In the beginning of the 19th century, Johannes Elias Alder is born in a small village in the Austrian mountains. While growing up he is considered strange by the other villagers and discovers his love of music, especially rebuilding and playing the organ at the village church. After experiencing an "acoustic wonder", his eye color changes and he can hear even the most subtle sounds.
North Face tells the story of two German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser and their attempt to scale the deadly North Face of the Eiger.
Das Schweigen im Walde
In the years before the Second World War, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children, and brings a new love of life and music into the home.
A classical art professor and collector, who doubles as a professional assassin, is coerced out of retirement to avenge the murder of an old friend.
Swiss girl Adelheid 'Heidi' is orphaned young. Aunt Detie brings her to grandpa Alp and his wife, who live isolated in the Alps since his murder charge. Heidi soon takes to the wild country, especially accompanying young goatherd Peter. Grandpa refuses to send her to school in the city, but aunt Detie returns and forces him to give in. She's sent to a posh lady in Frankfurt, where she'll be a companion for crippled daughter Clara after school hours.
After many years apart, Emilie meets her brother Jakob again. She not only shares her sadness about the loss of their parents with him, but also a secret...
Heidi is an orphaned girl initially raised by her aunt Dete in Maienfeld, Switzerland. In order to get a job in Frankfurt, Dete brings 5-year-old Heidi to her grandfather, who has been at odds with the villagers for years and lives in seclusion on the alm. He at first resents Heidi's arrival, but the girl manages to penetrate his harsh exterior and subsequently has a delightful stay with him and her best friend, young Peter the goat-herd.
The stories narrated by the film bring together individuals all over the world, spanning over sixty years and thus symbolically covering the approximate period of a single human life. Each of the stories is based on true accounts and events, summed up from newspaper articles, statements, and media announcements. Through internal monologues the collage makes up a whole which transcends any individual story.
The film is based on a novel by Ivan Tavcar and was adapted for the screen by Andrej Hieng. It is set at the end of the 17th century in the area that is now Slovenia at a time of religious intolerance with Amandus, a Catholic priest, determined to persecute local Protestants.
In the 15th century, a young goatherd living alone in a mountain hut feels a dark presence in the woods.
A former Fascist takes his son and escapes across the border into France, where he tries to avoid being recognized and having to pay for his wartime crimes.
Young Cabiria is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in Carthage. Just as she's to be sacrificed to Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by Fulvius Axilla, a good-hearted Roman spy, and his powerful slave, Maciste. The trio are broken up as Cabiria is entrusted to a woman of noble birth. With Cabiria's fate unknown, Maciste punished for his heroism, and Fulvius sent away to fight for Rome, is there any hope of our heroes reuniting?
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.
Der Ruf der Berge - Schatten der Vergangenheit
In 1940, shortly before the outbreak of war, a young boy Marjan lives a carefree life with his gang in Ljubljana, experiencing all the problems of his age. With Lenka he's experiencing his first "pure" love, while discovering sexuality... The Italian occupation brings many changes, gang breaks up, some join the liberation movement, the others join collaborationist forces. Marjan remain "unlisted". Italians surrender, and hand over the city to Germans. Frivolous Milena, who has good connections with them, seduces Marjan whom she lost her innocence with. The war is over and the partisans win. The new authorities mistakenly imprison Marjan.
A post-WW2 story about the village largely involved in wine-making business. The peasants who claimed possessions of lands, woods, and churches after communist party seized the power hold a party where a member of so-called reactionary forces (kulaks, clergy and Axis collaborators) tries to break in and stop it.
A famous skier, his mistress and a ski instructor rob a bank in the Alps and hide the loot in a crevasse.
At the end of the last century hunters who hunted wild roosters, while waiting for prey to show up, were killing time with storytelling. The first story is about Jernac that had a fight with Tomas because of Rezika. Another story tells about Tincek, limp foundling, who spent his youth with the Komar family, where he fell in love with their Lencka. The third is the story of a rich Miholac whose attention was grabbed by poor Polonca, a romance that was opposed by his father. The central theme of all stories is love that eventually everybody die of.
Heidi lives with Alp-Öhi n the Swiss Alps in the summer, where she helps Peter tend the goats. In winter, she stays in the village and attends school. One day, a letter arrives from Heidi's German friend, Klara Sesemann, announcing her visit. Klara indeed appears the next summer along with her grandmother and the prim governess Miss Rottenmeyer. Klara is quickly convinced to stay with Heidi, but Peter becomes resentful that Heidi now spends so little time with him...