Albert Paulus

In this well-photographed and sometimes confusing wartime drama, an Austrian village experiences the tragedy of war on several different levels. Within one family, the younger son is jealous of the praise his father gives to a Polish POW who is working for them under very difficult conditions. Within the village as a whole, the French, Polish, and Russian POWs are kept under guard by Nazi soldiers, creating a tense situation all around. But more importantly, the village has conspired to hide an Austrian deserter in a cave up in the mountains. This act of rebellion on the part of the deserter and the village hangs in a precarious balance that could be upset by a single traitorous comment to the Gestapo.

The time of great festivities, of noble health-resort idyll are long gone. A place torn by modern functional buildings and decaying, once fashionable hotel palaces. In this scenery, Lenz, a masseur, is struggling for his survival, barely keeping a day-to-day routine. He has become estranged from his wife and child. When he meets the dancer Nurit his life is thrown completely out of balance.