The Exception Quotes

[first lines]

Widow in Hotel: I have to go.

[Stephan hands the woman her panties]

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Here. Can I see you again?

Widow in Hotel: One telegram from the War Ministry is enough.

[after dinner with Himmler]

Mieke de Jong: Brandt. They are the rule. *You* are the exception.

Mieke de Jong: So, how did you get your Iron Cross Second Class?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I survived... in a second class way.

Mieke de Jong: And the scars?

[She runs her finger down them]

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Shrapnel. Most of it's still in there.

Mieke de Jong: It hurts you. Is that why you're here and not at the front?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I'm here because I follow orders.

Mieke de Jong: Do you always follow orders?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: What else is there?

[Mieke and Stefan lying in bed]

Mieke de Jong: I'm Jewish.

[silence]

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I'm not.

Mieke de Jong: Obviously!

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I don't care.

Mieke de Jong: One day, you might have to.

[after searching the Kaiser's house]

Capt. Stefan Brandt: You look happy.

Dietrich: Of course! Here am I, a butcher's son from Munich, tearing the Kaiser's palace upside down. That is what National Socialism has done for Germany. What do you think of him?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: He's harmless.

Dietrich: I don't like him.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: You don't like anyone.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: You have someone, somewhere?

Mieke de Jong: If I did, you wouldn't be here. And you, Captain? No girl anywhere?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: If I did, I'd still be here.

[Stefan wakes up from a nightmare]

Mieke de Jong: What is it this time?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Poland. A village of women and children. They'd been machine-gunned by the SS. It was a beautiful day. And I thought... "God made this. God made all of it." There was a girl. She was still alive. I tried to help her, but she died. I beat the officer senseless in front of his unit. It's men like that, they shame the SS. They shame us all.

Mieke de Jong: But they are not the exception, they are the *rule*.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I don't believe that.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Will you marry me?

Mieke de Jong: What?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Marry me, Mieke. Now. Today.

Mieke de Jong: Are you serious?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Completely.

Mieke de Jong: But I'm a Jewess.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I'll protect you.

Mieke de Jong: No! Nobody can!

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I will do my duty.

Mieke de Jong: Everyone must.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: The pastor's been arrested by the Gestapo. They're interrogating him now. Soon he'll tell them everything he knows.

Mieke de Jong: Why do you tell me this?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Why did you sleep with me?

Mieke de Jong: Why did you ask me?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Were you following orders?

Mieke de Jong: No, it was a mistake, a madness.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: You used me!

Mieke de Jong: I used myself.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: If you wanted to kill him, you could have done that any time.

[Mieke tries to run, Brandt stops her]

Mieke de Jong: I'll scream the house down!

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Oh, you will when Dietrich starts.

Mieke de Jong: How did you know?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I saw you with him at the church. And you're a Jew who knows German army medals and keeps gun oil hidden in her room.

Mieke de Jong: Then, Captain, you must do your duty.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Just leave. Leave now. Please.

Mieke de Jong: I can't.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Do you expect me to betray my oath, my country, for you?

Mieke de Jong: I expected nothing from you, Captain. You must do your duty. And I will do mine.

[after escaping]

Mieke de Jong: Will you come with me?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I betrayed my country, but I won't abandon it.

Mieke de Jong: Oh, Brandt, please, you'll be shot!

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I left two Gestapo officers to guard the gate and took the Kaiser to hospital. The enemy agent killed them and escaped.

[Brandt smiles, Mieke begins to cry]

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Don't be sad. I found something else to fight for.

Mieke de Jong: Me too.

[They kiss]

Mieke de Jong: I...

Capt. Stefan Brandt: I know.

[Mieke heads off into the woods]

Capt. Stefan Brandt: But will you marry me?

Mieke de Jong: Come and find me after the war.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Is that a "Yes"?

Mieke de Jong: Of course!

Kaiser Wilhelm II: What do you think of him, our Captain Brandt?

Col. Sigurd von Ilsemann: He is a typical, cocky young officer, who thinks he can win the war on his own.

Kaiser Wilhelm II: Does he remind you of anyone, Sigurd?

Col. Sigurd von Ilsemann: Not at all.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Can an officer have a loyalty to anything greater than his country?

Col. Sigurd von Ilsemann: First, he must answer the question "What is my country and does it even still exist?"

Kaiser Wilhelm II: Anyone might think you were spying on me, Captain.

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Forgive me, Your Highness.

Kaiser Wilhelm II: What are you doing creeping around in the woods?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: If anything happens to you, Your Highness, I'll be shot.

Kaiser Wilhelm II: Oh, it's good to know they still care.

[while feeding the ducks]

Kaiser Wilhelm II: What do you think of the ducks, child? I'm very fond of them. They are beautiful creatures, and yet they ask for so little. A duck will never blame you for his troubles, or force you to abdicate your throne.

[He laughs]

Mieke de Jong: I know you miss it terribly, and yet, what a dreadful burden.

Kaiser Wilhelm II: You're right. And it was.

Kaiser Wilhelm II: Is something wrong?

Mieke de Jong: I have to go now, forever. But first I have a message for you. From Winston Churchill.

Kaiser Wilhelm II: Of course you do. You're the secret agent. Marvelous.

Princess Hermine: Tell us a little about yourself, Captain. Where's your family from?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Brandenburg, Your Highness. My grandfather was an army officer, as was my father. He was killed on the Somme just before I was born.

Princess Hermine: And your mother?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: From a landowning family.

Princess Hermine: Really? Which one?

Capt. Stefan Brandt: Related to the Ludendorffs, distantly. After the war, of course, she had to clean houses. I remember helping her wheel her wages home in a barrel. Of course by the time we'd got to the bakery, it was worthless.

[an uneasy look passes between von Ilsemann and Hermine]

Capt. Stefan Brandt: She died of tuberculosis when I was twelve...

Kaiser Wilhelm II: [pounds the table with his fist] Am I to blame for every misfortune on this earth? I gave my life to the Fatherland, and this is my thanks? Nobody cares my navy betrayed me! Nobody remembers my army fell apart! Ludendorff, Bethmann, Tirpitz, where were they? Where were they? *Where were they?* After all I'd done for them, they stabbed me in the back! They lost me the war. They lost me my country.