Plot

Summer 1944, Schwäbisch Hall. Against the war propaganda and the ordered heroism, the five 16 year old boys of the swimming pool group dream about swing music, sex and freedom. And they also dream about Lore, the helper from Fliegerhorst, who gets looks from all the boys in her red swimming suit. At the same time they realize there is no chance they can escape the horror at the front. Lore tells them "Remain alive", but Zungenkuss dies first and more won't make it through the war alive.—Rune Thandy

Summer 1944, Schwäbisch Hall. As the Nazi propaganda can't hide the east front breaking down and upkeep the heroism cult, the 16 year-old schoolboys dream by the pool of a regular peacetime life with swing music, freedom and Lore, the foxy Luftwaffe auxiliary play girl. Buddies Onkel, Knuffke, Bubu, Zungenkuss and Hosenmacher fear rightly they won't escape the bloody horror of a virtually lost war, as a violent hook-hand SS veteran's muster team forcibly recruits all town boys for Hitler's depleted fanatical elite corps by abusive force. Despite a bombardment wrecking the administration, the survivors are soon enlisted to dig absurd defenses only to suffer further traumatizing buddy casualties; Zungenkuss and Hosenmacher. Burly Knuffke returns from hiding in the French Vogese range while his diving partner Onkel and even younger Bubu survive fleeing from the front without being caught and shot as deserters. The next summer, under US occupation, all gang survivors including Knuffke, who sort of joined the allies, reunite at the pool, marked by different war traumas. Gunda, the harlot of corrupt US intelligence McKee, also Knuffke's lover, warns Onkel -whose neck Knuffke.saves- his mate must leave before he's eliminated as loose end, making conflicting loyalties culminate, with a hidden army revolver turning up to raise the stakes.—KGF Vissers