working, clever.
Ambitious, class-conscious. You really had potential. - Go on!
And I still remember how at our very first meeting
you wrote the declaration of commitment. - Not true!
It was much later. - Really?
What about all those problems at the mine I kept telling you guys about?
About all the sloppiness? I was critical! - Yeah, sure.
We all were. - Cut out the “we" bullshit, will you?
You guys spied on me.
Prohibited concerts, put friends under pressure.
Who knows what else.
That's as may be.
You were still one of us.
Listen up, guys. What are the four main enemies of socialism?
Spring, summer, autumn and winter... - Evening, guys.
OK, we need to have a special talk about workplace safety.
There's been an accident.
What happened?
The embankment. It collapsed and took an excavator with it.
One...
One person died...
I told you this would happen! I told you!
Who is it?
It won't budge.
On the count of three!
Give us a hand!
One, two, three!
Once there was a man
Who caused nobody pain
He got on no one's nerves,
Snow-white, cold, reserved
There was a woman, gray
From working the whole day
About duties, she knew
But pleasures, no clue
I wanna have something from each day I'll always remember
A triumph, a laugh, a few tears or a punch in the kisser
I wanna have something from each day I'll always remember
A triumph, a laugh, a few tears or A punch in the kisser
And then one darkened evening,
the street lamps flicker on
And out of the distance,
man and wife trudge their way home
They have licked their wounds
and wailed over the fight
Now they'll steal some hours
from the too-short night
And then she places
golden earrings in her ears
Then he goes and picks out records from better years
And they rediscover that their legs, they still have bones
Dancing for their lives,
they dance their names right into stone
YOUTH CENTER
Sorry about Helmut.
Well...
Practical constraints cost lives.
You know what he always said?
"I've built a house that might be swallowed by the mine tomorrow."
And: "You've written a few songs that no one's heard of."
And: "The coal we dug at six in the morning
was already used up by twelve."
"Who will remember our kind?"
Nice.
He was buried under the excavator. There wasn't much left of him.
I've taken his scarf and his lunchbox...
Couldn't he have saved himself?
Jumped or something?
You try that from a height of 24 meters,
onto the frozen ground.
I've written a song for you.
Wenni's with the kids.
What's it called?
I'll tell you upstairs.
Come on, then.
I was 12 years old...
when I found the pistol in the cellar.
My father's pistol from the war.
I put it in my tracksuit pants and walked around with it.
The thing hung down almost to my knees.
A few days later, he was arrested.
For the unauthorized possession of a firearm.
Did you show it to anyone?
Yeah, well...
I can't really remember.
I'm pretty sure I took it to the playground.
To show off?
You know what I'm like.
And then?
Trial, parole, divorce.
Then he shut me out. - Your mother divorced him because of the pistol business?
Their marriage was pretty rocky anyway.
And she was an active trade unionist...
But...
But he thought it was my fault.
That people didn't respect him anymore and that she threw him out.
His entire fucked-up life...
All my fault.
And he hasn't talked to you since?
He's a tough guy.
Tough hands,
tough heart.
What's the idea?
I'm going to look in the mirror till I believe my life.
Why...?
Why do you actually love me?
Who says I love you?
If you have got a warm bed, and it? not only wide
No, if it also Iifls off, far far into the sky
In that bed we'll make children, I think that four will do
I'll stick around I'll stick around, I'll stick around with you.
If you have got a loud heart, that almost bursts your chest,
Cuz it hates gloom and solitude, And it's different from the rest,
And if you've gone away, and I feel so cold I'm blue
I 'i! stick around
I'll stick around, I'll stick around, I'll stick around with you.
Dad?
Can you hear me?
Maybe he didn't recognize you.
He was in his flat all alone for almost a week with severe pneumonia.
Did you tell him you called me?
That goes without saying.
Yeah, it's just...
Sorry...
Can I have your autograph?
Sure.
You're the singer who played with Bob Dylan, right?
For Teresa.
Thank you.
Hey, you.
When did it happen?
About two hours ago.
And? Did you talk to each other?
No.
He couldn't talk anymore.
But he squeezed my hand.
You see?
That's nice.
Remember when,
all we could do was long for this summer to come
And now, it? almost gone
Remember when,
we got used to seeing the trees full of leaves again
And now, they're almost gone
The garden will rear its head a final time
Tossing is pretty treasures, now pay your fine
Remember when,
all we could do was long for a bit of this warmth
And now, it? almost gone
Remember when, we got used to wearing short: and short sleeves again
And now, they're almost gone
We know that all things that come, must also go
So why does it cause ever more pain, I'd like to know
We know that all things that come, must also go
So why does it cause ever more pain, I'd like to know
We know that all things that come, must also go
So why does it cause ever more pain, I'd like to know
Great! - Wow! - Brilliant!
Sure!
Let's drink to our record deal in the West! - Cheers! - Brilliant!
Next stop: a studio in Sydney, huh?
Sure. Thanks.
BY {he way...
I was...
I was with "the Firm," with the Stasi.
I've wanted to tell you for ages. Just in case someone...
approaches you about it someday...
Just so you know.
Well, see you next week, then.
What was that all about?
My God...
Your father certainly liked collecting stuff.
Gundi?
So much for shutting you out.
Look.
That run-in with Werner Walde.
Good job you said sorry to him back then. - Said sorry? As if.
That was my impression.
Baloney.
These shop window dummies are looking more real by the day.
Hello, Irene. - Hi, Gundi. There you go. - Thanks.
What's that? - The file. - Which file?
The offender's file. - She got me the file.
His victim's file is gone. - Gone?
Untraceable. Bye.
Don't just run off again. Irene!
Read it through. Then we'll talk. - She's already read it?
Of course. I'm a journalist. - So what?
You know...
I thought you were different. - Everything needs its opposite, right?
You told me it was just "a few conversations."
A few conversations? At least half of this is from you!
They wrote down every fucking thing. - Every fucking thing you told them!
Don't tell me you only reported problems at the mine!
I did! I wanted to change things.
"At the German Communist Party press reception in Diisseldorf, the bassist of XY absconded.
F. apparently knew about his plans..."
"R. said he knew where Wolf Biermann resided
and that after visiting him..."
"Politically, an anarchist, without a stable world view.
Reacts sensitively to criticism and has a tendency to be egocentric.
During a trip to Dresden, M. went to Intershop and bought A.
Jeans, chocolate..." - Stop it!
How could you be so naive?
Why tell them about people who wanted to escape?
Because we needed them over here, the people.
Against their will? - They could've applied for an exit visa.
And be harassed non-stop? What planet were you on?
- They had to... I was doing menial work.
Why are you acting up like this? - Please stay out of this!
You weren't in the opposition either. - True.
But at least I'm ashamed of it.
Did you know that you took part in at least three CSOs?
What? - Covert Surveillance Operations.
When they wanted people in jail and put them under surveillance. It's in your file.
Why her of all people?
Jealous?
What if you really sent someone to prison?
Damn it, Conny!
Shit!
Gundi!
Gundi, it's great!
Wow...! - No, this is too much. It's...!
Don't make such a fuss! I'm a shift worker. You know what I earn?
I could have three of these and I'm single.
And you? A family with two kids and tons of diapers.
And no washing machine. That's not fair!
Daddy, can you come here? - What is it, Steffen?
Daddy! - Why aren't you in bed yet?
How do these things work? - It's not difficult.
It's all on here. These are the different wash cycles, temperature, duration.
You have to boil your diapers, so you set it to 95°C.
If you want to wash something fine, like your blouse, for instance.
Duration? Cycles? I'll have to study physics. - It's not that complicated.
Takes a while to get used to it,
but soon you won't want anything else.
Wenni? Wenni?
Come here! I'm no good at this technical stuff.
Just a sec! I have to put Steffen to bed.
Why don't you come over anymore?
I just can't.
Sorry.
But hang on, you used to...
You try. - You don't have to.
Was it in a different key? It sounded different.
I play it in this key.
Oh, right.
You're just better, natch.
There's a quiet little hopelessness
Come to live for a while with me
But I still hope for a glimpse of your dress
In the after-work buses at three
And two teacups on the side table wait
As if you're really coming again
And I laugh when I catch myself at it, late
As the tea-water boils in vain
I have the report from your party branch and your complaints against it.
A majority has decided to expel you from the party.
Yes.
But on false grounds. - What do you mean?
So you didn't say
that the comrades at the politburo have a kind of halo?
Well, 1 did...
But I meant we have to be equals, be allowed to question things...
Comrade Gundermann rejects the leading role of the party.
He believes he needs his own opinion on everything.
Marx says one should question everything. - Marx didn't mean it like that.
What do you think?
It's important to me.
You already stood up for your principles in 1933.
Those were different times.
And who did you threaten to beat up?
Well...
Just him.
I have to work on the way I express myself a bit.
Did you also say
that the young people of our country
could not identify with our General Secretary?
Well, above most teenagers' beds,
you're more likely to find a poster of Che Guevara
than one of Erich Honecker.
He's young-
The young often have a one-sided view.
But trust me, we have a leadership
that is envied by the whole of Europe.
So...
How about an apology now?
Well...
I do understand that I sometimes take the wrong tone.
But I stand by what I said.
Enough.
Your party branch...
has been very patient with you.
I...
I would've thrown you out long ago.
People like you...
acting the way you do...
destroy socialism as well.
Hand me your party membership book!
Hand it over!
No.
I'll never give it up,
just like I'll never give up my views.
Gundi?
Conny!
What's the matter?
How are you?
Fine.
You haven't been to band practice for weeks. The others said something about a party trial?
They threw me out.
I'm sorry...
No big deal.
Can I come in?
Not a good time.
Sorry, I didn't want to bother you.
You don't want me, do you?
And if I did?
Then you'd have to make a decision.
So would you.
I'll pack the teapot with the glasses.
No, you can keep it.
But you need one, too. - But you like it so much.
Then at least the sugar bowl.
They belong together.
Keep it.
Go on, keep it.
Here you go, Wenni: the key.
I should smash your face in.
I wouldn't...
I wouldn't stop you.
Do you want ham or cheese? - I want some sausage.
Gundi! Gundi!
I even passed on letters.
Very personal ones.
I'd forgotten it all.
Almost everything.
I suppose I wanted to forget.
Irene was right.
I thought I was a different person, too.
And if I ask you now why you did it?
Ask away.
Why did you do it?
You tell me.
Why didn't you tell us earlier?
Because it had nothing to do with you.
But we stand up on stage with you. - I can stand at the back.
What Andy means is, we... - We're all from the same stock.
You're an excavator driver, too? - You know what I mean.
Wearing a butcher's shirt doesn't make you a proletarian.
I work, Thommi!
What I meant was...
I had my reasons.
You might not be able to understand them. - Not if we don't talk about them.
Yes, I...
Yes, I'm trying, but...
I'm trying to.
Did we know the people involved? I mean, the ones you...
No.
Hardly any.
Did you send anyone to jail?
No!
Sure? - Come on, people!
Have a think and let me know if you still want to play with me.
Father, come,
bake me a cake
Make me whole,
make me young again
Don't you want to find that recipe
it's there in your memory
Isn't there still in the pockets of your robe
A bit of salt
from our weekend at the coast?
Where is the sugar,
that tastes so strangely sweet,
like Oberhofer snow?
Here,
It's got to be here somewhere
He's got to be here somewhere
Here...
Here somewhere...
And like a top,
I spin and I spin
In your old room.
I stretch my feelers forth
But once again you were the faster swimmer
You're already out the door
Father, say, is it still there,
in the yellow case, the old projector?
I will rewind the film
back to that day,
Back to that section
Where joy hadn't yet gone away
To be, or not to be, that is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or to take arms against a sea of troubles
and by opposing end them.
70 die, to sleep.
No more.
And by a sleep,
to say we end the heartache,
and the thousand natural shocks
that flesh is heir to?
Great.
That was great.
Thank you.
I've read my offender's file.
And...
I'm going public with it.
OK.
I didn't do you any harm.
It wasn't nice what I said about you, but...
I didn't harm you.
I read it all carefully.
But...
You didn't know that at the time.
You didn't know what would happen if you talked to them about me.
That's...
That's true.
But I was still relieved.
It was brave of you to come back.
I...
I respect that.
You said you wanted to change things, but the man in the files
is just a petty, stubborn poser,
who snitched on other people's private affairs.
Well...
Maybe, at the time...
I didn't allow others to have their privacy
because I didn't ask for any myself.
What are you most ashamed of?
The extent of it.
Not that you were an unofficial collaborator? - No. Well...
No.
No, why? It was the logical thing to do.
Don't you even want to apologize, Gundi?
Apologize? - It's the decent thing to do.
Who would you like to say sorry to?
I can't erase my guilt. All I can hope for is that people will forgive me.
OK.
What do you regret most?
Betraying myself.
I'm very...
disappointed with myself.
Nothing else?
No.
It's not enough, Gundi.
If I publish this, the shit will hit the fan again.
I'm used to that.
Linda, sweetie.
I could make pancakes for dessert.
Will you tell Daddy?
We're having pancakes!
Aren't we lucky, my little grapefruit? That's our favorite!
I'm finished.
I've been thinking...
I could stop singing.
I already work three shifts.
I'd be at home more.
We could go on holiday.
Are you ashamed of me?
I'm by your side.
Whatever happens.
After the second bridge, back to the chorus. - OK. - Go for it.
No break there, then?
Hey, lads. - What's up? Did you have an accident?
Careful, there's blood everywhere! - It's just a nosebleed. I often have them...
It's nothing... Underneath your nose and on your chin...
Lads...
I'd like to know...
if this'll be my last concert with you.
Not for me. Not the last, I mean.
We can forget our record deal in the West, right?
Let's talk about it properly sometime. - Of course, Thommi.
I'm staying, Gundi.
Let's play. - Yeah.
I do what my wife says, of course. - Goes without saying.
Let's do it, then.
Hello, people.
I've got something to tell you.
Not everyone will like it.
From 1976 to 1984,
I was an unofficial collaborator for the Stasi.
I got involved with the German Democratic Republic.
I took a few blows,
and I dealt a few too.
I learnt a few things.
That's what we're here for, right?
I won't ask for your forgiveness.
But I can't forgive myself either.
Despite all that,
my band have decided to keep playing with me.
So if you're going to throw rotten eggs, please try to hit me and not the guitarist.
This is where I was born, where the cows are skinny just like the luck
This is where I lost my love
and this is where I'll get it back
Here lies my father under the earth,
and on the balcony lies my mom.
This is where a pack of children
eats me out of house and home.
Here we're all still brothers and sisters,
here's where the zeroes feel at home.
Here Friday's not much better than Monday
and tomorrow never CO/UGS.
Here's where my skeletons rot
in the closet, we always play "Aggravation.”
Here's where I take my place at round tables
for my half-portion.
This is where I was born,
Where the cows are skinny just like the luck
This is where I lost my love
And this is where I 'II get it back
Here there was cut-rate rotgut for rations
And that's about how we can still be found
We frown when strangers park in our places
Unless they buy us all a round
Here I turn in my circles
Like a firmly anchored ship
Here's where my travels led me,
not far, but deep
This is where I was born,
As into water fell the stone
Here's where my God Iefi me forlorn
And here's where He'll bring me home
Gundermann only lived to the age of 43.
He died suddenly.
On a cool night in June, on the summer solstice.
I'm gonna make my peace now
with you, God up in heav'n
I'll take what you can offer me
if it's life or death
I don't want to have to scramble
I don't want to have to piss off
And I don't wanna know
Who's been screwing me over
So fill it to the rim now
I'M empty this old vessel
Then give me back my cross
Or a handy fiddle
I'm gonna make my peace now
with you, little mosquito
You can go ahead and sting me,
I won't try to squash you
Go ahead and bite me,
I won't try to swat you
You just have to promise,
not to tell your buddies
Come on and tap the barrel
and let us lift our cups high
I'll fill up with red wine
so we can both survive
I'm gonna make my peace now
with all the idiots Who wanna save the world with
their two leftist feet
With every samurai,
and every kamikaze
With every local yokel, and every neo-Nazi
Who can't make the world any better; even though they want to
With far-too-stunted knives,
and far-too-lengthy nights
I'm gonna make my peace now
with you, god up in heav'n
I'll take what you can offer me
if it's life or death
I don't want to have to scramble
I don't want to have to piss off
And I don't wanna know
Who's been screwing me over
So fill it to the rim now
I'M empty this old vessel
Then give me back my cross
Or a handy fiddle
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