Der Blaue (1994)

Otto Skrodt worked as a veterinarian in East Germany. After reunification, he began a political career and is now a member of the German Bundestag. What no one knows—except his daughter Isabelle—is that he was recruited by the Ministry for State Security as an unofficial collaborator and, in that capacity, also reported on his then-best friend, Karl “Kalle” Kaminski. Kaminski planned to escape East Germany in an inflatable boat across the Baltic Sea, but Skrodt’s betrayal led to his arrest, and he spent years in prison. Because his files were lost, he knows nothing of Skrodt’s guilt and has no suspicions about him either. He now visits Skrodt to borrow money so he can build a new life for himself in West Germany. Skrodt acts like a friend and gives him 100,000 marks, but grows increasingly suspicious and begins to suspect that Kaminski has learned about his Stasi activities and wants revenge. He sees his political career at risk and consults his former case officer, Werner, about how to get rid of Kaminski. What Skrodt does not know is that, before his imprisonment, Kaminski had a love affair with Skrodt’s stepdaughter Isabelle, who trained as a competitive swimmer in East Germany. Back then, when she learned of her father’s work as an informant by overhearing a phone call, she was also forced to confront the privileges she enjoyed as an athlete. She never returned from a competition abroad, has lived in the West ever since, and has grown estranged from her father. Kaminski now tries to find Isabelle’s address, and when he learns it from a letter Isabelle sent to Skrodt, he decides to travel to see her. However, he does not know that Werner sabotaged his car’s brake lines the night before. On a country road, Kaminski’s car skids off the road and rolls over. Werner is on hand to take the money. Kaminski survives, injured, and continues his journey to Isabelle by hitchhiking. She lives with her boyfriend, Martin, but is actually still in love with Kaminski. She tells him that her father was responsible for his prison sentence, whereupon the two drive back to Skrodt and confront him. They then go to Werner as well, who by now works at a crematorium. He claims that Isabelle, too, had been assigned to spy on Kaminski and had entered into a relationship with him for that reason alone. Isabelle denies this, but when she sees that Kaminski doubts her, she gives him back a ring he once gave her. It remains unclear whether Werner is telling the truth or lying to destroy their relationship and divert attention from his own and Skrodt’s guilt; the future of Isabelle and Kaminski is equally uncertain. Skrodt’s career, however, seems to have emerged entirely unscathed: in the film’s final scene, he learns that he is soon to be appointed Parliamentary State Secretary.