All language subtitles for MARTIN SCORSESE - Present The Saints - 6 - Documentary [2025]

♪♪

-These are...
Stories of the saints.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ rattling ]

[ whistling ]

[ clanging ]

♪♪

-Aah!

[ people shouting ]

♪♪

-[ shouting ]

Raahh! Aah!

♪♪

-We know that moses the black,

As he came to be known, had an
unlikely beginning for a saint.

Around the middle
of the fourth century,

He'd become the leader of
a band of very violent outlaws

That robbed and murdered
victims in alexandria

And all along the nile valley.

♪♪

♪♪

[ all cheering ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ both moaning, panting ]

Moses led the kind of life that
can arouse revolt in the soul.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Raaahhh!

-[ groaning ]

♪♪

♪♪

-Moses?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-[ grunts ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ sighs, pants ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Moses found himself at one of
the desert communities founded

By ascetic christian monks,

Who gave away all
of their worldly possessions.

They were led by their abbot,
isidore.

Paul of thebes, who was born
in the third century,

Was known
as the first desert hermit.

He lived in a cave,

And it's said that
ravens brought him his food,

Just like elijah at kerith.

It was anthony the great,

An egyptian monk,
who started the real movement.

And this was decades
before moses arrived at scetis.

-Shh.

-[ gasps ]
-shh!

Shh. Quiet, my son.
You are with us now.

-What? What?

I...

-Take some time
to recall yourself.

Drink a bit at a time.
You have slept long and well.

-How long have I been here?

-Two days.

-What is this place?

-The desert of scetis.

-But this place where we are?

-This is an assembly
of men devoted to god.

-Huh. I've heard of you.
You are holy men.

-We are christian brothers.

-Has anyone come here
looking for me?

-No.

Why did you come to us?

-Uh, I didn't know
where I was going.

-I see.
What were you fleeing from?

-Will you give me refuge here?

-If you choose to live
among us here in the desert,

Then you must choose to live
as we do.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, christ god, bless this food
and drink of your servants,

You who are holy now
and forever,

Through the ages of ages.

Amen.

Before we eat our bread,

We must welcome this fellow
traveler who has come to us.

This man's name is moses.

-Welcome, brother moses.

-Thank you.

-Moses came to us
in a state of terrible distress.

-I will work hard
to follow the ways of god.

-There's only one way.

-The way of god.

-John, chapter eight.

-[ exhales ]

-Moses learned the rhythms and
the routines of the monastery,

And he followed them exactly.

-Therefore, I tell you,
do not worry about your life,

What you will eat or drink,

Or about your body,
what you will wear.

Is not life more than food,
and the body more than clothes?

Look at the birds of the air.

They do not sow or reap
or store away in barns,

And yet your heavenly father
feeds them.

-Moses?

Moses?!

I would like you to be
the keeper of our gospels,

Our most valuable possession.

-Why have you given me
this responsibility?

-Lord jesus christ,

Who stretched
out your hands on the cross

And whom you redeem us
with your divine blood,

Forgive us sinners,

For none of our thoughts
are hidden from you.

Pardon we ask for,
pardon we hope for,

Pardon we trust to have.

You who are pitying and
merciful, spare and forgive us.

Amen.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-We need water.

I'll go.
-That's moses' task.

-He isn't here.

-He'll be back.

[ door slams ]

♪♪

-How do we change?

How do we cease acting
on urges and habits

That we've just felt
throughout our lives?

♪♪

♪♪

[ sheep bleats ]

♪♪

♪♪

-Good morning...Brother moses.

-Good morning, brother jerome.

-I was on my way
to bring water for the morning.

-Do you want me to help you?

-No.

-Would you prefer to walk
behind me?

-No.

We'll walk together.

-Thank you.

-May you walk in grace,
brother moses.

-Sometimes judgment
turns into mercy.

Just like that...
Like water turning into wine.

♪♪

Moses applied himself
to his penance

And to his work with intensity.

♪♪

-Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness,

For they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see god.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they will be called children
of god.

Blessed are those
who are persecuted

Because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

♪♪

-[ panting ]

-"'he who is without sin
among you,

Let him be the first
to throw a stone at her.'

They started to leave one
by one,

And only jesus
and the woman were left.

Jesus said, 'woman,
where are they?

Did anyone condemn you?'
she said, 'no one, lord.'

And jesus said,
'I do not condemn you, either.

Go, from now on sin no more.'"

-Good.

-Oh, it's john, chapter eight.

[ both laugh ]

[ door creaks ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Aah!

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-[ panting ]

These men came here to rob us.

-This cannot be. Moses!

-You?

-You are here.

-Those are my old comrades.

-Moses, now you know
what you must do.

-Please forgive me,
forgive me for hurting you.

-This man could have killed us
both in one blow.

Thank you.

Moses.
[ panting ]

-Aaahhhh!

-[ pants ]

-Aaaahhhhh!

Aaahhhh!

[ panting ]

-Could he erase his past?

Can anyone?
He prayed 50 times a day.

He refused himself sleep.

♪♪

It's a matter of pride.

♪♪

♪♪

No matter what moses did,

He just could not reconcile
his past.

-I will leave.
You won't have to ask me.

I'm an abomination.

I will never pay
for what I've done,

In the eyes of the lord...

Not if I lived a thousand years

And spent every hour
in service to my brothers.

I will never rid myself of
the filthy sins I've committed.

[ sighs ]

Father...
You don't know what I've done.

-Go on.

-My soul is as black
as the darkest cave.

-The soul is beyond our reach.

-I'm not redeemable.

-Redemption is open to us all
at every moment.

Don't believe
that you're an exception.

-I've stolen.

I've done murder...

...Rivers of blood.

Rivers of blood!

-You've done these things.

Now you are here.

-I'm a devil.
I'm the personification of evil!

-You found the way
to redemption.

-I've murdered men and women
with my bare hands!

-You've come here!
-I'm damned!

-Of all the places of the world,
you came here, to us, to god!

-I have done murder
with my hands.

No, I'm not redeemable.
Ah! Don't you hear me?!

I will never rid myself
of these demons!

These demons! Never!

Never!
-Very good, moses.

Very good.

-How can you say such
a thing to me?

Are you a demon?

-The real torment is to know

That our demons are here
to stay with us.

-I don't understand.
-Don't be a child!

Who can rid himself
of the memories of his sins?

I committed sins
that always come back to me

As if they've just happened.

It's the way it is.

It's the way it shall be,
always.

The more we try to rid ourselves
of the memory of our sins,

The more they break us.

That's because they're
not meant to be vanquished.

They are meant to be lived with.

-Lived...With?

-Yes.

-How can I live with this?

-Lived with
and treated with patience.

-You're a man of god
saying these words.

-To love god is to love oneself
as one loves his brother.

[ laughs] it is a paradox.

-I-

-We, we all live in god,
in his love.

You are not alone,
brother moses.

You are not alone.

-God is good.

♪♪

Our god...Is good.

♪♪

-Moses' transformation,

His abandonment of greed
and murder and indolence,

Then pride, then lust,

Then attachment to the material
world, then his own ego,

It happened the way
it always does -- over time,

Through daily ritual
and practice,

To the point
where everything becomes prayer.

-Let him be the first
to throw a stone at her.

They started to leave one
by one,

And only jesus
and a woman were left.

Jesus said, "woman,
where are they?

Did anyone condemn you?"
she said, "no one, lord."

And jesus said,
"I do not condemn you, either.

Go. From now on sin no more."

♪♪

-The years went by.

Isidore died, and moses became a
venerable and a beloved figure.

♪♪

♪♪

-Moses!

♪♪

-Bring me some water,
if you please.

Are you able to speak, my son?

-Sanctuary. Sanctuary.
You have to give me refuge.

I have killed my father.

♪♪

You have nothing to say?

-I've heard you.

-It's the most terrible thing
a person can do.

I've never hurt anyone.

-And now you have.

-I'll tell you why I did it.

He raped my sister.

-[ sighs ]

-You're judging me.

Behind your compassion.

-My son, there is no reason
to put thoughts into our heads.

You knocked on our door,
and we opened it.

-That one. He's judging me.
-I know you.

I've traded with your father
several seasons ago.

-So, why do you stare at me?

Stop looking at me!

-My son.

What you've done
can't be undone.

And the same goes for what
your father did to your sister.

You can't walk backwards
for the rest of your life.

Very difficult.

And you will not find an instant
remedy, certainly not here.

Here, there is only one way,
and that's the way of god.

Here...And everywhere.

-There's nothing worse
than what I've done.

-Then why did you try
to justify yourself by talking

About avenging your sister?

Your life has changed, and
now you must live differently.

-No. There's nothing worse
than what I've done.

-[ sighs ]
listen, my young friend.

I've done far worse.

I must rest now.

You will stay in the guest room
tonight.

It was prepared for you,
my friend.

-Thank you.

-Where is the young man?

-Oh. He's gone.

-Gone, when?

-In the middle of the night,
I suppose.

Did you expect to find him here?

-He will perish out there.

-He won't.
He knows the desert.

[ knocking on door ]

Come.

-Thank you for seeing me.

You are renowned as a wise
and righteous man.

-Anyone who claims
to be both of those things?

He is neither.

-I have come to understand
that sin is a part

Of our worldly state,

That only the ones
who've fallen into it

Can really understand it
and then turn away from it.

-As you say.

-Is this correct?

-If I were to say yes,
what good would it do you?

And if I were to say no,
what good would that do you?

-What are you doing?

-I'm looking for a mouse.

-But you are an elder.

We come to learn from you.

-[ chuckles ]
I have very little to teach.

-But when a young man comes
to you for counsel...

What do you say to him?

-I tell him...

Turn up the ground of
your being with a gospel plough,

And then you will see
that there is a greater book,

Which is the nature
of all created things.

And I say
that everything changes,

That the peace and tranquility
of this place

And the holy silence
of the desert

Might be overrun one day
and ground into dust.

And that only god
is changeless...

Only god.

-In 407 a.D., when moses was
near the end of his days,

A tribe of bourbon nomads
started raiding

And pillaging their way
throughout egypt.

And the brothers in
the community rushed about

And, actually,
most of them left.

But moses remained still.
He stayed put.

He was just ready
to face his final test.

[ clattering ]

[ pounding ]

♪♪

[ horse neighs ]

[ man screams ]

-You!

-I see you still
haven't forgiven yourself.

I knew you would come back.

I would have fought to the death
with you once.

Live by the sword,
die by the sword.

But living here
taught me another way.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Moses' sainthood
was conferred by legend.

That's the way it happened

In those early days
of christianity.

And the story of his life
is a pure embodiment

Of two intertwined values,

Always radical at the beating
heart of christ's teaching...

...Forgiveness and redemption.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

I hadn't heard
of moses the black before,

Looking into
the research of this.

I mean, it's kind of,

You know, difficult to imagine
a murderer who becomes a saint.

The question is,
can anyone be redeemed?

-I think the answer to that
is yes.

I think moses' life shows that.

The tradition of the desert
fathers and desert mothers

Is also
because they're in isolation.

They're in the desert,

The tradition of fighting
against demons.

But I think we all
can identify with that.

We all have voices or forces
going on within us.

So, I think even
though these stories,

You know, are really extreme,

They have a lot to tell the
modern person about, you know,

How the spiritual life
really is kind of a battle.

-I love this period
of christianity,

This radical asceticism,
and these solitary calls.

They're people who are living
on spiders and scorpions.

-Well, I mean, the thing is
that they were, I think,

Distancing themselves
from what was becoming

A kind of corruption
in the cities of,

"we live this way.
No, we believe in this."

All this fighting going on,
everything. Get away.

-I mean,
I know he was fleeing after the,

You know,
he was fleeing his companions,

But he was called out there,
wasn't he?

-I don't know if he was called.
I think more he just somehow,

In the midst of all the madness
of killing and robbing and lust

And everything, he just somehow
completely emptied of everything

And didn't know where he was,
who he was,

And he could not go on.

-I think, you know,
today people experience that.

You know, they have riches and
power and fame and all this...

-And cocaine.
[ laughter ]

-And they find it not
satisfying.

You know, augustine, you know,
who you quoted earlier says,

"our hearts are restless
until they rest in you," right?

-Yet it's not enough.
He has to make himself suffer.

-I think he was suffering.

-Well, he has to make himself
do a kind of physical

And carnal suffering.

Isidore at one point tells him,
"you don't have to do this."

-That's right.

-You mean
the physical mortifications?

-Yeah, the physical
mortification.

And I believe he,
according to the story,

Did it for over
a period of years.

-Which is also something
that's hard

For people to understand today.

I mean, jesuits,

Not too long ago,
were supposed to use

The flag...
-Ah, I see.

-...The flagella.

And, you know, we're supposed to
be not only --

-What do you mean,
"not too long ago"?

Like, how long?

-Uh, like the '40s, maybe?
-Really?!

-The '30s and '40s, yeah.
-How you dodged a bullet.

-Why, lucky me.
[ laughter ]

But the idea was not only

That you would be
sort of mastering your flesh,

But it was also
a kind of penance, too.

-Yes, of course.
-But merton said, famously,

"why don't you mortify
yourself?"

And thomas merton said,
"life is mortifying enough."

-That's right.

-Which is what isidore says,
essentially, too.

-Yeah, it's enough.

-I feel like what
you're getting at, though,

Is that entering the monastery
is not a form of cheap grace.

He's there,
and he's still tormented.

He's still consumed by guilt.
-That's right.

-It's not going to go away
in five minutes or five years.

And, at several points, the
spiritual director, in a sense,

Is saying, "let it go."

But it's really weighing on him.

He doesn't get to wipe the slate
clean in any simple way.

-That's a really good point.

The monastery is the world, too,
right?

So, this idea that
we're getting out of the world,

It's not the world. You know,
you're dealing with individuals.

You're in community,

You're dealing
with your own sinfulness.

You have your needs.

And so, you know, people,
I think,

Who enter the monastery
to escape,

They find it in the monastery.

-Your demons come with you?
-Sure. Yeah.

You know, again, the demons,

I think can sort of put people
off.

But, you know,
we all know what it's like

To have those forces battling
within us.

-Yes, and demons may be
the wrong word, but it is --

-Guilt,
self-loathing, fear, terror,

Rage, pride, and all those --

-All the seven deadly sins,
yeah.

The demons try to say to you
there's no future

And there's no hope, right?

And so --
-you'll never change.

It's always been like this.

Everything winds up this way.
You screw up everything.

-I always say anything
that's a universal language

Is usually coming from
the evil spirit.

-But it's interesting
when you realize it's me,

My body in this apartment.

And I have a friend
who loves me.

Maybe I should call them?

You know, something, just when
it comes down to small scale,

Human scale, and you share it
with another human being,

That that's where -- that's
what happened to him,

Though, with isidore.

-Yeah. And I think
the spiritual life is a battle,

Which this film shows very well
at a very personal level.

-I also thought just in
my own self,

That there's a force
that thinks it can kill me

And go on living without me.

-Yeah, but I think
if we're honest with ourselves,

We feel that pull within us
basically towards good

And towards evil,

Towards generosity
and towards selfishness.

-Part of what moses'
integrity involves is the fact

That he is willing
to live with the demons.

So, it's not just a matter of
him being haunted by the demons.

It's a matter of him
having the integrity

To just not brush them off
or let them go,

But to really deal with
the depths of what he's done

And where he's been.

-There's a tradition
in our church,

And many others, you know,

The idea of penance
and punishment and mortification

And flailing yourself
or cudgeling yourself.

-Well, I think
in the church's tradition,

The sacrament of reconciliation
and confession, penance,

You know, is really meant,
it's not to punish us, right?

It's not to make us feel bad.
It's to help us reconcile,

You know, be reconciled to god,
be reconciled to the community.

But, also,
I usually give penances

That are doing something
generous for somebody.

I don't say, "go and, you know,
beat yourself with a whip."

It's about, as in this film,

It's about reconciliation,
eventually.

He's reconciled to god.

He's reconciled to his brothers,

And he's reconciled
to the community.

-You know,
you grew up with asthma.

I knew a guy who grew up
with asthma in glasgow

And heavy cigarette culture.

Everybody's smoking
and drinking all the time.

He said to me he felt like he
didn't take a full breath of air

Until he moved
to the united states.

-Wow.

-So, I'm imagining
moses the black

Living this life of a brigand
in the city.

He probably hadn't known
a moment's peace

Until he walked
through those doors,

Where he wasn't watching
his back,

Wondering who
was going to take him out,

Wondering where the next meal
was going to come from,

Or who he was going to have to
off to live for the next month.

And the sense in the film
is of refuge

In the deepest sense possible
when he walks through that door.

-But, you know,
it's interesting, paul,

How many young people feel
that way today,

Not that they're murdering
people or they can't breathe,

But who are completely tethered
to their devices,

Whose every waking moment
is filled with something --

Right? -- Who feel uncomfortable
with silence

And are afraid of silence.

-We're so wired
into our world of devices

That it's very hard
for people to see

That one doesn't have to live
that way.

-You don't have to live
this way,

And you can find
that separation, that solace,

That solitude that you need
that's really within you.

I mean, I didn't realize

That the monasteries
were fairly close by,

Although what was considered
the monasteries.

-It was shocking to me
to realize, yeah.

-You know,
which is a great idea.

You can go and live like that
for a while, yeah?

-Or at least see that there are
these people out on the horizon

Who are doing something
differently,

So you know that it's possible.

-There's another way to live.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪