SZPIEG

Martin Rauch was banished by the Stasi to an East German orphanage in Angola as punishment for mistakes made in 1983. Separated from son, girlfriend, mother and country, he’s been wallowing in limbo until his Aunt Lenora turns up and conscripts Martin into her latest plan. Martin wants only one thing: to return to his son in East Germany.

Martin and Lenora find Gary Banks, a South African mercenary, who will do anything for the right price. They hire him to help bring the weapons to their new buyer in Angola.

Gary Banks double-crosses Martin and Lenora and has delivered them, and the weapons into the middle of a proxy war between a communist army and western backed rebels. In a battle for a strategically important oil refinery, Martin and Lenoras lives are put in mortal danger.

Badly injured, Martin wakes up in the Libyan dessert. In a Bedouin camp, he meets Samira and Khaled. When Martin uncovers a terrorist plot, he realizes his hosts are terrorists and attempts to escape from the dessert as soon as possible.

Brigitte tries to convince Martin to become a double agent and work for the BND, West German Intelligence. But martin wants out of this game of spies. When a bomb goes off in West Berlin, he realizes that there is no easy way out.

Martin returns to West Berlin. The international intelligence agencies are convinced that “Kolibri” was involved in the Lybian attack.

Tina and her family attempt to escape East Germany. Lenora returns to East Germany with Rose, determined to develop top secret communication technology for the ANC in a secret operation called Operation VULA. The HVA attempts to assist them.

Martin has maneuvered himself for a trade back to East Germany but needs to prove his loyalty to the BND before they accept him as a double agent. Martin is tested by the BND.

Martin returns to East Germany and sees his son for the first time. While being debriefed by the HVA, Martin discovers that Lenora is in Rostock. There, Martin discovers that his aunt and Rose are involved in an explosive HVA-deal.

Martin has acquired three spots back to West Berlin: for himself, his son Max and Lenora. But Martin’s mother makes him question his plan. What is the right thing for his son and himself?

For communists, the biggest taboo was behaving like a capitalist. Nevertheless, exactly that happened in East Germany in the 1980s, when the country was on the brink of bankruptcy. This is a documentary about the tunnels under the Iron Curtain, about the collaboration between East Germany and the West, and about how hard currency was made by any means necessary.