Original subtitles

The Compatriot

Heil Hitler!

Good evening

A tree fell across the road. We'll be here for a while.

Would you like some tea?

Yes!

Wait, Hugo. The tree won't clear itself.

My driver will borrow your axe.

Yes

Hugo, get the axe and go.

Borrow this too.

Thanks

Konrad Neumann

Bernat, Petr

Expecting a visitor?

I'm just out of habit.

And doesn't this just doing at Christmas?

It's tradition.

Guest in the house – God in the house

As it should be.

Enjoy it.

Where am I anyway?

Excuse me?

How far are we from Pilsen?

By car for about half an hour.

Great! I think I'd better walk there.

I'd rather not try that if I were you.

Are you going to eat that standing up?

Well I just...

Sit down, man!

What have we here?

Can we drink it?

It's homemade slivovitz.

But I only have it for extraordinary event.

The last day of the year seems like a sufficiently extraordinary event.

Are you trying to offend me?

No.

I just don't feel like it.

Do you know what happens to people like you, who insult people like me?

I knew you'd come to your senses.

I was supposed to be drinking in lady company by now.

But it seems I'll have to settle for you, Bernat.

What about you and the women?

Do you have any?

No.

And you should have?

My wife...

She left .

And on New Year's Eve…

But women come and go.

You know how many there are in the world.

And what did she do to you?

She died.

May the land be light to her.

What a blast!

(Sing) Just for this day, it's worth living...

Keep an eye on it!

I'm sorry.

It's from my wife.

You're from here, Bernat?

No, I'm from Chomutov.

No...

Yeah.

A countryman!

I'm from the Sudetenland too.

And what are you doing in this hole in no man's land?

I'm surviving…

Since you occupied us and banished us!

What are you talking about?

Because of you, a lot of Czech families lost their homes.

Including mine.

They lost it themselves when they left.

They left out of fear.

You could all stay, all you had to do was sign up to German nationality

Regardless,

Germany only took what belonged to it.

The Sudetenland always belonged to Czechoslovakia.

Czechoslovakia...

There is no Czechoslovakia any more.

But...

But I can actually understand you, I wouldn't want to accept the harsh truth either.

What truth?

That my own state is no state.

The Czechs are one of the oldest nations in Europe.

I'm not talking about the nation, I'm talking about the state.

I do not deny the existence of the Czech nation at all.

But I think a lot of people would agree with me that you're supposed to live within the Great German Empire.

So you don't deny our existence...

But you want us to merge with you whether we like it or not.

You know, it's needed in part.

If it weren't for your "Revivals"

"Pure snot"

And, finally, Masaryk with Beneš...

None of this might have been.

Perhaps it was thanks to those revivals that we proved we were a great nation

If it hadn't been for them we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble s.

That's a poor argument.

You have no right to occupy the Czechs simply because you are stronger.

If the Czechs respected the Sudeten Germans none of this would have to happen.

It's all your own fault.

So you think the Czechs are to blame for you terrorising the whole of Europe?

You don't understand anything, Bernat.

Then explain it to me.

I may surprise you, but this war pisses me off as much as it pisses you off.

But I have no choice.

I'm fighting for my country.

For my beliefs and opinions

And you would do the same in my place.

Regardless, we're trying to protect you.

By taking our homes and our landscapes?

Bernat, we both know that's German land.

What it would have been like if it hadn't been for the Germans...

But you know that right.

I know you don't hesitate to shoot anyone who disagrees with you.

How do you talk to me?

Fathers, sons and grandchildren…

And then you go and get drunk with others like you!

Hugo?

Hugo?

I don't smoke.

I hate that smell.

Let me show you something.

To the lady who was waiting for me in Pilsen

I wanted to put this ring on her.

You can imagine…

We'd be standing on the balcony.

It would start the new year .

And I would kneel before her.

I would like to see it...

German on his knees.

But it doesn't matter now.

What about you, Bernat?

Were you married to yours?

Over 50 years.

That's good.

She was the sweetest woman I met .

My beloved Maria

Could she make beer soup?

The best.

Well, that's too bad, I could have enjoyed something proper.

Beer soup is better than some vegetables in water.

I don't think you've eaten anything from my wife.

Why do you think?

My wife...

Was Jewish.

My Maria was gravely ill. She couldn't take care of herself anymore.

We don't have to talk about your wife.

Listen to me!

How dare you?

She was a pure soul. She never hurt anyone.

And you…

What about me?

It's your fault.

It's my fault?

Are you even listening to yourself?

The only thing that protected her was our marriage.

Until recently.

You wanted to deport her to Theresienstadt Ghetto.

You...

You had no right!

That's really enough.

I'm talking now!

Do you even realize who is sitting in front of you?

I was worried about her.

She was the whole world to me.

I am very sorry indeed.

This is how you think you fight for your beliefs and opinions?

I'm not going to talk about it anymore!

She didn't want to die in a strange place.

Far from me, far from home.

I promised her I would.

There was no other way.

What did you do, Bernat?

I had to kill her.

And it's all your fault!

Put the gun down.

She's still alive if there weren't people like you!

I didn't do anything to anybody.

I didn't kill your wife!

Wherever you turn up, you do whatever you want!

Captain, the tree is cleared!

Happy New Year.

Dedicated to all those forced from their homes as a result of foreign troops invading their territory...