Four Sons

Frau Bernle, a Bavarian widow, tends her hearth where the scent of baking bread mingles with her sons' laughter. Her universe is bounded by family dinners and the Alpine slopes outside. Yet the gales of history scatter this peace: three sons don the Kaiser's uniform, while the fourth, chasing a brighter future, sails for America. The looming war threatens to pit brother against brother from opposing trenches, tearing a mother's heart asunder. The film evolves from a family portrait into a poignant metaphor for a generation—and a continent—irrevocably split.