Konstantin und Alexander (1989)

Alexander, a civil engineering construction worker, and Konstantin, who pretends to be a sailor, are sitting in Gerti’s pub for different reasons. Alexander wants to be left in peace, while Konstantin seeks company and has a soft spot for lost souls. Konstantin keeps probing until Alexander reluctantly tells him about the workplace accident he suffered. Since then, Alexander has worked only at a desk, which has left him dissatisfied, and he now drowns his sorrows in alcohol. Konstantin drinks one schnapps after another with him and listens. By the end, Konstantin is drunker than Alexander and Alexander has to take him home. Konstantin feels sorry for Alexander and gets an idea. Without Alexander knowing, he finds him work again that suits his passion, and Alexander becomes responsible, without having done anything to bring it about, for a long-overdue road project for the community. Alexander is not the only one taken aback when he hears about it. The mayor, who had only just postponed the planning of the road project again, is not exactly pleased with Konstantin’s initiative either. However, the mayor’s arrogant and dismissive manner moves Alexander to support Konstantin’s idea, since standing up to bureaucracy and getting things done is also in keeping with Konstantin’s aims. While the mayor claims to have neither materials nor transport capacity for the proposed road construction, Alexander already has a few ideas. By now, the project is far enough underway that the mayor, as the person responsible, can no longer back out, so he finally frees up construction resources to ensure the work proceeds properly. In the end, the road has been repaired, and Alexander has proved to himself and the others that he can still do more than sit behind a desk. Konstantin could be proud of himself for having set it all in motion. But the others really see him only as a crackpot who will soon come up with something new. While everyone celebrates the completed road with a cheerful party, Konstantin grows increasingly melancholy. He reflects that little in his own life has gone right. Because of his ambition to go to sea at all costs, he lost his brother very early; he also lost his wife, and eventually seafaring itself. As he begins to doubt himself, Alexander brings him back to the revellers, and Konstantin gladly goes with him.