This based on-fact caper was undeniably inflationary and it necessarily involved stealing from the government. Yet, the perpetrators consider it a victimless crime. In fact, these Est Germans think of themselves as victims of Germany’s reunification. In some sense they are not wrong, but they might be blaming the wrong villains in director-screenwriter Natja Brunckhorst’s Two to One, which just opened in the UK.
All the Reunification agreements have been negotiated, including the former East Germany’s adoption of the Western Mark. The deadline for former East Germans to convert their financial holdings is fast approaching, but Maren and her neighbors converted their funds almost immediately. Of course, she and her partner Robert are fascinated by his uncle Markowski’s description of the resulting mountains of old obsolete money piled in the underground vaults where he works as a security guard. On a lark, the three pull off what they consider a pointless caper, making off with several duffle bags full of useless cash—or so they thought.
The next day, they are stunned to hear one of the opportunistic traveling salesmen from the West assures Maren and Robert he would be delighted to accept any unused East German Marks they might have lying around—so, sure they will buy a microwave. In fact, they will take whatever his has in his car and they might buy even more if he comes back tomorrow.
Obviously, every West German salesman quickly descends on their apartment complex. With the help of Volker, Maren’s recently returned ex, they organize the entire building into an army of small appliance consumers. They even include cranky old Lunkewitz, so everyone is involved and nobody snitches. Volker becomes their chief operations officer, despite the awkwardness of their shared history—especially since Volker wants a relationship with Dini, the biological daughter Robert raised as his own.
Brunckhorst maintains a distinctively bittersweet vibe throughout Two to One. There is a good deal of humor, but it also expresses the sadness experienced by a community forced to confront the deception and corruption of the system they bought into. Eventually, Robert and Volker start recruiting returning GDR diplomats to convert old currency on their behalf, because they were granted extended deadlines. Yet, they are disgusted by the Commuunists’ grotesque venality. Most of their neighbors swapped 500 East German Marks, but the slimy Ambassador Kulitzka believes he can safely exchange 500,000 without attracting suspicion.
Indeed, the ethics of Two to One grow increasingly complex. While it starts out lampooning Western commercialism, it ultimately indicts the hypocrisy and the exploitation of the supposedly “good old” Socialist system.
Apparently, there really were substantial “leakages” of the retired East German Marks, even including the 200 and 500 Mark notes that were never circulated (they were printed in anticipation of the DDR’s conquest of the FDR, which clearly never happened). It is an intriguing premise that Brunckhorst fully develops. There are several sly twists that also cleverly illuminate the nature of the former GDR. Highly recommended, Two to One just opened in British theaters.
