All language subtitles for 12-lg-PERSEU, A MORTE EM SEUS OLHOS

(intense music)

(calm music)

- [Narrator] Once upon a
time in the magnificent town

of Argos lived a rich and powerful king

who had all that a man could wish for.

Power, glory, gold, a fine reputation.

He wanted for nothing.

Nothing except a child, a son.

King Acrisius decided to
go to the Temple of Delphi

where the Pythia predicted the future.

Perhaps he'd forgotten that
one should be wary of oracles.

What must I do to have
a son, asked Acrisius.

As usual, the oracle does
not make a direct reply

to the question which is asked.

You will have a daughter,
replies the Pythia.

And this daughter will
give birth to a son.

That settles it.

This grandson will be my
successor on the throne of Argos.

Relived, Acrisius is
on the point of leaving

when suddenly, the Pythia continues,

and this boy will kill you as
soon as he reaches adulthood.

Acrisius is distraught.

A few months later, his wife, the queen,

brings into the world a daughter.

She is named Danae, in honor
of the founder of the dynasty

Danaus, and his 50 daughters the Danaides.

Zeus had thrown the Danaides into Tartarus

as punishment for the
murder of their husbands.

There in the scorching
steam of the underworld,

the Danaides are doomed to pour water

into a bottomless basin
until the end of time.

King Acrisius could assassinate
Danae with his own hands,

but the curse of the
gods would be terrible.

He does nothing.

Danae grows up.

At 15 she has become the prettiest girl

in the kingdom of Argos.

Naturally, prospective
suitors hasten to the court.

Each would like to win her hand.

Acrisius, haunted by the
thought of the prophecy

from Delphi, will not hear
a word about marriage.

He even goes so far as to regularly pray

that his daughter might
die of natural causes.

One day, he moves into action.

He orders the construction of a tower,

a huge tower, within
which he builds a prison

with walls and ceilings of bronze.

Once the tower is
finished, he invites Danae

and her nurse to follow him.

Neither of them imagines the terrible fate

which awaits them.

The two women go inside.

The heavy door closes behind them.

Danae lets out a cry of
horror which nobody hears.

Acrisius breathes a sigh of relief.

He thinks the matter is settled.

He is mistaken.

Things hidden from sight of man

do not escape the gods' attention,

and particularly, that of Zeus.

For a very long time
now, the King of Olympus

has been aware of Danae's beauty.

He is in love with her.

Zeus is always in love.

He smiles when he sees Danae shut up

in her bronze prison.

It is the ideal moment
to make his conquest.

However, Zeus needs to
take on another appearance

because he knows that mortals
may not contemplate a god

in his divine form,
under penalty of death.

Bull, swan, eagle, snake,

Zeus is no stranger to metamorphosis.

On this occasion, he decides
to change himself into rain.

Golden rain which slides
through the joins in the tower,

through the walls, and
falls like a gentle caress

upon Danae's slumbering body.

The young girl immediately awakens.

The whole room is illuminated.

Drops of gold are
falling from the ceiling.

She dares not believe it.

What if it was?

Nine months pass.

A boy is born.

Danae names him Perseus.

Fearing her father's fury,

she hides the child as best she can,

but it is impossible to stifle his cries.

Intrigued, King Acrisius
goes to the tower.

That is undoubtedly a baby crying.

Acrisius has the door opened.

Yes indeed, he is not mistaken,

there really is a child in there.

Perseus smiles at him, takes
a couple of hesitant steps,

and falls at his grandfather's feet.

The terrified Danae hastens to explain

that she is completely innocent,

that it is Zeus transformed into rain

who is the father of this child.

Zeus.

Acrisius doesn't believe a word of it.

He turns upon the nurse.

It must have been her who
let a man into the prison.

Mad with rage, Acrisius has
the poor woman beheaded,

along with the guards who were
meant to watch the prisoners.

But that in no way resolves the problem.

What to do with Danae and the baby?

Acrisius decides that it's
best to put their destiny

into the hands of the gods.

Let them sort it out.

He summons a carpenter,
the best in the kingdom,

and tells him to make
a great wooden casket.

When it's finished, he shuts
Danae and Perseus inside

and has it lowered into the ocean.

This time their prison will
not just be four walls,

but the whole maritime world.

The casket drifts away,
tossed around by the waves.

This fragile shell should
have sunk a thousand times,

but Zeus is watching over his son.

The casket ends up in the
vicinity of a little rocky island,

the island of Serifos.

A fisherman sees it, but this
is not just any fisherman.

His name is Dictys, and
he is of royal lineage.

Dictys brings the casket
ashore and discovers

Danae and Perseus.

Troubled by the beauty of the young woman,

the fisherman decides to take
in both mother and child,

and treat them as if they
were of his own family.

The years pass.

Perseus becomes a strong
and courageous young man.

One morning, the king of
the island, Polydectes,

an infamous tyrant, bumps into Danae

at a bend in the road.

He immediately falls in love with her.

An all-consuming passion for Danae

quickly grows within Polydectes.

He becomes obsessed by
her, but well aware that

for one thing, his
feelings are not returned,

and for another, that Perseus
would make mincemeat of him

if he tried to take Danae by force,

he comes up with a strategy to separate

the mother and son.

A banquet.

Polydectes organizes a banquet

and he as a good pretext.

His marriage with a foreign princess

by the name of Hippodamia.

He tells everyone the news and demands

that each young nobleman
demonstrates his friendship

by giving a luxurious present

to his future wife, preferably a horse,

and why not a whole stable?

For the young woman is
very keen on riding.

And you, he sneers at Perseus,

you who don't even have
a shirt to call his own,

what will you give me?

You can't come to my banquet empty-handed.

Cut to the quick, Perseus
replies that he is willing

to bring anything the king wishes.

Anything, perfect.

I want the gorgon's head.

The gorgon's head?

There is not one living
being in the whole universe

capable of such an exploit.

Perseus will refuse, that's for sure.

No, he accepts.

An icy murmur spreads throughout
the great throne room.

Perseus is mad.

He doesn't know what a
terrifying monster this is.

The gorgon!

In reality, there is not
just one, but three gorgons.

Three sisters, Stheno,
Euryale, and Medusa.

The first two are immortal.

Only the third one, Medusa, can be beaten.

A long time ago, the Gorgons
were three young girls

of legendary beauty.

It was the goddess Athena who
changed them into monsters

because they dared to defy her.

The Gorgons are terrifying creatures.

They have golden wings
attached to their shoulders.

Snakes coil out of their hair.

And they can kill with a single look.

Instantly turning to stone
anyone who dares look them

in the eye.

Polydectes is delighted.

This pretentious little Perseus
has stepped into the trap.

But what Polydectes is unaware

of is the young man's descendants.

He is the son of Zeus.

What's more, he is admired
by numerous divinities

and, in particular, Hermes and Athena.

And today, Athena sees in Perseus

a way of finishing off her
vengeance on the Gorgons.

Perseus walks straight ahead.

He hasn't the slightest idea

where Medusa might be hiding.

He doesn't know how to fight her, either.

At this very moment,
Hermes appears before him.

Hermes, god of messengers, son of Zeus.

Hermes gives Perseus a silver shield.

This is the goddess Athena's gift to him.

Hermes also lends him his winged sandals,

then he hands him a special sack

in which hunters put the
game they have killed.

And he adds one last
present, a Harpe sword,

a steel sickle capable of
cutting through any material.

Hermes advices Perseus to fly to a cave

where three witches live.

These three witches are
known as the Graeae.

The Graeae are the Gorgons' sisters,

and they are equally monstrous.

They are the only ones who
know where Medusa can be found,

but no one has ever dared venture

inside their repulsive cavern,

for the Graeae are fearful to look at.

People say they were born old.

Their faces are no more
than wrinkles and folds.

Their yellowing skin is
crumpled like old parchment.

The most astonishing
thing is that they have

only one eye between them,
which they pass around

and use in turns, as they do
with their one solitary tooth,

which they used to devour their visitors.

Hermes points a finger towards the west.

Even though the Gorgons
live across the ocean,

beyond the world's frontiers
at the doors of the night,

the same cannot be said for the Graeae

who live in this world.

With the winged sandals to guide him,

Perseus crosses the wild blue yonder

and soon finds himself at
the entrance to the cavern

where the three sisters hide.

The son of Zeus must now
pay very careful attention,

for between the moment
when one passes the eye

to the other, and the moment
when the other receives it,

there is a short lapse
of time, a tiny crack,

which Perseus must
infiltrate with the speed

of an arrow.

Perseus bides his time,
and at the split second

when the eye is between
two of the creatures,

he grabs it, snatching the
tooth at the same moment.

The Graeae scream with fury.

They are suddenly blind and toothless.

They are reduced to nothing.

They implore Perseus.

They are prepared to give
him anything, they say,

if only he will give them
back the eye and the tooth.

Perseus demands that they tell him

where the Gorgons live
and how to get there.

They are only too eager to oblige.

So the son of Danae and
Zeus is at last flying

towards the windy island
where the monsters abide.

All around, stone statues
bear witness to the adventures

of unfortunate warriors who
dared brave the Gorgons.

Horror can still be read
in their expressions.

The Gorgons are there.

They are sleeping.

For Perseus, the question is

how to cut off Medusa's
head without ever coming

face-to-face with her.

It seems like an impossible task.

It is Athena who whispers
the solution in his ear.

Perseus takes the silver shield,

which the goddess gave
him, and fixes it upright

in the earth.

He uses it like a looking glass,

or more precisely, like
a rear-view mirror.

At the moment when Medusa's terrible eyes,

shining like moonstones, turn towards him,

Perseus positions the
shield such that his eyes

cannot meet those of the Gorgon.

Medusa is almost upon
him, just a breath away.

Perseus raises his sickle

and severs the monster's head.

With a terrible screech, Medusa collapses.

Perseus stuffs the
Gorgon's head in his sack

and rushes out of the cave.

Flying back home towards
Polydectes' island,

Perseus suddenly notices a young woman

chained to a rock.

It's Andromeda, the daughter
of queen Cassiopeia.

She has been offered as a
sacrifice to a sea monster

which has devastated the region ever since

the careless Cassiopeia
was audacious enough

to claim that she was more beautiful

than all the nymphs of the ocean.

To appease the monsters sent

by the susceptible Poseidon,

an oracle has advised Cassiopeia

to sacrifice her own daughter,

the innocent Andromeda.

The unfortunate girl is lamenting.

Her moans reach Perseus.

He hears her, he sees her,
he is immediately seduced

by her beauty.

Out of the question to
abandon her to her fate.

Perseus goes and finds queen Cassiopeia

and promises to save her daughter

if he can have her hand in marriage.

Cassiopeia accepts.

Perseus immediately returns to the place

where Andromeda is attached to the rock

in the middle of the waves.

Not a moment too soon, for
the monster is cutting its way

through the water, towards
the unhappy Andromeda.

Once again, everything depends on a look.

Remembering Athena's advice,
Perseus positions himself

between the sun and the
sea, such that his shadow

is projected across the
surface of the water,

just in front of the beast's eyes.

When it sees this shadow moving before it,

the monster assumes that
it must be its prey.

It rushes toward the reflection

and at this very moment

Perseus, from high in the sky, flies down

and kills it.

Andromeda is saved.

Perseus picks up his sack
with the Gorgon's head inside.

Accompanied by Andromeda, he
finally arrives at Serifos.

But as soon as he lands, he learns

that the infamous Polydectes
never had any intention

of marrying anyone other than Danae.

He has profited from Perseus's absence

to repeatedly try to force
his mother's consent.

Happily, Danae has found refuge

in the temple of the goddess, Hera.

Perseus places Andromeda under
the protection of Dictys,

and goes alone to the
court of King Polydectes.

Passing through the corridors,
he penetrates the hall

where Polydectes and his court

are enjoying a huge feast.

Silence falls when Perseus appears.

Polydectes stares at him, dumbfounded.

Perseus walks towards him.

He measures him up without a word.

Then he opens his sack and
pulls out Medusa's head.

In a slow movement, he raises
it, being careful to turn

his eyes away.

In an instant, Polydectes
and all his guests

turn into stone statues.

Perseus puts the head back in his sack

and walks out, leaving
behind him a petrified world.

But the story is not over.

There is still the
grandfather, King Acrisius.

Perseus has realized that if
Acrisius behaved towards him

as he did, shutting him in a casket

and tossing him to the waves,

it's because he was afraid
of dying at his hands.

He doesn't hold it against him.

On the contrary, he wishes
to find him and pardon him.

So, he sets out for Argos.

Unfortunately, Perseus arrives too late.

Hearing the rumors of
the fabulous exploits

accomplished by his
grandson, but above all,

hearing that he is
heading for the kingdom,

Acrisius has shown a clean pair of heels.

But destiny alone decides upon the hour

when the curtain must fall.

A few days after his arrival in Argos,

Perseus participates in
games organized in his honor.

The discus throwing event arrives.

There is a dense crowd,
in the middle of which

hides an old man with a gray beard.

Perseus throws his discus.

At that precise moment,
a violent gust of wind

alters its trajectory.

It flies through the air
and it hits the old man

head-on, killing him instantly.

It was Acrisius, King of
Argos, Perseus's grandfather.

Once again, the Oracle of
Delphi has had the last word

over those who try to stop her
predictions from coming true.

(heroic music)