Original subtitles

(contemplative music playing)

Hemorrhoids.

Hmm.

What does he do when the Indians do shoot arrows at him?

Apparently, he leaves gifts on the ground

and runs away as fast as he can.

Really?

Well, I heard that one of his men

recently got killed by Indians.

Buried up to his neck in the ground.

And he did nothing?

His work is so dangerous

the workers are paid seven times the average.

Only seven? For having Indians kill you

and bury you up to your neck,

or more likely the other way around.

Paixã. My fiancée just sent me a record from America.

It's the latest thing.

I thought perhaps we could play it.

(in English): It might cheer up the men, sir.

And it might drown out Father Zahm saying grace.

(band playing ragtime)

Major, por favor...

Gentlemen, this is my soon-to-be wife, Belle Willard.

(chuckles)

Oh!

Mwah!

(laughing)

Oh! Thank you.

Paixã, you love this music.

Come on, you can dance with me. You ready?

Come on, come on.

-Okay. -Very easy.

Ready?

(men laughing)

Simplício!

He knows all the steps.

(men cheering)

Simplício!

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

What a dancer.

Good job, Kermit.

That's my boy.

-I'm not a boy. -Well done.

Oh, to be young again.

(man speaking Portuguese)

Stop!

It is not acceptable to me

that you be carried in a chair

on the backs of camaradas!

You know, I was going to say, I have put on some weight

and perhaps six men are two too few.

"Two too few," sounds like a music hall song.

♪ Two too few two too few... ♪

I will not allow any of my men

to be treated like a beast of burden.

Least of all by a priest.

But in Peru, it was their honor to carry me

precisely because I was a priest!

This is Brazil, Father.

We have much to be ashamed of

in how we treated our slaves, but...

Oh, my dear Cândido, I abhor slavery!

Good, then I would ask you, please...

But surely you must see that you can't take someone

as primitive as a camarada, for example,

and just haul him into the present.

This is simple evolution.

He must first crawl...

I do not intend to haul anyone anywhere,

nor do I intend for any of them to haul you anywhere.

You will ride on a mule like the rest of us.

Perhaps I was riding an especially ungainly animal.

I have an idea.

(cattle lowing)

♪

Why are we stopping?

-Indians. -Kermit: Where?

(Indians calling in distance)

(rustling in undergrowth)

Xavantes.

(speaking native language)

(speaking Portuguese)

Colonel...

for you.

Paixão.

♪

Son of a bitch.

Kermit: What?

It's from a reporter friend of mine.

According to him, there's an explorer

named Sanford Davison.

Sanford Davison...

who is disparaging our trip in the press,

saying, "There are no uncharted rivers in Brazil."

(distant hammering, men chatting)

-(cattle lowing) -(Indians calling in distance)

I'm not scared.

Fine. Fine. (speaking native language)

(continues speaking in native language)

(continues speaking in native language)

What's he saying?

He's trying to introduce the idea of nationhood.

The state will educate its citizens,

and hopefully through science, bring peace to everyone.

This is the second time...

Science and peace. Hah!

♪

(continues speaking in native language)

Ah, thank you.

Where are you going?

Colonel Rondon offers these children of the forest

the rewards of statehood.

I will complement his work

by offering them the rewards of eternal life.

Did you ask the Colonel if he thinks this is advisable?

Oh, I never ask any man to sanction God's work.

Let him go. Go ahead.

My officer worked with the British on the railroads.

His English is limited, but I think it is enough for your needs.

Don't you believe in anything?

I believe that it is pointless

to argue with anyone in a skirt,

be it a judge, woman or a priest.

(chuckles)

How very amusing.

I wonder if you'll still be smiling on Judgment Day.

(laughing)

I apologize on his behalf. (chuckles)

I take it you don't miss the church.

As a child I was in a Jesuit orphanage.

I miss the hymns.

I do not miss the beatings

nor the threats of eternal damnation.

The army has been my family,

Positivism my faith.

When I was young,

my first wife and my mother died in the same house,

only hours apart,

and just two days after my eldest daughter was born.

The lights went completely out of my life.

I'm not sure I could have endured that

without faith.

But how could you have faith in a god

that would do that to you?

I don't see it that way. Faith is a comfort.

Well, I say that, but even more,

staying busy.

I rushed back to work,

I dashed out west and...

as they say, "Black care rarely sits

behind a rider whose pace is fast enough."

Keep moving. Action.

-That's my motto. -Hmm.

I'm not much for introspection or regret,

although my eldest daughter will tell you

that perhaps I should have mourned...

a little longer.

You know a great deal about my father's exploits during the war in Cuba.

I suppose so, yes.

I have read some...

strange items from the press around that time.

About his behavior on the battlefield?

You know... as you grow older,

I think you'll find the past can often make

for rather dull conversation.

Especially over a drink.

Good night.

(speaking Portuguese)

(speaking Portuguese)

I saw Dr. Cajazeira give you quinine.

You didn't tell me you had malaria.

Everyone gets malaria here sooner or later.

It comes and goes.

I wondered why you were so thin.

And that... that scar?

What happened?

I fell 15 feet from a partially built bridge

and broke one of my ribs.

Why on Earth didn't you tell me?

I didn't want to bother you while you were busy

tearing apart the Republican Party.

That remark about science and peace today...

it seemed so unlike you.

I received a telegram from a friend

at the State Department.

Germany is arming itself

not just with one battleship after another,

but with scientific weapons.

A gas that kills, aeroplanes that drop bombs,

things unimaginable a few years ago.

If war breaks out,

there'll be carnage like never before.

That was the science I was thinking of.

President Wilson is a mollycoddled pussyfooter.

He does nothing!

But he was elected President.

Well, what he should do is send me to negotiate.

I know all the leaders of Germany, France, England,

Serbia, Russia, all of them.

They like me.

I'd get them together and make them see

where they have mutual interests.

And if that didn't work, I'd cajole...

and if that didn't work, I'd threaten.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick."

And if that didn't work, there'd be hell to pay.

(distant animals calling)

Teddy: "My lover, my life.

"I'm about to leave the last outpost of civilization

and this will be my final chance to write to you for some time."

Kermit: "I miss you, Belle,

"and do resent having to risk my life

"just so my father can get his name on a river

and prove how tough he is."

Teddy: "I do like Colonel Rondon.

"He's a little odd, to say the least,

"but I wish I felt more...

"confidence in him.

"I just can't help feeling he has his own plans,

some of which... he doesn't share."

Kermit: "I so wish I could be near you,

"to hold you in my arms and feel your embrace.

"But even the mere thought of your smile

is like a soothing balm to my every travail."

Teddy: "In some ways Kermit is as tough as hickory,

"in others not.

"He is drinking less because he has no choice,

"but when he does, it is hard to watch.

"I know that you are still upset

"about me taking this journey, and I apologize.

"I hope when I come home you will forgive me

"because I love you more than I have loved anyone

in all my life."

(cattle lowing, distant hammering)

(speaking Portuguese)

(Rondon speaking Portuguese)

(cattle lowing)

Here you are.

Now you go...

What is he doing?

Major.

(speaking Portuguese)

-This is my body... -(Indian speaking native language)

Father Zahm, may I have a word in private, please?

Of course.

I don't think you're physically fit enough, my dear fellow,

to continue on this journey.

-But I've made this journey before. -No, no, no.

I could not forgive myself if I was responsible for the death

of not just a man of the cloth,

but a thinker, a writer, a friend.

Oh?

Uh...

Pull yourself together, we're being filmed.

What should I do then?

Return to America.

Assuming I survive this would-be martyr,

I'll see you back there in a month or two.

Believe me.

It's for the best.

(Rondon speaking Portuguese)

(Morse code beeping)

(speaking Portuguese)

-Hey, Colonel. -Look at the camera.

(chuckles)

Lt. Pinheiro will take the mules back

and then proceed on to where I think

the River of Doubt will emerge.

-Understood. -Okay?

But now I need your attention.

There are many wonderful things in the river

and along the banks.

Some are beautiful, some can provide sustenance.

And there are Indians.

They can see us,

but most of the time we cannot see them.

If they want, they can pick us off

one by one until we are all dead.

We cannot fight an invisible enemy.

The only way to survive here

is to be a respectful visitor

because, remember, we are on their land.

(speaking Portuguese)

♪

(speaking Portuguese)

(birds calling)

(monkeys chittering)

(ducks quacking)

♪

(door closes)

(chuckles)

Bill. Farrel Nash.

He's an outdoorsman like me, an accomplished naturalist and a trained forester.

He's going to help us find the most important forests...

And turn them into protected lands.

Yes, national parks, monuments and so on.

Given the vast sums of money that timber interests give

to senators and congressmen, how do you propose to do this?

By executive order, and do it so fast they'll be caught off guard.

"They" being the current land owners?

-(knock on door) -Teddy: Yes. Come in.

But will this expansion of Presidential powers

prove to be legal under the constitution?

Well, you're the ex-judge.

You will have to find ways to defend us

if Congress fights back.

I didn't come here to twiddle my thumb.

-"House of Morgan"? -(door opens)

-Hello there! -Hello.

I just wanted to stop in and let you know

that I'm going out for lunch with Nicholas.

Oh. The Longworth fellow from the House?

Bully for you.

(snake hisses)

(woman screams)

Goodbye, Daddy.

Very good.

Mr. President, can't you control your daughter?!

I can do one of two things.

I could be President of the United States

or I can control Alice Roosevelt.

No man can possibly do both.

(distant horn honking)

He sent it back.

Was there a note?

Yes.

"Dear J.P., thank you for what I'm told

"is an extraordinary bottle of wine,

but I rarely drink, and even if I did, I'd still send it back."

(carriage rattling, horse neighing)

"Thanks also for the tepid note of apology,

"which I will keep and have framed

"and hung above my desk the day I break up your monopoly.

"En garde!

Theodore Roosevelt."

Apparently, he's had the initials "T.R."

painted on the side of his White House carriage

in the same lettering as yours.

Only bigger, I'm sure.

He wants a fight.

And doesn't lack courage.

He got the job by accident,

now he needs to flex his muscles to prove

he deserves it.

He thinks he's the owner of the truth.

The high priest of all morals on Earth.

In other words, not corruptible?

(scoffs)

I'd say not.

Yet.

If he wants a fight, I'll give him one.

I'll fight him all the way

to the Supreme Court and beat him.

I never saw a man so obnoxiously happy in his occupation.

Let him enjoy it while he can.

A wealthy family like mine can last for generations

and get stronger with each one.

A President serves two terms at best

and then gets tossed...

into the wilderness.

I just came from the Supreme Court.

The judges affirmed your right to break up the monopoly.

(chuckles)

Ha ha!

We beat J.P. Morgan!

(laughing)

This is bully!

Absolutely bully!

God forgive me for my caution!

Knocked him sideways.

(chuckles)

This might well change the American way of life!

If we can tame corporations like this,

maybe next they can be made fully accountable

for the health and welfare of their workers.

(audience applauding)

Man: And finally, I want to thank you all

for coming here tonight

-to support the Republican Party... -(sighs)

...and the reelection of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Thank you very much, and God bless America.

-(applauding) -You came to support me?

I came to support the party.

Theodore, you can poke at me all you like,

but I take great exception at you attacking the House of Morgan.

Me is one thing, my business is another.

The heat of battle.

It was ungentlemanly and I apologize.

I tell you I won't stand for you stealing land by executive order.

Nor will my partners in the mining and timber business.

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon?

No!

Well, it's a sight.

Have you ever been, sir?

I have, and it is breathtaking.

(chuckles)

It's one of the great wonders of nature, J.P.

And I believe if you saw it, you'd agree

we should keep it for our children

and our children's children,

and all who come after them.

It's the one sight every American should see.

But your Allied Mining Company of Colorado

has decided to blow up bits of it in search of minerals

and they won't stop till they have marred the face of every cliff

and poisoned all the fish in the Colorado River!

What gives you, and you alone,

the right to decide who owns land

and which company does what... where?

What that company is doing, J.P.,

is unpatriotic.

It's sacrilege and a desecration

and no amount of profit will ever make it right.

So, I am going to stop it

and make that land public land.

And that is that.

Excellent.

You pick a lot of fights.

I'd rather be a good President for three years

than a lousy one for seven.

I'd rather have trees than not have trees.

They help you breathe, you know,

according to Farrel Nash.

I miss you.

I'm always with you.

You're always with me.

You are not always with me.

And if you fail to get a second term,

it won't break my heart.

A national park.

To be honest with you, the Grand Canyon is a national monument.

It is truly...

Give his re-election campaign

$50,000 in my name.

Really? Why?

To show him that this setback doesn't bother me!

To probe him,

to see if he's getting more...

cynical.

Perkins: He sent it back.

(speaking Portuguese)

You went past the line, I think.

Come again?

Your pour was a bit heavy handed.

Kermit: Oh, I see.

Should I spit it back up into the bottle?

If building bridges doesn't work out,

why don't you try your hand at vaudeville?

Kermit, would it be all right if I...?

No. Go right ahead.

Just be sure to follow the lines.

Obrigado.

I didn't know you were a drinking man.

Perhaps I don't want anybody to know.

(dog whining)

Paixã Coronel.

Rondon: Major.

(speaking Portuguese)

Coronel, I, uh... have been meaning to tell you.

I'm a trained engineer

and I don't want to be just another passenger.

If it's possible, I would like to help with the surveying.

I will think about it.

(hammering)

Hey, Kermit. Please, you get into this one, please?

-Yes, Colonel. -Okay.

(straining)

(speaking Portuguese)

Rondon: Next measurement!

He's a daring young man, isn't he?

I know. I know.

Rondon: Next measurement!

(speaking Portuguese)

Rondon: Next measurement!

(speaking Portuguese)

(chuckles)

Father...

there's something I've always meant to ask.

Yes?

It's about your time in Cuba.

Ah! (chuckles)

My crowded hour.

What of it?

I remember reading an article about the war

that described you as...

that described you as taunting the enemy dead in the trenches.

Laughing and hopping about.

I had written the whole thing off as gossip, of course.

But...

there isn't any truth in it, is there?

It is true.

I see.

Why shouldn't it be?

Do you have any idea

what those Spaniards did to our soldiers that they captured?

When I looked down at those dead Spaniards,

I thought not of their lost humanity

but of the lost humanity of my own soldiers.

The ones whose corpses we found strewn

up and down the San Juan coast,

their eyes plucked out by vultures,

their flesh pecked clean by land crabs.

It could just as easily have been me lying dead.

And if a Spanish colonel stood over my corpse

and hooted and hollered in victory,

I would not begrudge him for it.

(hammering)

(farts)

(farting)

(sighing)

Ah... (chuckles)

Coronel!

Desculpa!

(chuckles, sighs)

(Indian calling in distance)

(Indian ululating)

(playing somber tune)

(repeating tune on accordion)

(chuckles)

(playing somber tune)

(accordion playing coda)

(sound of rushing water)

(grunting)

(Julio shouting in Portuguese)

Teddy: Over there!

Hurry up!

Hurry up! Come on!

Hurry!

Hurry!

(wood creaking)

Come on!

The rope is shredding. It's shredding!

Kermit: Simplício!

Come on!

Vamos!

Meat. Meat, please.

Thank you.

Coronel, I've been hearig voices in the forest.

Yes.

And...?

It's to be expected. We are on their land.

It's normal, Colonel.

Normal?

Imagine you are back home in New York

and you see a group of strangers camping in your backyard.

Wouldn't you say something to your family?

I see your point, of course,

but the question is, how dangerous are they?

We do not know yet.

(speaking Portuguese)

(Indians calling in distance)

-(calling stops) -(gun cocking)

(laughs)

I think he likes me more than you!

(dog grumbling)

(barking)

Kermit: I say, Father,

I finally caught a fish.

Oh, well, congratulations.

Should feed us all for weeks.

What's it called?

Candiru. It's quite common around here,

according to Simplício.

Apparently, it's everywhere,

and it has a peculiar reputation,

not just for having sharply pointed teeth, but...

Nash: No, no, no.

It actually has

sharply pointed spines on its back.

Ah! Fascinating.

Occasionally there have been reports

of unlucky travelers urinating in candiru-infested waters,

and... uh...

it's actually... it's so grotesque, you know.

Go on!

So, apparently, the candiru,

when they're young and small,

can actually swim up one's urine stream

and enter into the urethra,

at which point they open their spines and get lodged in.

Sometimes, amputation of the affected member is necessary...

(men laughing)

Dr. Cajazeira!

Doctor!

Dr. Cajazeira! Doctor!

(laughter continues)

Come on, Father, you can do it.

We've been on the river 12 days.

Yes.

And traveled more or less 84 miles.

Somewhat under.

And it appears we've lost a good deal of our food.

Nearly half the food was lost

when the dugouts went over the falls.

And not just ours.

And if the river is 1,000 miles long,

how long will it take us to come out the other end?

(sighs)

About 140 days.

Hm.

(Indians calling)

(distant thunder rumbling)

(tin cans rattling)

♪

Teddy: You know what I just saw?

Julio hoarding away food in secret.

He's been tucking into his own private store.

Colonel Rondon does have his men on half rations.

What? With all this physical labor?

They must be starving!

Yes.

He said it was a matter of national pride.

The American guest must eat with the abundant quantities

to which he is clearly accustomed.

Teddy: Good morning, Colonel.

Good morning.

I will not accept more food

than any other man on this trip!

Who do you take me for?

I can hold my own out here with any man!

I'm sure you can, Colonel.

I'm sure.

Good.

That's settled, then.

(sighs)

But I must ask.

How is it that, in this verdant forest

where everything grows and flourishes

to an almost obscene degree...

how is it there's suddenly nothing to goddamn eat?

No animals, no birds,

very few fish...

I see the occasional monkey,

almost nothing else.

Rondon: There are no Brazil nuts.

Teddy: And what does that mean?

Rondon: The nuts simply haven't grown.

If there are no nuts, the agoutis leave.

And if there are no agoutis,

all the animals that eat the agoutis also leave.

And what you are left with...

is this.

These Indians we keep hearing,

how do they live?

Through patience, Colonel.

If we stop for a few days and remain quiet,

we will shoot some animals and catch...

Obrigado.

...catch enough fish to sustain us

for two or three days, maybe more,

and then we will have to stop again.

No, no, no, no. We have to move faster.

Or slower.

No, faster, I say.

While we still have provisions, we should move faster!

Yeah, I came here...

Let's start earlier.

And must you survey every wretched bend?

Can we not just get a more general sense

of which way the river flows?

With all due respect, Colonel,

I came here to survey a river.

Unless I can provide my government with a detailed map,

this expedition will be worthless

and my job would be at risk.

I am sorry, Theodore, but I must take

Colonel Rondon's side on this.

But when people start hiding in order to eat,

the next thing they do is...

Hide in order to eat?

Excuse me, Colonel.

Hide in order to eat? What do you mean?

Julio.

I saw him helping himself to some extra rations in secret.

(speaking Portuguese)

(Julio coughing)

(grunts)

(grunting continues)

(Julio groans)

(Julio groans)

Enough.

Enough.

(Julio coughing)

Teddy: Hey.

(man speaking Portuguese)

Well...

so much for pacifism.

♪

Maybe you should rest once in a while.

I need to deliver this as soon as we get back.

We need the money.

Oh, for God's sake.

Your mother always says I'm hopeless with money.

It's not true.

I've always followed my father's advice

and lived within my means.

Oh, except for one year,

before you were born,

when they found all my cattle out west, dead.

High up in the trees, trying to get at the last edible twigs.

In an especially horrid winter.

I always assumed

that if I kept marching along at a good clip,

fate would knock on my door and hand me a bag of coins.

Well, fate did come knocking on your door, many times.

Yes, it did.

But since the last election,

fate hasn't set foot on my property,

let alone knocked on my door.

This is all I have, Kermit...

to dig me out of a hole.

A tale of suffering...

and adventure.

So the worse things get, the better the book.

Your luck still holds, Father.

(chuckles)

(flute playing simple melody)

Rondon: Shh.

(Rondon speaking Portuguese)

(flute resumes playing)

I can endure any physical hardship,

but not shame.

Twelve years ago, I encountered

a tribe deep in the jungle.

They were shy.

And after many weeks waiting,

I got them to trust me,

and we started to work together in peace.

Then I was called back to Rio.

I left a small platoon under the command

of a good soldier,

but he was too young.

I was gone 20 kilometers when he caught up with me.

Some of my soldiers had rebelled

and were in the village giving the Indians alcohol

and forcing themselves on their women.

(sighs)

I'm part Indian, Colonel.

My mother was a half Bororo Indian,

and my father was a half Guajá Indian.

Then I rode back to the village

and drove my men out, riding around them,

shouting... using this weapon.

Back in camp, I ordered them to kneel down in line.

I took a thick bamboo stick

and started to beat them.

There were nine of them.

I started at one end

and beat each man in turn

as hard as I could,

and when I reached the end, I headed back

and beat each one again.

I beat them for an hour.

Just kept going, bashing them.

It was a strong feeling, this rage.

The next day, one of them died.

A year later I was in a military court.

I thought I was going to be expelled,

but the judge understood

and I kept my commission.

That day, I swore an oath,

to the judge and to myself,

that I would never again allow myself to feel

that kind of rage.

I understand.

More than you can know.

I do not blame you, Cândido,

not at all.

Thank you.

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