KODAK
PRESENT:
It was a rainy day. Klaus gets a call from his sister Marianne. She inquires whether they have left or not. Then Klaus rests for a while on the sofa, reminiscing about his childhood, and then leaves his home with his mother, Helga.
Then they all go to a graveyard with their families, pay their respects, and leave for Marianne's place. They chitchat for a bit, enjoy each other's company, crack some jokes, and get nostalgic about their past.
Then Marianne brings an antiquated Kodak camera for capturing a picture, and Klaus's son curiously asks, why are they using this old camera for a picture when they can use a new camera. They all laugh it off but would not answer his question. Klaus sits on the couch and harks back to his childhood...
PAST:
On a spring holiday, Klaus and his family go to a camera exhibition. Marianne gazes at a camera and asks her dad Stephan, to purchase that camera for her. Stephan promises to buy that camera for her birthday. They continue to their picnic, and the family has the time of their lives. They make a move to their home.
When the family was sleeping, the German army intruded into their house and grabbed Stephan to take part in the world war by helping the army troops and that wasn't a question, it was an order. Helga and the kids get worried by seeing it, but Stephan confronts Helga, explains the situation to her, and tells her to be strong, then he hugs the kids, says that he will be back soon, and tells Marianne that he is leaving home to bring her camera, which he made an oath of.
After 6 months, a German army official approaches Klaus's home, and it's the unpleasant news of Stephan's death, Helga cries immediately, Klaus watches it from far away and understands the situation, and runs all over the town, memorizing his moments with his dad. He finally stops at a peak and shouts out his grief and cries all day.
When he comes back home, he notices everything is fine; Marianne and Helga are laughing; Helga was feeding Marianne; then she suddenly asks why Dad isn't coming home yet. Helga answers that he is still searching for her camera. Klaus clearly understands that his mother was lying to them because she didn't want her kids to know that their dad died at such a young age and he acts as he believed it too.
He also understands that he needs to work from now on to pay bills, as his father was the only source of money for the family. The next day, Klaus roams all over the town seeking a job. Finally, he gets hold of a maid job. He used to go to work early and during the night hours. In between jobs, he used to work at a weapons manufacturing factory.
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One day, Klaus brings his sister to work with him. He notices Marianne crying and understands that it is for her dad. He puns about their dad's bringing a camera and makes her laugh, and decides to buy her a camera as Stephen has promised. He is aware that the camera has a price of 100 Reichsmarks, but he barely makes 1 Reichsmark a day. He wasn't brave enough to offer all his earnings to a camera.
Every month, he claims 30 Reichsmark, of which he divides 20 for family support and the remaining 10 for the camera. He patiently worked for 9 months and piled up to 90 Reichsmarks.
One day, out of the blue, his house gets robbed and he loses all his earnings. He gets depressed and does not understand what to do. He spends the whole day roaming the roads like a madman, not going to work. So, a few days passed, and he couldn't understand what to do, then an idea sparked through his mind. He figured that stealing was the best option to retrieve his money. One day, he makes a plan and goes to steal from a rich house. But he gets caught. The whole town chased him and tried to kick him out of the town and lashed his mother out with insults. He didn't even go home properly for a few days.
After a few days, Helga joined the hospital after getting infected by Typhus. Then, Marianne did all the labour her mother used to do. Klaus always peeks from the window to check on his mother. Marianne catches sight of him and smiles. Klaus explains to her the situation and tells her that he needs to earn money for them.
But, because of his reputation, no one was willing to give him a job. He started begging for money. Surprisingly, one day, a military officer gave him a pistol and uttered to him, "Keep the gun in your pocket. So, if anyone comes near you, shoot them". Then, the military officer took him to the war.
During the wars, he saw many deaths. He couldn't sleep at night because of the piercing death cry that was ringing in his ears. He stood strong in that war for a few days. The people are losing faith after a continuous long war. They started to fall. Klaus runs away from there, terrified. On his way back, he pays attention to a couple of thieves robbing a house. He tries to stop them by chasing them. They ended up in an empty street after a long chase. But in return, the thieves started hitting him brutally. Klaus loses his patience and shoots them with his pistol.
Everyone in town was stunned by the blasting noise and gathered on the spot. Everyone thought that Klaus had murdered them for no reason, so they complained to the police. The officials arrived on the spot and took him into custody and left. The officials stopped the vehicle in the middle of nowhere and set Klaus free because he helped those officials in the war and they were trying to make an effort to repay his debt and warn him.
But Klaus already looted all the money from the robbers, which contained 500 Reichsmark. He spends most of the money on his mother's treatment and purchases a camera with the remaining money. When he brings the camera to his house, he notices Marianne crying and realizes that she knows the truth about their father's death. Then, with a smile, Klaus offers the camera to his sister and says that her father gifted it to her....
PRESENT:
So, they all give a smile and take a picture of the whole family on the camera. Because every year it is like a memory to be remembered.
____THE END____