Hundswut (2024) Movie Script
1
Pretty exhausting, isn't it?
Mhm.
You always have to carve away from the body.
So the blade always goes outward.
You see?
Look, and when you close the knife again,
you close it like this.
And then we make a surprise for mom.
What's mom's favorite animal again?
A d onkey?
A d onkey, really?
Yes, you see, I knew it.
Do you want to try?
Look, I'll go with you.
Do it d own there.
Okay.
Careful.
You're d oing great.
Yes!
You're d oing really good.
Lenze, are you hungry?
Do you want to eat something?
Yes?
Good.
Thank you.
Sure.
Lenze...
I think we lost one of the lambs.
I have to find it, okay?
Will you look after the others for me?
Yes?
There you are!
Come here.
Yes, there you are!
Lenze?
Lenze?
Lenze!
Where are you?
Lenze?
Lenze?
No!
Dad?
Mitzi, good morning!
Did you sleep well?
- Because of Lenze again?
- Hm?
- Dad, it wasn't your fault!
- Yes! I know, I know.
You sound like your mother.
You look like your mother too.
Not at all!
Yes, you do.
You certainly look like you need a wash.
You wanted to go to the grocery store later, right?
Oh, right.
Ah:
Good morning!
- This is a very good piece.
- Thank you...
Maybe you have a piece to spare sometime,
too.
Ah, the hermit!
Konrad, greetings.
Was everything okay with the boards?
Yes, they are good!
I said thanks,
- didn't I?
- It's all right.
I'm telling you,
this schoolhouse is in such a condition...
If you didn't help me all the time,
I could drop the bullshit anyway.
- You talk to the kids like that?
- Me?
You know how they talk to each other, right?
It makes your ears fall off.
And I really wasn't raised in the church.
Are these for me?
No, for my wife.
That's more appropriate anyway.
Say hello to her, unknown.
Sure.
Konrad, goodbye.
Goodbye.
- Good morning.
- Hello.
And?
And what? Oh, I see.
Say, you do realize that your coffee would only cost a fifth
if you didn't always just take a pound?
What if I get a stroke tomorrow?
Then the coffee will be standing around at my place.
My daughter won't drink it.
Really?
Thank you.
- Goodbye.
- Bye.
What if I get a stroke tomorrow...
My daughter won't drink it...
What's your problem?
I don't know. I don't trust the Khler.
I mean, he lives up there by the forest,
alone with his daughter, no wife, no...
It's not his fault his wife died.
Are you sure about that?
That can happen quickly if you're in league with the devil.
Well, Edi, I think that's enough now.
What?
I'm just saying what people are talking about.
I only hear you talk,
and for you it would be more reasonable to shut up.
Khler is a fine fellow,
he always pays his bill without a fuss.
Which is more than I can say about everyone here.
So for me, he's in league with the devil,
I'll tell you that.
And if you spit on my floor again,
you can mop in the evening,
you shameless bastard!
Yeah, all right, leave me alone.
Asshole.
Have you made the list yet?
Of course. Here.
Is he coming too?
The hermit? For God's sake.
I would have been surprised.
It would be the first time I've seen him in church.
So at nine o'clock there is mass,
then a pint at the pub, you are of course invited.
The rest will be with the family.
I don't want it to be a big deal.
The mayor's son is marrying Fanny Brenner.
I'm afraid you won't be able to avoid a big deal.
Nobody needs to know that yet.
It's still a few days away anyway.
Why, it's not a bad match, is it?
And having old Brenner in the family...
Who knows what that's good for.
Where love falls, there it stays,
even if it's a dunghill.
What is this?
Coffee?
Coffee?
Dad, you wanted to buy nails!
Mitzi...
I can't take it anymore.
You can't take it?
But you could still take care of your shitty coffee, couldn't you?
Dad, we need nails!
It's raining through the roof,
and when summer's over, we can't d o it anymore!
And now?
Now I have to go to the grocer again and buy them myself?
What else should I d o?
I already d o everything anyway!
I already d o everything anyway!
Joseph, everything is going to the dogs!
The farm is falling apart, the cattle are gone,
the fields are withered...
I can't do it alone!
It's no longer possible alone!
Joseph,
Lenze was my son too.
But we have to go on.
These are not easy times,
but it won't get easier when winter comes.
We have to go on, no matter how hard it is.
Lenze...
You didn't leave him alone!
Do you understand that?
Do you understand?
You d on't have just one child.
Mitzi doesn't understand anything anymore.
She d oesn't understand
why her father can't look at her anymore.
Why he only lies in his chamber and doesn't talk to us.
You already lost your son.
Don't lose your daughter too.
Hello!
Are we interrupting you?
No, why?
Ferdi!
Is that alcohol?
Aren't you afraid of the Shovel Man?
Of who?
Of the Shovel Man!
When you're drunk
and walking home through the forest at night,
the Shovel Man comes up behind you
and hits you on the head with his shovel.
That's why you always have such a headache
the day after you get drunk.
Did you hear that?
Yes, the Shovel Man.
Very funny.
No, seriously.
There was something.
Hello.
Hello.
How are you?
Toni...
I'm not going to stand for this constant secrecy much longer.
Yes, i know...
Why d oes it have to be like this?
Why can't anyone know about us?
I don't understand.
It's because of...
Because of my father?
Because of your father, because of my father...
It's just not that simple.
What is not that simple?
Do you want to marry me or my father?
I'm not him, and he's not me!
I am no more responsible for my father than you are for yours!
Why are you being so aggressive now?
I'm sorry.
I just want everyone to know about us.
I am so happy and I want to be able to show it.
Toni?
Toni?
Yes mom, here i am!
What are you doing behind the shed?
Nothing.
Come in, dinner is ready.
Your father is waiting.
That was necessary now, this weather!
Say, why is it pouring so now?
When I hang laundry...
And I didn't notice it again.
What are you doing in my laundry,
you bastard?
Get lost!
What's this?
Hey, you filthy creature, where are you going?
Wait a minute!
Aichinger.
Brenner.
Three?
Four.
There is Evi,
further inside we found Michi, Wastl and Ferdi.
That was a wolf!
A Wolf?
Yes, if I say so!
I've been a hunter for thirty years,
I know the tracks of a wolf when I see them.
Look at those kids!
What else should have d one that?
That's exactly how the wolf hunts!
It d oesn't attack the three boys and the girl at once,
it separates them and takes each one separately!
That's why they are spread over half the forest!
Well, thank you Edi.
Can you give us a moment?
That wasn't a wolf.
It wasn't?
Surely not.
Why d o you think that?
Because a wolf doesn't do that.
So... After having established the completeness,
I hereby open the extraordinary community council meeting on August 22, I 932.
Present members of the community council are
Bernhard Aichinger, mayor,
innkeeper Ludwig Kramer,
farmer Georg Siegfried Steiner
as well as Xaver Brenner - today additionally in function of the rural gendarmerie.
furthermore as representatives of church and school authority
pastor Matthias Lechner as well as school teacher Konrad Zankl.
Well...
The parents have been informed,
and Hias has already organized the funeral service.
The question is, how d o we proceed now?
- The way in which...
- What does the hunter say?
- Edi says it was a wolf.
- Then it was a wolf.
Steiner, we saw the bodies, it wasn't a wolf.
Evi, she was completely...
Edi is the expert, and if he says it was a wolf,
then it was a wolf.
So far the situation is under control.
You reacted quickly, and despite the search,
not too many people have seen the bodies.
What's important now is that we take advantage
and see that we keep the village quiet.
Xaver and of course the rest of us,
we'll do what we can to find the culprit.
And as I see it, that won't take long.
But if there's panic in the village,
that doesn't help anybody.
So as long as we don't know anything else
- and I mean know, not believe -
so long it was a wolf.
You all would have had nightmares if you had seen that.
The eyes wide open, the tongue half hanging out
and a bite wound on the neck
and one arm was completely torn off,
all full of blood...
The poor children!
The poor parents...
That a wolf has such brutality?
Have you ever seen a wolf?
They're giant animals, two meters long.
It'll tear you apart, you can't even look that fast.
No, I've never seen a wolf. Thank God.
There used to be more wolves in our forest.
But only very rarely did anything happen.
A healthy wolf stays away from the villages.
What do you mean, a healthy wolf?
Rabies, they say today.
Hubertus disease, they used to call it, or dogs rage.
Nur dann is der Wolf gefhrlich.
Sonst muss man schon Glck haben, um berhaupt einen zu sehen zu
bekommen.
But if they have the dogs rage, then they attack everyone,
adult men, women, children...
And if you survive it, it's almost worse.
You become completely mad, you can't talk anymore,
you get so hot that you can't wear clothes anymore...
And you have to eat.
Fanny, that's just superstition!
Superstition?
You think you know everything, but you know nothing anymore.
You want to explain everything, and you know everything better,
and we old people are all stupid?
You go to church and you pray well,
but you don't believe anything anymore!
- Paula...
- But you will also learn that the devil doesn't care if you believe in him!
I just wanted to tell Fanny that she needn't be afraid.
But maybe it would be better if she was afraid.
If those children had been afraid, they'd still be alive.
That's enough, Paula!
Are you trying to say that it's their own fault?
The last time we had a wolf was...
That was sixteen years ago.
- What happened sixteen years ago?
- Nothing!
The wolf took Khler's son.
Because he also made deals with the devil.
Mitzi!
Please stop now!
Please! Mitzi!
- Are you going to start that now, too?
- No?
The hermit's daughter?
The weird one who can't find a boyfriend?
Who cooks and washes and cleans and repairs the roof,
because her mentally disturbed father is only lying in bed?
Are you going to start that, too?
Mitzi, it wasn't like that at all!
Old Sackl talked about wolves and evil spirits and whatnot.
You know yourself that she's not quite sane anymore.
Come on...
I...
I just wanted to know what happened sixteen years ago.
I didn't know it was your brother...
Disgusting ugly old thunder witch.
Paula or me?
What were you d oing in the washhouse?
Without any laundry?
- I wanted to see you.
- Me?
- I wanted to tell you something.
For God's sake, yes!
I have to tell you something too!
I completely forgot in all the running!
But you first!
- No, you first!
- Well...
I'm getting married!
Married? But... but to whom?
Congratulations!
To Toni!
To...
Aichinger Toni!
The mayor's son!
Aichinger Toni.
Yes, um... I'm so happy for you!
Congratulations!
Thank you!
And what did you want to tell me?
Never mind that now, this is about you.
When d o you start?
Sunday at nine is the mass.
And afterwards we're all going to Aichinger's for lunch...
I am so scared.
Yes, but a wolf...
We don't even know if it was a wolf.
A wolf doesn't undress children.
It doesn't strip people...
Evi was naked. And badly mauled.
And what if it wasn't a wolf?
Then who was it?
What do you think?
The devil, or what?
- Little Hanni is quite hot, isn't she?
- Hm?
You know what they say about redheads, right?
Yes, I know.
They're the wildest.
Idiot.
People talk.
People just aren't quite as stupid as you'd like them to be.
What?
You heard me.
People aren't stupid.
Four children are dead,
four children from our village.
And you think just because the great Steiner says it was a wolf,
everyone will believe it and be satisfied?
People want answers.
Well, do you have answers?
No.
But we all know it wasn't a wolf.
Not a rabid one either.
A wolf goes hunting when it's hungry.
A wolf doesn't tear up four children and leave them to die in the woods.
That was not an animal!
That was a human being!
If you can still call it such...
And what do you do?
Besides covering up and lying?
What are you doing, Mr. Mayor?
Nothing, because I can't.
Like all of us.
We have no police.
At most, Xaver is called when someone in the pub
can't pay his bill, and that's it.
I'm not saying that I'm a policeman either.
I didn't ask for the position.
Why d on't you tell me what to d o
when you all know better?
You have to report it.
What do you mean?
If it's a capital crime, you as a municipality have to report it
to the seat of government. In your case, that's Munich.
But you know what's going on in Munich right now?
Believe me, I know better than all of you.
Before I report something to them, and then I have one of these Nazis in the
village,
then we'd rather handle it ourselves.
Then we are in agreement again.
So, what's your great suggestion?
You don't like mine.
Doing nothing is not a suggestion.
What do you want to d o?
Do you know who did it?
No... So, what do we d o?
- I know what we do.
- And what is that?
- This week, nothing.
- Why not?
On Sunday my son is getting married.
I mean, he's not ugly.
But anyway, so fast and out of nowhere.
Well, they say she's already pregnant.
Really?
He must have been in a hurry.
Don't you know? He's Khler's son.
He owns the Khler farm?
Then I understand about Vreni.
Do you think so?
I honestly do not understand.
His brother dies suddenly,
he comes out of the convent, takes over...
takes over the farm and marries the most beautiful girl
in the whole village.
And strangely enough, his fields are all healthy,
while everything else is dying.
The whole village goes to the dogs, only Khler is doing well.
And that, although he doesn't know anything about agriculture.
What are you trying to say?
You know what I mean.
He's in league with the devil.
If all this d oesn't end badly...
Mitzi!
Hello Toni.
Hello!
Is it allowed to congratulate already?
Mitzi, this...
Stupid asshole.
What?
Ignaz, what is this?
You d on't want to show me anything, right?
Hanni, I...
I'm in love with you.
Ignaz, please don't fool me.
What do you mean?
You're in love with me? You?
You're the same womanizer as Toni and Flori.
And now suddenly you're in love with me?
I don't believe you.
Hanni, I'm serious.
I'm not like you think.
I want something serious.
I want you.
This is going too fast for me.
What's wrong with you?
It's not so bad that you're still a virgin.
It's nothing to be ashamed of.
Mind your own business!
And who wouldn't like to be the first?
Leave me alone now!
You said you liked me too, right?
So!
Still, I don't know why you come to me with this.
Because I thought we were something like friends?
And because you're a rational person.
I don't understand what's going on with Aichinger and Steiner.
Yes, because you're not from here.
Aichinger tells us what to do,
and Steiner tells Aichinger what to do.
Who will do what then is a completely different story.
And why do you have a local council?
Because there has to be one.
And because Hartl likes to hear himself talk.
But they don't give a damn about our opinion.
And why do you take part in it?
Do you think the inn is mine?
It belongs to Steiner as well as half the village.
Almost every farmer rents his fields, the mill belongs to him,
he also paid for the church roof,
so if you want to survive in our village,
you d o what Steiner says.
Do not think that Hartl's resistance has anything to d o
with the politics of the Nazis.
He only does that so that he keeps his power.
In the village, everything has always been regulated internally,
no matter by what means.
But they can't cover up a murder!
I don't know anything about a murder.
I only know that a wolf got four children.
It's tragic, but it happens.
You better keep your feet still, teacher.
You're here now, in a few months you might be somewhere else.
If I were you, I wouldn't get involved.
And I'll tell you something else:
You d on't want Steiner and Hartl as enemies.
And now?
Do we just watch until something happens again?
What's supposed to happen?
Tell me, are you that stupid, or d o you act like it?
I really expected more from you.
I think it's better if you leave now.
The wedding party is coming.
And there are still people who have to work for their money.
And Toni is...
Gone again.
So, thank you for coming in such large number.
We have already explained the basics to you in advance,
and for the few who came spontaneously today,
summarized in brief:
This is not a normal hunt,
which means that hares, deer and boars are left alone.
It is today exclusively about the wolf
if we should have a whole pack in the forest.
We now go into formation,
the beaters on the left around, the hunters on the right.
When "Das Ganze" is blown, we start.
The goal is that we will ideally drive the wolf out into the clearing
and make a clean kill.
So, beaters, make a proper noise and hunters, put on properly.
And make sure you don't shoot each other.
Well, let's go!
Let's go!
Wolf!
Wolf!
Wolf!
Stop!
Hartl?
Hartl?
- And how long are you going to go on like this?
- Until he admits it!
It's been almost three weeks, he won't admit anything!
And if I leave him in that chamber for three years!
You have to report this!
I'm not reporting anything! This is my village!
Do you want to let him starve?
We're feeding him anyway.
You know what I mean.
We're imprisoning a man in a tiny chamber,
without a trial, without proving his guilt....
We picked him up covered in blood not a hundred yards from the body.
How much more d oes his guilt have to be proven?
Flori was also covered in blood, he even fell over the body.
Should we lock him up as well, just in case?
Are you completely crazy?
Are you trying to say that Flori...
No! And I'm not saying that Joseph is innocent.
Because I d o not know!
That's exactly the point, we d o not know it,
you just as little as the rest of us!
That's why there are courts and that's why a person
is not simply locked away when suspected!
These are Nazi methods, nothing else!
Exactly those Nazis, because of whom you allegedly
d on't want to report anything in Munich!
Do you want to imply something?
Yes! I'm implying that you don't control the situation!
You don't know what to d o,
and now you're trying it the way it's always worked so far:
Just cover it up and don't talk about it
until the problem disappears by itself!
But that won't work this time!
I may have an idea.
Pay attention...
That the transformations of people into animals,
which are supposed to have happened through the arts of the demons,
were not there in truth, but only in illusion.
But this could not be possible if the demons
could not change the human senses.
This evil of the devil creeps through all accesses of the sense.
Now you have gone completely insane.
People want a werewolf,
so let's give them a werewolf.
Where's my father?
This is not a game, Mitzi. You know that, d on't you?
Where's my father?
You can help him.
Just tell us where he was on the night before the 22nd
and the night before the 29th.
Where's my father?
You're one stubborn bitch!
I learned that from my father.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
But it won't help you any more than it helped him.
You'll get over your stubbornness.
Both of you.
The idea is not that stupid.
The idea is not that stupid?
Are you guys insane?
This isn't the Dark Ages! You can't start a witch trial!
Werewolf trial.
You stay out of this!
You d on't really believe that Joseph is a werewolf?
Say, where have we ended up?
None of us believes that Khler is a werewolf.
That's not the point
But this way we can keep it all in the village.
And that's what everybody wants.
You d on't realize what you're doing, right?
We're going to bring a maniac
who's killed at least five people to justice.
At least?
Yes! The deeper you dig, the more will turn up.
Just ask people and you'll find out things you wouldn't believe.
With his son...
with his wife...
Maybe it wasn't as simple as you think.
People rarely have anything else to do than talk bullshit.
If you ask them what they have on you,
we could put you on trial, too.
But I didn't kill any children.
Neither did Joseph!
He is a good-hearted guy who has had a hard time
all his life!
He helps everyone where he can!
Without him your children could not go to school,
and without his fields half of you would have nothing to eat!
You can't see inside people.
And honestly, I prefer to listen to the people who have been here
all their lives than to a teacher who has just arrived.
Yes, maybe it would be better
if you got out of your village now and then!
Then you might have realized that there are courts and police
and that people are not simply hung from the nearest tree!
What's your problem, anyway?
Khler will get a proper trial,
even with ecclesiastical and secular authority.
According to rules that a fanatic set up 500 years ago
so that he would have a justification to persecute witches!
The Witch Hammer is a papally approved rulebook
that is still being published.
Yes, because no one believes anyone would still use it!
That thing is supposed to be a deterrent, not a manual!
Zankl, you can quibble all you want,
even by five to one it's a valid decision.
The trial will begin tomorrow.
Good night.
Thank you, Mini.
Well, it's the least I can do...
Joseph...
You know that not the whole village is against you?
Everyone who knows you realizes that you didn't do this.
You...
You d on't have to worry about that.
I'm not worried, I didn't do anything.
Let them accuse me, then that's what will come out.
They... found you in the forest...
I'm a sleepwalker, Mini.
I've woken up in the forest many times.
But that's not normal either...
How long has this been going on?
Since Lenze.
Mitzi is fine.
You didn't tell her where I was, did you?
I just told her you were fine.
And that was already a lie...
Mini, how long have we known each other?
We've come out of tougher stories clean, haven't we?
I don't know if maybe you're underestimating things.
What were you d oing with him?
I brought him something to eat!
Or am I not allowed to do that now either?
I don't know what to do anymore.
You just have to make sure you stay human.
Steiner is dangerous.
Don't get in bed with the devil.
- Joseph Eustachius Khler...
- Oh?
So officially?
Guten Morgen erstmal.
Joseph Eustachius Khler,
today, September 20, I 932,
we are officially putting you on trial for murder in combination with...
Are you putting me on trial?
...in combination...
What does Munich think about that?
In combination with witchcraft
and fraternization with the devil.
Are you kidding me?
Fraternization with the devil?
Witchcraft?
Say, which century do you live in?
You're being charged under current church law
based on the Malleus Maleficarum.
The Witch Hammer?
Hias, have you gone completely insane, or what?
And you pigs are going along with this?
The local council has unanimously approved the indictment.
Unanimously, huh?
You d on't have to play dumb, Lugg.
An ecclesiastical indictment must be supported
by the secular authority.
And that's you, as pathetic as that is.
So, let's please talk sensibly with each other
like grown-up people.
Hartl, I know we have our problems,
and for you the whole thing is just a found food
to get rid of me.
I still don't know what I've actually d one to you,
and I couldn't care less.
But now you're at a point
where you're about to cross a line
that you can't go back.
Hartl...
You're not an idiot!
You know what you're d oing here.
And you know I didn't do this.
You need a scapegoat, that's all.
If you want to,
you can send me to Munich.
They can try me, I didn't do it anyway.
But this...
Don't make yourselves unhappy.
If you start this,
you won't be able to handle it.
Khler,
you're charged with murder and witchcraft,
the decision is made.
You can make it easy for yourself or hard.
Just admit it and you'll get over it quickly.
You want to sentence me to death.
And I should make it easy for myself so that it goes faster?
You won't change anything about the result.
But you can choose the way.
Think of the rest of the village.
Think of your daughter.
You haven't thought this through.
The Witch Hammer has one major drawback.
As long as I d on't confess, you can't condemn me.
And that won't happen!
So if you don't want to torture me,
the whole thing will blow up in your face!
Is it true?
What?
Hartl, we can't torture anyone.
That's the only way we can keep this thing in the village.
If he's guilty, he deserves death.
I'm the last one to have any scruples.
But torture, that goes way too far.
So?
Give me an answer now, or I'm out, right now.
It won't come to that, d on't worry.
He'll get weak, you'll see.
I just wanted to scare him a bit.
But that includes that he doesn't receive food
from you every day.
Do you understand?
Mitzi?
Mitzi, it's me!
Mitzi!
Mitzi?
Mitzi!
What are you doing here?
Are you all right?
Sure, what d o you think?
I haven't seen you out in ages.
Are you serious?
Do you even notice anything that's not about you anymore?
Why are you hitting on me now?
I'm here because I care about you.
You d on't usually give a shit about me.
Is there something you want to tell me?
No.
How long do you know?
Know what?
First of all, I'm not stupid, and secondly, I'm pregnant too.
By who?
By who?
Toni, of course.
What do you think?
But... so soon?
That's why the wedding had to happen so fast.
But... don't tell anyone, please.
Who could I tell?
And you?
Who did it to you?
I can't tell you.
Why? I won't tell anyone.
No, I can't.
I really can't.
Come on! I told you too!
Fanny
I can't tell you.
Please understand.
- Luggi?
- Hm?
There is news.
But his own daughter... That's...
You wouldn't put five murders past him,
but you don't believe he'd go to bed with his own daughter?
I'll believe anything of that guy now...
Joseph did...
I've already heard.
So inbreeding now, too?
Seems so, yeah.
Good for us. Now we've got him in our hands.
What do you mean?
Khler is finished, he doesn't give a damn about his life.
The only thing that matters to him now is his daughter.
So we can...
Well, look at this!
The noble Mr Schoolteacher has decided
to join us after all.
I wanted to inform you in fairness
that I'm going back to Munich tomorrow morning.
I've already sent a letter asking for my relocation,
and tomorrow I'm leaving.
What you are doing here
is against all sanity and all humanity.
And I can't support it with a clear conscience.
And quite honestly,
I hope that you all go to hell because of it.
I didn't say I believed it at all.
I just said it changes everything.
And it does.
Both Joseph and Mitzi now have the entire village against them.
And if it shouldn't happen to us as well,
then we have to be damn careful now.
Well, I d on't believe it.
I actually d on't either...
Maybe Fanny just misunderstood something...
I don't know! I'm sorry!
I don't know if he did it, I don't know if he didn't d o it,
I don't know if he's screwing his daughter or anything else
I don't know anything at all anymore!
Well, who knows something?
Do you think Georg would tell me anything at home?
He hardly opens his mouth anyway,
and when it comes to something like this, especially not.
I'm just as blank as you are.
It's exactly the same with Hartl.
They'll know why they're making such a secret of it.
It's not all so straightforward.
You're the one who's going to catch the most, Mini, aren't you?
I bring him something to eat, that's all.
Joseph doesn't talk, and Lugg is getting weirder every day.
He's much more bothered by the whole thing than he admits.
Lugg is not such a tough guy after all.
All right, let's deal with what we know.
Mitzi is all alone up in the cabin,
she's pregnant, and she needs help.
It d oesn't matter who she's pregnant by.
She's a young girl,
and we have to take care of her, simple as that.
She gets food from us, I send Vroni up there.
That little bit is barely noticeable anyway.
Are you worried about your children?
Since Khler has been locked up, nothing has happened...
Are you starting that again?
Am I not right?
Stop fighting!
It's not done by bringing her something to eat.
No one knows how long it will continue with Joseph.
The rumor is going around the village, which means
we can't expect her to get hitched anytime soon now.
So,
who has an idea?
So it's true.
You're leaving?
I have to.
You know what's happening here.
I can't watch.
And instead you're running away?
I'm not running away.
I'm going to Munich to report the case.
Hopefully it's not too late.
Konrad, promise me one thing:
When you've done it and it's all over,
please come back.
I promise.
When did you stop talking to me?
Why? I talk, don't I?
You know what I mean.
We wanted to be different, didn't we?
Different from them,
different from what they expect, right?
Is that already over?
Nonsense.
It's just...
Never mind.
Luggi, I'm not stupid.
And I'm not deaf.
I hear exactly what you're doing d own there.
But I d on't interfere.
If you think he did it, then believe it.
That's up to you guys.
But I see what this is d oing to you.
Luggi...
and I care.
I care a lot.
Take care of yourself.
And don't forget,
I'm here.
What do you want to d o?
Hm?
The son of a bitch ran away!
There he is!
Fucking bastard, you!
You pig!
Criminal!
You pig, you!
Stop!
You'll kill him.
That's exactly what I want to do.
That's not how we d o it. It's a proper trial.
Trial?
You beat me to death, no matter what I say.
I didn't d o anything.
Joseph, d on't make it so hard on yourself.
You're not getting out of this.
Just admit it, and it'll be over.
Joseph, it won't work like that...
Konrad opened the door of your cell during the night and let you go.
You followed him and tore out his throat in a wolf rage.
Then you ran away to the forest.
You forgot that after three hundred yards I changed my mind,
hit myself over the back of the head
and waited for you, passed out.
And I ripped his throat open
with my bare hands?
Tell me, d o you think that's possible?
We can give it a try.
Joseph, it's about time for you
to start taking this seriously.
We can prove everything we're accusing you of.
The hell you can!
I'm innocent, and you know it
as well as anyone in here!
We picked you up covered in blood
less than two minutes away from the body,
for the second time. And you still want to deny it?
Why should I kill Konrad?
What else do you want to pin on me?
I'm glad you asked!
You are accused of the following...
The murders of the ad olescents
Michael and Ferdinand Gschwend,
Sebastian Steuber and Eva Brckl on August 2I,
and of Elfriede Schneider on August 29.
In addition, the murder of school teacher Konrad Zankl
in the night hours of today
and...
the murder of Lorenz Khler, son of the accused, in I 9I 6.
Furthermore, you are accused of fornication
with your daughter Maria Khler,
which eventually led to a pregnancy on her part.
What?
So much for the secular accusations.
On the ecclesiastical side there is...
Witchcraft, especially for the purpose of making the faithful believe
that he could take the form of a wolf.
Furthermore, pacting with the devil,
in order to be dismissed from the church service
and to appropriate the property of the father respectively the brother,
to acquire the love ofVerena Steiner unnaturally
and finally to make the own fields fertile,
but to let those of the neighbors wither.
In addition, of course, murder and incest.
As you have already correctly said yourself,
the circumstantial evidence
is not relevant for the conviction according to the Witch Hammer,
but only the confession of the accused.
We have now given you more than enough time to admit it,
unfortunately you vehemently deny it.
Thankfully, the Witch Hammer has a good guide
for such cases as well.
We've tweaked it a bit,
but I think it will come in handy pretty quickly.
Joseph, this is your last chance.
- I didn't do it.
- Save yourself the whole thing.
We don't want to d o this. But we're going to d o it.
It wasn't me. It really wasn't me
Please, I didn't do anything.
Sieg Heil, dear brother!
Don't give me that bullshit.
Come on, the little canyon shitter.
These are dangerous times.
What do you mean?
We could have been hit just as easily.
They were just looking for someone to blame.
Come on, bullshit! Khler is guilty...
If it wasn't Khler, it would be me!
Or you!
Don't you understand, you retard?
It's the times!
It's always them against us!
And there's nothing in between!
They are the village, and we are not the village!
Bullshit! Of course we are the village!
We are not the village! We are death!
And that's what they're afraid of! They always have been!
You know, they do eat, therefore they need us!
But death, that's what they fear!
Come on, Edi, you're drunk.
Let's go home, come on.
Our father knew it.
Our father was a boozed-up, brutal asshole
who only cared about himself!
And you...
You're just the same!
The village isn't afraid of you,
the village doesn't give a shit about you!
And it's your own fault!
But I...
I don't want to be like you.
You will be exactly like us!
They're afraid of strangers!
I'm not a stranger!
I grew up here in the village!
It's not the strangers who decide whether they are strangers.
Maybe you want to d o this properly now?
It will just fit.
No, it won't just fit if you throw half a carrot in there!
It'll take them an hour to get through!
Girl, if you want to have control over this inn,
you'd better start getting a little work ethic!
Who says I want to?
What else do you want to d o?
You d on't have a husband, d o you?
Yeah, maybe because I have to stand here every night
and cut vegetables!
Yes, when you have an inn,
you also have to work a little bit now and then!
And then you wonder why I'm not up for it?
Not up for it?
But the main thing is to be a smart ass!
So again:
What do you want to d o?
I think I would like to study.
Study?
Yes.
And what about the inn?
Mom, it's not my business.
Not your business?
I built all this up so you could have it easier one day!
Do you have any idea how hard it is
to achieve something as a woman?
What have you achieved?
You work every day from morning till night,
but the innkeeper, that's still daddy!
You d on't have anything to say!
Not you, and not your whole secret circle of women either!
You're just fooling yourselves!
It's always the men who decide!
And how will it be different if you just run away?
In any case, rather when I study,
than when I become the next innkeeper here!
What are you doing in here?
Bringing beer to the men from the village,
cooking food
and cleaning up after them when they've taken a shit!
Then I can get married too!
Now I can do the vegetables by myself, or what?
This is your inn, not mine!
Kiss my ass!
So you decided to take the hard way.
Why am I not surprised?
Joseph, they will go through with it.
They'll torture you until you admit it.
Since Konrad died, you have no one in the village on your side.
I didn't even know who Vreni was back then.
Huh?
I didn't know that she was your sister.
Why are you bringing that up now?
We were young.
And she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.
Do you think that's what this is about?
We were so in love...
She was the only one for me, you know?
It was hell for me when she died.
She killed herself!
Because you were drowning in self-pity!
She didn't kill herself.
No, she didn't.
You did. You killed her.
You watched my sister fall apart for two years.
And now you're going to kill me.
You think this is about my sister?
This is about you murdering six people!
I didn't murder anybody.
And you know that.
I don't know anything.
But that's what the trial is for.
To get you to admit to everything.
I won't admit anything.
And if you torture me, until I'm dead.
I'd think twice about that if I were you.
Joseph, I know you. I believe you.
You'd deny it until Lugg actually kills you
by accident at the end.
But not everyone is like you.
Some people wouldn't last that long
on that kind of treatment...
Your daughter, for example.
No, please, not my...
No, no, no, no, no!
Please not my child!
Steiner, she is your niece!
She looks just like Vreni.
Steiner, please!
Steiner!
Not my child!
Tell me, are you that stupid,
or d o you just not give a shit?
What did I d o?
Can't you just keep your dick in your pants?
Do you want to embarrass me in front of the whole village?
What do you mean?
That you knocked up Khler's daughter, that's what I mean!
How much dumber can you get?
I didn't know that!
But you do know how to do it?
You already proved that impressively with Fanny!
But I can't fix this again!
I thought her father...
Don't think!
You have no talent for it.
Now go and chop that wood,
and then go back to your wife.
stay away from the other women.
Do you understand me?
Yes...
- Do you understand me?
- Yes!
Nobody asks.
He's gone,
and it's like he was never there.
He was all alone,
and now they've buried him somewhere,
and he's alone again.
He didn't have anyone.
He did have you.
So, what good did it d o him?
We wanted to go away, did you know that?
I thought so.
Do you think that's why they killed him?
Do you think it's my fault?
It was definitely not your fault!
You must never believe that!
They killed him.
I know that.
The murder of Eva Brckl.
I admit it.
The murder of Konrad Zankl.
I admit it.
The fornication with Maria Khler, which led to her pregnancy.
The fornication with Maria Khler, which led to her pregnancy.
I admit it.
Witchcraft, as well as forming a pact with the devil
for personal gain.
I admit it.
The defendant Joseph Eustachius Khler has pleaded guilty
to all charges before witnesses
and surrenders his soul into the hand of God.
He is sentenced to death three times
according to the applicable law.
He is to be wheeled for the murders,
beheaded for the incest,
and burned at the stake for the witchcraft.
All this shall be d one in front of witnesses,
so that his soul may be purified and he may enter
the holy kingdom of God.
The sentence is to be executed
exactly three days after pronouncement.
Furthermore, Maria Khler,
supported in her immaturity
by the confession of her father,
is accused of having knowingly consorted with the devil
through unnatural coitus
with Joseph Eustachius Khler
and is therefore
also condemned as a witch.
She is said to be like her father...
You pigs!
...before witnesses...
You filthy pigs!
You pigs!
Steiner! Hartl!
...so that her soul may be purified...
Help me, you filthy pigs!
- ...and in spite of her crimes...
- You bastards!
she can enter the holy kingdom of God.
You bastards!
You're not human anymore!
Pigs!
Dirty pigs!
Let me go!
Let me go!
No!
Shut up, you stupid hen!
- Let go of me!
- Go on!
- Let me go!
- Let go of me!
- Help!
- You go on now!
Help! Let me go!
Help me! Let me go!
What am I doing here?
That's a good question.
If you're d oing the wrong thing...
but for the right reasons,
does it become right?
Well, it remains wrong in any case.
The question is whether it's worth it to you.
How much damage is caused by the deed,
and how much benefit?
And if you can reconcile it
with your personal peace of mind.
What does the Bible say about this?
A lot.
Right and wrong is the core subject, so to speak.
There are ten commandments,
If you stick to them, you're not completely wrong.
On the other hand, three pages further on it says
"Whoever strikes a man so that he dies, shall be put to death",
so it's a matter of interpretation.
In the end... The Bible is just a book.
What do you say?
I...
Hartl said that if we send him to Munich,
he'll go to prison for ten to twelve years,
and then they'll let him go.
And if the Nazis come to power before then,
everything will go haywire anyway.
You mustn't forget,
Khler is still a rich man,
he can easily buy his way out in Munich.
And that must not happen.
I have the parents of five dead children
sitting in my church.
They want answers.
They want...
Vengeance? An eye for an eye?
Blood for blood...
You just have to think carefully,
to whom you have an obligation.
And you have to be sure that it was him.
Are you sure about that?
Sure...
No, not sure.
But... I wouldn't put it past him.
Because he doesn't go to church?
Or because people say
that he is in league with the devil?
I don't know either...
What do you say?
I can't tell you anything
that you don't already know.
Yeah...
I know...
Now tell me, what are you going to do?
Don't pretend!
I know you have a plan!
Who has a plan?
You d o. You, Fine, Kathi, and... Irmi.
And whoever else is with you.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Don't think I'm stupid.
I can see you. I see you every time.
You meet in here, you meet at Fine's,
something's going on! It's been going on for a long time.
Paula, what do you want?
I want to join in!
I want to help.
Do you remember when you came to dinner with your sister
and praised me for my roast?
And how I told you
that it was really fresh,
because Edi brings us something directly from time to time,
and we don't have to get it from his brother,
who first leaves it for three days?
Funnily enough, the next day Mortl also knew that.
I did not tell him,
and Edi certainly did not either.
That day
I remembered who in the village I'd rather not tell.
Paula,
there is no secret women's group,
there is no plan,
there is nothing to join in
and there is nothing to tell.
Remember that.
Edi has disappeared.
Did you know that?
But we don't have the time anymore!
The omnibus arrives at four in the morning.
Two hours to Munich, the way back should be faster.
I know from Hartl that they won't start before noon.
It's going to be close, but it should work.
That's what Konrad tried to d o...
But it's our only chance.
I've tried, Kathi, you've tried too,
they're like fools.
I'm really scared.
And who should go?
I can't work against my own husband.
Kathi?
Are you crazy? Georg will kill me.
I'll d o it.
Nobody's looking after me and I know the way.
You stay here.
It's way too dangerous.
What's dangerous? Riding the bus?
Even if someone should see me,
I'll just say I'm meeting my friend in Munich.
At four in the morning.
Do you want me to help you or not?
Mini, your daughter is right.
Our men are watching us like bloodhounds.
Vroni can leave without any problems.
We should be grateful for this opportunity.
Leave.
The Lugg sleeps off his drunkenness,
and the other women distract their men.
It's now or never!
They have my daughter.
We will take care of her!
First you have to get out of here!
I will not leave my child alone!
Not again...
I'm serious!
They will kill you!
Then let them kill me.
Maybe it'll wake up the rest of the village.
It might even wake them up themselves.
You're not seriously telling me
you don't care if you die?
If Mitzi gets to live for it.
No...
Joseph...
I'm not going.
Dearly beloved congregation!
So we have gathered here today
to commit the immortal souls of the accused
Joseph Eustachius Khler,
as well as his daughter, Maria Khler,
to the Almighty.
Since the accused
has admitted his sins,
they may be given the righteous punishment.
The cleansing power of the fire
will purify them of their crimes.
Now some will wonder if it would not be
in the Lord's will
to be lenient
or to show mercy?
Get lost.
But I say to you,
dangerous times are dawning!
Right now the devil is gathering his hosts!
Right now the dark forces are getting ready
and right now we must be more determined than ever before!
Every demon, every witch we let live
will continue to do evil,
will continue to bring harm into the world,
will continue to prepare the kingdom of Satan!
Every witch, every demon we let live,
we will
bitterly regret!
Today,
on the third day after pronouncement,
the sentence shall be executed, as God's order demands.
Thus Joseph Eustachius Khler shall be bound on the wheel,
and his arms and legs shall be crushed,
as penance for the murders he has confessed to.
Because of the insidiousness and cruelty of his deeds...
...the punishment shall be intensified.
He shall be torn with the burning tongs,
seven times
for each of the murders he has committed.
You must speak louder.
I am innocent!
I see.
You go to hell!
All together!
For the incest
and the perverse seduction of his daughter,
the head of the accused shall be cut off with a sword,
so that he may die.
The divine order provides that the accused be granted
a last word.
So?
I anoint you with consecrated oil,
in the name of the Father,
the Son
and the Holy Ghost,
so that what you have done may be blotted out.
Last of all...
Joseph Eustachius Khler...
for his pact with the devil...
and witchcraft...
Joseph Eustachius Khler
shall be burned at the stake.
So that his soul is cleansed,
and he can enter
paradise.
Furthermore, Maria Khler
shall also be burned at the stake
for her knowing pacting with the devil.
So that
her soul will also be purified,
so that she can enter
paradise.
Let me go!
I am pregnant! I am pregnant!
Credo in deum patrem omnipotentem,
creatorem coeli et terrae
Et in lesum...
K. knew perfectly well now
that it would have been his duty
to grab the knife himself as it hovered over him
from hand to hand and bore down.
But he did not d o it,
instead he turned the still free neck
and looked around.
Completely he could not prove himself,
could not take all the work from the authorities,
the responsibility for this last mistake was borne by the one
who had denied him the rest of the strength necessary for it.
His eyes fell on the last floor
of the house adjoining the quarry.
Like a light coming on,
the casements of a window there drove apart,
a person, dim and thin in distance and height,
bent far forward with a jerk
and stretched out his arms still farther.
Who was it?
A friend?
A good person?
One who was participating?
One who wanted to help?
Was it one person? Was it all of them?
Was there still help?
Where was the judge he had never seen?
Where was the high court to which he had never come?
He raised his hands and spread all his fingers.
But at K.'s throat lay the hands of one gentleman,
while the other
plunged the knife into his heart
and twisted it twice.
With breaking eyes K. still saw
how close in front of his face,
the gentlemen, leaning cheek to cheek
watched the decision.
"Like a dog!" he said,
it was as if shame
should outlive him.
Pretty exhausting, isn't it?
Mhm.
You always have to carve away from the body.
So the blade always goes outward.
You see?
Look, and when you close the knife again,
you close it like this.
And then we make a surprise for mom.
What's mom's favorite animal again?
A d onkey?
A d onkey, really?
Yes, you see, I knew it.
Do you want to try?
Look, I'll go with you.
Do it d own there.
Okay.
Careful.
You're d oing great.
Yes!
You're d oing really good.
Lenze, are you hungry?
Do you want to eat something?
Yes?
Good.
Thank you.
Sure.
Lenze...
I think we lost one of the lambs.
I have to find it, okay?
Will you look after the others for me?
Yes?
There you are!
Come here.
Yes, there you are!
Lenze?
Lenze?
Lenze!
Where are you?
Lenze?
Lenze?
No!
Dad?
Mitzi, good morning!
Did you sleep well?
- Because of Lenze again?
- Hm?
- Dad, it wasn't your fault!
- Yes! I know, I know.
You sound like your mother.
You look like your mother too.
Not at all!
Yes, you do.
You certainly look like you need a wash.
You wanted to go to the grocery store later, right?
Oh, right.
Ah:
Good morning!
- This is a very good piece.
- Thank you...
Maybe you have a piece to spare sometime,
too.
Ah, the hermit!
Konrad, greetings.
Was everything okay with the boards?
Yes, they are good!
I said thanks,
- didn't I?
- It's all right.
I'm telling you,
this schoolhouse is in such a condition...
If you didn't help me all the time,
I could drop the bullshit anyway.
- You talk to the kids like that?
- Me?
You know how they talk to each other, right?
It makes your ears fall off.
And I really wasn't raised in the church.
Are these for me?
No, for my wife.
That's more appropriate anyway.
Say hello to her, unknown.
Sure.
Konrad, goodbye.
Goodbye.
- Good morning.
- Hello.
And?
And what? Oh, I see.
Say, you do realize that your coffee would only cost a fifth
if you didn't always just take a pound?
What if I get a stroke tomorrow?
Then the coffee will be standing around at my place.
My daughter won't drink it.
Really?
Thank you.
- Goodbye.
- Bye.
What if I get a stroke tomorrow...
My daughter won't drink it...
What's your problem?
I don't know. I don't trust the Khler.
I mean, he lives up there by the forest,
alone with his daughter, no wife, no...
It's not his fault his wife died.
Are you sure about that?
That can happen quickly if you're in league with the devil.
Well, Edi, I think that's enough now.
What?
I'm just saying what people are talking about.
I only hear you talk,
and for you it would be more reasonable to shut up.
Khler is a fine fellow,
he always pays his bill without a fuss.
Which is more than I can say about everyone here.
So for me, he's in league with the devil,
I'll tell you that.
And if you spit on my floor again,
you can mop in the evening,
you shameless bastard!
Yeah, all right, leave me alone.
Asshole.
Have you made the list yet?
Of course. Here.
Is he coming too?
The hermit? For God's sake.
I would have been surprised.
It would be the first time I've seen him in church.
So at nine o'clock there is mass,
then a pint at the pub, you are of course invited.
The rest will be with the family.
I don't want it to be a big deal.
The mayor's son is marrying Fanny Brenner.
I'm afraid you won't be able to avoid a big deal.
Nobody needs to know that yet.
It's still a few days away anyway.
Why, it's not a bad match, is it?
And having old Brenner in the family...
Who knows what that's good for.
Where love falls, there it stays,
even if it's a dunghill.
What is this?
Coffee?
Coffee?
Dad, you wanted to buy nails!
Mitzi...
I can't take it anymore.
You can't take it?
But you could still take care of your shitty coffee, couldn't you?
Dad, we need nails!
It's raining through the roof,
and when summer's over, we can't d o it anymore!
And now?
Now I have to go to the grocer again and buy them myself?
What else should I d o?
I already d o everything anyway!
I already d o everything anyway!
Joseph, everything is going to the dogs!
The farm is falling apart, the cattle are gone,
the fields are withered...
I can't do it alone!
It's no longer possible alone!
Joseph,
Lenze was my son too.
But we have to go on.
These are not easy times,
but it won't get easier when winter comes.
We have to go on, no matter how hard it is.
Lenze...
You didn't leave him alone!
Do you understand that?
Do you understand?
You d on't have just one child.
Mitzi doesn't understand anything anymore.
She d oesn't understand
why her father can't look at her anymore.
Why he only lies in his chamber and doesn't talk to us.
You already lost your son.
Don't lose your daughter too.
Hello!
Are we interrupting you?
No, why?
Ferdi!
Is that alcohol?
Aren't you afraid of the Shovel Man?
Of who?
Of the Shovel Man!
When you're drunk
and walking home through the forest at night,
the Shovel Man comes up behind you
and hits you on the head with his shovel.
That's why you always have such a headache
the day after you get drunk.
Did you hear that?
Yes, the Shovel Man.
Very funny.
No, seriously.
There was something.
Hello.
Hello.
How are you?
Toni...
I'm not going to stand for this constant secrecy much longer.
Yes, i know...
Why d oes it have to be like this?
Why can't anyone know about us?
I don't understand.
It's because of...
Because of my father?
Because of your father, because of my father...
It's just not that simple.
What is not that simple?
Do you want to marry me or my father?
I'm not him, and he's not me!
I am no more responsible for my father than you are for yours!
Why are you being so aggressive now?
I'm sorry.
I just want everyone to know about us.
I am so happy and I want to be able to show it.
Toni?
Toni?
Yes mom, here i am!
What are you doing behind the shed?
Nothing.
Come in, dinner is ready.
Your father is waiting.
That was necessary now, this weather!
Say, why is it pouring so now?
When I hang laundry...
And I didn't notice it again.
What are you doing in my laundry,
you bastard?
Get lost!
What's this?
Hey, you filthy creature, where are you going?
Wait a minute!
Aichinger.
Brenner.
Three?
Four.
There is Evi,
further inside we found Michi, Wastl and Ferdi.
That was a wolf!
A Wolf?
Yes, if I say so!
I've been a hunter for thirty years,
I know the tracks of a wolf when I see them.
Look at those kids!
What else should have d one that?
That's exactly how the wolf hunts!
It d oesn't attack the three boys and the girl at once,
it separates them and takes each one separately!
That's why they are spread over half the forest!
Well, thank you Edi.
Can you give us a moment?
That wasn't a wolf.
It wasn't?
Surely not.
Why d o you think that?
Because a wolf doesn't do that.
So... After having established the completeness,
I hereby open the extraordinary community council meeting on August 22, I 932.
Present members of the community council are
Bernhard Aichinger, mayor,
innkeeper Ludwig Kramer,
farmer Georg Siegfried Steiner
as well as Xaver Brenner - today additionally in function of the rural gendarmerie.
furthermore as representatives of church and school authority
pastor Matthias Lechner as well as school teacher Konrad Zankl.
Well...
The parents have been informed,
and Hias has already organized the funeral service.
The question is, how d o we proceed now?
- The way in which...
- What does the hunter say?
- Edi says it was a wolf.
- Then it was a wolf.
Steiner, we saw the bodies, it wasn't a wolf.
Evi, she was completely...
Edi is the expert, and if he says it was a wolf,
then it was a wolf.
So far the situation is under control.
You reacted quickly, and despite the search,
not too many people have seen the bodies.
What's important now is that we take advantage
and see that we keep the village quiet.
Xaver and of course the rest of us,
we'll do what we can to find the culprit.
And as I see it, that won't take long.
But if there's panic in the village,
that doesn't help anybody.
So as long as we don't know anything else
- and I mean know, not believe -
so long it was a wolf.
You all would have had nightmares if you had seen that.
The eyes wide open, the tongue half hanging out
and a bite wound on the neck
and one arm was completely torn off,
all full of blood...
The poor children!
The poor parents...
That a wolf has such brutality?
Have you ever seen a wolf?
They're giant animals, two meters long.
It'll tear you apart, you can't even look that fast.
No, I've never seen a wolf. Thank God.
There used to be more wolves in our forest.
But only very rarely did anything happen.
A healthy wolf stays away from the villages.
What do you mean, a healthy wolf?
Rabies, they say today.
Hubertus disease, they used to call it, or dogs rage.
Nur dann is der Wolf gefhrlich.
Sonst muss man schon Glck haben, um berhaupt einen zu sehen zu
bekommen.
But if they have the dogs rage, then they attack everyone,
adult men, women, children...
And if you survive it, it's almost worse.
You become completely mad, you can't talk anymore,
you get so hot that you can't wear clothes anymore...
And you have to eat.
Fanny, that's just superstition!
Superstition?
You think you know everything, but you know nothing anymore.
You want to explain everything, and you know everything better,
and we old people are all stupid?
You go to church and you pray well,
but you don't believe anything anymore!
- Paula...
- But you will also learn that the devil doesn't care if you believe in him!
I just wanted to tell Fanny that she needn't be afraid.
But maybe it would be better if she was afraid.
If those children had been afraid, they'd still be alive.
That's enough, Paula!
Are you trying to say that it's their own fault?
The last time we had a wolf was...
That was sixteen years ago.
- What happened sixteen years ago?
- Nothing!
The wolf took Khler's son.
Because he also made deals with the devil.
Mitzi!
Please stop now!
Please! Mitzi!
- Are you going to start that now, too?
- No?
The hermit's daughter?
The weird one who can't find a boyfriend?
Who cooks and washes and cleans and repairs the roof,
because her mentally disturbed father is only lying in bed?
Are you going to start that, too?
Mitzi, it wasn't like that at all!
Old Sackl talked about wolves and evil spirits and whatnot.
You know yourself that she's not quite sane anymore.
Come on...
I...
I just wanted to know what happened sixteen years ago.
I didn't know it was your brother...
Disgusting ugly old thunder witch.
Paula or me?
What were you d oing in the washhouse?
Without any laundry?
- I wanted to see you.
- Me?
- I wanted to tell you something.
For God's sake, yes!
I have to tell you something too!
I completely forgot in all the running!
But you first!
- No, you first!
- Well...
I'm getting married!
Married? But... but to whom?
Congratulations!
To Toni!
To...
Aichinger Toni!
The mayor's son!
Aichinger Toni.
Yes, um... I'm so happy for you!
Congratulations!
Thank you!
And what did you want to tell me?
Never mind that now, this is about you.
When d o you start?
Sunday at nine is the mass.
And afterwards we're all going to Aichinger's for lunch...
I am so scared.
Yes, but a wolf...
We don't even know if it was a wolf.
A wolf doesn't undress children.
It doesn't strip people...
Evi was naked. And badly mauled.
And what if it wasn't a wolf?
Then who was it?
What do you think?
The devil, or what?
- Little Hanni is quite hot, isn't she?
- Hm?
You know what they say about redheads, right?
Yes, I know.
They're the wildest.
Idiot.
People talk.
People just aren't quite as stupid as you'd like them to be.
What?
You heard me.
People aren't stupid.
Four children are dead,
four children from our village.
And you think just because the great Steiner says it was a wolf,
everyone will believe it and be satisfied?
People want answers.
Well, do you have answers?
No.
But we all know it wasn't a wolf.
Not a rabid one either.
A wolf goes hunting when it's hungry.
A wolf doesn't tear up four children and leave them to die in the woods.
That was not an animal!
That was a human being!
If you can still call it such...
And what do you do?
Besides covering up and lying?
What are you doing, Mr. Mayor?
Nothing, because I can't.
Like all of us.
We have no police.
At most, Xaver is called when someone in the pub
can't pay his bill, and that's it.
I'm not saying that I'm a policeman either.
I didn't ask for the position.
Why d on't you tell me what to d o
when you all know better?
You have to report it.
What do you mean?
If it's a capital crime, you as a municipality have to report it
to the seat of government. In your case, that's Munich.
But you know what's going on in Munich right now?
Believe me, I know better than all of you.
Before I report something to them, and then I have one of these Nazis in the
village,
then we'd rather handle it ourselves.
Then we are in agreement again.
So, what's your great suggestion?
You don't like mine.
Doing nothing is not a suggestion.
What do you want to d o?
Do you know who did it?
No... So, what do we d o?
- I know what we do.
- And what is that?
- This week, nothing.
- Why not?
On Sunday my son is getting married.
I mean, he's not ugly.
But anyway, so fast and out of nowhere.
Well, they say she's already pregnant.
Really?
He must have been in a hurry.
Don't you know? He's Khler's son.
He owns the Khler farm?
Then I understand about Vreni.
Do you think so?
I honestly do not understand.
His brother dies suddenly,
he comes out of the convent, takes over...
takes over the farm and marries the most beautiful girl
in the whole village.
And strangely enough, his fields are all healthy,
while everything else is dying.
The whole village goes to the dogs, only Khler is doing well.
And that, although he doesn't know anything about agriculture.
What are you trying to say?
You know what I mean.
He's in league with the devil.
If all this d oesn't end badly...
Mitzi!
Hello Toni.
Hello!
Is it allowed to congratulate already?
Mitzi, this...
Stupid asshole.
What?
Ignaz, what is this?
You d on't want to show me anything, right?
Hanni, I...
I'm in love with you.
Ignaz, please don't fool me.
What do you mean?
You're in love with me? You?
You're the same womanizer as Toni and Flori.
And now suddenly you're in love with me?
I don't believe you.
Hanni, I'm serious.
I'm not like you think.
I want something serious.
I want you.
This is going too fast for me.
What's wrong with you?
It's not so bad that you're still a virgin.
It's nothing to be ashamed of.
Mind your own business!
And who wouldn't like to be the first?
Leave me alone now!
You said you liked me too, right?
So!
Still, I don't know why you come to me with this.
Because I thought we were something like friends?
And because you're a rational person.
I don't understand what's going on with Aichinger and Steiner.
Yes, because you're not from here.
Aichinger tells us what to do,
and Steiner tells Aichinger what to do.
Who will do what then is a completely different story.
And why do you have a local council?
Because there has to be one.
And because Hartl likes to hear himself talk.
But they don't give a damn about our opinion.
And why do you take part in it?
Do you think the inn is mine?
It belongs to Steiner as well as half the village.
Almost every farmer rents his fields, the mill belongs to him,
he also paid for the church roof,
so if you want to survive in our village,
you d o what Steiner says.
Do not think that Hartl's resistance has anything to d o
with the politics of the Nazis.
He only does that so that he keeps his power.
In the village, everything has always been regulated internally,
no matter by what means.
But they can't cover up a murder!
I don't know anything about a murder.
I only know that a wolf got four children.
It's tragic, but it happens.
You better keep your feet still, teacher.
You're here now, in a few months you might be somewhere else.
If I were you, I wouldn't get involved.
And I'll tell you something else:
You d on't want Steiner and Hartl as enemies.
And now?
Do we just watch until something happens again?
What's supposed to happen?
Tell me, are you that stupid, or d o you act like it?
I really expected more from you.
I think it's better if you leave now.
The wedding party is coming.
And there are still people who have to work for their money.
And Toni is...
Gone again.
So, thank you for coming in such large number.
We have already explained the basics to you in advance,
and for the few who came spontaneously today,
summarized in brief:
This is not a normal hunt,
which means that hares, deer and boars are left alone.
It is today exclusively about the wolf
if we should have a whole pack in the forest.
We now go into formation,
the beaters on the left around, the hunters on the right.
When "Das Ganze" is blown, we start.
The goal is that we will ideally drive the wolf out into the clearing
and make a clean kill.
So, beaters, make a proper noise and hunters, put on properly.
And make sure you don't shoot each other.
Well, let's go!
Let's go!
Wolf!
Wolf!
Wolf!
Stop!
Hartl?
Hartl?
- And how long are you going to go on like this?
- Until he admits it!
It's been almost three weeks, he won't admit anything!
And if I leave him in that chamber for three years!
You have to report this!
I'm not reporting anything! This is my village!
Do you want to let him starve?
We're feeding him anyway.
You know what I mean.
We're imprisoning a man in a tiny chamber,
without a trial, without proving his guilt....
We picked him up covered in blood not a hundred yards from the body.
How much more d oes his guilt have to be proven?
Flori was also covered in blood, he even fell over the body.
Should we lock him up as well, just in case?
Are you completely crazy?
Are you trying to say that Flori...
No! And I'm not saying that Joseph is innocent.
Because I d o not know!
That's exactly the point, we d o not know it,
you just as little as the rest of us!
That's why there are courts and that's why a person
is not simply locked away when suspected!
These are Nazi methods, nothing else!
Exactly those Nazis, because of whom you allegedly
d on't want to report anything in Munich!
Do you want to imply something?
Yes! I'm implying that you don't control the situation!
You don't know what to d o,
and now you're trying it the way it's always worked so far:
Just cover it up and don't talk about it
until the problem disappears by itself!
But that won't work this time!
I may have an idea.
Pay attention...
That the transformations of people into animals,
which are supposed to have happened through the arts of the demons,
were not there in truth, but only in illusion.
But this could not be possible if the demons
could not change the human senses.
This evil of the devil creeps through all accesses of the sense.
Now you have gone completely insane.
People want a werewolf,
so let's give them a werewolf.
Where's my father?
This is not a game, Mitzi. You know that, d on't you?
Where's my father?
You can help him.
Just tell us where he was on the night before the 22nd
and the night before the 29th.
Where's my father?
You're one stubborn bitch!
I learned that from my father.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
But it won't help you any more than it helped him.
You'll get over your stubbornness.
Both of you.
The idea is not that stupid.
The idea is not that stupid?
Are you guys insane?
This isn't the Dark Ages! You can't start a witch trial!
Werewolf trial.
You stay out of this!
You d on't really believe that Joseph is a werewolf?
Say, where have we ended up?
None of us believes that Khler is a werewolf.
That's not the point
But this way we can keep it all in the village.
And that's what everybody wants.
You d on't realize what you're doing, right?
We're going to bring a maniac
who's killed at least five people to justice.
At least?
Yes! The deeper you dig, the more will turn up.
Just ask people and you'll find out things you wouldn't believe.
With his son...
with his wife...
Maybe it wasn't as simple as you think.
People rarely have anything else to do than talk bullshit.
If you ask them what they have on you,
we could put you on trial, too.
But I didn't kill any children.
Neither did Joseph!
He is a good-hearted guy who has had a hard time
all his life!
He helps everyone where he can!
Without him your children could not go to school,
and without his fields half of you would have nothing to eat!
You can't see inside people.
And honestly, I prefer to listen to the people who have been here
all their lives than to a teacher who has just arrived.
Yes, maybe it would be better
if you got out of your village now and then!
Then you might have realized that there are courts and police
and that people are not simply hung from the nearest tree!
What's your problem, anyway?
Khler will get a proper trial,
even with ecclesiastical and secular authority.
According to rules that a fanatic set up 500 years ago
so that he would have a justification to persecute witches!
The Witch Hammer is a papally approved rulebook
that is still being published.
Yes, because no one believes anyone would still use it!
That thing is supposed to be a deterrent, not a manual!
Zankl, you can quibble all you want,
even by five to one it's a valid decision.
The trial will begin tomorrow.
Good night.
Thank you, Mini.
Well, it's the least I can do...
Joseph...
You know that not the whole village is against you?
Everyone who knows you realizes that you didn't do this.
You...
You d on't have to worry about that.
I'm not worried, I didn't do anything.
Let them accuse me, then that's what will come out.
They... found you in the forest...
I'm a sleepwalker, Mini.
I've woken up in the forest many times.
But that's not normal either...
How long has this been going on?
Since Lenze.
Mitzi is fine.
You didn't tell her where I was, did you?
I just told her you were fine.
And that was already a lie...
Mini, how long have we known each other?
We've come out of tougher stories clean, haven't we?
I don't know if maybe you're underestimating things.
What were you d oing with him?
I brought him something to eat!
Or am I not allowed to do that now either?
I don't know what to do anymore.
You just have to make sure you stay human.
Steiner is dangerous.
Don't get in bed with the devil.
- Joseph Eustachius Khler...
- Oh?
So officially?
Guten Morgen erstmal.
Joseph Eustachius Khler,
today, September 20, I 932,
we are officially putting you on trial for murder in combination with...
Are you putting me on trial?
...in combination...
What does Munich think about that?
In combination with witchcraft
and fraternization with the devil.
Are you kidding me?
Fraternization with the devil?
Witchcraft?
Say, which century do you live in?
You're being charged under current church law
based on the Malleus Maleficarum.
The Witch Hammer?
Hias, have you gone completely insane, or what?
And you pigs are going along with this?
The local council has unanimously approved the indictment.
Unanimously, huh?
You d on't have to play dumb, Lugg.
An ecclesiastical indictment must be supported
by the secular authority.
And that's you, as pathetic as that is.
So, let's please talk sensibly with each other
like grown-up people.
Hartl, I know we have our problems,
and for you the whole thing is just a found food
to get rid of me.
I still don't know what I've actually d one to you,
and I couldn't care less.
But now you're at a point
where you're about to cross a line
that you can't go back.
Hartl...
You're not an idiot!
You know what you're d oing here.
And you know I didn't do this.
You need a scapegoat, that's all.
If you want to,
you can send me to Munich.
They can try me, I didn't do it anyway.
But this...
Don't make yourselves unhappy.
If you start this,
you won't be able to handle it.
Khler,
you're charged with murder and witchcraft,
the decision is made.
You can make it easy for yourself or hard.
Just admit it and you'll get over it quickly.
You want to sentence me to death.
And I should make it easy for myself so that it goes faster?
You won't change anything about the result.
But you can choose the way.
Think of the rest of the village.
Think of your daughter.
You haven't thought this through.
The Witch Hammer has one major drawback.
As long as I d on't confess, you can't condemn me.
And that won't happen!
So if you don't want to torture me,
the whole thing will blow up in your face!
Is it true?
What?
Hartl, we can't torture anyone.
That's the only way we can keep this thing in the village.
If he's guilty, he deserves death.
I'm the last one to have any scruples.
But torture, that goes way too far.
So?
Give me an answer now, or I'm out, right now.
It won't come to that, d on't worry.
He'll get weak, you'll see.
I just wanted to scare him a bit.
But that includes that he doesn't receive food
from you every day.
Do you understand?
Mitzi?
Mitzi, it's me!
Mitzi!
Mitzi?
Mitzi!
What are you doing here?
Are you all right?
Sure, what d o you think?
I haven't seen you out in ages.
Are you serious?
Do you even notice anything that's not about you anymore?
Why are you hitting on me now?
I'm here because I care about you.
You d on't usually give a shit about me.
Is there something you want to tell me?
No.
How long do you know?
Know what?
First of all, I'm not stupid, and secondly, I'm pregnant too.
By who?
By who?
Toni, of course.
What do you think?
But... so soon?
That's why the wedding had to happen so fast.
But... don't tell anyone, please.
Who could I tell?
And you?
Who did it to you?
I can't tell you.
Why? I won't tell anyone.
No, I can't.
I really can't.
Come on! I told you too!
Fanny
I can't tell you.
Please understand.
- Luggi?
- Hm?
There is news.
But his own daughter... That's...
You wouldn't put five murders past him,
but you don't believe he'd go to bed with his own daughter?
I'll believe anything of that guy now...
Joseph did...
I've already heard.
So inbreeding now, too?
Seems so, yeah.
Good for us. Now we've got him in our hands.
What do you mean?
Khler is finished, he doesn't give a damn about his life.
The only thing that matters to him now is his daughter.
So we can...
Well, look at this!
The noble Mr Schoolteacher has decided
to join us after all.
I wanted to inform you in fairness
that I'm going back to Munich tomorrow morning.
I've already sent a letter asking for my relocation,
and tomorrow I'm leaving.
What you are doing here
is against all sanity and all humanity.
And I can't support it with a clear conscience.
And quite honestly,
I hope that you all go to hell because of it.
I didn't say I believed it at all.
I just said it changes everything.
And it does.
Both Joseph and Mitzi now have the entire village against them.
And if it shouldn't happen to us as well,
then we have to be damn careful now.
Well, I d on't believe it.
I actually d on't either...
Maybe Fanny just misunderstood something...
I don't know! I'm sorry!
I don't know if he did it, I don't know if he didn't d o it,
I don't know if he's screwing his daughter or anything else
I don't know anything at all anymore!
Well, who knows something?
Do you think Georg would tell me anything at home?
He hardly opens his mouth anyway,
and when it comes to something like this, especially not.
I'm just as blank as you are.
It's exactly the same with Hartl.
They'll know why they're making such a secret of it.
It's not all so straightforward.
You're the one who's going to catch the most, Mini, aren't you?
I bring him something to eat, that's all.
Joseph doesn't talk, and Lugg is getting weirder every day.
He's much more bothered by the whole thing than he admits.
Lugg is not such a tough guy after all.
All right, let's deal with what we know.
Mitzi is all alone up in the cabin,
she's pregnant, and she needs help.
It d oesn't matter who she's pregnant by.
She's a young girl,
and we have to take care of her, simple as that.
She gets food from us, I send Vroni up there.
That little bit is barely noticeable anyway.
Are you worried about your children?
Since Khler has been locked up, nothing has happened...
Are you starting that again?
Am I not right?
Stop fighting!
It's not done by bringing her something to eat.
No one knows how long it will continue with Joseph.
The rumor is going around the village, which means
we can't expect her to get hitched anytime soon now.
So,
who has an idea?
So it's true.
You're leaving?
I have to.
You know what's happening here.
I can't watch.
And instead you're running away?
I'm not running away.
I'm going to Munich to report the case.
Hopefully it's not too late.
Konrad, promise me one thing:
When you've done it and it's all over,
please come back.
I promise.
When did you stop talking to me?
Why? I talk, don't I?
You know what I mean.
We wanted to be different, didn't we?
Different from them,
different from what they expect, right?
Is that already over?
Nonsense.
It's just...
Never mind.
Luggi, I'm not stupid.
And I'm not deaf.
I hear exactly what you're doing d own there.
But I d on't interfere.
If you think he did it, then believe it.
That's up to you guys.
But I see what this is d oing to you.
Luggi...
and I care.
I care a lot.
Take care of yourself.
And don't forget,
I'm here.
What do you want to d o?
Hm?
The son of a bitch ran away!
There he is!
Fucking bastard, you!
You pig!
Criminal!
You pig, you!
Stop!
You'll kill him.
That's exactly what I want to do.
That's not how we d o it. It's a proper trial.
Trial?
You beat me to death, no matter what I say.
I didn't d o anything.
Joseph, d on't make it so hard on yourself.
You're not getting out of this.
Just admit it, and it'll be over.
Joseph, it won't work like that...
Konrad opened the door of your cell during the night and let you go.
You followed him and tore out his throat in a wolf rage.
Then you ran away to the forest.
You forgot that after three hundred yards I changed my mind,
hit myself over the back of the head
and waited for you, passed out.
And I ripped his throat open
with my bare hands?
Tell me, d o you think that's possible?
We can give it a try.
Joseph, it's about time for you
to start taking this seriously.
We can prove everything we're accusing you of.
The hell you can!
I'm innocent, and you know it
as well as anyone in here!
We picked you up covered in blood
less than two minutes away from the body,
for the second time. And you still want to deny it?
Why should I kill Konrad?
What else do you want to pin on me?
I'm glad you asked!
You are accused of the following...
The murders of the ad olescents
Michael and Ferdinand Gschwend,
Sebastian Steuber and Eva Brckl on August 2I,
and of Elfriede Schneider on August 29.
In addition, the murder of school teacher Konrad Zankl
in the night hours of today
and...
the murder of Lorenz Khler, son of the accused, in I 9I 6.
Furthermore, you are accused of fornication
with your daughter Maria Khler,
which eventually led to a pregnancy on her part.
What?
So much for the secular accusations.
On the ecclesiastical side there is...
Witchcraft, especially for the purpose of making the faithful believe
that he could take the form of a wolf.
Furthermore, pacting with the devil,
in order to be dismissed from the church service
and to appropriate the property of the father respectively the brother,
to acquire the love ofVerena Steiner unnaturally
and finally to make the own fields fertile,
but to let those of the neighbors wither.
In addition, of course, murder and incest.
As you have already correctly said yourself,
the circumstantial evidence
is not relevant for the conviction according to the Witch Hammer,
but only the confession of the accused.
We have now given you more than enough time to admit it,
unfortunately you vehemently deny it.
Thankfully, the Witch Hammer has a good guide
for such cases as well.
We've tweaked it a bit,
but I think it will come in handy pretty quickly.
Joseph, this is your last chance.
- I didn't do it.
- Save yourself the whole thing.
We don't want to d o this. But we're going to d o it.
It wasn't me. It really wasn't me
Please, I didn't do anything.
Sieg Heil, dear brother!
Don't give me that bullshit.
Come on, the little canyon shitter.
These are dangerous times.
What do you mean?
We could have been hit just as easily.
They were just looking for someone to blame.
Come on, bullshit! Khler is guilty...
If it wasn't Khler, it would be me!
Or you!
Don't you understand, you retard?
It's the times!
It's always them against us!
And there's nothing in between!
They are the village, and we are not the village!
Bullshit! Of course we are the village!
We are not the village! We are death!
And that's what they're afraid of! They always have been!
You know, they do eat, therefore they need us!
But death, that's what they fear!
Come on, Edi, you're drunk.
Let's go home, come on.
Our father knew it.
Our father was a boozed-up, brutal asshole
who only cared about himself!
And you...
You're just the same!
The village isn't afraid of you,
the village doesn't give a shit about you!
And it's your own fault!
But I...
I don't want to be like you.
You will be exactly like us!
They're afraid of strangers!
I'm not a stranger!
I grew up here in the village!
It's not the strangers who decide whether they are strangers.
Maybe you want to d o this properly now?
It will just fit.
No, it won't just fit if you throw half a carrot in there!
It'll take them an hour to get through!
Girl, if you want to have control over this inn,
you'd better start getting a little work ethic!
Who says I want to?
What else do you want to d o?
You d on't have a husband, d o you?
Yeah, maybe because I have to stand here every night
and cut vegetables!
Yes, when you have an inn,
you also have to work a little bit now and then!
And then you wonder why I'm not up for it?
Not up for it?
But the main thing is to be a smart ass!
So again:
What do you want to d o?
I think I would like to study.
Study?
Yes.
And what about the inn?
Mom, it's not my business.
Not your business?
I built all this up so you could have it easier one day!
Do you have any idea how hard it is
to achieve something as a woman?
What have you achieved?
You work every day from morning till night,
but the innkeeper, that's still daddy!
You d on't have anything to say!
Not you, and not your whole secret circle of women either!
You're just fooling yourselves!
It's always the men who decide!
And how will it be different if you just run away?
In any case, rather when I study,
than when I become the next innkeeper here!
What are you doing in here?
Bringing beer to the men from the village,
cooking food
and cleaning up after them when they've taken a shit!
Then I can get married too!
Now I can do the vegetables by myself, or what?
This is your inn, not mine!
Kiss my ass!
So you decided to take the hard way.
Why am I not surprised?
Joseph, they will go through with it.
They'll torture you until you admit it.
Since Konrad died, you have no one in the village on your side.
I didn't even know who Vreni was back then.
Huh?
I didn't know that she was your sister.
Why are you bringing that up now?
We were young.
And she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.
Do you think that's what this is about?
We were so in love...
She was the only one for me, you know?
It was hell for me when she died.
She killed herself!
Because you were drowning in self-pity!
She didn't kill herself.
No, she didn't.
You did. You killed her.
You watched my sister fall apart for two years.
And now you're going to kill me.
You think this is about my sister?
This is about you murdering six people!
I didn't murder anybody.
And you know that.
I don't know anything.
But that's what the trial is for.
To get you to admit to everything.
I won't admit anything.
And if you torture me, until I'm dead.
I'd think twice about that if I were you.
Joseph, I know you. I believe you.
You'd deny it until Lugg actually kills you
by accident at the end.
But not everyone is like you.
Some people wouldn't last that long
on that kind of treatment...
Your daughter, for example.
No, please, not my...
No, no, no, no, no!
Please not my child!
Steiner, she is your niece!
She looks just like Vreni.
Steiner, please!
Steiner!
Not my child!
Tell me, are you that stupid,
or d o you just not give a shit?
What did I d o?
Can't you just keep your dick in your pants?
Do you want to embarrass me in front of the whole village?
What do you mean?
That you knocked up Khler's daughter, that's what I mean!
How much dumber can you get?
I didn't know that!
But you do know how to do it?
You already proved that impressively with Fanny!
But I can't fix this again!
I thought her father...
Don't think!
You have no talent for it.
Now go and chop that wood,
and then go back to your wife.
stay away from the other women.
Do you understand me?
Yes...
- Do you understand me?
- Yes!
Nobody asks.
He's gone,
and it's like he was never there.
He was all alone,
and now they've buried him somewhere,
and he's alone again.
He didn't have anyone.
He did have you.
So, what good did it d o him?
We wanted to go away, did you know that?
I thought so.
Do you think that's why they killed him?
Do you think it's my fault?
It was definitely not your fault!
You must never believe that!
They killed him.
I know that.
The murder of Eva Brckl.
I admit it.
The murder of Konrad Zankl.
I admit it.
The fornication with Maria Khler, which led to her pregnancy.
The fornication with Maria Khler, which led to her pregnancy.
I admit it.
Witchcraft, as well as forming a pact with the devil
for personal gain.
I admit it.
The defendant Joseph Eustachius Khler has pleaded guilty
to all charges before witnesses
and surrenders his soul into the hand of God.
He is sentenced to death three times
according to the applicable law.
He is to be wheeled for the murders,
beheaded for the incest,
and burned at the stake for the witchcraft.
All this shall be d one in front of witnesses,
so that his soul may be purified and he may enter
the holy kingdom of God.
The sentence is to be executed
exactly three days after pronouncement.
Furthermore, Maria Khler,
supported in her immaturity
by the confession of her father,
is accused of having knowingly consorted with the devil
through unnatural coitus
with Joseph Eustachius Khler
and is therefore
also condemned as a witch.
She is said to be like her father...
You pigs!
...before witnesses...
You filthy pigs!
You pigs!
Steiner! Hartl!
...so that her soul may be purified...
Help me, you filthy pigs!
- ...and in spite of her crimes...
- You bastards!
she can enter the holy kingdom of God.
You bastards!
You're not human anymore!
Pigs!
Dirty pigs!
Let me go!
Let me go!
No!
Shut up, you stupid hen!
- Let go of me!
- Go on!
- Let me go!
- Let go of me!
- Help!
- You go on now!
Help! Let me go!
Help me! Let me go!
What am I doing here?
That's a good question.
If you're d oing the wrong thing...
but for the right reasons,
does it become right?
Well, it remains wrong in any case.
The question is whether it's worth it to you.
How much damage is caused by the deed,
and how much benefit?
And if you can reconcile it
with your personal peace of mind.
What does the Bible say about this?
A lot.
Right and wrong is the core subject, so to speak.
There are ten commandments,
If you stick to them, you're not completely wrong.
On the other hand, three pages further on it says
"Whoever strikes a man so that he dies, shall be put to death",
so it's a matter of interpretation.
In the end... The Bible is just a book.
What do you say?
I...
Hartl said that if we send him to Munich,
he'll go to prison for ten to twelve years,
and then they'll let him go.
And if the Nazis come to power before then,
everything will go haywire anyway.
You mustn't forget,
Khler is still a rich man,
he can easily buy his way out in Munich.
And that must not happen.
I have the parents of five dead children
sitting in my church.
They want answers.
They want...
Vengeance? An eye for an eye?
Blood for blood...
You just have to think carefully,
to whom you have an obligation.
And you have to be sure that it was him.
Are you sure about that?
Sure...
No, not sure.
But... I wouldn't put it past him.
Because he doesn't go to church?
Or because people say
that he is in league with the devil?
I don't know either...
What do you say?
I can't tell you anything
that you don't already know.
Yeah...
I know...
Now tell me, what are you going to do?
Don't pretend!
I know you have a plan!
Who has a plan?
You d o. You, Fine, Kathi, and... Irmi.
And whoever else is with you.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Don't think I'm stupid.
I can see you. I see you every time.
You meet in here, you meet at Fine's,
something's going on! It's been going on for a long time.
Paula, what do you want?
I want to join in!
I want to help.
Do you remember when you came to dinner with your sister
and praised me for my roast?
And how I told you
that it was really fresh,
because Edi brings us something directly from time to time,
and we don't have to get it from his brother,
who first leaves it for three days?
Funnily enough, the next day Mortl also knew that.
I did not tell him,
and Edi certainly did not either.
That day
I remembered who in the village I'd rather not tell.
Paula,
there is no secret women's group,
there is no plan,
there is nothing to join in
and there is nothing to tell.
Remember that.
Edi has disappeared.
Did you know that?
But we don't have the time anymore!
The omnibus arrives at four in the morning.
Two hours to Munich, the way back should be faster.
I know from Hartl that they won't start before noon.
It's going to be close, but it should work.
That's what Konrad tried to d o...
But it's our only chance.
I've tried, Kathi, you've tried too,
they're like fools.
I'm really scared.
And who should go?
I can't work against my own husband.
Kathi?
Are you crazy? Georg will kill me.
I'll d o it.
Nobody's looking after me and I know the way.
You stay here.
It's way too dangerous.
What's dangerous? Riding the bus?
Even if someone should see me,
I'll just say I'm meeting my friend in Munich.
At four in the morning.
Do you want me to help you or not?
Mini, your daughter is right.
Our men are watching us like bloodhounds.
Vroni can leave without any problems.
We should be grateful for this opportunity.
Leave.
The Lugg sleeps off his drunkenness,
and the other women distract their men.
It's now or never!
They have my daughter.
We will take care of her!
First you have to get out of here!
I will not leave my child alone!
Not again...
I'm serious!
They will kill you!
Then let them kill me.
Maybe it'll wake up the rest of the village.
It might even wake them up themselves.
You're not seriously telling me
you don't care if you die?
If Mitzi gets to live for it.
No...
Joseph...
I'm not going.
Dearly beloved congregation!
So we have gathered here today
to commit the immortal souls of the accused
Joseph Eustachius Khler,
as well as his daughter, Maria Khler,
to the Almighty.
Since the accused
has admitted his sins,
they may be given the righteous punishment.
The cleansing power of the fire
will purify them of their crimes.
Now some will wonder if it would not be
in the Lord's will
to be lenient
or to show mercy?
Get lost.
But I say to you,
dangerous times are dawning!
Right now the devil is gathering his hosts!
Right now the dark forces are getting ready
and right now we must be more determined than ever before!
Every demon, every witch we let live
will continue to do evil,
will continue to bring harm into the world,
will continue to prepare the kingdom of Satan!
Every witch, every demon we let live,
we will
bitterly regret!
Today,
on the third day after pronouncement,
the sentence shall be executed, as God's order demands.
Thus Joseph Eustachius Khler shall be bound on the wheel,
and his arms and legs shall be crushed,
as penance for the murders he has confessed to.
Because of the insidiousness and cruelty of his deeds...
...the punishment shall be intensified.
He shall be torn with the burning tongs,
seven times
for each of the murders he has committed.
You must speak louder.
I am innocent!
I see.
You go to hell!
All together!
For the incest
and the perverse seduction of his daughter,
the head of the accused shall be cut off with a sword,
so that he may die.
The divine order provides that the accused be granted
a last word.
So?
I anoint you with consecrated oil,
in the name of the Father,
the Son
and the Holy Ghost,
so that what you have done may be blotted out.
Last of all...
Joseph Eustachius Khler...
for his pact with the devil...
and witchcraft...
Joseph Eustachius Khler
shall be burned at the stake.
So that his soul is cleansed,
and he can enter
paradise.
Furthermore, Maria Khler
shall also be burned at the stake
for her knowing pacting with the devil.
So that
her soul will also be purified,
so that she can enter
paradise.
Let me go!
I am pregnant! I am pregnant!
Credo in deum patrem omnipotentem,
creatorem coeli et terrae
Et in lesum...
K. knew perfectly well now
that it would have been his duty
to grab the knife himself as it hovered over him
from hand to hand and bore down.
But he did not d o it,
instead he turned the still free neck
and looked around.
Completely he could not prove himself,
could not take all the work from the authorities,
the responsibility for this last mistake was borne by the one
who had denied him the rest of the strength necessary for it.
His eyes fell on the last floor
of the house adjoining the quarry.
Like a light coming on,
the casements of a window there drove apart,
a person, dim and thin in distance and height,
bent far forward with a jerk
and stretched out his arms still farther.
Who was it?
A friend?
A good person?
One who was participating?
One who wanted to help?
Was it one person? Was it all of them?
Was there still help?
Where was the judge he had never seen?
Where was the high court to which he had never come?
He raised his hands and spread all his fingers.
But at K.'s throat lay the hands of one gentleman,
while the other
plunged the knife into his heart
and twisted it twice.
With breaking eyes K. still saw
how close in front of his face,
the gentlemen, leaning cheek to cheek
watched the decision.
"Like a dog!" he said,
it was as if shame
should outlive him.