1 00:00:29,696 --> 00:00:33,564 In the beginning there was a tree... 2 00:00:37,837 --> 00:00:39,065 an autumn tree... 3 00:00:42,976 --> 00:00:44,409 It had lost its leaves. 4 00:00:46,246 --> 00:00:48,373 But there was fruit on it 5 00:00:50,617 --> 00:00:52,209 left for the birds. 6 00:00:55,822 --> 00:00:57,050 Snow fell already... 7 00:01:02,529 --> 00:01:06,226 Strange clouds appeared, as if it were summer... 8 00:01:08,001 --> 00:01:09,491 not autumn. 9 00:01:11,171 --> 00:01:13,036 The sky was dark and deep. 10 00:01:14,641 --> 00:01:15,972 Thunder could be heard. 11 00:01:18,878 --> 00:01:20,607 There was movement over the water. 12 00:01:21,714 --> 00:01:22,738 There were birds. 13 00:01:23,917 --> 00:01:26,044 Birds who flew for no other reason 14 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:28,646 than beauty alone. 15 00:01:29,956 --> 00:01:31,753 Then the clouds changed. 16 00:01:32,826 --> 00:01:33,952 The sky became flat. 17 00:01:35,328 --> 00:01:37,853 The light shone upon God's command. 18 00:01:38,932 --> 00:01:40,160 A scent of lilacs... 19 00:01:45,138 --> 00:01:47,299 Then the flight over water, 20 00:01:48,341 --> 00:01:49,831 deep and dangerous. 21 00:01:50,810 --> 00:01:52,471 I was afraid of falling... 22 00:01:59,419 --> 00:02:01,011 Someone left me... 23 00:02:05,492 --> 00:02:06,925 I started to feel better... 24 00:02:09,028 --> 00:02:10,017 I breathed deeply. 25 00:02:13,199 --> 00:02:14,530 Then movement started. 26 00:02:16,536 --> 00:02:18,003 I realized it was winter. 27 00:02:19,272 --> 00:02:20,261 I was cold. 28 00:02:20,573 --> 00:02:22,097 I could almost touch the road... 29 00:02:23,109 --> 00:02:25,373 So smooth and transparent. 30 00:02:27,780 --> 00:02:29,008 Houses appeared, 31 00:02:30,483 --> 00:02:31,745 like an abandoned village 32 00:02:32,652 --> 00:02:34,017 under a cold sun... 33 00:02:35,588 --> 00:02:37,488 Windows, roofs... 34 00:02:38,791 --> 00:02:39,689 And the people? 35 00:02:41,127 --> 00:02:43,152 It must be noon, but where are the people? 36 00:02:44,998 --> 00:02:45,930 Grey buildings, 37 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:48,526 like prisons. 38 00:02:51,437 --> 00:02:53,667 Then came the fog. 39 00:02:58,178 --> 00:02:59,839 I found myself on a clearing. 40 00:03:02,115 --> 00:03:03,548 For whom is all that beauty? 41 00:03:05,185 --> 00:03:09,281 No one to see it... Still it's just as beautiful 42 00:03:09,856 --> 00:03:11,016 or even more so. 43 00:03:13,092 --> 00:03:15,492 What ideal solitude... 44 00:03:19,532 --> 00:03:20,931 Perfect, cold... 45 00:03:27,540 --> 00:03:28,700 Who watches me over there? 46 00:03:32,078 --> 00:03:34,774 Watching me from behind that tree... 47 00:03:35,615 --> 00:03:37,708 Someone cold, lonely and bored. 48 00:03:40,620 --> 00:03:44,386 Soldiers walk along a path... 49 00:03:46,025 --> 00:03:47,583 A row of houses... 50 00:03:48,261 --> 00:03:50,889 I tried to concentrate and to recall 51 00:03:51,631 --> 00:03:53,189 at least one face of those 52 00:03:53,533 --> 00:03:55,626 who had lived here. 53 00:03:57,604 --> 00:03:59,868 People once lived here. 54 00:04:00,974 --> 00:04:01,838 I knew them. 55 00:04:02,208 --> 00:04:04,233 I believe I lived among them, too. 56 00:04:06,346 --> 00:04:08,507 When someone died, we wept. 57 00:04:08,748 --> 00:04:09,806 We were afraid that 58 00:04:10,383 --> 00:04:12,442 we were becoming fewer. 59 00:04:13,319 --> 00:04:16,117 We began to move our houses closer to the road. 60 00:04:17,190 --> 00:04:19,317 Everyone did so. 61 00:04:19,525 --> 00:04:21,220 We all wanted to live close together. 62 00:04:21,961 --> 00:04:23,656 No one wanted to live apart. 63 00:04:26,032 --> 00:04:27,363 But I can't recall 64 00:04:29,035 --> 00:04:30,468 whether it helped us. 65 00:04:34,674 --> 00:04:39,134 Then the black sheet appeared... 66 00:04:42,048 --> 00:04:43,310 Then I... 67 00:04:43,783 --> 00:04:46,616 for some reason, I was walking with a monk... 68 00:04:49,055 --> 00:04:49,987 We kept silent. 69 00:04:53,793 --> 00:04:55,920 I have never been here before. 70 00:04:57,797 --> 00:04:59,264 What awaits me? 71 00:05:09,976 --> 00:05:11,443 We entered the church. 72 00:05:14,213 --> 00:05:15,544 What an angry look... 73 00:05:19,018 --> 00:05:20,315 A notebook in his hands... 74 00:05:24,924 --> 00:05:27,654 A pensive monk stood in near obscurity. 75 00:05:30,330 --> 00:05:31,388 At a bright window, 76 00:05:32,532 --> 00:05:33,624 a child was being baptised. 77 00:05:35,468 --> 00:05:36,867 Day and night at the same time, 78 00:05:38,037 --> 00:05:39,561 on both sides of the church. 79 00:05:41,507 --> 00:05:43,839 I ask my monk to stop. 80 00:05:44,744 --> 00:05:46,371 He agrees and waits. 81 00:05:47,613 --> 00:05:49,581 I ask him a question. 82 00:05:50,149 --> 00:05:51,343 I ask him why 83 00:05:52,218 --> 00:05:54,516 did Christ pray that his Father 84 00:05:54,954 --> 00:05:56,546 not send him 85 00:05:56,923 --> 00:05:58,117 to his sacrificial cross? 86 00:05:59,525 --> 00:06:00,150 Why did 87 00:06:00,593 --> 00:06:02,891 Christ, want to avoid crucifixion? 88 00:06:03,730 --> 00:06:06,756 If he so loathed being crucified, 89 00:06:07,266 --> 00:06:09,632 then how can I accept his sacrifice? 90 00:06:11,637 --> 00:06:12,899 Why did I speak about this? 91 00:06:15,174 --> 00:06:16,300 My monk keeps silent. 92 00:06:17,777 --> 00:06:19,836 God knows what he is thinking about... 93 00:06:21,547 --> 00:06:23,538 Perhaps about those he left behind? 94 00:06:25,284 --> 00:06:26,581 And I doubt seriously 95 00:06:27,553 --> 00:06:29,544 he knows the answer to my question. 96 00:06:31,457 --> 00:06:32,981 The baptism is performed. 97 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:39,023 An act of will, of predestination... A duty until death. 98 00:06:44,771 --> 00:06:46,102 The face of the godfather. 99 00:06:46,773 --> 00:06:48,138 I can't tell what he is thinking. 100 00:06:49,175 --> 00:06:51,405 What can this child know about sacrifice? 101 00:06:51,677 --> 00:06:52,473 Isn't it too early? 102 00:07:01,888 --> 00:07:03,219 What is he thinking about? 103 00:07:10,029 --> 00:07:11,462 And he, what is he thinking about? 104 00:07:13,966 --> 00:07:16,161 What are they all thinking about? 105 00:07:16,903 --> 00:07:19,428 My God, help me to understand. 106 00:07:27,380 --> 00:07:29,371 Is it necessary to be so strong? 107 00:07:34,253 --> 00:07:35,515 Even church-going 108 00:07:36,456 --> 00:07:38,287 hasn't warmed their hearts... 109 00:07:47,633 --> 00:07:49,328 I say good-bye to the monk. 110 00:07:50,136 --> 00:07:54,095 He invites me to the mass and blesses me. 111 00:08:00,012 --> 00:08:03,345 I wanted to speak about the Prayer of the Chalice. 112 00:08:04,417 --> 00:08:05,907 It must be a painful question... 113 00:08:08,788 --> 00:08:09,652 These people... 114 00:08:11,257 --> 00:08:12,246 These are monks, who have... 115 00:08:14,293 --> 00:08:16,557 ...all abandoned somebody in their former lives. 116 00:08:20,967 --> 00:08:23,367 Is the price of prayer so high? 117 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,266 What I am doing here? Who sent me? 118 00:08:51,531 --> 00:08:53,999 It seems to me I have already seen 119 00:08:55,134 --> 00:08:56,226 all these people somewhere... 120 00:08:57,370 --> 00:08:58,200 Surely I have. 121 00:09:03,009 --> 00:09:04,772 The face of a soldier. 122 00:09:05,811 --> 00:09:09,212 He looks at me and says nothing. No, he looks away. 123 00:09:12,351 --> 00:09:12,976 Where am I? 124 00:09:14,887 --> 00:09:15,876 Why I am here? 125 00:09:18,357 --> 00:09:19,881 I see his eyes... 126 00:09:20,192 --> 00:09:23,025 What right does he have to scrutinize me like this? 127 00:09:36,008 --> 00:09:39,705 Other faces appear, other eyes... 128 00:09:43,649 --> 00:09:45,241 What right do they have 129 00:09:46,052 --> 00:09:46,882 to scrutinize me? 130 00:09:48,487 --> 00:09:49,385 Who are they? 131 00:09:55,061 --> 00:09:56,619 Through a window, 132 00:09:57,063 --> 00:09:58,587 I see a foreign town. 133 00:10:10,276 --> 00:10:11,300 It is snowing. 134 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,548 I see smoke above the night town. 135 00:10:17,383 --> 00:10:18,782 I can't recognise it. 136 00:10:22,521 --> 00:10:25,217 The shore begins to move away... 137 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:29,460 I see a strip of water. 138 00:10:32,365 --> 00:10:34,299 Everything now looks like the flight 139 00:10:35,267 --> 00:10:36,256 of a night bird... 140 00:10:40,506 --> 00:10:41,404 Then... 141 00:10:42,108 --> 00:10:44,235 I am flying above the roofs and street lamps, 142 00:10:47,279 --> 00:10:48,803 and I am doing my best 143 00:10:51,550 --> 00:10:54,348 not to look into windows. I still don't know the town. 144 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:03,492 Then the town disappeared from view. 145 00:11:07,133 --> 00:11:09,624 There was no one around. 146 00:11:11,037 --> 00:11:12,504 As if no one lived here... 147 00:11:12,772 --> 00:11:14,364 Only scenery built in the night 148 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:16,301 for those living above... 149 00:11:17,777 --> 00:11:19,870 to make them believe 150 00:11:20,146 --> 00:11:23,343 that below, on Earth, 151 00:11:24,617 --> 00:11:26,812 everything has been fine since long ago... 152 00:11:28,354 --> 00:11:32,085 As fine as only a creation of God could be. 153 00:11:41,734 --> 00:11:43,599 The moon came out, 154 00:11:45,538 --> 00:11:47,335 Its purpose was unclear. 155 00:11:49,942 --> 00:11:50,840 No light, 156 00:11:52,178 --> 00:11:53,873 neither any cold warmth... 157 00:12:01,554 --> 00:12:05,149 I walked over an iron deck, covered with snow... 158 00:12:08,994 --> 00:12:11,121 No one was around: 159 00:12:12,898 --> 00:12:13,956 Only night and sea. 160 00:12:15,134 --> 00:12:16,601 I could not ask 161 00:12:17,670 --> 00:12:20,002 where this great ship was going to... 162 00:12:21,907 --> 00:12:23,534 Nor how did I get onto it... 163 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:28,772 The waves were black. 164 00:12:30,816 --> 00:12:31,783 They had 165 00:12:33,152 --> 00:12:35,086 neither sense nor compassion. 166 00:12:42,595 --> 00:12:46,053 I noticed I was on the very edge of the deck. 167 00:12:47,199 --> 00:12:49,861 I felt that the sea 168 00:12:50,669 --> 00:12:52,967 was kind and indulgent. 169 00:12:57,476 --> 00:13:00,070 It seemed full of force and generosity. 170 00:13:03,783 --> 00:13:06,684 It could easily sweep me from the deck 171 00:13:09,121 --> 00:13:10,247 and throw me capriciously 172 00:13:13,359 --> 00:13:15,122 into the cold and evil waves... 173 00:13:19,165 --> 00:13:22,362 I sank into my thoughts... 174 00:13:26,038 --> 00:13:30,270 I couldn't say even to myself, what they were about. 175 00:13:34,780 --> 00:13:37,146 I heard the voices of sea and wind, 176 00:13:40,152 --> 00:13:41,517 and still some other music, 177 00:13:44,089 --> 00:13:46,353 perhaps that of my heart. 178 00:13:51,931 --> 00:13:54,559 I wanted to cry, but there were no tears. 179 00:13:56,535 --> 00:13:58,025 I wanted to fall into the sea, 180 00:13:59,572 --> 00:14:00,402 but I had no force. 181 00:14:09,181 --> 00:14:11,172 "The sea was big", 182 00:14:14,053 --> 00:14:15,748 a schoolboy wrote once. 183 00:14:17,990 --> 00:14:20,515 Chekhov had smiled at that phrase. 184 00:14:23,963 --> 00:14:25,828 Why have I recalled that now? 185 00:14:34,573 --> 00:14:37,337 The sea began to get warm. 186 00:14:39,178 --> 00:14:43,774 It seemed it was going to evaporate before our eyes. 187 00:14:45,885 --> 00:14:48,251 The shore appeared suddenly. 188 00:14:49,021 --> 00:14:50,113 It was cold. 189 00:14:51,023 --> 00:14:54,857 There were rocks and trees... 190 00:14:56,428 --> 00:14:57,452 It was twilight... 191 00:14:58,964 --> 00:15:02,866 Or the night was drawing to its end. 192 00:15:05,604 --> 00:15:07,538 Then there was shore, 193 00:15:08,574 --> 00:15:11,065 snow under the feet, ground wind... 194 00:15:13,379 --> 00:15:15,677 It was as cold as before... 195 00:15:17,016 --> 00:15:18,483 but too beautiful. 196 00:15:20,252 --> 00:15:22,220 Then some square in some town. 197 00:15:23,355 --> 00:15:25,653 It seemed to me I was in Germany, 198 00:15:26,959 --> 00:15:28,119 I can't tell why... 199 00:15:28,894 --> 00:15:30,589 Through the snowy wind, 200 00:15:32,164 --> 00:15:34,928 I saw gothic-style buildings... 201 00:15:35,834 --> 00:15:38,894 This must be the place I had dreamed of visiting. 202 00:15:40,572 --> 00:15:43,040 But how few things I will be able to see. 203 00:15:44,343 --> 00:15:46,641 My life is fleeting. 204 00:15:48,781 --> 00:15:50,874 I can't visit here... What a pity. 205 00:15:51,817 --> 00:15:55,253 Where are the people? Just a single human face... 206 00:16:03,829 --> 00:16:06,423 The movement started again. 207 00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:10,225 I didn't want to be on these streets... 208 00:16:11,103 --> 00:16:13,264 But presumably no other way 209 00:16:13,839 --> 00:16:15,306 had been assigned for me. 210 00:16:16,342 --> 00:16:17,570 Why should I need it all? 211 00:16:18,143 --> 00:16:19,804 If people live like this, 212 00:16:20,245 --> 00:16:23,442 if they see nothing else and follow only these roads, 213 00:16:24,450 --> 00:16:26,714 what becomes of them, and what do they expect 214 00:16:27,886 --> 00:16:29,114 from life? 215 00:16:36,328 --> 00:16:39,126 I was trying to find my place in this stream. 216 00:16:39,698 --> 00:16:41,723 Trying to understand the purpose 217 00:16:42,134 --> 00:16:45,160 behind being driven westward across all this space. 218 00:16:46,338 --> 00:16:47,532 Who am I? 219 00:18:06,318 --> 00:18:09,014 Where are they all hurrying to in the night? 220 00:18:10,222 --> 00:18:11,519 During a storm, 221 00:18:11,890 --> 00:18:14,791 better to wait and not risk their lives... 222 00:18:16,061 --> 00:18:17,858 They mustn't be too fond of life. 223 00:18:20,099 --> 00:18:22,590 For people, work is more than life. 224 00:18:23,135 --> 00:18:25,660 This is how people are. 225 00:18:31,376 --> 00:18:33,571 It seemed the dawn was approaching... 226 00:19:05,277 --> 00:19:07,040 There was a crossing 227 00:19:08,647 --> 00:19:09,477 and a stop. 228 00:19:14,153 --> 00:19:16,644 A caf� by the highway... 229 00:19:27,232 --> 00:19:30,690 Then I began to realise that my travel 230 00:19:31,236 --> 00:19:33,101 had a purpose. 231 00:19:33,305 --> 00:19:35,466 I didn't come here by chance. 232 00:19:37,276 --> 00:19:40,268 For some reason, this man has noticed me. 233 00:19:41,213 --> 00:19:42,111 He smiles... 234 00:19:43,115 --> 00:19:43,911 He smiles. 235 00:19:46,051 --> 00:19:46,949 Very good. 236 00:19:49,421 --> 00:19:50,388 A kind man. 237 00:19:53,659 --> 00:19:55,923 I understand he is waiting for someone. 238 00:19:58,764 --> 00:20:01,858 He comes to my table and takes a seat. 239 00:20:28,327 --> 00:20:30,818 I realise he needs somebody... 240 00:20:37,869 --> 00:20:41,805 I understand he badly wants to speak. 241 00:20:43,175 --> 00:20:44,904 He has something to tell me. 242 00:20:45,944 --> 00:20:47,502 He is kind, I know... 243 00:20:49,248 --> 00:20:51,011 He begins to speak. 244 00:20:52,985 --> 00:20:54,043 I listen to his voice. 245 00:20:55,721 --> 00:20:57,518 "I am grateful to God 246 00:20:58,557 --> 00:21:01,993 for the humility I learned in this life. 247 00:21:03,395 --> 00:21:05,920 A humility that I assume with pride. 248 00:21:06,932 --> 00:21:10,561 It makes me feel not inferior to the others, 249 00:21:11,436 --> 00:21:13,131 but equal to them. 250 00:21:13,805 --> 00:21:15,534 Equal to all people, 251 00:21:16,141 --> 00:21:18,666 yet not equal to Him who created us. 252 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:23,780 I consider everyone as equal. 253 00:21:24,583 --> 00:21:26,551 There was a time when I believed 254 00:21:26,985 --> 00:21:28,418 to know everything, like a god. 255 00:21:29,755 --> 00:21:31,689 That is why I lost myself. 256 00:21:32,658 --> 00:21:35,218 I knew what we were capable of, 257 00:21:35,727 --> 00:21:38,161 but I forgot that all we were capable of, 258 00:21:38,563 --> 00:21:40,121 we should do 259 00:21:40,866 --> 00:21:42,561 with respect for others, 260 00:21:43,935 --> 00:21:44,867 for other people. 261 00:21:47,205 --> 00:21:49,105 Once it happened that 262 00:21:49,808 --> 00:21:52,800 I was arrested by mistake in the USA. 263 00:21:53,612 --> 00:21:55,512 I spent one night in a cell. 264 00:21:55,981 --> 00:21:59,144 I was treated as an inferior. 265 00:22:00,252 --> 00:22:03,779 That remains my worst experience to this day. 266 00:22:04,956 --> 00:22:06,480 When I came back to the Netherlands, 267 00:22:07,025 --> 00:22:08,890 I was full of rage. 268 00:22:09,828 --> 00:22:11,853 An indescribable rage. 269 00:22:12,731 --> 00:22:16,223 Anger has almost no limits in humans. 270 00:22:17,602 --> 00:22:19,934 Yes, and I fell into depression. 271 00:22:20,772 --> 00:22:22,137 I slept for 9 months. 272 00:22:23,175 --> 00:22:25,575 I didn't want to go out 273 00:22:25,844 --> 00:22:27,141 nor to talk. 274 00:22:28,246 --> 00:22:31,044 At last, I picked up the lost thread. 275 00:22:31,416 --> 00:22:32,713 I went out to people. 276 00:22:34,019 --> 00:22:36,886 Now I can only say I became stronger. 277 00:22:37,856 --> 00:22:39,551 I will never learn 278 00:22:40,092 --> 00:22:40,956 the reason of life. 279 00:22:42,861 --> 00:22:43,793 But I can-- 280 00:22:45,764 --> 00:22:47,789 The reason is to live, to be alive... 281 00:22:49,601 --> 00:22:50,659 I mean, I am happy... 282 00:22:51,370 --> 00:22:52,462 to be living". 283 00:22:58,677 --> 00:23:02,841 I look at him and think: If you are so happy, 284 00:23:03,749 --> 00:23:05,148 then why do you need me? 285 00:23:05,517 --> 00:23:07,712 A stranger, a foreigner, a mute... 286 00:23:09,020 --> 00:23:09,952 He looks me in the eyes, 287 00:23:10,455 --> 00:23:11,444 and continues. 288 00:23:12,190 --> 00:23:14,249 "I believe in the goodness of man. 289 00:23:14,993 --> 00:23:16,824 I believe in his cruelty too, 290 00:23:17,863 --> 00:23:19,490 the evil side. 291 00:23:20,031 --> 00:23:23,125 I think both feelings have the same power. 292 00:23:25,137 --> 00:23:26,502 But there's a choice. 293 00:23:27,706 --> 00:23:30,402 You can always choose between kindness 294 00:23:31,143 --> 00:23:32,132 and aggression. 295 00:23:34,246 --> 00:23:37,511 Aggression is a simpler solution. 296 00:23:38,350 --> 00:23:39,442 But kindness is... 297 00:23:40,886 --> 00:23:42,979 perhaps it sounds a little bit... 298 00:23:44,222 --> 00:23:46,417 a bit like '60s, flower-power. 299 00:23:47,759 --> 00:23:49,886 I would say, the most important is love. 300 00:23:51,863 --> 00:23:53,558 If I were allowed 301 00:23:54,833 --> 00:23:55,857 to name God, 302 00:23:57,769 --> 00:23:59,259 I would name him Love. 303 00:24:06,711 --> 00:24:09,680 This is the creative force, 304 00:24:12,551 --> 00:24:16,715 which is very close to hate". 305 00:24:28,700 --> 00:24:30,065 Then he stopped. 306 00:24:34,339 --> 00:24:38,673 I understood he had said all that he wanted. 307 00:24:39,945 --> 00:24:44,041 He did not need me anymore. 308 00:24:51,056 --> 00:24:55,152 Surely, I will never see him again... 309 00:24:57,162 --> 00:24:57,821 A pity... 310 00:25:00,632 --> 00:25:02,156 The creative force 311 00:25:05,270 --> 00:25:06,931 together with hate... 312 00:25:11,176 --> 00:25:12,871 It's too human... 313 00:25:31,429 --> 00:25:32,191 Then... 314 00:25:35,934 --> 00:25:39,370 then I felt a live warmth from the stones. 315 00:25:40,872 --> 00:25:43,340 I found myself in a completely different place. 316 00:25:45,410 --> 00:25:46,240 The moon... 317 00:25:46,811 --> 00:25:48,802 Old walls around... 318 00:25:51,149 --> 00:25:53,379 An ancient tower, a lighthouse. 319 00:25:54,619 --> 00:25:56,849 Is it an island? 320 00:25:58,623 --> 00:26:01,490 Is this a fort on the island? 321 00:26:07,866 --> 00:26:11,427 I was still alone, but someone guided me. 322 00:26:13,805 --> 00:26:18,208 It was neither night, nor dawn. 323 00:26:21,346 --> 00:26:22,711 Then there was... 324 00:26:24,249 --> 00:26:27,241 a blossoming tree in my path. 325 00:26:31,256 --> 00:26:32,655 And if this were Japan? 326 00:26:39,331 --> 00:26:41,526 The branches are cold. My hands are freezing... 327 00:26:46,538 --> 00:26:49,405 No, I'm not in Japan. 328 00:27:18,703 --> 00:27:20,364 A door opened in the wall. 329 00:27:23,541 --> 00:27:25,031 I went inside. 330 00:27:37,522 --> 00:27:39,319 A wooden staircase... 331 00:27:40,291 --> 00:27:41,588 An affluent interior... 332 00:27:44,029 --> 00:27:45,087 The floor creaked. 333 00:27:49,567 --> 00:27:51,797 Why is that frame empty? 334 00:28:02,147 --> 00:28:03,546 Moonlight on the walls... 335 00:28:07,585 --> 00:28:08,745 In the silence of the house 336 00:28:11,489 --> 00:28:13,480 that opened its doors for me, 337 00:28:14,926 --> 00:28:16,359 no one greeted me. 338 00:28:23,101 --> 00:28:25,899 I studied a large painting: 339 00:28:28,173 --> 00:28:29,367 A ship's return. 340 00:28:32,010 --> 00:28:33,739 The separation must have been long... 341 00:28:35,380 --> 00:28:37,109 People meet their loved ones... 342 00:28:40,151 --> 00:28:41,345 Some are wading... 343 00:28:44,389 --> 00:28:45,651 What joy... 344 00:28:47,058 --> 00:28:48,355 This life is not unfamiliar. 345 00:28:49,761 --> 00:28:51,228 Their joy is like ours. 346 00:28:59,104 --> 00:29:02,767 They must be looking at their near ones ashore. 347 00:29:07,712 --> 00:29:08,940 I am standing by the door. 348 00:29:09,514 --> 00:29:11,277 They bring me in. 349 00:29:15,487 --> 00:29:18,456 I'm stepping on paper, 350 00:29:19,591 --> 00:29:21,889 placed to protect the parquet. 351 00:29:25,163 --> 00:29:26,790 Then, a salon... 352 00:29:28,133 --> 00:29:30,033 This palace must be under repair. 353 00:29:31,703 --> 00:29:32,965 Who has brought me here? 354 00:29:35,707 --> 00:29:36,571 Why am I here? 355 00:29:51,589 --> 00:29:52,385 Paintings... 356 00:30:13,745 --> 00:30:14,609 A landscape. 357 00:30:16,514 --> 00:30:17,640 A river, a sail... 358 00:30:19,384 --> 00:30:20,248 Silence. 359 00:30:22,821 --> 00:30:23,685 If I just enter there, 360 00:30:25,824 --> 00:30:27,314 I will never come back. 361 00:30:29,494 --> 00:30:30,756 Human life: 362 00:30:33,298 --> 00:30:35,289 Why is this boat next to the shore? 363 00:30:38,703 --> 00:30:40,898 The water is pure, with a scent of grass. 364 00:30:42,807 --> 00:30:44,570 Is it evening or morning? 365 00:30:47,979 --> 00:30:48,604 It's morning. 366 00:31:06,364 --> 00:31:07,194 What's that there? 367 00:31:36,961 --> 00:31:37,791 The food-givers... 368 00:31:39,931 --> 00:31:42,024 Eternal slaves of man. 369 00:31:50,575 --> 00:31:51,405 And what's that? 370 00:31:59,617 --> 00:32:00,811 The walls are cold... 371 00:32:07,458 --> 00:32:10,427 I want to go faster, but something retains me. 372 00:32:11,729 --> 00:32:14,391 As if I was going to miss something. 373 00:32:17,035 --> 00:32:19,003 I travelled across an immense distance 374 00:32:20,538 --> 00:32:23,234 to get here in an instant. But all is empty... 375 00:32:25,143 --> 00:32:25,973 and dark around... 376 00:32:28,846 --> 00:32:30,507 In that frame there is nothing either... 377 00:32:32,850 --> 00:32:33,908 A draught... 378 00:33:04,916 --> 00:33:05,974 A tall window... 379 00:33:10,755 --> 00:33:11,722 Some music... 380 00:33:17,729 --> 00:33:19,321 I believe someone has passed... 381 00:33:20,665 --> 00:33:21,757 Anybody there? 382 00:33:23,134 --> 00:33:23,623 No... 383 00:33:31,376 --> 00:33:33,867 Then... I find myself near a windmill. 384 00:33:34,445 --> 00:33:37,073 At last, I see people. 385 00:33:38,449 --> 00:33:39,074 Here they are, 386 00:33:40,551 --> 00:33:41,609 sitting in the boat. 387 00:33:44,555 --> 00:33:47,217 They sat there once and remained forever 388 00:33:47,658 --> 00:33:48,682 in their village. 389 00:33:50,094 --> 00:33:50,958 That evening 390 00:33:52,764 --> 00:33:53,753 is their eternal day. 391 00:33:55,900 --> 00:33:57,731 The mill must be on an island. 392 00:34:02,407 --> 00:34:03,203 How calm it is. 393 00:34:47,251 --> 00:34:49,048 Then I fall into a kind of labyrinth... 394 00:34:50,555 --> 00:34:52,045 I still can't understand 395 00:34:53,057 --> 00:34:54,854 who is playing so freely with me: 396 00:34:58,663 --> 00:34:59,721 And that? 397 00:35:02,467 --> 00:35:03,491 A town street. 398 00:35:05,103 --> 00:35:06,127 But... it's winter. 399 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:10,832 They are all frozen... 400 00:35:12,643 --> 00:35:15,305 The past must have been cold. 401 00:35:16,547 --> 00:35:18,208 And life was so beautiful 402 00:35:19,550 --> 00:35:22,144 only because of the cruelty of winds 403 00:35:24,255 --> 00:35:25,381 and the frost of the sky... 404 00:35:26,991 --> 00:35:29,585 Perhaps then the Lord was especially keen 405 00:35:29,927 --> 00:35:31,155 to follow the life of men 406 00:35:32,230 --> 00:35:33,458 and tried them severely... 407 00:35:36,267 --> 00:35:37,393 Maybe now... 408 00:35:38,603 --> 00:35:41,538 he is busy creating a new, better world. 409 00:35:44,075 --> 00:35:45,667 And our life is left to itself. 410 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:56,909 Then... 411 00:35:58,556 --> 00:36:00,046 Sounds around me... 412 00:36:03,094 --> 00:36:04,356 What's there under my feet? 413 00:36:11,802 --> 00:36:14,032 That is the Tower of Babel. 414 00:36:16,874 --> 00:36:17,499 Breughel... 415 00:36:20,144 --> 00:36:20,633 Breughel. 416 00:36:23,614 --> 00:36:24,171 Breughel. 417 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:29,686 What is it? 418 00:36:31,289 --> 00:36:34,452 A philosophy or life itself? 419 00:36:36,427 --> 00:36:37,223 Freedom? 420 00:36:40,264 --> 00:36:43,597 Or a dream of a cage? 421 00:36:45,336 --> 00:36:46,132 Who are they, 422 00:36:48,105 --> 00:36:49,572 the builders of this tower? 423 00:36:51,809 --> 00:36:54,039 Christians or heathens? 424 00:36:55,780 --> 00:36:56,769 What does it matter? 425 00:36:58,382 --> 00:36:59,872 Christians, heathens... 426 00:37:04,755 --> 00:37:06,416 The Tower of Babel 427 00:37:07,825 --> 00:37:10,794 and sail boats... 428 00:37:11,929 --> 00:37:14,727 It was wise to put them together. 429 00:37:16,634 --> 00:37:18,124 Then I understood 430 00:37:19,370 --> 00:37:23,773 it was my last occasion to see the Tower of Babel. 431 00:37:25,009 --> 00:37:27,603 So I said farewell to it. 432 00:37:29,747 --> 00:37:33,308 I walked with difficulty towards a light. 433 00:38:08,319 --> 00:38:11,083 I saw an alley in sunlight... 434 00:38:14,592 --> 00:38:17,561 Gentle and kind... 435 00:38:19,263 --> 00:38:19,991 ...Van Gogh. 436 00:38:29,307 --> 00:38:31,537 I heard someone's light steps, 437 00:38:32,576 --> 00:38:35,670 yet I was sure to be alone... 438 00:38:36,647 --> 00:38:41,346 I was sure to have all this only for myself... 439 00:38:42,353 --> 00:38:43,547 Otherwise what was the reason 440 00:38:44,255 --> 00:38:47,486 to bring me here through time and sea? 441 00:38:48,459 --> 00:38:51,519 Through the wind by those terrible roads, 442 00:38:52,196 --> 00:38:55,495 past the abandoned villages and freezing forests... 443 00:38:57,335 --> 00:39:00,771 Pictures were hanging here just minutes ago. 444 00:39:14,618 --> 00:39:17,815 What is that doing here? 445 00:39:47,251 --> 00:39:49,481 The moon returned. 446 00:39:51,088 --> 00:39:53,556 It made me turn. 447 00:40:06,437 --> 00:40:09,031 A square in an old town... 448 00:40:10,975 --> 00:40:13,205 The calm of summer... 449 00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:17,775 An eternal life... 450 00:40:19,917 --> 00:40:22,579 Didn't I paint this picture myself? 451 00:40:24,054 --> 00:40:27,023 Didn't I see all that before me? 452 00:40:27,358 --> 00:40:29,155 Every tree, every shadow... 453 00:40:30,628 --> 00:40:31,993 I remember well this sky. 454 00:40:33,531 --> 00:40:34,395 I remember it well, 455 00:40:36,167 --> 00:40:39,568 because I waited a long time 456 00:40:40,471 --> 00:40:42,769 for the cloud to move away from me, 457 00:40:43,507 --> 00:40:46,943 so that I could see its reverse side 458 00:40:48,712 --> 00:40:51,203 and read what was written on it: 459 00:40:53,284 --> 00:40:56,151 If there is faith, the sky is alive. 460 00:40:58,355 --> 00:40:59,515 Is all death below? 461 00:41:01,692 --> 00:41:03,125 Above, all is life... 462 00:41:05,162 --> 00:41:08,325 And everything is easy there. 463 00:41:14,405 --> 00:41:16,134 An eternal life. 464 00:41:28,486 --> 00:41:29,384 Pieter Saenredam. 465 00:41:32,656 --> 00:41:36,752 Yes, this is his work. 466 00:41:38,062 --> 00:41:41,293 I was just standing by, here on his right. 467 00:41:43,634 --> 00:41:45,693 And that, he added it later... 468 00:41:46,604 --> 00:41:48,401 There was no baby carriage. 469 00:41:51,876 --> 00:41:52,706 These people... 470 00:41:54,311 --> 00:41:58,680 They used to come here to talk. 471 00:42:01,185 --> 00:42:02,618 I do remember the trees, 472 00:42:03,854 --> 00:42:06,152 but I believe there were more of them. 473 00:42:07,825 --> 00:42:11,591 I don't remember any children. No, no children. 474 00:42:13,664 --> 00:42:16,792 And that window never did open. 475 00:42:17,935 --> 00:42:21,735 Pieter invented it. Nobody knew who lived there. 476 00:42:23,807 --> 00:42:27,573 Neither had I ever seen that gentleman. 477 00:42:32,249 --> 00:42:33,546 St. Mary's Square. 478 00:42:35,953 --> 00:42:37,978 This is St. Mary's Square. 479 00:42:57,708 --> 00:43:00,268 The paint has dried. Everything has stopped. 480 00:43:02,179 --> 00:43:03,373 Everything is still, 481 00:43:05,115 --> 00:43:08,516 until we return to this town... 482 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,010 Everything will remain still. 483 00:43:13,123 --> 00:43:14,385 Should we return? 484 00:43:16,226 --> 00:43:17,124 But how? 485 00:43:19,563 --> 00:43:21,258 The clock has stopped. 486 00:43:25,002 --> 00:43:26,060 So let us restart it! 487 00:43:29,173 --> 00:43:30,071 Let us restart... 488 00:43:33,410 --> 00:43:34,104 The tower... 489 00:43:42,353 --> 00:43:43,843 The shadows are motionless... 490 00:43:55,733 --> 00:43:57,598 The sun has changed position. 491 00:44:03,007 --> 00:44:04,031 No going back... 492 00:44:42,913 --> 00:44:44,642 But the canvas remains warm. 493 00:45:29,660 --> 00:45:32,788 Camera: Alexander Degtiarev 494 00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,398 Sound: Serguei Modhkov 495 00:45:42,206 --> 00:45:45,471 Assistant director: Alexei Jankowski 496 00:45:48,712 --> 00:45:52,079 Editing and visual effects: Sergei lvanoff 497 00:47:12,830 --> 00:47:14,127 a film by Alexander Sokurov 498 00:47:14,464 --> 00:47:16,488 ELEGY OF A VOYAGE