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The story begins in the early 1930s in Limbach, a small industrial village in Saxony suffering a severe depression; most people are out of work. A young boy lives with his mother and grandparents in a small apartment. The boy's grandfather, Karl Hofmann narrates silent movies at the local Apollo cinema. The job pays poorly and is largely unnecessary, as the films have subtitles and audiences are quite small, but Karl sees himself as an artist. Obsessed to the point of megalomania, he is convinced that only his explanation will make the movies accessible to the ever-shrinking audience.
Soon the "talkies" arrive, and Karl is explaining only two films per week. He argues with the Jewish theater owner and loses his job altogether. No longer an "artist," Karl loses his sense of purpose and joins the Nazi Party - the first step toward his horrible end.
