Original subtitles

THE TEN THOUSAND SUNS

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Music by

Cinematographer

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Directed by

You've come a long way, haven't you?

Have a drink, lstvan.

Once I thought, lstvan Szeles, I would count the stars if I

saw happiness on your forehead.

How long would it take you, uncle lmre, to count them?

Well, let me see, if I begin today, counting nights only,

and I add the Great Beat to the total, it would take me

about a hundred and thirty-two days.

Are you sure, uncle lmre?

Well, I think that's right.

You are happy, lstvan Szeles.

I work. I have no time for such things, uncle Sandor.

I'm needed here.

You've soon forgotten everything.

Yesterday I was also by the sea.

I pulled up my skirt a bit and entered the water.

I can't tell whether it was summer or winter.

Anything can happen you there. You'd better take some broth.

Granny...

You must write to your father from the sea.

There must be some trouble in the farmers' cooperative.

Dad has been bicycling again in his sleep.

For I've seen for some time now that there're again many people

with time on their hands in this country.

And I'm just trembling inside like an engine.

I keep running here, there, everywhere, morning to night.

And you told me everyone would be happy here.

I didn't tell you any such nonsense.

You must've read it in the papers.

Your responsibility is to see that the members of this coop

are given an amount of forints, ten quintals of wheat, along

with potatoes.

That much wheat, that many potatoes, that much cash,

and the man...

Because you told me that there would be a world in which the

people would matter instead of these objects...

That world will come, you'll see.

Stand beside me.

- Have you grown recently? - No.

See, we're shrinking.

What does it matter if we're this height or that height?..

The coffin will be 20 forints cheaper, that's all.

Lenin himself was a small, short man.

People keep coming to me a thousand times, wanting

something or other.

And what can I tell them?

I feel everyone's care as if

it were my own: even when I'm hoeing I tend to think it's

a matter of life or death.

If only you knew how much it hurts me that all the youths

leave the village...

Ours is an atomic age.

That feeling could break you...

you can brrod over the way one or another peasant hoes the maize.

But who cares?

The main thing is that we've put

private property into the museum with no damage whatsoever

to anyone; your mother did not even have a bowl to wash in,

and your son leaves for the sea tomorrow.

It's no use telling the river to flow faster or neater,

the sun also starts to sink lower after reaching its peak.

Time will settle the rest, you'll see.

But when?

I'm just a peasant. I can't help thinking how much we had to pay

for the world we live in now.

Your mother's kept it secret, but since it has just occurred to me

I'll tell you: I hanged myself.

You aren't a stranger, it's better if you know the truth.

When it happened I wasn't getting on any faster or slower than

I am today.

“To live is the only road and way of escape” (Paul Eluard)

What are you asking?

Twelve kilos of bacon divided up, a hundred pengos divided up,

six quintals of wheat divided up, and a cake of soap every

month for washing.

You always wash so often? Now here's a piece of rope,

tie five wrong knots on it.

Good. And now untie them as fast as you can...

All right. Take off your shawl.

Let me have a look at you.

You're still just skin and bone, my dear.

Don't compare her to yourself...

have you ever had anyone, a man with whom you have lain?

Has your wife ever had a man with whom she has lain?

Brother of mine, I wouldn't give but a hatful of shit for your

salvation; now here's your advance.

It'll be a good place for you. I'd like to see you at Easter.

Send me word.

I'd work for two summers to raise the money.

Mother has seen it too, my friend found it.

It's a nice farm and it's not far from here.

We had such a winter here that it was easy to lose one's way.

I'll take you as my wife.

You'll be unlucky with me, I tire easily.

And I have no horse.

I just wanted to tell you.

What's your name?

Most people call me Juli.

I have just one friend and my mother;

Juli, it'll be a good life for you by my side.

Marry me or I'll die. Do you believe me?

Then there's little I can say.

You can tell everything from the sound of a cow.

The bell of a ruminating cow sounds much like a clock.

There's no music in the sound when the cow is sadly idling.

But there's more to it than that.

I need a bell that doesn't differ from the others.

I put soil in some of them to modify the sound.

You have to listen to the bell from a distance to judge whether

the new sound suits the herd or not.

And every strike sounds three times that makes it beautiful.

When it's hot and there are several suns in the sky,

you can hardly hear anything.

Although there are booms, chirps, grunts... a thousand sounds.

You know, the herd would only laugh at me.

But here with me is my dog. A black dog.

If a bird moves, he barks at once. I call him musician.

You'll be a godfather.

Really?

If the baby is born and it has two ears,

the calf will be his.

Once the stars were gods; and when great heroes were born and they

died, they ascended and became stars.

And ever since every star has been a man.

Istvan, we forgot about the sieve and the trough.

And the cabbage-pickling keg.

You know, Juli... if we have a boy,

I'd rather strangle him than have him live in poverty.

When you were born, there was a thick white snow.

Before we bathed you, your grand- mother ran to fetch the hook,

and wanted to touch your arm with it so that you'd be a hardworking

man; but your father wouldn't let her.

He had something else in mind. We had a large book with a clasp

called the Bible, he put it under your head.

For there were as many letters in it as there're grains of dust.

Once I read through it and it made my eyes ache.

I had to bathe them in broth.

One night when we were sleeping beside the barn, I woke up.

For a moment I didn't know if it was war or just Mihaly Csere snoring.

I felt hungry. There was a big yellow pumpkin laying between

the rails; I wanted to pick it up but it was moving in my hand.

Good Heavens, I thought. I threw it down.

There was a hamster in it, standing there on its hind legs,

and asked me if I'd heard that Mrs. Kigyos's child had come into

the world with an umbrella and stick in his hands.

He'd opened the umbrella and said: good morning, father.

I told him I had heard it.

It must have been a clever child. But now stop lazing around.

Keep your eyes on the funnel, mother.

Hello, Lali.

- Just answer yes or no. Clear? - Yes.

What fuel did you use for heating last night?

Yes... I mean straw.

Where did you get the straw?

I got it from my friend, Fulop Bano.

Now come on this way!

Good morning.

Istvan!..

You have an excellent nose, Mr. Balogh. The trail led to his

place and he doesn't deny it.

What don't I deny?

Come here.

Poor things.

Istvan, I ask you to kneel down.

- What for? - You must see reason...

Her piglets have frozen to death.

I don't want to take you to court, lstvan.

I only ask you to apologise. You're to stay here, Bano!

- Have you gone crazy? - Get out of here!

I'm not angry with you. Istvan, come on, come on...

Get out of here or I'll trample you underfoot.

Forgive me, pig, we put straw on the fire, but you see, it was

New Year's Eve, we had to heat the room so that it would be warm

for the whole year, and we listened to music.

Do you hear lstvan?! He forgave! Amen!

Do you see, brethren, the diffe- rence it makes when you talk to

a pig in a human manner, for it is a being too, created by God

as we were. it was God's will that we should all live in peace.

You should refuse to go down on your knees even at God's command

let alone anyone else's! You rag of a man, you!

How dare you assault me?

Oh! lstvan! Be sensible!

You'll both get lamed for life, don't kill him!

- You dare to hit me? - You brute!

Mother, leave.

Mother, stay here.

Take the child too.

- If you wanted me to go away or to die... - I know.

- Why did you marry me? - You asked me to.

Do you know how beautiful you were?

Why didn't you run away from here?

We haven't got even a looking glass.

You have a son.

And there's a looking glass here, too.

There isn't.

I'll get away from here!

When you sent mother out I thought you'd kill me.

So did I.

I'll never hit you again.

If I ever hit you, you shouldn't bake me bread.

Istvan, I cannot be on bad terms with anyone for long.

I brought you this pig's head, one ear is yours, the other mine,

and with this the scores are settled.

Good. I don't deny I've drunk a little. But I saw a man being

thrown into the Danube for such a reason.

However, it's a different matter if you feel offended.

And it is also different when 90 men hold out:

four men cannot go out and beg.

Istvan has already betrayed us. They've agreed to do the work

for half the money.

We can't get any further if you prefer striking to working.

This is for you.

Anyway, you are just the same.

Heh, I'll blow you away.

Stop! Sometime I'll show you where you can blow.

You ass. With these big scissors I'll cut off your whatnot.

Do you think my husband is just a put-yer-shoulder-to-the-wheel

Mihaly, or a come-and-help Mihaly?

What about that mound of potatoes he stuffs himself with?

- What do you say, Mihaly? - Stop praising me.

You'd better tell them not to make me angry.

- You also like to go your own way. - Me?

The detectives came the other day to question lstvan about your

trips at night.

- I told the truth. - What?

That you've been a sleepwalker all your life.

Well... perhaps I am a sleepwalker.

But if we have been able to hold out for such a long time,

we can't give in now.

The truth is with us, that is undeniable.

Do you think that the owners of the brickworks are interested

in our truth?

They only laugh at us.

What do your two hands and the barrow here matter?

I wasn't born to get frozen to death here on an empty stomach.

Come on, Mihaly, open the door.

Wait!

Imre! You do it!

Don't dare to touch me!

Go on. Don't be afraid.

If you touch me, I'll kill you.

Come on, don't be afraid.

Stay where you are!

Do be sensible, damn you, do you want me to starve to death?

Stay where you are!

Traitors! Do you want to strike? To hell with you!

Do you want to work, eh? For half pay!

Leave me alone!

If we don't work, we'll starve to death!

- Hang them! - Let me go!

Pin them to the ground! Beat'em! Come on!

Let me go! Fulop Bano! Let me go!

- How much are you asking? - Two hundred pengos. Fixed price.

I didn't come here to bargain, this horse is mine, here's the advance,

I'll bring the rest straight away; it's with my wife.

Hello, lstvan.

What's your name?

You'll see he'll even give you a card, but now he's too shy.

She got hold of a branch of a tree, that's how she gave birth to me.

And when she was going home with me in her apron, a man driving

a cart caught up with her, asking: “what are you carrying, Juli?”

Mother felt ashamed and said, “I caught a little rabbit.”

And...

- What's the matter, Juli? - We must sell it.

Istvan's bought a horse.

Womenfolk are all alike. If they see some coloured drawers,

they want to buy them at once; she even left the boy behind.

I'm lucky to have a few friends around.

I just met an architect who had come from Budapest by car.

He asked, “are you here?”. Yes, I replied, I've just bought a horse.

He just wants to build houses with all their windows

facing towards the sun. If he comes with his car, I'll invite him here.

I don't think you've got a wife.

Here's my son. Come here, my boy, and show this man what you can do.

There he is. He didn't grow out of the ground. Well done, my boy.

Look here, my good man. I give you back your advance, buy something

for your son out of it.

It's good we came home. I'm so hungry, I can hardly walk.

Stop hitting your father.

This salt shall bite your eyes, burn your flesh, this salt shall

drive you away from here, war shall stay away from here,

this is our house, this is our yard; this salt shall bite your

eyes, go down deep in the ground, to a place where there's no such

house and no such child.

Turn to your son for our sake, ask Jesus Christ.

Turn to your son for our sake, ask Jesus Christ.

You are our Saviour, we all beseech You...

Wait a minute with that song. Let me introduce some politics

into the matter.

I want to tell you what you have to think about.

Let us take, for instance, Karl Marx.

He did not live here, because he was a foreigner.

But he liked the peasantfolk very much. That's why he said:

Proletarians of the world, unite! But he also said that a

proletarian was more in need of human dignity than of bread.

Don't kneel on the ground. The 1945/600 government decree

is the gospel. The Bible also says that the earth shall belong

to the person that cultivates it. From now on there will be eight

categories. Here, for instance, is lstvan Szeles:

- he belongs to the fourth category. - Let's go to the granary.

He has 12 acres already, but he'll be given another eight.

It's going to be the same as in 1919.

Those who accept the land will be hanged.

I'm the man in charge, I'll be the first to be hanged.

If you're so brave a man, why don't you accept a piece of land?

You either give it or get it.

Keep calm! There's a category to cover all of you.

From now on we'll be God. We can create a new world, and we'll

be the same as that world.

Hey, come back!

Stop!

It'll all be yours!

Stop!

It'll be yours anyway!

I'm not angry with you, lstvan. For I don't matter anymore.

But if someone embarks on some- thing, I can tell how he'll fare.

You must always remember that this land was mine, Bano

took it from me.

We too are just categories. We too drew from the hat.

I'm not angry with you, Mihaly. I don't matter anymore, but

you must remember that this land was mine.

What?

Well, Mihaly, let's make a start.

Look at them. We'll look at this... The first round is over.

Now comes the second. Come on, Bano, eat up.

- Come on, Bano, eat up! - Mihaly!

- Eat it, Fulop! - Don't shame yourself, brother.

- Eat up, Fulop! - Eat some more!

Don't you like those dumplings?!

Carry on, take another! Don't pity the dumplings, you'll grow strong!

Don't disturb him! Just eat quietly, Mihaly!

Eat up, Mihaly!

Come on, come on! What's wrong? Are you tired? Oh!

Get me a bottle of pickled cucumbers; these sweet things

will upset my stomach, I'm afraid.

Get me a bottle of beer too. Fulop Bano'll pay for it.

Don't cheat! That's yours, this is mine. And finished.

You can't eat these too, surely.

- What do you mean? - Leave him to eat in peace.

Eat up, Bano, don't lose heart.

Come on, Bano or you'll get left behind.

Come on, Bano.

You've got more on your plate than when you started.

- Can you go on, Mihaly? - Right ho!

Magnificent... The relief troops are coming.

I'm bringing you the beer and you're starving?

Starving?

You're just in time. I've just finished.

You haven't eaten anything since I've left.

- What? lstvan, you saw me eating. - I didn't see anything.

You didn't? Hey, brother, you saw me, didn't you?

- No. - You didn't?

You have more on your plate than before.

More?

Haven't you got any appetite, Mihaly?

When we were day labourers, you even ate your boots.

Silence.

The more I think about it, the more do I feel victorious.

I ate your dumplings and the cucumbers too...

I'm the winner!

I'm the winner!

Long live the winner!

Come on, the thins. Penalty! Penalty!

- Civilians must leave the field! - Save it, Mihaly!

Don't try to confuse us! Come on, shoot!

Good afternoon.

Who's been helping me?

Get off the sacks or else we'll put you in the lorry as well.

Never.

Hold your tongue, lstvan. You well know what the quota is

for twenty acres.

You won't get a single grain. Understand?

Oh, God! However much are they taking? Are you humans??

Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?

Do you want to leave us nothing but our red rimmed eyes?

So that's why you gave us the land? You bailiff! It's a shame.

And you come to us with a pistol?

Leave me alone or else I'll do something that I'll regret myself.

Tell her not to, uncle lstvan, damn it.

You Bano! Your father was a heathen too, and now that you've become

somebody, you betray your own folk! I wish your flesh would dry up!

Men! How is this possible?

It's the last round of the League championships, and Kinizsi keep

resisting the renewed attacks of army team Honved brilliantly.

Now Patyi is racing forward with the ball.

He's tackled near the halfway mark, but regains possession

of the ball, sells the dummy and is nearing the Kinizsi

penalty area; a nice pass out to the wing to Budai.

Budai sends it to Babolcsai, but the right winger is neatly tackled

by Ombodi; he makes a pass to Lakat who sends it forward to Dekany.

Good evening.

I'm afraid it's too late.

Good night.

- Goodbye, lstvan. - Good night.

Good night...

And now Puskas takes possession of the ball, taking it upfield with

his usual confidence; Dalnoki tries to tackle him, but he holds off

the challenge, goes round another defender, and makes an accurate

long pass forward; up go the geads for it, a Kocsis header from the

corner of the six yard box, and it's a goal!

A brilliant header it was; Honved are now leading Kinizsi by one

goal to nothing; the goalkeeper was completely helpless.

You see, your mother brings out this picture.

I have the same one at home.

But you cannot tell the townfolk that we have nothing to give them.

When I was in the movement,

I saw how they starved; and the more you can give to others,

the happier you are. Isn't that true?

I married my wife with three big children; since then we have had

a baby every year; I do everything I can. Because...

Once I attended a seminar where I was told that the greatest

human richness is the need felt towards a fellow man.

I found this either. I give it to you.

We'll only take mine. Don't touch the others.

Stop sighing.

Of course I'm sighing, it's heavy.

Good morning.

According to the law, you should be handcuffed.

Shut up, you bastard!

You are at the police station. Stand up!

How do you think you can behave, Mihaly?

This table is the property of the working people.

Then it's mine. Not yours, right?

- Good morning. - Good morning.

Hello.

Did your wife go to the market?

That officer husband of yours ordered me to come here.

There was a theft.

We only took my own property. But you got it back.

Together with the sacks. Who needs more?

We must set an example.

Then do!

Tell him, lstvan, not to annoy me or I'll devour him alive.

- I have a uniform on. - I'll spit out the buttons.

Mihaly, my brother, I arrest you now.

Good. Arrest me.

Get off the table.

I'll blow you away.

Tell him, lstvan, to stop, God damn it!

Help!

Help!

Good God.

Oh, lstvan, it's good that you're alive.

How did it happen, lstvan, you were there too?

Me? I just sat on the bench.

I had no say in the matter.

Run for the doctor.

Mihaly... Mihaly.

You'd better get away or I'll send a bullet into your brain.

If I were you I'd chew my way into the ground.

You don't deserve to be called a man.

Mind your words.

He just sits on the bench with his mouth open.

YOu!

Did you enjoy seeing them trying to kill one another?

Shut up!

What are you staring around for? It'd be better if you asked them

to spit on you.

- Bano! - You shut up!

You'll regret it.

Hey men! Be careful!...

Hey men!

Explosion!

Hey men!

- Hey mate, can't you speak? - But I can.

Does your family know where you are?

- I'm not allowed to write. - You're a fool.

You pretend as if you were hardly out of womb.

What would you like if I wanted to send a message?

You fool. What's your crime?

A man was shot dead and I was involved.

So it wasn't the business with the sacks?

But it was.

Your fellow prisoner told me about it.

Yes. It was that. That's why I was sentenced.

Perhaps my friend landed me in prison.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

Please take me to my husband, Jozsef Gocza.

I know about it. This way please, comrades.

- Didn't it get cold? - No. I hurried so that...

Thanks.

Nothing's changed... I should say...

I cook every day the food you like. I've already forgotten how to cook

other dishes; and your son is just like you.

Even in matters of food. But...

He has brought a saxophone, he blows it all the time.

And I've become a blood donor. The doctor says you can put on

weight if you give blood.

Though he says to Mrs. Kigyos that she can lose weight with it.

Still they pay a good price for it.

They even give you beer. I've already given seven pints.

This morning... I tried to hammer in a wedge and I hit my nail

on this finger; for the ninth time.

I don't know whether I told you but I put a fig leaf on it.

That's what they call it. It's a fine, tall tree with wonderful

yellow flowers; and big leaves. It'll disinfect the wound.

Well... I was so glad when the Olympic Games were over.

We listened to the commentaries on the radio.

Were all very excited. Serious people were competing and they

really wanted to stand out; but only one can win, and I

clenched my fist in vain for the others.

I was so glad when the games were over.

At first we waited for a letter from you, but Fulop told us

that there was no postal service from here.

Sometimes he comes over to see us and he looks exactly as

he did at the time of the harvest or even earlier.

He brings his three-legged stool, sits on it in the porch, and

does not say a word.

He's secured a place for Pista in the college.

In the spring when Stalin died, even the buses were late.

All I know is that we were in the midst of such a struggle

that we cried; ever since Mrs. Csere was widowed, no

living being has heard her speak. Not even her father...

Oh! Imagine what happened yesterday.

The dog disappeared. But he turned up eventually.

You don't know how many people greet us over the fence when

they're passing our house. The trial of my husband was

held on market day and they set up a loudspeaker in the

marketplace so that everyone could hear what was going on.

Everyone heard it. When they learned that I was coming to

see you, many of them came with me to the station.

Including Fulop Bano and half of the village.

Mother dreamed that the garden wall had burst into leaves.

And it's always raining in my dreams.

Oh, the things I'm saying. You say something too.

I'm all right here.

Good evening...

I have just been released.

I've come to see you, uncle lmre.

Istvan!

I thought I wouldn't live to see the day when you came home.

Your son...

At first I often dreamed about you and talked to you in my

dreams; but now you only come up once a month when something

unusual has happened. Othenlvise we keep silent.

Did they beat you?

No. We were even given wages.

They only took out the cost of the wardens and the food.

Why are you crying, mother?

I'm old, am I not? But still I bought a tie for you for one

Christmas and glasses for the other; they're like Fulop Bands,

but even better, yet still quite different, but well...

in the first year we did not even know where you were.

Your son went off and tried to track you down, otherwise we

would've died; he's worked for his last two summer holidays.

We managed to buy that piece of land you wanted.

You see, we've always waited for you with the table laid.

Last Thursday we bought a barrel. In the spring an electric iron

and two brooms.

I'm March the cow calved. But now they use artificial insemination

instead of the bull; and people wear nylon clothes.

I hardly dare tell you that the cow disappeared.

Your son and I searched the entire woods of the flood area for her.

Mother sat on the threshold of the cow shed all night so that

the cow shouldn't be offended if she showed up in the end.

We waited for her so much.

Istvan! lstvan!

You see, I've become my own master,

I don't get up at dawn as I used to, I would that my flesh would dry up.

I had plenty of time there to think about everything.

I went over to Mihaly's place before I came home.

I thought they'd be willing to talk to me...

Forget about it, why think about such things?" Why did we send

you to prison? Who did you exploit?

That's what we should be thinking about.

You helped my son to get to university.

I would always pull the strings for you.

Couldn't you be a bit quieter?

- Good evening, or should I say, good morning. - Good morning.

Is it really you? I and my husband cried when they came

to take you away.

Just don't be sorry for him. There were prisoners and wardens.

They didn't have to lick anyone's boots; they were told what to do,

and that was that.

Why didn't you spit on the whole business?

When you were taken away, your mother collapsed.

She broke a bone.

This is how she held her spoon.

She didn't even know in her pain where to put her hand.

But still she went out to hoe.

She kept swearing that she never feels the pain while she's hoeing.

By the way...

We had an addition to the family in that bit confusion.

I named him after you. Well...

where is he?

- Good morning, uncle Pista. - Good morning.

Stop crying, you... damned little kid of your father. Hey? There.

Every man dies with his last thought uppermost.

Mihaly Csere wanted to go home, that's all. I was told that I was

a traitor because I cried in public even though I'm a communist.

You know better than anyone else that I have never cried.

You've changed.

A demand for worriers here. People who worry.

Where's the policeman?

Well, the trouble was... once comrade Rakosi was

travelling through this place in his taxi, my brethren with

leather jackets came to my home and searched it from top to

bottom... Tell me, do you live in Budapest?

- Yes. - What's the number of your home?

Sixteen.

Well then, you certainly know my godfather, since he lives right

there in number 14... He's a Nazarene.

When they took me away they just undresses me...

Tell me, what kind of world are we going to have here?

Do you know that man with the cap?

They told us something about him.

- Yes, but... - You're a communist, aren't you?

I am.

That's what he says now. But he's worked in several trades.

He's been a herdsman, a digger, cither player and God knows what...

Look, I have nothing to say in his favour, he took away my

wheat, every grain of it. He was trying to hole up at the mill.

You know people like me, we only do things for our children.

My son is studying to become an architect. He's a rebel.

I sent him a cable that his mother was dying.

But do you think he came home?

Tell him to his face what he deserves.

But there's Fulop Bano, a man who likes justice...

You'll kiss this good man's hand or you'll die on the spot.

The man with the cap over there has as many children as a rabbit.

I saw them. We went to his place in search of the policeman,

and he threw dishwater in my face from this bucket.

I can tell you more. For it was the policeman who shot Mihaly

Csere dead, but it was this man they imprisoned...

and just because he was sitting on the bench there.

Really?

Well, I wasn't exactly in a rest home for those eight

hundred and fifty two days.

Perhaps we were knocking to each other through the prison

wall? Shall we undress them? Force them to eat up this bread?

Young man! We respect each other. You said that this is our

revolution; the person who has the weapon is always right.

But you know, this is a little absurd; strangers have never

come to this village to hoe, but they've always showed up

to tell us what to do.

You are right. Take this gun and kill them...

Don't be afraid, no one will curse you.

What are you waiting for?

Come out of the water.

What's the matter, old man? Are you frightened?

Come on!

Silence!

If anyone dares to defend them, I'll kill him.

Just for one word of support!

Understand?

Come on!

To the wall!

Well? Aren't you frightened?

What have you got to do with it?

Get down your knees!

Stand up!

Stop! If you refuse to kneel down, I'll kill them all.

Am I clear?

Listen, you unfortunate soul! Don't you know that it'll be

more difficult for those who stay alive?

Did I buy a corner house? Or a rocking chair?

I want to ask you. Just this, kid, what kind of humanism

it is that you want to achieve through shooting and killing?

- You got father into prison. - Me?

You.

Keep quiet. If I failed to hold down Mihaly csere, I ought to

have held down the policeman.

- You see, he was driven mad. - I believed in what I did.

So did the inquisitors. That was why they sent people with real

brains to the stake, it would've been better if they had doubts.

I've always had doubts about whatever I was doing.

I faced the tommy gun with a bucketful of dishwater.

Revolution! I saw from the first moment that it was no more

than useless meowing.

How clever you sound after you've managed to patch up something.

You're only a hero because you wet your pants unnecessarily.

- You child! - You'd better keep silent.

You devised the idea that mother was dying, you sent me at least

twenty cables.

You just wait, kid, I won't even attend your funeral.

Stay here, Fulop. Only go later when things have quieted down.

If someone wants to change this miserable world by attacking

my dignity or anyone else's, he's bound to land up in the

You ought to have seen how wild the boys were in Budapest in

their effort to help you breathe fresh air; they weren't so wise.

They didn't introduce themselves, they just died.

I'll never go back to the uni- versity, they'd either strangle

me or spit on me because I left them there to come to you.

I deserve mud in my face.

Good God, Pista... You've washed your hair...

You'll catch cold.

Take off your hat, uncle lmre. Put your arms around the fish!

Put your hat on the ground. Look at the camera.

Now smile.

- I'll try. - Smile, please.

Good, it's over.

Comrades, have a glass of beer on me, all of you.

Let's go.

Can you stand heavy work?

There was hardly a place to make music last winter.

We chopped wood and cut off branches, he broke his finger.

I was lucky that it was just my right hand. I used two

splints to keep the bone in position, and pissed on it

to help it heal.

Have a drink.

I was on the hill with people whose faces didn't reveal that

they were singing. True, Juli?

True.

I'd like to employ you. You'd feel fine with me,

I'd always tell you what to do.

I go nowhere without my wife.

There's my wife to do a woman's work; I'd give you potatoes,

maize, a young pig and money, you could even make music there.

I'm as clean as the rain. Here, look at my neck.

Why not take a look at her teeth, too?

I didn't ask you.

Why are you standing here for? Go to hell;

I'll break your bones.

Don't worry your poor father. A man can't tell the land that

he's grown tired. I think I drank too much water.

I thought I'd kill him. Tear into him with the toe.

I've never had such a strange feeling.

You don't need to be afraid of such feelings, boy.

But he's my father.

I attacked him with a knife when you were only a baby.

But at least he listens to you.

He listens to nothing. I've been telling him for ages that this

dirty land drives everyone mad.

Your poor mother.

Still your father isn't a bad man. Though he wanted to buy

a musician last Sunday like a pound of carriage grease.

That's why I wanted farmers' cooperatives. Fifteen years ago.

- Try to organize one now! - With hoes? Rakes and horses?

You're a communist, godfather. Tell me what kind of spell

is on this country?

Everyone is afraid of responsibility here.

Can't anything ever be started? Why does everything move slowly?

It's difficult to be a communist. Even if I'm right, I can't

shout it into people's ears; yet if I whisper, they don't hear.

Even so, you must get down to work even if it breaks you.

You see, once this river cut out its own bed; since then

it's only been flowing as the bed permits.

Yet floods hurt people. They hurt a lot.

Hey!

Why aren't you asleep?

I've been watching the Tisza.

Why do you poke your nose into my affairs? I know what to do

without you;

and if you don't go back to the university,

I'll strangle you;

you owe at least that to me.

I've been sleeping like this on the doorstep for 23 years,

relying on the hard board to stop me sleeping more than three

hours a night; for 23 years, I've been the first to greet everyone.

I've only just become my own master.

The land, the little property I have can support me.

And now they want to pay me off with some nominal pension?

At least they've been jealous of me so far.

But if I have no land, they won't even be jealous of me.

Who on Earth has been jealous of you, uncle Sandor?

Everyone. Every man. Well, what can I earn now with these two

old hands of mine?

I made a calculation: one or two kilos of bread, a packet of

tobacco, a box of matches, and a pinch of salt a day...

Is that what our life is worth? And it's you who want us to give

up all we have?

Old age deprives a man of his hair, his reason, his teeth and his

eyesight; but his nature, the driving force, survives.

A man born on the land cannot die in a bed.

You were there when my son-in-law was shot dead.

Where did he collapse? On the ground.

Fulop Bano is blind, because he hasn't been able to obtain

anything; but you must see that the people are shivering.

There's more shivering than the cold we feel.

I heard yesterday on the radio... about King Lear...

He had three daughters, then he was riding his horse in a great

storm and they all died because he had given up his land.

You let my son-in-law be killed, didn't you?

I've paid for it.

I bought 8 acres of land last autumn.

If I cannot reap the crop, I'll die; is that what you want?

Take my clothes off so that he can see my body!

I have eight bullets in it! I put all my strength in my land.

So you can see for yourself. But if the machine treads my land,

my wounds will flow with blood!

I wrote a letter to comrade Kadar, I gave him an appropriate title

for I called him father!

Please, leave my land in my own hands, I wrote, for I am the

kind of man who thinks of others, not just of himself, and I ask

you to think of me, too, if possible.

I remain, Mihaly Pap... 48 High Street.

He wrote back that they had no objection to it!

There's no one more sorry than I am to give the land to the

cooperative; but things can only get better than they are.

And we would be taking the first step.

Fulop Bano told me about Commu- nism; it's some sort of a future

though only a dream; but it's as clean as a glass.

A dream. But we have to sacrifice everything for it and that is

a reality; communism was described beautifully because paper is

patient; but man is impatient.

You sent me away to keep me as far from the land as possible.

Your mother sent it. It's broth.

Eat it.

Do you know what a man needs? To be able to live, he needs

24 square meters of nature. Grass and trees.

Where I live there's not one tenth of this area per head.

Seven hundred tons of soot settle on one square kilometer every year.

That's what is left to us. If you held out your hand for

some time like this, it would get a coating of soot.

We either bury ourselves in it, or throw it aside.

I see.

If something happened to your mother, I would also...

But by the time a man achieves anything, he has lost his reason,

teeth, eyesight.

Some old people came last night.

They took off their shirts.

They said they had faith in me.

No one has ever spoken to me like this since I've been a man.

- Is this seat taken? - No, do sit down.

Should I push them aside?

There's no ultimate argument in favour of survival;

you must imagine that we're all tied

together with a wire.

If you do something, I too will feel it. So will the others.

Masses of them. But this is why it's worth doing.

They're organising a cooperative farm in the village.

I know.

I wanted to ask something of you.

I've already replied to it.

I'm no piece of wire; I'm your father.

You also realise that we're just going round and round.

This circle must be broken. Even if it breaks our backs.

For if not, those who come after us will also just go round and

round; you promised to come with me to every house and tell this

to the people. Are you frightened?

Shall I put a nappy under you? What kind of a man are you?

If we put private property in a museum with our hands in

order to remain men...

We won't hurt even a hair on their heads.

And we will be remembered. Even a hundred years from now.

It would be a world wonder, believe me.

People would realise that the peasants who live on the banks

of the river Tisza don't expect strangers to direct their

affairs for them.

I believe you. Communism is as clean as a glass.

But it's a long way off.

What will one get out of it?

Are we supposed to throw away our own lives and go on hoeing

as before? And in 100 years, perhaps they'll plant flowers

over our bones?

I don't need a lecture from anyone.

If we had no land, no nothing, what will we have instead?

A world in which men are important and not objects.

Is this world so urgent, do we need it even if we have to die for it?

Your mother cried out in pain, but even so you were born.

It seems to me like a glowing ember; it gives warmth, but

I'm reluctant to touch it because it burns.

It doesn't burn. It doesn't!

Hey everyone! Look here!

I'm holding it in my hand and it doesn't burn. Look, look!

It doesn't burn.

Put some bacon on it to ease the pain.

Gid up!

Coward! Coward! Coward!

Juli, if the strangers come here,

I'll ask them why I'm a coward.

Why did Fulop Bano curse me? There were a thousand of us

standing in the yard of the garrison.

They were taking us to the front. A lorry drew up in the yard.

Ten prisoners got out of it. The commander said:

“here are ten prisoners, ten soldiers can stay at home in

Two men stepped forward.

“Step forward anyone with 9 children.”

Another three stepped forward.

Then I looked at you.

You were standing on the other side of the fence.

With a watermelon under your arm.

“Step forward anyone with 8 children.”

Then I thought that I've only one son, but it would be better

for him if I stayed at home.

It's neck or nothing, I thought,

I stepped forward. You didn't cry. I'll never forget it.

At that time Fulop Bano already had four children.

He didn't step forward. He didn't want a war either.

Yet he was taken to the front. Who was the coward?

Istvan, I wan't by the fence then. You've never told me this.

I only came here because Lenin wrote that no one has the right

to force you.

You should understand that my husband is only a man after all.

Go home, all of you! Now you're standing here in vain!

- Men! - Keep silent!

You'll see, all pain will be turned into strength.

Then we'll be very strong!

Good bye!

- Mother, where's lstvan? - I don't know.

Good Heavens! Oh, lstvan!

Mother, get out of here!

Go home, everybody! Only I can understand.

Why is it important that I have grown recently?

Who cares about such things?

When you came to town that day, I just told you what I could.

You have to choose. For what have I seen of life up until then?

The more you achieved, the fewer good words you had to say to

one another; is this world of ours so strange that people

perish just when they're making their cleanest ever move forward?

It forced you to the ground so that I could be raised.

I've been worrying since yesterday. I always imagined that I'd see

the sea in the light of ten thousand suns.

And I'd just run into the water, forgetting even my name.

But yesterday you said there's less time than trouble.

I have a strange inheritance. A strange responsibility.

When we got the land, grandmother ate a piece of it as if it was

bread; when I was born, she wanted to touch me with a hoe

so that I'd love the land. But I feel that all the land is mine.

Here is the sea before me. It is also mine.

In a strange way I feel with my eyes open that my body is

growing in the outer world.

Not in the grass, or in the trees, but in everything.

I'll write again tomorrow.

The End