Original subtitles

Moscow M. Gorky Film Studio 1957

QUIET FLOWS THE DON Part Two

Based on the novel by Mikhail SHOLOKHOV

Written and Directed by Sergey GERASIMOV

Director of Photography Vladimir RAPOPORT

Production Designer B. DULENKOV

Music by Yu. LEVITIN

English Subtitles by T. Kameneva

Cast:

Panteley Prokofievich Melekhov - D. ILCHENKO

Ilyinichna - A. FILIPPOVA Grigory - P. GLEBOV

Pyotr - N. SMIRNOV Darya - L. KHITYAYEVA

Dunyashka - N. ARKHANGELSKAYA

Stepan Astakhov - A. BLAGOVESTOV Aksinya - E. BYSTRITSKAYA

Miron Grigorievich Korshunov - A. ZHUKOV

Lukinichna - A. DENISOVA Natalya - Z. KIRIYENKO

Mitka - B. NOVIKOV Grandfather Grishaka - A. KARPOV

Koshevaya - Ye. MAXIMOVA Mikhail Koshevoy - G. KARYAKIN

Mashutka Koshevaya - V. KHMARA

General Listnitsky - A. SHATOV Yevgeny Listnitsky - I. DMITRIYEV

Shtokman - V. SHATUNOVSKY Bunchuk - P. CHERNOV

Podtelkov - N. MURAVYOV Krivoshlykov - B. MURAVYOV

Kalmykov - M. GLUZSKY Kotlyarov - A. TITOV

Prokhor Zykov - V. ZAKHARCHENKO Khristonya - M. VASSILIEV

Grandfather Sashka - D. KAPKA Valet - S. YURTAIKIN

General - N. TYAMIN Shamil - P. LYUBESHKIN

QUIET FLOWS THE DON

1916

- Still raining? - Yes.

Lieutenant is hiding a marriage.

Lieutenant, you're unmasked. Never play from the third queen.

What's the matter with you today? Dreamed of your village again?

You guessed right. I saw the steppe in my dream.

And my heart ached...

I’m sick and tired of this service to the czar.

What are you staring at?

- Closer to the light. - Wait.

« Your enemies, Austrian and German...»

- What? - Here.

« Your enemies are not Austrian and German soldiers

who've been deceived like we,

but your own czar...»

That's real hard.

« Your own industrialist and landowner.»

How I’d love to have a bath!

All you lack is a boiler. More than enough water in our dugout.

It's too damp, men, too damp.

You must count your blessings, here in the marsh we're safe.

Other sectors are fighting, and we hardly spend a cartridge a week.

Better to be fighting than rotting here.

We're burning to do battle!

Are you burning to do battle, Lieutenant?

Me? Eight diamonds. I’m burning to play clubs.

We Cossacks won't be sent against the enemy.

Why not?

What are we for, then?

When unrest sets in at the front, and this is inevitable,

for the men are getting fed up with the war,

the Cossacks will be sent to crush the mutineers.

You're talking nonsense.

Why nonsense?

Because nonsense is nonsense.

You get carried away, my dear. How do you know there's unrest in the offing?

Let's suppose something different.

The Allies crush the Germans, the war is brought to a victorious end.

What role do you assign the Cossacks then?

It doesn't look like a victorious end.

I’ve just come back from leave.

What's going on in Petrograd? Is the capital roaring?

Yes, it is. Nothing good.

There's a food shortage.

Hunger and discontent in the workers' districts.

The war won't end well for us. What do you think, gentlemen?

What we think? We think, six spades.

- Pass. - Six clubs.

Here. You devil!

The Russo-Japanese war sparked the 1905 revolution.

This war will culminate in another revolution.

And civil war.

Attention, gentlemen! Cornet Bunchuk

will be delivering now his Social-Democratic prophesies.

Playing the fool? Well, everyone follows his own calling.

I’m surprised to find, gentlemen,

such characters in our officers' corps.

Maybe you even want to see us defeated in this war?

Me? Yes, I’m for defeat.

That's too much!

Whatever your political convictions are,

but to wish defeat for one's country id treason!

Just a minute!

It's dishonorable for any decent man!

Wait, Kalmykov.

Let's say we're defeated. What then?

You may be certain that tsarism will be destroyed.

- What is it? - A message from Colonel Shiryaev.

Give it to me.

You can go.

We're summoned to the colonel, urgently.

Our commiseration.

- All of us? - All of us.

Another disposition with possible execution.

I believe we'll be ordered into the fray.

God bless you, brothers! Good luck! Onward!

They're holding their fire

till we come nearer.

I feel afraid today, and I’m not ashamed of it.

What do you say, we turn back?

It's like when you're gambling: no confidence in yourself, you're lost.

You look yellow today.

Either you're sick or a bullet will find you today.

Company, follow me!

At a trot, forward march!

They're using gas!

Gas!

Stop! Stop!

They're using gas!

Hold onto the stirrup!

Bastard! Come back!

Come back, bastard!

Go to hell, everybody!

Don't ride so fast!

I’m out of breath! Not so fast, for Christ's sake!

Get on.

My boot is full of blood.

Grishka, when we were attacking today...

Do you hear, Grigory?

In today's battle, I shot at you from behind three times.

God has saved you.

Now you've saved my life. Thank you.

Still I can't forgive you for Aksinya. My heart won't.

- Don't you force me to. - I’m not forcing you.

There it is.

What's the matter, Melekhov?

Grigory Panteleyevich!

They gave us the heat!

Fools! It serves you right!

This people is a bitch! Even worse!

Only when they're bleeding to death, will they understand what's what.

What do you mean?

The smart one knows, and nothing in the world will make the fool get it.

- Did you pledge allegiance? - Go to hell...

- Grigory... - Are you alive?

- Answer me. - I’m alive.

I guess our hut has tumbled down?

No, why tumble down? It stands alright.

How are our neighbours, the Melekhovs, doing?

They're doing alright.

Did Pyotr come for leave?

No, I guess not.

And Grigory? Their Grigory?

Grishka was here after Christmas.

His wife had twins this year.

Grigory came because of his wound.

He was wounded?

Wounded in his shoulder.

He was all marked like a dog after a fight,

you can't say what he has more, crosses or scars.

What does he look like? Grigory.

Like he always was: hook-nosed and dark.

Like a Turk.

I don't mean that. Has he grown old?

The devil only knows, he may have grown old a bit.

His woman had twins, so he's not very old.

It's cold here.

Disgusting, dirty louse, what can be worse?

Only yesterday she ran around the village in her bast shoes,

and now she'll never say 'in here', only 'here'.

I hate those women, they're all bitches...

Viper's breed! It's cold here.'

And there she goes!

The mare's snivel! Really!

It was all fatally preordained.

I foresaw this at the very beginning of the war.

Well... The dynasty was doomed.

Has the tsar really abdicated?

Of course. It's no laughing matter.

Listen to what my son writes:

Yes, papa, extremely ominous events.

The soldiers are all demoralized.

You may go.

They don't want to fight, they're tired.

This year we no longer have soldiers in the generally accepted sense.

You can't imagine

how demoralized our army has become.

And there's worse to come.

Cossacks!

By the people's will,

the Emperor Nicholas Il who reigned to this day...

...has been deposed

Good riddance!

The power has been passed

to the Provisional Committee of the State Duma.

The army, you included,

must take this news...

Stop it!

Stop it!

...calmly.

The Cossacks' duty is to defend

their country as valiantly

from the encroachments of the external

and... and the onslaught of the external enemy.

At the time of such great upheavals,

we should be as firm as...

- As steel. - As steel.

We'll continue to fight as valorously as before,

and leave it to the State Duma...

Let the State Duma decide the destiny of the country.

There's no place for politics in the army.

- No! - Let me speak.

Cossacks! This is no way!

They want to make fools of us again. They want to cheat us!

As long as there's a revolution and all the people

are given freedom,

it means the war must be ended.

Am I saying it accurately? Am I right?

Yes... What will all this end up in? What do you think?

Oh, God! You live here and you haven't understood the situation yet?

There will sure be a coup d'etat.

Kornilov will head the government. The army is behind him.

Our people reason this way.

There're two equal powers now: Kornilov and the Bolsheviks.

Kerensky is between these two millstones,

if not one then another will grind him up.

He'd better sleep in the tsarina's bed now, as long as it's vacated.

But the army... Will the entire army follow Kornilov?

Of course, the soldiers won't by themselves. We'll lead them.

The day after tomorrow, Moscow will be welcoming Kornilov.

It's a matter of every officer' honour to be there.

I’m leaving tonight.

- I’m going with you. - Certainly. Good for you.

It's not the time, not the time.

Gentlemen!

Narva August 1917

As long as Cossacks are singing, the situation is not that bad.

They sing rarely now, they hold protest rallies instead.

We should learn to talk to people.

Cornet Bunchuk? You're not in prison?

Sorry, but I won't give you my hand.

I had no intention of giving you mine, either.

Saving your skin here?

Or have you come from Petrograd, from darling Kerensky?

Is this an interrogation?

Mere curiosity about the history of a deserter.

Don't worry, I’m not from Kerensky.

Then what are you?

No epaulets, a soldier's overcoat. A political agitator?

Comrade Cossacks!

Our train is not going any farther. We'll unload here.

- Right? - Right.

Good afternoon, Cossacks!

Kerensky's and Bolshevik agents are hindering

the movement of our troop trains.

We've got the order of Commander-in-chief

Kornilov!

In case it's impossible

to go by railway,

we should march on Petrograd!

We start today! Get ready for detraining!

Comrade Cossacks!

I’m here from the Petrograd workers and soldiers.

You are being led into a fratricidal war.

To crush the revolution!

If you want to go against the people,

if you want to restore the monarchy...

- It's philosophy! - Provocateur!

If you want to restore the monarchy, than go!

But the Petrograd workers and soldiers

trust that you won't be Cains.

They send you fraternal greetings!

Wait!

Cossacks, last year Cornet Bunchuk

deserted from the front, you all know that!

Are we to listen to this coward and traitor?

Arrest the swine!

Take away the gun! Let him speak and explain his position!

Speak up, Bunchuk!

We bow down to you, and please tell the Petrograd...

Wait! Look at them. Follow me, quick!

Kalmykov, you are under arrest! Hands up!

Disarm them!

- Put those under guard. - Right.

We'll take Kalmykov to the Revolutionary Committee.

What's the matter with you?

Hands up.

Smart.

Captain Kalmykov, go ahead.

Follow me.

- Go on... - Scoundrel!

Traitor! You'll pay for this!

You're not a party, just a gang of scum!

You're directed by the German General Staff!

Bolsheviks! Scum! The Bolsheviks have sold the country.

I would have you all hanged on one... Our time will come!

Your Lenin has sold Russia for thirty German marks.

He grabbed a million and ran away... the convict!

- Stand up! - Don't you dare!

You want to kill me?

Shoot! Shoot, son of a bitch!

See how a Russian officer faces death! Even before dying...

Mitrich... why did you kill him? Why, Mitrich?

What do you think!

He would have shot us without batting an eye.

It's either us or them! There's no middle course.

Follow me! Forward!

In the autumn of 1917,

Cossacks were coming back from the war

to the villages of the Don Region.

Where are you from, soldiers? Have you done with the war?

- We've got it enough, fathers. - Go and try it yourself.

Go on to your women!

Misha!

We've lost all hope of seeing you again!

And where's Grishka Melekhov?

He joined the Bolsheviks. He stayed in Kamenskaya.

Joined the Bolsheviks...

Our fraternal greetings to the working Cossacks!

- Stop pushing! - Make way, or I’ll blot you out.

The workers and the Cossacks were shedding blood together!

We must be together in the war against Kaledin, too!

We'll go hand in hand to fight those

who have been enslaving the working men for centuries!

Who had introduced capital punishment for soldiers at the front?

Kornilov!

Who's strangling us, together with Kaledin? He is!

So who are you going to stick with, Cossacks?

Let's knock down those hydras and drive them to the sea!

Right! Let's give it to them hot!

We must make our own rule!

And all the volunteers and other partisans must go away from the Don!

The Bolsheviks have no business here.

We can deal with the enemies of the working people by ourselves.

We don't need anybody's help!

- And who is this one? - Krivoshlykov from Gorbatov Village.

- And next to him? - That's Podtyolkov himself.

Oh, Golubov's here too.

Brothers Cossacks!

Shut up, you! You're not at a market- place! Let Podtyolkov speak!

Brothers Cossacks!

While we're discussing it here,

the enemies of the working people are on their guard.

We all want the wolves be sated and the sheep intact.

But Kaledin doesn't think so.

We've intercepted his order about the arrest of our congress participants.

Down with Kaledin!

I propose to proclaim our congress the supreme power on the Don!

I propose... to elect from the delegates of our congress

a Cossack War Revolutionary Committee!

And to delegate it with carrying on struggle with Kaledin and organizing...

Gentlemen! Gentlemen!

There they are, the traitors! They should be hanged!

I protest, Cornet!

Shut up! Line up three in a row! Forward march!

All to be hanged! All of them! All traitors!

How can you let that outrage happen?

You should thank God you're still alive. I would've killed you, lout...

Stay seated. We won't stand up.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

What regiments do you represent?

Well... What are you actually demanding?

We demand

that you relegate power to the War Revolutionary Committee.

How simple it is, isn't it?

An ultimatum.

You probably know

that on February 4 a Cossack Assembly is to be convened.

New members of the government will be elected.

Do you agree to mutual control?

No!

If you're in the minority, we'll dictate you our will.

But that's coercion!

Yes.

If we're not satisfied with the Cossack Assembly

we won't recognize it.

- And who's going to be the judge? - The people.

The people!

Why should we listen to them? We're not going along with Bolsheviks.

Only those who betrayed the Don and the Cossacks can talk about

giving power to the Soviets and call on the Cossacks to follow Bolsheviks.

Do you really believe, Podtyolkov,

that the Don will follow you, an illiterate Cossack?

If anyone follows you, that'll be a gang of frenzied, homeless Cossacks.

But they'll wake up, man, and hang you!

Bravo, Shein!

The Don government will consider the Revolutionary Committee's proposal

and give its answer in writing by 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Next morning at the village of Glubokaya.

Mount!

Cossacks, my dears! Come on, heroes!

Come on, smart guys, let's disturb the Bolsheviks!

Melekhov, line up your hundred and lead them to Yerokhin Gully.

All right!

Company! Move! Listen to my command!

Company! Follow me, forward march!

- Are you commander of that unit? - Yes.

Try to go around along that gully,

and I’ll keep them with fire in this sector.

All right, we can go along the gully. We'll try.

What fighting can you do with such soldiers! Why didn't you take kids?

I can't forgive myself for not having left you in Rostov.

Bunchuk, you're talking like a proprietor.

Company, follow me!

How is it?

What? You got wounded?

Come on, lie down.

Anya, where?

- Right under the heart. - What do you mean, under the heart?

Anya... Anya... What are you staring at, Anya?

Anya... Oh God... Anya... What is it?

Ilya, darling... You see how simple it is...

First it hits you... You feel a jolt...

And now it's burning. Pour water on my chest!

Water! Someone, bring water!

For our faith! For Russia! Follow me, brothers!

Company, attack! Follow me!

Anya, don't leave me! Don't leave me, Anya!

Don't leave me, Anya!!!

Listen here! Listen here!

The leader come here, the rest go straight ahead!

For the safety of the prisoners

you'll be answerable in all severity of the revolutionary war time!

You must deliver them to HQ safe and sound!

Give this to Podtyolkov.

Melekhov! Good boy!

- Are you wounded? - In my leg.

- Did it touch the bone? - I guess not.

Wiped out! We wiped them out!

We fluffed up the officers' detachment to pieces.

Are you going to Headquarters?

Tell Podtyolkov that I’m accepting responsibility for Chernetsov.

Just tell him this. Go.

Podtyolkov, they're bringing the prisoners. You read Golubov's note?

I don't give a damn for Golubov! So what if he wants it?

Taking responsibility for Chernetsov, that counter-revolutionary bandit?

I won't let him!

He is to be tried by a revolutionary court and punished right away!

Golubov is taking responsibility.

Why are you sticking out? Stay in the cart. Responsibility...

You know how much blood he's let out? A whole sea of blood.

How many miners he's exterminated? No, I won't let him!

Stop shouting! There's one too many judges here!

You'd better go over there! There're too many of you judging the prisoners.

I was there! I wasn't saving my skin on a machinegun cart.

Who do you think you're talking to, Melekhov?

Give up your officer's ways!

It's the Revolutionary Committee that judges, and not some...

Put him on the cart.

Well, hero...

We've got you, bastard!

You betrayed the Cossacks! Traitor! Scoundrel!

Run for your life, gentlemen!

O Lord, forgive me the sinner. What on earth is going on?

And what did you think?

That we just expose our heads to the contra's bullets?

Mama, they're coming! They're coming, mama!

How you doing?

- Are you all right? - I was wounded near Glubokaya.

Whatever did you stay there for? You'd better have come home.

How pretty you've grown to be, Dunyasha!

And I thought you'd grow looking plain.

What a devil you're, brother!

Look at your son!

Let me have a look at my son.

And your daughter, Grisha! Come on, hold them!

Don't you recognize your father, forest nuts?

Natasha, take them, or I won't make it up the stairs.

You reek of tobacco!

- Darya, lay the table. - He's got his own wife to do it.

At Shrovetide we'll eat pancakes with cream.

- Well, did you recognize your dad? - I did.

- This is for you, mother. - Oh, my goodness...

- Look, it's sweeping the floor. - Never mind.

Look at that old hag showing off before the mirror.

For you, Father.

Jesus Christ! I was just thinking of a new cap.

There were none at the store, and my old one's good only for a scarecrow.

What are you doing, old geezer?

Oh God, how stupid you are! The samovar isn't a mirror.

Look at this Cossack of the Cossack Life-Guards!

Who won the first prize at the Emperor's review of troops.

The saddle and the entire ammunition! That's me!

For you, Natasha.

Dunyasha.

Pyotr.

Darya!

- And for whom is this? - For me.

- You're just like a colonel. - So many crosses!

Put it on, Grisha. Come on, indulge your father.

You've got them not for nothing.

Ugh! You look so puffed up!

First have sons like these, you chatterbox.

At least both my sons have made their way in the world.

Well, enough of this. Do you have pickled watermelon?

Of course! Natasha, come on.

While guests are not here, tell Pyotr what's happening in the world.

Father, why do you drink water from a small glass?

People are fighting.

Where are the Bolsheviks now?

Advancing from Taganrog, Tikhoretskaya, Voronezh.

And what side... are you on?

Me?

I’m for the Soviet power.

Fool! You tell him, Pyotr.

He's too hot, like an unbroken horse.

You'll never ram it into him, Father.

You have nothing to ram into me, I’m not blind.

What are those who came from the front saying?

What can they say?

We played Bolsheviks at the front. It's time to come to our senses.

We don't want others' goods, don't touch ours.

Think about it, Grisha. You're a smart guy.

A Cossack will always be a Cossack.

We don't want that lousy Russia rule on the Don.

You know what the outsiders have got into their heads?

To divide all the land equally. What does it mean?

The outsiders

who've been living here a long time will be given land.

The hell they will! No frigging way!

- Hello, soldier! - Hello!

You scared the calf, loudmouth!

That's all we need...

Come on, Panteley Prokofievich, you owe us a treat.

- Good appetite. - Sit with us.

Where's Mikhail Koshevoy?

Here, in the village.

What are you doing here, Valet? Want some fish?

What do I need it for? There's trouble.

Drop your fishing. You'll forget everything because of your fishing.

What's the news? Shoot.

The Red Guards were crushed at Migulinskaya.

The squabble is on... the stuffing gets knocked out.

Why at Migulinskaya?

They were passing through, and the Cossacks gave them a beating.

Took a whole mob of prisoners to Kargin.

The court martial is piling up sentences.

The White Guards are starting a mobilization.

- What do we do? - We'd better clear out.

- Where to? - Where to!

How do I know? You'll find a way out when it gets hot.

Go to Ivan Alexeyev. I’ll come along later.

We've got to leave now! We have to take off today!

Give me a reason, why should we leave?

We won't escape mobilization if we don't.

- I won't go. - They'll make you.

I’m not a bull on a rein.

Valet is right, they will. Only where should we go?

There he goes again, where to! You think it's a joke?

That's what the time is like. Everything can go to hell.

It's easy for you to talk.

Nothing holds you here.

And I have a wife and two kids.

You just talk and talk. You've got nothing but your coat.

Shut up your mouth! Don't play the officer with me.

Stop yelling! I don't give a damn for you!

Shut up, vermin! You dirty louse!

Get out, stinking bastard!

Stop it, Grigory! Time you dropped your old Cossack ways.

Aren't you ashamed, Melekhov? Shame on you!

You were in the Red Guards! We stood guys like you up against the wall!

Go away! Or I’ll pull your legs out!

Have you gone off your rocker?

It serves him right for putting on airs!

There you have it!

Mobilization!

No, I’m hopping on a boat.

Crossing the river and away!

What about you?

We're not going anywhere.

Goodbye, then. We've come to the parting of our ways.

Oh, Misha, Misha... You're too young and hot-tempered.

You think we won't meet again? We will, mark my word.

So long.

Ponomaryov Village April 28, 1918

Get down!

- Where're you from, Cossacks? - From the village of Tatarsky.

You're a tad too late. We've caught Podtyolkov without you.

- Where're they? - There they are.

- Where are they taking them? - To the other world.

Stop lying.

What do you think? The gallows are ready for them over there.

If we'd left Rostov three days earlier,

we wouldn't be going to our death here.

We'd have smashed all the counter-revolutionary bands.

To hell with them! Let them kill us!

We're not afraid to die.

«I’m only afraid that in the other world

we'll never recognize each other..."

What do you mean? Never recognize each other.

All right, enough talking.

Old men!

Allow me and Krivoshlykov to watch

our comrades die.

Hang us last.

And now we'd like to look at our comrades

and support the weak in spirit.

- Well? - Let them.

Very well. Let them step back.

Lead them out.

Any volunteers from your village?

- Volunteers for what? - For the firing squad

- No! - Why 'no'? I volunteer.

Just give me the bullets.

Let's go.

Hold on.

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

You still refuse to tell your name?

Mean to die nameless?

I have a name!

I’m a member of the Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks,

a Petrograd worker of Cossack origin.

Enough!

At the betrayers of Cossacks, fire!

You here too, Melekhov?

- Here, as you can see. - I can see.

Shooting your brothers?

A turncoat? That's what you are.

Fire!

Remember the fight at Glubokaya? How you shot the officers?

Now you're getting a taste of your own medicine!

It's not only for you to tan Cossack skins!

You betrayed the Cossacks, bastard! Want me to tell you more?

What? Wait!

What? What is it? Wait!

You're blind, befogged people!

Blind!

Let him talk for the last time.

You're being duped, forced to kill your brothers.

You think if you kill us, that will be the end?

No!

All Russia will be Soviet!

Remember my words.

You're shedding blood in vain, you foolish people!

We'll do away with those, too.

You can't shoot us all, old man.

You can't hang all Russia!

You'll be the next!

You'll be sorry later, but it will be too late!

Enough, you had your say.

They were the finest sons of the Don

that you have put in that hole.

They don't even know how to hang right.

Mount!

Come here.

The wagons have arrived. And your father with them.

Really? You're lying.

Honest. Go meet him.

Why are you here, my dears?

We've brought you shells, just go on fighting.

This is for you from your mother.

- What did you come for? - I’m with Father.

Mother was afraid to let him go by himself.

- Hello, neighbour. - Hello, neighbour.

Goodness, not even a mirror in the house.

I hear you won't go beyond the Don region?

Why should we go there?

We'll drive the muzhiks from the Don, and go home.

Go home...

When they wipe the Czechs out

and send the entire Red Army against us,

we'll be bled white.

We can't beat Russia! It's no joke.

Don't try to scare us. Your stupid talk has made my stomach turn.

I could go on fighting all my life. I like it.

Out!

Fall in, again!

Take positions again! And you say, not beyond the Don.

Time to end the war and go home!

All right, let's go.

Move over, Prosha.

Go and look what's going on there.

I want to talk to you.

I visited Pyotr last week.

His regiment is at Kalach.

They're doing themselves fine there, son.

Pyotr is a very thrifty man.

He gave me a sack of clothes, a horse. A fine horse.

Wait. Is that what you've come here for?

- So what? - What do you mean, so what?

Everybody does it, Grisha.

Everybody does it!

Haven't you got enough of your own? Thieves!

We shot men for such doings at the German front!

Wait, I’m not asking for myself. I don't need anything.

Think of your own good. You're not too rich.

Why not take from those who went over to the Reds?

It's a sin to take from them.

Throw those ideas out of you head, you hear?

The horse.

Stepan Astakhov's turned up. Have you heard?

How come?

Aksinya's gone back to him.

You could send some presents for my grandchildren.

What presents can I send from the front? I’m off to the outpost.

Darya!

- What is it now? - Give me a hand.

Oh, God...

You'll never part even with your shit, Father.

Shut up, girl. I’m not going to leave them that boiler.

You're as thrifty as that lousy Grishka.

Good heavens, dear man! Aren't you afraid of God's anger?

Why are you taking it from the orphans?

Give us a hand, Cossacks.

Why do you wrong the orphans?

Give back the collar. Give it back, for God's sake.

Leave the God alone.

I guess your man was a Commissar, wasn't he?

Since all God's things are everyone's, don't grudge it and shut up.

Goodbye, woman, don't be angry. You'll get yourself a new collar.

You wait, you'll pay for our tears!

No! Right and might are on our side.

You're in a historic room, ladies and gentlemen,

from the walls of which

the heroes of another people's war, the war of 1812,

are looking at us.

There was a time when Paris welcomed

its liberators, the Don Cossacks.

104 years ago, our ataman, Count Platov, was a guest in London.

Today we're expecting the Allies' troops in Moscow!

We wait for you, in order to enter the Kremlin together,

to the sounds of ceremonial marches and our anthem,

and together experience the joy of peace and freedom!

For the great, one and indivisible Russia! Hurray!

Ladies and gentlemen! Our anthem!

At the enemies of the revolution, fire!

Cossacks, what are you doing? Where are you going, brothers?

Halt!

For the Soviet power, forward!

Arise ye workers from your slumbers,

Arise ye prisoners of want!

For reason in revolt now thunders...

Well?

Come back without your epaulets?

Go greet your brother. He came yesterday too.

Make happy your mother.

Your wife and kids have been pining over you.

A sad pass the world's come to...

Grigory!

Grigory Panteleyevich, why are you loafing around like a log?

Get down from there!

We're done for, Father!

My dear son. My poor boy...

Would you like some buttermilk?

What do you intend to do?

So it's retreat?

What else? They show no mercy to officers.

You may stay, but I...

I’m clearing out.

And what about our home?

So you'll go off, and we're to stay here?

And guard your property?

Must we lose our life because of it?

Let it go hang! I’m not staying.

If the whole village leaves, we won't stay behind.

We'll go on foot.

Fools! Bitches! Hush up!

Don't poke your nose in men's affairs!

All right, let's abandon everything and leave.

Will we carry the livestock in our pockets? And the house?

We can drive the stock with us.

Sure we can!

How far do you think our old cow can go?

You homeless one! You louse!

And the sheep? The lambs?

I gave my life to acquire all that, and what do I hear?

All right, thank God, we've discussed it.

It's nothing to laugh about.

A man from Big Gromk

said the Reds are already approaching Veshenskaya.

What is it?

That's it! We're not going anywhere.

Either we all go, or none.

We'll stay!

Save and protect us, Mother of God.

Leave me alone, I’ve put it on.

Sinilin, Ivan Andreyev.

Spread propaganda against the Soviet power.

Right.

Good day to you!

Come on in.

What's your complaint?

I’m not complaining.

I’ve come to talk and ask you not to commandeer our horses.

They've gone lame.

And the oxen?

Can't drive oxen when it's slippery.

I’ve got so cold, guys. Hello, Grigory.

Hello.

I’ve been to the chairman.

He shook hands with me and said: «Sit down, Comrade.»

And he's only a district chairman. And what did we have before?

General-Major! He had us stand at attention.

That's what it means to have our own government. Now all are equal.

Why all the rejoicing?

Because I’m treated as a human being. How can I not rejoice?

What did we fight for, then? For the generals?

- What did you fight for? - For myself.

I care for neither Reds nor Whites.

What do you have to blame these authorities for?

And why are you putting yourself out for them?

Don't you... dare defame the Soviets!

Because I’m the Chairman here, it's not for me to argue with you.

Excuse me, but there's nothing good about your government.

What is it giving us Cossacks?

What Cossacks? There are all kinds.

All of them! Will it give them land?

Liberty? Equality?

We've got plenty of land as it is.

Give us freedom and we'll start massacring each other.

It was you who elected atamans, now you lock them up.

Your words are counter-revolutionary!

You won't talk me over.

You're an enemy of the Soviet power!

Goodbye!

Korshunov.

Kashulin.

Sinilin spread... What did he spread?

Propaganda against the Soviet power.

- I want to see the Chairman. - I’m the Chairman.

Osip Davydovich!

Hit me if I’m wrong. I don't believe my eyes.

I knew that if he survived he'd be the Chairman at Tatarsky.

Misha.

Hello.

- Do you have anything to sit on? - Sit in the armchair.

- Is it Mokhov's? - Yes.

Where did you come from?

Where I came from? From the Army's Political Department.

I’ve come to you along with the revolution. It's simple, brothers.

Yes... it's all very simple...

All very simple...

Well, everything seems to be right.

But I don't see everybody here.

Where are the Melekhovs, for example?

The Melekhovs?

Yes, the Melekhovs.

Wasn't it Grigory that I bumped into in the doorway?

Yes, he was here.

So you spared him?

Yes, we did.

Do you think he will spare you?

Have you forgotten Podtyolkov?

Are you aware of the situation?

The front is 150 miles away.

If we don't arrest the most active enemies now,

they'll rebel again.

The Cossacks have been brainwashed for 300 years.

The majority of the Cossacks are hostile to us.

That's the situation.

« You can't make revolution with your gloves on,» Lenin said.

We can arrest Melekhov this night.

- Why wait till the night? - People won't talk that much.

Well, you know... it's a lot of nonsense.

Send those over.

I’ll deliver Melekhov right away.

Will you?

No, man, you can go whistle for him now.

Good day to you.

They slipped away.

Well...

Never mind, let's sort it out.

May I speak?

Shoot.

But first you tell me if I can speak frankly?

- Speak up. - You won't arrest me for it?

Go on, speak.

We think here among ourselves

that the Communists want to wipe us out.

Watch out, or they'll include you in the book.

I’m like a drunk man: what soberness conceals drunkenness reveals.

To wipe us out, that no Cossack will be left on the Don.

Now you can't say there will be no shootings anymore.

- The Communists... - What about the Communists again?

The Communists want only one thing:

an end to bloodshed, Cossack or no Cossack.

But as long as our enemies are savage,

we can't say there will be no more shootings.

Let us see now what the enemies of the Soviet power

in our village were shot for.

Take Korshunov... You all know him.

He was an ataman, a bloodsucker.

Right. Andrei Kashulin took part

in the execution of Podtyolkov's Red Cossacks.

Fedot Bodovskov, the same.

Lieutenant Grigory Melekhov,

hostile to the Soviet government.

True, Melekhov has slipped through our hands.

Bogatyryov. Well, you all know what kind of a man he was.

Koshevoy, while you're rallying here, some force has broken in the villages.

Either the White Guards or something. Communications are cut.

What's the matter, comrades?

Osip Davydovich, there's no communication with the station.

Either the White Guards or something. There's no communication.

Ride quick to Kashinskaya. Hurry!

Give it to him, guys! Beat the bastard!

What are you doing?

Wait!

Let go of me, good people! Let me get my revenge!

Antip, by killing the man you won't bring your father back to life.

Men, they're dividing the sugar at the storehouse, you better go there.

Who is it?

- Who is there? - Open up, Mother.

Oh, my goodness...

Go away! For God's sake, go away, Misha.

Yesterday the Cossacks turned our house upside down looking for you.

Antip Brekh even lashed me with his whip.

« You're hiding him,» he said. "I wish we've killed the bastard.»

Go away! They'll find you here.

O Lord, have mercy, save us and protect...

Hello, neighbour, why are you at home?

Have you had enough of fighting?

I’m not going to fight.

Take my horse, do what you like with me,

but I’m not taking up a rifle again.

- What do you mean? - I just don't want to, that's it.

If the Reds take the village, will you go with us or stay behind?

I’ll see then.

Seize him, Khristonya!

Stand him up against a wall!

Let's go!

- Pals! - We're no pals to you!

Let go, I’ll join you.

I got weak after typhus.

At long last. Go take your rifle.

Company! Get down!

Take the horses to cover.

Hey, brother! Don't waste bullets. Fire when I command.

Look, lead your company to the left.

They seem to be setting up a battery at Matveyev Mound.

Yeah.

This position is no good. We must avoid those ravines.

They might outflank us, then we'll be in trouble.

They won't, don't worry. The ravines are no problem.

- Well, watch out, man. - Good luck!

Company, follow me!

Hey, «General Platov», let us have a ration of vodka.

Shut up, drunkard.

If the Reds chop off your other arm, how will you drink?

You'll have to gulp it right from a trough.

I would do anything for a drink.

They're gone.

Mount! Across the ravine! To the ravine, brothers!

Stepan Astakhov caught his horse by the tail and got away.

But I didn't. We're goners, brothers!

There they come.

Hey, you! Come out! You haven't a chance!

Pyotr Melekhov, come out!

This is Mikhail Koshevoy speaking.

Surrender! You can't get away.

To the right! Straight! The gun forward!

Mount the gun on a cart!

Done with your fighting?

You were in command?

Undress.

Move it!

That's enough.

Ivan... You're my child's godfather!

Don't kill me, Ivan!

Look! Look! Look what your boyfriend has done!

All your seed should be exterminated!

Oh, Pyotr dear...

Oh, Pyotr...

Oh, my dear! Please stand up!..

Get back.

My son... my dear son...

Why have they done it to me? Why?

What did I do to them?

What are you staring at? Who needs you here?

To the front! The lot of you!

That's where you should go!

Mount!

Fly away, you little canary,

Up you fly, up to the hills,

Sing a song about war,

Sing about our woe...

Grigory Panteleyevich, you are our pride and our hope.

The generals are on top again, they got all the power.

What power?

Here, you'd better drink.

Well, then, let's beg the Soviets for forgiveness.

I was only joking. Drink, Khristonya.

Why joke? It's a serious matter.

Kudinov or the generals, we'll drive them out and put you in their place.

I say we'll drive them all out and put him in. Right?

If they refuse to go, we'll move troops against Veshenskaya.

No more of such talk!

Do you have moonshine?

- You'd better say hello first. - Hello, good woman.

- And how many more of you? - A whole division!

Grigory Panteleyevich, you're our hero, let's have a drink.

Stop making him drink. He's had more than enough.

Don't go with him, he'll be no good to you now.

Hold your tongue, you drunkard!

- Shall I pour you some tea? - Go ahead.

Grigory Panteleyevich!

Listen here!

I’ll lead the first company myself!

Into attack, brothers! Forward!

Not enough for you? Not enough? I’ll kill you!

Grigory Panteleyevich, come to your senses.

Go away! Go away!

Calm down.

Calm down, Grigory Panteleyevich!

Whom have I killed?

Brothers! There's no forgiving me.

Kill me! Put me to death!

He's gorged with war.

When he comes to, put him on his horse and take him home.

- Want some milk? - Save it for the wounded.

- Are you from this parts? - Yes.

Osip Davydovich.

Never mind.

We have to see yet who's going to win over.

End of Part 2