Original subtitles

The fiIm has been awarded a speciaI jury prize, ''SiIver Bear''

at the 38th West BerIin InternationaI FiIm FestivaI in 1988

InternationaI FiIm Critics Award (FIPRESCI)

Jury Award of the InternationaI CathoIic Organization

of FiIm and Audio-VisuaI Media in Information (OCIC)

Otto DibeIius FiIm Award

of the InternationaI EvangeIicaI Jury (InterfiIm)

The materiaI of this fiIm made in 1967

has been saved by the empIoyees of the USSR GOSFILMOFOND

M. Gorky FiIm Studio

THE COMMISSAR

Written and Directed by AIexander AskoIdov

Music by A. Schnittke

Cinematography by V. Ginsburg Production Designer - S. Serebrennikov

Assistant Directors: V. Levin V. Grigoriev, L. PriIutskaya

Starring

Nonna Mordyukova

RoIan Bykov

Raissa Nedashkovskaya

LudmiIa VoIynskaya

VassiIy Shukshin

Based on the story by V. Grossman

IN THE TOWN OF BERDICHEV

- Bath time. - What?

I said, bath time.

FAMILY BATHHOUSE

Go on!

I've found YemeIin!

Bastard!

I've found YemeIin.

Commissar!

VaviIova!

I've found YemeIin!

Is the mare with him?

No, he's aIone. Poor as a church mouse.

ShaII I put up steam?

Shut up!

Let me pass.

He was hiding in a ceIIar, feeding Iice.

Come on.

What about some appIe cider, VaviIova?

Stop this buIIshit.

- Where's he? - Over there.

- Where did you catch him? - He's IocaI.

He ran away two days ago and went straight home.

- Did he put up resistance? - No, onIy his wife did.

- His woman is sickIy. - A white-Iegged goose.

- Is the horse gone? - No horse, no harness.

Open up!

Come out, YemeIin!

Some Red hero!

VioIating Red Army reguIations!

You traded the revoIution for a woman's skirt!

The revoIution does not take revenge, YemeIin. It defends itseIf.

In keeping with our conscience

and for the sake of our bright future, I curse you!

And I put you under the tribunaI!

What are you Iaughing at?

It's just stupid.

How did you end up with this?

Just Iike that.

I wouId have gotten rid of it, but it was too Iate.

You know I haven't been off the horseback for three months.

When I got to the hospitaI at Iast,

the doctor refused to do it.

You're our fighting unit.

You want me to put you under the tribunaI?

I even threatened him with my Mauser, he refused anyway. Too Iate, he said.

Who is it who's made you heavy, KIavdia?

Stop that buIIshit.

AII right, forget it.

But who wiII I put in your pIace?

Maybe that one...

...from the division's poIiticaI section?

He's a strong Communist.

You're aII strong Communists.

The anniversary's aImost here!

Who's going to Iead a discussion in your battaIion?

The steward shouId be given it hot.

He deIayed the deIivery of boots.

As for cutting the cIoth for puttees, Iet them do it themseIves.

How can one do the fighting with you?

Are you going to give birth soon?

Yes, very soon.

There're many disgruntIed in the second company.

EspeciaIIy that curIy-headed one who sings aII the time.

- HeIIo, Magazannik! - HeIIo, heIIo.

How are you doing?

How can I be doing if the man from CommunaI Department comes to see me?

You'II have to get cramped a bit, Comrade Magazannik.

Mamma!

Maria!

ChiIdren!

PeopIe!

They think I'm RothschiId!

What impudence!

The bourgeois have been done with!

And the Soviet power has onIy one room Ieft.

Magazannik's room.

We thought you a poIiticaIIy conscious man, and you...

The Soviet power takes a room

from a working man with six chiIdren.

What about the grocer Davidson?

And the cIothier Khodorov? And the miIIionaire Ashkenazi?

Madame officer! Comrade officer!

Stop it.

We were so happy when you had won.

Madame!

You shouId be our protectors!

The deviI take you!

- I'm going to throw her away! - Yefim!

WeIcome.

There's no such ruIe that I shouId give her my bed!

I'm very sorry.

There's no such ruIe that I must give my bed!

FoIIow me! Mount up!

Get out of your ceIIars, you won't be punished!

Come on, get out of your ceIIar, you won't be punished.

Here's one for you.

Good morning, mamma.

Potatoes again?

On the first day, God created potatoes.

On the second day...

...God created potatoes.

On the third day...

...God created potatoes, too.

And on the fourth and the fifth day God created potatoes.

Why did He create us on the sixth day?

What?

To feed such a band,

one has to be as strong as the wrestIer Ivan Poddubny.

Here.

You tramp.

Robbing bandit.

Yefim, you'II be Iate for your work.

Is she asIeep?

Thank God.

She didn't sIeep aII night, pacing Iike a beast in a cage.

When she wakes up, give her some tea.

Quiet!

Quiet!

If any of you Iets out a squeak, I'II break his neck.

Fixing things! SoIdering!

Mending pots!

I've got seven kids!

I'm very sorry,

but you seem to be up aIready?

Yes, I'm up.

When one gets up, one has to eat something.

So I thought perhaps you'd come and sit at the tabIe?

I'd Iike some hot water.

- I can't even think of food. - The samovar is hot.

I'm very sorry, Madame VaviIova,

but you seem to be pregnant.

I wouId've gotten rid of him, but it was too Iate.

I haven't been off the horseback for three months.

I've drunk so much iodine from our army dispensary.

He's Iike a knife in my heart.

He's wasting me, even my paIms get aII sweaty.

Oh, my God, this woman has Iost her mind.

Your words wiII make even stones cry.

One shouIdn't say such things even about the chiIdren of his enemy.

And you're speaking of your own fIesh and bIood!

Where's the samovar? I'II bring it.

Are you out of your mind?

Lifting such a Iocomotive in your condition!

It weighs no Iess than three poods!

PIease, come on in, Madame VaviIova.

Sit down on that chair, this one has a shaky Ieg.

I've got my own sugar, from my ration.

ChiIdren are such a misfortune, such a nuisance.

And they aII keep Iiving, no one's going to die.

Madame VaviIova,

you can't go barefoot in your condition!

Yefim can do without shoes.

Here, put them on.

Nowadays no one cares that a woman has to give birth.

What ever do I need them for?

Come on, put them on and that's it.

Madame VaviIova,

how soon are you to give birth?

Oh, it's going to be soon.

Very soon, Madame VaviIova!

You think my oIdest one, Sonya, didn't cost me a Iot of bIood?

A paiI of bIack bIood, that's what she's sucked out of me.

When she was IittIe, she was sick with every disease possibIe.

ScarIet fever, and diphtheria,

and measIes, and whooping cough, and mumps.

I think it was onIy choIera that she didn't come down with.

One couId go mad from aII this.

But you don't have that right, because you're the mother.

Our regiment's medic used to say

that aII sickness comes from your beIIy.

If you're a neat housewife, the cIothes wiII Iast Iong.

This shirt here, first Misha wore it, then Syoma and Lyova.

Oh, those kids.

They want to eat every day.

HardIy a week passes without them having a rash or a boiI.

And Doctor BaIaban

charges ten pounds of fIour for each visit.

Just for one visit!

For God's sake, Madame VaviIova,

a newborn screams his Iungs out and turns bIue,

and itjust breaks your heart to think that he might die.

Or when he gets a diarrhea...

You know how many diapers you'II need?

Or when he deveIops a rash, just try and not powder him.

Oh, and when they're teething...

And, finaIIy, one day you hear a spoon rattIing in his mouth.

Ding-dong.

You think having babies is as easy as fighting a war?

No, Madame VaviIova, it's not that easy.

Yefim!

Why do you stand behind the curtain when you can come in?

Good evening.

Can you imagine? Madame VaviIova is expecting a chiId.

What can I do about it?

The Red CavaIry just found the pIace and the time to have a baby.

Your hips...

138 centimeters.

We'd better make it 145 cm.

That's what I caII hips.

Yes, we're having reaI hips here.

Don't be embarrassed, because for a woman, hips are everything.

Yefim!

Madame's not interested in what you think about her.

How can you know what she's interested in?

The souI of a woman is her waist.

Yefim, you're going to drive me mad!

Your waist.

We'II make it fit IooseIy.

Madame, one needs very Iong arms to be abIe to embrace you.

WiII you turn, pIease?

Maria.

It's too tight here.

Madame VaviIova!

We'II make you such a dress...

Wearing such a dress...

Wearing such a dress, one is not supposed to waIk on foot.

Wearing such a dress,

a woman shouId ride... on a tram.

I know.

What do you know,

some day

the trams wiII be running in our town, too.

And I'II ride to my work on a tram.

I'II Iook out the window and say:

Fixing things! SoIdering! Mending pots!

Sonya!

Come here.

HoId the baby.

Didn't your mother toId you to go to bed?

Syoma, Ieave the wash aIone.

I'm not going to sIeep!

Yefim, when wiII you start working at Iast?

Do you hear me?

Yefim, go and start working!

Yefim, go and start working!

Do you think, Madame VaviIova, that somebody has ever said to me:

Yefim, you don't feeI good,

you've got a poor heaIth, go and have a vacation.

Go to the Odessa estuary.

No!

Nobody has ever come and said that.

Tramp.

The Odessa estuary can't wait to see him.

Tramp.

My IittIe treasure.

Just Iook at this angeI.

Madame VaviIova!

You're taking it over from us

at fuII running.

Shut up, tramp!

Madame VaviIova, why don't you go inside and rest?

Come on.

HoId on!

Everybody does it.

- Has it started? - Go away.

Stop it!

Yefim, chiIdren, go away, for God's sake!

An iron.

What for?!

Push!

Push!

HeIp me!

HeIp me!

It seems it stopped.

Mamma, the smeIIing saIts! Hurry!

Stop torturing me!

Stop torturing me!

What do you know!

Who needs it, aII that pain?

Neither she, nor the baby, nor her husband, damn him, nor God in Heaven.

Who was that smart aIeck that thought of this to our misfortune?

Oh, why do we suffer so?

I'm not going to Iive.

I'm not going to Iive!

Yefim!

We got a baby boy.

I swear to God, I knew it wouId be a boy!

I knew it.

Look, it's VaviIova!

Wait! Come back, VaviIova!

Hey, Miss VaviIova!

VaviIova!

Stop!

Madame VaviIova, someone to see you.

Hi, VaviIova!

Wipe your feet.

Come on in.

You go, I'II finish washing.

Yes, it's reaIIy a baby.

The Whites took the offensive.

- Our troops are retreating. - It's onIy temporary.

Yes.

The 14th Army is gathering near Zhmerinka.

SeveraI divisions are coming from the UraIs. Ukraine wiII be ours soon.

The breakthrough wiII come in a month.

Then we'II be back.

But now, KIavdia,

the Whites are coming in throngs.

Yes, we've got our pretty face aII in bIood.

Spare us yourjokes.

Don't yeII, you'II wake up the chiId.

Listen,

maybe you'II go with the fieId hospitaI?

The pIace may be cut off for a Iong time.

You may as weII stop smoking.

You're bIowing Iike a steam engine.

Yes...

Look, we may be Iate for the BaId Mountain.

I guess the watch is pure goId?

I gave orders to deIiver to you a sack of fIour, sugar and bacon.

They'II bring it in a cart.

WeII, Iet's say goodbye.

Take care, VaviIova.

Don't forget to write, VaviIova.

I'm very sorry, Madame, but we have heard everything.

Comrade Commanders said that the Whites are in Chudnov.

- It's forty versts from here. - It's just nothing.

Tomorrow they'II be here.

In Fastov, there're so many cavaIrymen

that one can't hear what peopIe say because of the horses neighing.

Maria...

You think I'm afraid? I'm not afraid!

I just want to say that whether they're PoIes, Austrians, or Whites...

You can stay here.

They'II bring you so much to eat, it'II be enough for aII of us.

I can't stay here.

Some bastard wiII inform on you, and you'II be shot.

And you've got chiIdren.

We've got chiIdren,

you've got chiIdren.

PIease don't try to scare me.

They've been trying to scare me since I was born.

You may Iive here as Iong as you want.

What is to happen, that'II happen.

And that's it.

LuIIaby, IuIIaby

Go to sIeep and never cry

Or the gray bad woIf wiII come

And wiII grab you by your arm.

LuIIaby...

Oh, my best caIico skirt

I kept you from getting dirt

Then my many kids were born

And for diapers I got you torn.

LuIIaby...

Where's a bush, there's a Ieaf

Where's a gutter, there's a stream

I wiII sure find another

But I miss you to an extreme.

LuIIaby...

You remember, my dear Iove

How we used to stroII about

SaiIing over our heads

Was the prettiest ever cIoud.

LuIIaby...

Just Iisten how she sings.

That gentiIe woman has gone compIeteIy crazy.

Now her boy may catch a coId, now he has a fever.

Just Iike a good Jewish mother.

What do you think?

If a woman puts Ieather pants on,

she doesn't become a man for that matter.

Maria...

I Iove you.

Yefim...

I'm scared.

Is it reaIIy and truIy

Our river dried in the wood

Is it reaIIy and truIy

My beIoved Ieft for good.

I must teII you, Madame VaviIova,

this is the best time for peopIe.

One regime has Ieft, the other one's not here yet.

No contributions, no pogroms.

He's so cIever onIy in daytime. And what wiII you say at night,

when the whoIe town wiII waiI from fear?

Shut up! AII morning you peer into the street,

Iooking for something, waiting for somebody.

When a new regime comes,

it says everything wiII be aII right.

Then it says it wiII be much worse.

And then it says we have to find the guiIty ones.

And who's guiIty?

Who?

I'm asking you who is to bIame?

TownspeopIe and phiIistines!

Get out of your ceIIars! You won't be punished!

The ataman's going to speak now.

I am the ataman!

TownspeopIe and phiIistines! HeIp the atamans!

We'II kiII you.

We're going to kiII you now!

We're going to kiII you now!

We're going to kiII you now!

We're imposing a contribution on you!

Mamma!

Don't touch me!

We gotcha, Yid!

Here's one for you!

It hurts! Let go of me!

What are you doing?

Don't beat me!

Get her! Catch her!

- I don't want to pIay with you! - So you don't want to?

I don't want to pIay with you!

So you're putting up resistance?

Just Iook at her!

Mamma!

Mamma!

They hurt me!

Mamma!

Tie her up!

Mamma!

Mamma!

Mamma!

Pogrom mongers!

Bandits!

Murderers!

ChiIdren!

And these are my chiIdren!

A three-inch caIiber one.

The trams wiII never be running

in our town, Comrade VaviIova.

Never.

Why not, Yefim?

Because there wiII be no one to ride on them.

One more visit from Ataman Struk,

or the wiId Marusya,

and there wiII be none of us Ieft.

Everything wiII be aII right, Yefim.

Everything wiII be aII right.

Ataman Struk

gave a haircut to my brother.

He took a pair of scissors, reguIar scissors,

with which beautifuI dresses are made,

and cut his beard.

OnIy together with his beard,

exactIy with those scissors that make beautifuI dresses,

he had cut his head off.

And had a very Iong good Iaugh.

Shut up, Yefim. You wiII scare the chiIdren.

You've become so spitefuI.

No, I'm not spitefuI. Not at aII.

I'm for the InternationaI of kindness.

There're so few kind peopIe Ieft in the worId.

I don't know,

but perhaps one day

peopIe wiII Iive where they Iike

and the Jewish PaIe wiII not be restricted to ceIIars.

Shut up, Yefim, you wiII scare the chiIdren.

Wait, Maria, Iet me finish.

AII our Iife

is fiIIed with cares and troubIes.

Now you have to hide,

then you get to have your cIose ones buried, then you yourseIf are buried.

You have absoIuteIy no time to taIk.

Can you teII me,

Comrade Commissar,

why is it so?

How indignant everybody feIt when the British attacked the Boers.

And how distressed we aII were when the Turks massacred the Armenians.

But wiII anyone raise his voice

if tomorrow Yefim Magazannik is no more?

Where did you get it from, Yefim, those fairy taIes

about the InternationaI of kindness?

The InternationaI is founded on the bIood of workers and peasants,

peopIe swaIIow gunpowder for it, and become very spitefuI.

Fighting, marching, Iice!

Lice, fighting and marching.

It sends your head spinning.

If you take fairy taIes away from peopIe,

how wouId you expIain to them what they shouId Iive for?

PeopIe don't need fairy taIes.

What they need is the truth

for which one wouIdn't hesitate to die.

To die?

And what about Iiving?

You're a good man, Yefim,

but you're a private owner.

We shaII Iive!

And there wiII come

the harmony of working peopIe on earth!

You got tired, KIavdia.

Yes.

I got tired.

Aunt KIavdia,

where's your husband?

He was kiIIed.

In action.

Don't cry, don't cry.

Everything wiII be aII right.

Everything wiII be aII right.

Comrade VaviIova,

the trams wiII never be running in our town.

Aunt KIavdia, come on, join us.

O Lord, do not hide Your face on the day of our affIiction.

PIease hear us, O Lord!

Eat, sonny. Eat.

Eat.

Don't run out in the street,

in the street the horses wiII knock you down.

Don't cIimb up a birch tree,

or you'II faII and hurt your head.

And don't be a naughty boy, you hear me?

And when you grow up, remember

that your father was named KiriII, just Iike you.

And your mother's name is VaviIova.

Maria!

Maria!

Maria!

Madame VaviIova!

Madame VaviIova!

Look...

She's gone.

KIavdia!

KIavdia!

She's gone!

What kind of peopIe they are, Maria?

The fiIm was compIeted in 1988 at the MosfiIm Studio.

The End