All language subtitles for Pisma.myortvogo.cheloveka.(Konstantin.Lopushanskiy.1986).35mm.576p

My dear boy,

I am working,
can you imagine that?

And what's even more surprising,

it's socially useful
work, too.

I've calculated a new day.

It's 7,200 minutes by the
old system.

It's not as pointless as
one might think

because day and night
are now all twilight.

When God created the world,

even He needed to have
some notion of time.

He divided light
from darkness

and called them day and night.

I've proposed a new
unit of time:

One twilight

because there is no more
diversity in this world.

Your mother and I

are staying in the shelter
beneath the museum

together with its staff.

We will wait for you here

and then we'll go to the
central bunker together.

You can come here
via the street,

but you'll have to climb up
the wall first.

Good morning.

What time is it now?

I don't know.

Why wake me up then?

I feel it's daytime.

- Did you turn on the ventilation?
- She is suffocating.

Then put on a bandage.

Yes. Thank you.

I'll turn it off.

Dear Eric,

Before all of us - you, mother and I -
become grains of the universe,

for each of us is mortal,

we'll have a lot of happy hours and days,
even if we use my notion of time.

Mother is much better today.

We haven't talked that much
in a long time.

LETTERS FROM A DEAD MAN

- Have you had the inspection yet?
- They are here right now. I am nervous.

Holy God, save and protect me.

Take off your clothes and come inside.
I have to go.

- Who's in charge?
- Me.

Come here.

- How many people are here?
- Twelve.

- Is everyone in here?
- Yes, everyone.

- This is our guest.
- No, I have a permit.

- Whose children are these?
- They are what is left of the orphanage.

There was an orphanage here, 40 children.
Almost all of them are dead now.

- So they do not have parents?
- No parents.

They never talk.
I think they are in shock.

I see. Stuporous state.

They understand everything.
Almost everything. But they don't talk.

You... Yes, you.
Go behind the screen.

Maybe it's better to
start with the children...

- No.
...as they should go to sleep soon. Why?

Because!

What is your name?

Look here.

Do you hear me?

I see.

Children don't count.

Turn around.

Move your hands up.

Put them down.

Turn around.

Put on your clothes.

- Should I call the old man?
- No need.

- Listen, doctor, these children...
- Step aside, you are in the way.

Do you want...
to leave the children here?

I don't want anything,
I'm just following the instructions

which say the children should be
healthy and with parents.

But that's not possible.

You understand what happens if you
leave them here, don't you?

It's outside my competence.
Everybody should mind their own business.

You're a doctor!
That is your business!

They will die anyway.
They're ill.

We can't support the lives of the healthy,
and you want to save the ill!

Even if I issued a permit for them,
they would be stopped at the check point.

Children without parents
and in catalepsy!

I would be shot for
issuing a false permit!

We have martial law!

That's final! They will be taken care of
by the special service.

- And who will take care of you?
- What's the problem?

You will leave them here and
hide yourself in the bunker

But they will come to you anyway,
they will come to you dead,

and they will sit before
you just like now.

How will you look
in their dead eyes?

How will you live after that?

Which special service
will help you then?

- How old are you?
- What difference does it make?

A big difference.
For you.

Because we don't
need old men either.

So you better go find your
birth certificate and shut up.

You're interfering with my work.

Everything you want to say,
I've already heard.

Ten, twenty, a hundred times!

Come here!

You should go the day after tomorrow.
Take nothing unnecessary with you.

Clothes, blanket and food, if any.
That is all.

I won't go anywhere without children!
You can't...

Don't go then.
That's your choice.

By the time of the disaster
every field of human activity

had been in a state of grave crisis.

Full stop.

Scientific efforts were focused on
weapons of mass destruction,

each of which could eliminate
the life on the planet.

Full stop.

Technology had been destroying
nature and the environment.

Full stop. New paragraph.

Political relations had become
unduly ambitious and paranoid.

Full stop. New paragraph.

Art had become inhuman and had been
pandering to vile tastes.

Good morning.

I feel like a different person.

I feel a wonderful lightness.

A complete adaptation.

I just need to get used to the cold.

Oh, I forgot:
How is your wife?

Bad.

Stand still.

The doctor mentioned some lists...

...in the central bunker.

When I came close they stopped talking.
They didn't want me to hear.

I am nervous.

We've decided to go today.

What about you?

I don't know.

I haven't decided yet.

Here are the pills for the headache.
Water-soluble.

Thank you very much.

- Don't laugh at crazy people.
- He's no more crazy than you or I.

What's all this paper?

I asked you a question.

I was trying to read seismograms.

If the war is ongoing,
they should show the explosions.

And if not...

- Then what?
- Then it is proof.

Proof?

You think if you find proof,

the world will come back to life?

Can't you see what's
going on around you?

Can't you see what's
happening to me either?

Do you know when you went crazy?

When?

Before all of this started.

After you had made your discoveries.

After the Nobel prize.

That is possible.

Take your medicine.

My son thinks we should go
to the central bunker tomorrow.

After lunch.

We should take into account
possible problems at the check point.

What do you think?

That is possible.

To be honest,
everything seems so unreal.

Has anyone here read
"The Human Mole"?

An interesting book.

How do you imagine
underground mankind?

It poses quite serious problems.

But what else can we do?

That's our only chance.

I disagree.

I don't believe that
the world is doomed.

- Are you serious?
- I am.

I've formulated a logical theory.

As of now I have 25 hypotheses

but each of them can be checked.

Not all at once, but in time.

I've read book by a scientist

that states the human race is in
a state of rapid evolution

and can adapt itself to anything.

But the body must be
allowed to breathe.

The body should be naked.

I've decided to try it.

I've already started breathing exercises.

Excuse me...

- Am I talking nonsense?
- Yes.

Here, drink this.
It's a painkiller.

Drink it.

Drink a bit more.

Do you have a photo of Eric?

Of course I don't,
there is no such thing.

He died outside.

Burned.

How do you know?

I saw it in my dream.

Try to sleep.

You better go.

Don't wait.

ATTENTION, ATTENTION

Going outside during curfew hours
is not allowed.

Individuals with a curfew pass
should always carry it with them.

Attention, using internal tunnels
during curfew hours...

A week ago it was possible to buy
a painkiller on the black market.

One ampoule for one can of food.
I'll try to go there now.

Be careful, it's curfew time.
You'll be shot on sight.

That's all we can do for Anna.

What about escatomon?

It's not a medicine, just a stimulator.

Any news?

An order arrived to evacuate
to the central bunker.

We'll go today.

- What about the soldiers?
- What about them?

They should know something by now.

They know nothing.
They have their instructions.

What instructions?

The same.
Evacuate to the central bunker.

Deep conservation, and so on.

Conservation? What's that?

Thirty years underground. Or fifty.

Or maybe forever.

That's the end.

Our planet is uninhabitable.

That's impossible.

Intuition tells me that it
simply cannot be.

It's impossible.

I can't believe that.

My...

My whole family was
burned to death.

Can you believe that?

I don't know.
I've got problems with my head.

Maybe an amnesia.

I should think logically, make a
hypothesis...

I don't know what I should do.

You need mountain air
and some rest.

- I need some medicine. A painkiller.
- What do you have?

Canned food.

- Meat?
- Meat. Stored in a cellar.

Follow me.

Raid!

Attention! Anyone attempting to breach
the cordon will be shot!

Let me...

Let me on behalf of

every museum employee
who is still alive

express our deepest sorrow

over the death of your wife.

Dear Eric...

Dear Eric,

Some say that children live by the
joy of learning the world.

However I am convinced that even
in their happiest moments,

children live in fear.

When I was a child, I lived
in fear of locomotives.

My parents said that
when I was a baby,

I saw a locomotive
run over a cow.

I don't remember that,

but I know I had nightmares...

...about a huge black locomotive
trying to run me over.

My feet felt rooted to the ground.
I woke up screaming.

I've been having that dream again
recently.

I am standing on the rail tracks

and at the same time I am
driving the locomotive.

I keep running towards myself
and I can't stop.

My life and my research have turned into
that black merciless locomotive

that has now run down
the whole human race.

I imagine various people
driving that locomotive:

From the great Niels Bohr
to our President.

But the most terrible
nightmare, Eric,

is the one with you standing
on the tracks.

My dear boy,

If anything should happen to
me or your mother,

although that's not
very likely,

I've asked that we be buried
near the red wardrobe

with the Egyptian skulls

in the left corner of the storeroom.

Yesterday,
after we'd had an argument,

I went ahead and wrote a draft
message for a future civilization

which I hope
will be reborn some day.

I'm sorry, my colleague,
I do not quite understand:

Who are you addressing?

I don't know. Anybody.

There will be someone.

Visitors from space.
Mutants.

Mutants?

I'm sorry but I must go.
I have a lot of work to do.

Excuse me.

I think the discussion of this text
can be postponed till tomorrow.

Perhaps. Today is not the time.

Such a sad day.

We should acknowledge the fact

that the whole history of mankind

is a history of a slow suicide;

of a living matter
that by sheer accident

acquired an ability to think

but that did not know what to do
with this fateful ability.

Full stop.

It could not find any better use
for this ability

than invention of the most
effective ways

of global suicide.

Full stop.

From Judas rope...

- I can't stand this any longer.
...to the latest neutron bomb,

genetic, bacteriological,

and the devil knows what other weapons.

An admirable progress,
the triumph of the mind! Full stop.

Full stop.

That is the essence of science!

Perhaps in some sense...

our colleague is right.

What do you mean to say?

All the old values are gone.

They turned out to be groundless

out there.

Here under the ground we will create
a new mankind.

We'll have a new set
of commandments:

Hate thy neighbour.

Hate everyone else.

Hate thine own self.

I can imagine what you'll create.

I understand you.

It is alien to you.

You are just like my father.

Excuse my frankness,

but you're the last humanists.

Like mammoths.

I have to go.

I'll go with you, Father.

Mountains of corpses
and rivers of blood.

That's your museum, up there!

What's down here is but
a smoke-screen.

We must finally accept that we
completely failed,

that we disgraced ourselves

without even using a fraction of
what we were given.

If there is an intellect in space,

it should look on us with
scorn and disdain.

We are nothing but
arrogant monkeys...

Dear Eric,

I am working a lot and am
close to understanding

a thing of universal importance.

But my work is hindered by
various distractions.

I'm certain I heard the operator on
duty at the electronic centre shout:

"A computer error,
cancel the missile launch"

Yes, he said "Cancel the
missile launch command!"

He said he was drinking coffee
and he choked...

He was 7 seconds too late.

Seven... Perhaps there is
something in this number,

even if we forget
the commonplace things.

By the way, I remember his face.

He went along the hall,
a drop of sweat on his nose.

He was smiling and he unzipped
his pants as he walked.

He hanged himself in the bathroom.

He knew there were
only 14 minutes left.

Why did this deadly wind have to start
its journey across the world here,

in our miserable town?

Why?

Your son is not listed!

It must be a mistake.

Do you hear me?

Yes I do.

But registration isn't
over yet, is it?

I can't hear anything!

What did you say?

It's forbidden to go out
to the surface.

I beg you...

You are responsible for the guards.

No, not anymore.

New regulations since morning:

The guards obey no one;
they only follow special orders.

I understand that,
but I must get outside.

Any way will do.

Eric is there, Anna is there!

Until there is a special order,
only the dead can go outside.

Call later.

Do you understand?

No.

You can go out through the
funeral tunnel.

Are you willing to take that risk?

Of course.

Be careful, especially at the checkpoint.
There is a side tunnel there!

Give me a gas mask!

Let me through to the
children's department!

It's a place best avoided.

- Don't drive yourself crazy!
- He's in there, I feel it!

And you don't let me in!

There are no children
of his age in there!

I beg you to let me through!
You're not a father!

Okay, okay! Go!
Let him through!

All evidence suggests that the
history of mankind has ended.

It's time to sum up the outcome.

And I think it should be done calmly,
without vulgar histrionics.

Today I want to talk to you as
a dead man to other dead men.

That is - frankly.

Permit me a short speech

in defence of man as
a biological species.

Mankind was a tragic species,

doomed, perhaps,
from the very beginning.

Our fateful tragedy was that

we always strove to
outdo ourselves.

To be better than nature intended.

We found a place in ourselves
for compassion,

even though this contradicted
the laws of survival.

We had a sense of dignity,

even if it was
always trampled on.

We created masterpieces of art,

yet knew they were
ultimately useless

and short lived.

We found in ourselves
the ability to love.

Oh Lord, it was so difficult!

For inexorable time caused our bodies,
thoughts and senses to decay.

But a man continued to love.

And love created art,

an art which reflects our unbearable
yearning for perfection,

our immense despair
and our endless cry of terror,

a howl of desolate
thinking creatures

in the cold and impassive
space desert.

In this room, a lot of hateful words
had been said about mankind,

contemptuous

and scornful.

But I won't throw a stone at it today.
No.

This is what I say:

I loved mankind.

I love it even more now
that it no longer exists.

I love it for its tragic fate.

And I want to say to you, colleagues,

I want to say that

I love you.

There's a moment of truth
for every person.

This one is mine.

Now I will go to my room

and everything will end for me.

After all, we are adults

and death is not so
very frightening

when everything has
already died.

And yet...

Are you really...

My son...

has understood me

and forgives me.

I hope you will also understand

and will not condemn me.

Forgive me, O Lord.

Permit me to express...

...our deepest...

...and...

Our deepest...

...and most sincere
condolences...

...at the untimely death...

...of your father.

I've never met another man...

..who was...

...so committed to art.

You can...

Everybody's underground.
It's the end.

"A wasteland under the cold
void of the sky".

Remember that?
No? A pity.

A long time since I last saw you.

I thought you were dead.
It's in fashion now.

But don't take it to heart.
You look wonderful.

I found that reference book
that you wanted.

Volume 7 only, I'm afraid.
Volume 8 is missing.

By the way I've been thinking
about your idea

that the world hasn't
come to an end.

About your proof,
that is.

A nice idea, but very stupid,

not worthy of you, professor.

What proof can there be?
It is ridiculous!

Even the one who had come to save
mankind called it doomed.

And that was two thousand years ago.

"I've come to save the doomed",
he said.

Want me to tell you a secret?

There was no war.

No. There was no war at all.

What happened was not a war.

It was a fulfilled prophecy.
Doomsday.

The apocalypse.

Everything was programmed
in advance, from birth to death.

Exactly on the predicted day
and hour.

That is why astrology was
always so popular.

All soothsayers and fortune-tellers

predicted with uncanny accuracy...

What other proof is needed?
It's obvious!

Dear Eric,

Today I woke up, got dressed,

and solved the Dan-Cooper equation
in one hour.

Of course that doesn't mean
anything to you,

but my research institute struggled
with this problem for 30 years,

or maybe more.

Something is wrong with my brain.

If I had 11 tables, I could
calculate the probability

of the survival of
living matter.

But I was only able to find 3.

Military reference books are now
priceless on the black market,

because of thick hard covers
and natural paper pages.

They produce a lot of heat
when they're burned.

Books serve a new
purpose nowadays.

Lately...

I've been having the same
dream over and over.

About a bottle of soda water

that I left unfinished.

Why?

I went out to look for you.

They didn't accept the children.

I've decided to bring them to you.

You did the right thing.

You wouldn't believe what's
happening in the central bunker.

It's so overcrowded...

My pass is valid for one day.

I have to go back.

I understand.

How is the pastor?

He's dead.

We must leave at once.
Pack your things.

I'm remaining here.
You know that.

- That's a pity.
- Farewell.

I'll be back right away.

I'll bring the firewood.

I'll be right back.
Don't you believe me?

Don't be afraid, I'll be back.

It's late. Time for bed.

Dear Eric,

I long wanted to tell you about
that awful night in September

You came in when your mother
was shouting at me.

Then she slapped my face.

Juveniles do not know mercy
and understanding

but have a tendency to analysis.

I hope this will help you
to understand

that I have always
loved your mother,

and she loved me.

Nothing else matters.

Anyway...

Today, according to my own calendar,

is the 7th twilight
of the first snow month,

which means today is
Christmas Eve.

I want you to remember that
on Christmas Eve

people always tried to bring some
happiness to each other.

They gave presents,

cooked wonderful feasts

or just sat together in
warm, cosy rooms

and talked.

And then

everybody would go outside to
welcome the first star in the sky.

Whoever saw the first star

was blessed with good luck

and all their wishes were
supposed to come true.

Today we will also go out
to welcome the first star.

The snow has started to fall.

It should always snow on Christmas.

Well, is it time to light the tree?

That's it.

Now we have a real Christmas tree.

Dear Eric,

I feel that by exerting all of
my will-power,

and because I finally found some
purpose in life again,

I've gained the upper hand over
my now enfeebled body.

Another important thing,

Eric,

my dear boy, is this:

don't leave me alone in this world!

And on the sixth day,

from the beginning of the world's end,

Teresa led them to another place

like the pastor prophesied.

And she left them there
and went away.

And a man adopted them,

a man with no name,

like the pastor prophesied.

And the eldest child

wrote a note about it in his notebook,
like the pastor taught.

He wrote about everything

that happened each
and every day,

until the day of the great exodus.

And it was so:

On the Christmas day he gathered
everyone around the tree

and lit the candles.

And he admonished them by saying:

"Remember: The world has not died."

That was his exhortation.

And he led them to welcome
the first star.

And he said:

"Look and you shall see a star."

But there were no stars in the sky,

for the darkness took over the world.

And when the night came,

he lay down near the furnace
and did not get up anymore.

And he said, "I will die soon."

That's what he said.

And then the eldest child
came up to him and asked,

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes", he said.

"No", said the eldest child,

"We know that people always tell lies

and tell the truth only when
they are dying.

We will wait until you are dying."

"Ask away", he said.
"It is time."

And they all came up to him

and looked into his eyes.

And the eldest one asked,

"Have you told the truth today?

Do you believe in what you said?"

"Go", he answered.

"Go while you have the strength.

For while a man walks on,

there is still hope for him."

"There lies before us, if we choose,
continual progress in happiness,

knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we,
instead, choose death, because we

cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal
as human beings to human beings:

Remember your humanity,
and forget the rest."

Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein,
Frederic Joliot-Curie...

from the Russell-Einstein Manifesto

Thanks to the Committee of Soviet Scientists
for Peace Against Nuclear Threat

The End