Original subtitles

Serhiich!

Cold?

Should it be warm?

I wish I was. Will you let me in?

Why? Are you coming to see me?

Heh... who else?

Close the door!

What for?

Avoid intruders.

Is it OK?

Well, hello!

Wipe your feet.

Can you hear it?

- What? - They dropped a bomb.

Ah, that fell far behind the mine.

Why will they shoot there?

Maybe it's a missed shot.

It's very cold in here, as cold as it is outside.

If you still have charcoal, I'll put some in.

Don't touch it, it's only for the night.

Hell, where did you get this tea?

From the same place as you.

Yes, of course!

Mine is long gone.

Why is this tea so weak, eh?

What are you sniffing around?

For Chocolate and where is your honey?

Here.

What, did it break?

I put a new wick in it but it goes out.

You must make a mixer and then it will burn well.

Hey, do you have any food?

No one brings me humanitarian humanitarian aid at night.

Me neither.

What could they bring you?

What, what could you bring me...?

So, no one came to you at night? you at night?

From today?

You know it well.

Tell me, why do you wander through the town at night?

You don't care.

Well...

What's new?

Where?

Where you say I wander at night.

Always the same.

Ah, they offered me to buy a car!

Do you have money?

It was funny, very funny.

And if I had it, when I went to get the money I'd get an axe to the head and wham!

You think I don't know how that would end?

Can you guess who would do it?

Hey, do you have any money?

You could buy chocolate for our kids.

- What our guys? - I see...

My boys are in the shed and I don't know any others.

I know, your bees are the only only "yours" for you.

Why are you still alive?

Do you want to murder me?

It would be a wasted bullet.

I am not a problem for anyone.

What then?

What?

Why did they start visiting us again?

How should I know?

Go ask them, if you are so brave.

I'm going home.

Have you thought about your pension?

What about the pension?

Hey, they charged my phone.

Do you want to call someone?

I have no one. Go away.

Katia...

Katia, Katia...

Katia?

Oh, this Katia.

THE OWNERS ARE ALIVE

I'm coming.

What?

Do you have binoculars?

What?

Binoculars or spotting scopes.

Maybe you took something like that from somewhere?

Wait a minute, are you accusing me of something? accusing me of something?

- What do you want? - Do you have them?

What for?

Do you have it?

Yes, it is! What's the point?

Behind the workshops of Greedy Kolia, it seems to me that there is a corpse.

I want to take a look.

I can see it, he's dead.

Of course he's dead, he's been there for two days he's been there.

Do you see something, is it a soldier?

Who else would crawl there?

But without uniform.

Give it to me.

So, have you seen enough?

Why won't they take it away?

Who?

Well... he's on my side.

Well... or do you think that maybe maybe it's one of yours?

Mine?

From your side.

Who visited you yesterday?

I heard a car.

I heard it too.

But no one visited me yesterday.

If it was someone related to this,

believe me, we would be the first to know.

Maybe we should bury it?

Yes, go ahead and do it!

The sniper will bury you right next to him.

Which sniper?

Any.

We must not touch anything.

Let's go now.

The dead must lie underground.

Yeah, sure, then you'll lie down next to him and the two of you will keep each other warm.

Stupid bastards!

Was it you?

In the store.

But my windows exploded.

I will sleep over with you.

Enter.

The bomb explodes and you think it's all over!

Everything makes noise and the glass shatters! shatter!

Many bombs fell and one right next to me!

Kaboom!

It flipped me up to part of the ceiling.

I will make you tea

No, don't.

I thought they had forgotten about us, but us, but no!

Again, gray zone here, gray area there.

One shoots here and one shoots there.

As if they were playing badminton.

Hey, can you help me remove the Zhuravi's windows tomorrow?

They are just the right size for my needs.

What if they come back?

I am taking care of your house.

No one is coming back! I've already taken some things out.

I promised him.

They should not have left!

If they come back I'll give them back, but now I won't live without windows.

Leave that cup there.

Take another one from below.

No more alcohol!

Didn't you have a chandelier?

I took it out, it made me sick to see it.

And what will you do, if the light comes back?

What's that weird smell?

Fried garlic, which I add to the porridge.

No, do you have onion?

I ran out.

You know what would be great now?

Strong black tea with honey and lemon.

No?

Strong black tea with honey and lemon.

Indeed, we have honey and tea too, even if we run out of it within a month.

To be able to make a strong tea strong tea, oh my goodness!

And we can also get a lemon.

Where?

From your visitors?

I will not take the bait.

Why, for exchanging honey for a lemon?

Do you think everything is so simple?

They bombard us and we give them honey.

Forget it!

Well then...

... chocolate sausage...

... and green tea with milk, yummy!

Yuck.

You are disgusting.

Do you know what you are?

You are...

Shit, I forgot the word...

Who doesn't like to try something new?

Retrograde?

No.

It has more letters.

Go to sleep, "more letters"...

Do you think that...

... will they shoot again?

Where are you?

What?

Don't go around in circles, understand?

If there is nothing to take away from here.

Where do you think you are?

Come on, help me, it's not me who needs them! who needs them!

We will cover them with boards later.

Yes, it is necessary.

You know...

... that a bomb may fall in this house. bomb in this house.

And then what?

Or maybe it's our turn, so what are you going to ask?

If someone needs these windows in our town?

The Universe doesn't give a shit about all this!

Hey Universe... halooouuu!

The ever-expanding Universe, only sees that human life...

Are you nuts?

What?

Come on, help me and stop talking nonsense.

Every moron creates his own philosophy to get some money...

... and you fall into the trap!

So you start again...

I start what... I just live my way!

Not like the others.

We have been fed everything, and...

So what?

Why are you just standing there? Help me!

And now there is a war!

But I, unlike others, have my opinion.

Oh, I know that.

You have your own opinion since childhood.

Completely sick in the head.

Who?

You... what a pain in the ass!

You argue with everyone since school, y... has that done you any good?

You walk through town like a stubborn sheep, baa-baa-baa-baa, baa-baa-baa-baa.

It's you, who passes it on, baa-baa-baa-baa!

Ooo, blah-blah-blah!

- You think they're all stupid. - Well, they sure are stupid!

And you are the smartest?

Not the smartest. Makar was the smartest.

Right, and he was the first one killed behind the barn.

What a reward!

The smart ones are the first to be killed to control the others.

Ooooh... shit!

Oh wait, if you're alive, it's because you're as stupid as I am!

What's your big mouth saying now?

Fuck you!

People! My ass people, just assholes with guns.

Why are you laughing? It's not funny!

What a lot of these owners!

Who is there?

Senior Security Inspector! I'm here to check your windows, open up!

Coffee?

Do you have coffee?

Of course!

I have a lot of things.

Why didn't you change the windows, after destroying someone else's house?

I'll change them, but are you my wife my wife to cackle at me for that!

Wife? You... yeah right?

Are you expecting any visitors?

Fuck you, what visitor?

Do you heat water in the room?

Why?

Do you have another stove there?

Does it bother you?

Why should I bother?

I do everything with a...

... heats the house and I also cook.

You have one and I have two.

Or are you jealous that I heat with gas instead of coal?

This is good.

Now tell me, did you see enough with my binoculars or did they break?

I did not break them.

I buried that guy we saw in the back.

You don't...

For your peace and mine.

You were lucky you didn't get killed.

Good luck... aha.

Yes, aha!

The chairs look familiar.

The coffee has made me hungry.

I haven't had breakfast yet.

I am leaving.

Go then

Good evening!

Aha.

How is life?

Alive.

Are you home alone?

Alone.

Please sit here.

What is your name?

Serhii Serhiiovych Khmelenko. Born in 1964.

I am Petro.

Are you alone in this village?

Alone.

Pashka also stayed. We are two

Any relatives?

Yes, in Ukraine. Divorced, before the war.

No relatives in Russia.

I see...

Why are you closing here?

I don't use that room.

Why the lock, if there are only two?

If I were alone, I would not use it

I see.

I brought you sardines and some cookies.

Come here.

Do you have at least something to feed yourself?

I am still alive.

Were you having tea?

Sit down, don't stand still.

You don't have to look for it, you you have it here, take it.

Okay, thank you.

Have you been without power for a long time?

A long time.

What are you doing here, in the gray zone?

Raising bees.

I am a beekeeper.

There is also Pashka... but he just enjoys life. enjoys life.

What about you?

Well, I'm a soldier.

I can see that.

But before the war?

Before the war it was just before the war.

So, Petro, to what do I owe do I owe your visit?

Do you want something?

To get to know each other.

I've seen you before, but didn't know your name.

Where have you seen me before?

Well, we are keeping an eye on the area.

So, isn't all this going to end soon? be over soon?

No, not soon.

300 years of wars with Russia wars with Russia.

Really?

Yes, of course.

Most people don't seem to don't seem to realize it.

Well, you know best.

So, is the dead man on the hill dead man on the hill?

Why don't they take it?

Which hill?

Near the old railroad track. Right there.

Are you sure? We didn't notice anyone missing.

Of course, I buried him humanely so as not to see him anymore.

It's definitely one of yours,

with Ukrainian sweets and a large earring.

People like that do not come from Russia.

I see.

Don't do that again, because we might take you for an enemy.

Well, now you know me and you you wouldn't shoot me.

Do you stay here all the time or do you do you ever leave the village?

When it all started, I once went on a shopping a shopping spree.

And I bought wax and medicine for the bees.

I spent all my money on it, because I didn't know what was coming next.

Medicine for bees?

Of course.

Bipin against lice.

There are lice, smaller than a poppy seed. a poppy seed.

They land on the bees' heads, they go through it and eat their brains.

If not treated in the fall, the entire hive may die in the winter. hive may die in the winter.

I am the only real beekeeper here, there used to be three of us.

Makar was killed and Vasyl's apiary Vasyl's apiary was burned...

... and moved to Transcarpacia.

You too could have moved to a quieter place.

Yes, of course I could.

So why didn't you do it?

Well, you sure are special!

You come to my house and ask me why I didn't leave?

This is my home!

Do you want to live here instead of me?

Me?

No.

Why not? Is this a bad place?

Why would it be bad...?

That's how I live here.

I see.

I'm glad you are well and thanks for the tea.

Thank you for what? You haven't had anything to drink.

But it has warmed my hands

Then wait, I'll give you some honey.

You don't have to.

Why not?

We beekeepers never let a visitor leave leave without some honey.

Don't be afraid, it's real honey without any chemicals.

Since the war began, the fields were neither cultivated nor fumigated...

... farming stopped, so the honey is more than good. honey is more than good.

I won't take much from you.

I won't give you much.

Write down my cell phone number and if you need anything, just give me a call.

My number is blocked and I should recharge it.

Anyway, I don't call anyone.

I can unlock it and recharge it recharge it as well.

Anything can happen and you may you need it because of the war.

What could happen?

Come on, give it to me.

I don't need it.

Serhii Serhiiovych...

... give me your phone number.

I understand.

All is well.

Serhiichyk! You live!

Vives.

Come in!

I'll fix you something to eat.

You were hungry.

You should raise chickens instead of bees.

So, what are you still without light?

Maybe they will give it to you again?

They didn't give a damn about us before the war and even more so now...

I have brought you honey.

I thought I could get eggs or something else.

Sure, but two jars is too much for me.

You can barter with your neighbors.

Honey is hard currency, as much as coal.

Bong, bong.

Bong, bong.

Serhiichyk, do you remember?

Bong, bong.

No.

How were yours installed?

You know how they treat our people in the beginning with...

... those damn hordes from Donetsk, but they seem to be fine now.

Thank God, in peace.

And your neighbor, is he still in town?

He has nowhere to go.

Are you a friend of the DPO people?

Friend?

He just wants to drink a bottle with someone, without getting his ass kicked.

Doesn't it tell you anything?

Tell me what?

On TV they say that a big war is coming war is coming as the Russians are sending troops.

You must stop watching that television.

What can they need from here in the Donbas?

Yes, it is a wasteland.

All this is politics and scaremongering, so that we forget about Crimea.

Maybe so...

... but they started bombing again.

Maybe you should go to your family in Vinnytsia? your family in Vinnytsia?

With me...?

Vitalina probably formed another family...

No...

It would help you.

She called me in the summer.

I don't need help, I have it all.

You, maybe you should go somewhere else?

Where could I go? This is my home.

The same goes for me.

Ask who he is.

We're coming for the dough!

Come in... Why are you so late? I'm looking for you now.

We followed a fox near the quarry.

But it's full of mines! You guys are a problem.

Look at that backpack, Marin is here!

Hello!

Come here.

Why are they afraid?

He is not Marian.

Of course it's not Marian. It's my nephew.

That backpack is like Marian's.

My backpack?

Go home quickly, otherwise the dough will freeze! the dough will freeze!

Whose children are they?

From my neighbor across the street.

She is alone with the children.

I make the dough and she bakes bread for everyone.

Can you take these two containers with you?

Of course.

Who is this Marian they took me for?

It is a soldier who visits her, who wants to to take her away before it all begins.

I'm going to get you some eggs.

Don't be afraid, it won't nothing will start.

Second shift, time to eat!

Going on vacation?

I am charging the battery.

Why are you so late? What time did you say you were coming?

Look what I have brought you, lamp oil lamp oil to give you more light.

You promised me some food, or don't you have any left?

So, a reconnaissance troop, you say? reconnaissance troop, you say?

Yes, we met them at the old checkpoint the old checkpoint.

How did you find out?

Some guys told me, if you talk to people with people you can learn something useful.

Of course.

Come on, let's get going.

Those guys didn't say anything to you about a big offensive?

We don't talk about that.

What did they talk about?

Serhiich! Can't you see?

The boys are in Donetsk and they get an order from Moscow...

... to point their cocks at the gray zone and inform the gray zone and report to Pashka.

How can you be so naive? Stop wasting time and let's go!

I'm full!

Do you know how to shoot a rifle?

Do you have one?

Can you?

Give me a rifle and I'll check it out.

I used to go shooting at a range when I was a kid.

And I used to go out shooting with my father in Donetsk.

And then?

Then my father was murdered in 1989. Why are you so curious?

We are like a red rag to a bull, if there were a sniper in the field.

Enough is enough. No one is going to attack us here.

Listen, Serg...

Let's play music for a couple of minutes and dance.

You have charged the battery and I I have a transformer.

You can load it again.

I don't have gas for that.

You don't know how to enjoy life.

You just live and save and nobody knows what for.

People like you spend everything in an hour, and then go around starving.

And people like you have never tasted a real tea.

Thanks to people like you, we have all that shit around here!

Of course, it's all our fault, as if if you didn't live here.

What can I do when there are a million of you around?

Yeah, right. We screwed up your whole life.

What are you saying? I don't think my life is screwed up

Why do you have this opinion? are you different from the others?

Get out of here!

I was just leaving.

Have you lost your mind?

I just wanted to make you a little happy.

Make me happy...

- Let's go. - Slowly.

Carefully.

Hello!

Hello compatriot!

I'm glad you think so.

Of course!

Go ahead.

I've unblocked your cell phone number and brought you some food.

It's great that you brought me brought me my phone.

Now I have enough to eat, because I was in a neighboring village.

I'll leave you a little bit, you look thinner, Are you out of butter or what?

No, I just don't eat too much.

Food can never be too much.

Thank you for this unusual honey.

We found the one you buried out there.

He was one of us. Not from my division, but he was one of ours.

We will take it as soon as we can.

All good, then.

Here is your phone number.

I added my number as "Petro", just in case.

Are they preparing an attack or what?

We are not doing it, the Russians are.

For when?

We assume by December.

So, what's going to happen?

Well, it won't be easy.

Everything should remain as it is.

I don't see any fun in it.

It is the typical local rhetoric, of staying out of the the sidelines without caring about what happens to the country.

You don't know anything about us.

Well, I've been around a lot.

Oh, really? Have you been walking a lot?

Do you think the country cares care about us?

That the war started because some scoundrels here in Donbas said....

... "Russia, come in."

That's not how this war started.

The war started because you let it start

Didn't you see what was going going on here?

What about all that propaganda from Russia before the war? before the war?

They did not want to see her.

They thought they would not be affected.

So they didn't give a damn.

What didn't they care? And what am I doing here?

I am not referring to you in particular, but in general.

Do you think we are more stupid than you?

Even Pashka understood it, that the Dombas is just to justify the Crimea.

Now they threaten us with war and they will forget about us again.

They have been doing it for a long time.

All we have left is the every man for himself.

I see...

Well, okay, we pay no attention to them.

But didn't you see it here yourselves? You didn't see it.

Or you just didn't want to decide who you are with...

... or what color you are, Russian or Ukrainian.

Or choose gray, neither from here or there.

You say you had no choice?

And that you just want to be left alone alone to take a nap.

Or better yet, to receive a pension from both sides, like your neighbor Pashka.

Ah, that's why you're here!

Pashka Yatsiuk... do you think that by reading that complaint you know the whole of Dombas?

Pashka Yatsiuk...

... worked in the mine since he was a child.

What choice did I have?

He does not even know the word "option".

Like most people here.

Pashka Yatsiuk...

... you would have bitten the dust long ago if you were him.

You come here to spy.

They are not worth to be spied on.

What do you know, from the darkness from here, where the fox shat?

I know more than you!

I know the position from where the sniper sniper took out your soldier.

Really?

Seriously.

It does not come.

Wait, don't drink!

Why?

Wait a moment.

- Will it get better in a minute? - Just wait.

Now, drink!

Well, tasty, isn't it?

Why are we waiting for this?

When you delay pleasure, it increases.

Vodka should have become become tastier.

Not bad, right?

- Not bad. - Not bad

- Do you know where I got it? - Where did I get it?

I dug it up at Parasiuk's house.

He buried him for his wife all over the garden.

If you walk it, you will find a bottle bottle here and a bottle there.

If I had a bottle detector, I'd be living the high life.

- And you would be a foolish bottle finder. - Why is that?

If that's all you need, go to a place where you can drink yourself to death. a place where you can drink yourself to death.

And leave you alone? You couldn't live without me.

Yes, of course!

What's that "Yeah, right"? Huh?

How long have we been installed here? been settled here?

And you have a car.

You could have gone to Ukraine long ago.

- I am already in Ukraine! - You know what I mean!

Really, why didn't you leave?

You're not going to tell me that you like the dark?

Who wants to see us in Ukraine?

They don't care if we are from Donetsk or from the gray zone, to be from Donetsk is to be an intruder. gray zone, to be from Donetsk is to be an intruder.

What's that about saying "oh, oh" and wagging your wagging your little finger for your Donetsk?

Do you also want to take their cars from people like me? cars from people like me?

I don't want that.

There you would also be an intruder just like me.

Everyone who arrives there from here is an intruder.

They pretend to be like us, if they need us...

... but if you're not useful and you don't have money, then you are an intruder.

We would be intruders!

Strangers came, pretending to be like us, to...

... to become strangers.

And now strangers are also strangers to strangers. strangers to strangers.

You should not have been an electrician in the mine, but in the parliament.

Who opposes raising miners' wages? miners' wages?

Who is still alive? No one.

The resolution has been approved.

You at least have someone somewhere, like a wife and daughter. somewhere, like a wife and a daughter.

If not here, at least somewhere else. somewhere else.

Unlike me...

Let's get drunk!

Let's go!

Don't move!

Put the bag on the ground.

Don't worry!

I do not understand Ukrainian (In Russian).

You look at this part and I look at this part.

This is from the store and this is from the cemetery.

Where did you get them?

From the city office.

This letter is for Greedy Kolia, put it aside.

Who wrote to you?

No idea.

Ah, from a loan he didn't pay!

Oh, from Zhuravl, it's for you.

This one is for the eldest, put it aside.

Serhüch, do you know how to tango?

Why?

You know? Or dance something else or sing?

What's on your mind?

Do you remember the screaming fool of a letter carrier, who rest his soul, what he was saying?

It's an important card, so I won't give it to you without dancing.

Now I have the remote control, so dance.

If it's for me, give it to me now!

It's an important card, so dance.

Cut the bullshit and give it to me.

This one is for Greedy Kolia.

Oh, I'm lucky!

Now you will have to dance and beautifully.

Again with the same thing?

Vitalina writes to you...

My dear Serhiich, I can no longer live with this new refrigerator...

... you want to give me back my old refrigerator, Serhiich.

So dance.

Give it to me now!

He remembers you.

Come on open it, what was it for you!

This letter is for Makar.

You will have to take it to him.

Where to? To the cemetery?

Looks like we're done, go get the box. get the box.

I delivered them all, let's drink to that.

I will not.

I want to rest a little.

Sure, then I'm off.

I still have a lot of work to do.

So, shall I leave?

Serhii Serhiiovych, I am Petro!

Why are you in the dark?

It's dark everywhere, I just keeping my balance.

We have to get out of here, now.

Then go.

You have to leave too.

I have killed your sniper.

They could be here tomorrow.

Do you know what I mean?

I understand you son, I understand you...

I'm no dumber than you, but I've lived longer.

Not as I wanted, but...

... was common here.

Go with the flow so as not to not to disturb anyone.

Live in silence and leave in silence.

There is no choice.

I asked myself...

... who am I?

What have you done?

What have you not done?

Did you stop the mine...

... for security violations when you had to do it?

I was able to do so.

I thought I couldn't.

But really, I could.

Fine, as you wish.

But don't go to that house again.

I put trip wires there.

I just wanted to let you know.

English subtitle: rayorojo Completed on March 14, 2025.

Viktor Zhdanov

Volodymyr Yamnenko

GREY BEES

Maxim Burlaka

Galyna Korneieva

Alex Stepanenko

Based on the novel by Andriy Kurkov

Written and directed by

Director of photography

Production design

Artem Mostovyi

Andrii Ponomarov

Oleksii Shamin

Volodymyr Kuznetsov

Tatiana Tatarenko

Ivanna Diadiura