1864 (2014) s01e02 Episode Script

I grew up with Peter and Laust.
As in all memoirs, the sun was always shining, and there were only a few shadows.
Didrich was one of them.
The Baron's distraught son - - who, like Peter and Laust's father, had returned home from war, victorious.
He returned with wounds of the soul, - - the father, Thoeger, with a wounded leg that would not heal.
I remember the time as euphoric.
Politicians, culture, and the people felt like they had been chosen by God - - and everyone had a self-assured hubris, so they shone in the sun.
But the clouds were approaching.
There was just no one who saw them.
"You windswept Danish beach" "where ancient barrows" "stand between the apple orchard" "and the hop garden" "I love you" "I love you!" "Denmark, my fatherland" "How the summer nests well in the flower bed" "more abundant than here, down to the open beach" Dad! Dad! It was my fault.
If I had found the right herbs, then Dad wouldn't have died.
It was not you.
It was the Germans.
No.
Frankenstein! It's the Zombie minder! Are you there? Have you left the grave today? Have you been getting pissed all night? Good morning.
Fuck! 12! You should have been here at 12 o'clock! - Now it is 12 12.
23.
- And? Being late is a sign of disrespect.
You should not waste other people's time by being late! So I've stolen 23 minutes of your precious time? - Think about what you could have achieved.
- Achieved? Travelled round the World.
Techno Festival.
An appointment with the hairdresser and selling off walking frames.
Stop, we are wasting time aren't we?! It should be served.
- After this you can do the kitchen and the toilet.
- I didn't think you needed anyone? - In this castle, one speaks politely.
- What about you! - What are you doing here? - I'm just dusting.
Don't touch anything in here.
- Is that your wife? - Wife? This.
Is this your wife? It's just a person who has died like everyone else.
Yes.
Molecules and light, it's all we have.
Just molecules which turn into something else.
Sure! Have you finished eating? Once people addressed me as 'Sir'.
"Has 'Sir' finished eating?" "Is there anything 'Sir' wants?" But in your case, I am probably just.
.
'You'.
- Can you make such a compromise? - What 'Your Grace'? 'Your Grace' will be excellent if you can say it without tongue in your cheek.
- What were you doing in the chest? - I was looking for new bedding.
But there were only books.
A book.
It's a diary.
Handwritten.
Is that it? Is it Inge's memoir? I have not seen this book since Yes What does it say? - There's a hell of a lot.
- Would you mind reading a little for me? What? If I have to be in your presence - - you might as well make yourself useful.
- Ingeborg Ahlefeldts Juhl.
- Juhl.
My journey from 1851 to 1939.
I write this, so it can be remembered.
But who will read it, I do not know.
The summer of 1863 Denmark is glowing.
It is one country.
One people.
One nation.
And the Danish people's confidence is huge.
The Danes are discovering themselves.
Grundtvig and the priests are talking about the Danes being God's chosen people.
Everything has gone mad.
"Other winds are blowing gentlemen" "Other thoughts thought" You too are one of us.
They're shooting themselves in the foot.
Tjele, according to Thyra, goes to the Danish border at the Eider river, south of Schleswig.
This is a third of Denmark which belongs to the Danes.
We are the chosen people.
We should not talk bloody German.
Even in Schleswig.
We must protect the Danes against foreign influence.
"What God has joined together, let no man separate!" We should be with the Danes.
Yes? This is the new stable boy.
- Stable Boy? - You know his father.
- Oh, damn.
- Laust.
Well it's just it's Laust that we are talking about.
It was a German who made Laust an orphan.
Laust will avenge Daddy.
Fight for the Kingdom of Denmark.
Isn't that right Laust? Just nod.
Yes, yes.
Good.
Show Laust to where he should be.
I thought one should fall to enemy bullets.
Not because you have a sore leg and collapse dead in horse shit.
That kind do not usually get medals.
There are two kinds of soldiers.
Those who survive, and those who die.
I survived.
It's a question of will.
Whether you have the will to win, or to be a loser.
I survived because I wanted to.
Your father was a wimp.
You will get up and milk the cows at 4 am And you don't finish until 8 pm.
What do you say? What do you say then?! - What? - What? - What do you say? - I don't know.
Say "thank you" - you little shit.
Denmark as a united kingdom.
King, our beloved King at the head of the people.
It is Denmark's right as a pioneer uh I understand nothing.
What's the matter with you? Do you miss him? Your husband.
Wherever Johan is now, he won't care if I miss him.
- But you are wearing black? - It is expected of me.
I wish that I could control my emotions in the same way.
You are as the most controlled person I have ever met.
That's why you are so boring.
Mrs.
Heiberg I have to tell you like it is.
My father died in an lunatic asylum.
My sister died in a similar place.
My whole family has been in and out of the asylum.
I have also been in an asylum.
Just because there is mental illness in your family and you have been hospitalised - - does not mean you are necessarily mad.
When my thoughts fly I can not catch them, and I think weird things.
You say you lack passion.
But passion is directly related to madness.
You become crazy with it.
Like confused as young love.
But any artist or a man with a message - - must constantly keep the madness at bay.
Without madness, there is no passion.
That's why you have lost your glow, little Monrad.
You are afraid of yourself.
- Lie down.
- What? - Lie down on the floor.
- No, Mrs.
Heiberg, now Come on! On your back! Now we will drive the damn Devil out - - sitting in there - stuck in your soul.
What do you think? Now talk loudly and passionately about your ideals.
Come on! Speak clearly, Monrad, so everyone can understand you.
- Denmark! Denmark! - Yeah, come on now, Monrad.
- As a united Kingdom! - Out with it! - The King at the head of Denmark! - Our beloved king! - Come on, Monrad! Out with it! - Schleswig home to Denmark! We matured and grew older.
We grew as the days passed.
Lived while hours passed - - and time disappeared and became time again.
In a small and a safer world.
And in 1863, I remember that it was always the sun that played the key role and the clouds were just fleeting guests.
.
passing by, over mother Karen's clean laundry.
Great white plumes carried peace over her sons.
Hello, Peter.
Your Mum said you're off work.
Why don't we go down and look at the girls? They eat lunch down by the river.
Maybe they are paddling.
- Mum, shouldn't we go down and - Maybe they are paddling up to their knees.
What did you say? What did you say? What? "Are you very horny?" Yes.
He thinks you are very beautiful.
What did you say? "They are only little girls" You don't think that! They're some pretty young ladies.
What did you say? Remove their blouses? No, whatever next? "Do they want to go riding?" - Yes, do you want to go riding? - We would like that very much.
That will cool you down a bit.
I will pay you back.
And when you least expect it.
Yes, that's fine.
I love surprises.
Beasts! Come on! Excuse me! Can I get a job here? Me and my family, we need work.
- I'm sorry, what? - Me and my family work here.
My son.
My son! Come! Come! What? - Hand.
- Hand? Muscles.
Arm.
Back.
The family.
We work.
What the hell is this, a circus? - Where do you come from? - All places.
Father, can't we find work for them? It might be difficult to get the harvest done.
We will manage without them.
Come on then.
Mint.
- Dandelion.
- Who is she? Henbane.
(Deadly Nightshade) Not Henbane.
Wait here.
Good day.
You shouldn't pick Henbane.
No, it's poisonous.
Don't use it.
Nicht Verwendung.
(Don't use it) This damned tooth.
Sofia has your medicine.
Is it Henbane? Henbane in small doses soothes the pain Damned tooth! Hunger? Hungry? - You've been around a lot? - Yes.
It's pretty out there, right? Is there a lot to see? I should have gone too, but I stay home.
Germans What are they like? The Germans are good men.
- And what about the Austrians? - A good man.
- The French are a little peevish.
- Frenchman good man.
The Italian good man.
Dutchmen, Danes Good men.
So everyone is good? People are people, aren't they? - By the way I'm Peter.
- Ignazio.
My wife, Helena.
Djargo, son.
Sofia, daughter.
Thank you.
I was really hungry.
Won't you have something to eat? Not today.
"The tall Mr.
Jensen, he walked down the street" "wild wild wild wild wild Jokumsen, Jokumsen, Jokumsen".
"There he met a girl, was looking for a little" "wild wild wild wild wild Jokumsen, Jokumsen, Jokumsen".
Me and my eye.
How can you say 'me and my eye'? - What? - Or me and my leg.
If I lost a leg, I have therefore lost the leg.
It's not the leg, that has lost me.
" And the girl, she was young, wild wild wild " Why don't my legs have just as much right to lose me? "Then she lay on her back with her pussy in the air" Shh! What's in your bag? - Shall we move on? - Shh! Shut up! What's in your bag? Have you been shooting game on the estate? Come on.
What have got in the bag, you little black bastard? Come.
Come on.
What's in your bag? Let's see what is hidden in the bag? "Why did you shoot me?" "Why should I die?" "Why should I die?" "Oh, what?" Come on, kiss it.
Come on, kiss me.
What? What? Stealing? You and your back.
It's just your back.
Forget it.
Your body is only a product of the mind.
You should read something Hegel.
Hegel, he Oh, damn! Five green peas sitting in a green pod.
Because everything around them was green, they believed that the whole world was green.
Isn't that how it is? We live here in our little world and think everything is about cows and straw.
Ignazio and his people have seen the secrets of the world.
What do you have to complain about? Everything here is ours.
What else do you need? No.
One day I'll take off and see it all.
- A curious person will never be poor.
- I'll go with you.
Yes.
The world is a big cake.
It would be a shame not to taste it all.
- What is it? - It's coming from up there.
- They can't use a whip to punish.
- You're wasting the Baron's time.
It's fine.
- What? - Did you beat one of the gypsies? Yes.
A damn poacher.
He shot two of the estate's pheasants.
- They don't have food.
- Inge! I have to say it.
They have nothing.
They eat what they pick up from the ground.
He should be grateful that I didn't cut off his hand.
Don't we need people for the harvest? - Yes.
- Then give them some work.
Father, they are thieves! - You there! - His name is Ignazio.
Enough! You two! Come.
Sit down.
- How's your mother? - Fine.
I am very impressed with Inge.
She is a girl with grit.
And opinions.
Maybe you two need to get away.
The army needs people.
If you enlist, it would be good for your mother.
Denmark needs healthy young men.
It is not inconceivable that there will be war.
This area should also contribute young men.
You've also got something to settle on your father's behalf.
You would like to see the world, right? Get a little hair on your chest.
See the world.
I'm proud of you.
You're the salt of the earth.
Denmark's future.
Our World! Our land, our people.
Is this just some random land, on which we happen to tread - - and only by fate, it was here, we were conceived and born? No! It is Denmark, and we are Danish, because we are born Danish - - And we come from this land, because God gave it to us.
Because our ancestors and their ancestors cultivated - Monrad! - Created and shaped the language.
What? - This is great.
- It has the dedication, we were missing.
Come! We are going in now.
First we will take the Folketing by storm.
Then we will take Schleswig.
Because our ancestors and their ancestors cultivated - - created and shaped the language - the hymns.
Fields and woods surrounded band reflected in the blue sea And isn't the Danish soul quite unique in Europe? While others destroyed their monarchies in crazy revolutions - - we gave the people a new constitution.
A constitution.
And shouldn't we cherish these unique values - - that we alone have, amongst all the peoples of the world.
I would say that just as we are enthusiastic - - at the thought of achieving the noblest of all goals - - to become a whole person - - so too Denmark should be a whole country - - and Schleswig should recognise its historical destiny and become Danish.
Some will argue it will incite war with the Germans - - but they and pro-German citzens of Schleswig have been forced to flee before - - and would hardly want to feel that humiliation again.
And should sabers rattle anyway - - Denmark will have support from Sweden, Russia, England.
Even without the Danish enthusiasm, we are as strong as Dannevirke.
So should there be a war, then let there be war! In every home, in every hovel, in every house in Denmark, mothers and fathers sit - - with their sons ready to give their lives for Denmark.
As one people with a common destiny - - in a single kingdom: The Kingdom of Denmark! How was that? How was that? You, dangerous man.
Dangerous, dangerous man.
One more time.
He really said this? ThisMonrad? The most influential idealogue in the Government of Mr.
Hall The Reichstag was beside itself with excitement.
- Who is this man? - A theologian A bishop.
National Liberal.
Romantic.
Sensitive.
Sentimental.
The mastermind behind Denmark's constitution.
Sensitive? In what way? When he was young, he was hospitalised after his mother's death - - in an asylum.
So he is mad? 'Passionate' is perhaps a better word.
They intend to adopt a new constitution.
It incorporates Scheswig in the Danish State.
It would be the equivalent of a declaration of war.
Wouldn't everyone see that? Even Denmark's allies? Aren't they aware of that? The Danes are confident it is their right - Yes, ' confident' that they are something special.
He writes here: "And God gave this to us.
" He is apparently of the opinion that the Danes The Danes are God's chosen people - Who knows? - Moltke - Irmgard is putting the kids to bed.
- Yes I'll come now.
Is that the German Alliance? The German Alliance.
The lion is England and France.
France and Denmark.
Russia What would you say if we gathered them all together? - There would be many of them.
- And powerful.
Yes.
Much stronger than everyone else.
A huge army.
- Attack! - Wait! Not so fast! Can't they fight side by side? - Should we practice first? - Yes.
Practice makes perfect.
You practise against an easy opponent.
And once you have defeated them Then you are stronger.
Come children.
Come with me and Irmgard.
Wilhelm, Herbert! Moltke? - Denmark or Prussia? - Prussia, of course.
You are trained in Denmark.
You 'feeel' like Danes.
It's a shame.
- I can't lose you too.
- No one knows whether there will be a war.
I'll take care of him.
- Dad would have done the same.
- And Dad is no longer here.
- Einar is leaving too.
- Everyone is going.
- We want to go and see the world.
- Yes.
We'll come home.
- Bye, Mum.
- Bye, Mum.
- Goodbye, Mum.
- Take care, Mum.
- Thank you for everything.
- It's been nice knowing you.
- I'll see you, maybe.
- Or not.
- Bye, Mum.
- Come on.
- When I'm a general you can clean my boots.
- Yeah, you're so damn clever! Yeah, I am clever one.
You're just the one with the muscles.
- Hey! - Hey! - Name.
- Clausen, Christian.
- Madsen, Jens Christian.
- Nielsen, Niels.
- Nielsen, Simon.
- Jensen.
Look up and cough.
Approved.
Approved.
- Step forward.
Name.
- Nielsen, Anders.
Look up and cough.
- Approved.
- Next.
- Jensen, Peter.
- Jensen, Laust.
You look good enough on the outside.
But you are flatfooted.
- You need to find something else.
- No, I can't.
If he can't go, I won't go either.
Look up and cough.
Approved.
Next.
- Name.
- Nielsen, Einar.
Look up and cough.
Approved.
That's the first time some else has touched it.
And it was a man.
It was a little strange, but it was not as bad as I thought.
Healthy Danish boys- -You are still boys - - but I will soon turn you into men.
Men! You are now part of the world's greatest army.
The Danish army.
In 1851 we thrashed the devil to the south.
But there haven't only been victories.
To be fair.
The Danish army has also experienced defeat.
For, it's as easy to celebrate victory - - as it is difficult to celebrate defeat.
But here too, the Danish army has always been the best.
We have always been able to celebrate defeat.
We got up, brushed the dust off and with pride in our eyes said: "No one can lose with a straight back like us Danish.
" For the Danish soldier always rises from From the dust.
Come on! Yes.
Come on.
Come on! Yes! Yes! Good evening, ma'am.
- What are you supposed to be, Inge? - Mother Mother.
Would you like to dance, young man? Come.
Dear friends, the harvest is gathered, and the harvest is the Lord's grace.
The fruit is picked.
The tree is shaken.
We have come home with the very last load.
And we worked the field easily, for it is quite old - - and the bird and the poor must be satiated.
Everyone deserves applause.
Music! - My knife, did you take it? - No.
You go on.
I'll get it.
You go home.
Yes.
Everyone is happy! Everything is just great! Everyone is happy! And everything is just great! Everyone is happy! And everything is just great! I was happy, but scared.
Afraid of everything.
Afraid of the war, but especially afraid of the love Laust and I shared.
Which voice within us wins, when we can't do everything we want? No one wanted to hurt Peter.
Yet we failed him.
Now they returned to the army.
And only the Gods knew when I would get to see them again.
Are the letters still in there? - Yes.
- From Laust and Peter? Yes.
One had to write every day to survive in the trenches.
It's all in Inge's memoirs and letters.
Oh, they were young and full of courage.
Yes.
Today's youth have no backbone.
You probably know a lot about it.
I'm leaving now.
- Already? - I can come back tomorrow.
You don't have to.
It doesn't matter.
It's all the same.
- Unless - What? Unless you want the rest of the story.
- I can come and read aloud again.
- If you insist.
See you tomorrow.