Heinrich Page #2

---

Heinrich!

leave the dead alone!

they're defeated!

Napoleon is defeated!

they're defeated!

here's it's all ???

and there are cart tracks on the riverbank

hey, old man!

did the French pass through here?

the French?

yes, from there to here?

from here to there?

the French?

do you understand?

he misunderstood you

your passport

[Austrian accent]

- are you together?

- together

it's valid

- Frenchmen?

- we're Germans

I'm a German,

I'll read something to you

if you allow me

he's a German poet from Prussia

a former Lieutenant of the Royal Prussian Guards

he's left Prussia

because Prussia doesn't fight against Napoleon

we're enemies of the French

Heinrich, you don't have to read something

they'll understand me

they've shed blood for the fatherland

I'll read a dialog to them

here

on the arch-enemy

question:

who are your enemies, my son?

answer:
Napoleon,

and as long as he's their emperor, the French

question:
is there nobody else whom you hate?

answer:
nobody in the whole world

question:
all the same,

when you left school yesterday

you fell out with somebody,

if I'm not mistaken

answer:
I, my father?

with whom?

question:
with your brother,

you've told me yourself

take him away

answer:
yes, with my brother

he didn't ... my bird,

like I told him to

question:
so your brother is your enemy,

who did this to you?

not Napoleon, the Corsican,

not the French people he rules

no, my father, what is he saying

answer:
I don't know how to answer this

silence!

he can even shout!

question:
what do the grown-up

Germans have time for now?

Lieutenant von Kleist from Prussia

but a great admirer of the Austrian Emperor

answer:
to restore the empire which has been shattered

question:
and the children?

answer:
to pray that they may succeed

Herr von Kleist?

I even have something better

if this wasn't to your liking

wait

I only must search for it

here

here

answer:

I am a German

A German? You must be joking.

you were born in Meien

and Meien lies in Saxony

I thought you were a Prussian?

von Kleist?

a relative of the Kleist of Magdeburg?

he mustn't get involved in politics

either he joins the fight

or he's a civilian and a subject

and he's to await his fate

but that's just the point

what makes the Frenchmen superior,

that they're no longer subjects

he's still a friend of the French

we won't decide the matter here

take him to Fieldmarshall Hehler ???

this is the new drama

the Battle of Hermann

[of the Teutoburg Forest]

and those are poems

to the Emperor Franz

to the Archduke Charles

Germania to her children

and this is rather nice

"furry bear and panther beast

- the arrow ... how goes it

- "the arrow has vanquished.

"only for money in the wire trellis

"the young are still on display.

"you no longer see any snakes,

"otters and the like,

"nor the dragon's ghoulish host

"with swollen stomachs.

"only the Frenchman is still around

"in the German Empire.

"brothers, take up the mace

"so that he too shall yield.

nice, nice

splendid

oh you bridegroom of the goddess of victory ...

what's the matter with your friend?

he's dreaming

a dreamer

a dreamer, yes

a poet

and daily, like fir trees before the storm

[Robert Guiskard]

the heads of your faithful sink into the dust

he who fell won't rise anymore

and where he fell, he fell into his grave

he struggles, with infinite ...

Heinrich got us the passport

which bound us like a married couple

Heinrich

during those several days of wandering

we actually permeated each other

took possession of each other

you see him bare his horrible teeth against God and men

against the friend, the brother, father, mother, children,

against even the approaching bride he was raging.

I always think

that you fought in the first campaigns

of the Revolutionary Wars

as Prussian Guards officer

and that you didn't stay with them

what did you say?

you didn't listen

I did

you could have served the fatherland better

yes yes

no no

do you want to die with me?

live, Heinrich

ah

victory or death

the Corporal of the Prussian Guards Regiment

Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist

is promoted to Ensign

the Ensign of the Prussian Guards Regiment

Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist

is promoted to Second Lieutenant

does he know the penalty for desertion?

I do

and why has he ...

what's the Prussian Army to me!

I wanted to get back to my potato fields

I wanted to get back into bed with my wife

I wanted to see my children

if the Officer knows what I mean

the punishment will teach him

the value of the Prussian Army

they made me drunk

they sewed me into a sack

and when I woke up

I already wore the uniform

that's the Prussian Army!

take him away ???

- my dear Rhl ...

- Ernst von Pfuel, you've been with him a lot lately

more than with us

we hardly see you anymore

don't worry

worry?

why? because of Pfuel?

you're jealous

Herr von Pfuel

- Ernst

- Heinrich

he's from a good family

you don't like him?

but I expect great things of him

he's my friend, like you are

[Mozart - clarinet quintet KV 581]

Heinrich?

I shall never get married

you be a wife to me,

my children, my grandchildren

Ernst

don't throw yourself at fate's feet

it's ungenerous

and it will crush you

let one sacrifice be enough

preserve the ruins of your soul

let them remind us of the lust

and romantic times of our lives

and when one day a good war

calls you to the battlefield ...

your homeland, then go

they will appreciate your value

when the emergency calls to arms

accept my offer

if you don't ...

then I shall feel

that nobody in the world loves me

I want to tell you even more

[but it's not fit for a letter, to Pfuel, 7 Jan. 1805]

Heinrich

you've handed in your resignation

yes I have

yes yes yes

yes

through these observations the soldier's profession

[letter to Martini, 19 March 1799]

which I never liked, became hateful to me

because it carries inside itself

something unnatural to my whole being,

so hateful that by and by it became annoying to me

having to participate in its aims.

The most miraculous feats of military discipline

which are a cause of astonishment

for all connoisseurs,

became subject to my heartfelt contempt;

the officers I took to be only drilling masters,

the soldiers to be only slaves,

and when the entire regiment was performing its routine,

it seemed to me like a living monument to tyranny.

Heinrich

to have a life-plan means

[letter to Ulrike, May 1799]

a voyager who knows the destiny of his voyage

and the road to it

he has an itinerary

what the itinerary is to a voyager,

the life-plan is to a man

to leave for a voyage

without an itinerary

means to expect

that pure chance will lead us to our destiny

which we don't know ourselves

living without a life-plan

means to expect from pure chance

to make us as happy

as we ourselves couldn't imagine

Heinrich!

my soul, you're in Berlin!

my God, Heinrich

I've handed in my resignation

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes