The Quality of Mercy (original title: Hasenjagd – Vor lauter Feigheit gibt es kein Erbarmen) is a dramatization of the events surrounding the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd, a Nazi war crime that took place near Linz, in the Mühlviertel region of Upper Austria, just before the end of the Second World War.
The film's original title translates as "Rabbit chase – for sheer cowardice, there is no mercy", a reference to the name given by the SS to the manhunt for the hundreds of prisoners who managed to escape from Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.
500 Russian soldiers, who have refused to fight for Germany after being arrested, are asleep on the floor when the wake-up-call rings.
Among the prisoners of war are Russian officers Michail and Nikolai, whose destiny serves as the central thread in the film.
The prisoners overpower the Kapos, construct shoes and weapons out of blankets and other items and say goodbye to those who are too weak for the escape.
While the tower guards are distracted with fire extinguishers and missiles, tables and chairs are piled up in front of the walls.
All available men from Volkssturm, Wehrmacht on holidays, gendarmerie and Hitler Youth participate in the chase, "felons" are not to be arrested, but killed on the spot.
Fredl Karner, looks the other way when he sees three of the fleeing Russians on the very spot where the SS leader has just delivered his speech.
The instructions to his group are unmistakable: “None of us will see or hear them, much less arrest them.” Thus, he is in direct opposition to everyone who is eagerly taking part in the chase.
As Mrs Karner makes her way to church, a couple of refugees run out of the forest, the chasers close on their heels.
Mrs. Karner attends church as usual with her youngest daughter Nanni, the two come across some Nazi soldiers who are walking in the direction of their farm.
With Spring coming, and the hasenjagd nearly forgotten, Michail and Nikolai now work at the Karner's farm and when the war ends, nobody cares that Berghammer has discovered the two Russians.
The latter juxtaposes interviews with local residents about the film and the actual history with archival footage and the eyewitness testimony of Mikhail Ribchinsky, a survivor of the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd.