Original subtitles

MOSFILM

Chingiz AITMATOV

DZHAMILIYA

Yes, the time...

Something comes to you and something leaves you.

So many years have passed...

Where are they now? Where are you?

I miss you so much today.

I had a failure again.

O Lord, take me back to my beginning, to those days in my life.

Seit, come home now! Mother calls you.

Seit, mother calls you!

Seit, mother calls you!

- All right, stop yelling! - Come quick!

- You've got a fly on your nose! - No, I haven't!

You've got a fly on your nose!

Where's it?

Seit, come home now! Mother calls you.

These are our houses, the big and the small house.

I have two brothers, they both went to the war together with father,

and we haven't heard from them for a long time.

In the small house our close relatives live.

But actually we're all one family.

That's been our tradition since the time we were nomads,

when our grandfathers camped together and herded cattle together.

The small house has a son in the army, too.

So I was the only man in the family.

But the head of our family was my mother.

We called her "eldest mother".

What are you doing here? You won't get anything from me.

- What kind of a person are you? - That will never be!

I want to put her on a cart. I got no one to work.

Where did you ever see women carting heavy sacks?

If it was not for my leg, I would carry those sacks myself!

Leave my daughter-in-law alone. Let her work as she did before.

We're snowed with work as it is. Just try to manage two households!

Can't unbend my aching back for a week. Our corn hasn't been weeded yet.

Driving a cart, is it a woman's work?

I know it's not a woman's work, but somebody must do it.

Where can I find men? So I decided to ask the soldier's wives to help.

You forbid your daughter-in-law to work, but you know how pressed I am?

The soldiers need bread.

If you fear for her, I'll put Seit to help her.

He won't let anyone even come close to her, you can be sure.

Seit is a good boy.

Those boys are our breadwinners, we wouldn't have made it without them.

Oh, my dear tramp. What do you look like, Seit? Overgrown with hair.

Our grandfather is no good either, has no time to shave Seit's head.

Seit, stay home today and feed the horses.

Tomorrow we'll give Dzhamiliya a cart and you'll work together.

Don't be afraid, apa, he won't let anyone hurt her.

If necessary, I'll send Daniyar, too.

- He's a harmless lad. - Who is that?

The lame soldier who came back from the front recently.

Seit, I want to put Dzhamiliya on a cart, but your mother won't agree.

Maybe you can persuade here?

- Why, she won't be eaten by wolves. - Just look at him!

What do you know about it, smart boy!

Go and eat, and don't talk so much.

He's the dzhigit of two families, you can be proud of him!

He's not a dzhigit, he's only a child, but he works day and night.

Our yards have become deserted like a forsaken camp.

Don't cry, let's pray they should come back.

Well, are you letting Dzhamiliya go? I must leave, they're waiting for me.

Stop pestering me about Dzhamiliya!

I said, no! And that's it!

Is your daughter-in-law any better than the others? They're all working!

They've lived in families 5-6 years, and mine only two years.

We won't fulfill the plan! How can you do such a thing?

I got no help either, I'm slaving from dawn till night.

Wherever I look, there's work to do, but I have no one to complain to!

Don't you have any conscience? Let her go at least for a week!

The front needs bread! You've got your own sons there!

That's it, enough. Or you'll tire me old thing out.

All right, aksakal, go!

Dzhamiliya! Let's go home, the foreman said you're getting a new job.

Daniyar, you and I will be carting the grain.

Mother is mad, but, please, don't refuse, all right?

- Catch your breath first. - Come on!

- Take the pitchfork and help me. - Come on!

Take the pitchfork.

Dzhamiliya! Dzhamiliya!

Come with us, there's nobody to lay the hay in!

Here're two carts, choose any one!

- Dzhamiliya, let me give you a hand. - Me too.

- Come on. - Stay away!

- What's the matter with you? - Without my brother, don't you dare!

- Just look at him! - Get out of here!

That must be the defender of the Davletbek family's women!

- Get out of the way! - So you want to fight?

You think with my husband away there is no one to defend me? Go away!

What are you doing, Dzhamiliya? Stop it!

Keep an eye on her, or someone will steal her!

The combine broke down again. So I came here. You didn't expect me?

For how long am I going to run after you? It's ridiculous! Come on.

Let me be. Go your own way.

All around here is my way.

Wherever I step - my way. Whoever I grab - my girl.

Don't be so stubborn, woman!

There're so few men around. Stop putting on airs!

Let go of me!

Let go!

Stay away! If I'm a soldier's wife all my life, I won't want to spit on you!

Everyone can see you're a soldier's wife. Going wild without a man's lash.

If you were mine, I would've taught you how to behave.

Leave me alone!

- Let her go! Go away! - Get lost!

Get lost, whippersnapper!

Why do you talk to him? You should not have anything to do with such men.

Don't think about him. To hell with him.

He's not a human being.

It's hard to say what had happened to Dzhamiliya,

why her heart had lightened up.

I was running after her, looking at her,

and all sadness had suddenly flown away from me, too.

I didn't know then that a painting was being born in me,

which I would later call Woman Running Across the Field.

Wait, Seit!

I'll catch you anyway!

Come on, wait! Wait!

Enough of that!

- Enough! - I'll catch you anyway!

Dzhamiliya, why are you so happy? Have you brought good news?

No, Mother. It's nothing.

Stop it, I said. Come on, calm down.

But I have good news. We got a letter from Sadyk.

Seit, go bring all our relatives and neighbours here. Hurry up.

Seit! Seit!

I already knew what Sadyk would write.

All his letters were alike, like lambs in a flock.

Sadyk always began with the words "wish of health",

and then he invariably informed us:

"I'm sending this letter by mail to my family

living in fragrant, blossoming Talas,

to Grandfather Dzholchubai, to much loved, dear eldest Mother..."

Then followed his mother, and then all of us in strict order.

Then came the requisite inquiries about the health

and wellbeing of the family's elders and close relations.

And only in the end, as though he were in a hurry,

Sadyk wrote a postscript: "Also best regards to my wife, Dzhamiliya."

He asks about everybody.

He mightjust write that he's alive and well, we need nothing more.

Sadyk writes because he's in hospital. I haven't heard from my son for a year.

Wait, it's too early to mourn them.

Anything can happen in a war. We'd better pray for them.

What's the matter? You should be happy instead of looking so glum.

You're not the only one whose husband's in the army.

No, it's not only your misfortune. Everybody's grieving.

Bear it together with the others. What did you expect?

You may grieve, but don't show it, hide it inside you.

Dzhamiliya and Sadyk lived together only four months,

and then the war broke out.

They met at the races.

If a dzhigit catches up with a girl, he may kiss her;

if he doesn't, he won't know where to hide for shame,

for she will lash him with a whip in front of everybody.

People said that the insulted Sadyk had kidnapped her after that.

Others, though, claimed that they got married for love.

How would I know?

I remember how they brought her and led her into the house.

She wouldn't part with her maiden's hat.

You should thank Allah, daughter.

You've entered a blessed house and a strong family.

- That is your good fortune. - That's just it.

And your happiness is in bearing children and having a prosperous home.

Thank God, everything will be yours.

- You're very lucky, daughter. - That's true.

But happiness stays only with those who cherish their honor and morals.

Remember it, watch yourself.

Bring happiness to our house.

- Have many children. - Be a faithful wife.

And she remained in our house.

Dzhamiliya and Sadyk lived together only four months.

Then the war broke out.

Eat well, tomorrow morning we're setting out.

I didn't stay home, but went to the threshing-floor where I spent nights.

I took the horses to the lucerne field.

Now we were to deliver the grain to the station together.

It was great.

Are those your horses down there?

- Two are mine. - And the other two?

They are, what's her name... Dzhamiliya's. What is she to you?

- Your brother's wife? - Yes.

The foreman told me to look after them. Give me the pail.

Daniyar, tell me about the war.

You'll be better off not to know anything about it.

- What were you at the front? - A soldier.

- What were you hit with? A bullet? - A shell.

Does it hurt now?

It doesn't hurt so much, only my knee won't bend.

Why do they say that you're shell-shocked?

People say all kinds of things. Go to sleep, we'll have to get up early.

Seit, bring my horses here, quick! Why are you dawdling?

And you, why do you stand and gape? Aren't you awake yet?

Seit, what takes you so long? Come on, move!

We have to pass the steppe before it gets too hot. Hurry up!

What a pair!

Hey, listen, that won't do!

Are we going to work like that, everybody on his own?

Seit, climb on the cart, you'll be stacking the sacks.

Give me your hand. Hold it.

Let's get another one.

Altynai, give my dzhigits the sacks that are smaller,

because they're so strong!

Tomorrow I'll fill them with straw.

A sly fox, she knows how to wound him.

Such a big guy, and so feeble!

Hey, you, Daniyar, or whatever!

You look like a man, so lead the way!

- Come on, Seit! - Come on!

- Why are you making fun of him? - Oh, never mind!

I'm just kidding. Nothing will happen to that Ione wolf.

And then I, too, began mocking Daniyar, even more than Dzhamiliya.

Even he couldn't take his eyes off her. To say nothing of the others.

Perhaps he thought nobody saw it,

but I noticed everything and I didn't like it,

I even felt sort of offended.

And a child's egoism in my heart was bursting into a burning jealousy.

What?

We constantly invented some new pranks.

Among the sacks in which we carried the grain,

there was a very big one, holding about 60 pounds.

One day on the threshing-field we decided to play a trick on Daniyar.

Hurry up.

- He's coming. - Let's go.

Come on!

Come on! Come on!

We had to take a long ride.

We left in the early morning and got to the station in the afternoon.

Every spike of wheat for the front!

Somehow we forgot about that 60-pound sack

and remembered it only when we were finishing unloading.

Pull up your pants first, or you'll lose them on your way!

- Drop the sack, I was justjoking! - Get away!

Drop the sack, Daniyar!

Drop it, Daniyar!

Go, Seit, help him.

Hey, drop the sack! I'm ordering you!

Get away!

Drop the sack, Daniyar!

Drop it, do you hear?!

Have you gone crazy, man?

You think I'm not human and wouldn't have let you pour some out down there?

You shouldn't carry such sacks with that wounded leg of yours.

And what if you'd fallen down? Why do you carry such sacks?

That's my own business.

Daniyar, why don't you sing something?

Are you going to sing? Are you a dzhigit or not? Daniyar!

He's the last man to ask to sing!

That's when we had discovered a real Daniyar!

Those songs had won our hearts, mine and Dzhamiliya's.

And the whole world that had been in me since childhood,

which I knew and felt and loved,

all this had been roused in me in sounds and colours.

Hey, Eldzhur!

Hey, it's war!

It's war!

That were the storytellers of Hero Manas awaking in me,

through me they were addressing the people:

"To war! Saddle your horses! Attack the enemy, descendants of Manas!"

That were widows and mothers sobbing in me.

- Where're you going? - To water the horses.

How had Dzhamiliya suddenly changed!

She was persistently thinking about something.

Why don't you take your shirt off? I will wash it.

Only once in all that time Dzhamiliya laughed out loud.

Give us a kiss or we'll throw you in!

Oh, no!

You had your fun, that's enough. Leave me alone!

Dzhamiliya!

Dzhamiliya, come and eat! Dzhamiliya!

Seit, come here, let's sit for a while.

Something was tormenting her, too,

something was storing up and ripening in her heart, and she was afraid of it.

I waited for her to tell me about it, about something very important,

to explain what was worrying her.

After all, she was my parents' daughter-in-law,

my brother's wife.

Why did you stop? Why are you staring?

Go on! Don't look at me. Go on, I said!

In the morning I woke up with a sense of alarm and joy in my heart.

I couldn't put what I saw at night out of my head.

I felt like I was daydreaming and gazed at everything with amazed eyes,

as if I saw it for the first time.

Baike, I can't go there anymore, can't you understand it?

Stop harping on the same string.

I'm not refusing to work. But give me anotherjob.

I'm not going to the station again!

What's the matter with you, Dzhamiliya? I have no otherjob for you!

Let me go, please.

- Did a gadfly sting you or what? - I won't do it and that's it!

- I won't even listen to you! - I'm not going to the station!

Can you explain what happened?

Take the cart back and send me anywhere but not to the station!

Did someone hurt you? Tell me.

I'm not refusing to work!

- The soldiers need our grain! - I can't go there anymore!

You will! I can't do anything about it. I have no otherjob for you.

Altynai, will you let them go at last?

I'm rushed up as it is. Dzhamiliya, you can go.

Bessimilliya!

"Bessimilliya! Give Your blessing, Allah,"

I said, like my father used to say long ago,

as he put me on a horse for the first time.

Bessimilliya means "a new beginning".

Seit!

Seit!

Seit! Are you deaf or what?

The carts are loaded. We call and call you. What are you doing here?

Give it to me.

All right.

I could not believe that I had painted something even close to

what I wanted to express.

But deep in my heart I felt a naive jubilation swelling up,

even pride.

And dreams, one more alluring than the other, already turned my head.

I wanted to paint many pictures, many beautiful pictures.

Daniyar, help me to fix the bridle.

What is it? Don't you understand?

Am I the only one in the whole world? You think it's easy for me?

Anyone from the Kurkureu village here?

Do you know?

No. Go ask over there.

Anyone from the Kurkureu village here? Have you met anyone from Kurkureu?

No.

Who is from the Kurkureu village?

Over there, by the carts.

Dzhamiliya. Oh...

Dzhamiliya, don't you recognize me?

Hello, Dzhamiliya! How are you doing?

I knew you were here. Yes, I came right from Sadyk.

We were in the same hospital.

He'll be back in a month or two. I've brought a letter from him.

- Kerim! - Here.

- Kerim! - Hello!

Kerim is here!

Are you crazy?

Where are you going?!

Dzhamiliya didn't come back for a long time. Where could she be?

Daniyar wasn't sleeping either.

He will sure leave after all that, he won't stay in the village.

But where would he go? Why should life be like that?

I wanted to go and hug him,

to say something good to him.

But what could I tell him?

Daniyar, it's me.

I came to you myself.

Hold me, Daniyar, hold me.

I don't care what people will say. Is it your fault?

And it's not mine, either. I've been waiting for you all my life, Daniyar.

I knew you'd come to me. My beloved, my Ionely one.

I can't live without you, Daniyar! I can't live without you anymore!

My darling.

I love you. I can't, I can't...

He never loved me. He even remembered me only in the postscript.

- Hold me, Daniyar. - Dzhamiliya...

I won't give you to anyone!

Autumn will come soon, I thought.

Too bad that summer is so short.

But I had no idea what would befall us that fall,

Dzhamiliya! Dzhamiliya!

Dzhamiliya!

And only now, lying on the ground,

I suddenly realized that I loved Dzhamiliya.

Yes, she was my first love, a child's love.

I lay for a long time, with my face against my wet elbow.

I was saying goodbye not only to Dzhamiliya and Daniyar,

I was parting with my childhood.

When I finally came home,

I understood why they had left.

Sadyk was back from the hospital.

We had waited for him too long.

Oh God! How much talk and gossip we had in our village.

A mother will always be a mother.

She went out of her way to sweeten Sadyk's homecoming.

She must have felt very guilty before him.

So she wanted to welcome him according to the tradition and bless him.

We should have driven that stray dog out of our village long ago!

If I ever meet him, I'll kill him! Let them put me in jail for that.

I won't tolerate some tramp stealing our women!

On your horses, dzhigits! Let's catch them at the station. Hurry up!

What is this?

Did you paint it?

- We're ready, Sadyk. Let's go! - Coming!

Who are they?

Answer him! He's asking you.

Where did they go?

Which way? To the station or to the halt?

- Sadyk, we're waiting! - I'm coming!

I'm asking you, where did they go, to the station or to the halt?

Don't tear it!

I pray they wouldn't catch them. Run quick, hurry.

They're chasing you. They're riding, they're close.

Watch out, Dzhamiliya! Watch out! They're catching up with you!

Run!

Don't shoot! You can't shoot!

Too bad we haven't caught them. I would've killed them on the spot.

She's gone and good riddance.

That'll be the end of Dzhamiliya.

Where did she go? Why?

Oh, Dzhamiliya...

Dzhamiliya, Dzhamiliya...

What a good housewife she would have made!

But she went away and renounced us...

Why did she go away?

Did we treat her badly in our house?

Tomorrow I'm leaving for the city, they're sending me there to study.

- I want to paint. - What?

I want to be a painter.

Well, go.

You've got fledged already and have your own way of flapping your wings.

But can we know how high you'll be able to fly?

Well, go and learn it.

Perhaps in the city you will... come to your senses.

That's not a trade - painting and daubing...

Or maybe you're right.

Go.

But don't forget your home.

Our home had broken up since that day and I went to the city to study.

And now sometimes I have failures and there come the hard moments

when I lose faith in myself.

Then I'm looking at my childhood drawings

and try to talk to them.

Now I know that art is like a wild horse.

I fell many a time and rose again...

I look at my drawings and think of Dzhamiliya and Daniyar.

I will never forget these people

who opened up to me the beauty of the world.

Directed by Irina POPLAVSKAYA

Director of Photography Kadyrzhan KYDYRALIYEV

Production Designer Anatoly KUZNETSOV

Music by N. SIDELNIKOV

English Subtitles by Tatiana Kameneva

Cast:

Dzhamiliya - Natalya ARINBASAROVA

Daniyar - Suimenkul CHOKMOROV

Seit - Nasredin DUBASHEV

Mother - A. DZHANGOROZOVA Sadyk - A. KENZHEKOV

Osmon - M. BAKHTYGIREYEV

Painter - B. BEYSHENALIYEV Foreman Orozmat - N. KITAYEV

Narrated by Chingiz AITMATOV

The End