Original subtitles

[film reel clicking]

♪

Deringer!

Deringer!

Deringer!

♪

Get on!

Come on!

♪

It's your move, Mr. Deringer.

♪

Forward or back?

By the way, I believe it's checkmate.

Wait here.

Well, Devlin.

It's been fun.

I'm so pleased.

I always keep one of these just in case.

Welcome to purgatory.

Listen, Ben, it's not that big a deal.

So what if you exploded?

The writers will put you back together.

Ben, Ben, you don't just walk off the series.

We're all seven years into our mortgages here.

Keith, this is not a discussion.

The deal is done.

Or is it?

Do we get a percentage of the gross?

Of course.

But there's still time to change your mind.

Forget it, buddy.

A maniac director?

A movie in Hungary?

You're crazy!

Hey, listen, have you really read that script?

Yeah, sure, a couple times.

Come on, Keith, I mean,

the deal only came together a couple of days ago.

It's a little grim, isn't it?

Doesn't work, we'll do another series, right?

God, I gotta find a new client.

I gotta find a new job thanks to you.

You don't want to be a two-bit bad guy all your life, do you?

Hey, $25,000 a week, I think I can handle it.

Ben.

Put on your suit, come on in.

Oh, no thanks, sweetie, I don't go in it.

I just have it.

You snob.

Twenty bucks.

Concentration.

You know, Dad...

I was thinking, if you ever wanted

to talk to me about what happened during the war,

now's a good time.

To help you make entertainment?

Why won't you talk about it?

What is there to talk about?

It was your home, for God's sake.

My home?

I'm an American.

When was the last time you heard me speak Hungarian?

Still sound Hungarian.

You know, you could really help me with this.

Shh!

♪

♪

You've never been here before, sir?

What?

Oh, um, yeah, my family's from here.

Oh, so you speak Hungarian?

No, no, no, it was many years ago.

Well, I make it like home for you, huh?

You're a Lakers fan?

Yeah, you bet.

Magic Johnson.

Two straight ABA.

♪

Any good restaurants around here?

Oh, yeah, a lot of good restaurants.

You like haunch of deer?

I don't know.

You're gonna love it here, it's absolutely wonderful.

♪

♪

This is number 16.

Go through the pockets for identification.

♪

Cut!

Set up for the car.

Fanni and Gyula drive up.

We got scene six up next, right?

Okay, let's move, next.

That's you.

And I'm your wife.

The alimony check's in the mail, I swear.

Hi, I'm Mira.

I play Fanni Radnóti.

Oh, hi, how are ya?

I'm Ben Kline.

Just arrive?

Yeah, yeah, I just got here

from the airport.

Pretty gruesome, isn't it?

Didn't think they should start a movie this way, but.

Well, my opinion's the only one that counts around here.

Mira, honey, we need you to get ready

for the next shot, okay?

Go back to the office as soon as you can.

So long.

Bye.

She's a total anarchist

but a good actress.

I used her in my last film.

Welcome to Hungary.

Thanks.

I should thank you.

Your decision to join the circus brought us the money we needed.

Hope you don't mind that we started without you.

Looks like my stand-in can handle it.

That's quite good.

♪

♪

In his raincoat, there was a small notebook.

I dried it out.

♪

♪

Can you read it?

It's addressed to you.

♪

Five languages.

♪

"This little notebook contains the poems

of the Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti.

To Mr. Gyula Otutay."

♪

"Budapest University lecturer."

♪

"Thank you in anticipation."

♪

This is Miklós Radnóti and his wife Fanni.

In America, you never hear of Radnóti, I know that.

But here, the streets and theaters

are named after him.

So he's a big hero here, huh?

A hero?

I don't know.

Very famous, yes.

Perhaps it's just the same.

He was a man extremely influenced

by the political events of his time.

1941, Hungary joins Germany's invasion

of Yugoslavia and Russia in an attempt

to regain territories lost after World War I.

Late 1943, Hitler summons his admiral Horthy,

the Regent of Hungary, to Berlin.

Hitler is angry at Horthy's attempts to negotiate

a peace with the Allies.

Everyone knew the war was nearly lost,

but Hitler kept Horthy in Berlin while he occupied Hungary.

Hitler was annoyed at Hungary's lack of cooperation

in what the Germans called the Jewish problem.

So he put the Hungarian Nazis, the Arrow Cross, into power.

They started a reign of terror.

They sent the Jews to concentration camps.

Forget about Hitler and Horthy.

That's history.

Study these faces up here.

Try to get inside their heads.

Think like them.

This was Radnóti's world.

These people did not think of themselves

as part of history.

Events surrounded them.

Suddenly, their lives were out of control.

Radnóti was just one out of thousands,

as scared as the rest.

He was a brilliant man trapped in a world gone insane.

So why are you doing this?

Was your show cancelled?

No way.

They wanted me to extend for a year.

Guy's gotta get serious sometime.

Ah, so now you're gonna be a real serious actor, right?

Yeah, that's right.

So.

How are you gonna play him?

Strong?

I haven't made up my mind yet.

You know, I don't agree with Hardy.

The exact details are not important,

what happened then is done.

All that matters is what we want to show

the audience today.

We are telling a true story.

But people believe what they're shown.

Movies become the truth.

I want to show him fighting back.

Well, whatever.

We're in Paris tomorrow.

Yeah, and it's 1939.

♪

What do you think?

♪

To Paris.

To vacations.

To blue velvet.

Here, here!

♪

This is wonderful.

I don't want to go home.

♪

I think you should consider that.

What?

Not going home.

Not for a while.

I don't like these new Jewish laws.

Gyula, how can we stay?

We have no contacts, no money.

Maybe I can help.

No, Gyula, please.

We can't take your money.

We'd never be able to pay you back.

Don't be silly.

I don't care about that.

I don't want to see you in a forced labor camp.

I can't believe it's bad enough to keep us from going home.

So.

Think it over.

I don't think you're taking these Nazis seriously enough.

That's not true.

♪

He wrote this last night.

♪

"When the lamb begins to bite

and the cooing dove eats bloody meat,

when the snake on the path whistles

and the blowing wind begins to scream..."

♪

♪

Is he right?

♪

Maybe we shouldn't go back.

♪

We must.

♪

Here, we can be free.

Safe.

♪

You want to be free.

You want to be safe, eh?

Huh?

♪

I wouldn't be alive outside Hungary.

I know only to write

in my language about my home,

no matter what is coming.

♪

I know.

♪

But it scares me.

♪

And cut.

That's enough for the night.

First day down.

And it's all downhill from here.

Thanks for meeting me, Andras.

I'm here to advise you on your movie.

Yeah, well, this is personal.

I have something I want to show you.

This woman is my mother.

She died when I was a baby.

My father won't talk about her.

She has no family that I know of.

This is all I have.

How can I find out more about her?

Let me think about it.

Can I take the picture?

Yeah, sure.

This is for you.

It's my favorite translation.

Why the hell did he come back?

He knew the camps were waiting.

Read this.

♪

"I don't know

what this land means to others,

this little country circled by fire.

Place of my birth.

World of my childhood.

Rocking in the distance.

I grew out of her like the fragile branch of a tree.

I hope my body will sink down in her."

♪

"Here, I'm home."

♪

Excuse me.

♪

Thank God, they let you go.

You look terrible.

Thank you.

Water and literature is not the best preparation

for bomb disposal.

Thank you. Thank you both.

Thank you for the petition.

The least we could do.

It got you out.

But the situation here is--

Craziness.

How can we be allied with Adolf Hitler?

He's a--a lunatic.

It's unbelievable.

We can't find you a job, Miklós.

Even teaching?

We will try.

You are Jew?

Mm?

No.

I think so.

No, no, wait!

It's crazy!

Stop!

You stop it right there.

What do you think you're doing?

I'm reacting.

I'm showing some anger.

I mean, the guy is human.

Of course he's human.

He's afraid.

Do you think he wants to be taken away with her?

He just got back from forced labor!

Walter, I'm just trying something.

Some compassion.

I thought it was working kind of nice.

Let's go again.

And no more cheap heroics.

Hey, listen, it's only a movie, okay?

So you had a little argument with Hardy.

No, not really.

Jesus!

Did you do it his way?

Yeah, yeah, right, I did, actually.

Jesus!

You know, I don't believe it.

They were able to make the deal because of you,

so you're the one with the power.

You let him push you around?

You're a real troublemaker, you know that?

Whoa!

Thanks, you saved me.

Now you're a hero.

Morning.

Good morning.

Thanks.

Whoa, whoa!

♪

♪

[indistinct radio chatter]

It is over.

It is the end.

[buzzer ringing]

Oh.

Fanni.

So good to see you again.

Oh, please come in.

Fanni Radnóti, this is Ben Kline.

How do you do?

And this is Mira de Kooning,

who of course plays you.

So pretty.

It's my pleasure.

So nice to meet you.

Thank you for taking the time to see us.

Oh, please.

I thought it was important for Ben and Mira to talk to you.

I'm only sorry I was not here when you began.

I travel a little.

How does the movie go so far?

I've been--I've been learning so much about your husband.

You must be very proud of his courage.

He did what he had to do, like so many others.

Miklós was not special.

Not a hero, just a man.

But it required such strength for him to keep writing.

Miklós wrote because that is what he knew.

That is how he could try to survive the day.

He was not a journalist, he did not choose

to be a martyr for his writing.

He had to write.

To live.

Isn't that why he tried converting?

I made him do it.

We both converted.

We all feared the war would be over any day.

If anything could help us survive

another day, another week--

Yeah, but did you feel at all guilty about that?

I mean, about denying being Jewish?

Not at all.

If a piece of paper could help for another day...

we tried.

Everyone did.

You try anything for life.

Miklós, Fanni.

Come with me.

St. Paul had a miraculous conversion

on the way to Damascus.

And the Trinity, Mr. Radnóti?

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Right.

I hope the papers can help, my friends.

It's good of you to try.

[speaking German]

[speaking German]

[speaking German]

[speaking German]

[speaking German]

Ah!

Ah, ah, ah!

Ah!

Ah!

Ah!

They're not gonna let you deny what you are.

I am a Hungarian.

That's all I want.

I know, but to them, you're a Jew.

He hasn't been outside the apartment

in over a month.

I will not wear a star.

I understand.

Now he got this draft.

Again?

In two days, forced labor.

Can't you help, Gyula?

You know many people.

And many know me and know Miklós.

I can't, Fanni.

It's too dangerous for everybody.

Perhaps it will be no worse than the last time.

This is where the wall was.

What do you mean, you mean, here, literally, right here?

Yes.

It was just made of wood.

We had to have a pass to leave.

Inside was the ghetto.

How many Jews were actually killed?

Hundreds of thousands.

In death camps, labor camps, here in the ghetto.

Over half the Jewish population in Hungary, dead

during the last three months before the end of the war.

These streets were bustling with life.

Radnóti didn't live in the ghetto.

He wasn't even serious about being a Jew,

he was a leftist, for Christ sake.

No matter where he lived, this is where he was from.

You know, one thing bothers me.

Why did he let himself get taken

to the labor camps?

Well, you have to realize that at first,

labor camps were like military service for Jews.

They were unpleasant, but they weren't

concentration camps.

You didn't tell me your mother was Catholic.

What are you talking about?

I had your photo enlarged.

You see the crucifix?

Maybe she converted, like Fanni.

Maybe.

The picture was taken after the war.

You could tell because there were no anti-Jewish posters

on the walls.

If she converted, she stayed Catholic.

What has you so upset?

My mother.

So weird.

I know less now than I did when I started.

Maybe, I don't know, maybe she wasn't even Jewish,

maybe she converted, maybe she didn't.

So maybe you're not Jewish.

What do you mean?

The wrong side is Jewish, fathers don't count.

If the mother is not--

Then I'm not?

No.

♪

Ironic, don't you think?

♪

In the past that interests you so

you were Jewish enough to be cast.

And today, you don't qualify.

♪

Should I accept you?

♪

♪

This feels worse than the other times,

much worse.

I'll be back.

Gyula and the others should be doing more, hiding you.

Don't blame him, it's too much to ask.

Here, try this on.

It's perfect.

Use the money for food, not books, all right?

Yes.

Ah.

Don't forget to show this to Gyula.

I finished it yesterday.

I can't go to the train station.

It's better.

Just don't want to-- to break down out there.

This is the worst part.

♪

I'll write you if I can.

It won't be long.

Don't worry.

I have to worry, that's all I can do.

♪

Take off this ring.

♪

I love you.

♪

I love you.

♪

I love you!

♪

♪

"I lived on this earth in an age

when man fell so low

he killed with pleasure,

and willingly,

not merely under orders,

his life entangled, trapped in wild obsession."

♪

"He trusted false gods, breathing in delusion."

♪

"I lived on this earth in an age

that honored informers.

In an age whose heroes were the murderer,

the bandit,

the traitor.

And those as were silent

or just slow to applaud were shunned

as if with plague."

♪

♪

[singing in foreign language]

♪

♪

We had an agreement.

No commitments.

Oh, I forgot.

We have to be adults.

Well, stop whining.

I'm not whining, I'm asking you to stay--

Hey, Paul.

Hey.

Hi, Paul, how are you, buddy?

Yeah, I'll call you.

♪

I don't want you to start.

Why not?

Why not?

Because, Ben--

Why?

-It's just a movie. -Yes?

When it's all over, you'll go back to California.

Forget all about me.

No, I won't, I need you!

I won't, I need you.

No, you don't!

Yes, I do!

It's embarrassing, Ben.

♪

Give me some?

♪

Well, Mira's gone.

To life in the camps.

♪

What you think about Fanni?

The real Fanni?

♪

She's an amazing woman.

She knows a lot, but she wasn't there when he died.

I mean, how does she know that he didn't fight back

just a little?

So, let's just make up whatever we want, okay?

You didn't want me on this movie, did you, Walter?

Without you, I can't make the movie.

No, but you wanted somebody else, right?

You're a nice guy, but spoiled.

We finished the easy scenes.

What's coming up next is different,

and I don't think you can do it.

♪

Yeah, well the reality is, I'm Radnóti.

♪

And there's nothing you can do about it.

Well, stop the movie talk.

Come on, Ben, it's my farewell party.

Will you dance with me or not?

Sure.

Oh, Walter, thanks for the encouragement.

♪

♪

Ah!

[train whistling]

Where are we going?

You shouldn't know it, but I'll tell you.

Yugoslavia.

Outside Hungary?

This is different than the other times, isn't it?

This is worse.

I don't think so.

It's not so bad.

You're going to work.

You do that, and you will be okay.

And we're all Hungarians.

All prisoners of a sort.

The war must be over soon.

I hope so.

[train whistling]

Hey, play something for us.

What?

Folk, sir,

for Hungary.

[violin playing]

♪

♪

[train whistling]

Come on, come on!

You are in Hyda now, one of the 11 Bor labor camps.

My name is Lieutenant Szall

and I'm Hungarian.

We are here to serve the war effort for Germany.

You are here to work.

If you work hard, you will be treated well.

And perhaps soon, we will all be returning home.

You are in a military zone here,

so you are the subject of the order and discipline

of the military.

If the barracks are messy

or if you don't work properly,

you will be physically punished.

Any attempt of escape

will earn a bullet in the head.

Please, do not force me to use this alternative.

While you are here, you don't need any personal belongings.

You may not keep anything you do not need

except for work and cleaning yourself.

Put all your bags on the ground in front of you.

[chattering]

Move.

Leave your stuff here, don't worry.

No time to unpack.

Get inside!

Leave him.

He played for us.

Move, move.

Hurry up!

Over here, over here.

It's such luxury.

I'm used to it by now.

My name is Radnóti, Miklós.

I've heard of you.

I am Miklós also.

Lorsi.

Well, Miklós, we're going to need good music around here.

Okay, that's enough, cut.

Okay, everyone.

That's a wrap for today.

Goodbye.

Good work, everybody.

Bye, Tomas.

Don't forget to sign out.

Very sensitive work, Ben.

Brought tears to my eyes.

Go to hell.

Cozy, isn't it?

Plank in the toilet or plank by the door?

Hi, Ben, anytime I'm ready, you're in no hurry to go.

Let's go other casino tonight.

Right.

So, clean up.

Okay.

Hello.

Okay, good-bye.

I'll be there in a minute!

Okay!

Hey, have a comfortable night

in the Hyatt.

Uh, let's have it quiet.

We need some ambient sound, please.

[water running]

[speaking foreign language]

What, are you crazy?

Okay.

What happened?

Oh, this guy's crazy.

He says that we couldn't go onto this set.

I told him, "You're crazy."

I said, what, you want a report to say that you made

your tick tocked off and that we couldn't go

onto the set, and we blew the whole movie?

And then he was going to be in a lot of problems.

So he changed his mind, and we can go onto the set.

[laughing]

I don't like this place.

Look, Gyorgy, it's gonna be okay, honest, all right?

Now go on, go home.

No, I can't do that.

You stay, I stay.

But I'm going to sleep in the car.

[laughing]

Good night.

Good night, Gyorgy.

Don't let the bug beds bite.

Night.

[music playing in headphones]

♪

Wake up.

Wake up.

[coughing]

Wake up, roll call is in 15 minutes.

All right--

Wake up!

All right, all right, all right.

♪

Remember those shoes?

You promised to pay 10,000 for them.

Said your family would pay, yes?

I was back in Budapest.

You're family only paid half of it.

Maybe they didn't have enough.

I'm sure they'll make it up to you.

No, please, no!

Please, please!

♪

♪

[clanking]

♪

♪

Want one?

How much?

For free.

You know what I don't understand?

Hm?

You're an educated man.

Why didn't you expect this?

Because it doesn't make any sense.

You Jews were rich.

You had yourself apart.

You thought you were better than everybody else.

People became resentful.

It had to happen.

[laughing]

Thank you.

You have paper?

Paper?

More.

Huh?

♪

♪

The camp's asleep.

You see, dearest?

Dreams fan their wings.

♪

Someone starts, groans,

turns in his tight space, and sleeps again,

his face aglow.

Only I sit up awake.

On my lips, instead of your kisses,

the taste of a butt half smoked.

♪

No sleep comes bringing rest.

♪

I can no longer die without you,

nor can I live.

What about letters back to you?

I got a few postcards.

They all had to write the same thing:

That everything was fine.

Did you believe him?

No.

But at least I knew he was alive.

You should eat.

Oh, no thanks.

I'm not hungry.

[clanking]

Come on, get going!

Come on.

Get going, get going!

Come on, get going!

Come on, come on, get going!

Come on.

Come on, come on, get going!

[clanking]

[screaming]

My hand.

You do this to yourself so you can stop.

I can't work anymore.

You want to rest?

So, you will rest.

[shot fired]

Back to work!

Let's go, back to work.

[violin playing]

♪

♪

[violin playing]

♪

♪

I suppose I'm next in this cultural evening.

I don't know what this land means to others,

this little country circled by fire.

Place of my birth, world of my childhood

rocking in the distance.

I grew out of her like the fragile branch of a tree.

And I hope that my body will sink down in her.

Here, I'm at home.

This land is only a map for the pilot who flies over.

He doesn't know where the poet Vorosmarty lived.

For him, factories and angry barracks hide on this map.

For me, there are grasshoppers,

oxen, church steeples,

gentle farms.

Through binoculars, he sees factories and plowed fields.

I see the worker shaking,

afraid for his work.

We are sinners, just like people everywhere.

We know what we've done wrong and when and how and where.

But innocent workers and poets live here, too.

Knowledge grows inside nursing babies,

and it shines there.

Hiding in dark cellars they guard it,

waiting for the day when the finger of peace

will mark our land

and their new words will answer our muffled ones.

Night cloud,

you who stay awake,

spread your great wings

out over us.

[clapping]

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I am Lieutenant Colonel Ede Maranyi.

I am newly appointed chief of the Bor camps.

And I must tell you that your vacation is over.

You're becoming prisoners here as much as they are.

I know you are feeling that way.

The situation is getting worse.

The Russians, the partisans are getting close.

Why does they come after us?

What is it that keeps us in this place?

They do.

Have no mercy for these Jews.

They are your problem.

They are why we must fight and suffer.

These who are stretched could not manage to be at roll call

in time for work.

They suffer for it.

You Jews who behaved

will be allowed to send out postcards home,

telling your loved ones you are healthy

and enjoying the work here.

But these will not be allowed

that privilege.

They must be punished.

Cut.

Back to position one.

Changing sound one.

I don't feel it.

It's that simple.

What?

It's all on the surface.

I don't feel it.

I feel it!

I don't believe it.

The camera doesn't believe it.

Jesus!

All right, film is cheap.

Now, we're gonna do this till we get it right.

Mark it.

Three hundred sixty-three take two.

Action.

Not yet, it's still not there.

I don't see it!

Keep rolling.

Gobert, cut the wire.

God damn it, cut the wire!

[screaming]

Now!

Cut.

You all right, Ben?

Hi, Ben.

Hey, Gyorgy.

How are you feeling?

Your arms are better?

Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.

They brought a trailer for you outside you could sleep.

If Radnóti was here, he wouldn't be sitting

in these barracks.

He would come outside where it's warm

and have a couple of beers with me.

Nice and cold.

Just the way you like them.

I'm lonely out there.

I need to have somebody to talk to.

Gyorgy, I'm fine.

Okay, I'll be outside waiting in the car

where it's close.

"My dear friend.

How the cold of this poem made me shiver."

"My dear friend, how the cold of this poem made me shiver.

How afraid I was of words."

You kept on writing though, didn't ya?

Why.

"Something else I could do.

I'm a poet.

I wrote to stay alive."

Oh, come on, come on,

you were always writing about death.

Death, death, what's the-- what's the one about the petal

separating from the flower?

Okay.

"And is the twirling petal already dead beginning

its descent, or does it die only on reaching Earth?"

♪

And what's the answer?

♪

Were you already dead in this place?

"You ask for truth.

I don't have it."

Oh boy,

I don't understand.

♪

How do you want to be remembered?

"As I was."

No.

♪

As I was.

♪

As I was.

♪

♪

[plane engine]

Our time is soon, Miklós.

I hope you're right.

[scuffling sounds]

Hey, what's it say?

That's mine, give me that!

What's it say?

That's mine, that's mine!

Keep working!

Give me that!

Keep working!

Let's go!

Don't say it-- get back to work.

[yelling]

Keep working.

Now pick up your shovels, get back to work, move it.

Move it.

Leave me alone, please.

Grab these bastards, take them to the wall!

Him, him, him, him!

Take them!

♪

♪

Take aim...

♪

No!

No!

Cut!

You're about to be shot.

You've got to feel that last moment.

It should be stitched on your face.

It's a death panic.

You think I'm playing here?

I'm trying to make something real,

and you've got to give me something real.

Now, look, forget that.

They didn't have 50 fucking people in jeans

and t-shirts watching them-- they weren't shot by

a goddamn camera.

They won't let me starve you enough

to make you look right.

I can't beat you, I can't even scare you.

No matter how close we come,

we're not close enough.

Roll sound!

Take three.

Action.

Take aim!

Fire!

Let me see that newspaper.

Is it true?

And everything's fine?

Just wonderful.

Quiet!

We are ordered to evacuate this camp immediately.

You are to join the other battalions

of Bor

and march back to Hungary.

Hungary?

As you can see by the newspapers,

everything back in Hungary is safe and sound.

Perhaps this is ending for all of us

and we can go home.

[muttering]

♪

♪

Where are you coming from?

Where are you from?

Come on!

Miklós!

It's me!

I can't believe it!

Thank God you're alive!

You call this living?

Anyone else alive from home?

I haven't seen anyone, only you.

Have you heard--

Silence!

By order of the Minister of Defense,

you are to march to Hungary.

You will march in two groups.

The journey will be long and hard.

No transport for the sick.

Any who step out of line will be shot.

Those on my left will leave now.

Those on my right,

you'll follow in two days.

If any feel too weak to march,

stay with those who wait.

I've heard rumors.

Those who stay behind will be killed--

the sick ones, for sure.

I'm not staying, I'm not staying.

Stay here, stay here.

Corporal, Corporal, please, let me go with you.

Please, take me with you, I must go with you.

Please, I must go with you, please!

He's in my camp, let him come with me.

Me too!

My friend, too.

I don't know him.

You stay here!

So long, so long!

Wait for me!

Let me go with them.

May God be with you!

What I want to know is, what happened to the group

that stayed behind?

They were liberated a few days later

by Yugoslav partisans.

Ironic, isn't it?

He was relying on the information he had.

His good friend told him that the people

who stayed behind were gonna be killed.

And he'd read the newspapers Szall gave him.

Right.

Yes, but they were fakes to make them think

that the situation in Hungary was better.

Yeah, but how could Radnóti know that?

He shouldn't have trusted Szall.

Well, that's easy to say now.

I mean, he made the best choice he could.

Yes.

But it didn't make any difference.

What?

Sounds to me like you're criticizing him

for trying to do something, for trying to go home.

No, not at all, he was in a situation

where choice meant nothing.

♪

♪

"A fool is he who collapsed,

rises and walks again.

Ankles and knees moving alone,

like wandering pain.

Yet he, as if lifted by wings,

sets out on his way,

and in vain the ditch calls him back,

who dare not stay.

And if you ask, 'Why not?'

He might answer that his wife awaits him,

and a wiser, more beautiful, death.

Don't walk on, my friend,

shout at me, and I will rise again."

♪

Ben!

Are you in there?

Dad?

What are you doing here?

You shouldn't have come.

I'm here only because of you.

Look at this.

What the hell are you trying to do, hmm?

I don't know exactly.

I'm trying to be this Hungarian poet.

I'm trying to-- I'm trying to get close

to the things that you won't talk about.

Dammit, look at you.

It's not worth it

what you're putting yourself through.

No one can show how it really was,

what it really felt like, huh?

I still have to try.

Even if you could, if you did,

who wants to see it?

People want to forget.

For them, this war is over

a long time ago.

[hawk cries]

♪

I can't do it.

I can't go on.

♪

I can't go on...

♪

[gunshot]

[quiet singing]

What a mob.

Miklós, Hungary.

We are back!

We will see what happens.

Don't get your hopes up.

What?

I think we are going to Germany.

[singing continues]

Come on, let's go.

This road is reserved for military use.

We have orders to go through Szerencs.

If it's by Jews, it's forbidden.

Take the path there.

♪

♪

"Nine miles from here,

the haystacks and houses burned.

And on the edges of the meadow,

there are quiet, frightened peasants smoking.

The little shepherd girl seems to step into the lake,

the water ripples, the curly flock bends

to the water's edge and drinks.

♪

[car engine]

[coughing]

[brakes squeal]

[speaking foreign language]

[shouting]

Where are the guards?

[shouting]

Go, go!

Go!

♪

We are finished, Miklós.

We are dead.

Shhh!

♪

Stand up, stand up, stand up!

Why are they doing this?

Who are you?

What are you doing?

Get up, get up.

Move, move.

What's happened?

♪

♪

[speaking foreign language]

[machine gunfire]

I was already taken to the camps,

but your mother was in the ghetto.

She sneaked out one night to look for bread.

She was seen,

someone reported on her,

and she was arrested by the Nilosh.

The Arrow Cross.

This crime was punishable by death--

leaving the ghetto.

They beat her senseless.

She told me her face was unrecognizable

with the blood and the bruises.

I can't even imagine,

my poor Cheryl.

They brought her here with five others.

It was freezing cold; the river was full of ice.

They started to execute them.

Pistol to the back of the head.

Crack, kill them,

push them into the Danube.

She felt the cold of the pistol at her head

and then somehow, by instinct,

she shoved out her elbows disrupting the guard,

and dove into the water, right here.

She didn't know how to swim.

She resisted.

No, she tried to survive,

and then, somehow she floated to the shore,

and hidden by the dark,

she climbed out, soaking wet,

freezing cold.

And she survived,

but she was never the same.

♪

And then later,

after you were born,

the injuries began to catch up with her

and finally, we lost her.

♪

Why her and not me?

♪

She wasn't even a Jew.

♪

"Bloody drool hangs from the oxens' mouths.

The men all piss blood.

We stand in vile knots, stinking.

Overhead, hideous death blowing."

Watch, watch out.

[shouting]

[gunshots]

They are retreating, we must keep going.

[speaking foreign language]

[gunshot]

[foreign language]

[gunshot]

Bastard, give me this!

Come on, wanna play?

You wanna fight, huh?

You wanna fight?

I'll fight ya, come on!

Come on, I'll fight ya.

Give me this, give it.

What's going on?

Come on!

Cut, cut!

What the hell are you doing?

Fight me, goddammit!

We gotta fight back.

You can't just stand around and watch it!

Somebody has to fight back!

That's not the way it happened and you know it!

Then shut up!

They have to fight--

We gotta fight back!

Then fight back now!

Go ahead, see what happens.

No, no, no, no, wait.

Shut up!

They'd have shot him.

Do you think he wanted to die?

This is crazy, you can't do this.

If we change them,

make them act differently,

we're accusing them.

Radnóti did what he was able--

he survived as long as he could.

I know what you wanna do, but don't you see,

the most we can do for those who died

is understand them.

Don't impose your emotions on them.

Just...

try to understand.

You've got to stop now.

You can't go on.

He has to finish.

Why?

Because we're depending on him.

"I fell beside him, body rolled over,

already taut, the cord about to snap.

'Shot in the neck, that's how you, too, will end,'

I whispered to myself, 'So just lie still.'

Patience now flowers into death.

'Der springt noch auf,' spoken over me.

Mud and blood dried on my ear."

Hi, Ben.

♪

Hi.

♪

♪

How are you?

Fine.

Just the way I want to be.

♪

Why'd you come back?

♪

I wanted to see how you were gonna die.

♪

I haven't decided.

♪

I can't believe this...

Oh!

Ah!

Get out of my way.

Get back in line!

[shouting]

Hey!

[speaking foreign language]

Let's go!

Quick, let's go.

Keep going.

♪

♪

Get up, get up.

♪

Keep your eyes open.

♪

♪

This makes no sense.

But the Arrow Cross insists.

It's a stupid order.

I don't like it.

It's very clear.

The Germans want these people for more work.

These?

They should be disposed of.

Listen, they're supposed to be in the best possible condition.

All right, but I don't want this scum wasting our time.

I hold you personally responsible.

Yes, sir.

Miklós, maybe I can get us some bread.

Do you have anything left to trade?

What about the ring?

Please sir,

give me the bread.

Ah!

Come on, we gotta go.

Move, move, move.

Doctor, we got to go, we got to go.

Why don't you go on?

Let me take these people to the hospital?

It's not very far.

Okay, tell the guards where to go,

you stay with us, you must keep

the others moving.

You, you must be back by dark.

That's an order.

Yes, sir.

Come on, move.

Move on.

[clopping of horse hooves]

[bell tolls]

No more room!

No more room!

You can't stay here.

What do you expect me to do with these Jews?

There's an emergency area set up in the little church

at the edge of town.

Try there, sorry.

Damn, we're running out of time.

Ah, let's try the church.

[dog barks in distance]

I'm sorry, the horses can't keep going

with so much weight.

They won't take them, either.

They're going to shoot us if we don't get back.

Sergeant, we can't take them much farther.

I don't know what to do.

Get back on the carts,

I'll tell you where to go.

♪

♪

Here!

Stop here!

Whoa!

♪

Give them a shovel.

♪

Get up, come on.

Dig here to here.

Go away.

Go away!

Go away, go away!

Go!

Put away the shovels.

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

Get them on the cart.

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

Next.

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

Get up.

[gunshot]

♪

♪

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

[thud]

♪

[woman singing]

♪

♪