- This cinematic adaptation of the autobiography of Anna Wimschneider depicts her life's experiences and workaday routines as a woman born on a farm in lower Bavaria, Germany in the 1920s. Anna's mother died young in childbirth and Anna had to take her place and work very hard. At a Nazi rally she meets young Albert, who owns a farm. They realize that they both don't believe in fascism and go to a coffee bar where he starts wooing her. Against her prior decision to leave farm life as soon as possible, she agrees to marry him, hoping that her life will become easier on Albert's farm.—Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
- Winter of '88: Anna Wimschneider, née Traunspurger, the author of the autobiography that served as the basis for the film's script, pushes a bicycle along a road in the snowy Bavarian countryside. May 1, 1936: Anna arrives in the village where the Nazi party has organized a big party to celebrate the anniversary of the National Socialist Party of German Workers coming to power. In the midst of the jubilant crowd waving flags at the marching troops, singing Horst Wessel Lied, listening to the speeches of the officials, receiving a shower of leaflets thrown from an airplane, she meets Albert who, in order to get to know her better, takes her to the tavern where they exchange words without paying attention to the Sieg heil, the fuhrer's speech on the radio and the commotion around them. She returned to the farm where her father, her six brothers and her sister, who since the death of their mother, had shared the housework with her, were waiting for her. When they were young, they were used to doing the housework, washing clothes in all weathers, and now they are able to take care of the cows, help with the calving, sew on the machine, etc. In this environment where all these boys and especially their father treat them roughly, where they are only servants, in the evening, when they are both in the same room, they tell each other all their secrets before falling asleep. Anna met Albert at the godmother's wedding, where the Kreisleiter came to congratulate the newlyweds and give them a signed copy of Mein Kampf, followed by a flight over the wedding by an airplane decorated with the Swastika, which made a sign of recognition. Albert did not leave Anna alone for a moment and took her home in the rain, and could not leave her without kissing her. Afterwards, he goes to talk to Anna's father about his plans to take over a farm because he has just graduated from an agricultural college; he is very quickly accepted by the family because he knows how to interest his brothers and sister by bringing a little fantasy into their lives. During haymaking, he asked Mr. Traunspurger for his daughter's hand in marriage. Mr. Traunspurger replied that the marriage would only be possible when Anna was of age and Hitler had taken over the Sudetenland. He learned of the annexation by chance from Fritz Wiedemann's driver, whose car had broken down on the road not far from the farm. Their marriage, very simple, takes place and when Anna comes to live with her parents-in-law, she has to endure the fierce hatred of her mother-in-law who sees her as a rival; moreover, she has to take care of the two uncles and the aunt who are very old and no longer independent. On his return from a two-day honeymoon, Albert is called up for military service, which delights his mother-in-law because her daughter-in-law will have to work in the fields instead of her husband. The exhausting work and the sadness caused by her husband's departure reminded her of her mother's agony, exhausted by life, which she had witnessed when she was very young. Uncle Otto introduced her to ploughing, but it was not easy, like many other things, and in the evening she confided in Albert, who obtained a leave. They took advantage of this to go and be photographed in their wedding clothes at the photographer's, who was paid with foodstuffs, as there was a shortage of food in the city. On the day of the threshing, the kreisleiter was present but the atmosphere had changed. There is anxiety and the unanimity of 1939 has given way to doubt, to contesting contained by fear. Prisoners were needed to replace the male workforce that had been mobilized or killed in combat, and Anna wanted a Russian to help her because she was now pregnant. While she has just had an accident while ploughing arrives a young girl, Sonia, who was sent to help her. Furious to get someone so unsuitable for field work, she empties her bag and sends her away. Not discouraged, she went to the kreisleiter's office where she caused such a scandal that the official broke down and found her a Polish prisoner. The mother-in-law discovers that Anna was selling food and although her daughter-in-law tells her that it was to buy the necessities for Carole, her daughter, Albert's mother screams her hatred in front of her little girl and in front of Albert, whom she has not seen return. He immediately chases her out of the house. The family is finally reunited and enjoys the sunny countryside. Suddenly an enemy plane appeared and strafed the field and in the flight Carole was separated from her parents and disappeared in the dust raised by the bullets. The plane disappeared. Carole was saved because "Goudek", the Polish prisoner, had thrown himself on her so that she would not be targeted. Overjoyed to be even with fear, Anna, Carole, Albert and Goudek embrace to the point of becoming one in the peaceful countryside.
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