Series One, Episode Two (Island at War)

Series One, Episode Two is the second episode of the first series of the television drama "Island at War".

Plot summary

In general the episode introduces the German-Islander interpersonal relationships to be developed. The opening shots comprise a montage of island life under occupation: Urban Mahy's funeral procession behind a handcart, the Dorrs getting around on bicycles, soldiers smoking in the main square. In a scene reminiscent of Hal Ashby's "Harold and Maude", a marching band, playing Jaromir Vejvoda's "Beer Barrel Polka", passes below the church just as Urban Mahy is being interred. As the music cannot be ignored, June Mahy, his daughter, begins to sing along hesitantly, then with growing conviction as first her mother, followed by the other mourners, join in. The moment is transformed from maudlin to poignant.

The first meeting of Baron Heinrich Von Rheingarten and Senator James Dorr follows, setting up their ideological and personal conflict as one of the series' major themes. Their respective agenda: redressing grievances (Dorr) and acknowledgment of Germans' humanity/superiority (Von Rheingarten), while not mutually exclusive, find them initially talking at cross-purposes.

Urban Mahy's wake provides the opportunity for dialog framing secondary plot-lines: Sheldon Leveque attempts to ingratiate himself with Cassie Mahy whose cooperation will abet his war profiteering, Cassie in turn accuses Felicity Dorr of pursuing an affair with her late husband (they were both members of the island's thespian club), and handsome Captain Muller arrives with two landsers and impresses June Mahy by having them apologize to the family for accosting them in the street. Meanwhile on the cliff overlooking a secluded beach Baron Von Rheingarten impresses upon Senator Dorr the rigor of German military discipline: "My men whom you see now frolicking below would slaughter each other in a minute if I so ordered it". James challenges this assertion, the Baron counters ominously, "Actually, I do know [they would] ". They return to the Dorr residence where Felicity Dorr snubs the Baron's social advances. He retaliates by requisitioning the unused wing of their home for himself and senior staff. This begins the Baron Von Rheingarten/James Dorr rivalry for Felicity's attentions, fueled in part by James' confronting her privately with his own false suspicions about an affair with Urban Mahy.

The clandestine arrival of the Dorr son, Phillip, and compatriot Eugene La Salle, now both recruited as British reconnaissance agents, brings the war home to the island. Masquerading as "Mr. Brotherson", a day-laborer on his parents estate, Phillip quickly finds himself "walling" (the lost art of building without mortar) alongside the Baron (in rolled-up shirt-sleeves) who displays an almost paternal affection for the young man.

After Cassie Mahy refuses to sell groceries to German soldiers, she must face Leutnant Walker who purports to teach her a lesson in the economics of occupation. Intimating that food is scarce throughout Europe, he challenges her on moral grounds. He is also responsible for promulgating Nazi anti-semitic agenda on the island. Not all the Germans are evil, however, and we soon meet airman Bernhardt Telleman, who urges the Mahy daughters, now running a camera shop they inherited when its Jewish owner evacuated, to serve German soldiers because "We live here now like you, and hard as it may be to believe, we are people too". After convincing the girls to accept his business he is visibly pleased to formally introduce himself merely as "Bernhardt" and crosses the street with a bounce in his step.

The Baron and Felicity share a frank, almost intimate, moment in the Dorr garden. With faces bathed in moon and lamplight, he offers her chocolates but warns her that his soldiers are "an invading army - men without women" who will sooner or later become "ravenous wolves".

The episode closes on a note of violence: Eugene and Phillip, having completed their Reconnaissance mission, are awaiting extraction by submarine on the beach, when they encounter, and kill, a landser on patrol. The machine-gun fire raises the alarm and the pair must conceal the body and evade capture in a house-to-house search mounted by the Germans. Phillip guides Eugene, suffering from hypothermia, to refuge in the Jonas' barn. Again the Baron has the last word to the Dorrs, "I cannot tell you how serious this is - I should hope this doesn't mean .. resistance."

References