Original subtitles

Can't you count?

We've got three children. It's already too many.

I told you not to marry a girl from the city. You see?

You don't know the Chinese laws?

We don't even know what will happen to the baby.

They can't take it at the school,

it's not needed, and you want a fourth one too!

Bouin,

why did you put this red cloth on the urga?

Dad, tell me the story of the wind.

Which story?

When I was sick, you told me the story of the wind

which blew very hard,

and carried away all the horses,

and the Mongols went out looking for them.

You remember better than me.

Are we Mongols too?

Yes.

All of us? And Mom, and Grandma?

Why are we Mongolian, but Uncle Van Biao is Chinese?

I already told you: we are Mongols who live in China.

Come on, let's go to the rainbow, and I'll tell you another story.

Can we get to the rainbow?

No, of course not.

Sit down close to me. I'll tell you a story.

When there were plenty of us, the great Genghis Khan heard talk

of a herd of extraordinary horses, feeding in the far north.

And one fine day,

in this large herd, there appeared...

a white foal.

Listen, he's singing.

See how beautiful he is.

Look... red nose...

Careful!

See his eyes? Round, as if he's wearing glasses.

There's something in...

Look, Bouin hid that here so that his sister wouldn't find it.

Mom! Mom!

Come here!

Take your toy.

Go and play!

The pine branches are prickly,

The girls of Voronezh are cute.

The pine branches are prickly, The girls of Voronezh...

Don't fall asleep at the wheel, idiot! Don't fall asleep at the wheel, idiot!

Oh, geez...

Don't fall asleep at the wheel, idiot! Don't fall...

Oh, my darling!

There are people here, too!

Fire!

Yeah! Attack!

Mother!

Shit!

Bloody hell! Damn!

God! What a fuck!

Damn! Fucking idiots! What is this shit!

Geez, mom! Somebody, help!

A corpse!

Pagma! Come here!

Bourma... Bouin... Come here!

To do what, Dad?

Bring me the stone.

Mom, what are we going to do?

We'll help Dad to soften the straps.

Hold tight.

Make some tea!

Mom, don't seat in the sun, it's no good.

Go into the shade.

Here's your tea.

Tired?

The tea.

Drink, drink.

Here's Bayartou.

Drunk as always.

Even his horse is staggering.

Uncle Bayartou is here! Uncle Bayartou!

Hi.

Hello, neighbor.

Where did you come from, so drunk?

You know, I'm jealous of you.

Beautiful day, eh?

Hey, dear... How are you? Come to me, I'll give you a kiss.

You should be ashamed!

Hey... I brought you one thing here...

Look... That'll still be able to fix your... Kind of spare one...

See what I mean? A bit shrunken, though... Just like yours...

What's that up there?

- Where? - Up your hat.

Oh, this... I forgot.

My brother from America sent me his photo.

I've got a brother in America, you remember?

He sent me his pic.

A brother in America? What are you drivelling about?

I've got a brother in America! Don't you know?

- Look at this, he sent me his pic. - What a windbag...

- Just look! We're alike. - This is your brother?

Hey, neighbour, when will you give it to me?

Get off! What a cheeky fellow...

Look: the same beard, the same nose! See? And the lips!

I'll give it to you, for you to remember me, eh, neighbour?

- So when will you give it to me, huh? - Stop that, you cheeky rascal!

Alright, alright... You got a glass? Let's... just a little...

What a... There's nothing more.

Get down!

No, I'm going. I'll go and see Demberel! He always has some vodka.

Go, then! Just don't fall off the horse on the way!

Look at yourself, you're so drunk! And your horse looks like drunk, too!

Goodbye, Uncle Bayartou!

Come back and see us! Come back soon!

Help!

Help me!

Who's that, over there?

What is that, mom?

I don't know...

Somebody's yelling.

Look:

Bayartou brought this photograph.

He says it's his brother. Does it look like him?

Well, yes, quite like him..

Hey, over there, on the horse!

I'm calling you!

What are you waiting for? Come here!

Come, come!

Here! Good, that's it!

That's it! Come here!

Here, good. Good.

Hello! Hey, my friend, over there - there's a corpse...

Well, a dead person. There!

Over there! Look, there... By the side, it's all...

shredded... Shit! All shredded!

Ah, yes!

That's my relative Toumour-akha.

The birds peck him well...

he must have become a God now.

Teimour-akha?

An uncle, eh?

Your, your...

uncle?

Then why the heck is he...?

Geez, nice customs...

And you see what a mess I got myself into because of your uncle!

This is what he did, your Teimour-akha!

I was just, you know, driving along, feeling fine, quite calmly,

and started to doze off, you know...

I said to myself, only 100 meters.

I went like that, you know, a little gymnastics, and then...

Damn! It was terrible! I put my foot down. Shit, what a fright!

Instead of reversing, God, I'm going forwards!

And you see the result!

You understand?

Look, do you have a telephone here? You know... "hello, hello"?

Yeah, where would you call here?

Right then, what shall we do?

You saw it, eh?

That's it!

Well, it's too late to do anything today.

We'll sort it out tomorrow... Get on, let's go.

Me?... With you?...

Great, fella! Wait - I'll just look for my hat, oke?

Don't run off! I'm coming - right now! Just gonna get my hat...

His own uncle's being eaten by the birds,

and he, he's quite happy. Geez, where did I get to...

I'm Sergei... Sergei! And you?

Gombo.

Damn, Gombo! Without you, I'd have had it... Geez, yeah!

My colleague is sick, I'm driving alone, fell asleep, you know...

Us, we're building a road, from the border...

Kil Na Dzam, as you say.

You understand... We're working under contract.

Me, I'm from the region of Irkutsk, you know, near Baikal, Lake Baikal.

You understand Russian? Don't understand.

Me, it's the same with Mongolian,

I manage enough of it to get food, at the market, you know... That's all.

- Here, take one. - Thank you, thank you.

Bourma, come here, help me!

Come on, pour some!

Eh, what? Pour!

Ah!... That...

It's the army! I was in the brass band.

When I was a soldier. A soldier.

I was young and stupid! Come on.

Go, go ahead, keep pouring!

Hey, Bourma!.. Come and see!

Come and see what's written on the Russian's back, the same hooks as in your copy-book!

Dad, I'll catch it!

I'll catch it, too!

I'm coming!

Catch it! It got away from me!

Go round the other side!

Pagma!

Where's the urga?

Pagma, quickly!

- We'll collect blood in it. - Pour me some water.

Hey, pour some water for me.

I'll close his eyes.

That's it.

Hold it here.

Bourma, bring me that!

Bouin!

Come and hold that. Take off your gloves first.

Put them in your bossom.

Hold them together.

Take them to the yurt.

Hold them tight. No, carefully, blood shouldn't spill out...

Tighter!

We should take off the hairs... See, loads of them here...

Come on, take off all the hairs.

Here.

Hold that.

Bouin, hold it up higher.

Mom! Hold it!

Come to eat, quickly! It's all ready!

Eh, Sergei!

Come and eat!

Thank you! Thank you...

Eat, just go ahead! Don't feel bad because of me!

I have my own...

Don't touch, till everybody's at the table.

Please eat! Well, eat!

Is it me you're waiting for?

Sit down here...

Thank you.

Thank you.

Give him that.

With your hands!

Eat...

Thank you! It's good.

Bouin, here, some meat.

Thank you!

Let's... um...

What do you want?

Meat without fat?

To your house! I mean... yurt. To your yurt!

Go, Gombo!

Hup! Russian style! Bottoms up!

To your yurt!

It burns!

Damn!

Good God!

Help yourselves!

Very good.

Serve it.

Thank you!

Here's a tender piece.

Let's clink glasses!

It's a Russian custom...

Russian. Russian.

Broken-pea puree!

Soup?

Careful.

Hey, pass some to him.

Tchabota?

Yes, Samota.

Samota!

Not much for me.

It's...

Shit...

With the baguet.

There's this... there...

Damn! Couldn't it go somewhere else, this shitty fly!

What?

A fly, damn...

Damn! I spilt it on myself.

Give me a towel.

Bourma, which piece do you want?

- Thank you... - Wipe yourself there.

That? Ah!

You still want some, Bouin?

Damn fly, got right here... Geez... Alright!

Gombo...

Who is it who plays... the accordion? Who plays that thing... there...

- You? You? - Bourma.

Our daughter.

You?

Our daughter.

You? You play!

Fantastic!

And... who teaches her?.

You know, teaches her? Eh?

Him. A relative who lives down town,

He's their uncle...

Tourline?

Tourline-akha!

Yes! He plays the piano

-... in a restaurant. - A pianist?

He teaches her...

Her?

... the accordion.

Good Tourline! Good man...

Sergei... You?

Bourma!

Bourma.

Me too, I'm a musician.

In the army: a soldier, I was a soldier!

A soldier, you understand?

In the orchestra!

When I was a soldier. Soldier, you see?

Have some more.

Good. To the health of the children!

Oh geez...

Um.. Granny, Granny...

Grandma, doesn't she drink?

She doesn't drink, eh? No?

She smokes only?

Yes, she smokes a lot.

Raise your hand, our guest's asking, come on.

No, you shouldn't act like this with the grow-up people.

It's no good.

Eat instead.

You're not eating, Bouin?

Pass the dish.

And that one, who's that?

I don't know really... Our neighbor Bayartou says

that it's his brother in America. But I don't believe it.

He makes up stories.

He's a bit strange...

always drunk... staggers around...

Even his horse looks drunk.

And he's not... no?

Not, not that one!

- No? - No, not that one!

Not that one!

Oh, geez...

That's the real fire.

Here...

Grandma...

A long life to Granny!

To Grandma! She's super, Granny!

To your health!

To you! To you all!

Damn! Oh Lord, help me!

What have you got there?

Bourma!

Could you play us something...?

Yes, yes... play a little...

Yes, play!..

Gombo.. the accordion and...

Yes, yes, my daughter plays well, yes!

- Really, play for our guest. - Good.

She is gifted in music.

Go ahead, we're listening!

Look, don't lie so close to me then.

Where should I lie? My bed is being used by our guest.

But I'm not made of iron.

Pagma... come closer.

You're obstinate, like a child.

You know me, I'll be pregnant straight away.

But before, you could...

The doctor did something to you.

Not just after the birth.

You have to wait, the doctor said. I told you so many times.

You can't as long as he forbids it.

But it's three months already. How long do we have to wait?

I don't know.

And you, why don't you do anything?

Have you never...

What can I do?

... heard anything about it?

No. About what?

Come here.

Yes, what?

I'll explain.

What?!

Listen to me, okay? Everyone knows that.

You too?

Of course.

Eh?

My family is from the city, I lived there for a long time.

They talk about it on TV.

In town, you're not allowed to have more than one kid.

And how do they work that?

Condoms? At the drugstore.

What'll I do?

Don't worry.

Come here. Sit down.

You really are a barbarian! You don't know anything.

You should buy a TV.

You learn a lot from it.

I will write it down for you on the paper.

Here's Bayartou.

Yes, it's him.

Hello there!

Hello!

What're you doing here, instead of sleeping in the warm?

And you, why are you loafing around? Drunk again?

Oh, I have too much to do!

What's this, this umbrella? Rain stopped long ago.

I found it out on the steppe.

Gombo, look what I brought you. This goes with the morning present.

It's called an egg, one is enough for you.

And this is for you. I won it at cards. It smells of apples.

Here, take it... Well, I gotta go, I have so much to do.

My brother's coming from America, I have to cut the cow's throat,

I've got so much to prepare. Well, I'll go then. Goodbye!

Go, go, his brother's coming from America, windbag! Go and sleep!

Yes, I'm going...

Always drunk...

To cut the throat of a cow... Where would he find one?

He never had anything except his horse.

Tomorrow, I'm going into town.

I'll write it all down for you.

The weather will be nice tomorrow.

The sky is clear.

You aren't cold?

Gombo!

The road separates here. To go to town, you go straight.

I'll go left - to park the truck.

OK, we're agreed: at 7 o'clock.

Right!

Understood? OK!

That way?

Hello.

Hello.

Hello.

Hello.

Can I help you, comrade?

You want some condoms, comrade?

Me? No! Not at all!

What is it?

Some small apples.

I want to taste them.

You have to pay for them then, comrade!

Hey you! You can't eat them without paying!

Hello.

Hello.

- How much is it for one round? - 2 yuan, comrade.

Well, take it all.

There's enough there for an hour!

Mom! The horses are running away!

Mom!

No, Boin, Let me do it.

Bouin, come here! Let's go for a walk!

Marina...why are you crying?

You didn't call me for two days.

Stasik and I, we almost went crazy.

Marina, if you knew what I fell into!

Mom! Dad!

There's nobody I can read to here.

Nobody understands Russian.

Only Chinese here. I will better read to you.

"I see the town of Petrograd In nineteen-seventeen

The sailor and the soldier run, They're firing continuously"

Do you love me?

What do you think, Marina?

"...They carry banners. Beside... behind the Bolsheviks,

Lenin's Guards. October has co..."

Hello, Uncle Bayartou!

Hello! What are you doing there?

Oh.. Here, have an apple in the meantime.

Thank you.

Thank you.

"October has come. Bourgeois power...

Thus, October exhausted

the dream of the workers.

Victory was not easy.

But Lenin led the people

and Lenin saw far ahead of his time.''

Marina,

you know what an urga is?

A long stick with a lasso at the end.

The Mongols catch their horses and sheeps with it.

And when they make love out in the steppe, this urga,

they plant it in the ground to warn others. It can be seen from far away.

And nobody disturbs them.

Not bad...