Original subtitles

FOR Alf Bold

Present

Starring

A Film by

SATANTANGO

One October morning before the first drops

of the long autumn rains which which fall on parched soil,

which turn tracks into bog, and cut the town off,

Futaki was woken by the sound of bells.

The solitary chapel eight kilometers away,

had no bell and its tower had collapsed during the war.

The town was too far away, for its sounds to carry here.

THE NEWS IS THEY ARE COMING

What is it?

Nothing. Sleep.

I'll pick up my share and I'm off tonight.

Or tomorrow at the latest.

Tomorrow morning.

- You had a bad dream? - Yeah.

I was sitting in the room.

Suddenly there was a knock on the window.

I didn't dare open it.

I peeped through the curtains.

I could only see his back, he was going at the doorknob...

and his mouth as he was shouting, something that I couldn't make out.

His face was unshaved...

His eyes as made of glass.

I wanted to shout but I had no voice.

Then... Mrs. Halics looked in through the window, grinning

You know what she's like when she grins...

She was just staring in and then she disappeared.

He kept kicking the door, about to burst it open.

I rushed to the sideboard, I wanted to open the drawer.

In crashed the door.

Whoever it was was coming along the hallway.

At last I tore the drawer open and got the knife out.

And he was coming toward me.

Suddenly he was lying under the kitchen table.

He had red and blue saucepans. They rolled all over...

And then the ground moved under my feet.

The whole kitchen started to move...

...like a car!

- I was woken by bells. - Where? Here?

They rang twice.

- We'll go mad in the end. - No.

I'm sure something's going to happen today.

It's my husband, I'm sure.

Go away!

You do what I tell you, is that clear?

Start packing. Move!

Tonight we're off. Pack up the clothes.

The boots, the coats, the radio, everything!

We've got to get disappear tonight! You understand?

- You got it? - You're crazy! What are you talking about?

I've talked to Kraner, we're off with the money tonight.

If we split it eight ways we'll never get away from here.

You think the others will let you? Halics, the schoolmaster and Futaki?

You do as I say! I haven't worked for a year to give it away now.

I'll send them to hell. But they won't notice anything.

We can buy the farm at last!

- You're crazy. - What the hell are you talking about?

I left my cane outside.

Clear out!

Schmidt, are you in?

You wanted to get away with the money?

I wouldn't have thought that of you.

Let me explain.

- Kraner's involved too? - Fifty-fifty.

So now what happens?

What happens? You're in it too.

We wait till night and then we set off.

What do you mean?

I mean we split three ways.

Don't skin me!

All I'm asking is to borrow your share.

Just for a short time... For a year.

Till we find a place to settle.

You must be joking, man!

You said you wouldn't move anywhere from here.

I don't want to rot here to the end of my life.

I'm not asking for a gift. I want a loan.

I worked as much as the others.

And now you're saying "a loan".

- So you don't trust me? - Of course I don't.

You're siding with Kraner.

You want to get away with all the money.

And I should trust you after all this?

- What about the others? - How would I know?

We've got to wait till dark before we leave.

We agreed the same with Kraner.

Just tell me why you have come back.

Well we only realised it on the way... And... The woman... Couldn't leave her...

That's true. She's really worth it.

- And the Kraners? - They want to go North.

Kraner's wife heard of a timberyard there...

It's raining.

I can hear it!

I'm going South, winters are shorter there.

I'll rent a farm.

Close to a prosperous town.

I'll soak my feet all day, in a bowl of hot water.

Or...

I'll be a watchman in a chocolate factory.

Or a porter at a girl's boarding school.

And I'll try to forget everything.

A washbowl of hot water every night and nothing to do.

Only watch how this fuckin' life goes on.

Where the hell do we wanna go?

We'd be caught by the police in the first town.

They wouldn't even ask us for our names.

- With your pockets full of money... - That's just the point.

Pack a suitcase and leave like beggars!

- None of your business. - Pardon?

Nothing.

Quiet or he'll wake up.

What are we waiting for? Why don't we divide the money?

Come on.

Can't it wait?

Let's divide it now.

Don't worry you'll get your share.

Let's wait till Kraner gives us the other half.

It's all very simple.

We'll split what you have.

And we'll get what is still due to us at the Cross.

Go and get the flashlight.

The document...

To see the money better ...so you won't say I'm cheating.

Let's count it.

It's OK.

Mrs. Schmidt! Are you in?

Hide it quick.

Send her to hell!

If she sets foot in here, I'll kill her.

- Your wife's been out a long time. - I'll bust her face.

- What did she want? - She's gone crazy.

She says that Irimias and Petrina are coming down the road

and that they may be in the pub already!

They may have arrived here...

The conductor saw them turn at the crossroads.

He also said he'd seen them in town.

They're round the corner.

The Bible's driven her mad.

- But what if it's true? - Well, if it's so...

They died a year and a half ago, everybody knows that.

Don't fall for that, it's a trap!

Could it be that Sanyi Horgos lied to us?

- He was the one to tell us too. - Dead for a year and a half!

I suspected it then but nobody listened to me.

He told us a lie. Of course he was lying.

You're out of your minds.

Everything's going to change, you'll see.

Irimias is a great wizard.

He can build a castle out of cowshit...

If he wants to.

No way.

- You won't screw up my plans. - I don't mean to.

A dead man come back to life? Futaki! You, at least, should be sensible!

They suspect something and want to get us out.

- I'm going to the pub. - It might be true.

Damn fools.

You can't run from Irimias.

You know that. So?

You're damn fools.

- If you don't believe it... - Just get the hell out of here!

But you'd better leave my money here on the table.

If you don't believe it, we'll let your wife go first.

And the money?

Well... let's leave it where it is.

You trust her, don't you?

Then I'm going.

Have you heard? They're here. My husband sent me to tell you.

But you must know. We saw Mrs. Halics was here.

As for the money, my husband says fuck it.

That's not for us, hiding, being on the run. No way!

Irimias and Petrina you'll see...

I've always known Horgos kid made the whole thing up.

And we all believed it from the start.

- You're in it too! - Why wouldn't you come with us?

So, we're going?

So Schmidt went first, Futaki staggered behind him.

He was trying to feel his way with his cane in the dark...

And the relentless rain merged Schmidt's swearing

Futaki's cheery, encouraging words as he repeats:

"Never mind, old man, you'll see we'll have a great life... A great life!"

WE'LL RISE FROM THE DEAD

The two clocks show different times.

Both wrong, of course. This one here is too slow.

Instead of telling the time, the other one seems to point at our hopeless condition.

We relate to it as twigs to the rain:

We cannot defend ourselves.

Twigs and rain?

You're a great poet, I tell you.

- Think there's a snackbar here? - Don't think so.

What are you waiting for?

- We got summonses. - Let me see.

Can't you read? What floor is this?

- The second one. - Just follow me.

Identification.

Can I have the summons and your identity cards?

Fill this out and read what's on the back.

Follow me.

- Irimias? - Yes. That's me.

Sit down.

- You're a gipsy? - No. My name's Petrina.

- Petrina? What kind of a name is that? - Rumanian.

- Did you know your mother? - No.

Irimias.

So here...

it all depends on what mood I'm in.

And why, after your release, you didn't worry about the simple question of finding a job?

Time must've been short but you could've tried.

You were under surveillance.

And it never occurred to you to even think about trying to look for one...

You know us, Captain.

Not that well.

But really, what about your future? You're a young man...

I'm not in love with what I do either, but...

You fancy being out of work all your life?

Yes.

Here's this document, see, it says that you don't grant the least value to work

or to those who work hard.

Nice words.

But time goes by.

Do you have a wife and kids?

You expect your son to support you? Or what?

When your leg is broken, or your spine, your skull fractured...

...when you can't look after yourself any more.

We're on the side of the law, like yourself.

We know the law and we haven't broken it so far whatever you may think.

According to this document all you've ever done is break it.

- No... - And with respectable effort.

That's only appearance.

So! And what is the reality beyond it?

Law abiding.

And why start abiding it only now?

We haven't only started now.

You've respected the law from your early childhood?

- That's it. - My grandfather already held respect for the law.

That was your grandfather, not you.

Talk about yourself, not about your grandfather.

We're loyal citizens of this country, Captain.

I would like to point out that our services have been used for a good few years.

How did it all happen?

Don't call your lifes a tragedy.

Be modest about it, no tragedy at all.

- You know us, Captain. - Yes, I do.

But this is no tragedy, it's plain villainy.

Why can't things just remain as they used to be?

As they used to be... Won't you ever change?

Not that human life was so highly valued.

Keeping order appears to be the business of the authorities

But in fact it's the business of all. Order.

Freedom, however, has nothing human.

It's something divine, something...

our lives are too short for us to know properly.

If you're looking for a link, think of Pericles,

order and freedom are linked by passion.

We have to believe in both, we suffer from both.

Both from order and freedom.

But human life is meaningful, rich, beautiful and filthy.

It links everything.

It mistreats freedom only... wasting it, as if it was junk.

People don't like freedom, they are afraid of it.

The strange thing is there is nothing to fear about freedom...

order, on the other hand, can often be frightening.

I must call your attention to certain points.

In actual fact you have no choice but collaborate.

If you really respect the law,

then I'm just a little ahead of you in this.

Practically I have... offered it.

We do respect you a lot, Captain...

Not the Captain. Respect the law!

You're the law itself, Captain.

Oh, no. The law, that's all of us together.

- Why don't we leave things as they used to be? - Right now for instance, you are outlaws.

But you know very well why.

I don't suppose I have to read out the lot.

I won't say this again.

From now on either you work for me

or I must say you have no choice.

Mr. Irimias...

You can go now.

Two rum and brandy...

and a pack of cigarettes.

- I meant large ones. - Sorry.

Come on, make a move.

May I remind you of the cigarettes?

Sorry, I forgot.

Could you tell us what's so funny?

Nothing. Sorry.

Can you hear that?

What is it?

Some machine?

The lights?

Someone singing?

Who dares to sing here?

Quiet!

We'll blow everything up.

- Lets call the police? - There's no need.

We'll blow them all up.

We'll plant it in their jackets... or in their ears.

We'll stick the dynamite up their noses.

We'll have to stop this somehow, what do you say?

Sure, why complicate things?

We'll blow them up one by one.

We'll do them all in. In a very short time.

How do you know they're still there?

They ran away a long time ago... They have that much sense.

Them? They were servants and they will be servants all their lives.

They sit in the kitchen, shit in the corner and look out the window now and then.

I know them inside out.

What makes you so sure?

I feel there's nobody there, Houses empty, the tiles all stolen.

One or two rats in the mill, all skin and bone...

They just sit on the same dirty stools.

Stuff themselves with potatoes and don't know what happened.

They eye each other suspiciously belch away in the silence,

and wait, because they think they've been cheated.

Slaves that lost their master, but they can't live without pride, dignity and courage.

Yet deep down they feel it doesn't come from them.

For they only like living in their shadow.

- Cut it out, will you. - They follow that shadow like a herd.

For they can't live without splendor and illusion.

Yet don't take them away from them or they'll go mad and destroy the lot.

What they need is a heated room and a steaming paprika stew,

they're happy if at night under the warm quilt they find the neighbor's chubby wife.

- Are you listening at all? - Of course, I am!

- I've been waiting for you. - How did you know we were coming?

- From the conductor. - What conductor?

- Kelemen. - Why? Kelemen is a conductor now?

Yeah. Since last spring. But the coach doesn't run now

So he has got time to roam here and there.

You promised that if I spread the news that you died,

you'd put me in touch with Mrs Schmidt - I always keep my promises.

And you've promised Mrs. Kraner. She has nice big tits too.

That'll happen too, Sanyi...

Since you left here nothing's changed.

The schoolmaster's still at home alone...

Mrs. Schmidt with Futaki... You know, with the cripple.

My sister's nuts, she spies on everybody...

Mum beats her, but they still say she'll be nuts all her life.

The Doctor keeps brooding at home...

He sits in his armchair, leaves the lights on day and night

There are times he sleeps in his chair...

His place smells like hell, he smokes his good cigarettes...

drinks his fruit brandy. Ask Mrs Kraner, she gets it for him.

Schmidt and Kraner are bringing the money for the cattle today...

Everyone's been doing that since February, except Mum.

Those bastards didn't take her, so they have money now.

The bar owner's sold his good Pannonia

and bought an old banger you have to push to get started.

He uses it to go to town to see his wife once a month,

though now he lives at my sister's as we owe him money...

In the east the sky is clearing as fast as a memory.

At dawn, it leans all red on the shimmering horizon.

Like the morning beggar trudges up the back steps to the church,

the sun rises to givebirth to shade,

so that earth and sky, man and animal emerge from the disturbing and confused unity

in which they became inextricably intertwined.

He saw the fleeing night on the other side,

its terrifying elements in turn diving on the western horizon,

like a desperate, defeated, confused army.

KNOWING SOMETHING

...Futaki... it seems...

...is afraid... of something.

In the early... morning... he was looking...

out... of the window... startled...

Futaki...

is terrified... he's afraid of death.

They'll kick off anyway. You too, Futaki, you'll kick off!

Schmidt... is coming out through... the back door...

and stops... at the top of... the path to the meadow.

Futaki... carefully... slips out of... the house...

Crosses... to the stables... and hides... by the wall.

F. Doesn't move...

He waits... for a moment,

then... he too... dashes... to the door,

knocks, and... quickly enters... after Schmidt.

What a... hustle.

It has... started... to rain...

It won't... stop... till... spring.

It is fascinating to watch...

the erosion caused by water and wind at the edge of the

Ponticum, when the sea on the Great Plain receded.

It looked like a shallow lake, like Lake Balaton does now.

Good morning, Doctor.

Come, Doctor, don't let it go cold.

Take it away from here.

You see, it's raining, we'll soon have snow, too.

My husband says you might talk to the publican.

He has a car, he'd bring you all that stuff.

You mean you won't do it anymore?

I would, of course, but I can't walk to town in this rain.

Besides he could do your shopping for two or three weeks.

The buses only start in spring.

It's all right, Mrs. Kraner, you can go.

Then you'll talk to the publican?

I'll talk to whoever I want to!

- Where shall I put the keys? - Wherever you like.

Goodbye.

K. Has quit...

She can't...

...do it any longer.

Last autumn... she didn't...

mind... the rain...

Nor that...

she had to... walk...

K. Has...

a plan...

She's thinking over... something.

It seems I got pretty drunk.

Today I ran out... of the last drop... of fruit brandy.

It looks like I need...

to leave... the house...

Come on, cut that out.

You hear me? Stop that.

Look after the fire instead, I'm cold.

I'll look after my ass!

I've just looked after it... You're next.

- You hear me? - Alright, alright.

We're going to freeze again.

- How long are we to wait? - How do I know?

Leave me alone.

To hell with the whole thing.

Stop whining. Someone's coming.

Good evening.

Haven't seen you for ages, Doc.

Feel like a nice little screw?

I'd like to warm up a bit if you don't mind.

- Only warm up, Doc? - Yes.

- And what about a good fuck like in the old days?

Come on, Doctor. It's doesn't cost much.

For such an old friend.

Could I have a cigarette?

- Right there, at your feet. - Thank you.

- How's business going? - Bad.

We sit here day after day and nothing ever happens...

We're all nerves, sometimes we nearly go at each other.

What's going to become of us, Doc?

That's how one just loses heart in everything.

What do you think we live on?

We have Sanyi and crazy Estike on our hands, and Mum too.

They keep asking, where's the money?

Give it to them.

The money this, the money that,

but who cares?

Anyway, we're leaving from here. We'll move to town.

Cut the crap out. Either go or stay.

It'd make you happy if I cleared off, would it?

Today, when they finally get the money?

They're not coming. They should've arrived ages go.

They'll come. I know them.

When they've got money, they run after their dicks.

You think Kraner admits to the whole amount at home?

There'll be loads of money here today!

- Can I have a cigarette for the road? - Sure.

- Matches? - Take them.

You won't change your mind, Doctor?

No. Good luck.

Good luck to you too.

He hasn't got a lot of time left.

You'd hardly recognize him.

What the hell does he do here in the rain?

He hardly ever leaves the house. Now he comes out in this rain?

Idiot. Didn't you see the bottle?

Goes to pick up his brandy.

He doesn't even have the money to pay Mrs. Kraner.

- Doctor! - What do you want?

- Doctor! - What are you doing? Let me go.

- Leave me, go now, you brat. - Doctor.

Leave me alone, you idiot!

Fucking hell!

Where're you going now? Wait.

Where're you going?

Stop!

I won't hurt you.

Stop now!

Where're you running?

Wait!

Hello! Hello...

Hue! Avancez!

My heart - he thought again and again.

He longed to lie in a warm room,

sipping hot soup, being taken care of by sweet little nurses,

and then turn towards the wall.

He felt light and easy

and the conductor's scolding words echoed in his ears for a long time:

"You shouldn't have done it, Doctor. You shouldn't have done it..."

PAUSE