Charité

BERLIN, FALL 1943

CHARITÉ SURGERY WING

What's going on?

Dr. Sauerbruch is featured in the Weekly Review.

Today?

-Yes, today. -But--

They are all here for your exam, little sister.

Otto!

Fähnrich Marquardt reporting for duty.

Oh, God, you lost a lot of weight.

I can't say the same about you.

I'm scared, doctor.

You won't feel a thing. I'll give you a sleep-inducing drug.

When I wake up,

I'll be a cripple.

Take a wide shot.

That's good.

Exciting.

Surgery is not my forte.

-Where is Artur? -There.

You can sit there, I have to stay. Exam candidates sit in the first row.

I love that you're here.

Good luck!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Weekly Review would like to report

how our famous Chief Surgeon Sauerbruch prepares our doctors for the front.

I would ask the students to join us in the first row.

Could you please make space?

I have an exam today.

Your contribution to our ultimate victory

is surely more practical than theory.

Surprise, I can do both.

Still.

He's on his way, he left the car door open.

Choose the right thread length, only 13 inches, not an inch longer.

Good day.

Good morning!

Good morning, professor.

First assistant, you are second.

Don't screw it up, or everyone will see how you get fired by Sauerbruch.

-Professor Sauerbruch-- -Careful, I am sterile.

Not that sterile.

Colleague De Crinis.

The head of the psychiatric ward wants to learn something?

The audience could get confused.

Such an old student.

I really would not want people to think that I am a student of yours.

Are you going to begin with surgery?

I could not do that to my exam candidate.

She might have her baby before I am done with surgery.

Where are you?

-Here. -Are you hiding?

Show us what you have learned.

Explain the case to us and the viewers.

The patient's name is Paul Lohmann.

He's 22 years old, with a femoral combat fracture.

He received first aid at the field hospital,

and he has a secondary gangrene infection--

So, you think the leg is gone.

Should we amputate?

Yes, we should, but--

Our young colleague here is a little discouraged,

regarding the future of this leg.

Not really.

This is an ideal candidate for a Sauerbruch's Rotationplasty.

That means that the infected part of the leg will be removed,

but a lot can be preserved and converted

to hold a prosthetic.

Sounds like magic.

Be more specific.

The femur is cut with the aid of a saw,

and then remove the bone with a bone retractor.

Once the foot and knee are cut,

the lower leg bone is turned around,

in order to fit the foot

and replace the femur with the rest of the leg.

After the wound is healed, a prosthetic can be attached.

You did learn something after all.

Have a seat.

Martin, come, show us what you got.

A shrapnel wound from the Balkan Wars on his thigh.

They sent him from the field hospital

for an amputation.

Well, now?

Is the leg completely gone?

Not with Sauerbruch.

This patient here received my rotationplasty method.

We encountered problems.

Blood flow to the leg was cut off for too long.

I am very happy that you can walk as well as you do.

All right.

I will make a incision on the thigh,

and work my way from the iliac crest and knee

all the way to the bone.

I will remove the bone with great care

of the surrounding blood vessels and nerves,

including the muscles.

The anesthesia is wearing off.

You cannot read the meter?

You are useless, you are out, next.

Come on, go.

-Sorry. -Sure, sorry.

Apologize to your patient.

You are blocking the light, damn it.

We can learn something from his manic temperament.

Good catch.

Surely you noticed that this fracture is the perfect sample case

for your doctoral dissertation.

This guy, Lohmann,

could have done it to himself.

Nobody can work like that, Fritsch.

Write a letter to Dr. Conti, he needs to send me Dr. Jung

from Strasbourg.

I am tired of those butcher apprentices.

Mrs. Fritsch?

Is there any coffee left for a dictator's butcher apprentice?

Good morning.

My dear Dr. Sauerbruch, you are already a butcher's assistant.

You should get the Iron Cross for putting up with me.

With oak leaves.

And the base made of gold.

It's a very humble residence, but we do have two rooms.

Our little cottage.

This would be yours.

-Do you have everything? -Of course.

Are we going to celebrate?

I should have some noodles with cheese.

You lost so much weight.

Tell me, how was it at the front?

How it was...?

We'll make you whole again.

Mom sent me a food parcel.

-They have almost everything there. -Is she coming for the birth?

She's afraid. A lot of trains can't get through.

I haven't seen her for a year.

I hoped to see her before I have to go back.

You have only two semester down,

-how is that going to work? -Well...

it's enough to amputate,

not for childbirth.

Is it time?

No, not yet, my tenant is kicking.

Good.

Do you want to feel?

-Yes. -Right here.

Yeah, like that.

CHARITÉ WOMEN'S HOSPITAL

Yes.

Congratulation on your doctorate.

Thank you, but I don't have the title yet.

The baby needs to stay in there, so I can finish my dissertation.

The baby agrees.

It does not look like...

it's getting ready to come out.

Have you had any false labor pains?

-No. -Why is that?

We have to wait.

The baby can turn into position even right before delivery.

Could it be a placenta previa problem?

Unusual for first-time mothers, no need to worry.

The fertile bloodlines of both of your families suggest

that you could have a lot of babies.

The baby will turn around soon.

Don't think like a professional,

your job is to be a happy mother.

-Good evening. -We're still closed.

We're delivering the food stamps for the wedding party on the 15th.

All right, one second.

Too bad we don't have the apartment to ourselves anymore.

Our togetherness is going to be over soon.

We wanted a bowl with seltzer and white wine instead of sparkling wine.

I think it's going to be a bowl with cabbage.

Did you hide any strawberries?

The stamps are not enough for a good bowl.

You can have a beer with a shot.

And some meatballs.

I have to go to the black market for that, costs extra.

I can even get you a lobster, without stamps.

One lobster for 26 people?

Those lobsters are skinny anyway. Better price, better merchandise.

Meatballs.

Comrades, you need to drink your water.

Hello. Otto Marquardt, I'm the new guy.

Do you have stronger painkillers?

I need something.

You got morphine an hour ago.

That wasn't enough. Do you have any tank chocolate?

They are not painkillers.

Very effective combined with morphine.

Everyone takes it.

Just one second.

But not more than two, okay?

Pervitin is very strong.

That's all useless,

all of it.

In the end, we all leave as cripples.

I don't feel useless, and a wooden leg won't get athlete's foot.

-Do you have a girl? -No.

My fiancée.

She won't marry a cripple.

Lohmann.