The Keep (1983)

1. - Your new home.

2. How do you like it?

3. - Not very well, sir.

4. - Why not? - We should be in Russia.

5. - For what?

6. - The final assault on Moscow.

7. - You could transfer.

8. But by the time you got there,

9. Russia would've gone like France, Belgium, Holland,

10. all the rest.

11. We're all done fighting.

12. Now we are the masters of the world.

13. Does it enthrall you, Oster?

14. - Yes, sir.

15. - Good!

16. But we have been assigned to guard this pass,

17. so here is where you'll stay.

18. Tell the men to get out.

19. - Dismount!

20. Ernst!

21. Ernst!

22. Machine guns come across the ravine into the keep with us.

23. - What are you doing here?

24. - I'm the caretaker, sir.

25. - And they? - They're my sons.

26. There's a 108 such crosses made of nickel

27. embedded in the walls of the keep.

28. - You counted them?

29. Or is it something you tell to your tour customers?

30. - I'm Alexandru.

31. My sons and I work here.

32. No one tours this place.

33. - I thought the keep was unoccupied.

34. - We go home at night,

35. we live in the village.

36. - Where is the owner? - I have no idea.

37. - Who is he? - I don't know.

38. - Who tells you what to do?

39. - We do what needs doing.

40. My father spent his life doing it,

41. his father before him, and so on.

42. My sons will continue after me.

43. - There you are.

44. You may continue your maintenance after we settle in.

45. - You cannot stay here.

46. - And why not?

47. - No one stays here.

48. - And who forbids it? - No one forbids.

49. Some travelers have stayed,

50. we don't stop them,

51. but no one stays the night.

52. - Ghosts? Demons?

53. - No, no ghosts here.

54. - Death then? Suicides?

55. - No one's ever died here.

56. - Then what drives people out

57. in the middle of a rainy night?

58. - Dreams.

59. - Nightmares?

60. Old man, the real nightmares man has made

61. upon other men in this war.

62. The bad dreams of your keep

63. are nursery rhyme by comparison.

64. Come on, I want a tour.

65. Who built the keep?

66. - Some say Turks,

67. some say the warlords of ancient Wallachia.

68. - No, no, no. This is not a fortress.

69. A soldier could walk up the outside wall.

70. Why are the small stones on the outside,

71. and the large stones here in the interior?

72. It's constructed

73. backwards.

74. This place was not designed to keep something

75. out.

76. What is this place?

77. - No one knows for sure.

78. Herr Officer, stop them!

79. - Stop what? - They're opening the walls!

80. - Old man, spikes for lights, we have generators.

81. The Wehrmacht doesn't live by candlelight.

82. - Then is he stringing lights?

83. - Soldier, what's your assignment?

84. - To string lights, sir.

85. - Then what the hell are you doing? Answer!

86. - Silver crosses, sir.

87. There is talk among the men.

88. They hide silver here.

89. Treasure, sir.

90. - Private Lutz, it's been a profitable day for you.

91. Not only have you learned

92. the crosses are made of nickel, not silver,

93. but you've earned yourself a place on first watch all week!

94. Get out!

95. - Never touch the crosses!

96. Never!

97. - And why not?

98. - You must not stay here.

99. - Good day, Alexandru.

100. - Nickel!

101. Nickel.

102. Yes, nickel.

103. But not this one.

104. Otto!

105. Otto!

106. - I'm on duty! - Forget it, c'mon. Look at this!

107. - Silver!

108. Look Lutz! Look at the block!

109. - This is the only silver cross.

110. This block moves.

111. Behind this one block

112. there may be more silver.

113. Are you ready to be rich? - Oh yes.

114. - A passage, I knew it.

115. - Let's take this cross, replace the block and come back later.

116. - Don't be stupid, others will hear. Why share this?

117. No block.

118. Tie these on my ankle.

119. Silver, there's more silver.

120. Ah! Ah!

121. Ah!

122. Pull me back! Pull me back!

123. - Lutz!

124. Lutz!

125. - Stand down!

126. - I need to hire a boat. - Where to?

127. - Constanta, on the Romanian coast.

128. - Too dangerous.

129. Very expensive.

130. - Steiner. Last night it was Steiner.

131. That makes five dead,

132. and I checked with the radio man,

133. there's been no answer to your request for relocation.

134. - Stop this, please!

135. - Stop!

136. Wait!

137. Wait!

138. - In this village,

139. partisans have been operating

140. against the greater German Reich.

141. - Are you insane?

142. - SS Einsatzkommando Sturmbannführer Kaempffer is what I am.

143. Captain Klaus Woermann is what you are.

144. Your request for relocation is denied, Woermann.

145. I am now in command over this emplacement,

146. and you will not interfere with our actions.

147. You,

148. you,

149. you,

150. you and you.

151. Bring them to the keep.

152. - Sir, there are no partisans in this village!

153. These men know nothing!

154. - If one more German soldier dies,

155. all five hostages will be shot.

156. And five more will be shot

157. every time another German is killed.

158. We will continue until partisan activity stops

159. or we run out of villagers.

160. - There are no partisans!

161. - You, see to it that my Eisatzkommando are quartered.

162. - Those people you murdered are Romanian citizens!

163. We are on allied state!

164. - Let's have an immediate understanding, Woermann.

165. Who gives a damn about a death of a few communists?

166. - Listen to me.

167. MG 34's cover the entrance,

168. lights illuminate the perimeter,

169. and whatever kills us, gets in anyway.

170. Nothing that we do, no security works.

171. We have seen no partisans!

172. Something has been released! - Something?

173. What do you mean "something," Woermann?

174. Are you trying to create a mystery?

175. To excuse your incompetence in protecting your men?

176. - My competence was proven in combat

177. against soldiers who shoot back,

178. not slaughtering civilians.

179. - And I am a political soldier, Woermann.

180. And I shall say it once only:

181. your security doesn't work

182. because your methods are wrong.

183. The answer's fear, Woermann, fear.

184. From now on these partisans will be afraid to kill,

185. because they will fear the price

186. their actions cause these villagers to pay.

187. - Now listen,

188. something else is killing us.

189. And if it doesn't care

190. about the lives of three villagers,

191. if it is like you,

192. then does your fear work?

193. Take that brilliant thought

194. back to Dachau with you when you go.

195. If you go.

196. Because here in this keep,

197. Herr Sturmbannführer Kaempffer,

198. you may learn something new.

199. - Neither you nor the keep can teach me anything.

200. - We found the rest of Steiner.

201. - Come, SS Einsatzkommando Sturmbannführer Kaempffer.

202. See the latest present our friend has left us.

203. Come.

204. - Bring a hostage.

205. - Explain this, Kaempffer,

206. this is what's happening to us.

207. - What do these words mean?

208. - Herr Officer, I, I don't know.

209. - Don't lie to me.

210. Those words are Romanian.

211. What do they say? I want to know.

212. - They look like Romanian, Herr Officer, but they're not.

213. I don't know what they say!

214. - He's telling the truth!

215. Make him stop!

216. - What do you suggest I do?

217. Arrest him?

218. - Priest, you're next.

219. Teach him the art of translation.

220. - Herr Officer, this writing is like Romanian,

221. but different, it's, it's meaningless,

222. it's not written in the Latin alphabet,

223. nor in the Cyrillic alphabet.

224. - What can you tell us about the keep we don't know already?

225. - Me?

226. Nothing.

227. - Yes, you were about to say more.

228. You can tell us nothing. - No.

229. - Who can? - No one.

230. - Don't lie to me,

231. or I'll shoot this man dead.

232. - There's a professor of medieval history,

233. at the university in the city of Jassy.

234. He's made a study of this keep.

235. Perhaps he can translate that for you.

236. - His name? - Dr. Theodore Cuza.

237. He grew up in this village.

238. Herr Officer,

239. Dr. Cuza is not in Jassy.

240. - Then where?

241. - Dr. Cuza is a Jew.

242. He's wherever you've taken the Jews.

243. - Good.

244. The SS will bring them today from the depot.

245. - Do you play tonight?

246. - I don't play music here.

247. Josefa not happy here.

248. Why are you here, girl?

249. - I'm Eva Cuza.

250. This is my father Dr. Cuza.

251. We are Jews.

252. The Gypsies are not the only ones

253. who are enemies of the state.

254. - When we reach that new settlement place

255. they say we are going to,

256. then I play music for you, gadgie girl.

257. - There are farms, and wheat fields there,

258. they said.

259. - Where are you going in such a hurry?

260. - Into the pass.

261. - Get down.

262. How far?

263. - To the keep.

264. - Move away from the machine.

265. Open the case.

266. - Don't

267. touch that.

268. - I will tell you something few know.

269. The people who go to these resettlement camps,

270. there are only two doors,

271. one in and one out.

272. The one out is a chimney.

273. So...

274. You'd better find a way to be of use to me in three days.

275. Three days.

276. Or back to the camps, go you and your daughter.

277. What does it mean?

278. - Can you understand it?

279. - Well?

280. - The former is in the imperative.

281. It says:

282. "I will be free."

283. - So we do have partisans. - It is old Slavonic.

284. But written the Glagolitic alphabet.

285. Your partisans are writing to you in a language

286. that has been dead for 500 years.

287. - Wood. We need wood for a fire.

288. - Does it get that cold?

289. - Look at my father.

290. He looks 68?

291. He's 48.

292. - Eva!

293. - He's dying from a variety of scleroderma.

294. With the temperature in this room,

295. gangerine will be in his fingers in an hour.

296. - Alright, that's enough!

297. - He won't last Major Kaempffer's three days.

298. - You'll get the wood,

299. and some furniture

300. and lights.

301. Get your food from our mess.

302. Let me tell you two something.

303. The Major will snuff you out like that.

304. He has his reasons for a quick solution.

305. I have mine.

306. I don't want any more of my men to die.

307. Find out what is killing us.

308. And I may be able to get you to Bucharest

309. and keep you safe.

310. - And then again, you may not.

311. - Mihai, how did you manage this?

312. - I didn't think I could.

313. - You rescued us.

314. For me it doesn't matter, but for Eva...

315. What fairy tales did you tell them?

316. - None.

317. They made up their own.

318. But I made them believe that you could solve their problems

319. just to get you brought here.

320. And now,

321. now we must get you out.

322. - How?

323. - Today I arrange a guide.

324. Tomorrow you ask to see

325. the old Slavonic manuscripts in the church.

326. The guide will take you from the church

327. across the mountains to the Dnieper,

328. from there the Black Sea anywhere.

329. - How far do you think I'll get?

330. I can't fight, I can't walk, nothing.

331. You just get Eva out of here.

332. - Listen to me!

333. They've already killed three villagers here,

334. including old Simonescu.

335. I was in Brasov, they're rounding up trade unionists,

336. journalists, Jews, Gypsies,

337. God knows what happens to them.

338. - We found out what happens.

339. I'm not going without you.

340. - You have to try.

341. I'll carry you on my back if I must.

342. - Hmm.

343. - So,

344. How are you?

345. - Don't ask.

346. Whoever thought of sticking

347. the miracle of the human intellegence

348. inside one of these decaying bodies,

349. he should have been fired.

350. - So where else would God to put the human soul?

351. - In a desk.

352. Maybe a street car.

353. It wouldn't have been so bad,

354. it breaks, you get a new part.

355. - Blasphemy.

356. One of these days you're gonna believe in the divine.

357. - You believe in gods, I believe in men.

358. - How's Eva?

359. - Eva? - Mm-hmm.

360. - Eva wastes her youth,

361. chained to an old man in a wheelchair.

362. I should have a nurse.

363. She should live her own life.

364. - She won't let anyone else take care of you.

365. I have much to do.

366. - One more thing, Mihai.

367. - Yes?

368. - The writing on the wall. - Yes?

369. - You put it there? - No.

370. - How'd it get there, Mihai?

371. - There is something that you can do for me,

372. make me feel easier.

373. Keep it with you, just,

374. just two days, as a favor to me.

375. - Hey, Günter, it's your sister!

376. - Like me to help you? - Get your hands off me.

377. - Sit down.

378. - Go on, Jürgen, use your charm.

379. Get up and help in there. - All right, that's enough!

380. - Eva!

381. Eva!

382. Get away from my child!

383. Take me and leave her alone!

384. What have you done to her?

385. What are you?

386. - Why are you here?

387. - They thought I could find what was killing their soldiers.

388. I have! Haven't I?

389. - I need an ally,

390. but you,

391. you collaborate!

392. - No!

393. Don't accuse me of collaborating with Nazis.

394. I'd do anything to stop them.

395. If you don't believe me, then kill me.

396. - Papa?

397. Papa?

398. What happenend?

399. Your hands.

400. Your face.

401. - I feel warm.

402. I know,

403. it brought you here.

404. - Who?

405. No, that was a dream.

406. It was a nightmare.

407. - It carried you here,

408. I saw it too.

409. - What I saw wasn't real.

410. - Look at my hands, look at my face!

411. It touched my body.

412. Look at you.

413. I don't know what it is

414. and I don't care.

415. He's like a hammer,

416. and can now smash them!

417. - What are you talking about?

418. We're dealing with a golem?

419. A devil!

420. - A devil? Now you listen to me.

421. The devil of the keep wears a black uniform

422. and has a death's head at his cap

423. and calls himself a Sturmbannführer.

424. - There were two more deaths last night.

425. You are going to stay at the inn.

426. You have two minutes to pack.

427. - Why?

428. - Because I can at least keep you safe

429. from what is killing us.

430. And after the incident in the mess,

431. maybe from the men too.

432. - Maybe from the men.

433. I'm not going to leave my father here alone.

434. - Yes.

435. You should go. - No.

436. - You now have a minute and 45 seconds.

437. - A minute and 45 seconds for what?

438. - Fraülein Cuza's packing her things

439. and moving herself to the inn. - She is not going anywhere.

440. - I forbid it, I will not permit you

441. to send my daughter away.

442. - You? You forbid?

443. Let me tell you something, you forbid nothing.

444. Nothing!

445. Get her out of here.

446. - You ready?

447. - Almost.

448. - Listen to me, my child.

449. You are the meaning of my life.

450. Whatever I will do here, whatever happens to me,

451. leave me behind.

452. Escape.

453. Go with Mihai, do not wait for me.

454. - No. - Yes!

455. Go.

456. Meet a man, live a full life,

457. and you live for me.

458. - Who is this?

459. - My son.

460. He died in Spain,

461. 5 years ago this month.

462. Fighting on the Republicans side.

463. Were you in Spain?

464. - If I were,

465. I would have been in the Thälmann brigade,

466. with other anti-facist Germans.

467. Your son and I,

468. we would have been fighting on the same side.

469. But no, I wasn't.

470. - What?

471. - The cross.

472. Why do you, a Jew, need the protection of the cross?

473. - I don't.

474. It was a gift of a friend, a humane man.

475. Listen to me, Captain Woermann,

476. I pass the gift on to you.

477. Take it.

478. You're a humane man too, and you,

479. you may need it.

480. - How did you get out?

481. Did they let you go?

482. Where's Theodore?

483. - He's still inside.

484. - Anything, Domnisoara Cuza, call Tomescu.

485. - I have no money to pay you right now.

486. - Your father did me many favors over the years,

487. forget about it.

488. - Thank you, but we'll pay.

489. - What are you doing here?

490. - Is this the only room overlooking the keep?

491. - Yes. - Then I'll take it.

492. - It's taken by Domnisoara Cuza.

493. - It's okay.

494. - Where will you go?

495. - Back into the keep, away from here, I don't know.

496. - Why's your father in the keep?

497. - He's being kept there by soldiers.

498. - Are you gonna wait for him?

499. Or leave?

500. - I'm gonna wait right here for him.

501. - Then you better stay here with me.

502. - Why are you here?

503. - Eva...

504. - Where do you come from?

505. - I'm a traveler.

506. - From where?

507. - Everywhere.

508. Go to sleep.

509. And dream.

510. - You have

511. death around you.

512. - At your hands? - No.

513. - And what you sense is my fate in a death camp?

514. - A place where people gather to die?

515. - A place where people are murdered.

516. - My people are murdered?

517. - Yes, and others from all over the-

518. - Who does this?

519. - Their leader in Berlin

520. and the soldiers in black.

521. - I will destroy them!

522. I will consume their lives.

523. - When

524. could you do this?

525. - When I am complete,

526. in two nights,

527. if I can leave this place.

528. - Why couldn't you?

529. - Because an object of mine,

530. the origin of my power

531. must be removed from the keep

532. and hidden in these mountains

533. and kept safe from people here,

534. and from anyone who may come here.

535. It must be done by someone I can trust.

536. Like you.

537. Only then can I leave the keep,

538. and destroy the soldiers in black and their leaders.

539. Will you

540. carry this object

541. out of here for me?

542. - Yes.

543. - Mihai, I'm not leaving yet.

544. Did you get Eva out?

545. - Eva.

546. Eva is at the inn.

547. - There is something here,

548. a power.

549. This power is our salvation.

550. - Power is God!

551. And the messiah, his immortal son

552. who took flesh of the holy mother and of a virgin, Mary.

553. And I,

554. I have been right!

555. And you, you Theodore Cuza,

556. you have been wrong.

557. I was right in my simple faith!

558. I was right!

559. - Fonescu, evil comes from the acts between man and man.

560. It wears a swastika and it believes in black dreams.

561. You know this.

562. What's happening to you?

563. - Stay here, stay here with your daughter

564. and burn with the others.

565. Burn with the misfits, the Gypsies, the heratics.

566. I won't lift a finger to help you!

567. - Mihai.

568. - Ha, Monster!

569. Burn in hell!

570. - Mihai!

571. - Come again in glory,

572. and judge both the living and the dead,

573. and deliver unto grace...

574. us!

575. Your faithful!

576. - Mihai!

577. I never thought I'd see you alive again.

578. Now we can get out.

579. - Not yet.

580. Mihai...

581. Mihai told me you didn't leave.

582. You're all right?

583. - Mihai's gone crazy.

584. What's happened to this place?

585. - I can't help Mihai.

586. - What's happened

587. is that what was repressed

588. within the keep,

589. is spreading into the village.

590. - Who are you?

591. What do you know about it?

592. - This is-

593. - I know that you've bound yourself to him,

594. that you've agreed to carry the talisman out.

595. - It's the source of...

596. - It is not his, it's what keeps him inside the walls.

597. And if you carry it out,

598. he will be released into the world of men.

599. - What's happening in the world

600. is worse than anything he can do.

601. - He is the same.

602. Look at you.

603. - Glenn- - What?

604. - Listen, my body, I don't give a damn about me,

605. I'm not doing this for me.

606. - That's why he picked you.

607. Only someone uncorrupted

608. could even get near the talisman.

609. - Don't listen to this.

610. - You stop this. You stop it!

611. What are you doing?

612. Let's just get out of here.

613. - Don't take it out.

614. - What do you want?

615. - There's a stranger at the inn.

616. He asks questions.

617. I believe he's connected with the people

618. who pay for the keep's maintenance.

619. - Arrest the man, bring him to the keep.

620. This place

621. seems to agree with you.

622. You look

623. healthier.

624. - This place has it's strong points.

625. - You're part of this!

626. Aren't you?

627. Tell me!

628. Tell me.

629. - The talisman that holds him inside is mine.

630. I have been here for ages,

631. watching and guarding against what is happening now.

632. He is being released.

633. - I don't understand.

634. - I have come to destroy him.

635. Now,

636. and it may be too late.

637. I will end it.

638. - What ends?

639. - When he goes, I go.

640. - What?

641. Then why?

642. Why did you come to me?

643. Become my lover

644. out of a dream.

645. - To touch

646. as only mortal men can do.

647. - You will come into the keep for interrogation, now.

648. - Stay here.

649. - Leave the cross!

650. - No!

651. Leave him! Leave him!

652. - What was the shooting in the village, huh?

653. - A civilian being interrogated

654. resisted arrest.

655. - Another civilian.

656. The courageous Einsatzkommando again is victorious.

657. - Woermann.

658. Woermann.

659. Woermann!

660. - I will not- - You will nothing.

661. You will die.

662. All of us will die.

663. - You're falling apart, Woermann.

664. You despise our ruthlessness.

665. But you do not grab history by the throat,

666. and write the next 1000 year future

667. without brutality and courage!

668. - Fairy tales, Kaempffer.

669. Romantic fairy tales

670. you tell yourself,

671. then dress up in black and silver

672. so you can look in the mirror

673. and maybe believe them!

674. Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Führer!

675. At Poznan...

676. A year and a half ago,

677. SS Einsatzkommando executed men, women, and children.

678. Children, for god's sake.

679. Ruthlessness? Courage?

680. How many times in this keep

681. have you made your bed?

682. - Don't you talk to me about courage.

683. Were you with the German anti-fascist

684. fighting us in Spain, no!

685. Did you stop the Einsatzkommando Poznan?

686. No!

687. You have the debilitating German disease, Woermann:

688. sentimental talk!

689. It allows you to feel sensitive,

690. superior, and yet stay safe,

691. because you take no action.

692. Your sentimental suffering makes me sick!

693. - For once you're right, Kaempffer.

694. I'm only half a man.

695. All that we are is coming out,

696. here in this keep.

697. - The man sees the truth. - And what truth do you see?

698. What are you discovering about yourself, Kaempffer, huh?

699. "I murder all these people,

700. therefore I must be powerful!"

701. And you smash them down because only that raises you up.

702. It's a psychotic fantasy to escape

703. the weakness and disease you sense

704. at the core of your souls.

705. You have scooped the most diseased psyches

706. out of the German gutter.

707. You have released the foulness

708. that dwells in all man's minds.

709. You have infected millions with your twisted fantasies!

710. And from the millions of diseased mentalities

711. that worship your twisted cross,

712. what monstrosity has been released on this keep?

713. Who are you meeting, Kaempffer,

714. in the granite corridors of this keep?

715. Yourself.

716. - The lamb of your body,

717. Jesus, protect me!

718. Protect me!

719. What are you?

720. Where do you come from?

721. - Where am I from?

722. I am

723. from you.

724. Carry it from this place.

725. Take it out of here.

726. There's no one left to stop you.

727. - Eva!

728. I have it!

729. - Take it back.

730. It belongs to Glaeken Trismegestus,

731. not Molasar.

732. - No! This is power!

733. - It's corrupting.

734. It's changing your soul.

735. Take it back!

736. - Get out of my away! - No!

737. No! - Get out of my way!

738. - Kill her!

739. And take the talisman out of here!

740. - Who are you that I have to prove myself to

741. by killing my child?

742. - Obey me!

743. Or you will return to the diseased state I found you in.

744. And I'll slay both of you!

745. - If this is yours as you said,

746. then you take it out of the keep.

747. You can't?

748. Then this isn't yours,

749. and the keep is a prison to contain you.

750. And you have lied, exploited, deceived,

751. and you are the same evil as outside this place!

752. So, you prove yourself to me!

753. You take it out of here!

754. You yourself!

755. Take it!

756. Take it!

757. - You.

758. - Take your father

759. out of this place.