| Synopsis |
Tyrol,
early sixteenth century. The foundlings Martin and Georg are raised
by monks and inseparable until the archbishop takes little Georg
under his wings. Martin becomes a mercenary and Georg the prior
of his childhood`s monestery. Many years later the two friends
meet again and Martin, on a short leave from the front-line falls
in love with Anna – the daughter of the old executioner
and very skilled in medicine – she soon gives birth to his
son. He then marries her and settles down. The price he has to
pay, however, he now belongs to the "untouchables",
like his wife and his only option is to become an executioner
himself. Georg respects Martin´s
and Anna´s love. But he doesn't have the courage to openly
stand by Martin, who now is treated as an outlaw. Above all,
because of Anna, Martin reluctantly arranges himself in his
new job. She teaches him medicine and they share thoughts considering
people as independent individuals. To Martin secularizing and
reformatory individuals or forces are not criminals, but simply
god-fearing people thinking differently. Georg, although he
shares these thoughts with Martin, realizes that he has to keep
them to himself because his benefactor the archbishop considers
people who are thinking differently as heretics who must be
destroyed. The agreement between the executioner and the prior
not to persecute heretics works fine for a while. Martin is
first to notice that the catholic church is planning a much
more radical campaign, than Georg is willing to admit: the shift
from blind faith to individual curiosity endangers the position
of the Church, so the prelates abruptly declare that individuality
and knowledge in the "wrong" hands is heresy.
The Inquisition crashes down on the sanctuary
of the two friends like the Apocalypse. And Martin realizes
that his friend Georg can't stand up to the pressure of his
"family," the Church. To Martin now the moral hypocrisy
of the Church is manifesto and to him Georg's cowardice is inexcusable.
Martin helps innocent people to escape and finds out who his
father is. He also discovers that Georg, in the meantime his
enemy, is his brother, a bastard son of the archbishop like
himself. When Georg becomes aware of this, his whole world crumbles.
Martin's opposition, on the other hand, becomes all the more
uncompromising. Facing death he saves the lives of his son Jakob
and his wife Anna. While everyone, who Martin has helped, gather
around his grave to pay their last honours to the rebel, Anna
and Jakob ride to freedom...
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