Original subtitles

WELCOME HOME, SEBASTIAN

Mom?

Don't we have gypsy blood running through our veins?

Yes.

They've always been quite dark

on dad's side of

Didn't we have some pictures?

Sebastian and I used to look at them.

Mom?

I'm here.

Yes

"Dear mom. All is well at the front."

"We've endured hardship."

"But both Laust and I

Laust?

Are doing well under the circumstances."

"Love, your son Peter." Peter."

Sofia and I were on our way to Smnderborg, unsuspecting.

Unsuspecting, that Peter had found out about our betrayal.

That Laust was dying, and that the war was a living hell -

- which I willingly was headed towards.

With my pregnant belly and now Sofia also with child.

After the retreat from Dannevirke -

- most people believed that Dybbal could hold the fort.

But as the Prussians started bombing the Danish positions

reality set in on the Danish politicians.

Yet, still in vain.

The distance from Copenhagen to Dybbwl was great.

We'll proceed to the market square.

You'll find out where Peter and Laust are.

Diargo!

Diargo!

Get moving!

There's no time for rest!

- Get those canons moving! - Excuse me, sir

I'm Ingeborg Kjzlhede. I need your help.

- Lieutenant Monrad at your service. - I'm looking for

my husband, Laust Jensen, and his brother, Peter.

- Which regiment and company? - I wrote to the eighth company.

This is very difficult, miss.

The companies are at the redoubts, then they rest-

- and then they come back here.

- You have to wait here. - I have to see them.

Miss this is no place to visit.

This is a place to leave behind.

Get those canons moving! Move it! Move it!

- Laust? Laust? - Peter?

Peter? Peter!

We have to go.

- You dreamt about your brother. - I have no brother.

He's not going to make it.

We have to find Peter.

Dear father.

I hope all is well.

I feel like

I feel like I should have been at home with you

were I could be to much more use.

Father

I should have been at home with you.

Captain?

- Yes. - There's an unknown man out here.

He has been asking for you.

- For me? - Yes, it's rather strange.

Because he's not Danish. Danish.

Look at me. Look at me!

Do you know him?

- Shoot him. - We can't just do that.

He's a SPY-

Some Prussians have heard about me and my reputation.

He's obviously out to kill me.

Shoot him.

With all due respect we'll lock him up and await the judge advocate.

Do you refuse to obey orders, sergeant?

I'm helping you to make the correct decision according to the rules.

I can be difficult to keep a sense of perspective.

Lock him up.

Enter.

General, the bombardments are getting intense.

The enemy keeps shooting us down. We have to retreat.

We have to save the army -

- without suffering considerable and meaningless deaths.

Mortensen?

When are the decorations to be awarded? Now, right?

Yes, general.

We'll talk later.

Some officers did extraordinary well at Missunde -

- and they await us.

With all due respect, general, the Prussians won't wait.

I feel, this is only the beginning.

In order to avoid a bloodbath we have to act now.

Du Plat.

The orders from Copenhagen are straightforward.

The heroes are to be decorated.

This will boost morale.

Copenhagen only wants to hear about heroes, not defeat.

These are the orders a soldier has to obey.

Your Majesty

The beat of the cannons Do you feel it, too?

- Yes. - They say sounds are like dreams.

They always find a way into your soul.

Is it not beyond our comprehension?

- You could say that. - Please elaborate.

Well

You could say that the merry major scales have a tendency to

to lift the human spirit.

The opposite goes for minor scales. We do not know why.

It is almost as if it is part of human nature -

- to find minor keys dark and major keys light.

- And what of the tempo? - Tempo?

Ah, the tempo Yes. Yes.

The march, which is certainly my area of expertise

gives a sense of direction. Of one single direction.

We must all follow one direction.

We must follow that direction without hesitation or doubt

Magnificent, Piefke.

Go to the trenches that are being dug under the Danish entrenchments.

You must play with the orchestra a few hours every day.

You will raise the soldiers' morale and give them a sense of purpose.

And you will dishearten the Danes.

- Very well. - Thank you.

And if I may say so I completely agree.

Music is more powerful than cannons.

I am not sure that was my meaning.

Only a fool would choose a flute over a howitzer.

Nobody is that stupid.

They're digging at least two trenches. It's not good.

We can't keep this position.

- It's impossible. - Of course.

We're supposed to do the impossible as far as I understand.

What's this?

- They're playing music. - You don't say, Alfred.

Are they celebrating or what?

Inge?

- Didrich! - Inge?

What are you doing here?

We're looking for Laust and Peter.

- Laust and Peter? - It's important that we find them.

You have to help me.

Inge, you're not supposed to be here.

I have to talk to Laust.

Why?

I'm carrying his child.

- You have to help me, Didrich. - That's wonderful.

Wonderful

Inge, that's

Inge

You have to be strong now.

Promise me.

I'll be there for you.

But you have to be brave. Promise me. Promise me.

Peter and Laust

are dead.

Peter at Sankelmark

and Laust died of fever.

I did everything to save them.

They're dead, Inge.

I'm sorry.

I'm terribly sorry. It's

You're about to die, Laust.

But it's said

that hearing is the first of one's senses

and the last of the senses that one loses.

So listen carefully.

Inge came here

to see you.

But I spared her from seeing you in this state.

You understand, don't you?

I told her

that you were already dead.

The worst part is that you've gotten her pregnant.

Yes, Laust

Inge is going to have your child.

While you lay here dying

Inge will be left in the gutter on her own

with your bastard child on her arm.

Unless of course

some idiot passes by and feels sorry for her.

Second lieutenant Wilhelm Dinesen, colonel.

Do you know why you're here?

- No, I don't. - Because you're an animal.

We need someone to wreak havoc and breathe down the enemy's neck.

- Are you that person? - Pardon?

Can you get the enemy to shit their pants?

- Yes, I think so. - Great.

Do you hear the music?

Who has asked to hear that rubbish?

- It sounds awful. - We agree, then.

They play this at noon and again after dusk.

Go behind enemy lines and make this music stop.

Off you go.

Dinesen, eighth brigade? Peter Jensen.

Dinesen, eighth brigade? No'?

Dinesen, eighth brigade?

Dinesen?

Dinesen?

We're stopping the music. Do you want to join us?

Out there?

Yes.

All is clear. We can run straight through.

Can we bring Alfred along?

Come.

Here you go, Alfred.

- Alfred stay stay behind me. - Yes.

You brother needs to see you. He's at the field hospital.

- Did you ever kill anyone before? - Not in battle.

Have you ever been with a woman?

Huh? Have you?

Tell me, Peter.

Huh?

I knew it. I was afraid I was the only one.

If we survive this we'll share a whore in Sranderborg.

- Promise me. - Have you gone mad?

Say it.

- Peter. - Yes, I promise.

Bring him inside.

- Excuse me? We want to help out. - Oh.

I can see you need nurses.

- We can be of use here. - Use?

We're looking for my husband, but we can't just do nothing.

We can't just go home. We want to help.

- I don't use women. - It's becoming the norm in Europe.

Along with flower arrangements, embroidery, and poetry readings.

How often do you wash your equipment?

You can reduce infection by washing the equipment.

It's the enemy's bullets that kill and not the lack of soap.

- Don't you want our help? - Listen

You're young and much too overconfident.

But you have neither the guts nor aptitude. Go away.

You imbecile.

I've heard about 400 Swedish women, who wanted to help out-

- that you and your kind turned down.

Thousands of women want to help their husbands -

- yet you still refuse us, while they bleed to death, you fool.

Are there no limits to you stupidity?

You're mad.

Get them a pair of pinafores.

Can you hear it?

Can you?

They're not playing music anymore.

They're not playing music anymore.

They're not playing music anymore!

They're not playing music anymore.

- Don't stand up, Alfred. - They're not playing music anymore!

Sing, little lark, so everyone can hear you!

- Get down, Alfred. - Alfred is too drunk.

- Do you think so? - Alfred, get down.

Sing. Sing, little lark.

- Alfred, shut up. - Sing so they can hear you!

- Get down from there. - Alfred, get down.

Alfred

They're not playing music anymore!

Alfred. Alfred!

Damned Prussian bastards! Come and get me!

Come and get me! Come and get me!

Andersen, we need assistance.

What's in there?

Nothing. They're dying anyway.

You'll get well now, Laust.

Move it, god dammit! Come on!

Where's the doctor?

We need help over here! Now!

Place a compress. Do it.

Place that compress. What on earth are you doing?

Move away!

Place that compress.

Hold his head. What are you doing?

Don't you know how to place a compress?

- We're too late. - I want to go home.

- I want to go home. - Yes.

I want to go home to Skagen.

Go get the boat, mom. I want to go home.

I can be home by tomorrow.

Now I lay me down to sleep

Pray the Lord my soul to keep

And If I die before I wake

Pray the Lord my soul to take

And should I live for other days

I pray that God

will guide my ways

- Peter. Let's have a drink. - I have to do something.

What? Peter, what?

- I made a promise to Alfred. - What?

Have you never been in love?

Have I never ...?

I am in love.

What's she like?

Her body

is beautiful.

Her pose is elegant.

The first time I saw her

I was standing behind her.

She sensed me standing there.

I've often noticed that.

If you watch a woman without her possibly knowing it

then she'll know it anyways.

Her delicate nerves have sensed your gaze.

Hers did too.

Where is she now?

She's everywhere, Peter.

It's only the woman She's everywhere.

They're bombing the city!

Move out to the sides!

They're bombing Smnderborg. It makes no sense to defend Dybbel.

The army must retreat to Als. Anything else is suicide.

Copenhagen will not be pleased.

I beg your pardon?

I really don't think that Copenhagen will not be pleased.

No, they will not.

But our men are waiting to die. Now civilians are too.

We have to evacuate!

Therefore, we, the general staff

feel forced

to retreat the army

to the safety of Als.

Gerlach.

"Dybbral has to

and I repeat, has to be defended

even if it results

in considerable losses.

With all due respect, general Gerlach

this decision is absolute madness. Madness.

What are they thinking? That this is a play?

Tell them that we'll retreat, and then cut all communications.

An order is an order.

Then let this be my decision alone. Call in sick.

As your replacement it will be my responsibility.

- I'll even go to criminal court. - What are you saying?

I'm not sick!

How come we're here?

- Because of Schleswig. - Oh, yeah. Schleswig.

I could do without Schleswig right about now.

Laust?

Oh, my God. We thought you were dead.

Johan, it's Laust.

So many people knew that they would die.

But as always the thought about their loved ones -

- haunted them more, than their own destiny.

Everything felt like a strange dream.

Like one's memory after a good drunk.

I spent hours and days mourning -

- over what I thought was the loss of Laust and Peter.

The child kicking from inside my womb.

The looks of the wild eyes in the faces of the dying.

Amputations and infections.

The noise, the cries, and the screams.

The flames above Swnderborg.

Dante's inferno.

Yes, this was hell

"But we could never have imagined -

- even in our worst nightmares -

- that we were nowhere near hell yet."

"The remaining bombardments -

- killed all hope in our hearts."

I found something at home that I don't understand.

What's that?

- An old tablecloth. - A tablecloth?

And some old letters and pictures.

- Damask. - Some of the letters are from Peter.

From Peter?

At your house?

There's one picture in particular

of a woman surrounded by children.

And a handsome man with a beard. All the children look like her.

It's my great-great-great-grandmother and her husband.

How does he look?

He's not not that tall.

He has very intelligent features.

He has a delicate mouth.

And defined cheekbones.

- A big impressive beard. - Yes.

- He has piercing eyes. - Peter

Peter? Why is he with my great-great-great-grandmother?

My goodness.

What?

We're related.

I want to be sure that I understand you correctly, War Minister Lundbye.

Isn't it true that the Danish troops have their backs against the wall?

And they are outmatched by the Prussian troops.

Not only in numbers, but in equipment and technology.

Our general staff has appraised the tactical situation.

The Danish forces are suffering massive wear down.

There's no hope except for a miracle.

Miracles do happen.

Our flag fell from the sky at the battle of Lyndanisse -

- on June 15th in 1219.

And David defeated Goliath, because he had justice on his side.

I don't understand you -

- anymore than I understand your country's reasoning for this war.

One thing I know

You're leading your country to the edge of the abyss.

The Danish soldier will not waver.

And you will be so utterly humiliated.

Field Marshall Moltke

can it at least be done in a somewhat merciful manner?

Let me ask you this, Lord Palmerston:

Have you ever heard such a thing like a merciful war?