Joy Division (2006 film)
Encyclopedia
Joy Division is a 2006
British film directed by Reg Traviss
. The story is a fictional biopic which follows the life of a boy in Germany at the end of WWII into his adulthood in Russia and London during the Cold War. The script was written by Reg Traviss and Rosemary Mason and went into production in 2004 after completion of Traviss' short film JD Pilot in 2003, based upon the same script and which also starred Ed Stoppard
in the role of adult Thomas. Joy Division was screened to the film industry at the Cannes Film Festival
European Film Market and at the American Film Market
in 2005. It was invited to screen at the Copenhagen International Film Festival
in 2006 and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom in November 2006.
), a young German, fights unsuccessfully as one of Hitler's Joy Division youth troops after Russia
invades. In the early 1960s, he loses faith in the ideals he was raised with, and works as a spy
and assassin
for the Russians during the Cold War
. His story is mostly revealed in flashbacks.
Tom Schilling
plays the younger Thomas, who sees his native Germany destroyed by the Russian invaders. His family is killed, leaving him orphaned, and with only his girlfriend Melanie (Bernadette Heerwagen
) left.
His girlfriend Melanie is repeatedly raped by Soviet soldiers and she is eventually killed by a Soviet soldier after having sex with him and 2 other Soviet soldiers in order to protect Thomas from being beaten and killed by the soldiers.
Years later, he falls in love with Yvonne (Michelle Gayle), while on assignment in England
; she has no idea what he is really employed to do.
is a jovial teenage boy and aspiring painter who spends his days trying to romance Melanie, played by Bernadette Heerwagen
, a warm hearted, beautiful teenage temptress, who is the desire of most of the town's male population. The pair are both members of the Hitler Youth and see no wrong in their movement or in their nation at large. Whilst on a flirtatious date at a youth propaganda rally, their attention is suddenly drawn and they are inspired by the philosophy of the Kraft Durch Freude
organisation, aka Strength Through Joy. Melanie's mother, played by Suzanne von Borsody
, a more worldly woman also inspires Thomas and Melanie with her avante garde notions of free-thinking. Thomas, smitten with Melanie, begins to paint a portrait of her. The painting is complete towards the year's end but as he presents it to her the Eastern Front collapses and Thomas, though he is only fourteen, is drafted into the Volkssturm
along with the rest of the boys from his Hitler Youth unit. Thomas' family are then killed in an air-raid as the aerial assaults increase and after a farewell liaison with Melanie he is sent off to defend the borders of the Reich where he and his squad face annihilation at the hands of Soviet Shock troops
. During a disastrous battle to defend a factory, Thomas escapes as the sole survivor of his unit, having fought to the last bullet. Shell-shocked, he takes sanctuary in a huge crater and meets Astrid, played by Lea Mornar, a student-nurse foraging for supplies. Together they flee and join the mass exodus of refugees heading westwards through the snow covered highways from the Soviet advance. Thomas and Astrid bond like brother and sister and rely on each other to survive. Along the trek they stop at a rural gas station to rest-up but a sudden aerial assault decimates the refugee column - during this attack they meet Karl, played by Thomas Darchinger, a wounded soldier who throws himself over Thomas and Astrid as bullets ricochet around them. Karl informs them of an army evacuation transport pick-up post and after many weeks walking they find the post at a crossroads with hundreds of refugees and retreating soldiers fighting to get seats on the lorries. Thomas is separated from Astrid and Karl in the chaos as they get aboard the last lorry which drives away as the Soviet tanks approach. Left alone on the road, Thomas is seconded by rag-tag troops into a last ditch offensive intended to halt the Soviet advance in the region. Fighting alongside a mish-mash of axis troops, including renegade British Free Corps
member Harry Stone played by Ricci Harnett
, Thomas contributes to a successful re-capturing of a town held by Soviet troops and knocks out a Soviet tank with a panzerfaust
rocket launcher.
Meanwhile, Thomas' hometown, many miles away, is devastated by Soviet artillery and is then assaulted by Soviet Shock Troops. The town has nothing but civilian defence structures and so is instantly overrun. The invading troops kill and loot as they sweep through the town. Melanie and her family are found by an Officer and squad of troops whilst hiding in the garden air-raid shelter. The family are dragged out and lined up on their knees in the garden. The Officer then gives an order and one of the soldiers shoots Melanie's grandfather dead. Her mother reaches for the offending soldier in rage, clawing at his eyes, and is shot dead in the process. Her grandmother is bludgeoned by a gun-butt. Melanie struggles with the soldiers and is slapped to the ground. She continues to struggle hysterically and is dragged off, held face down over the side of the shelter and sodomised by the Officer after which the rest of the squad rape her. The remaining townspeople are expelled from the town as the Shock Troops leave to carrying on their advance. Melanie and the other survivors trek through the snowy landscape as refugees but are soon caught in the path of another wave of Soviet troops, 2nd line Asiatic soldiers atop of tanks. The tanks chase down the refugees in front of them. Melanie is chased by a tank and fired upon by the soldiers who then dismount and pursue her into a field. Melanie is seized by the soldiers, stripped while she kicks and fights and then gang-raped. During this abuse other refugees up on the road side are captured, beaten, killed and raped.
Some days later, whilst Thomas eats rations in a soup-kitchen in the re-captured town he watches as more refugees are brought into the fortress. As soldiers fortify the town's defences he wanders through the streets and suddenly sees Melanie step off from a refugee lorry. He immediately embraces her but she pushes him away violently, in a state of shock and not wanting to be touched. It transpires that Melanie had been found on the country roadside by retreating German soldiers after she had been raped by the advancing Soviets who had left her for dead. That night the town is encircled by Soviet troops who lay siege. Thomas and Melanie make bed and take shelter in the stairwell of an apartment building, under a table, as the Soviet rockets begin to fall upon the town. In the morning the Soviet infantry assault the town and a battle takes place between the defenders and the invaders. Thomas does not take part in the defence and instead stays inside the building to protect Melanie. The battle is brought to a close with a final aerial bombardment. In the aftermath of the battle, victorious Soviet troops patrol through the streets in front of tanks, declaring unconditional surrender from loud-speakers. Three Soviet soldiers enter the apartment building and see Thomas and Melanie's feet under the table, below the hanging table cloth. As the soldiers lift the table Thomas lunges at them with his Hitler Youth Knife. Two of the soldiers overpower him whilst one soldier manhandles Melanie. The two soldiers begin beating Thomas brutally but they stop when Melanie screams at them and offers to have sex with all of them in exchange for Thomas' life. The soldiers accept her offer before teaching Thomas a final lesson - one soldier holds his arm outstretched whilst the other slowly cuts it with Thomas' knife. Thomas is then punched and knocked-out and Melanie is lead into an apartment where she has intercourse with the three soldiers. Eventually Thomas wakes up, bloodied and in pain from the beating and gash on his arm as two of the soldiers exit the building, drunk. Thomas picks up his knife left on the floor then hears Melanie scream. He looks up and sees her run half naked from a room and further up the stairs, pursued by the third soldier. As Thomas races up the stairs to protect her, the soldier also drunk, fires from a pistol and hits Melanie. Thomas reaches the drunken soldier and plunges his knife into his chest. The soldier falls and dies but as Thomas runs up to Melanie's aid he discovers her also dead.
Alone again, Thomas wanders cautiously through the town's streets, now occupied by victorious Soviet soldiers. He discreetly disposes of his bloodied knife, the murder weapon, into a drain. As he walks on a banner depicting Stalin's face is unravelled down the side of a building, nearby celebrating Soviets troops cheer and fraternise with female civilians who work clearing away rubble. Thomas sits at a roadside on the edge of town amongst rubble and bombed buildings. A tank pulls up next to him and Tanya, played by Kincso Petho, a young idealistic Commissar dismounts and sits beside Thomas. Silently they observe the destruction. Tanya offers Thomas water from her flask and notices the blood from his arm wound. Tanya enthusiastically explains to Thomas that Stalin provides for orphans and invites him to join her on her journey back Eastwards. Thomas obliges, seizing the opportunity to get away from the town and he climbs aboard the tank with Tanya and heads towards Russia.
has himself become a Soviet soldier. He is of Officer rank and has subsequently been part of the military establishment since the end of the war. It transpires that Tanya had taken Thomas to a Suvorov Military School
where he had been trained as a cadet and then later admitted into the Soviet Military Intelligence, and had served with distinction in the Hungarian Revolution 1956. Thomas then resigns from the military. No reason is given. As he sits in his apartment and boxes-up his belongings, which include military decorations, a painting depicting refugees and soldiers on trek rests on an easel. Thomas begins clearing through old photographs, several of himself and Tanya at the end of the war and standing outside the military school. He gazes at a photo of Melanie. He puts the photograph into his breast pocket. Tanya, in military uniform then rings his doorbell. She waits patiently but Thomas does not answer the door. Eventually she leaves and Thomas sits alone in his hallway below the bell. Next it unfolds that Thomas has been recruited by the KGB
. He sits in a briefing with two KGB Officers, Krivosheyev, played by Benedek Gulya and Sokolov, played by Peter Kertesz and is shown a film which features a former Nazi Gestapo
officer denouncing his past and pledging allegiance to the USSR. Thomas is told that Albert Steiner, the man in the film, had become one of the KGB's agents in London, but that he had defected to the British and subsequently vanished. He is told that as a consequence the rest of Steiner's London contacts where also under suspicion. Thomas is given false documents which identify him as a British subject and is sent on a mission to London in order to join Steiner's former spy-cell and to observe the loyalty of the agents within it.
Thomas arrives in London and after making contact with his controller Tally-Ho, played by Bernard Kay
, a British man who communicates solely over a secure phone line so as to conceal his identity, Thomas (posing as a British merchant seaman named Edward) finds a room in a lodging house. The house is run by a Neville, played by Ram John Holder
a Jamaican man, and living in the house also is his niece Yvonne, played by Michelle Gayle
, a beautiful, warm spirited and fun-loving artist of the Beat Generation
. Thomas is instantly drawn to Yvonne but keeps a safe distance as he focusses on his mission and the precautions of a spy. Thomas then meets with his contact, Dennis, played by Bernard Hill
, the main organiser of Steiner's former cell. Dennis makes Thomas weary of him straight away with an un-orthodox comment, seemingly made on purpose. However, Thomas does not report any suspicions to Tally-Ho and decides to watch Dennis further. Yvonne, pleasantly intrigued by Thomas, persists to get familiar with him around their lodgings and the pair form a bond and discover they share a passion for art as well as a mutual attraction. Thomas becomes more acquainted with Dennis after several more meetings - in which he is couriering coded messages from Dennis to Tally Ho - and eventually the two men discover that they both share a dream of freedom away from the pending destruction of another war. Thomas is then ordered by Tally-Ho to assassinate a former RAF Commander, which he does with professional expertise. As Yvonne introduces Thomas to the London art underworld of free-spirited Beatnik
basement clubs and galleries the pair fall in love and form a meaningful relationship, whilst Thomas actually leads a double-life. Unbeknownst to Thomas, he is being followed and watched by Harris, played by Sean Chapman
, a ruthless British Secret Service Officer, with links to Steiner, and answerable to Commander Bothringaye, a senior civil servant who runs an autonomous security department. Harris and Bothringaye confer over the spy-cell and Harris requests that they apprehend Dennis the supposed leader, in order to thwart the cell, which he believes upon Steiner's information, are planning to stage a coup, in collaboration with all of the British based Communist groups. Thomas then receives an order from Tally-Ho to assassinate Dennis. As before he is not given a reason but presumes it is because his controllers no longer trust Dennis and he has therefore become a threat.
Thomas arrives at Dennis' house and Dennis instinctively understands what the situation is. However, Thomas and Dennis sit and talk instead. Thomas, having become disillusioned, questions Dennis to try and get an understanding and asks what it is all about. Dennis expounds on his knowledge to educate Thomas but eventually discloses that their existence as agents is nothing more than a low-rank of gatekeepers who are links in a long chain which serves to maintain the status quo of both cold war powers. Dennis challenges the notion that the defector Steiner is a security threat, and instead claims that Steiner is nothing more than a necessary bogey-man, a character required by both sides to keep order. Thomas suggests that Dennis runaway and break contact but Dennis explains that the super-powers have people in every country and that a figure as well known as he would be caught quickly. As Dennis draws to his conclusion he takes out a concealed pistol and shoots himself in the mouth, dead, in order to save Thomas committing the act and so as not to implicate Thomas in disobeying orders. Thomas is met by a new contact, Stephanie, played by Sybille Gebhardt, a stern and beautiful East German agent, who informs Thomas that Dennis had been killed by the British Secret Police. Thomas is not sure whether he should mistrust Stephanie or the source behind her information. Later that night Thomas arrives to meet Stephanie again at their rendezvous but she does not turn up as she has been apprehended by Harris and is sat in an interrogation room. Harris and Bothringaye show Stephanie photographs of herself with the murdered RAF Commander, and of her with Dennis and disclose to her detailed intelligence they have regarding her actions in Britain. Stephanie is confused as to the extent of their knowledge but refuses to crack under their pressure. An agent in the interrogation pulls Stephanie off her chair and Harris instructs Stephanie to strip naked. She does as she is instructed and continues to defy breaking. As further attempt at humiliation, Harris orders her to turn around, bend over and touch her toes. She does so and remains stoic. Meanwhile Thomas leaves the rendezvous, resigned to the belief that either Stephanie was a double-agent or that she had been captured. Stephanie is taken to another jail-cell like holding room, naked, and tortured by the agent who sprays her with cold water from a high-powered hose as Harris watches on. Harris and Bothringaye return to the room during the night and try to make Stephanie crack with another interrogation. They plant the idea in her head that Thomas had defected and was the one who had betrayed her.
Thomas decides that he must leave his post, as his position has become compromised in light of Stephanie's disappearance and of her inaccurate information regarding Dennis' death. However, he does not want to leave Yvonne and the life he has made with her. He also knows that not returning to the USSR would not be an option as it would be viewed as a defection. Thomas calls into Tally-Ho while he considers his options, but Tally-Ho orders him to break contact immediately, explaining that Stephanie had been deported and that he was in danger. As Thomas makes his way to a train station he is followed - his pursuer is Krivosheyev, who suddenly corners Thomas, calls him a traitor and attempts to stab him. However, a British agent who had been following both of them approaches from behind and shoots Krivosheyev with a poisoned dart through an Umbrella gun. As Krivosheyev falls, Thomas makes his escape. Returning to his lodgings, Thomas finds out from Neville that Harris had been there and left a note for him. The note (addressed to 'Thomas' rather than to 'Edward') suggests that they meet and talk over his problems. Thomas tells Yvonne that his story to her had been a lie and that he must leave. He shows her his photograph of Melanie and explains that for 17 years the photo was the only part of him that was 'real', but that now she (Yvonne) had made him feel 'real again'. Yvonne is silent and lost for words. At dawn Thomas waits alone on a deserted, remote air-strip. A car approaches him. Tally-Ho emerges from the car. Tally-Ho and Bothringaye are the same person. Tally-Ho explains that the British believed Thomas to be Dennis' successor, and so wanted him to defect. In order persuade him to defect, they made the KGB believe he had already defected, by way of telling Stephanie and by killing Krivosheyev in the Umbrella Murder. Bothingaye / Tally-Ho is actually a triple-agent and Thomas merely a pawn in his game. Tally-Ho gives Thomas a new passport with some US Dollar bills inside as a hint and suggests that he disappear. Tally-Ho drives off leaving Thomas alone on the runway.
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
British film directed by Reg Traviss
Reg Traviss
Reg Traviss is a British film director and writer. Traviss came to public attention in the UK in 2006 with the theatrical release of his debut feature film Joy Division which starred Ed Stoppard, Bernard Hill, Tom Schilling, Bernadette Heerwagen and Ricci Harnett...
. The story is a fictional biopic which follows the life of a boy in Germany at the end of WWII into his adulthood in Russia and London during the Cold War. The script was written by Reg Traviss and Rosemary Mason and went into production in 2004 after completion of Traviss' short film JD Pilot in 2003, based upon the same script and which also starred Ed Stoppard
Ed Stoppard
Edmund Stoppard , often credited as Ed Stoppard, is a British actor.-Life and career:Stoppard was born in London, United Kingdom, the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and physician/author Miriam Stoppard , through whom he is related to former MP Oona King...
in the role of adult Thomas. Joy Division was screened to the film industry at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
European Film Market and at the American Film Market
American Film Market
The American Film Market is a film industry event held each year at the beginning of November in Santa Monica, California. About 8,000 people attend the eight day event to network and to sell and acquire films...
in 2005. It was invited to screen at the Copenhagen International Film Festival
Copenhagen International Film Festival
Copenhagen International Film Festival is a film festival held in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was first held in 2003, and is held annually. The main award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival is the Golden Swan, which will be awarded for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best...
in 2006 and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom in November 2006.
Plot
Thomas (Ed StoppardEd Stoppard
Edmund Stoppard , often credited as Ed Stoppard, is a British actor.-Life and career:Stoppard was born in London, United Kingdom, the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and physician/author Miriam Stoppard , through whom he is related to former MP Oona King...
), a young German, fights unsuccessfully as one of Hitler's Joy Division youth troops after Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
invades. In the early 1960s, he loses faith in the ideals he was raised with, and works as a spy
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
and assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
for the Russians during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. His story is mostly revealed in flashbacks.
Tom Schilling
Tom Schilling
Tom Schilling is a German television and film actor.Schilling had his acting debut in the 1996 drama Hallo, Onkel Doc! as a boy named Mark. In the critically well-received film Before the Fall , he played a young student in one of the elite 'Napola' schools, alongside with Max Riemelt...
plays the younger Thomas, who sees his native Germany destroyed by the Russian invaders. His family is killed, leaving him orphaned, and with only his girlfriend Melanie (Bernadette Heerwagen
Bernadette Heerwagen
Bernadette Heerwagen is a German actress. She began acting aged sixteen and since co-starring in the 1999 production Der Schandfleck, for which she was awarded the Bayerischer Fernsehpreis Sonderpreis in 2000, Heerwagen has gone on to play in a variety of leading and supporting roles in German and...
) left.
His girlfriend Melanie is repeatedly raped by Soviet soldiers and she is eventually killed by a Soviet soldier after having sex with him and 2 other Soviet soldiers in order to protect Thomas from being beaten and killed by the soldiers.
Years later, he falls in love with Yvonne (Michelle Gayle), while on assignment in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
; she has no idea what he is really employed to do.
Story
Joy Division is a drama set in world war two and the cold war. It is a non-linear story, told in a series of flashbacks to the mid-1940s and early-1960s, narrated in voice over from the film's present day setting of 1966.1944 / 1945
In the East German province of Silesia, 1944, the war has barely hit the home-front. Occasional air-raids and the majority of men over sixteen having been conscripted into the army is the only reminder the townspeople have of the war which rages. Thomas, played by Tom SchillingTom Schilling
Tom Schilling is a German television and film actor.Schilling had his acting debut in the 1996 drama Hallo, Onkel Doc! as a boy named Mark. In the critically well-received film Before the Fall , he played a young student in one of the elite 'Napola' schools, alongside with Max Riemelt...
is a jovial teenage boy and aspiring painter who spends his days trying to romance Melanie, played by Bernadette Heerwagen
Bernadette Heerwagen
Bernadette Heerwagen is a German actress. She began acting aged sixteen and since co-starring in the 1999 production Der Schandfleck, for which she was awarded the Bayerischer Fernsehpreis Sonderpreis in 2000, Heerwagen has gone on to play in a variety of leading and supporting roles in German and...
, a warm hearted, beautiful teenage temptress, who is the desire of most of the town's male population. The pair are both members of the Hitler Youth and see no wrong in their movement or in their nation at large. Whilst on a flirtatious date at a youth propaganda rally, their attention is suddenly drawn and they are inspired by the philosophy of the Kraft Durch Freude
Kraft durch Freude
Kraft durch Freude was a large state-controlled leisure organization in Nazi Germany. It was a part of the German Labour Front , the national German labour organization at that time...
organisation, aka Strength Through Joy. Melanie's mother, played by Suzanne von Borsody
Suzanne von Borsody
Suzanne von Borsody is a German actress. She is the daughter of director Rosemarie Fendel and actor Hans von Borsody .She played Frau Jäger in the 1998 film Run Lola Run.- External links :*...
, a more worldly woman also inspires Thomas and Melanie with her avante garde notions of free-thinking. Thomas, smitten with Melanie, begins to paint a portrait of her. The painting is complete towards the year's end but as he presents it to her the Eastern Front collapses and Thomas, though he is only fourteen, is drafted into the Volkssturm
Volkssturm
The Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II. It was founded on Adolf Hitler's orders on October 18, 1944 and conscripted males between the ages of 16 to 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit as part of a German Home Guard.-Origins and...
along with the rest of the boys from his Hitler Youth unit. Thomas' family are then killed in an air-raid as the aerial assaults increase and after a farewell liaison with Melanie he is sent off to defend the borders of the Reich where he and his squad face annihilation at the hands of Soviet Shock troops
Shock troops
Shock troops or assault troops are formations created to lead an attack. "Shock troop" is a loose translation of the German word Stoßtrupp...
. During a disastrous battle to defend a factory, Thomas escapes as the sole survivor of his unit, having fought to the last bullet. Shell-shocked, he takes sanctuary in a huge crater and meets Astrid, played by Lea Mornar, a student-nurse foraging for supplies. Together they flee and join the mass exodus of refugees heading westwards through the snow covered highways from the Soviet advance. Thomas and Astrid bond like brother and sister and rely on each other to survive. Along the trek they stop at a rural gas station to rest-up but a sudden aerial assault decimates the refugee column - during this attack they meet Karl, played by Thomas Darchinger, a wounded soldier who throws himself over Thomas and Astrid as bullets ricochet around them. Karl informs them of an army evacuation transport pick-up post and after many weeks walking they find the post at a crossroads with hundreds of refugees and retreating soldiers fighting to get seats on the lorries. Thomas is separated from Astrid and Karl in the chaos as they get aboard the last lorry which drives away as the Soviet tanks approach. Left alone on the road, Thomas is seconded by rag-tag troops into a last ditch offensive intended to halt the Soviet advance in the region. Fighting alongside a mish-mash of axis troops, including renegade British Free Corps
British Free Corps
During World War II, the British Free Corps was a unit of the consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. The unit was originally known as The Legion of St...
member Harry Stone played by Ricci Harnett
Ricci Harnett
Ricci Harnett is an English actor, best known for his role as Carlton Leach in the film Rise of the Footsoldier. He debuted in 1991 in The Object of Beauty alongside John Malkovich. He has also appeared in the film 28 Days Later as Corporal Mitchell...
, Thomas contributes to a successful re-capturing of a town held by Soviet troops and knocks out a Soviet tank with a panzerfaust
Panzerfaust
The Panzerfaust was an inexpensive, recoilless German anti-tank weapon of World War II. It consisted of a small, disposable preloaded launch tube firing a high explosive anti-tank warhead, operated by a single soldier...
rocket launcher.
Meanwhile, Thomas' hometown, many miles away, is devastated by Soviet artillery and is then assaulted by Soviet Shock Troops. The town has nothing but civilian defence structures and so is instantly overrun. The invading troops kill and loot as they sweep through the town. Melanie and her family are found by an Officer and squad of troops whilst hiding in the garden air-raid shelter. The family are dragged out and lined up on their knees in the garden. The Officer then gives an order and one of the soldiers shoots Melanie's grandfather dead. Her mother reaches for the offending soldier in rage, clawing at his eyes, and is shot dead in the process. Her grandmother is bludgeoned by a gun-butt. Melanie struggles with the soldiers and is slapped to the ground. She continues to struggle hysterically and is dragged off, held face down over the side of the shelter and sodomised by the Officer after which the rest of the squad rape her. The remaining townspeople are expelled from the town as the Shock Troops leave to carrying on their advance. Melanie and the other survivors trek through the snowy landscape as refugees but are soon caught in the path of another wave of Soviet troops, 2nd line Asiatic soldiers atop of tanks. The tanks chase down the refugees in front of them. Melanie is chased by a tank and fired upon by the soldiers who then dismount and pursue her into a field. Melanie is seized by the soldiers, stripped while she kicks and fights and then gang-raped. During this abuse other refugees up on the road side are captured, beaten, killed and raped.
Some days later, whilst Thomas eats rations in a soup-kitchen in the re-captured town he watches as more refugees are brought into the fortress. As soldiers fortify the town's defences he wanders through the streets and suddenly sees Melanie step off from a refugee lorry. He immediately embraces her but she pushes him away violently, in a state of shock and not wanting to be touched. It transpires that Melanie had been found on the country roadside by retreating German soldiers after she had been raped by the advancing Soviets who had left her for dead. That night the town is encircled by Soviet troops who lay siege. Thomas and Melanie make bed and take shelter in the stairwell of an apartment building, under a table, as the Soviet rockets begin to fall upon the town. In the morning the Soviet infantry assault the town and a battle takes place between the defenders and the invaders. Thomas does not take part in the defence and instead stays inside the building to protect Melanie. The battle is brought to a close with a final aerial bombardment. In the aftermath of the battle, victorious Soviet troops patrol through the streets in front of tanks, declaring unconditional surrender from loud-speakers. Three Soviet soldiers enter the apartment building and see Thomas and Melanie's feet under the table, below the hanging table cloth. As the soldiers lift the table Thomas lunges at them with his Hitler Youth Knife. Two of the soldiers overpower him whilst one soldier manhandles Melanie. The two soldiers begin beating Thomas brutally but they stop when Melanie screams at them and offers to have sex with all of them in exchange for Thomas' life. The soldiers accept her offer before teaching Thomas a final lesson - one soldier holds his arm outstretched whilst the other slowly cuts it with Thomas' knife. Thomas is then punched and knocked-out and Melanie is lead into an apartment where she has intercourse with the three soldiers. Eventually Thomas wakes up, bloodied and in pain from the beating and gash on his arm as two of the soldiers exit the building, drunk. Thomas picks up his knife left on the floor then hears Melanie scream. He looks up and sees her run half naked from a room and further up the stairs, pursued by the third soldier. As Thomas races up the stairs to protect her, the soldier also drunk, fires from a pistol and hits Melanie. Thomas reaches the drunken soldier and plunges his knife into his chest. The soldier falls and dies but as Thomas runs up to Melanie's aid he discovers her also dead.
Alone again, Thomas wanders cautiously through the town's streets, now occupied by victorious Soviet soldiers. He discreetly disposes of his bloodied knife, the murder weapon, into a drain. As he walks on a banner depicting Stalin's face is unravelled down the side of a building, nearby celebrating Soviets troops cheer and fraternise with female civilians who work clearing away rubble. Thomas sits at a roadside on the edge of town amongst rubble and bombed buildings. A tank pulls up next to him and Tanya, played by Kincso Petho, a young idealistic Commissar dismounts and sits beside Thomas. Silently they observe the destruction. Tanya offers Thomas water from her flask and notices the blood from his arm wound. Tanya enthusiastically explains to Thomas that Stalin provides for orphans and invites him to join her on her journey back Eastwards. Thomas obliges, seizing the opportunity to get away from the town and he climbs aboard the tank with Tanya and heads towards Russia.
1962
Seventeen years after world war two, Thomas, now played by Ed StoppardEd Stoppard
Edmund Stoppard , often credited as Ed Stoppard, is a British actor.-Life and career:Stoppard was born in London, United Kingdom, the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and physician/author Miriam Stoppard , through whom he is related to former MP Oona King...
has himself become a Soviet soldier. He is of Officer rank and has subsequently been part of the military establishment since the end of the war. It transpires that Tanya had taken Thomas to a Suvorov Military School
Suvorov Military School
The Suvorov Military Schools are a type of boarding school in the former Soviet Union and in modern Russia and Belarus for boys of 14-18. Education in such these schools focuses on military related subjects. The schools are named after Alexander Suvorov, the great 18th century general.Their naval...
where he had been trained as a cadet and then later admitted into the Soviet Military Intelligence, and had served with distinction in the Hungarian Revolution 1956. Thomas then resigns from the military. No reason is given. As he sits in his apartment and boxes-up his belongings, which include military decorations, a painting depicting refugees and soldiers on trek rests on an easel. Thomas begins clearing through old photographs, several of himself and Tanya at the end of the war and standing outside the military school. He gazes at a photo of Melanie. He puts the photograph into his breast pocket. Tanya, in military uniform then rings his doorbell. She waits patiently but Thomas does not answer the door. Eventually she leaves and Thomas sits alone in his hallway below the bell. Next it unfolds that Thomas has been recruited by the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
. He sits in a briefing with two KGB Officers, Krivosheyev, played by Benedek Gulya and Sokolov, played by Peter Kertesz and is shown a film which features a former Nazi Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
officer denouncing his past and pledging allegiance to the USSR. Thomas is told that Albert Steiner, the man in the film, had become one of the KGB's agents in London, but that he had defected to the British and subsequently vanished. He is told that as a consequence the rest of Steiner's London contacts where also under suspicion. Thomas is given false documents which identify him as a British subject and is sent on a mission to London in order to join Steiner's former spy-cell and to observe the loyalty of the agents within it.
Thomas arrives in London and after making contact with his controller Tally-Ho, played by Bernard Kay
Bernard Kay
Bernard Kay is a British actor with an extensive theatre, television and film repertoire.Kay began his working life as a reporter on Bolton Evening News, and a stringer for The Manchester Guardian. He was conscripted in 1946 and started acting in the army...
, a British man who communicates solely over a secure phone line so as to conceal his identity, Thomas (posing as a British merchant seaman named Edward) finds a room in a lodging house. The house is run by a Neville, played by Ram John Holder
Ram John Holder
Ram John Holder is a British actor. He began his performing career as a folk singer in New York. In 1962 he came to London and worked with Pearl Connor's Negro Theatre Workshop initially as a musician, and later as an actor...
a Jamaican man, and living in the house also is his niece Yvonne, played by Michelle Gayle
Michelle Gayle
Michelle Patricia Gayle is a British recording artist, actress and author. Gayle had success as a Soul and R&B singer in the 1990s. She achieved seven Top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart, her two biggest hits to date being "Sweetness" and "Do You Know"...
, a beautiful, warm spirited and fun-loving artist of the Beat Generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
. Thomas is instantly drawn to Yvonne but keeps a safe distance as he focusses on his mission and the precautions of a spy. Thomas then meets with his contact, Dennis, played by Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
, the main organiser of Steiner's former cell. Dennis makes Thomas weary of him straight away with an un-orthodox comment, seemingly made on purpose. However, Thomas does not report any suspicions to Tally-Ho and decides to watch Dennis further. Yvonne, pleasantly intrigued by Thomas, persists to get familiar with him around their lodgings and the pair form a bond and discover they share a passion for art as well as a mutual attraction. Thomas becomes more acquainted with Dennis after several more meetings - in which he is couriering coded messages from Dennis to Tally Ho - and eventually the two men discover that they both share a dream of freedom away from the pending destruction of another war. Thomas is then ordered by Tally-Ho to assassinate a former RAF Commander, which he does with professional expertise. As Yvonne introduces Thomas to the London art underworld of free-spirited Beatnik
Beatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...
basement clubs and galleries the pair fall in love and form a meaningful relationship, whilst Thomas actually leads a double-life. Unbeknownst to Thomas, he is being followed and watched by Harris, played by Sean Chapman
Sean Chapman
Sean Chapman is an English-born actor. He is best known for playing Frank Cotton in Clive Barker's Hellraiser, and its sequel, Hellbound: Hellraiser II. He is also known for voicing the character Sgt...
, a ruthless British Secret Service Officer, with links to Steiner, and answerable to Commander Bothringaye, a senior civil servant who runs an autonomous security department. Harris and Bothringaye confer over the spy-cell and Harris requests that they apprehend Dennis the supposed leader, in order to thwart the cell, which he believes upon Steiner's information, are planning to stage a coup, in collaboration with all of the British based Communist groups. Thomas then receives an order from Tally-Ho to assassinate Dennis. As before he is not given a reason but presumes it is because his controllers no longer trust Dennis and he has therefore become a threat.
Thomas arrives at Dennis' house and Dennis instinctively understands what the situation is. However, Thomas and Dennis sit and talk instead. Thomas, having become disillusioned, questions Dennis to try and get an understanding and asks what it is all about. Dennis expounds on his knowledge to educate Thomas but eventually discloses that their existence as agents is nothing more than a low-rank of gatekeepers who are links in a long chain which serves to maintain the status quo of both cold war powers. Dennis challenges the notion that the defector Steiner is a security threat, and instead claims that Steiner is nothing more than a necessary bogey-man, a character required by both sides to keep order. Thomas suggests that Dennis runaway and break contact but Dennis explains that the super-powers have people in every country and that a figure as well known as he would be caught quickly. As Dennis draws to his conclusion he takes out a concealed pistol and shoots himself in the mouth, dead, in order to save Thomas committing the act and so as not to implicate Thomas in disobeying orders. Thomas is met by a new contact, Stephanie, played by Sybille Gebhardt, a stern and beautiful East German agent, who informs Thomas that Dennis had been killed by the British Secret Police. Thomas is not sure whether he should mistrust Stephanie or the source behind her information. Later that night Thomas arrives to meet Stephanie again at their rendezvous but she does not turn up as she has been apprehended by Harris and is sat in an interrogation room. Harris and Bothringaye show Stephanie photographs of herself with the murdered RAF Commander, and of her with Dennis and disclose to her detailed intelligence they have regarding her actions in Britain. Stephanie is confused as to the extent of their knowledge but refuses to crack under their pressure. An agent in the interrogation pulls Stephanie off her chair and Harris instructs Stephanie to strip naked. She does as she is instructed and continues to defy breaking. As further attempt at humiliation, Harris orders her to turn around, bend over and touch her toes. She does so and remains stoic. Meanwhile Thomas leaves the rendezvous, resigned to the belief that either Stephanie was a double-agent or that she had been captured. Stephanie is taken to another jail-cell like holding room, naked, and tortured by the agent who sprays her with cold water from a high-powered hose as Harris watches on. Harris and Bothringaye return to the room during the night and try to make Stephanie crack with another interrogation. They plant the idea in her head that Thomas had defected and was the one who had betrayed her.
Thomas decides that he must leave his post, as his position has become compromised in light of Stephanie's disappearance and of her inaccurate information regarding Dennis' death. However, he does not want to leave Yvonne and the life he has made with her. He also knows that not returning to the USSR would not be an option as it would be viewed as a defection. Thomas calls into Tally-Ho while he considers his options, but Tally-Ho orders him to break contact immediately, explaining that Stephanie had been deported and that he was in danger. As Thomas makes his way to a train station he is followed - his pursuer is Krivosheyev, who suddenly corners Thomas, calls him a traitor and attempts to stab him. However, a British agent who had been following both of them approaches from behind and shoots Krivosheyev with a poisoned dart through an Umbrella gun. As Krivosheyev falls, Thomas makes his escape. Returning to his lodgings, Thomas finds out from Neville that Harris had been there and left a note for him. The note (addressed to 'Thomas' rather than to 'Edward') suggests that they meet and talk over his problems. Thomas tells Yvonne that his story to her had been a lie and that he must leave. He shows her his photograph of Melanie and explains that for 17 years the photo was the only part of him that was 'real', but that now she (Yvonne) had made him feel 'real again'. Yvonne is silent and lost for words. At dawn Thomas waits alone on a deserted, remote air-strip. A car approaches him. Tally-Ho emerges from the car. Tally-Ho and Bothringaye are the same person. Tally-Ho explains that the British believed Thomas to be Dennis' successor, and so wanted him to defect. In order persuade him to defect, they made the KGB believe he had already defected, by way of telling Stephanie and by killing Krivosheyev in the Umbrella Murder. Bothingaye / Tally-Ho is actually a triple-agent and Thomas merely a pawn in his game. Tally-Ho gives Thomas a new passport with some US Dollar bills inside as a hint and suggests that he disappear. Tally-Ho drives off leaving Thomas alone on the runway.