Synopsis

Vienna in the 1930s. Since his childhood, Victor Kaufmann, the son of wealthy Jewish gallery owners, has been close friends with Rudi Smekal. Victor’s girlfriend, the perky and attractive Lena, rounds off the inseparable trio that vows to stick together come hell or high water. The Kaufmanns are shocke d when Rudi shows up in an SS uniform after the annexation of Austria. The whole family is sent to a concentration camp, against Rudi’s will. Years later, the Nazi bosses in Berlin want to present Italy’s Duce with a confiscated Michelangelo sketch that be longs to the Kaufmanns. But the sketch is a forgery. They want the genuine Michelangelo! Rudi is ordered to get Victor out of the concentration camp and bring him to Berlin for interrogation. Their plane is shot down by partisans, however, and Victor doesn’t have the heart to simply leave the injured Rudi behind. He drags him into a hut and offers to share his concentration camp clothing with him. One gets the pants, the other the jacket, and thus both have nothing to fear from the Polish soldiers. But while Rudi is putting on the prison camp jacket, Victor hears the alleged partisans speaking German. With great presence of mind, he quickly puts on Rudi’s uniform. When the German soldiers barge into the hut, Victor presents them with his “prisoner,” the wildly protesting Rudi. The Jewish prisoner becomes an SS man, and the Sturmbannführer the prison - camp inmate. A game with reversed roles. A game of life and death, in which Lena must decide on whose side she’s on. Wolfgang Murnberger relates a captivating story of friendship, love and betrayal. Tragedy and humor are close together in this film, which takes on a special human depth through its nuanced and warmhearted character depiction.

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