Liebe und Tod auf Java (2013)

Hellen Landgraf is the daughter of Arthur, a tobacco plantation owner, and they live and work together on Java. After an accident involving Hellen and a girl, Hellen meets the police officer Hans Jakob Braun. He is actually a banker of Jewish descent who fled Germany during Nazi rule with his depressed, opium-addicted wife, Friedl. Hellen has developed feelings for Hans and falls in love with him, but at first he does not return her feelings and does not want to have an affair with her. Indonesian debt collectors are after Hans’s wife, so the two of them flee, with Hellen helping them. Arthur is seriously ill, and his health keeps deteriorating. During this time, Hellen’s brother Conrad arrives with his wife, Ilse, and they intend to take over the plantation’s business. Shortly after their arrival, war breaks out and everything changes, as the Germans and Dutch become enemies. Conrad and his wife are committed Nazis, which suits their plans to take over the plantation. Hellen’s father pressures her to marry the colonial administrator, Joop van Boven, since he is Dutch and can protect her. During the engagement party, which Hellen reluctantly agrees to, rebels set fire to the plantation, and her father dies. Before their father’s funeral, the siblings fall out again. After the funeral, Hellen takes over tobacco production on the plantation. She repeatedly clashes with her brother, who wants to pursue a different business policy and diverts company funds for his personal use. Conrad asserts his claims under their father’s will and does not pull any punches. Hellen fights on every front to save the plantation, while her feelings remain divided between Hans and Joop. Together with Joop, she manages to keep the plantation going amid the turmoil of war. With Hans’s help, she obtains an urgently needed loan, which goes a long way toward helping her run the plantation and pay the inheritance taxes. When Japan enters the Second World War, things also become dangerous for Hellen, Hans, and Joop, as Java is occupied by the Japanese and Hellen’s plantation is expropriated. Meanwhile, Conrad, whom the Japanese appoint as manager, and his wife settle into the family villa. The housekeeper Emmy helps them however she can, spies on Hellen throughout this period, and searches for the mother’s will, which had been blown away by a draft when Ilse carelessly left it exposed, before anyone could read it. When the war ends, Conrad, Ilse, and Emmy try to flee. During their escape, Conrad falls down the stairs and dies instantly. Emmy cries over him, but Ilse, as cold-hearted as ever, simply leaves him lying there. Hellen and Hans return to the plantation. Hans tells Hellen that he has to go back to Germany to look after the family bank. Hellen is unhappy about this and wants nothing more to do with him. After a few years, however, Hans returns to Java and tells Hellen that he will stay with her forever.