SKETCH
"Engel der Gefangenen"
Scene-for-scene SYNOPSIS - as of 05/06/13
©Jesper Loeser Severinsen Nordin 2013
Scene
1: Tage Severinsen is arrested in his home. Having an attic full
of weapons and explosives, he knows he has no option but to go along
without protest. His wife Karen is less cooperative, but is forced to
restrain herself in front of the children.
Scene
2: Hiltgunt is working for the Gestapo in Hamburg, translating
letters between jews in the ghettos and their scandinavian relatives.
She deliberately does what she can to help the jewish families, and
every night she hides her clandestine work in her purse and brings it
home with her to avoid being discovered by the regular workplace
searches. While she is working, a message reaches her of her
brother's death. As she leaves the building in distress, she is
stopped in the street and searched by another bureau of the Gestapo,
but the tragic news she has recieved has led her to forget her
letters, and she is let off without reprieve.
Scene
3: Tage is alone in his cell in Copenhagen, experiencing a
growing sense of panic and at the same time building strength in his
convictions.
Scene
4: Hiltgunt visits the Levy's, an elderly jewish couple that she
knows through their granddaughter Elizabeth. She agrees to track down
the granddaughter, but while in the apartment, she realises the old
couple has taken a poison to avoid the mass deportation of Hamburg's
jews, scheduled to take place the next morning. As the Levy's die,
Hiltgunt breaks down.
Scene
5: A couple of months have passed. Hiltgunt is working as a
prison translator, but now using her position with the Gestapo to
smuggle food, medicine, clothes and other objects to the prisoners
she is supposed to be monitoring. She meets Tage for the first time
in his cell. He is naturally sceptical, but is convinced by the
visiting priest that Hiltgunt is there to help in whatever way she
can. Tage learns that he has been sentenced to death and has only a
few weeks left to live.
Scene
6: Karen visits the German high commander in Denmark, Dr. Werner
Best, to plead for the life of her husband. She is weakened and
nauseous, but Best is intriuged by her mental strength, and he draws
her into a psychological game with her husband's life at stake. He
compares Karen's children to his own, and Tage's fate to his. Karen
is disgusted by Best's mind games, and excuses herself with the
promise of returning the next day. As she leaves the office, she
weeps uncontrollably.
Scene
7: Hiltgunt is alone with Tage in his cell. He is now physically
very ill. In his feverish state, he starts to confuse her for Karen.
Hiltgunt's realises she is in love with him, and in a moment of
emotional desperation the two of them kiss.
Scene
6B/7B: At the same time, Karen and Best reach a crucial point in
their encounter. We understand that Best is challenging Karen to
weigh Tage's life against the boundaries of her own personal
integrity.
An
actual sexual 'ransom' is never demanded, but Best wants Karen to
believe that that is the choice she has to make in order for her
husband to live. The two scenes overlap at the exact moment where
Karen ultimately refuses, while Tage and Hiltgunt kiss. Best wins his
psyhcological game, as he has forced Karen to symbolically choose her
husband's death rather than breaking her own moral frame. In the
prison cell, both Tage and Hiltgunt retract, and before leaving,
Hiltgunt tells Tage he has been pardoned.
Scene
8A/8B: Hiltgunt is alone again and continues her work. Karen and
Tage face difficult emotions as he returns home to his family and his
parish.
