Original subtitles

Together with major contributions...

by many others, present:

A film in 13 parts with an epilogue, based on the novel by Alfred Döblin.

Dearest little nightingale,

Summer greets from hill and dale...

Her face is destroyed,

her teeth are destroyed, her eyes are destroyed,

her mouth, lips, tongue, and throat,

her body, her legs, her womb.

I am yours. You should comfort me.

I'm not feeling well.

Come on. We're nearly home.

I am yours.

The trees sway, the wind begins to blow.

The night goes on.

Her body destroyed, her eyes, her tongue, her mouth...

Come on. We're nearly home.

I am yours.

A tree groans, standing by the wayside.

It is the storm.

It comes with drums and fifes.

Now it's up above the forest.

Now it descends. When it howls, it's down below.

Part 13: The Outside and the Inside and the Secret of Fear of the Secret

The whimpering comes from the bushes.

It's as if something were being scratched.

It howls like a caged dog. It whines and whimpers.

Listen how it whimpers!

Someone must have kicked it with his heel.

Now it's stopping again.

Eva?

Why are you sitting here all alone, Franz?

Mieze has walked out on me.

You could have called me or dropped by.

If Mrs Bast hadn't called me, I wouldn't have known anything.

I'm so ashamed, Eva.

Don't worry, Franz. Mieze will be back. She's fond of you.

She won't leave you.

I'm a good judge of people.

I know.

I know all that.

Do you think I'm worried?

I know very well she'll come back.

There you are.

The girl's got a reason.

Maybe she ran into an old friend, or went for a spin.

I've known her much longer than you have.

She does things like that, gets some bee in her bonnet.

Maybe.

But it's still strange.

I don't know.

She loves you, Franz.

Franz.

Look.

Look at my tummy.

Don't you want to feel it?

How come?

What's up?

It's from you, Franz. You know, something small.

That's what Mieze wanted.

That's right.

Mieze...

wanted it.

My God, Eva.

Eva!

Eva, it's not possible!

Just wait, Franz, till she comes back:

boy, will she make a face! You can't imagine it.

You see: now you're all upset.

Why are you so upset?

It's driving me crazy.

I just don't understand the girl.

So now I have to comfort you.

No, no. It's just my nerves.

Maybe it's because of the baby.

Hey. Just stop crying, Eva!

When Mieze comes back, she'll make such a fuss about it.

Franz, what should we do?

It's not like her at all.

First you say it's nothing:

she's gone for a spin with someone.

Then you say it's not like her!

I just don't know either!

Can I... again?

What?

Listen to the baby.

Come on, then.

Although you can't hear anything yet.

Yes, I can hear it.

The storm returns.

It is night. The forest is quiet, one tree next to another,

grown tall together in peace.

Now they stand together like a herd.

When they stand so close, the storm can't reach them so easily.

Only the weak and outer ones succumb.

I'm not giving up the child. I'm keeping it,

even if Herbert throws a fit.

Why? Has Herbert said anything?

No. He thinks it's his.

But I'm keeping it.

And I'll be the godfather.

You're in a good mood, Franz.

Quite simply because...

nobody gets to me so easily.

Cheer up, Eva!

I know my Mieze after all.

She won't run under a bus. It'll all work out.

I guess you're right. Bye.

Hey. What's up?

No kiss today?

You're so cheerful, Franz.

We have legs, we have teeth, we have eyes, we have arms:

just let someone come and try to bite us or bite Franz!

Just let someone come!

He's got two arms, two legs, he's got muscles.

He'll beat everything to a pulp.

Just let someone get to know Franz! He's no pushover.

What we've been through, what we still have to go through,

just let someone emulate that!

We'll drink to it, two drinks, nine drinks.

We have no legs, we have no teeth,

we have no eyes, we have no arms.

Anyone can come along and bite Franz.

He's a pushover. He can't defend himself.

All he can do is drink.

All the wind does is puff out its chest.

Just watch: it takes a breath,

then blows it out: whooh, whooah, whoo-whooh.

Then it inhales and exhales again.

Each breath is as strong as a mountain.

Blowing out.

The mountain is rolled up and rolled out again.

The wind exhales...

backward and forward.

Mieze's been gone three weeks now,

but there's nothing I can do.

I just can't tell anyone.

Eva knows, Meck knows, and Mrs Bast knows.

But I just can't tell anyone.

What else should I do?

Inform the cops?

They'd just laugh at me.

It is night. The sun has gone down.

It starts again. There it is.

Now it's down below, up above, and all around,

an amber light in the sky, and night again.

Amber light, night.

The whimpering and whistling grow stronger.

Those at the edge...

know what they're in for.

They whimper.

The grasses...

can bend, can wave,

but what can the thick trees do?

Suddenly, the wind stops blowing.

It has given up,

stopped doing it.

Still they whine before it.

What will it do now?

Go ahead! Hide yourself, Mieze!

I'll find you.

You can't hide yourself that well.

Some day I'll be able to row as well as I could when I had both arms.

I'll do it just for you, Mieze,

because you deserve a whole man, not just half,

and because I want you to be proud of me,

and because I love you.

No need to keep me in suspense any longer.

You can come now.

Or would you rather I came?

No?

My God,

then you should come.

Breath is a weight, a sphere...

that pushes and drives against the forest.

And when the forest stands on the hills like a herd of animals,

the wind runs around the herd and roars through it.

Hello.

Breath is a weight,

a sphere...

that thrusts and drives against the forest.

When the forest stands on the hills like a herd of animals,

the wind runs around the herd and roars through it.

Haven't seen each other in ages.

That's right.

Come on in.

I've been away.

I met a girl with a lot of loot.

She invited me.

Well, you could've sent a postcard.

I'm not so great at writing cards.

And anyway, I always forget.

Usually I can't think of anyone I should write to.

Okay. It was just a joke.

There's a dispute going on in there with Pums about...

all sorts of things.

You'll vote for us, won't you?

Sure, if you say so.

You've given it more thought than I have.

Yeah, it's better if you vote for us,

definitely better.

If you want to knock down a house, you can't do it with your bare hands.

You have to use a battering ram or bury dynamite beneath it.

hello.

hello.

You don't have the faintest idea about it.

The important thing first of all...

is to study the market,

to find buyers, and to understand...

that when clothing doesn't sell,

you have to switch to furs or something else.

What is there to study?

That's right. It can't be so hard to figure that out.

If clothing doesn't go, you have to switch to something else.

Really,

it can't be that difficult.

All right,

I know what you think.

You think everything can be done in no time at all.

The problem, however, is to understand...

that the economy's in a bad way,

and to decide the right time to change.

The fact that such decisions are the crucial thing...

is something you don't grasp - none of you.

- Not one of you. - That's right.

And who takes care of the competition?

Basically you don't have to worry about the competition.

Really you don't.

Sure there are competitors...

in this trade as in any other.

But what do we care about them?

They're no problem for us at all.

Okay. So the competition is no problem. If you say so.

The problem is keeping up to date, though,

and having the latest equipment...

and knowing what opportunities exist.

That's what counts, and someone has to take care of that.

That's right. Someone who knows the ropes.

And one thing I can tell you guys: without Pums you're finished.

He does all that for you. He reads the newspapers...

and takes care of all the shit you know nothing about.

If you don't want to use the latest methods...

and take advantage of the opportunities the outfit offers,

you understand,

then sure, you don't need to work in a team of six or eight.

Then it'd be more logical for everyone to pinch his own stuff...

and try his own luck.

Exactly!

You've put it in a nutshell, Pums.

Under these circumstances, it makes more sense...

for everyone to work on his own,

instead of all for one.

Do you understand?

What Reinhold says is true.

Why should we all work for one guy?

On the other hand, in my opinion,

a genuine collaboration...

would be the finest thing of all.

We're all in favor of working together,

otherwise we wouldn't be here.

But why work in an outfit, where one guy has more rights,

and the others have no way of controlling things?

That's the least one should have:

a little trust in such a group.

That's an absolute must.

Of course, if you don't trust me, okay...

Just a minute.

If cooperation between people is based on a system...

in which everyone has to trust one guy,

then a lot of people are dependent on that guy...

and at his mercy.

That's baloney!

We all know that just stealing things won't fill our bellies.

You swipe the stuff, and you've got the goods.

But turn them into cash!

Then you need connections, and Pums has them,

unlike the rest of us.

Absolutely right!

All the robbery in the world is nothing nowadays.

It takes more than crowbars and blowtorches.

You need to be a businessman today.

Right.

You need to be a businessman today.

That's why you're a silent partner in so many small businesses.

In fur stores, for instance,

and many others.

And that's the reason...

why we always have to steal goods...

and never go for money, right?

Because Pums can trade the goods with his own shops.

Right?

That's sheer baloney.

Goods are simply not as dangerous as money.

Do you think you'd still be running around free...

if you'd gone for money instead of goods?

Do you really believe that?

The whole concept is wrong.

Goods have to be altered before being sold.

They go through 5 or 6 pairs of hands.

That's more dangerous than straight money.

That's right.

And why do you think Pums is the only one among us...

to have feathered his nest for the winter?

I don't know what you want,

but if you think I'm cheating you...

Okay, if you want, one of you can always be around...

to check up on me.

We don't want to be in an outfit,

where one guy has to check on another.

We want equal rights.

Fine, but with equal obligations.

And shared responsibility.

Yes, that's it: responsibility.

You want equal rights, and maybe equal obligations,

but never equal responsibility.

You're afraid of that.

If you say so.

I, for my part, have a plan.

So you've got a plan.

What kind of plan?

What kind of plan could he have?

Come on, Rudi! Out with it!

Out with this plan of yours!

Go on.

Tell them about it.

Well, there's this bandage factory on Stralauer Strasse...

in a backyard, with a safe in a private office,

with a very big sum of money in it.

Since the building's in a backyard, there's no danger at all.

What's more, the safe's pretty ancient.

And there's money in it, cash.

Not tomatoes or pants...

or some ridiculous fur coats.

That's the important thing:

money for once, not goods.

With money, it's impossible to cheat.

You can split up money six ways, five ways, or nine.

Money can be divided up precisely.

Well, all I can say is: I'm against it.

Yes, and I think the whole idea is idiotic.

How do you know if Rudi has figured everything out right?

I mean really calculated everything.

How do you know?

We know because we helped him do it.

But I think the matter's very simple.

If you're against it,

let's take a vote, huh?

Take a vote?

I haven't heard such baloney in a long time.

But okay, for all I care. Let's take a vote.

Why should we?

Give them their chance.

Very well, gentlemen, all those in favor...

of doing this job Rudi has thought up, raise their hands.

Well, I reckon...

with Franz's vote we're in the majority, aren't we?

Now it goes...

without drums and without fifes.

The trees sway to right and left.

But they can't keep in time.

When the trees sway to the left,

It goes over to the left-hand side.

They snap, clap, flap,

crack, burst, pelt down.

Let me try.

You need to know what you're doing.

I still want to try.

And I say, it's no use.

It's really no use.

You have to know how it works.

You have to stop!

The guard will be back any minute now.

Come on! Let's get out of here!

You're such a damned idiot!

I've never seen such an idiot.

That was our only chance,

and you've ruined everything.

You've handed him all the trump cards, every single one!

You've screwed up everything, you fool!

Idiot!

Goes the storm.

You must go left...

Go back! It's all over. It's past.

You have to wait for the right moment.

Here it comes again.

Watch out!

Those are bombs.

It wants to tear down the forest.

It wants to crush the entire forest.

You idiot!

As I've always said,

goods are better.

For everything else, you have to be a specialist, Meck.

You idiot!

You know very well that could happen to anybody.

Maybe, but it didn't have to happen today.

Today or tomorrow, goods are better.

The trees roar and sway.

It patters. They break. It sputters.

Life is at stake.

The sun has gone.

Falling weights.

Night.

I am yours. Come! We'll soon be there. I am yours.

Quick! Go in there!

Mrs Bast!

Yes?

Were you asleep?

Yes.

I'm sorry.

Would you happen to have any bandages,

and a salve? Or powder would be better.

A friend of mine's burned himself.

Just a minute. I'll have to look.

What time is it?

No idea. Three or four.

You've got nerve!

I've got something in the box there.

I drink a little...

and my woman's already screaming.

Or it's New Year's Eve,

and I come home,

and she's not there.

She...

doesn't come home until seven o'clock.

She's slept with another guy.

She's cheated on me.

I've given up my business,

and haven't got a wife anymore.

And Franz...

with Mieze...

Reinhold's a swine.

That's okay, Mrs Bast. You go back to bed!

Come here, Meck.

Sit down over here.

Give me your hand.

Sure, it hurts a bit, but you must have expected that.

- Is that better? - Yes.

It's idiotic...

that this had to happen today.

You can't choose your defeats.

So they say,

and it's probably true, but that doesn't say anything really.

No, no. I have to do that on my own.

Bandaging like that, you know,

calls for sensitivity from the person applying it,

and from the one who feels it.

Sometimes, I notice while I'm speaking that...

what I'm saying is a load of baloney, but...

I like to say it anyway.

- Franz. - Yes?

I should have told you something long ago.

Oh, yes? What's that?

About Reinhold,

Franz,

Reinhold's a bad guy.

Meck, if there's one thing I can't stand,

it's people knocking Reinhold.

He's a good guy at heart,

even if none of you can see it.

You're blind, Franz,

in both eyes.

Okay, Meck, let's not talk about it anymore.

There's nobody I can talk to about it.

Hardly to myself either.

In his innermost heart, there are two he loves.

One is his Mieze, the other is Reinhold.

I'm going now.

I haven't told you everything...

that I wanted to and ought to tell you.

I hope you'll be able to forgive me for it some day.

Do you know how late it is?

Yes. Will you give me another one?

Okay, but make it quick. I need some sleep, too.

What's up with your hand?

Nothing. I burned it.

I see. You burned it.

Max,

you know about things that aren't quite lawful.

I wanted to ask you something.

That depends. I'm not a lawyer,

but maybe I can help you.

I just wanted to know...

what the situation is if you...

help bury a corpse?

Bury a corpse? What does that mean?

Well, when you find someone who's dead,

and you bury him.

Is it a corpse...

you wanted to hide, shot by the police or something?

Whatever.

The main thing is you didn't kill the person yourself,

but you don't want the body to be found.

Can you be held responsible then?

Well, it depends if you knew the dead person,

if you had some advantage in burying him.

An advantage.

I didn't have any advantage in it.

It was done in friendship.

I just helped.

Someone's lying there, dead, and...

I thought it'd be better if the body wasn't found.

You mean found by the police?

That's just unlawfully concealing evidence, I'd say.

But it also depends on how the person died.

I don't know. I wasn't there.

Just doing things for other people.

I'm not an accessory. I knew nothing about it.

It's lying there,

dead.

Then suddenly it's: "Give me a hand! We're going to bury it."

Who said that to you?

Who said it?

Who said that to me?

Somebody.

I just want to know where I stand.

Have I committed a crime in helping bury it?

Not the way you describe it,

not really,

or at least nothing very serious,

if you weren't involved...

or didn't have a vested interest in it.

But why, I ask,

did you help do it?

I just lent a hand...

out of friendship.

I didn't help do it.

But that doesn't matter.

I had nothing to do with it.

I didn't stand to gain from it either.

Around the world,

somewhere in the world,

around the world,

in absolute calm and peace.

With some people you can do what you like:

they always land on their feet.

There are people like that.

What was she wearing?

A dark skirt and a pink blouse.

Silk?

Maybe it was silk.

But it was pale pink.

Anything else?

She always wore something in her hair,

something like a bow.

A bow?

Inspector!

Just a moment.

We've found this ribbon.

Over there, where the soil's dug up.

By that tree trunk lying on the ground.

Was it a bow like this?

That'll be all, officer.

Yes, sir.

All right,

so when you arrived, the girl was already dead?

How do you want to prove it?

How come?

Well,

when your Reinhold says...

you killed her,

or that you helped...

I helped carry her.

Why should I kill the girl?

For the same reason he killed her,

or allegedly did.

But I wasn't even with her.

You were in the afternoon.

But not afterwards.

She was still alive then.

That's a shaky alibi.

Where were you in the evening...

and during the night...

after this business with Reinhold?

I was out of town.

Out of town.

He gave me his passport, and I beat it,

so that I'd have an alibi if it came to light.

Strange.

And why do you report it now?

Were you such good friends with him back then?

No, I wasn't,

but Franz was.

Ah, they seem to have found something.

She was the daughter of a streetcar conductor from Bernau.

Her mother ran out on her husband.

Sometimes the girl went to Berlin.

A few times, she went with a guy to a hotel.

Then it was too late, she didn't dare go home.

She stayed in Berlin, where she met Eva.

Finally she found a regular partner,

a strong, one-armed guy, whom Mieze immediately liked,

and she stayed true to him to the end.

It was a terrible end, a sad end that Mieze met.

Why?

What had she done wrong?

Drawn into the maelstrom of Berlin, she certainly wasn't innocent,

but she cared for the guy who was her partner like a child...

with a tender, unquenchable love.

She was destroyed because she happened to stand next to that man.

That's life.

It's hard to imagine.

She went to Freienwalde to protect her friend,

and there she was strangled and done away with.

That's life.

And I turned and saw the injustice of everything...

that took place beneath the sun.

How much Job suffered before he had experienced everything.

Job rent his clothes, he bit his own hands.

He tore his hair, heaped earth upon himself.

But not enough:

Job was stricken with sores...

from the soles of his feet to his thighs.

He sat in the sand, and pus flowed from him.

He took a shard and scraped himself.

Come in.

Miss Eva is here, Mr Biberkopf.

Eva?

Hello, Eva!

Well, my girl, what's up?

Something's up.

Whenever you're like that, something's up.

Has something happened?

- Nothing bad, is it? - Leave me alone.

Okay, Eva. Would you mind telling me what's wrong?

Come inside.

Is something up with Herbert?

Did he smack you one?

I'm not coming in.

I'm not coming in. I'm not.

What's the matter with her?

I haven't done anything.

You dumb women!

Stop making a fuss!

You think I'm some poor ape anyway,

who belongs to you.

I'm so sorry, Miss Eva,

so very sorry - for you, of course...

and for Mieze.

But it's worst of all for Franz, isn't it?

Hey, that's me!

That's me...

and Reinhold.

"Prostitute murdered in Freienwalde.

Emilie Karsunke from Berlin..."

"Emilie Karsunke from Berlin."

What's all this?

What does it mean?

Murder.

Mieze?

My picture in the paper...

My picture.

Me and Reinhold...

and murder.

"Emilie Karsunke from Berlin."

Me...

and Reinhold...

and murder.

"Emilie Karsunke from Bernau in Freienwalde..."

How did she wind up in Freienwalde?

Me...

and Reinhold.

Well, Franz, what do you say now?

"Murder near Freienwalde.

Emilie Karsunke from Bernau,

born June 13th, 1904."

She's dead?!

That's why we couldn't find her.

And why is your picture in the paper?

I don't know. For God's sake!

What is all this?

I don't know how it got in the paper either!

It's strange.

What happened?

She's dead.

Something must have happened to her.

Now we know:

she didn't leave me.

Someone killed her.

Eva!

Our Mieze - someone's killed her.

My Mieze.

Eva, have you read it?

Someone killed her... Mieze.

Someone killed Mieze, our Mieze.

She didn't run away. She didn't leave me.

Something happened to her.

She didn't run out on me!

In the terrible tragedy in Prague, 21 bodies have been recovered.

Some 150 people lie buried in the ruins.

Only a few minutes before, this heap of rubble...

had been a new seven-storey building.

Now many people lie dead or seriously injured beneath it.

The entire reinforced concrete structure,

weighing 880 tons,

collapsed into the two stories below ground.

When a policeman heard the structure cracking,

he warned passing pedestrians.

With great aplomb, he leapt onto an approaching streetcar...

and pulled the brake himself.

Heavy storms are raging over the Atlantic.

Bergmann has been put on trial:

an economic parasite, unscrupulous, a public enemy.

The Graf Zeppelin arrives over Berlin with poor visibility.

The airship leaves Friedrichshafen at 2:17 a.m. beneath a starlit sky.

To avoid bad weather over central Germany,

the airship follows a route over Stuttgart, Darmstadt,

Frankfurt am Main, Giessen, Kassel,

and Rathenow. At 8:35 a.m. it is over Nauen,

at 8:45 over Staaken.

Shortly before nine, the Zeppelin appeared over the city.

In spite of rainy weather,

onlookers crowded the rooftops,

cheering the airship on its way...

as it made a curve over the east and north of the city.

At 9:45 a.m. the first mooring rope was dropped in Staaken.

What are you laughing about?

I asked you why you're laughing.

What is there to laugh about?!

Tell me!

Why am I laughing?

Do you really want to know why I'm laughing?

Just ask yourself why I'm laughing.

Why am I laughing?

Because Mieze's dead,

and because she didn't run out on me.

And because somebody killed her,

and because Mieze didn't run out on me.

Do you understand?

No, Franz. I don't understand.

No...

There is a reaper,

whose name is Death,

And he arrives...

on hatchets and knives,

blowing a little flute.

Then he opens wide his jaws,

and he takes out his trumpet.

Will he blow the trumpet?

Will he beat the drum?

Will the terrible black battering ram come?

Ever so softly...

No!

I lay under the car.

It was just like now.

There was a mill and a quarry

and it was pouring down on me incessantly.

I pull myself together,

but no matter what I do, it's no use.

It wants to put an end to me.

Even if I were an iron girder,

it would want to smash me.

Yes, something's going to happen.

What's going to happen?

Watch out, Franz. They're after you.

Anything new?

Herbert.

Herbert, did you read it?

I'm supposed to have killed Mieze.

Me?

I may have given her a good hiding, but...

they think that because I...

because I did Ida in...

Look at me, Eva.

Is something wrong with me?

Hey, look at me.

Is there something wrong with me?

No.

Just look at me and say if there's something wrong with me!

- No. - There must be!

What should I do?

Meck was out in Freienwalde as well.

They dragged Mieze out there.

Then Reinhold...

did it with brute force.

Why should Reinhold have done it?

He threw me under the car.

You might as well know now:

it was Reinhold.

But it doesn't matter. I'm not mad at him because of it.

But when I learn something like that...

and a guy has to learn things...

If he doesn't learn, he'll never know anything.

You run around like an idiot...

with no knowledge of the world.

I'm not mad at him.

He wanted to put me in my place.

He thought he had me in his pocket,

but I wasn't in his pocket.

He didn't have me in his pocket, and he saw that.

That's why he took Mieze away from me...

and did that to her.

But...

it wasn't...

it wasn't Mieze's fault.

Why?

Why, oh, why?

All because...

"All because of some hullabaloo, some hullabaloo.

All because of some hullabaloo."

But that doesn't worry me.

It doesn't worry me at all now.

Why didn't you tell Mieze about it?

It's not my fault.

There's nothing you can do about it.

He could have shot me down when I was at his place.

I tell you, though,

there's nothing you can do about it.

If only you'd said something,

Mieze would be alive today.

She'd be alive today if you had said just one word,

and that other jerk...

would be running around with his head under his arm.

It's not my fault.

You can never tell what a guy will do.

Who knows what he's doing now?

You never find out things like that.

You bet I'll find out! Just wait!

Don't go near him, Herbert. I'm afraid, too.

I'll take care. I just have to find out where he's holed up,

and half an hour later, the cops will have him.

Hands off him, Herbert.

He's not yours.

He belongs to me,

to me.

End of part 13

Franz Biberkopf has reached the end of his mortal path.

The time has come to break him.

The man is finished.