his face tense, then eases as he looks around.
he is sitting upright on top of his bunk, watching what galt has keltner doing, a look of disgust passes his face as he turns away from what he'd been watching and gets busy with his papers and figuring again.
the mud splatters over his face. he cries out. his hands go to his eyes instinctively. he kneels there, rocking back and forth in misery. then from o.s., we hear a tiny, tentative laugh -- the tiniest laugh ever heard. helmut looks up quickly. he isn't sure that he heard it.
he is puzzled. then again he hears the laugh o.s. he turns slowly to look behind him.
he looks uncertainly at the youngster. is the child ridiculing him, too? he leans over the mud puddle and looks at his reflection. he likes what he sees. the mud on his face looks almost like a primitive clown mask. very deliberately helmut scoops up more mud and puts a blob of it on the end of his nose. he waits for the child's reaction.
as he lands, he quickly glances off towards his barracks, but from the look of disappointment on his face, we know that none of his barracks mates are watching. when he hears more laughter from o.s., he quickly rolls on his side to look.
as the "fly" lands on his nose. he looks cross-eyed at the mud blob, then swats at it. the blob falls off.
he bows again, and as his head comes up he looks o.s. toward his barracks, still hoping that someone will be watching his "great" success. when he turns back to the children, we see that he continues to smile -- while tears course down his cheeks through the mud still caked on them.
he lies in a heap on the floor, his face swollen from a severe beating.
near tears with emotion, he wavers. then with great control.
with a great effort, he composes himself and throws open the door.
with each step, helmut looks about, his eyes searching heaven, praying for the miracle that will save the children.  the sudden blast of thunder, the striking down of the guards.
despair fills his eyes as he realizes that there is to be no miracle. he looks ahead into the room, his courage fails him and he stops so abruptly that the children behind him run into his legs. he turns and looks at them, then back to the door.
his face is pressed against the steel door. he fights the panic within him. then, he quickly wipes his eyes and turns back towards the children. slowly he takes three chunks of stale bread from his coat pocket and begins juggling them, at the same time waggling his head from side to side, slowly at first, then more gaily. from deep inside him comes a tiny, tiny laugh. the camera pulls back slowly to reveal the children in the f.g. suddenly, helmut tosses the pieces of bread high, high into the air and stretches out his arms to encompass all the children. as they gather around him, they take up his soft laugh, timidly at first, then more assuredly until the chamber resounds with gentle laughter.