Wir sind das Volk - Liebe kennt keine Grenzen (2008)

In August 1983, Mattis Schell and Andreas Wagner make a daring attempt to escape from East Berlin across the Berlin Wall. Andreas manages to escape, but Mattis is shot dead by border guards. Left behind are his brother Micha and his sister Katja Schell, who is friends with Andreas and is expecting his child, something he does not yet know when he escapes. Six years later, dissatisfaction with the GDR leadership has grown even greater, particularly among the younger generation. Katja now has a six-year-old son and plans to flee with him to the Federal Republic of Germany via the Hungarian border. Her brother Micha tries to stop her, but she is determined and can hardly wait to see Andreas again at last. In the middle of the night, Katja and her son Sven try to reach the Austrian border from Hungary, but they lose sight of each other, and the boy is initially left to fend for himself. He manages to get to Austria and joins a group of refugees, while Katja is discovered and taken back to East Berlin against her will. There, resistance to the state and its surveillance system is taking shape in regular Monday demonstrations, in which Katja’s brother is an active participant. Together with his friend Dirk Faber, he wants to smuggle footage of the demonstrations and the police violence that follows them to West Berlin, where Andreas will broadcast it on television. Andreas arranges for the necessary equipment to be secretly brought to them by couriers. They know this will put them in the sights of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi), but they manage to outwit it. In their efforts to stop Andreas Wagner and his “anti-state and slanderous” reporting, the authorities find Katja’s failed escape very convenient. Immediately after she arrives in East Berlin, she is taken into State Security custody and subjected to all manner of harassment. She is sent to prison and given no information about her son’s whereabouts. Instead, Stasi officer Bert Schäfer puts her under pressure. He promises that if she agrees to work against Andreas, she will be allowed to see her child again. Katja nevertheless refuses to cooperate with the authorities. They try to break her will with grueling interrogations, humiliating harassment, and sleep deprivation. She is even drugged and sedated whenever she starts to rebel. Meanwhile, Andreas receives word that his son Sven is in a reception camp. He immediately goes there to take him in. He also learns of Katja’s imprisonment, which further strengthens his resolve to report on conditions in the GDR. At first, however, his relationship with Sven causes him great difficulty. He only gradually finds a way to connect with the boy, who has never seen his father before and misses his mother terribly. In East Berlin, resistance at the demonstrations continues to grow. People publicly demand the release of political prisoners, including Katja Schell. At a demonstration held during Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit for the GDR’s 40th anniversary, police violence escalates and the demonstrators are brutally beaten. Among many others, Jule Hoffmann, daughter of police officer and “Colonel of the Interior” Bernd Hoffmann, and her boyfriend Lutz Baumann are temporarily arrested. Jule has to witness what the state’s enforcement agencies are capable of—agencies to which, in theory, her father also belongs. She returns home traumatized and resolves never again to let anyone dictate what she should do. She packs her things and moves in with Lutz. Her father is outraged and informs his superior of his daughter’s “misconduct.” But he, too, is beginning to doubt his superiors and the law. To intensify reporting from the GDR, Micha and Dirk want to travel to Leipzig and film the Monday demonstration there. But because they are under constant Stasi surveillance, leaving Berlin without their pursuers is not easy. On the way to Leipzig, they pass countless military trucks, suggesting that a massive intervention by the state security forces is imminent. Once in Leipzig, the two take up positions on a roof, from where they have a good view of the demonstration. They are astonished to see thousands of Leipzig residents in the streets, but they do not have long to celebrate their footage: Stasi agents are on their trail. Micha and Dirk manage, however, to blend in with the demonstrators and successfully hand over their footage to their contact. When the footage is shown on West German television, the GDR can no longer deny its crisis and announces changes in the state leadership. First, Erich Honecker resigns as chairman of the State Council and appoints Egon Krenz as his successor. The State Security Service, however, remains committed to its mission and continues to pursue all opponents of the regime. After weeks of torture, Stasi officer Bert Schäfer manages to persuade Katja to cooperate, but later that night she attempts suicide. As a result, she does not learn that on November 9 the GDR regime gives in to pressure and opens the borders. The GDR’s citizens are thrilled by the sensational news, but the security forces are overwhelmed. In an endless stream of travelers, Berliners pour into the western part of the city. When Jule excitedly goes to pick up Lutz, she finds a farewell letter. In a long message, he confesses that he had worked with her friends only to spy on her for the Stasi. His love for her was genuine, he says, but he no longer dares to face her. The opening of the Wall also gives Andreas hope that Katja will be released. He goes with Sven to meet the crowds coming from the East, and the boy is delighted to see his uncle Micha again. But they cannot find his mother among the many people. The next day, an ambulance takes Katja to a taxi, where Andreas and Sven are waiting for her. All three embrace in tears, but happily.