ABSTRACT
The scene is an idyllic one. A middle-aged couple is enjoying a picnic in the warmth of the early summer, the grass is long and lush, cliffs rear in the background and the sea shines blue. After a few seconds a caption appears, ‘England May 1940’, indicating that the England of this idyll is at war, although the couple seems oblivious of this as he takes a photograph of her. The action is witnessed by an ARP warden1 passing on his bike. This summer scene is abruptly interrupted: it is now night-time, and torches cut through the darkness, their bearers unidentifiable. The couple are awakened from their sleep by loud knocks at the door. The man is identified as Thomas Kramer (David Horovitch), and he and his wife, Elsie (Elizabeth Bell), are being interned under the terms of a law restricting the movement of potential enemy aliens. The couple are taken to what looks like a police station and questioned separately. Their every action seems suspicious: washing on the line can be signalling to the enemy; cameras are prohibited for aliens with a ‘B’ classification; chess moves sent in a letter to a friend might be secret code. They are taken to an internment camp, a warehouse, along with several dozen others. They are forcibly separated on arrival and Elsie is in evident distress. The camera precedes her as she stumbles into the building and then collapses. She later dies.
