Lothar Warneke, one ofthe German Democratic Republic's leading directors, has fashioned anaffecting, often humorous allegory of conflicting passions in the newEast German state circa 1950. Christianity and Communism battle it outin the relatively safe surroundings of a Magic Mountain-styletuberculosis sanitarium, where no one must get too excited. An avidyoung People's Commissar, one Josef Heiliger (the name means Saint),finds himself rooming with a Protestant vicar, Hubertus Koschenz. Oneman hangs a picture of Stalin above his bed, the other an image ofChrist; one hums the "Internationale," the other "AMighty Fortress Is Our God"; one is hopelessly serious, the otherseriously hopeful. But both are doomed by the same disease, and beyondtheir heated skirmishes (which involve the whole sanitarium) is amessage of detente made literal: their fates lie in one another's hands.The film, which debuted at the Berlin Film Festival '88, features fineperformances by Jörg Pose as "the Saint" and ManfredMöck as his saintly foil. Pose and Möckshared the Best Actor award at the Berlin International Film Festival'88, where the film also was awarded a Jury Commendation.