Das Wunder von Berlin (2007)

Marco Kaiser is just 18 years old and a punk. He lives in his parents’ house. His father, Jürgen, is a lieutenant colonel in the Ministry for State Security (MfS); his mother, Hanna, used to be a nurse and now works in a bookshop. His grandfather Walter, Jürgen’s father, also lives in the house. When Marco attends a forbidden punk concert with Anja, a student nurse, they are arrested and interrogated. Marco’s father learns that his son has been detained. While still in the interrogation cell, he makes his son promise to join the National People’s Army (NVA). This allows him to avert Marco’s threatened imprisonment in Bautzen Prison. On the condition that Marco will not have to serve on border duty and that Anja is also released, Marco agrees and becomes a recruit. He introduces Anja to his family. Hanna immediately takes a liking to the girl, and Grandfather Walter soon warms to Anja too; Jürgen, however, remains suspicious. At the Ministry, Lieutenant Colonel Jürgen Kaiser learns from his lover, First Lieutenant Marion Niemann of the MfS Main Directorate I, that Anja has a file linking her to OV-Tango, the operational case Tango. Anja believes she is an orphan; she grew up in an orphanage. She thinks both her parents died in a traffic accident. In fact, Anja is the daughter of Major Wolf, who was sent to Chile as a military adviser, was taken prisoner there and—as the file indicates—was probably “turned.” As a result, his daughter was taken away from him. After returning to East Germany, Major Wolf managed to prove himself. By chance, he becomes Marco’s superior officer. Jürgen Kaiser believes Anja has been sent to target him and his family, and throws her out. In the cellar, he burns all the Western literature Grandfather had brought back from his visits to the West. Jürgen, a committed supporter of real socialism and a member of the SED, hates his father for his old-fashioned views; Walter is still inwardly caught up in the Second World War and the captivity he suffered in Siberia. At the bookshop, Hanna comes into contact with the country’s progressive forces, including the professor and his partner, Juliana, and begins to get involved with the New Forum. The political situation gathers momentum, and the reformist forces gain support through events such as the peace services, the New Forum, the Leipzig Appeal, and the Monday demonstrations. At the Ministry, Jürgen is shown photographs of Hanna, Anja, and Walter at a peace demonstration. As his family changes politically, Jürgen feels his private world beginning to collapse too. He considers the developments counterrevolutionary. “Why are you abandoning me now?” he shouts at his wife. “What do you think the comrades will do to me when they find out that my wife supports the New Forum?” Marco distinguishes himself in the NVA, where Major Wolf encourages him. Marco, formerly one of the country’s elite athletes—he was on the national swimming team—is given the chance to rise into the NVA’s leadership elite as well. Serving at the antifascist defensive rampart, the “Wall,” is now a patriotic duty for him. He believes he is protecting his country. Television reports show the wave of people fleeing via Hungary and Austria. Hanna and Juliana use the bookshop’s photocopier to reproduce the Leipzig Appeal. Jürgen tries to stop them. The love between Jürgen and Hanna, which has grown cold, erupts into open conflict. Their marriage falls apart, and Hanna moves out. Grandfather Walter cannot stay either. After a heart attack, he is admitted to a retirement home. Television shows the press conference at which Günter Schabowski announces the opening of the Wall and freedom to travel abroad: “Private trips abroad may be applied for without any prerequisites (reasons for travel or family relationships). Permits will be issued at short notice. The responsible passport and registration departments of the People’s Police district offices in the GDR are instructed to issue visas for permanent emigration without delay, without requiring the conditions for permanent emigration to be met. […] Permanent departures may take place via all GDR border crossings to the FRG or West Berlin.” Television images of the Berlin Wall and the border crossings convey the overwhelming euphoria of East German citizens, as crowds press toward the barrier at Bösebrücke. Marco, now a platoon leader, has received no orders other than to defend the border right up to the last second. It is a dangerous situation. But then he becomes the first NVA soldier to open the barrier and embraces Anja. When Major Wolf, a committed communist, sees the images of the border opening, he does not want to go on living and takes his own life with his service pistol. Hanna stands in the crowd at the opened border, but for now remains in the East and goes to see Jürgen in his office, where he is following the latest events on television.