Ursula (1978) - full transcript
Switzerland 1523. The mercenary Jackie Geer returns with his soldiers from Iatly to his home in the Oberland. They have fought for the Pope and now find a religious upheaval i Switzerland.
based on the novella of the same name
by Gottfried Keller
A co-production of Fernsehen der DDR
and Swiss public TV association SRG
Written by Helga Schütz
Directed by Egon Günther
[In Landsknechtswelsch]
When religions change...
it is as if the mountains open up.
Ah... and there, and...
Here! And there, and...
And if he'd been the Devil -
I danced with him!
Huh? Here comes...
What...?
Who might you be?
No! Let me go!
In the early days of the year 1523,
the small Zurich Army
marched back across the Alps.
It had, oddly, in service of the Pope
defended land and people against France
while back home,
they were already preaching the Gospel.
Amongst the soldiers was a young
peasant from the uplands, Hansli Gyr.
He was eager to reunite with his betrothed
from childhood days - Ursula.
In these parts, they say,
people no longer observe Passiontide.
I've seen it myself.
In Sankt Gallen, they ate an entire ox.
And the Lord, our God,
didn't make a single one of them puke.
And that Zwingli... he won't accept
the Pope's honorarium any more.
- And that's foolish.
- Yes, yes...
One should take money wherever it flows.
That's how it is!
- Not this again...
- Sodding snow. Damn.
♪ All the birds... ♪
♪ are already here ♪
What a load of shit...
They want to take everything,
everything from us.
...just sick...
The burnings at the stake...
and the burning farmsteads...
and the... the exotic women!
We're supposed to sit in our living rooms.
But the... lords have tied their own tails.
The people surpass them in foolishness.
Like the monkey does the jester.
The peasants want to leave through
a different hole than the "lords".
- Here you are, sir.
- Ah, a thousand thanks!
Go ahead, go home to your mountain.
Which is teeming - like fleas on a dog -
with dreamers and prophets
who preach and dance in the woods.
And fornicate...
And the... the women
are lustier than the men.
Wasn't there that neighbour's daughter,
that Ursula? Your... "betrothed".
Well, go on home...
Yes!
Go on, scram, you!
Scram!
Yes, go back to your farm!
A bit faster...
Pater noster, qui es in caelis,
sanctificetur nomen--
Don't kneel! Don't kneel!
- Kneeling has been done away with!
- Huh? What?
Come.
Is that really you...?
Ursula?
And so tall and beautiful
you have become...
"If God wills it I be beautiful,
I would gladly grant it you."
Now...
Let me.
This armour was made by a Milanese.
They have the best weaponsmiths.
I don't know anything about that.
We knew you were coming.
We even heard the drums yesterday.
Ah yes, the drums...
So I came here
and aired out your house,
warmed it, and built a fire.
Fire...
Here we go...
- Your livestock is still in our stables.
- Oh, thanks... thanks.
We can bring them over tomorrow.
Yes, yes... 's good. Tomorrow...
is good.
All right, go ahead and pull.
Hold on!
Now...
Next one.
Take a look.
- From Milano.
- Beautiful.
Beautiful knife.
"God be thanked for this food and drink.
Amen."
You eat meat now during Passiontide?
Yes...
Not only us, up here.
The people down in Zurich as well.
The book printer Froschauer
ordered two sausages,
right before Zwingli's eyes.
In Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden,
you get punished for it.
Burned for it...
Zwingli rejected the Pope's honorarium,
when Leo was still alive.
Yes, yes, I know.
Have you heard of
the Zwingli Disputations in Zurich...
against the scribes?
Yes...
But he's such a little pope himself!
We up here, we take no stock in him!
Meat...
There's the wine jug,
white bread, and spice box.
- For the wine soup tomorrow morning.
- No...
- I'll cook it for you, according to
ancient custom! - "Ancient custom".
Because that's how married women welcomed
back their husbands returning from war!
- The morning after his first night back
at his own hearth-- - "Married". No.
Yes, but... we are not married yet.
Nothing's been discussed....
or prepared.
Why did you kiss me then?!
If you don't want me!
Who says I don't want you?
If you want me...
then I want you.
But even if so, we are only...
engaged...
if your family gives their blessing.
Don't you know that here, we belong to
the saints and sinless of the new faith?
We are no longer subject to any
ecclesiastical or worldly authority.
And we take us as husband or wife by virtue
of the Holy Spirit that works inside of us.
So say our prophets.
And you too shall join our communion.
No...
It cannot be this way!
- Let me stay. Let me stay!
- Come on! Out!
- Let me stay, please!
- You leave! You leave...
No, go home!
Bed...
Get out of here!
Come on now...
Come now!
- Hurry!
- I can hardly see anything...
Don't step on my dress! Be careful!
Come on, let's go home.
Arsehole!
[Wildly curses at him in Basel dialect]
A crude sow, that's what you are!
A ghastly one!
Get lost!
Go home!
Go!
[Continues in Basel dialect]
For Mary's sake...
Take care of your cattle again next May?
Sure as death not!
You must be mad!
Who do you think--
Do you believe God sits there and writes
all of your names into a book?
Each with your balance, your wishes,
THE PROPHETS
your measured length,
and the weight of your belly?
That's probably what you actually think--
Get away from there!
Right. Give it here.
- Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Shut the door!
- Shut the door!
Shut the door!
Good day.
Rosenstil...
The Cold Wirtz of Goßau...
Can't say I know who you are.
- Oh. Enoch Schnurrenberger.
- Hansli.
And Schneck of Agasul.
[Whispers in dialect]
Thank you kindly. Thanks.
Hello.
Show it to him.
- Fine, fine...
- [Woman] Oh no, it's not fine.
Hey! He can't do that!
No, he can't do that!
I will crush your balls.
By the balls...
If it isn't our friend...
and neighbour.
And barely recognisable any more.
Verily, such a big Hans he has become.
What's with the weapon?
Whom does he intend to feud with?
Does he not know yet
that eternal peace has come?
You grunts....
You seem to think yourselves
grand and important.
With your drums and... flags.
What a decrepit,
watery,
damp creature is man.
If one as much as pricks him...
he immediately leaks out.
And if you take the strongest war hero...
who seems as if hewn from marble...
and drop a piece of rock on him,
no larger than a camel...
it's as if one had crushed
a wretched spider underfoot.
A damp spot
is all
that remains.
And what remains of you prophets
when a piece of rock falls on you?
You arsehole!
You haven't even seen
any of those high and mighty priests yet.
Nor heard that preposterous Zwingli preach.
I have. As a child.
I want to go and hear him again.
He builds on
and leans on God's word alone.
As... it is written in the Scripture.
"Scripture". "Scripture"!
But what is the Scripture?
A mute violin. If it isn't I who plays it.
I take the Scripture and throw it
into the corner.
And it is nothing more
than a printed book.
A meagre pile of lousy paper,
just like a thousand other books.
I am the one whose turn it is to speak!
I am the one whose turn it is to speak!
Now, you probably believe God sits there
and writes all of your names into a book.
Each with your balance,
each with your wishes,
each with your measured length,
and the weight of your belly.
And that his fingers are all stained
with ink from doing so, the good fellow's.
Far from it, you blind heathens.
You who worship idols
but don't feel the Lord
who's breathing down your neck.
Here He is... and there He is.
He is in the dust of these floorboards
and in the salt of the seawater.
He melts with the snow, off the roof.
We hear Him drip down.
He glistens as shit in the alley.
He wiggles with the fish
in the depths of the water.
And He peers with the eye of the hawk.
And He is in us as well, brothers!
Because how could we be holy and sinless,
witty and humorous,
if we weren't divine creatures ourselves?
And how would He exist
if we did not give Him a place to dwell?
And He's dependent on us too!
And we will make Him m-m-m
- M-m-m-mellow!
- ...mellow!
Until He is small and coughs up His signs
and miracles. And does our bidding!
You peculiar little God
have fled into this apple
and think I won't find you.
But I will indeed find you.
Just like you
erstwhile drove Adam from the bushes.
Come!
Come out quickly!
Do you see, brothers?
Do you see
how the apple is starting to glow?
How it swells in my hand
and becomes the world?
Do you see?
How the stem becomes a cross?
Do you see the tiny people
and how they swarm it?
The graves that open up?
The dead who rise again?
Call out! And praise Him!
- Holy!
- Holy! Holy! Holy!
Holy.
Holy!
Throw Him down!
There. Devour it.
Don't do that again.
Yes, yes, yes...
Bah!
I don't want to strip any more feathers.
Woman! Clear the table.
We want to have ourselves
a tiny piece of joy in this world.
Your "piece of joy", huh?
- Yes... I haven't got it with me.
- "Have a tiny piece of world joy."
Well?
What...?
- Away with it.
- I've made a new deck of cards. Come!
Where do you keep the girl?
Ursula.
Ursula...
She came to you. You sent her away.
Your cast of mind...
You miserable fools...
These "miserable fools"
will be your and your lords' masters.
[Woman repeats]
Because we, the people,
will make them great.
So we ourselves
become great and glorious.
By God's divine counsel!
As far as the child, Ursula, is concerned:
We were no longer willing to bow
to the old heathen governance.
But you,
you have returned home as an obstinate,
prideful...
henchman of the old!
And now you can kiss our arses twice over!
Sow!
Show it.
Four!
Four!
Four!
Four!
Two! Two! Two.
One.
Three.
Sow!
Well, then I'll just be the wife of
an English lord and heavenly baron.
Bah!
Hans...
Hansli comes marching across the fallow.
Did you hear me?
- Yes...
- Honestly.
"Eternal peace" is here and one still has
to feed the cattle, Mrs Schnurrenbergerin?
Greetings, Hansli. There's always something
to do. Otherwise, it would get boring.
Here. My key.
I'm going to Zurich.
I want to learn about
the new circumstances.
You're leaving?
Rightly so. Leave and learn.
If you want, I'll take your land and your
farmstead and give you a penny for it.
Everything one calls "property"
will soon cease to be anyway.
Land will be seized,
boundary stones dug up,
and everything made communal.
You'd only take care of
what the future will bring anyway.
Away with that scourge!
- I'll take it off your hands.
- Thank you, for your helpful disposition.
But I want to keep my scourge.
It's not plundering my larder.
The girl is over by the well.
I didn't get a chance yesterday...
to give you the ring.
Will you wait for me?
If... if you renounce your world.
I am not renouncing any world.
Nor pledging to any.
I'm going to Zurich.
I want to know
what the leaders actually want.
And what they want preached.
Are all of you from Zurich?
Does anybody know this one?
No, don't know him.
He's already eaten at another station.
Everybody receives food
wherever they show up.
[Background conversation in Swiss German]
- Does anybody know this one?
- I am a religious refugee from Germany.
My name is Konrad, and I am a teacher.
At last, the line's moving again...
- Please, could we get an extra spoonful?
- Finally, something warm for a change...
[Man] Yes, let's order another one.
Pass the flagon!
Another jug!
- Sure, sit down, brother!
- Come, sit.
Hands off, you old dog!
Dominican nuns
from the convent in Oetenbach.
Left because the order and the habit
don't make for a blessed life.
Look. From Milan.
Say, can you even pay?
That's Zwingli!
And the widow Anderainer.
He's going to marry her, they say.
Do all these weapons
leave some room for us?
Certainly. Please.
I'd also like a small glass
of this Alsatian wine.
But of course.
Yes...
Anna.
I am a clergyman
who is fond of our soldiers.
Well... to your health!
He who fights as a mercenary for France...
or any other foreign military...
betrays his native soil!
And although our soil does not yield
cinnamon and ginger,
Malvasia, cloves, and...
oranges, silk,
and other such womanly gewgaws...
It does yield butter, and roots,
and milk, horses,
and sheep, and livestock...
Peasant's cloth, wine, grain...
In abundance!
Let your priests fight amongst themselves,
in the name of faith and sacrament.
As much as they want!
Do not take any part in this strife.
I am... a clergymen
who is fond of our soldiers.
As a bride on the morn of her wedding day,
such is a nation that knows itself!
Away with the...
tithe mindset...
and letters of indulgence...
pilgrimages, and...
confession, and...
and priest dictates, and--
Freedom from the brotherhoods and orders!
Freedom from celibacy and concubine tax.
Freedom from prayer babbling
and fear of purgatory.
And freedom, ultimately,
from the pope himself.
"Be male,
you poor soul."
All men are your brothers.
There are as many tyrants
as fleas in August.
One has to chop off hand and foot
if they turn bad.
What is built by hands
can be toppled by hands.
Freedom from letters of indulgence!
Freedom from pilgrimages
and countless church sacrifices!
Freedom from graven images!
Freedom! Away with it all!
Away! With it all!
Enough! Enough!
Enough of this wailing!
You shall not be gluttonous.
You shall not drink to excess.
You shall not lie.
You shall not blaspheme.
You shall not mock.
You shall not curse.
You shall not dress gaudily.
You shall not slander other people.
You shall not frighten other people.
You shall leave other women be.
You shall...
be moral.
And good.
And honest.
And you shall be diligent.
And modest, you shall be.
Kneeling...
has been done away with!
Go! Do it! Go!
Good!
- Stop it!
- Let me through! Make room!
Are you out of your senses?!
Stop!
- Burn it! Yes!
- Everything into the fire! Into the fire!
Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!
Yes! Come here!
You can do that on your own.
It's not that heavy!
And this too, please. Come.
Quickly! Hurry!
What's taking them so long?
...weighed yourself down
with worthless crap...
Don't drop it!
- Yes, we are almost done!
- Damn junk...
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te,
glorificamus te, gratias agimus...
Now! Now! Now! Now!
Over here!
[Complacent chatter]
[Woman] Madonna, Madonna. Beautiful...
Yes, that's pretty.
Come on, give it to me.
[Speaks dismissively in dialect]
Shut your trap.
Hey, Sila! That's mine. That's mine!
Leave it!
Is Ursula at home?
Hand me the shovel.
- Greetings.
- Greetings.
God's greetings.
They've smashed everything...
- Give me a hand.
- Yes...
We have abolished street begging
in our municipality of Zurich.
Also, we no longer quaff
over Christ's body.
We have eliminated indulgence and Mass.
Because Mass kills the moral will.
Every brigand, profiteer,
and adulterer thought
if he had Mass said over his deeds,
he would be in the right.
Now...
every single one of the people
shall be a judge of morals.
The landlord is responsible
for the morality of his tenants.
The innkeeper watches over his guests.
The moral court forbids coming home late,
and loitering at the gateway, and...
going into barns.
It demands from promiscuous daughters
that they tend to their poor, sick fathers.
The priests...
shall be officials amongst God's people.
Not just spiritual shepherds.
And they shall learn
that they must step forward not only
when affliction strikes the whole nation
but also when it strikes
just a single individual.
That means...
as many heads there are...
as many gods there will be.
No, no. It means...
The god of the congregated majority
above the god of the minorities.
That means...
denunciation and violence...
against dissidents.
That means peace and quiet.
We have order.
In Zurich.
You are an animal trainer in God's cloth.
Gyr Hansli!
Where is everyone?
On your mountain pasture.
We will have a feast,
just as it pleases the Lord.
A beautiful one.
And where's Ursula?
Yes!
It is time for you to be honoured!
You won't get away from me.
Nobody shall any longer
trust lords and councillors!
All the soldiers
shall toss their spears into a pile
and sing while they burn them!
Angels keep watch from now on!
The angels carry heavenly swords
that are unmatched by any earthly iron!
The purpose of earthly iron
is to till the willing soil
with gentle labour and...
- To open it up... for mild weather!
- ...to open it up for mild weather!
Furthermore, everyone gets
a new, young wife.
He can, without fret,
put the old one aside.
Since we are getting rid of all evil!
We can agree on that!
Jakob Rosenstil will spread the ashes now,
and then we'll have our little game!
Land, livestock.
All of it shall be communal!
That which belongs to Wirtz,
also belongs to me.
And that which belongs to Lord Zwingli,
is mine!
And that which belongs to
Convent Breitbach,
is mine as well!
- And what is yours belongs to me!
- Yes! ... Why?!
Yours as well as mine!
All of it one!
We play... empire!
Empire!
Yes!
♪ Just keep silent, just keep silent,
you mustn't say much ♪
♪ Betwixt two little trees,
we shall dare it ♪
♪ Just keep silent, just keep silent,
you mustn't say much ♪
♪ Betwixt two little trees,
we shall dare it ♪
[Enoch's sermon drowned out by the music]
...is unjust! Namely...
Unjust!
♪ On the tree, on the tree
grow many nuts ♪
♪ Below the tree, below the tree,
chomp down and eat 'em ♪
♪ On the tree, on the tree
grow many nuts ♪
♪ Below the tree, below the tree,
chomp down and eat 'em ♪
♪ On the tree, on the tree
grow many plums ♪
♪ I'll stick up my fingers,
you lick the thumbs ♪
♪ On the tree, on the tree
grow many plums ♪
♪ I'll stick up my fingers,
you lick the thumbs ♪
Begone!
Begone!
The Bailiff of Grüningen is on his way!
- The riders!
- With spear and sword!
- Away from here!
- We are betrayed!
- Betrayed!
- Deceived!
Betrayed!
We have heard that land, livestock,
everything is supposed to be communal.
You want to abolish ownership.
You arseholes.
We will report this.
And further, we are capacitated
to declare Anabaptism
refuted and vanquished!
In case of further persistence
you will be persecuted,
punished by life and limb.
Forward!
Zwingli agrees with the councillors!
Shut your gob.
"Animal trainer in God's cloth!"
Good day. Ursula.
Lord Gabriel!
Good day, Lord Gabriel.
What did you call me?
"Gabriel"?
Of course!
"Lord Gabriel" is what I say.
Not a rude, simple "Gabriel".
Don't you know "Hansli Gyr" any more?
Hansli...
Where is he?
I've completely forgotten him.
- Forgotten...
- How sad the world is.
I was quite fond of him...
But that won't help him now.
And me neither.
Now I am the betrothed of
an English lord and heavenly baron.
"Heavenly baron".
Therefore, kiss me, Lord Gabriel.
But quietly. So he does not hear.
And... where did you get the ring?
You probably got it from
the angel Gabriel as well?
Of course.
How can you ask such a foolish question?
Who are you?
A soldier in Zwingli's service.
In pay of the city of Zurich.
And of the proper faith.
This here is my betrothed.
Ursula Schnurrenberger.
She takes care of my hay while I am gone.
I am called Hans Gyr.
Squad leader.
They demolished
a baptismal font in Zollikon.
It isn't true!
He's lying!
He's not called Hans Gyr!
- He's the angel Gabriel! Lord Gabriel!
- It's all right... that's enough now.
Come, let us go away from here. Come...
Look.
I've brought you a blanket.
I want to show you
what's woven into it.
But I have more to do.
The hay...
Let the parched grass
fly to wherever it wants.
Like our poor wits...
Look.
Look at the blanket.
A beautiful blanket.
It was woven in heaven.
The entire history of the world
is depicted on it.
One follows the other
and in the end, our Saviour comes
and defeats death.
It is a beautiful blanket,
I have never seen one like it.
It will make a fine cradle blanket.
Keep silent, you wild bird...
with your soughing wings...
with your singing feathers...
When the time has come, you will see
what this blanket is destined for.
Are you not scared?
As long as the angel Gabriel is with me,
I am not scared.
Are you not scared for...
your father and your mother?
No. There is nothing
that could destroy them.
Father can talk to God through the roof.
And he can die and resurrect
as often as he wants.
And he can eat fire.
We are fearless.
I have to go back to Zurich.
Come, I'll bring you home.
Hansli was jealous of himself.
His simple wits could not follow
the bedlam paths Ursula's thoughts took.
He was unable to discern
whether Ursula, through the delusions of
the old Schnurrenberger and his companions,
had perhaps already and irremediably been
disturbed in her soul.
What do you want here? This is where my old
sweetheart lives. Let's get going.
Is he home then?
With closed window shutters?
He has mirthful blue eyes,
by their light he can accomplish aplenty.
Do you hear him pound?
- And hammer?
- Yes. Come...
We shall see if he's inside.
- Hänschen!
- Oh, stop it!
He isn't home after all.
"Trusted Hänslein rides across the heath"
"He shot at a pigeon"
"There trips his grey steed"
"Over a fennel shrub."
Such an old love
is not easy to tear out.
Also, infidelity is not nice. No.
And nothing good.
No words will change that.
Yet...
I feel so good about it all.
I feel as light
as a little bird up in the air...
He's coming!
- Quickly! Begone!
- What?
Did you see him?
No, but... he...
he has... in the mountains...
He has put his armour on,
in the mountains.
He who...
lives here... has now... in the...
- in the mountains...
- Yes!
Wha... that's...
For Mary's sake!
Come, away now.
Forget him!
Come now!
I am with you.
Come...
All right. Come now.
Mother.
Look who is here.
His Glory, the Angel Gabriel.
I shall cook him some millet gruel.
What have you done to your daughter?
- Why?
- I spent more than two hours with her.
She talks... like a madwoman.
She claims I am the angel Gabriel.
These are things
that you will never understand.
Even the child
is still mostly in the dark about them.
- [Hansli] You will come to a terrible end!
- Gyr, things are happening.
- Millet gruel. You love it, don't you?
- The Heavenly Host will come!
You love it, Lord Gabriel, don't you?
The husband isn't here.
If you want to settle up with him -
he doesn't have any money now.
- I don't want money!
- Have patience. Things'll be better soon.
- The Heavenly... Host...
- I don't want money!
T-t-there is no...
T-there... there is no...
You know, I...
I have... really... no...
There is no more millet!
There is no more...
Now.
Is no...
Angels only eat...
eat... eat only wheat cake...
and veal.
Hansli!
By Christ!
How you look, child...
[Drowned out by crying]
I... I...
- I am so... scared!
- No!
- Don't be scared! Don't be scared.
- Mummy...
Mister Froschauer,
may we pulverise the coals?
Sure, go ahead.
We need a large number of copies.
The colporteur shall ride
to Basel with them, to Adam Petri.
He shall reprint the book.
It shall be distributed across the country.
Print and read it everywhere.
At the trade fair in Frankfurt,
they lamented that you don't
translate the prophets into German.
Leo Jud is already working on
the fourth part of the Testament.
Town council has already approved it
for printing, Froschauer.
In ten days at the latest,
your Luther in Wittenberg...
and your man, the Hessefürst,
and Erasmus,
the Pope in Rome,
and Emperor Charles V,
and the people of Milan and Basel,
they will all know your position.
Who'd have ever thought
that our times would see such rapid change.
There is no more secrect.
Everything is made known to the people.
Just...
as it was intended.
Beautiful...
NOTE ON TRUE AND FALSE RELIGION.
In their hearts, they are not my people.
TO GOD'S HONOUR
But in their politics, they are.
TO THE BENEFIT OF CHRISTIAN SOCIETY
Or they aren't in their politics
but in their hearts.
TO THE WELL-BEING OF THE CONSCIENCE
We used to have one censor:
the pope.
Today, we have two... censors:
the pope and the town.
Such is progress.
- He's collapsed!
- Jesus and Mary!
- What's going on?
- Is he dead?
- Hey, Father! Get up!
- By God!
Father...
Father...
The Anabaptist movement
had spread far and wide
and made massive waves. But it'd been taken
out of the hands of the minor prophets
and placed into those of popular leaders,
some of them more scholarly, others less,
who suppressed the coarser elements.
And who had more deliberate goals.
Enoch Schnurrenberger belonged to those
who were unwilling to yield.
Soon, he had to flee.
Soon, he secretly returned
and tried to assemble new congregations.
As much as he showed off
through screaming and wild tomfoolery,
he still was unable to make it atop.
- The child...
- Look! The boy...
- Who is he? - Really...?
- What kind of boy is he?
Who wants to be baptised?
Do you want to be baptised?
Look.
Undress him.
And get in.
Yes! Yes!
All's well.
Who else wants to be baptised?
Mummy! Mummy!
Go, run!
You are not going to halt
the revolution of all things!
You may arm yourselves
with what ever you like.
For a free Christian community!
Without lords!
For a free...
THE PRISON
OF ZURICH
- Forward!
- Faster!
- Don't be so lazy!
- Faster!
- Forward!
- Hey! Hey!
Go!
Faster.
Forward!
Mother, are these Jews?
No. Jews have beards.
These are peasants from the uplands.
They are called "Anabaptists".
And also, they are against our Lord.
Also, they don't want
to baptise little children.
And other such things.
They baptise the grown-up, adult people
when they are full of sin.
Yuck! They are really wicked.
- Into the water!
- Into the water!
Work-shy rabble!
All of you, into the water!
You won't ever be good Christians!
In Zug, they have the right idea.
They drowned all of them.
Stealing and begging
is all you people are good for!
- There are close to twenty.
- Sounds about right.
There are close to twenty,
from the region of Bachtel.
At first, we kept them in the infirmary,
then in the town square,
and now, they are in the eastern turret.
They want to abolish children's baptisms,
they reject the authority of the state
as well as the institution of the Church.
Their ringleader is Hürli.
All of Zurich awaits what is to happen.
Nothing is going to happen.
They are at God's mercy.
They won't get any more food from us.
They shall perish.
Or recant.
This way, we will have order
in our beloved town.
God is well-known in Judah.
In Israel, His name resounds.
In Salem is His refuge.
Of Him the fortress on Zion echoes.
Thereat He breaks arrow and spear
and shield and sword and any strife.
The proud He smites and bridles
and dazes warriors far and wide!
He sets out at yonder time
to judge any adversity.
And he who is woeful on this earth,
will be helped by God, the Lord of Hosts!
Praise God and sacrifice to Him, the Lord!
Because His hand is rough and heavy.
He extinguishes the rulers' star
and chases the kings before Him!
When I was down in Lombardy
with the French,
we swam across the river on horseback.
I haven't just heard tales of it.
I was part of it.
In an osteria...
at the river,
we brought the horses into the stable...
and the landlady provided oats.
The landlord was in a regiment himself.
She asked us if we could whet her scythe.
She said she did not know how to.
We said yes and took the scythe's blade.
And, with the fine marble stone and the
mallet stone, we sharpened it so much
that we could split a hair with it.
We pulled the oat bag
over the landlady's head.
There were three of us.
Each of us took her.
I was second.
She had no face.
And my clothes were still wet.
The others
were still working on the scythe.
To split a hair twice.
One was the first to pick up the scythe...
And he hit the woman with it.
Might have been I.
And then all of the others. I as well.
Again...
Then
we waded into the river
and the river's water was red.
The horses wanted to bolt.
They yanked at their chains.
And then we heard...
how the dogs closed in.
They yapped like jackals.
This was
in Lombardy.
I already owned these trousers.
And we already had the new pope.
They are quiet today.
Yes, yes.
Maybe they are all dead already.
What...?
Did you see me?
You saw me!
Yes!
Come!
Come now!
He saw me!
- You saw me!
- Yes!
Oh my God, you saw me!
- Come now!
- Come, we'll leave from here.
I can barely believe...
Yes...
That's enough now. Come with me.
Come, Ursula. Come.
We'll leave.
Come with me.
Come...
Come. Come.
Away from here!
Come on!
Come!
Do come!
Why aren't you coming?
Oh, Hansli!
Ursula...
- You are here!
- Yes. Everything will be fine now.
Everything will be fine.
I can barely...!
Why are you leaving?
But where...?
Praise God and sacrifice to Him, the Lord!
Because His hand is rough and heavy.
He extinguishes the rulers' star
and... chases the kings before Him!
Yes, yes, yes, yes! Yes!
Stubbornness does not pay!
I'll sell.
I don't care to whom.
Settle it amongst yourselves.
Let's have a look at it first.
- It's an old house.
- Is it even worth it?
On Saint Lawrence Day, I saw the comet.
There will be war.
The Five Catholic Villages
have condemned Jakob Kaiser,
whom they call "the Locksmith",
to death by burning, for heresy.
And when I arrived with our protest,
they ordered the immediate execution
of the Locksmith for... for...
They... burned him?
Yes.
This must be war.
Yes...
The comet...
On the 9th of Brachmonat 1529,
the banner sets out from Zurich,
four thousand men strong,
under the command of Oberhauptmann Berger,
Kappel its destination.
"Brachmonat" means June.
It is a well-ordered regiment.
The militia courageous.
Zwingli, with helmet, rides in front.
The Five Catholic Villages lie naked
with the disorganised might
of eight thousand men.
The Zurichers on their knees,
for joint prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven...
Draw a demarcation line!
...as we forgive those
who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever
Amen.
Careful. Don't spill anything.
Hey!
Enemies?
We have some good milk.
But no bread to break into it.
- Give some...
- Ah, there he is!
- Nothing...
- What am I supposed to give him?
- A little to the left.
- To the left!
Up with it!
Centre it exactly!
- And bring the branch about.
- Yes. It's looking good.
- Left.
- Careful.
There, take it. Take it.
Yes, take it!
Catholics and Protestants lie in opposition
outside of Kappel.
Ready to bash in each other's noggins.
Each claims
their teachings are the right ones.
But crisis is averted one last time.
- Take it!
- Over here! Yes!
Did you see that milk?
Not so careless!
Hey! Don't make such a mess of it!
At last, milk again!
Eat faster!
The arbitrators are here.
Pray to God
that they come to an agreement.
And if they don't, the man
in front of you is your mortal enemy!
And this camp at Kappel
turns into the "Kappeler War".
- Oh come on.
- We'd rather eat...
Don't push!
What's going on?
You lot are shoving like young dogs!
[Hansli] There won't be war!
The Five Catholic Villages and us,
we have come to an arrangement.
He's back for more... again.
Nevermore...
I tell you!
A Catholic chicken shit...
What your Zwingli doesn't know is
that a nation can reject a change in
religion or governance for the same reason
for which a woman rejects a suitor
for good and all.
- Yes, he's right about that.
- Ah, come on.
Suppose I can go back to Leni then...
THE CASTLE
OF COUNT MUSSO
The Count of Musso,
the infamous warlord Jakob Medici,
a follower of the Pope,
plundered and pillaged
the valleys of Kläven and Veltlin.
This prompted the Musso War, due to which
Hansli Gyr returned to the battlefield.
Two thousand men strong, the Zurich Army
marched to Lake Como to destroy the castle.
♪♪ "Wir zogen in das Feld"
["We Marched into Battle"]
♪ We marched into battle ♪
♪ We marched into battle
Where we had neither purse nor coin ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ We came for Siebentod ♪
♪ We came for Siebentod
Where we had neither wine nor bread ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
["I am called (trumpeted)..."]
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
["to arms, I am at your side, my lords"]
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ We came for Friaul ♪
♪ We came for Friaul
Where we all got a mouthful ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ We marched into battle ♪
♪ We marched into battle
Where we had neither purse nor coin ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ A la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
The cornered, pilfering tyrant
is amply provided
with both armaments and men.
His nest is exceptionally strong.
We have an artillery master from Hesse...
Whom Landgrave Philip of Hesse
has sent us Zurichers.
Don't be fooled by them!
Listen up.
I'll teach you about the cannon.
The cannon consists of barrel...
mount...
and gun carriage.
In parentheses: front cart.
Culverin...
muzzleloader...
We fire massive iron balls.
Hollow ball would be ideal.
Fill it with powder, and Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta.
But I'll figure it out one day...
I am the infamous warlord Jakob Medici.
Appointed by Charles V... our Emperor,
as margrave and castellan of Musso.
Markus Sittich von Hohenems,
the Austrian,
is my relative.
He has expressed he may come to my aid.
Giacomo.
Don't kiss their arses.
That's far from my thoughts.
You are the infamous Condottieri.
I am Stephan Zeller.
The outcome of all this
is already determined.
Long-prepared papal machinations.
With me are a thousand men from Zurich.
We will now destroy the castle.
Bring the utmost necessities.
The utmost necessities?
Giacomo...
The thing most necessary...
Time.
Now.
Ha.
Yes.
Fuse!
The fuse is burning...
Why are they firing already?!
Hands off!
Set the gauge to seventeen.
Fuse!
You are brave...
Fire! Fire!
The emissary from Zurich.
Sir! Sir!
Adieu.
The world is round.
He who cannot navigate it
sinks to the bottom.
Lord. The powder stores are burning.
My lord. The powder stores are burning.
Who gave behest to fire?
In Zurich, we extinguish every kindling.
Fire reminds of the burning stakes
of the inquisition.
We are a new era...
and employ different methods.
When there's a fire, there's a fire.
Set up the next shot.
Don't palaver so much.
We going to raze that castle, or not?
Zurichers, pray.
He who draws the sword
perishes by the sword.
- He's right.
- Yes, he's right about that.
[Background chatter in Italian]
Hey, look! It's our sexton!
Hey, you! Come, come!
Keep us company.
Hello!
- A good day, huh?
- Yes.
Greetings to all!
Thanks...
Wine!
My compliments!
Make some room. Come on.
Hansli Gyr.
Fresca. From Bergamo.
Hey, Fresca!
What do you want? I'll be right there.
Enjoy your meal, Maestro.
Why do you paint?
Because it preserves memories.
It is getting chilly.
We need to go inside
if you want to drink another cup.
Hansli, called the "virtuous vesturer"
by the others, was quite in love...
And because he was a decent man,
he didn't only want to be in love,
but also wrest the soul of this
magnificent woman away from the papacy.
What...
What's with this ring?
This ring...
From my beloved.
Who is going to marry me.
Marry you?
Who is he?
And where does he live?
Actually, he's a baker and innkeeper.
But now he's a bandit.
A bandit...
He stabbed... a count to death.
A bandit!
In Rome...
I have a sister.
She lives with a cardinal.
Maybe I'll go to her before...
Or maybe not.
♪ The new Jerusalem... ♪
"Just like you erstwhile drove Adam
out of the bushes."
Don't you have any idea
what is going on in the world?
Open the windows.
Squad leader Gyr rides through the villages
like the wild wind and rallies folk.
The Five Villages have gathered and are
positioned at the border, in large numbers!
- Everyone has to come to Zurich!
- No. No.
- You hear? It's a last-ditch conscription!
- Gyr can kiss my arse.
Stop your tomfoolery
and lock up house and farmstead.
Because for you above all,
it's a matter of life and limb.
That Hansli Gyr...
has returned.
Will there be war?
That Hansli Gyr...
Listen, friends.
This is my hour.
I have been called
to bring about peace, with my wings.
I...
want to create a piece of art...
that is as good...
as...
eternal peace!
Go. And... pull!
Come. Eat.
Brothers...
A moment, please...
Another one dead...
Zurich! Hurray!
The hurriedly mustered men reach the town.
And all the time, the dark figure of Ursula
walked behind the throng.
With portentous drive, she followed the man
who was her utmost beloved.
Healthy in body and soul.
Miraculously cured by the events.
- At Zurich! Hurray!
- Hurray!
- Onward, come!
- Nice hat.
Everything's sharpened...
- Keep together!
- [Woman] Come to me, quickly.
You guileful tramp, hands off my pack!
"And lo, he turned into a morning star!"
[Boy] The banner!
Now, keep some order here!
Go home. Come on, go home.
Leave it be...
We are going to fight tomorrow!
Line up!
Get up!
Let the horses through!
Pull back your legs!
The knights are coming!
Watch out!
Count off!
- One!
- Two!
- Three!
- Four!
Tomorrow after the morning meal, your troop
will march up Mount Albis. Understood?
Understood. Tomorrow up Mount Albis.
Well? Sixteen?
Yes, sixteen!
Seventeen!
Eighteen!
Nineteen!
Twenty!
Twenty!
First, I'll go pack...
Got twenty-one here...
All right now. Get up!
- A cheer for Zurich!
- Get up!
My lord...
Such times - so I hope to God -
will not persist for ever.
What remains for the future...
if the best always perish.
God protect you, Zwingli!
Come over here!
I can stay as I am!
Down!
Jakob!
What is he...
Jakob is in front!
Where are you going?
Let him through.
Zwingli!
He is dead!
Zwingli...
He is dead!
It wasn't enough that Zwingli was dead.
They also hacked him to pieces.
It wasn't enough
that he was dead and hacked to pieces,
they also burned him
and scattered the ashes to the four winds.
They say the heart would not burn...
With us, seven hundred
had rallied around the Zurich banner.
The army of the Five Villages
left camp eight thousand men strong.
The Zurich banner
was still on the far side of Mount Albis
when the attack took place.
Some of Jauch's men had said to attempt
a skirmish on the evening of that same day.
The main force of the Five Villages
moved out from the monastery
before the evening, though.
Hewing and stabbing and stone throwing
ensued on Mount Albis...
For a while, victory remained undecided.
But when...
the attack from the woods resurged,
which Zurich had left undefended...
and the enemy numbers grew...
That's when the Zurich Army
is stricken by panic and disarray.
Many fall.
The screams are heard at the banner.
The forward banner carrier, Kampli,
turns around and sees with horror
how few are still left standing
behind the banner.
And from the front, he sees all the might
of the Five Villages advance towards it.
That's when he says to Banneret Schwyzer:
"Sir.
Let me lie the banner down."
But the Banneret shouts:
"Persist, honest people, persist!"
Kampli grips him by the arm now and says:
"Let me lie the banner down.
There is no honour left to reap here."
Never before had Zurich...
suffered such a loss of men.
Twenty-six members
of the Grand and the Small Council.
Twenty-five scholars,
from town and countryside.
Five hundred and twelve townsmen
and countrymen slain.
Kampli...
wrests the banner from the hand
of Banneret Schwyzer, who has been hit.
He himself gets hit.
That's when Naeff chops off the head
of an enemy who tries to seize the banner.
The wounded Kampli takes hold of it again
and throws it, before he dies,
down the slope.
Where I, Ulrich Denzler,
picked it up.
On the battlefield...
Yes.
...Zwingli remained as well.
Zwingli remained
on the battlefield as well...
after a hit to the head and to the legs.
Savage fighters ran him through
as well as other wounded,
because they refused to make confession.
Headsman was called,
to cut Zwingli into pieces.
Then he was thrown into the fire.
The fleeing Zurichers were pursued eagerly,
and many an atrocity was committed.
Fortunately, night fell soon.
The Five Villages had captured
multiple flags,
nineteen pieces of artillery on wheels...
With thirty arquebuses!
And a lot of...
other armament.
They counted eighty dead.
Following ancient custom, the army remained
on the battlefield until the third day.
Careful, careful, careful, careful...
♪ Ave Maria ♪
♪ Ora pro nobis ♪
♪ Prope Deus ♪
♪ Jesus ♪
♪ Parce nobis, Domine ♪
♪ Pecatores ♪
♪ Te rogamus, audi nos. ♪
Hansli.
Hansli!
God!
♪ ...a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
["...to arms, I am at your side, my lords"]
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
Now I'll marry you after all...
For order's sake...
This is the squad leader Hans Gyr,
my bridegroom.
Have mercy and don't take him from me.
Come...
Sod off, you swine!
You dirty, syphilitic pigs!
You better shove off, you snotnoses!
Arse fuckers!
You butchers!
You slaughterers and pillagers!
You exterminators!
Murderers!
You shall croak
from now on and for all eternity!
Amen.
♪ We came for Siebentod ♪
♪ We came for Siebentod
Where we had neither wine nor bread ♪
based on the novella of the same name
by Gottfried Keller
A co-production of DDR-SF and SF SRG
produced by DEFA studios and CG Zurich
Written by Helga Schütz
Dramatisation by
Yvonne Sturzenegger and Peter Jakubeit
♪ We came for Friaul
Where we all got a mouthful ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ We marched into battle ♪
♪ We marched into battle
Where we had neither purse nor coin ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ A la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
Photography by Peter Brand
Production management
Erich Kühne and Emanuel Schillig
Directed by Egon Günther
by Gottfried Keller
A co-production of Fernsehen der DDR
and Swiss public TV association SRG
Written by Helga Schütz
Directed by Egon Günther
[In Landsknechtswelsch]
When religions change...
it is as if the mountains open up.
Ah... and there, and...
Here! And there, and...
And if he'd been the Devil -
I danced with him!
Huh? Here comes...
What...?
Who might you be?
No! Let me go!
In the early days of the year 1523,
the small Zurich Army
marched back across the Alps.
It had, oddly, in service of the Pope
defended land and people against France
while back home,
they were already preaching the Gospel.
Amongst the soldiers was a young
peasant from the uplands, Hansli Gyr.
He was eager to reunite with his betrothed
from childhood days - Ursula.
In these parts, they say,
people no longer observe Passiontide.
I've seen it myself.
In Sankt Gallen, they ate an entire ox.
And the Lord, our God,
didn't make a single one of them puke.
And that Zwingli... he won't accept
the Pope's honorarium any more.
- And that's foolish.
- Yes, yes...
One should take money wherever it flows.
That's how it is!
- Not this again...
- Sodding snow. Damn.
♪ All the birds... ♪
♪ are already here ♪
What a load of shit...
They want to take everything,
everything from us.
...just sick...
The burnings at the stake...
and the burning farmsteads...
and the... the exotic women!
We're supposed to sit in our living rooms.
But the... lords have tied their own tails.
The people surpass them in foolishness.
Like the monkey does the jester.
The peasants want to leave through
a different hole than the "lords".
- Here you are, sir.
- Ah, a thousand thanks!
Go ahead, go home to your mountain.
Which is teeming - like fleas on a dog -
with dreamers and prophets
who preach and dance in the woods.
And fornicate...
And the... the women
are lustier than the men.
Wasn't there that neighbour's daughter,
that Ursula? Your... "betrothed".
Well, go on home...
Yes!
Go on, scram, you!
Scram!
Yes, go back to your farm!
A bit faster...
Pater noster, qui es in caelis,
sanctificetur nomen--
Don't kneel! Don't kneel!
- Kneeling has been done away with!
- Huh? What?
Come.
Is that really you...?
Ursula?
And so tall and beautiful
you have become...
"If God wills it I be beautiful,
I would gladly grant it you."
Now...
Let me.
This armour was made by a Milanese.
They have the best weaponsmiths.
I don't know anything about that.
We knew you were coming.
We even heard the drums yesterday.
Ah yes, the drums...
So I came here
and aired out your house,
warmed it, and built a fire.
Fire...
Here we go...
- Your livestock is still in our stables.
- Oh, thanks... thanks.
We can bring them over tomorrow.
Yes, yes... 's good. Tomorrow...
is good.
All right, go ahead and pull.
Hold on!
Now...
Next one.
Take a look.
- From Milano.
- Beautiful.
Beautiful knife.
"God be thanked for this food and drink.
Amen."
You eat meat now during Passiontide?
Yes...
Not only us, up here.
The people down in Zurich as well.
The book printer Froschauer
ordered two sausages,
right before Zwingli's eyes.
In Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden,
you get punished for it.
Burned for it...
Zwingli rejected the Pope's honorarium,
when Leo was still alive.
Yes, yes, I know.
Have you heard of
the Zwingli Disputations in Zurich...
against the scribes?
Yes...
But he's such a little pope himself!
We up here, we take no stock in him!
Meat...
There's the wine jug,
white bread, and spice box.
- For the wine soup tomorrow morning.
- No...
- I'll cook it for you, according to
ancient custom! - "Ancient custom".
Because that's how married women welcomed
back their husbands returning from war!
- The morning after his first night back
at his own hearth-- - "Married". No.
Yes, but... we are not married yet.
Nothing's been discussed....
or prepared.
Why did you kiss me then?!
If you don't want me!
Who says I don't want you?
If you want me...
then I want you.
But even if so, we are only...
engaged...
if your family gives their blessing.
Don't you know that here, we belong to
the saints and sinless of the new faith?
We are no longer subject to any
ecclesiastical or worldly authority.
And we take us as husband or wife by virtue
of the Holy Spirit that works inside of us.
So say our prophets.
And you too shall join our communion.
No...
It cannot be this way!
- Let me stay. Let me stay!
- Come on! Out!
- Let me stay, please!
- You leave! You leave...
No, go home!
Bed...
Get out of here!
Come on now...
Come now!
- Hurry!
- I can hardly see anything...
Don't step on my dress! Be careful!
Come on, let's go home.
Arsehole!
[Wildly curses at him in Basel dialect]
A crude sow, that's what you are!
A ghastly one!
Get lost!
Go home!
Go!
[Continues in Basel dialect]
For Mary's sake...
Take care of your cattle again next May?
Sure as death not!
You must be mad!
Who do you think--
Do you believe God sits there and writes
all of your names into a book?
Each with your balance, your wishes,
THE PROPHETS
your measured length,
and the weight of your belly?
That's probably what you actually think--
Get away from there!
Right. Give it here.
- Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Shut the door!
- Shut the door!
Shut the door!
Good day.
Rosenstil...
The Cold Wirtz of Goßau...
Can't say I know who you are.
- Oh. Enoch Schnurrenberger.
- Hansli.
And Schneck of Agasul.
[Whispers in dialect]
Thank you kindly. Thanks.
Hello.
Show it to him.
- Fine, fine...
- [Woman] Oh no, it's not fine.
Hey! He can't do that!
No, he can't do that!
I will crush your balls.
By the balls...
If it isn't our friend...
and neighbour.
And barely recognisable any more.
Verily, such a big Hans he has become.
What's with the weapon?
Whom does he intend to feud with?
Does he not know yet
that eternal peace has come?
You grunts....
You seem to think yourselves
grand and important.
With your drums and... flags.
What a decrepit,
watery,
damp creature is man.
If one as much as pricks him...
he immediately leaks out.
And if you take the strongest war hero...
who seems as if hewn from marble...
and drop a piece of rock on him,
no larger than a camel...
it's as if one had crushed
a wretched spider underfoot.
A damp spot
is all
that remains.
And what remains of you prophets
when a piece of rock falls on you?
You arsehole!
You haven't even seen
any of those high and mighty priests yet.
Nor heard that preposterous Zwingli preach.
I have. As a child.
I want to go and hear him again.
He builds on
and leans on God's word alone.
As... it is written in the Scripture.
"Scripture". "Scripture"!
But what is the Scripture?
A mute violin. If it isn't I who plays it.
I take the Scripture and throw it
into the corner.
And it is nothing more
than a printed book.
A meagre pile of lousy paper,
just like a thousand other books.
I am the one whose turn it is to speak!
I am the one whose turn it is to speak!
Now, you probably believe God sits there
and writes all of your names into a book.
Each with your balance,
each with your wishes,
each with your measured length,
and the weight of your belly.
And that his fingers are all stained
with ink from doing so, the good fellow's.
Far from it, you blind heathens.
You who worship idols
but don't feel the Lord
who's breathing down your neck.
Here He is... and there He is.
He is in the dust of these floorboards
and in the salt of the seawater.
He melts with the snow, off the roof.
We hear Him drip down.
He glistens as shit in the alley.
He wiggles with the fish
in the depths of the water.
And He peers with the eye of the hawk.
And He is in us as well, brothers!
Because how could we be holy and sinless,
witty and humorous,
if we weren't divine creatures ourselves?
And how would He exist
if we did not give Him a place to dwell?
And He's dependent on us too!
And we will make Him m-m-m
- M-m-m-mellow!
- ...mellow!
Until He is small and coughs up His signs
and miracles. And does our bidding!
You peculiar little God
have fled into this apple
and think I won't find you.
But I will indeed find you.
Just like you
erstwhile drove Adam from the bushes.
Come!
Come out quickly!
Do you see, brothers?
Do you see
how the apple is starting to glow?
How it swells in my hand
and becomes the world?
Do you see?
How the stem becomes a cross?
Do you see the tiny people
and how they swarm it?
The graves that open up?
The dead who rise again?
Call out! And praise Him!
- Holy!
- Holy! Holy! Holy!
Holy.
Holy!
Throw Him down!
There. Devour it.
Don't do that again.
Yes, yes, yes...
Bah!
I don't want to strip any more feathers.
Woman! Clear the table.
We want to have ourselves
a tiny piece of joy in this world.
Your "piece of joy", huh?
- Yes... I haven't got it with me.
- "Have a tiny piece of world joy."
Well?
What...?
- Away with it.
- I've made a new deck of cards. Come!
Where do you keep the girl?
Ursula.
Ursula...
She came to you. You sent her away.
Your cast of mind...
You miserable fools...
These "miserable fools"
will be your and your lords' masters.
[Woman repeats]
Because we, the people,
will make them great.
So we ourselves
become great and glorious.
By God's divine counsel!
As far as the child, Ursula, is concerned:
We were no longer willing to bow
to the old heathen governance.
But you,
you have returned home as an obstinate,
prideful...
henchman of the old!
And now you can kiss our arses twice over!
Sow!
Show it.
Four!
Four!
Four!
Four!
Two! Two! Two.
One.
Three.
Sow!
Well, then I'll just be the wife of
an English lord and heavenly baron.
Bah!
Hans...
Hansli comes marching across the fallow.
Did you hear me?
- Yes...
- Honestly.
"Eternal peace" is here and one still has
to feed the cattle, Mrs Schnurrenbergerin?
Greetings, Hansli. There's always something
to do. Otherwise, it would get boring.
Here. My key.
I'm going to Zurich.
I want to learn about
the new circumstances.
You're leaving?
Rightly so. Leave and learn.
If you want, I'll take your land and your
farmstead and give you a penny for it.
Everything one calls "property"
will soon cease to be anyway.
Land will be seized,
boundary stones dug up,
and everything made communal.
You'd only take care of
what the future will bring anyway.
Away with that scourge!
- I'll take it off your hands.
- Thank you, for your helpful disposition.
But I want to keep my scourge.
It's not plundering my larder.
The girl is over by the well.
I didn't get a chance yesterday...
to give you the ring.
Will you wait for me?
If... if you renounce your world.
I am not renouncing any world.
Nor pledging to any.
I'm going to Zurich.
I want to know
what the leaders actually want.
And what they want preached.
Are all of you from Zurich?
Does anybody know this one?
No, don't know him.
He's already eaten at another station.
Everybody receives food
wherever they show up.
[Background conversation in Swiss German]
- Does anybody know this one?
- I am a religious refugee from Germany.
My name is Konrad, and I am a teacher.
At last, the line's moving again...
- Please, could we get an extra spoonful?
- Finally, something warm for a change...
[Man] Yes, let's order another one.
Pass the flagon!
Another jug!
- Sure, sit down, brother!
- Come, sit.
Hands off, you old dog!
Dominican nuns
from the convent in Oetenbach.
Left because the order and the habit
don't make for a blessed life.
Look. From Milan.
Say, can you even pay?
That's Zwingli!
And the widow Anderainer.
He's going to marry her, they say.
Do all these weapons
leave some room for us?
Certainly. Please.
I'd also like a small glass
of this Alsatian wine.
But of course.
Yes...
Anna.
I am a clergyman
who is fond of our soldiers.
Well... to your health!
He who fights as a mercenary for France...
or any other foreign military...
betrays his native soil!
And although our soil does not yield
cinnamon and ginger,
Malvasia, cloves, and...
oranges, silk,
and other such womanly gewgaws...
It does yield butter, and roots,
and milk, horses,
and sheep, and livestock...
Peasant's cloth, wine, grain...
In abundance!
Let your priests fight amongst themselves,
in the name of faith and sacrament.
As much as they want!
Do not take any part in this strife.
I am... a clergymen
who is fond of our soldiers.
As a bride on the morn of her wedding day,
such is a nation that knows itself!
Away with the...
tithe mindset...
and letters of indulgence...
pilgrimages, and...
confession, and...
and priest dictates, and--
Freedom from the brotherhoods and orders!
Freedom from celibacy and concubine tax.
Freedom from prayer babbling
and fear of purgatory.
And freedom, ultimately,
from the pope himself.
"Be male,
you poor soul."
All men are your brothers.
There are as many tyrants
as fleas in August.
One has to chop off hand and foot
if they turn bad.
What is built by hands
can be toppled by hands.
Freedom from letters of indulgence!
Freedom from pilgrimages
and countless church sacrifices!
Freedom from graven images!
Freedom! Away with it all!
Away! With it all!
Enough! Enough!
Enough of this wailing!
You shall not be gluttonous.
You shall not drink to excess.
You shall not lie.
You shall not blaspheme.
You shall not mock.
You shall not curse.
You shall not dress gaudily.
You shall not slander other people.
You shall not frighten other people.
You shall leave other women be.
You shall...
be moral.
And good.
And honest.
And you shall be diligent.
And modest, you shall be.
Kneeling...
has been done away with!
Go! Do it! Go!
Good!
- Stop it!
- Let me through! Make room!
Are you out of your senses?!
Stop!
- Burn it! Yes!
- Everything into the fire! Into the fire!
Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!
Yes! Come here!
You can do that on your own.
It's not that heavy!
And this too, please. Come.
Quickly! Hurry!
What's taking them so long?
...weighed yourself down
with worthless crap...
Don't drop it!
- Yes, we are almost done!
- Damn junk...
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te,
glorificamus te, gratias agimus...
Now! Now! Now! Now!
Over here!
[Complacent chatter]
[Woman] Madonna, Madonna. Beautiful...
Yes, that's pretty.
Come on, give it to me.
[Speaks dismissively in dialect]
Shut your trap.
Hey, Sila! That's mine. That's mine!
Leave it!
Is Ursula at home?
Hand me the shovel.
- Greetings.
- Greetings.
God's greetings.
They've smashed everything...
- Give me a hand.
- Yes...
We have abolished street begging
in our municipality of Zurich.
Also, we no longer quaff
over Christ's body.
We have eliminated indulgence and Mass.
Because Mass kills the moral will.
Every brigand, profiteer,
and adulterer thought
if he had Mass said over his deeds,
he would be in the right.
Now...
every single one of the people
shall be a judge of morals.
The landlord is responsible
for the morality of his tenants.
The innkeeper watches over his guests.
The moral court forbids coming home late,
and loitering at the gateway, and...
going into barns.
It demands from promiscuous daughters
that they tend to their poor, sick fathers.
The priests...
shall be officials amongst God's people.
Not just spiritual shepherds.
And they shall learn
that they must step forward not only
when affliction strikes the whole nation
but also when it strikes
just a single individual.
That means...
as many heads there are...
as many gods there will be.
No, no. It means...
The god of the congregated majority
above the god of the minorities.
That means...
denunciation and violence...
against dissidents.
That means peace and quiet.
We have order.
In Zurich.
You are an animal trainer in God's cloth.
Gyr Hansli!
Where is everyone?
On your mountain pasture.
We will have a feast,
just as it pleases the Lord.
A beautiful one.
And where's Ursula?
Yes!
It is time for you to be honoured!
You won't get away from me.
Nobody shall any longer
trust lords and councillors!
All the soldiers
shall toss their spears into a pile
and sing while they burn them!
Angels keep watch from now on!
The angels carry heavenly swords
that are unmatched by any earthly iron!
The purpose of earthly iron
is to till the willing soil
with gentle labour and...
- To open it up... for mild weather!
- ...to open it up for mild weather!
Furthermore, everyone gets
a new, young wife.
He can, without fret,
put the old one aside.
Since we are getting rid of all evil!
We can agree on that!
Jakob Rosenstil will spread the ashes now,
and then we'll have our little game!
Land, livestock.
All of it shall be communal!
That which belongs to Wirtz,
also belongs to me.
And that which belongs to Lord Zwingli,
is mine!
And that which belongs to
Convent Breitbach,
is mine as well!
- And what is yours belongs to me!
- Yes! ... Why?!
Yours as well as mine!
All of it one!
We play... empire!
Empire!
Yes!
♪ Just keep silent, just keep silent,
you mustn't say much ♪
♪ Betwixt two little trees,
we shall dare it ♪
♪ Just keep silent, just keep silent,
you mustn't say much ♪
♪ Betwixt two little trees,
we shall dare it ♪
[Enoch's sermon drowned out by the music]
...is unjust! Namely...
Unjust!
♪ On the tree, on the tree
grow many nuts ♪
♪ Below the tree, below the tree,
chomp down and eat 'em ♪
♪ On the tree, on the tree
grow many nuts ♪
♪ Below the tree, below the tree,
chomp down and eat 'em ♪
♪ On the tree, on the tree
grow many plums ♪
♪ I'll stick up my fingers,
you lick the thumbs ♪
♪ On the tree, on the tree
grow many plums ♪
♪ I'll stick up my fingers,
you lick the thumbs ♪
Begone!
Begone!
The Bailiff of Grüningen is on his way!
- The riders!
- With spear and sword!
- Away from here!
- We are betrayed!
- Betrayed!
- Deceived!
Betrayed!
We have heard that land, livestock,
everything is supposed to be communal.
You want to abolish ownership.
You arseholes.
We will report this.
And further, we are capacitated
to declare Anabaptism
refuted and vanquished!
In case of further persistence
you will be persecuted,
punished by life and limb.
Forward!
Zwingli agrees with the councillors!
Shut your gob.
"Animal trainer in God's cloth!"
Good day. Ursula.
Lord Gabriel!
Good day, Lord Gabriel.
What did you call me?
"Gabriel"?
Of course!
"Lord Gabriel" is what I say.
Not a rude, simple "Gabriel".
Don't you know "Hansli Gyr" any more?
Hansli...
Where is he?
I've completely forgotten him.
- Forgotten...
- How sad the world is.
I was quite fond of him...
But that won't help him now.
And me neither.
Now I am the betrothed of
an English lord and heavenly baron.
"Heavenly baron".
Therefore, kiss me, Lord Gabriel.
But quietly. So he does not hear.
And... where did you get the ring?
You probably got it from
the angel Gabriel as well?
Of course.
How can you ask such a foolish question?
Who are you?
A soldier in Zwingli's service.
In pay of the city of Zurich.
And of the proper faith.
This here is my betrothed.
Ursula Schnurrenberger.
She takes care of my hay while I am gone.
I am called Hans Gyr.
Squad leader.
They demolished
a baptismal font in Zollikon.
It isn't true!
He's lying!
He's not called Hans Gyr!
- He's the angel Gabriel! Lord Gabriel!
- It's all right... that's enough now.
Come, let us go away from here. Come...
Look.
I've brought you a blanket.
I want to show you
what's woven into it.
But I have more to do.
The hay...
Let the parched grass
fly to wherever it wants.
Like our poor wits...
Look.
Look at the blanket.
A beautiful blanket.
It was woven in heaven.
The entire history of the world
is depicted on it.
One follows the other
and in the end, our Saviour comes
and defeats death.
It is a beautiful blanket,
I have never seen one like it.
It will make a fine cradle blanket.
Keep silent, you wild bird...
with your soughing wings...
with your singing feathers...
When the time has come, you will see
what this blanket is destined for.
Are you not scared?
As long as the angel Gabriel is with me,
I am not scared.
Are you not scared for...
your father and your mother?
No. There is nothing
that could destroy them.
Father can talk to God through the roof.
And he can die and resurrect
as often as he wants.
And he can eat fire.
We are fearless.
I have to go back to Zurich.
Come, I'll bring you home.
Hansli was jealous of himself.
His simple wits could not follow
the bedlam paths Ursula's thoughts took.
He was unable to discern
whether Ursula, through the delusions of
the old Schnurrenberger and his companions,
had perhaps already and irremediably been
disturbed in her soul.
What do you want here? This is where my old
sweetheart lives. Let's get going.
Is he home then?
With closed window shutters?
He has mirthful blue eyes,
by their light he can accomplish aplenty.
Do you hear him pound?
- And hammer?
- Yes. Come...
We shall see if he's inside.
- Hänschen!
- Oh, stop it!
He isn't home after all.
"Trusted Hänslein rides across the heath"
"He shot at a pigeon"
"There trips his grey steed"
"Over a fennel shrub."
Such an old love
is not easy to tear out.
Also, infidelity is not nice. No.
And nothing good.
No words will change that.
Yet...
I feel so good about it all.
I feel as light
as a little bird up in the air...
He's coming!
- Quickly! Begone!
- What?
Did you see him?
No, but... he...
he has... in the mountains...
He has put his armour on,
in the mountains.
He who...
lives here... has now... in the...
- in the mountains...
- Yes!
Wha... that's...
For Mary's sake!
Come, away now.
Forget him!
Come now!
I am with you.
Come...
All right. Come now.
Mother.
Look who is here.
His Glory, the Angel Gabriel.
I shall cook him some millet gruel.
What have you done to your daughter?
- Why?
- I spent more than two hours with her.
She talks... like a madwoman.
She claims I am the angel Gabriel.
These are things
that you will never understand.
Even the child
is still mostly in the dark about them.
- [Hansli] You will come to a terrible end!
- Gyr, things are happening.
- Millet gruel. You love it, don't you?
- The Heavenly Host will come!
You love it, Lord Gabriel, don't you?
The husband isn't here.
If you want to settle up with him -
he doesn't have any money now.
- I don't want money!
- Have patience. Things'll be better soon.
- The Heavenly... Host...
- I don't want money!
T-t-there is no...
T-there... there is no...
You know, I...
I have... really... no...
There is no more millet!
There is no more...
Now.
Is no...
Angels only eat...
eat... eat only wheat cake...
and veal.
Hansli!
By Christ!
How you look, child...
[Drowned out by crying]
I... I...
- I am so... scared!
- No!
- Don't be scared! Don't be scared.
- Mummy...
Mister Froschauer,
may we pulverise the coals?
Sure, go ahead.
We need a large number of copies.
The colporteur shall ride
to Basel with them, to Adam Petri.
He shall reprint the book.
It shall be distributed across the country.
Print and read it everywhere.
At the trade fair in Frankfurt,
they lamented that you don't
translate the prophets into German.
Leo Jud is already working on
the fourth part of the Testament.
Town council has already approved it
for printing, Froschauer.
In ten days at the latest,
your Luther in Wittenberg...
and your man, the Hessefürst,
and Erasmus,
the Pope in Rome,
and Emperor Charles V,
and the people of Milan and Basel,
they will all know your position.
Who'd have ever thought
that our times would see such rapid change.
There is no more secrect.
Everything is made known to the people.
Just...
as it was intended.
Beautiful...
NOTE ON TRUE AND FALSE RELIGION.
In their hearts, they are not my people.
TO GOD'S HONOUR
But in their politics, they are.
TO THE BENEFIT OF CHRISTIAN SOCIETY
Or they aren't in their politics
but in their hearts.
TO THE WELL-BEING OF THE CONSCIENCE
We used to have one censor:
the pope.
Today, we have two... censors:
the pope and the town.
Such is progress.
- He's collapsed!
- Jesus and Mary!
- What's going on?
- Is he dead?
- Hey, Father! Get up!
- By God!
Father...
Father...
The Anabaptist movement
had spread far and wide
and made massive waves. But it'd been taken
out of the hands of the minor prophets
and placed into those of popular leaders,
some of them more scholarly, others less,
who suppressed the coarser elements.
And who had more deliberate goals.
Enoch Schnurrenberger belonged to those
who were unwilling to yield.
Soon, he had to flee.
Soon, he secretly returned
and tried to assemble new congregations.
As much as he showed off
through screaming and wild tomfoolery,
he still was unable to make it atop.
- The child...
- Look! The boy...
- Who is he? - Really...?
- What kind of boy is he?
Who wants to be baptised?
Do you want to be baptised?
Look.
Undress him.
And get in.
Yes! Yes!
All's well.
Who else wants to be baptised?
Mummy! Mummy!
Go, run!
You are not going to halt
the revolution of all things!
You may arm yourselves
with what ever you like.
For a free Christian community!
Without lords!
For a free...
THE PRISON
OF ZURICH
- Forward!
- Faster!
- Don't be so lazy!
- Faster!
- Forward!
- Hey! Hey!
Go!
Faster.
Forward!
Mother, are these Jews?
No. Jews have beards.
These are peasants from the uplands.
They are called "Anabaptists".
And also, they are against our Lord.
Also, they don't want
to baptise little children.
And other such things.
They baptise the grown-up, adult people
when they are full of sin.
Yuck! They are really wicked.
- Into the water!
- Into the water!
Work-shy rabble!
All of you, into the water!
You won't ever be good Christians!
In Zug, they have the right idea.
They drowned all of them.
Stealing and begging
is all you people are good for!
- There are close to twenty.
- Sounds about right.
There are close to twenty,
from the region of Bachtel.
At first, we kept them in the infirmary,
then in the town square,
and now, they are in the eastern turret.
They want to abolish children's baptisms,
they reject the authority of the state
as well as the institution of the Church.
Their ringleader is Hürli.
All of Zurich awaits what is to happen.
Nothing is going to happen.
They are at God's mercy.
They won't get any more food from us.
They shall perish.
Or recant.
This way, we will have order
in our beloved town.
God is well-known in Judah.
In Israel, His name resounds.
In Salem is His refuge.
Of Him the fortress on Zion echoes.
Thereat He breaks arrow and spear
and shield and sword and any strife.
The proud He smites and bridles
and dazes warriors far and wide!
He sets out at yonder time
to judge any adversity.
And he who is woeful on this earth,
will be helped by God, the Lord of Hosts!
Praise God and sacrifice to Him, the Lord!
Because His hand is rough and heavy.
He extinguishes the rulers' star
and chases the kings before Him!
When I was down in Lombardy
with the French,
we swam across the river on horseback.
I haven't just heard tales of it.
I was part of it.
In an osteria...
at the river,
we brought the horses into the stable...
and the landlady provided oats.
The landlord was in a regiment himself.
She asked us if we could whet her scythe.
She said she did not know how to.
We said yes and took the scythe's blade.
And, with the fine marble stone and the
mallet stone, we sharpened it so much
that we could split a hair with it.
We pulled the oat bag
over the landlady's head.
There were three of us.
Each of us took her.
I was second.
She had no face.
And my clothes were still wet.
The others
were still working on the scythe.
To split a hair twice.
One was the first to pick up the scythe...
And he hit the woman with it.
Might have been I.
And then all of the others. I as well.
Again...
Then
we waded into the river
and the river's water was red.
The horses wanted to bolt.
They yanked at their chains.
And then we heard...
how the dogs closed in.
They yapped like jackals.
This was
in Lombardy.
I already owned these trousers.
And we already had the new pope.
They are quiet today.
Yes, yes.
Maybe they are all dead already.
What...?
Did you see me?
You saw me!
Yes!
Come!
Come now!
He saw me!
- You saw me!
- Yes!
Oh my God, you saw me!
- Come now!
- Come, we'll leave from here.
I can barely believe...
Yes...
That's enough now. Come with me.
Come, Ursula. Come.
We'll leave.
Come with me.
Come...
Come. Come.
Away from here!
Come on!
Come!
Do come!
Why aren't you coming?
Oh, Hansli!
Ursula...
- You are here!
- Yes. Everything will be fine now.
Everything will be fine.
I can barely...!
Why are you leaving?
But where...?
Praise God and sacrifice to Him, the Lord!
Because His hand is rough and heavy.
He extinguishes the rulers' star
and... chases the kings before Him!
Yes, yes, yes, yes! Yes!
Stubbornness does not pay!
I'll sell.
I don't care to whom.
Settle it amongst yourselves.
Let's have a look at it first.
- It's an old house.
- Is it even worth it?
On Saint Lawrence Day, I saw the comet.
There will be war.
The Five Catholic Villages
have condemned Jakob Kaiser,
whom they call "the Locksmith",
to death by burning, for heresy.
And when I arrived with our protest,
they ordered the immediate execution
of the Locksmith for... for...
They... burned him?
Yes.
This must be war.
Yes...
The comet...
On the 9th of Brachmonat 1529,
the banner sets out from Zurich,
four thousand men strong,
under the command of Oberhauptmann Berger,
Kappel its destination.
"Brachmonat" means June.
It is a well-ordered regiment.
The militia courageous.
Zwingli, with helmet, rides in front.
The Five Catholic Villages lie naked
with the disorganised might
of eight thousand men.
The Zurichers on their knees,
for joint prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven...
Draw a demarcation line!
...as we forgive those
who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever
Amen.
Careful. Don't spill anything.
Hey!
Enemies?
We have some good milk.
But no bread to break into it.
- Give some...
- Ah, there he is!
- Nothing...
- What am I supposed to give him?
- A little to the left.
- To the left!
Up with it!
Centre it exactly!
- And bring the branch about.
- Yes. It's looking good.
- Left.
- Careful.
There, take it. Take it.
Yes, take it!
Catholics and Protestants lie in opposition
outside of Kappel.
Ready to bash in each other's noggins.
Each claims
their teachings are the right ones.
But crisis is averted one last time.
- Take it!
- Over here! Yes!
Did you see that milk?
Not so careless!
Hey! Don't make such a mess of it!
At last, milk again!
Eat faster!
The arbitrators are here.
Pray to God
that they come to an agreement.
And if they don't, the man
in front of you is your mortal enemy!
And this camp at Kappel
turns into the "Kappeler War".
- Oh come on.
- We'd rather eat...
Don't push!
What's going on?
You lot are shoving like young dogs!
[Hansli] There won't be war!
The Five Catholic Villages and us,
we have come to an arrangement.
He's back for more... again.
Nevermore...
I tell you!
A Catholic chicken shit...
What your Zwingli doesn't know is
that a nation can reject a change in
religion or governance for the same reason
for which a woman rejects a suitor
for good and all.
- Yes, he's right about that.
- Ah, come on.
Suppose I can go back to Leni then...
THE CASTLE
OF COUNT MUSSO
The Count of Musso,
the infamous warlord Jakob Medici,
a follower of the Pope,
plundered and pillaged
the valleys of Kläven and Veltlin.
This prompted the Musso War, due to which
Hansli Gyr returned to the battlefield.
Two thousand men strong, the Zurich Army
marched to Lake Como to destroy the castle.
♪♪ "Wir zogen in das Feld"
["We Marched into Battle"]
♪ We marched into battle ♪
♪ We marched into battle
Where we had neither purse nor coin ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ We came for Siebentod ♪
♪ We came for Siebentod
Where we had neither wine nor bread ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
["I am called (trumpeted)..."]
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
["to arms, I am at your side, my lords"]
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ We came for Friaul ♪
♪ We came for Friaul
Where we all got a mouthful ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ We marched into battle ♪
♪ We marched into battle
Where we had neither purse nor coin ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ A la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
The cornered, pilfering tyrant
is amply provided
with both armaments and men.
His nest is exceptionally strong.
We have an artillery master from Hesse...
Whom Landgrave Philip of Hesse
has sent us Zurichers.
Don't be fooled by them!
Listen up.
I'll teach you about the cannon.
The cannon consists of barrel...
mount...
and gun carriage.
In parentheses: front cart.
Culverin...
muzzleloader...
We fire massive iron balls.
Hollow ball would be ideal.
Fill it with powder, and Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta.
But I'll figure it out one day...
I am the infamous warlord Jakob Medici.
Appointed by Charles V... our Emperor,
as margrave and castellan of Musso.
Markus Sittich von Hohenems,
the Austrian,
is my relative.
He has expressed he may come to my aid.
Giacomo.
Don't kiss their arses.
That's far from my thoughts.
You are the infamous Condottieri.
I am Stephan Zeller.
The outcome of all this
is already determined.
Long-prepared papal machinations.
With me are a thousand men from Zurich.
We will now destroy the castle.
Bring the utmost necessities.
The utmost necessities?
Giacomo...
The thing most necessary...
Time.
Now.
Ha.
Yes.
Fuse!
The fuse is burning...
Why are they firing already?!
Hands off!
Set the gauge to seventeen.
Fuse!
You are brave...
Fire! Fire!
The emissary from Zurich.
Sir! Sir!
Adieu.
The world is round.
He who cannot navigate it
sinks to the bottom.
Lord. The powder stores are burning.
My lord. The powder stores are burning.
Who gave behest to fire?
In Zurich, we extinguish every kindling.
Fire reminds of the burning stakes
of the inquisition.
We are a new era...
and employ different methods.
When there's a fire, there's a fire.
Set up the next shot.
Don't palaver so much.
We going to raze that castle, or not?
Zurichers, pray.
He who draws the sword
perishes by the sword.
- He's right.
- Yes, he's right about that.
[Background chatter in Italian]
Hey, look! It's our sexton!
Hey, you! Come, come!
Keep us company.
Hello!
- A good day, huh?
- Yes.
Greetings to all!
Thanks...
Wine!
My compliments!
Make some room. Come on.
Hansli Gyr.
Fresca. From Bergamo.
Hey, Fresca!
What do you want? I'll be right there.
Enjoy your meal, Maestro.
Why do you paint?
Because it preserves memories.
It is getting chilly.
We need to go inside
if you want to drink another cup.
Hansli, called the "virtuous vesturer"
by the others, was quite in love...
And because he was a decent man,
he didn't only want to be in love,
but also wrest the soul of this
magnificent woman away from the papacy.
What...
What's with this ring?
This ring...
From my beloved.
Who is going to marry me.
Marry you?
Who is he?
And where does he live?
Actually, he's a baker and innkeeper.
But now he's a bandit.
A bandit...
He stabbed... a count to death.
A bandit!
In Rome...
I have a sister.
She lives with a cardinal.
Maybe I'll go to her before...
Or maybe not.
♪ The new Jerusalem... ♪
"Just like you erstwhile drove Adam
out of the bushes."
Don't you have any idea
what is going on in the world?
Open the windows.
Squad leader Gyr rides through the villages
like the wild wind and rallies folk.
The Five Villages have gathered and are
positioned at the border, in large numbers!
- Everyone has to come to Zurich!
- No. No.
- You hear? It's a last-ditch conscription!
- Gyr can kiss my arse.
Stop your tomfoolery
and lock up house and farmstead.
Because for you above all,
it's a matter of life and limb.
That Hansli Gyr...
has returned.
Will there be war?
That Hansli Gyr...
Listen, friends.
This is my hour.
I have been called
to bring about peace, with my wings.
I...
want to create a piece of art...
that is as good...
as...
eternal peace!
Go. And... pull!
Come. Eat.
Brothers...
A moment, please...
Another one dead...
Zurich! Hurray!
The hurriedly mustered men reach the town.
And all the time, the dark figure of Ursula
walked behind the throng.
With portentous drive, she followed the man
who was her utmost beloved.
Healthy in body and soul.
Miraculously cured by the events.
- At Zurich! Hurray!
- Hurray!
- Onward, come!
- Nice hat.
Everything's sharpened...
- Keep together!
- [Woman] Come to me, quickly.
You guileful tramp, hands off my pack!
"And lo, he turned into a morning star!"
[Boy] The banner!
Now, keep some order here!
Go home. Come on, go home.
Leave it be...
We are going to fight tomorrow!
Line up!
Get up!
Let the horses through!
Pull back your legs!
The knights are coming!
Watch out!
Count off!
- One!
- Two!
- Three!
- Four!
Tomorrow after the morning meal, your troop
will march up Mount Albis. Understood?
Understood. Tomorrow up Mount Albis.
Well? Sixteen?
Yes, sixteen!
Seventeen!
Eighteen!
Nineteen!
Twenty!
Twenty!
First, I'll go pack...
Got twenty-one here...
All right now. Get up!
- A cheer for Zurich!
- Get up!
My lord...
Such times - so I hope to God -
will not persist for ever.
What remains for the future...
if the best always perish.
God protect you, Zwingli!
Come over here!
I can stay as I am!
Down!
Jakob!
What is he...
Jakob is in front!
Where are you going?
Let him through.
Zwingli!
He is dead!
Zwingli...
He is dead!
It wasn't enough that Zwingli was dead.
They also hacked him to pieces.
It wasn't enough
that he was dead and hacked to pieces,
they also burned him
and scattered the ashes to the four winds.
They say the heart would not burn...
With us, seven hundred
had rallied around the Zurich banner.
The army of the Five Villages
left camp eight thousand men strong.
The Zurich banner
was still on the far side of Mount Albis
when the attack took place.
Some of Jauch's men had said to attempt
a skirmish on the evening of that same day.
The main force of the Five Villages
moved out from the monastery
before the evening, though.
Hewing and stabbing and stone throwing
ensued on Mount Albis...
For a while, victory remained undecided.
But when...
the attack from the woods resurged,
which Zurich had left undefended...
and the enemy numbers grew...
That's when the Zurich Army
is stricken by panic and disarray.
Many fall.
The screams are heard at the banner.
The forward banner carrier, Kampli,
turns around and sees with horror
how few are still left standing
behind the banner.
And from the front, he sees all the might
of the Five Villages advance towards it.
That's when he says to Banneret Schwyzer:
"Sir.
Let me lie the banner down."
But the Banneret shouts:
"Persist, honest people, persist!"
Kampli grips him by the arm now and says:
"Let me lie the banner down.
There is no honour left to reap here."
Never before had Zurich...
suffered such a loss of men.
Twenty-six members
of the Grand and the Small Council.
Twenty-five scholars,
from town and countryside.
Five hundred and twelve townsmen
and countrymen slain.
Kampli...
wrests the banner from the hand
of Banneret Schwyzer, who has been hit.
He himself gets hit.
That's when Naeff chops off the head
of an enemy who tries to seize the banner.
The wounded Kampli takes hold of it again
and throws it, before he dies,
down the slope.
Where I, Ulrich Denzler,
picked it up.
On the battlefield...
Yes.
...Zwingli remained as well.
Zwingli remained
on the battlefield as well...
after a hit to the head and to the legs.
Savage fighters ran him through
as well as other wounded,
because they refused to make confession.
Headsman was called,
to cut Zwingli into pieces.
Then he was thrown into the fire.
The fleeing Zurichers were pursued eagerly,
and many an atrocity was committed.
Fortunately, night fell soon.
The Five Villages had captured
multiple flags,
nineteen pieces of artillery on wheels...
With thirty arquebuses!
And a lot of...
other armament.
They counted eighty dead.
Following ancient custom, the army remained
on the battlefield until the third day.
Careful, careful, careful, careful...
♪ Ave Maria ♪
♪ Ora pro nobis ♪
♪ Prope Deus ♪
♪ Jesus ♪
♪ Parce nobis, Domine ♪
♪ Pecatores ♪
♪ Te rogamus, audi nos. ♪
Hansli.
Hansli!
God!
♪ ...a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
["...to arms, I am at your side, my lords"]
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
Now I'll marry you after all...
For order's sake...
This is the squad leader Hans Gyr,
my bridegroom.
Have mercy and don't take him from me.
Come...
Sod off, you swine!
You dirty, syphilitic pigs!
You better shove off, you snotnoses!
Arse fuckers!
You butchers!
You slaughterers and pillagers!
You exterminators!
Murderers!
You shall croak
from now on and for all eternity!
Amen.
♪ We came for Siebentod ♪
♪ We came for Siebentod
Where we had neither wine nor bread ♪
based on the novella of the same name
by Gottfried Keller
A co-production of DDR-SF and SF SRG
produced by DEFA studios and CG Zurich
Written by Helga Schütz
Dramatisation by
Yvonne Sturzenegger and Peter Jakubeit
♪ We came for Friaul
Where we all got a mouthful ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ We marched into battle ♪
♪ We marched into battle
Where we had neither purse nor coin ♪
♪ Strampede mi... ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
♪ A la mi presente al vostra signori ♪
♪ a la mi presente al vostra signori! ♪
Photography by Peter Brand
Production management
Erich Kühne and Emanuel Schillig
Directed by Egon Günther