MARIA AM WASSER

A Soviet tank is crossing the Elbe river with four infants from a children’s home as passengers. An accident occurs halfway across and there are no survivors. 22 years later, the organ-builder Marcus returns to his home village of Neusorge, where he has a restoration commission in the village church (“Mary by the Water”). But he also wants to make peace with his mother: as a child, he used the tank accident to get away from his loveless family. Back in the village, nobody recognizes him apart from the old clergyman. Even his mother, who’s still matron of the children’s home, can’t believe that her son has returned. His attempts to disclose his identity meet with snubs, incomprehension, and disinterest. Looking for familiar faces, Marcus gets to know Alena, the only outsider in the village. He falls in love with the young waitress and soon senses she has a secret. Shrugging off the inconsistencies all around him, the young man sets about reconstructing the old and now pipeless organ in the village church. Piece by piece, Marco works through the organ and his own life, too. And in the process makes a ghastly discovery that places his childhood flight in a very different light.