Original subtitles

for Alf Bold

present

starring

a film by

SATANTANGO

One October morning before the first drops of the long

autumn rains which turn tracks into bog,

which cut the town off, which fell on parched soil,

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, its sounds do not 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 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 to 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, I couldn't make what.

His face was unshaved...

His eyes as if 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 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 he 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 in a car.

I was woken by bells.

Where? Here?

They tolled 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.

Oh, come on.

You do what I tell you,

is that clear?

Start packing. Move!

Tonight we're off. Pack up the clothes

the boots, coats, radio, everything!

We've got to get away tonight!

You understand?

�You got it? �You're crazy.

What are you saying?

I've talked to Kr�ner, 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?

I didn't work for a year just to distribute it now.

I'll send them to hell.

But there'll be nothing of that.

We can buy the farm at last, don't you see?

You're out of your mind. You must be crazy.

Start packing: the demijohn, lard, flour, bedclothes.

I left my cane outside.

Clear out.

Schmidt, are you in?

You wanted to get away with the money?

I wouldn't have believed that of you.

I can explain.

Kr�ner'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.

I don't want to be ruined.

All I'm asking is to borrow your share.

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

Till we find a place to settle.

Where else you need a kiss?

You said you wouldn't move anywhere from here.

I don't want to stay 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 Kr�ner.

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 said the same to Kr�ner.

Why did you come back?

It came into our mind only on the way back home.

And leave the woman behind?

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

�And the Kr�ners? �They want to go north.

Kr�ner'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.

Soak my feet all day, in a bowl of hot water.

Or...

I'll be a watchman in a chocolate factory.

Or porter in a girls' dorm.

And try to forget everything.

A washbowl of hot water and nothing to do.

Only watch how this fuckin' life goes.

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.

�Your pockets full of money... �That's just the point.

Pack a suitcase and leave like a band of thieves.

�None of your business. �Pardon?

Nothing.

Quiet or he'll wake up.

What are we waiting for?

Why don't we divide the money?

Can't it wait?

Let's divide it now.

Don't worry you'll get your share.

Let's wait till Kr�ner gives us the other half.

It's all very simple.

We'll split what you have.

And the rest we're to get, we'll split at the crucifix.

Fetch me the flashlight.

The document...

To see the money better ...so you see I'm not cheating.

Let's count it.

It's exactly that.

Mrs. Schmidt! Are you in?

�Mrs. Schmidt. �Hide it quick.

Send her to hell!

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

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

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

She's saying that lrimi�s and Petrina are coming on the road.

Perhaps they're already in the pub.

They may have arrived...

The conductor's seen them leave.

He also said he'd seen them in town.

Then at the Elek crossroad.

The Bible's driven her mad.

�But what if it's really so? �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!

Sanyi Horgos might've lied.

�We only heard it from him. �Dead for a year and a half!

l 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.

lrimi�s the wizard.

He could build a castle out of cowshit...

if he wanted to.

No way.

�You won't screw up my plans. �l 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 to come out.

�l'm going to the pub. �lt might be true.

Damn fools.

You can't run from lrimi�s.

You know that. So?

You're damn fools.

�lf you don't believe it... �You go to hell.

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

Let your wife go first.

And the money?

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

You sure trust her?

Then l'll go.

Have you heard? They're here.

My husband sent me to tell you.

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

My husband says fuck the money.

Hide and run for it?

No way! lrimi�s and Petrina you'll see...

l knew the Horgos kid made the whole thing up.

And we believed it from the start.

�You're in it too! �Let them come, l don't care.

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!"

RlSE FROM THE DEAD

The two clocks show different times.

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

The other, as if it showed the perpetuity of defenselessness.

We relate to it as twigs to the rain:

we cannot defend ourselves.

Twigs and rain...?

You're a great poet, l 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. �Just follow me.

ldentification.

Can l have the summons and your identity cards?

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

Follow me.

�lrimi�s? �Yes. That's me.

Sit down.

�You're gipsy? �No. My name's Petrina.

Petrina? What kind of a name is that?

Rumanian.

�Did you know your mother? �No.

lrimi�s.

So here...

it all depends on what mood l'm in.

l'd like to ask you...

after you were released, why didn't you look for a job?

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

You're under surveillance.

But you've never thought of trying to find a job.

You know us, Captain.

Not that well.

You mean your future?

But you're a young man...

Me neither, l'm not in love with what l do,

but... you fancy being out of work all your life?

Yes.

Here's this document, see, it says that...

you do not respect work,

or those who work hard.

Nice words.

But time goes by.

Do you have a wife and kids?

You expect your son to support you?

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

...when you can't look after yourself anymore.

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

We know the law and we haven't broken it so far.

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

�No... �And with respectable effort.

That's just what it looks like.

And what is the truth if that's what it looks like?

That we're law�abiding.

�And why start right now? �lt's not now we started.

You've respected the law from your early childhood?

�That's it. �My grandfather respected it.

That was your grandfather.

Talk about yourself, not about your grandfather.

We're loyal citizens of this country, Captain.

Our services have been used for a good few years.

How did this happen?

Don't call your lives a tragedy.

Be modest about it, not a tragedy at all.

�You know us, Captain. �Yes, l do.

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

Why don't we leave it at that?

Leave it at that? You'll never want to change?

Not that human life was so highly valued.

Keeping order appears to be the business of the authorities.

But it's the business of all. Order.

Freedom, however, is nothing human.

lt's something divine, for which...

our lives are too short for us to know it properly.

lf you're searching 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.

lt links everything.

lt 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.

l must call your attention to certain points.

ln actual fact you...

have no choice but collaborate.

lf you really respect the law,

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

Practically you have... offered it.

We do respect you a lot, Captain...

Not a captain. The law!

You're the law itself, Captain.

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

Why don't we leave things just as they are?

Right now you, for instance, are outlaws.

But you know very well why.

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

l won't say this again.

From now on you either work for me

or l must say you have no choice.

Mr. lrimi�s.

You can go now.

Two rum and liqueurs...

and a packet of cigarettes.

�Large ones l meant. �Sorry.

Come on, make a move.

May l remind you of the cigarettes?

Sorry, l forgot.

Could you tell us what's so funny?

Nothing. Sorry.

Can you hear that?

What is it?

A machine?

The lights?

Someone's 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.

ln 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 that they will be all their lives.

They sit in the kitchen,

shit in the corner and look out the window now and then.

l know them inside out.

What makes you so sure?

Nobody's 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's 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 these don't come from them.

For they only like living under the shadow of these.

Cut it out, will you.

They go after that shadow like a herd.

For they can't live without splendor and illusion.

Leave them alone with these

and they go mad and ruin 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? �Amn't l just!

�l've been waiting for you. �How'd you know we were coming?

�From the conductor. �What conductor?

�Kelemen. �Why? Kelemen became a conductor?

On the coach.

But it doesn't run now.

You promised that if l put it about that you had died,

�l'd be put in touch with Mrs. Schmidt. �l keep my promises.

And you've promised Mrs. Kr�ner. 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 broods 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. Kr�ner, she gets it for him.

Schmidt and Kr�ner 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 a piece of crap you have to push to get started.

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

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

to buy seeds with since last year...

ln the east the sky clears fast like a memory.

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

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

the sun rises to give life to the shadow

and to separate earth and sky,

man and animal from the disturbing, 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.

KNOW SOMETHlNG

Futaki... it seems...

is afraid... of something.

Early... morning... startled...

he was looking... out... the window.

Futaki...

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

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

Schmidt... comes out through... the back door

and stands... on top of...

the path to... the sodic 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... comes quickly... after Schmidt.

What a... hustle...

lt has started... to rain...

lt won't... stop... till... spring.

lt is fascinating to see...

the erosion caused by water and wind

at the edge of the Ponticum,

when the sea on the Great Plain had receded.

lt 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 anymore?

l will but l can't go to town in this rain.

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

The buses only start in spring.

lt's all right, Mrs. Kr�ner, you can go.

Then you'll talk to the publican?

l'll talk to whoever l want to.

�Where shall l put the keys? �Wherever you want.

Goodbye.

K. has quit...

She can't...

...do it any longer.

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

...mind...

...the rain...

Nor that...

she has to... walk...

K. has...

a plan...

She's thinking over... something.

lt seems l got pretty drunk.

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

lt looks like l need...

to leave... the house...

Come on, cut that out.

You hear me? Stop that.

Look after the fire instead, l'm cold.

l'll look after my ass, man.

l'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 l 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 screw?

l'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. lt doesn't cost much.

For such an old friend.

Could l have a cigarette?

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

�How's business going? �Bad.

We sit here day after day and nothing.

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

What's going to become of us, Doc?

lt's the way a person loses heart in the whole thing...

What do you think we live on?

We have Sanyi living with us, crazy Estike, Mum too.

They keep asking, where's the money?

Give it to them.

The money this, the money that,

but who cares?

We'll leave here anyway. We'll move to town.

Cut the crap out. Either go or stay.

lt'd make you happy if l cleared off, would it?

Today, when they finally get the money?

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

They'll come. l know them.

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

You think Kr�ner admits to the whole amount at home?

There'll be a hell of a lot of money here today!

�Can l have a cigarette for the road? �Sure.

�Matches? �Take them.

You won't change your mind, Doctor?

No. Good luck.

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

ldiot. Didn't you see the bottle?

Goes to pick up his brandy.

He doesn't even have the money to pay Mrs. Kr�ner.

�Doctor. �What do you want?

�Doctor. �What are you doing? Let me go.

�Leave me, go now, you brat. �Doctor.

Leave me alone, you brats.

Fucking hell.

Where're you going now? Wait.

Where're you going?

Stop.

l won't hurt you.

Stop it now.

Where're you running?

Wait. Where're you running?

Now.

Now there...

Time to leave.

My heart � he thought again and again.

He longed to lie in a warm room,

and be taken care of by sweet little nurses, sipping hot soup,

then turn towards the wall.

He felt light and easy

and the conductor's scolding echoed long in his ears:

You shouldn't have done it, Doctor.

You shouldn't have done it...

lNTERVAL