Original subtitles

[Medwin Harris] Previously on Washington Black...

What did I do wrong?

-Go back inside! -Don't leave me, please!

You are ballast, Wash.

And that's all you've ever been.

Ballast.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[George Washington "Wash" Black] Come back, please!

[Older Wash] It's a machine I want to build.

Change the way people travel the world.

Then that's what you gon' do.

I don't need you to fly.

You, Titch, Mr. Wilde.

None of you.

You have the aquarium.

Now, I'm going to build my flying machine,

on my own, on my terms.

"George Washington."

[Tanna Goff] Kit died the third of March, 1830.

She was your mother, Wash.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[insects warbling]

[foliage rustling]

[♪ tense music playing]

[grunting]

-[wood rattling] -[shield hitting ground]

[♪ tense music playing]

[quietly muttering]

[exhales sharply]

Boy.

[group chattering softly]

Little one, don't wander away from home again.

Our people have enemies.

[Big Kit] Time to go. We are too close to the border.

Give them a moment.

This is as close as they will come.

We are the shield and spear of the king.

Motherhood is not for us, huh?

[singing in Fongbe]

[Esi chuckles]

What eats you?

Esi...

do you believe there's more for those like us?

You're not content?

-Are you? -I am.

Do not know if I believe that.

[clicking tongue] Would I lie?

To spare me trouble...

yes.

Then you already know where this unrest you feel can lead.

-[♪ dramatic, pensive music playing] -[Esi clicks tongue]

Debrief the squad. I'll be back.

You go there again?

You know, best friends don't hide things, huh?

Generals...

keep secrets.

Ah, very well, "General."

Don't let this secret bite you in the bum,

since we know who will have to bandage you up.

And that is not a little bum, huh?

Be sure you know what you are doing.

Always.

[♪ gentle music playing]

[Big Kit] I have missed you.

[speaker] And I you.

More beautiful than the day I give you.

I need you everywhere in my life.

Beyond this place.

Am I a fool for wanting the impossible?

[speaker] Close your eyes.

Come with me.

[exhaling slowly]

[♪ gentle music continues]

[♪ epic music playing]

[Tanna] Wash.

[whispering] Sorry.

[clearing throat]

[sighs] I left her in that place.

Um...

[sighs]

I need to get out of here.

[Gaius] Wash, let me explain about Kit. Please.

-Wash. -Why did she lie to me?

I'm sorry you didn't know the truth before she was gone.

She thought it was best for you.

She didn't want anything to stop you if you had a chance to escape Faith.

So, she told us not to tell you.

When Master Titch asked me, I had to tell him the truth.

She did it because she loved you.

More than anything.

Titch knew Kit was my mother?

[Gaius] Yes.

[♪ somber music playing]

[Wash grunts]

[♪ somber music continues]

[wind softly blowing]

Ogun...

Yemoja...

carry her to peaceful grass...

and cool water.

Carry her home.

I take your face with me.

[door opening]

[sighs]

Do you remember your mother's face?

N-not enough of it.

[Tanna sighs] Now, this has been a trying day

and you've barely eaten a bite.

Come with me, and we'll change and get some supper.

[Wash breathes deeply]

[wind blowing]

[people chattering]

[horse nickering and whinnying]

Wash.

You are the son of an Agoji warrior.

Kit's real name was Nawi.

I come from Dahomey, the same place as your mother.

But she served the king, which was far above my station.

This...

is everything I know about her

and the village where she's from.

Where you are from.

[Wash sighs]

Can I go there?

To her village?

You can. You should.

And there's one more thing.

The other brother with whom you departed Faith

on a flying machine...

He's long presumed dead.

Yes. We all thought that.

But this arrived a few months ago.

[Wash] It's from Titch.

-He's alive? -Yes.

In Morocco.

-Oh. -I thought you would want to know.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[♪ lively, stirring music playing]

[people chattering]

[chattering continues]

-[goats bleating] -[coins jingling]

Does gravity not seem gentler?

Yes. [chuckles]

-This is not Nova Scotia. -Yes, nor London.

Oh, look, Wash.

For the Wind-Sailer's cabin.

[Wash] Uh, the Wind-Sailer? [chuckles softly]

[Tanna] Yes, that is the name I've given to your flying machine.

You have that much faith in me?

It will fly.

And sail.

-[goats bleating] -[people chattering]

[Wash] Perhaps we'll also need a lantern.

[chuckles]

We can't acquire too much.

We have a long journey still.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[camel grunting]

[Wash] We shouldn't be far from the town where Titch sent the letters.

[mechanism clicking]

[mechanism continues clicking]

I am alright, Tanna.

I don't know why you have to find him.

A man who abandons a child is not worthy of our time.

What has Titch ever brought to you but hurt and pain?

-Uh... [sighs] -We should build your Wind-Sailer,

and then travel south to your mother's village.

[speaking Arabic]

Give Titch back to the dead, where he belongs.

I have to know why.

Why did he lie to me about my mother?

[♪ stirring, sprawling music playing]

[grunting and spitting]

[Christopher "Titch" Wilde] Blasted thing. [sighs]

Mm.

[grunts]

Can I help you?

Hello, Titch.

[♪ dramatic, pensive music playing]

My God.

George Washington Black.

[chuckles] Is that you?

[Tanna] I'm going to step outside so the two of you can talk.

[kisses]

[tent flapping in breeze]

Well, if she's anything to go by,

you've done rather well for yourself, Wash.

Perhaps we've crossed our own Delaware at last, eh?

-You don't get to do that. -Do what?

The jokes, the humor,

the little rhetorical games of avoidance.

Very well, what game shall we play then?

[Wash scoffs]

"Game," he calls it.

Doesn't the moment feel at all familiar, Titch?

-I'm sorry? -Virginia.

Edgar Farrow's basement near 10 years ago.

You had just found out your father was alive,

and you had the pressing need to go to him, to ask questions, to--

To prove that I was the better man.

Is that why you've come, Wash? To prove you're the better man?

I have no questions on that score.

-Ouch. -But I do come bearing other queries.

-[Titch sighing] -[tools rattling]

Less existential and simpler.

So formal, George Washington Black.

For a moment there, I almost confused you for my father.

The old boy was always quite the interrogator.

-[Wash] Let's start with why. -Why what?

Why did you leave me?

-Wash-- -No, why did you pick me

in the first damn place?!

Why did you take me from my mother, leaving her to die abandoned by her child?

Can I show you what I have out the back?

What?

There's something I simply must show you.

[Titch breathing shakily]

Really, Titch?

The answer's back there tossing about in the sand?

In a manner of speaking.

But perhaps it's not the answer, but it may be an answer.

Come.

Hurry up, Wash!

[Wash breathing heavily]

This is it, Wash! My masterpiece.

The raison d'etre. [laughing]

The place where all the rivers have been leading.

-[banging] -[people chattering]

[banging continues]

[Titch chuckles]

What?

What are you thinking?

The moon, Wash.

It is within my grasp.

The very moon I showed you so long ago in the scope?

[giggling] Imagine!

[Wash sighs]

This is futile, Titch.

Nonsense. She will fly high.

You can't generate enough power.

The Earth will pull you back to her bosom.

Fancy ourself the master now, do we, Wash?

Look, I'm not in a contest, Titch.

That was always your bailiwick.

[Titch laughing]

There you go again.

You really do sound like the old boy once did.

This won't get you his approval.

-What are you going on about? -This.

All of this.

It's the Cloud Cutter again, Titch.

You can't let your father go, your futile chase for his approval.

Even though he's dead.

You're stuck, Titch.

And what the hell do you know of it?!

How can you stand there and ask that of me?

Are you that blind?

-Help me. -No.

-No. -Help me again, Wash.

-What do you think-- -Help me fly!

And what do you think will happen then? Hm?

You fly high enough for him to see you?

-In a manner of speaking. -Titch.

There is only one way for your father to see you again.

[scoffs] Is that it?

Do you want to die?

Is that the fate you chase?

[Titch chuckling]

Best leave off the question of my fate and consider your own.

How many times would you have died but not for my hand?

[chuckles] Who snatched you from slavery's grasp?

Perhaps this was a mistake.

Wait. Wash, Wash, please!

I...

I-- I am not myself of late.

The open desert is a lonely place.

The contemplation it invites is often unsparing.

-Forgive me. -[scoffs]

Even the most illuminated of Englishmen

doesn't appreciate being challenged by one like myself.

Surely, you can't believe that of me.

When it comes to you, how would I know what to believe, Titch?

Wash!

What?

It shames me to ask a thing of you

when I have failed so utterly at giving you the answers that you seek.

But...

there is something I must know.

[scoffs, chuckles]

Same old Titch.

Always about something you need, something you want.

-You're the only one who can do it. -Do what?

Tell me of my father's end.

I came across his obituary in an old RSL journal.

An anonymous, cold missive. [chuckles softly]

What a way to find out. Yet, how entirely fitting.

-You were with him, weren't you-- -I owe you nothing!

I owe you nothing.

[sighs]

[Mr. James Wilde] I do have words for my son

that I wished I'd shared.

I wish to share them with you in his stead.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[sighs]

I saw your father die.

Your brother take his last breath.

But even now...

I don't hate you enough...

to see you end up like them.

So, I will give you the words your father spoke at the end.

Words he wished he'd told you.

[labored breathing]

[Mr. Wilde] Live life for yourself.

"Surrender it to no one.

Not even to those who might break you."

Your father loved you, Titch, but didn't want you to live for him.

[chuckles softly]

[whimpering]

Thank you.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[lips smacking]

Is something wrong?

[Wash softly chuckles]

My world is in near perfect alignment.

What could be wrong?

Near perfect, you say?

[Wash softly chuckles]

-Mm. -Mm-mm.

What would close this gap?

To know that I'm yours.

And you are mine.

Inside a forever as long as the stars shine,

as deep as ocean's blue...

Tanna Goff...

[sighs] will you marry me?

[both laughing]

[♪ soft music playing]

[both moaning]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Wash] Three, perhaps four months,

we shall be airborne.

[people chattering]

[Wash chuckles]

[♪ bright music playing]

[lever cranking]

[clanking, grinding]

[♪ bright music continues]

[metal squeaking]

[metal squeaking]

[mechanism grinding]

-[♪ bright music continues] -[people chattering]

[wheel grinding]

[worker blowing]

-[hammering] -[mechanism clicking]

[people chattering]

[worker] It's ready!

-[flame whooshing] -[worker] Get back! Back!

[both chuckling]

[mechanisms warbling and hissing]

[liquid bubbling]

[mechanism grinding]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

-[Tanna humming] -[Wash chuckles]

[mechanisms hissing]

[water splashing]

[♪ ethereal music playing]

[birdsong]

[wildebeest grunting]

[elephant trumpeting]

[hoofbeats]

[people chattering]

[grunting]

[person speaking Fongbe]

Ahossi!

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[air hissing]

Eya!

[warriors grunting, snapping shields]

[♪ tense music playing]

[ramp creaking, thuds]

[Wash sighs]

[birds chirping]

Stop.

Around your neck. Who gave you?

You would know her as Nawi.

[♪ gentle music playing]

-You bring her face with you. -[Wash chuckles softly]

You are her son?

[Esi speaking Fongbe]

[warriors gasping]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

-Eh! -[Wash chuckles]

[warriors ululating]

[Wash chuckles]

-[birdsong] -[water lapping]

Do you know of my father?

I never met him.

Your mother used to come meet him here.

Her secret she held in her heart.

I remember thinking the way Nawi spoke of him...

-Hm? -This man,

he sounded like Nyame himself.

God of sky and water.

Truthfully?

What is truth and what is not in this world of ours, boy?

Huh?

This place is a truth.

It's beauty, it's purpose.

[Wash] Hm.

The kind of place a sky god might take refuge.

Find love on the banks of the water.

-Yes. -[both laugh]

She always said water has no enemies.

-Mm. -Only friends.

Only friends.

Why did she have to find a refuge?

She wanted what could not be for warriors like us.

A child.

She gave up everything for you.

Everything.

[sighs]

[Esi] A baby?

Please, Nawi, tell me you're joking.

This.

[people chattering in distance]

Eh.

[Nawi chuckles]

[chuckles] Eh.

-[Nawi shushing] -[Esi laughing]

[people chattering in distance]

[Nawi gasps]

[Esi gasps]

[Nawi laughing]

[sighs]

God...

-But how will you-- -Baby is mine to keep, Esi.

No matter the consequences.

Yes, my general.

Yes, my friend.

[both laughing softly]

-[exhales sharply] -[horn blowing]

-It is time for the King's inspection. -Yes.

[people chattering in distance]

[♪ melancholy music playing]

[sighs deeply]

[sighs]

[♪ unsettling music playing]

[birds squawking]

-Ahossi! -[all grunting]

[horn blowing]

[♪ tense music playing]

What have you done?

You belong to me!

I belong...

to no one.

[knife dropping]

-[wood banging] -[spitting]

-[grunting] -No!

If you are no longer mine, then she is no longer ours.

Send her to the white man.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[guard] Secure.

-[water babbling] -[Dahomey warriors humming]

[Tanna groaning]

[singing in Fongbe]

-[Tanna breathing deeply] -[Esi] Yes.

Look at me. Look at me.

You're power. You are power.

-Breathe, breathe. -[exhaling sharply]

-[Tanna groaning] -[Esi] Yes. You can do it. You can do it.

[Wash] I'm sorry, could... Could I?

-Eh. -[Esi] Your strength.

It's fine.

[Esi] Breathe, breathe.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[softly laughing]

[♪ dramatic music continues]

[Wash] All the trouble it meant.

All you gave up.

Why did you even have me?

I loved you from the moment I felt your heart beat inside me, boy.

No trouble could outweigh that.

Why didn't you tell me?

[Big Kit/Nawi] Better the hurt of not knowing...

than the hurt of being torn from your mother.

The day you were born,

it broke me to bring you into this place.

It broke me to leave you there.

But I found hope.

And I brought you under my roof.

And the proof of that faith stands before me

in our homeland...

[laughing] ...soon to be a father.

[laughter echoing]

How proud I am of you.

[echoing deep breaths]

How blessed.

[Big Kit/Nawi laughs]

[Wash] Kit.

Mother.

[♪ dramatic music continues]

[Wash sobbing]

[Big Kit/Nawi sighs deeply]

[Tanna yelling]

[Esi] Yes, that was so strong.

-One more, one more. -[Tanna panting]

[Esi] One more. That was so strong.

You're so strong.

-[water lapping] -[indistinct whispering]

[women continue singing in Fongbe]

[laughter echoing]

-Okay. For the baby. -[Tanna grunting]

Yes, one more push. One more push.

-Yes, yes. -[Tanna squealing]

[Tanna yelping]

[baby crying]

That's it! That's it!

[Tanna gasping]

[baby continues crying]

Hey.

[Esi laughing]

[baby continues crying]

-[♪ dramatic music playing] -[Wash sighs]

[Tanna panting]

-[Tanna laughing] -Oh.

[chuckling]

-[Tanna laughing] -[Esi] Your child.

Wow. [laughing]

[whispering] It's a girl.

[breathing deeply]

[laughing]

Oh, she's so beautiful. She's so beautiful.

-What will we call her? -[Tanna laughs]

Hello, Nawi.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Nawi.

Hello, Nawi.

[baby whining]

[people chattering and shouting]

[Tanna] Goodbye! Thank you!

Bye-bye!

Are you ready for our next adventure, my wife?

Hm?

I think I am, husband.

What about you, Nawi?

-Yes, are you ready? -Are you ready?

-[Nawi cooing] -Yeah!

-She's ready. -[both laugh]

-Fly. -Fly.

[Pana speaking Inuktitut]

Fly.

[♪ dramatic music continues]

Fly.

Fly.

[laughing]

[dolphins chittering]

Fly.

[people chattering and laughing]

[Tanna] Let's go.

[Tanna grunting]

-[Wash indistinct] -[laughing]

-Oh, my! -[both laughing]

Fly... my son.

[Wash chuckles]

[♪ gentle music playing]

[pages fluttering]

[♪ whimsical music playing]

♪♪

[♪ music fades out]

[♪ fanfare playing]