Summary
Set against the backdrop of an impending Great War, The Enemy is a harrowing domestic drama that strips away the romanticism of the front lines to focus on the rot within the home. Pauli Arndt, the daughter of a staunchly pacifist professor, marries Carl Behrend, the son of a man who views war as a profitable enterprise. When the drums of conflict finally beat, the ideological rift between their families becomes a chasm of survival. Carl is swept into the military machine, leaving Pauli to navigate a world where her father is branded a traitor for his beliefs and the basic necessities of life—food, warmth, and hope—evaporate under the weight of a nationalistic fever. As the Arndt family descends into poverty and social ostracization, the film examines the psychological erosion of those left behind, questioning who the 'enemy' truly is: the soldiers across the border or the systems that demand the sacrifice of the innocent.
Synopsis
Carl Behrend, son of a wealthy businessman, marries Pauli Arndt, daughter of a pacifist professor. When World War I breaks out, Carl is drafted. Pauli and her family and friends are left behind to experience the suffering which befell civilians during the war. Her luck worsens when her father is dismissed from his professorship for teaching that war is evil. Her father argues violently with Carl's father, and degradation and despair descend on Pauli and her family as they await Carl's return from the front.
