Original subtitles

Can I come out now?

Yes.

Can I? - Yes.

Stand up, Wulff.

The plantations are blossoming.

So nicely.

Flitsbue.

Tell me again what the King said. - "We have read your coffee proposition."

"Your excellent ideas must become a reality in Africa."

"You shall give us a garden instead of a graveyard."

My Flitsbue.

You are coming back.

My girl, Flitsbue -

- my light.

On Thursday the 3rd of June in the year of Our Lord 1836 -

- at four in the afternoon -

- I first set foot upon Danish territory.

I sank rather than stepped ashore.

I do not know what to expect from the Danish negroes.

For so long, they have met nothing but missionary lunatics.

They have missed out on every European progress.

The blacks are now plentiful on the coast -

- after we banned the negro trade.

This place shall no longer be a disgrace -

- but rise from the surf as a most exquisite garden -

- the King's garden.

White man! Bright man! Long live...! - Long live me. Thank you.

Handsome man!

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.

And the Earth was formless and empty. Formless and empty.

Darkness was over the surface of the deep.

But the spirit of God, Nyan Kupon, hovered above the waters.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Heaven. Earth.

God.

Fetch water from the river!

And God saw that the light was good.

And He separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light Day and the darkness Night.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart -

- and with all your soul and all your might.

Let these words that I tell you today remain in your hearts.

Denmark for the Danes.

Dear Flitsbue.

We begin our day by turning the soil -

- after I have burnt off the overgrown plantations.

There is a considerable workforce down here -

- belonging solely to Denmark.

The slaves have no right of property -

- as they themselves are property.

I have my own little slave, Lumpa.

He is as silent as the grave.

I think he understands my every word.

He follows me like a shadow.

The very nature of time is different down here, Flitsbue.

It spirals around itself in a way unknown to us.

Darker, more cryptic. Ingrown.

But even the shadows are children of the light.

The heart of the Danish trading post.

Christiansborg.

It lies there like a stranded whale, smiling and flashing its ugly teeth.

Teeth that have eaten and drunk too much.

A memory of something no one remembers any longer.

This coast seems to be washed up by the sea.

Suppurating and drowsy.

All the botanists I thought I would meet down here are dead.

As though bad luck follows those who dare to visit tropical Africa.

But I remain optimistic.

Careful with that one.

That is a Rhamnus lotus.

Put that one over there.

We'll establish these plantations using water from the river in a fork-like pattern -

- and with the plants lined up like this.

The water flows from the river and down into the plants.

Do you see?

You plant the seedlings three feet apart.

One, two, three...

Understood? - Yes!

I see that you write letters.

Yes. I have my fiancé waiting for me at home.

Why did you come here alone?

I am here to get the plantations running. It is a short-term position of one year.

Then back for my wedding in Copenhagen.

Do you not feel a duty to impart your knowledge? Surely a year is not enough.

I am doing the best I can. - But you must take part in creation itself.

With all due respect, surely more than your plants demand your attention?

What about the natives?

Thank you.

And you? - God has given me a task similar to yours.

To sow the seeds of salvation so the message of God may be spread.

We want to establish Bible schools on our way through Africa.

And we are expecting a new life ourselves. - I see.

Congratulations on your wife's delicate condition.

It is generous indeed to care for the natives -

- but feeding and converting all of Africa...

Is this not a lost cause? - There is hope for all of God's children.

Right honourable governor.

Please allow me to present you with this medallion...

Councillor Lucas Dall himself?

The King's special envoy Wulff Frederik Wulff?

Yes. Honored.

Thank you for the invitation. - Welcome.

Welcome.

Dall. - Governor.

Right honourable governor. It is indeed an honor to meet you.

Please allow me to present you with this medallion -

- as a gift from His Majesty...

A gift from King Frederik VI... Has anyone seen a medallion?

I had it before we came to dinner.

We found this in his pocket.

Don't do that again, Lumpa.

It is regrettable that so soon after your arrival -

- you should be the victim of such thievishness.

It is embarrassing.

Is that really necessary?

Do not worry, Wulff.

The special feature of the Negro is that he is unable to feel pain.

It is a proven fact.

Well...

Fear must be instilled in the Negro.

We ought to spread a more caring message. We owe them a lot.

Spoken by a soul unfamiliar with the Coast. - Compassion is God's greatest gift.

For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks -

- slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit.

Children of slaves should be born free.

They just need tolerable conditions.

It is unnecessary to ship them to plantations in the West Indies -

- when we can use them in the plantations right here.

Although the law forbids us to sell slaves, we can still make good use of those we have.

At St. Croix I have observed firsthand -

- how the proposed stud farm of negroes has collapsed.

It is sad to see how we are failing our brothers across the Atlantic.

The negroes are like fungus. They shoot out of the ground.

You speak like a slave trader.

Let us all remember our fatherland.

The land of the falcon, the hawk and the butterflies.

Cheers.

To the governor! The best governor Christiansborg has had is you, Mørch!

You are a credit to Denmark.

A toast to little Wulff!

To you, Wulff!

A breath of fresh air from Europe.

May our plantations prosper. - Cheers, Governor.

I must sit down.

Move!

I have made new acquaintances down here.

One is councillor Dall, a hardened man of the coast -

- whose influence is great as he has been here longest.

My next acquaintance calls himself Herbst.

A flamboyant character who loves weapons and the company of women.

They are my new friends due to the poor selection here.

Then there is the governor, Mørch. A beautiful and particular soul.

He loves truth and progress.

We all lead a somewhat ascetic and correct life down here.

Come on.

Good morning!

The plantations...

The natives are destroying them.

Wulff. Come here.

Cheer up.

I am sure that with your abilities and your talent you can make it blossom again.

The Ashantis...

The Ashanti king is a very unpleasant visitor.

He has twice tried to kill all white people on this coast.

During the latest Ashanti war shortly before your arrival -

- they destroyed all the plantations on the coast for the umpteenth time.

They cut the heads off an entire ducal family right below this fort.

The Ashantis are mad.

That is why we tried to warn you. - Nobody tried to warn me of that.

Surely someone can talk to them. - Richter.

Henrik Richter. He trades with them.

Quite a substantial merchant in Guinea. He resides at our old fort, Prinsensten.

One of our abandoned bastions to the east. Perhaps he could talk some sense into them.

It is a two-day journey through the jungle in a hammock chair.

Herbst, escort Wulff out there with the kind assistance of the slaves.

Godspeed, my friend.

Come here!

Herbst. Aren't we leaving?

You wear the scent of Denmark. Of innocence.

It will soon vanish.

Welcome to the graveyard of ambitions.

Imagine this, Wulff.

A thousand men on each side.

With swords and clubs, smashing each other's sculls.

Danish negroes against Swedish negroes, blood cascading...

The things that I have seen in this godforsaken country.

Things happen here that you will never see anywhere else.

You know what they say, Herbst. - Do you understand what I am saying?

No one walks under palm trees unpunished. - Exactly!

Look up, or you end up looking down. - The words of Alexander von Humboldt.

Who the hell is Humboldt? - The scientist who measured everything.

He is the father of geography. - Humboldt would not last twelve days here.

We have come all the way from Christiansborg.

We want to talk to Richter.

Richter's house, Richter's rules.

Dear precious and beloved Flitsbue.

The plantations are still at an early stage.

They have been destroyed. My work has been obstructed -

- mainly by the Ashanti tribe.

A merchant by the name of Henrik Richter has helped me.

He has persuaded the Ashantis to stop their absurd vandalism.

A new sky, Flitsbue. A new Earth.

New flowers and plants.

I roam the country, filling up my herbarium.

Every day I walk out with my magnifying glass.

I complete the work of von Linné by including these areas.

I have already named several flowers after you.

I cannot sit here any longer.

I shall walk. Thank you.

You had better sit, Wulff. The soil is unhealthy.

Herbst, tell me a little of this Richter, please.

A happy story! Despite the remoteness of his location, he subscribes to The Times.

He has built his great kingdom on the palm oil trade.

The Ashantis won't give you more problems. - Herbst...

What now? - A small halt here. Five minutes only.

A flower? - Yes.

Very briefly, then. - Follow me.

You see the one up there, the red plant? Can you get it?

- Do you know Thonning and Isert? - You speak of nothing else.

Thonning has made some remarkable discoveries here. This part of Africa -

- hides so many treasures. So many parts of this forest remain unexplored.

Keep going! Do you see the red flower?

Give me the gun. You see that yellow flower?

Get it.

This is a treasure chest.

Now look at this.

It goes into my system. Where is my herbarium negro?

Europe seems like a museum. A footnote. A trifle.

Very few people at home have a true understanding of the wondrous forests -

- which span the globe in the wide equatorial belt.

Everything happens here.

Nature is her festive self.

She communicates with all living things who respond with a symphony of nature.

Nature smiles at those who see.

Only humans cry.

Here is where nature is childish and wise. In a primary state.

Here all knowledge lies hidden.

But the population here in no way measures up to the forest surrounding them.

Not good enough! Keep going!

The natives are blind, deaf, mute.

They smile, gaze, dig. They don't get it.

We are using the force of gravity. This is crucial.

We lead the rainwater from up here down into our plantations.

Understand? Good.

Do you see that the stones we have placed help the water along? Do you see?

What? Do you see? - Yes.

You have to imagine that these are the arteries of the plantation.

They run through and distribute the water all the way -

- to our plants. Like a hand.

This is how the water must run in our plantation, giving life to the plants.

May I see your wrists?

May I? - Yes.

This royal promotion means that I can finally ask your father for your hand.

I know.

But you will be here when I wake up?

Maybe.

It needs love. Your love.

You plant it in the soil like this.

Slowly. That's right.

Then you cover the roots.

I have brought these plants all the way from Copenhagen.

They are the property of King Frederik VI of Denmark.

This is a royal plantation -

- and it's your responsibility.

You are now in the King's employ. Understand?

Yes!

Embrace this child, Lord.

I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son -

- and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

How old are you?

Eight? Nine?

Eleven. Are you eleven?

How old do you think I am?

Yes. I am a very old man.

Twenty-eight years.

Everything circles.

We are born. We are loved.

Then we learn to love. Then we loose the ones we love.

Finally we disappear.

I have discovered that my slave boy is clever.

Suddenly it struck me. As though he knows something no one else knows.

Lumpa shows me places and I try to set him free by giving him responsibility.

I sense that the arcs of the circles are no longer closed, but open.

I see spirals in everything.

It is the shape of love. From the conch to the galaxy.

Everything revolves around its own origin.

I see a pattern, ever-expanding, but at the same time deepening within.

A moment latching on to the next. And the next.

Outward. And inward.

Come here.

God is love. Whoever stays in love, stays in God.

And God stays in him.

This is how love is made complete within us. As He is, so are we in this world.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear -

- because fear has to do with punishment.

Their souls are unfolding.

The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because He loved us first.

If anyone says, "I love God", but hates his brother, then he is a liar.

If he does not love his brother, whom he has seen -

- he cannot love God, whom he has not seen. This is a command we have from Him.

He who loves God must also love his brother.

Our Father...

But I believe...

I am inspired, you see, by a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

The lake should be here at the top of the mountain.

The irrigation channels should be carved out in circles, just like the shell of a snail.

And then you plant along them all the way down.

The geometry of nature is much more beautiful, much deeper -

- and more true than the one created by man.

Why this friendliness when we look at it?

It is much more friendly. It makes you want to...

It seems fertile.

It makes much more sense. Right, Lumpa?

I think so.

Don't forget...

Do not forget all the ties inside you.

All the things a child knows, but forgets as it grows up.

Do not forget this.

It is beautiful.

This? This one? You want to look at this one too?

Back in Copenhagen a girl is waiting for me.

Her name is Eleonora -

- but I call her Flitsbue.

She is the light of my life.

One day, Pakwazi, you might become a great scientist.

Yes, "D".

"Den...

... mark."

Shall I read to you?

Dear precious and beloved Flitsbue.

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

But the chains were created by us.

All the inhumanity has been created by humans.

The idiot... the damned fool who first fenced in a piece of land -

- and said: This, this belongs to me.

If only one person had pulled the fenceposts up and cried to his brothers:

Do not listen to this fraud!

You are lost if you forget that the fruits belong to everyone -

- and the earth itself to no one.

What is the world without music?

Without love?

You must learn to love.

You must learn to love Mozart.

One, two, three, four...

Galileo says that the world is written in a mathematical language of its own.

Without this language, we wander in a dark labyrinth.

We must exit that darkness.

The true way to peace, knowledge, bliss -

- everything is found in nature.

Nature knows so much more about survival on this planet than we do.

I say to you: Go and be with the flowers.

That is all for today.

I see the world becoming younger and younger day by day.

Every blossoming is a rejuvenation of things.

Fresh shoots and sprouts replace the withering.

And the world will never be younger than tomorrow -

- than tomorrow -

- than tomorrow.

A worm has taken up residence in my body.

Everything seems so full of life that the thought of death should fade -

- if not the look of both locals and Europeans attests to the opposite.

Time forces its way down here -

- and leave a mark on us all.

But the bite marks left by life capture my interest.

I wish to decipher what number system the cuckoo's calling follows.

Hello, young lady.

And death has a system that I also want to learn.

What is wrong?

I have them too. My legs hurt too.

I think we suffer from the same thing.

Do not worry.

The coast of Africa, January 1837.

Here in these slave dungeons we let entire families die, hand in hand.

I see it clearly now. I see the Gold Coast.

What have we done?

A graveyard where all the graves are missing.

The freedom and equality between people has been lost -

- as reason developed.

This is the ultimate point which closes the circle.

Here you are nothing -

- because you are robbed of everything and you follow no other law -

- than the will of the ruler.

A slave embarkation.

I have seen a slave embarkation.

Down there...

A slave...

Believe me.

Come here.

It is the fever.

The nations here have adopted a resolution.

The trade in human beings is no longer practiced.

I saw it. I saw myself how -

- the slaves were chained together, how they were...

The horror... small... children...

Fever takes hold of the imagination... - No!

Wulff...

Do you know who I met last night? - No, Governor.

Napoleon Bonaparte.

Who? - Bonaparte.

Go home and sleep it off. We will talk again once you are sober.

What do you want?

Stop.

Go back.

Help!

Hello!

Richter.

We must do something! We were the first country to ban the slave trade!

It is our duty... your duty... to fight it!

You are sick!

Remove him.

This is evidence!

This negro simply proves that you are sick.

I am not... - What sane man would drag...

Slaves are being traded here in Danish Guinea!

And you are doing nothing to stop it!

Out!

You call yourself a man? - Out. Out!

Our Father, who are in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come...

Caroline is resting.

You seem so much better today. - Yes.

I am beginning to feel my strength return.

Soon I will be among the children again.

You are getting better, that is clear.

He has protected me, God has.

You are lucky. This coast tears us away one by one.

What is on your mind?

I have seen something that... I simply cannot ignore.

I have witnessed a slave embarkation right here on the beach.

Suddenly I realized what it means.

How do you see your task here on the coast, Wulff?

My task? - Yes.

I am to establish a plantation.

I think you must reconsider.

Wulff.

There are so few of your kind.

You must think beyond the task you were given.

A far greater burden rests upon your shoulders.

You see?

The children of slaves should be born free.

Governor, do you remember our talk regarding Richter and the slave trade?

I am ready to arrest Richter. Upon your order, Governor -

- I promise to put an end to it.

This shameful enterprise -

- contrary to the order against the Negro trade.

The order.

The Schimmelmann Order of 1792.

"At the commencement of the year 1803 -

- we would stop all trading in negroes by our subjects on the African coasts."

"And in any other location it may take place outside our colonies in the West Indies."

"Henceforth no Negro or Negress on the Coast or in other foreign parts -

- may be bought by any of our subjects -

- or be transported on board the ships of our subjects -

- or brought to our West Indian Isles for the purpose of sale."

"Any trade contravening this order after this time will be considered illegal."

You have my authorization.

Thank you.

I am freezing.

Freezing.

You are a good man.

Order arms!

Right about turn!

We were given our emotions so that we may sense what is good.

Our consciousness so that we can love it.

And our freedom so we can choose it.

Flitsbue, I need to act now.

Fire!

Fall back! Fall back!

Back, back!

Peace be with your dust.

I have a message from Christiansborg!

Are you insane?!

Dall sent me.

The governor is dead. Long live the governor.

It cannot be true. - It is. Mørch is dead.

All this death.

It saddens me to have to inform you that Governor Mørch has died.

I, Lucas Dall, have stepped in as interim governor.

Permission for the campaign is withdrawn.

Waste no more lives or time out there.

I want you to return to Christiansborg immediately.

The world is ours. Now. We, the living.

Think of all those who have lived and who are now dead.

We speak in languages shaped by the dead.

But the world was created for us who lives here.

Since the dawn of time -

- the world exists for us, we who are alive.

We must not give up the fight.

I am on fire. Can you feel it?

Today we are not fighting for Denmark.

We fight for your future.

The ones who will follow you. All those you will never meet.

Next!

Stay down.

On my signal.

On my signal we throw.

Number two and three. Ready?

Sit!

You will be brought to trial.

You are free now.

Thank you.

Flitsbue, I have procured passage on a ship.

I long for you so intensely. To see you on the quay again.

It must run like this. Run through you.

It must be part of you, this plantation. The plants must grow within you.

You have to feel that it is your creation.

You are part of God's master plan.

It is your plantation. Your plantation.

It does not belong to the Ashantis or King Frederik VI.

Forget everything I said.

You made this with your power and your hands.

Now you have to carry on without me.

Anything else?

Will you remember this? After I have left. Will you remember?

Will you?

May I, a humble botanist from Randers -

- have instilled enough courage in them -

- to make them realize that they do not need the white man.

The conclusion that I can draw, is that I am unfit for civil society -

- where all is bound by duty and constraint.

My independent nature denies me the submission -

- necessary for he who slavishly follow orders.

As the governor of Danish Guinea -

- I am delighted to witness the triumph -

- which Wulff and his troops have garnered on behalf of the Danish trading post!

Wulff Frederik Wulff!

For your service to the fort -

- I hereby recommend you for the Order of the Dannebrog!

Your labour proved fruitful. Finally.

Cheers.

Move it!

Faster!

Have a safe journey, Wulff. - Thank you for everything.

Push! Push!

Turn around. I am not going.

Turn the boat around! Turn the boat around!

Herbst!

Shut up!

Shut up, will you! Shut up!

Did you see her? My beloved. Did you?

My beloved! Did you see her? Did you see how beautiful she was?

Did you see her? My beloved Eleonora.

Did you see her? Eleonora...

Did you?

Did you see how beautiful she was? - Yes.

It is only me. Do not be afraid.

Do not be sad.

Shut up!

Imagine -

- we are on a stage.

Imagine that.

I am Lancelot. I am an aging man.

I am standing in front of you. You are my wild forest.

You stand in the woods, with a horse, bleeding.

After all, life was like that.

After all, life was like that.

You are in love...

I need a horse!

Can you feel it?

All kinds of people have turned out just to look at us.

We are trying to get back to the castle -

- itself of no great size.

Do you understand?

Life was like that. Standing in a woods of small trees -

- with a horse, bleeding.

You are in love.

Life was like that.

The story is true.

Thank you, Lumpa.