Original subtitles

(Distant sirens)

MAN (on TV): Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, was assassinated last night

while walking home from the cinema with his wife Lisbet.

The assassination occurred in Sveavägen street in central Stockholm

ANC Safe House, Cape Town, South Africa

at 11:21 p.m., Central European Time.

Lisbet Palme was also wounded by a second shot, but survived.

The couple did not have bodyguards at the time.

MAN: Come away from the window Rose, please.

- Someone might see you standing there. - Or I'll see them first!

Sanjev is right, please step back from the window, it's dangerous.

You should've thought about that before you got Rose involved in this.

It's only a matter of time before the mercenaries track her down.

- Sanjev, stop. - You need to leave the country.

We will. We're headed North to find a new buyer.

Who's that?

The communists from the MPLA who defend the refinery.

(Dog barking in distance)

You're going to Angola? Over land?

With Rose and a load of weapons?

Through the border war, are you crazy?

♪♪

( dog barking in distance)

You might as well just walk straight into the Wild Geese Club.

(Man yelling in distance)

South Africa is a kind of paradise for mercenary killers of all stripes.

Ex-Foreign Legion, ex-SAS, ex-Green Berets,

all ex-something, all brutal, all white.

I wouldn't be surprised if Olof Palme was taken out by one of them.

Why would a South African mercenary go after

the Prime Minister of Sweden in Stockholm?

Their kill list goes way beyond our borders.

Palme gave a speech denouncing apartheid only days ago.

♪♪

Many of them are killing blacks, some communists.

Or their favorite: black communists.

(Dog growling, man screaming)

The good news is they'll do anything for money.

(Man screaming)

(Fly buzzing)

(Indistinct news report on radio)

(Glass bottles clanging)

Hello.

What's the best way into Angola?

Is that a riddle?

(Exhales)

It's treacherous over land through the border war.

- But most people take a plane. - Not a plane.

- Well, a boat then. - Not a boat.

- Then you need Banks. - Who?

No one knows the border lines like Banks.

He could navigate his way through that war zone with a baby in his arms.

♪♪

Over there.

The guy in the cage.

Take your money back.

(Ventilators whirring, fly buzzing)

That's my good girl.

Yes, a good girl.

Excuse me?

Are you Banks?

The bartender tells us you're the man we're looking for.

The bartender's an asshole.

(Dog growling)

Don't worry about the dog.

She only bites blacks.

When she was a baby, I used to put her in a bag

and beat her with a stick.

Then I'd get a black guy to open the bag,

the key being the first face she'd see after being beaten would be black.

That's how she learned to hate them.

(Dog barking)

You sure you don't have a black grandmother?

I doubt it.

What exactly do you need me for?

To get us into the country to this refinery.

Safely.

You know the two worst things that can happen to a guy in my line of business?

Getting killed and not getting paid.

And not necessarily in that order. So I would like payment up front.

Well, we were thinking about giving you a share afterwards.

(German) I think you're done here.

♪♪

(Door opens)

(Door closes)

(Street atmosphere, male and female groaning)

(Dog barking, bird chirping, children's voices in distance)

And?

(Ship horn, seagulls)

Huh.

He'll do it without the cash.

But he wants a diamond.

Two carats.

Great.

Let's just go it alone. Where are we going to get a huge diamond? Dig it up?

Didn't you say your tooth ached?

No. Why?

Dr. Winkelmann's diamond necklace was at least two carats.

(Huffs)

I hate dentists.

(Subtle, atmospheric sounds)

("Major Tom Coming Home" by Peter Schilling) ♪ Four, three, two, one ♪

♪ Earth below us ♪

♪ Drifting, falling ♪

♪ Floating weightless ♪

♪ Calling, calling home ♪

♪ Calling, calling home ♪

MAN (on TV): The Secretary General of the East German Communist Party

East German Foreign Intelligence Service HQ, East Berlin, East Germany

Erich Honecker,

welcomes the Secretary General of the Communist Central Committee,

Mikhail Gorbachev, on East German land.

(Knocking)

Comrade Schweppenstette,

could you help me to review these files?

Since my promotion, I've been totally overwhelmed.

I've got my hands full.

Sometimes we wonder: Have we been too self-critical?

Are we just feeding anti-Communist propaganda?

Those fireside chats with Reagan clouded Gorbachev's mind.

Or the CIA spiked his vodka.

(Exhales)

Where do we stand in all this?

Alone.

The realistic evaluation...

All alone.

... was the starting point for the elaboration of a constructive program

Its centerpiece is the acceleration

of the socioeconomic development of our country,

which is justified by the decisions of the Congress,

and the new version of the Party program.

(Dog barking in distance)

Why such a long line? No meat today?

Would you like no chicken today? Or no schnitzel?

(Laughter, baby crying)

The pantyhose won't be delivered for another two hours.

- What? - Everyone here for pantyhose move right...

- No way! - ... and make room for other customers.

Two hours?

My wife can forget about pantyhose.

This isn't Romania. You have everything you need.

- If you say so. - Yes.

(Background chatter)

Excuse me.

Are you all here for pantyhose?

♪♪(The Cure, "Close to Me")

Club Paradise, West Berlin, West Germany

♪♪

(English) Then Matthäus scores a goal

and the whole crowd goes wild.

It was insane, man. I wish we had pro soccer in America.

Hey, look, there's Alex.

- I'll say hi. - OK, go.

- Wanna come? - No, go.

(Crowd cheering)

You know that faggot?

No, he must have me confused. He's Katie's friend.

Your girl is hot, Private.

Look, I... I'll be right back.

♪♪

(Music fades into background)

(German) What was that, huh?

Come on, Alex. They don't know I volunteer at an AIDS hospice.

How do I explain that I know you?

Good question. You don't know yourself.

I'm a soldier, Alex. My first duty is to my country.

Before you serve your country, you have a duty to yourself.

What are you doing?

I don't know.

You're not ready.

(birds tweeting)

♪♪

Cape Town, South Africa

(Door opens, heavy breathing)

Good morning, Cape Town.

Good morning, Tobias.

How was the reading?

Good, thanks.

The South African ladies went crazy.

Of course.

Right, boys. Let's talk about our mission.

What's that for?

I'm going to chain up Thomas.

Listen up. Here's the entrance, and Winkelmann's office is here.

We'll enter here. Jason can get a photo from the other side.

You won't have much time to get the shot.

The shot heard round the world.

Winkelmann Dental & Residence, Cape Town, South Africa

(Crickets, birds tweeting, trees rustling, fly buzzing)

I'm actually closed today. But for you...

Thanks for fitting me in at such short notice.

Have a seat.

♪♪(Classical)

(Mechanical buzz)

(Music gets louder, snapping)

Mouth open, please.

♪♪ (Classical music continues)

Hm-hm.

Huh.

Oh yes.

You have a loose filling.

- I do? - 36, lower left.

We'll put in a new one.

Now?

Don't worry, we'll use local anesthetic.

Are you sure?

I could change a filling blindfolded.

Please don't.

You'll only feel a little prick. Easy.

I need water.

Maybe I'll get it done at home.

Excuse me?

And let a toothache ruin your whole trip?

I can't allow that.

(Music gets louder)

Open your mouth. Close your eyes.

Uh.

♪♪

All done.

Without anesthetic?

Yes, I like to surprise my patients.

But only the very brave ones.

It didn't hurt at all.

Where did you get this filling?

It was long ago. Munich.

♪♪

What'll it be?

Gold, porcelain or something simpler?

I'll take gold. Might as well do it right.

Where's Jason?

West German Embassy, Cape Town, South Africa

- No idea. - Without a photographer, we're screwed.

And I still need to give him instructions.

Can any of you work my camera?

Only you.

And you're the only one who can get the shot we need.

Can you handle it inside without me?

Sure.

Remember, Winkelmann's office is the only one with a window on this side.

Second floor, third door on the right.

And we only have 30 minutes.

Once Winkelmann arrives, things will get a lot more complicated.

(Male voice transmitting over two-way radio)

(Female voice transmitting over two-way radio)

(English) We're part of that group.

- Really? - Yes, really. Isn't it obvious?

(Weak signal over two-way radio)

I guess so.

- Through here. - Thank you.

(German) You're 20 minutes early.

- Better too early than too late. - Mr. Winkelmann isn't here yet.

- But the others are already inside. - Where did they go?

That way.

Fine. Come with me.

Give me a moment, I'll see where they are.

Well.

Well...

I read that book you gave me.

Did you?

It did not disappoint.

Why...

don't I show you around the house?

♪♪(Elvis Costello & the Impostors' "I Want You")

♪ You had your fun ♪

♪ Don't get well no more ♪

♪ I want you ♪

♪ Your fingernails go dragging down the wall ♪

♪ Be careful, darling, you might fall ♪

♪ I want you ♪

♪ I'm afraid I won't know where to stop ♪

♪ I want you ♪

♪ I'm not ashamed undressing you ♪

♪ Or you undressing ♪

♪♪

♪ I want you ♪

♪ He tossed some tatty compliment your way ♪

♪ I want you ♪

♪ The one who wants you ♪

Are you looking for something?

♪ I want you ♪

Are we alone?

We've got a maid.

Celeste.

But she's already made the bed.

There's Nelson, the gardener.

But he's in the garden.

Afraid?

Should I be?

Maybe.

(Knocking, distant honking, voice from two-way radio)

Hi, my colleague spotted you, and we had to ask...

are you the Thomas Posimski?

Yes, I am.

We love your book!

Great, thanks.

Why are you here in the parking lot?

WOMAN: Where are you losers?

What was that?

Just the radio.

We're a bit late, we're going to Table Mountain.

I see.

Could I just get an autograph?

Yes, of course.

(Bird chirping)

There.

We learned so much about the East...

How you live. And love there...

Right, thanks, bye.

Thanks.

♪♪

(Door closes in the distance)

What was that?

Must be Celeste.

♪♪

What's going on here?

♪♪

Frank.

No patients today?

I just did my Jane Fonda.

I'm jumping into the shower. Is everything all right?

I'm missing a yellow folder, it must be here.

On your desk under today's newspaper.

Oh, really?

Yes.

If I didn't have you!

(Breathing)

You look so good. I'm late for the office. Otherwise...

A little taste of what's to come...

(motor starts up)

(Accelerating)

(Crackly female voice on two-way radio)

Hm?

(Crackling radio signal, voice breaking up)

What's happening?

I think something's wrong with Dieter.

♪♪

Shit!

More apartheid?

That's Winkelmann! Do something, Thomas.

I'll take care of it.

(Camera clicking)

All the best.

(Faint, unnerving shrieking)

(German voices in background)

- Excuse me. - Yes.

I've lost my way. Could you tell me where to find...

♪♪

(German) My God!

(Civilian chatter gets louder)

- Power! - Power to the people!

- Power! - Power to the people!

I spoke with Fuchs.

(Dogs barking in the distance)

You'll be trained in Berlin.

No. My daughter needs me.

Your daughter is in good hands with your mother.

Here, at least I can see her. But from Berlin?

Rose, you're in danger, not your daughter.

Save yourself and take care of her later.

"Later."

No one can help to change South Africa like my colleagues in Berlin.

They can help you set up a whole communication network for the ANC.

What if the SADF track me in Europe, like Olof Palme?

In East Germany, you'll be safe behind the Iron Curtain.

Go to Berlin.

For your daughter.

And for yourself.

(Distant voices)

Also I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you.

(kissing, groaning)

(Running water)

(Water stops running)

Can you bring me a towel?

Greetings from General DeGraaf.

(gasping)

♪♪

(gasping)

- Where are the fuckin' weapons? - I don't know.

(Loud thump)

You might need this.

What about you?

I've got my own.

(South African language) I'm going to take a long trip.

(Crickets, distant chatter, dog barking)

To a new land with snow.

Yes. I'll buy a warm coat.

Give my love to Granny.

I love you.

(Uneasy laughing)

Everything is changing.

We'll see each other very soon.

If you say so.

♪♪

Uh-uh.

Kleinmachnow, East Germany

MAN (on TV): In Cape Town today, activists occupied the West German Embassy

to protest the South African apartheid regime.

(Yelling from TV, piano playing)

Girls, come eat an apple.

Now!

(Voice of news reporter from TV)

Did you fill in everything?

- I'm sending it in. I feel good about it. - Me, too.

(Dog whimpers)

Why does Sandra have to go to a special school?

I don't have to, I want to.

Karl Marx is the best math and science secondary school in Berlin.

How do you know?

Mama went there.

Look! Uncle Thomas!

Among the protesters was author Thomas Posimski.

My little brother!

I'm only paraphrasing Nelson Mandela when I say:

"When a man is denied basic rights and freedom,

he has no choice but to become an outlaw."

The activists...

AIDS Hospice West Berlin, West Germany

occupied the West German Embassy to draw attention to the crimes of apartheid...

and denounced trade relations between West Germany and South Africa,

which have continued despite the UN embargo.

MAN 2 (on TV): We sat down for a serious talk with diplomats...

and transformed our embassy into a symbol of freedom and justice.

We can't just sit around and knit scarves in parliament.

We must expose the injustice of apartheid to the world.

Hear, hear.

You know him?

Not really.

I met him at a peace rally, once. I think it was 1983...

Tim!

(Protests from TV)

Look.

Other people fly around the world to stand up for their convictions.

(Chuckling)

Other news.

The first Secretary of the Central Committee...

- Pizza? - Sure thing.

The dinner is at 8:30.

Almost ready.

How was your day?

Ridiculous. That writer, Posimski?

He came in with his alternative buddies and made a big scene about apartheid.

- Thomas Posimski? - Yeah.

Banners and chanting...

In the end, he chained himself to a tree in front of the embassy.

Where's our rug?

At the cleaners.

I'll top this up before we head out.

I'll be right down.

(Traditional South African chorus singing)

(Singing continues)

What?

Afraid we'll leave you behind?

(Traditional South African singing ends)

(Wind, birds)

So, what was that, honey?

Take a guess.

You told him you do anything for me.

(Portuguese) Thank you.

(Fly buzzing)

How far?

It's a way to go.

(Slides clicking)

WOMAN: This Max Liebermann is a great example.

Our Arts & Antiquities Division found it on a wall in Pankow,

where it had collected dust for years.

Now we're in talks with a very wealthy collector in New York.

As they say: One man's trash is another man's treasure.

So next time you visit friends, make sure to look at their walls.

Thank you.

Here at the Intelligence Division (HVA), your assets are less material,

but not less valuable.

You mean people's life stories shouldn't just sit around collecting dust?

The next time you visit friends...

Mrs. Dietrich means that through our work, we gain unique insight

not only into the lives and minds of our citizens,

but into the minds of people all over the world...

Take the Beroxalin medical study. Normally, patients cost us money.

Now they earn money and are being cured.

It's a win-win situation.

How's the study going, Comrade Schneider?

Well, twelve patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

in the clinic in Potsdam are taking part in the Beroxalin trial.

Things are definitely going well.

Great. That's the fresh air I was hoping to bring into this committee!

The next point on our agenda concerns a note sent down from the very top.

We need to boost morale in our organization.

We need to remind them of the strength and beauty of the socialist project

and distract them from changes taking place across the Eastern Bloc.

(Inhaling, exhaling)

I mean, the more you hear about starving Romanians...

We shouldn't just think of our own organization,

but about all the citizens of East Germany.

Right.

Suggestions for a... smart initiative?

For a cheap initiative.

Hm?

( passing honking, tapping)

♪♪

The Anti-Fascist Protection Wall turns 25 this year.

We could import fireworks from China.

Everybody loves fireworks.

All our foreign currency up in smoke? In ten minutes?

(Exhales)

I have an idea.

I'm something of an amateur astronomer. On the side, of course.

And there's a forest in Prignitz that's so dark,

you can see more stars at night than anywhere else I've ever been.

With a telescope,

you can see all the way to the Milky Way!

We could invite our distinguished workers and farmers to camp out there...

to see the stars.

When you look into the sky at night, you feel like part of something grand.

There are so many suns.

And moons.

♪♪ (Grand, operatic-orchestral music)

And when you add the possibility of life on other planets, well,

you don't feel so alone.

No one feels alone in East Germany.

FUCHS: Or we could invest...

in a new cruise ship and revive the annual cruise for the workers?

How much would that cost?

We could get a used boat from the West for 120 million.

120 million?

It would be cheaper to let them stay home and watch Love Boat illegally on West TV

But...

I'll give you 90 million. You find the rest.

Sure.

How's the Würfel & Struth deal in South Africa going, Comrade Fuchs?

All according to plan.

Ah. Comrade Hartmann...

come here.

My pharma project is extremely demanding.

From now on, I'm delegating the 1MB microchip project to you.

Yes, I know.

What were they talking about today?

I pitched the Star Forest in the Prignitz. Nobody checked it.

"Checked it?"

Of course they went for the Dream Ship instead.

The TV show?

No.

A cruise for our distinguished workers to some tropical brother nation...

Etc. Etc. Naturally without going ashore.

Naturally without going ashore!

And Dietrich will only cough up half the money.

Well, good luck.

Yeah.

The Star Forest could have been so much more inspirational.

And so much cheaper!

Hm-hm.

(Pop)

(singing, chanting)

Cuanza Norte, Angola

MAN: Jonas Savimbi, the UNITA leader,

brandishes an American rifle and proclaims its excellence.

- That's good, that's excellent. - WOMAN: Excellent?

- Would you like more of them? - Oh, yes.

I hope that they will get some more.

MAN: Savimbi has no words of comfort.

He says he now has no hope of establishing

the kind of Angola he dreamed of.

But if it happens, defeat by the MPLA won't mean the end of hostilities,

but rather the beginning of a new kind of war.

(dog barking)

(English) Where the fuck are we?

Gary.

Gary.

(Sound of piston, motor turns off)

MARTIN: Those guys aren't communists.

(Background gibbering, crickets)

They're UNITA rebels.

Those aren't exactly machine parts in the back either, are they?

What the fuck, Gary.

GARY: You guys know each other, right?

Give me the keys to the back.

(German) Look who's there, Martin.

General DeGraaf. Holy shit.

Time to find yourself a new lover.

Very funny.

Seven crates of the shoulder-launch missiles stay here, two stay with us.

(Portuguese) Tell the others to remove the seven crates marked with chalk.

(English) And get a guy a beer.

This oil refinery is a central engine of the MPLA war machine.

Without it, they'll run out in a few months.

And now that the money from Moscow is drying up, they're vulnerable.

Lieutenant-Colonel Kalumba.

He's expecting a shipment to the oil dispensary this morning.

Let the Germans do the talking and you'll have no problem getting in.

Kalumba sounds like an infectious disease.

DEGRAAF: That's one way of looking at it.

He's the commie MPLA Lieutenant-Colonel. He runs this place.

He's the one paying for the weapons.

Your guys will be here in the truck with the crates, out of sight.

Once you get to the control room with Kalumba,

we'll place the blasting charge next to the naphtha gas pipe

under the cracking unit.

This tank is full of liquid petroleum.

One charge...

and we blow the whole place up.

Boom.

That looks tight, you got a small guy?

(Laughter, bottles clanging)

(Glass smashing, laughter)

(Laughter continues)

(Portuguese) You wanna be a fighter, right?

Today's your big day, little man.

Get up.

(Contained banging)

(German) Calm down.

DeGraaf got the weapons without paying a cent.

Why shouldn't they just kill us?

It depends on what they're planning.

(Crickets, background chatter)

- (English) You're the little guy? - Roberto.

After Roberto has placed the charge,

you have 15 minutes to get the hell out of there.

With Kalumba.

Without the Germans.

- (Crowd noise) - (The Cars, "Tonight She Comes")

(Dance music ends)

♪♪