Original subtitles

“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.

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,

- go behind the screen. - Maybe it’s best 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.

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. - 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...

that Nobel prize.

That is possible.

Now 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.

There was a book, The Human Mole.

Has anyone here read it?

An interesting book. How do you imagine underground mankind?

I would like to know.

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.

Now 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.

You know...

I should think logically, make a hypothesis--

I really 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.

- Is this meat? - Meat. Stored in a cellar.

Just 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.

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 neighbor.

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 center 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 registered!

Please wait!

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?!

Give me my child!

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!

Therefore,

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 defense 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 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 most...

deepest,

our 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

I always loved – and love – your mother.

And she loved me.

Nothing else matters.

Today,

according to my own calendar,

is the seventh 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, cozy 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.

We will also

go out today 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, FRÉDÉRIC JOLIOT-CURIE, ...

FROM THE RUSSELL-EINSTEIN MANIFESTO