The Last Ashes (Läif a Séil)

Luxembourg 1838

Under Dutch occupation, three famines, war and disease

have killed one quarter of the population.

A majority of people leave the country. A few remain.

In the north, the Graff family reigns over a remote high castle.

People loyal to Graff are fed and protected,

but their survival depends on the sacrifices they're willing to make.

A thief! A thief!

Where? - They steal from us!

Where? - Down by the river!

Where are you running to?

I must tell Graff! - Helene, come back!

Father, father!

Why did you ring the bell?

Thieves... they are close... four of them!

Go back to your mother! - I must tell him!

Thieves! They steal our food for the celebration.

Fetch your brothers!

Thieves! Pier, Luc! Father is calling!

Did they see you?

I caught the thieves. Out of the way!

Clear the way!

A loaf of bread, nothing else.

We do not eat cake before we eat the roast dinner.

We work hard for what we have.

Gather your family and get...

My daughters need help.

Thieves who get caught must be punished.

Are your girls ripe?

Give us one of your daughters.

I do not understand.

One daughter for all your lives.

Helene!

Bring bread!

You choose for him!

Choose!

Or none of them will survive.

She stays.

She is my youngest, I want the entire loaf.

Now get lost!

Your name?

What is your name?

Marie.

How old are you?

Twelve.

Do you bleed?

One day, I will be as strong as my father.

Hush! We will never catch it like this.

I will be stronger.

Impossible, you are just... - What?

- A girl. - So what?

I will still be stronger than you!

Really? Prove it!

Go on, catch it!

Jon... go help Meyers!

He needs your swift hands with his bees. - Yes, father.

I am swifter than him.

You do not know your place, Missy.

Only male fireflies can fly.

Females have no wings.

Come along.

You want to burn the place down?

Get lost!

Push!

You must be stronger for this!

Those grains... are our daily bread.

Our bread... is our life.

Every grain that is lost is one less bite of bread.

Everyone here has his duty,

so that all of us can live a decent life.

Pushing the wheel of the mill is not your duty.

Your duty is to bear strong sons to my Jon.

Everyone gets his ration.

Go back to your father.

Open the gate.

Now you are the main man on the farm.

Next year I will go hunting, too.

I will come along.

I also want to see what is on the other side of the mountains.

You are not allowed.

What else should I do all those days without you?

You have a new sister now.

She does not say much.

She's pretty, though.

Lust is a mortal sin.

Soon, you will no longer be able to hide behind this.

Maybe you will not even recognise me.

Always.

Today, lent has come to an end for all of us.

Not one of you shall go home thirsty.

None shall go home hungry!

This will be the Easter of Helene and Marie,

and it must be celebrated.

We survived a tough winter together.

Together, we escaped death yet again.

Together

we shall forge our own destiny.

Eat until your belly bursts.

Meyers... shall we go!

Gospel according to Luke...

And every year his father and mother

went to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.

And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem, to the feast.

And when the days of the feast came to an end and they were going back,

the boy Jesus was still in Jerusalem but they had no knowledge of it.

But they supposed him to have been in company...

Letter to Galatians, 5:16

walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify

the desires of the flesh.

For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,

and the Spirit against the flesh,

because these are opposite the one to the other,

so that you may not do the things which you have a mind to do.

Do you understand?

Helene...?

You must stay.

I don't want to.

Those are the rules... to each his duty.

I should not even be here.

I brought you fresh bread.

I must get out of here! - That's impossible.

It is not over yet.

You are stronger than me.

I really must get out of here.

Wait... what about Marie? We cannot leave her here.

She is with father. Come now!

What have you done?

What did you do?

Helene?

It is not your fault.

Your grandmother also saw herself in this mirror for the first time.

And me too, many years ago... no one can take that away from us.

We go back now!

No!

We will leave.

What about you, boy?

What says the village?

Your brothers...?

Your sisters...?

We want to seek our own happiness.

Death is no one's happiness.

We will not stay here! - Death awaits out there!

You choose death over our village?

We choose our own destiny.

So be it.

My boy stays here!

No... no!

No!

You shall never run away again!

Kremer... punish him!

Jon... no!

Your flesh is all you get to keep!

The rest does not belong to you!

Come...

No... Mother! No!

Father!

My father did warn you...

Death awaits out here.

THE LAST ASHES

15 years later

After centuries of foreign occupation, Luxembourg is free.

To end the chaos, country and city folk must come together.

Tracks of iron are being laid right up to the north of the country.

Where no one dared to tread for decades.

Fire!

Fire!

That fire will not stop us.

We need to get to Clervaux by the end of next week.

How much damage is there?

We break our backs laying tracks,

but they fear for their lives.

Are you sure you saw someone on horseback?

We are not wanted here.

This is... is nothing... nothing but,

but a fairy tale.

On the far side of the river, buried in the dark

haunting faces made of wood, are praising their patriarch...

It is... a

a children's song.

Just a song

to scare the children and keep them from going into the woods.

Fairytale or not, the tracks must be laid.

We cannot tolerate another attack.

Give it to him.

One is for me.

You have one shot, old man.

Out here death awaits, Kremer.

It is his carriage.

Here lies a body.

Bring a torch.

It is Kremer!

Blood... everywhere.

Dead... Pier, his throat was cut.

Tracks! Several people! On horseback!

What shall we tell the others?

The truth. Kremer was attacked.

Whose horse is this?

Father!

Father! One has survived.

For a whore is a deep pit,