Martin Rauch is recruited by the HVA to infiltrate the West Germany army. As a rookie spy, his decisions constantly put his cover at risk and force his agency to take extreme measures.

Set in a divided Germany in 1983, during a peak period for Cold War tensions between East and West. Martin Rauch, a wide-eyed 24-year-old East German soldier plucked from obscurity, goes undercover as a West German soldier for the East German Secret Service.

Set in 1983, a 24 year old East German border guard is forcibly recruited by his government to pose as an assistant to a prominent West German official in order to gather intelligence regarding US plans to defend the West from Soviet aggression.

Interesting look back to the height of the cold war, taking place mostly in West Germany, but from an East German perspective. Spying under duress, partly out of conviction, partly for personal reasons, this young East German is at the epicenter of the mounting arms race. There is a mix of very real fear of their people being in danger, but also a questioning of both ideologies. Produced in Germany and spoken in German, with English subtitles.

DEUTSCHLAND 83 is a gripping coming-of-age story set against the real culture wars and political events of Germany in the 1980s. The drama follows Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay) as the 24 year-old East Germany native is pulled from the world as he knows it and sent to the West as an undercover spy for the Stasi foreign service. Hiding in plain sight in the West German army, he must gather the secrets of NATO military strategy. Everything is new, nothing is quite what it seems and everyone he encounters is harboring secrets, both political and personal.—Hans Dampf