Original subtitles

"Manuel on the Island of Wonders"

Part One: "Manuel's Fates"

I'm called "long ago".

This story took place in the past.

But I'm sure it will happen again soon.

That's why I chose to tell it to you, in the present.

One night, on the faraway island of Madeira.

It's midnight in Manuel's house. Everybody's asleep.

Taking advantage of their deep slumber,

the sole wealth in Porto de Cruz,

a thief from the mainland

enters Manuel's house

and steals the family jewels.

When the dogs' barking wakes the family,

it's too late. The thief has escaped.

The next day, a Monday,

around 7 a.m, Manuel gets up to go to school.

From his mother's voice,

he knows something serious has happened during the night.

Coming!

Just then, he hears a voice

that is both familiar and unknown, calling him.

"Manuel!", the voice says.

It's a kind of call for help.

Soon afterwards, at breakfast,

he learns that a very serious thing happened while he slept.

Sit down. You OK?

Here, Manuel. You still look sleepy.

Want some bread?

It's not serious.

Yes, it is. Extremely serious.

Oddly, he feels responsible for what happened.

As he leaves home, he hears the voice again.

"Manuel!", it says.

This time it's like a call, an invitation.

Manuel runs toward the school. It's mid-term exam day,

and he doesn't know his lesson.

Crossing the Bridge of Winds, he hears the voice again.

"Manuel", it says, "come!"

This time it's like an order.

Manuel turns back.

Now, the voice becomes insistent, repeating:

"Come here! At once!"

Manuel can't resist any longer.

The voice comes from a courtyard

where he'd always been forbidden to play.

Now a chorus of voices is calling him.

Manuel's not afraid:

"I'm not skipping school because a voice is calling me,

but because I choose to."

In the forbidden garden,

the voices hide behind the howling wind.

Just then he sees the light

where the sheep used to sleep before the earthquake.

They say his grandfather was killed there.

On the very spot where,

before he was born, the island's only black couple

committed suicide on Midsummer's Eve.

The voice calls again, like a warning.

There's no one in the cave.

Manuel abruptly changes his mind and decides to go to school.

But it is written: "Too late!"

Turning, he sees another boy, older than him.

What's today's date?

It's Monday.

The date, not the day.

Monday, March 3.

What year?

1978.

Strange, for me it's March 5, 1983.

For me it's March 3.

What's your name?

Manuel. - Manuel what?

Manuel Gomez da Silva.

Funny, that's my name, too.

Strange, having the same name.

Look at me carefully.

Do you know me?

I know you.

I am you.

You're joking! - I'm you in 6 years.

How can I be talking to myself?

That's what I wonder.

You're you and I'm me.

Just like me.

Do you like stories?

I'll tell you a good one.

Exactly 6 years ago, I was you.

One day, like today, I skipped school.

I'm not going to school today either.

The night before, a guy had entered the house

and stolen my mother's jewels.

Funny, thieves took all our jewels yesterday.

All the other boy tells him has happened to him already.

Easy... Let's start from the beginning:

The jewels weren't stolen. They must be here...

Coming!

At breakfast, he learns that a serious thing has happened.

His mother's jewels, their only wealth, have been stolen.

He doesn't care.

He has more important worries.

For the first time in his life,

he decides to play hooky from school.

He pretends to go there,

for he knows his mother's watching.

But, after crossing The Bridge of Winds, he turns

and heads for the garden where he's forbidden to play.

At the end of the garden, there's a cave.

An old man appears,

a fisherman, who invites him in.

"Why haven't I seen him in the village?", Manuel wonders.

"What can he fish for here? The port's been closed for years."

People say the sea has become

hopelessly nasty.

What do you think of that, old dog?

With the fisherman is an odd creature,

half man, half dog.

We harpooned a shark,

a big one, I can tell you.

For a few moments that seemed centuries,

Manuel listened to their stories.

The fisherman pretended not to see him.

We cut open the shark's belly.

To our amazement, there was a lady inside.

We hear cries, we open it from end to end,

and find a lady, alive. And pregnant to boot!

No one knew what to do. Fifteen minutes later,

she gives birth to a fine baby of the masculine sex.

A male! Portuguese, of course.

Three weeks later, we left for Madeira.

At Porto Machique,

we had the baby baptized

and looked for

a rich godfather. And guess who I thought of?

The priest! I wanted it to be the priest of Machique.

As godmother, I chose a nun at the Santa Clara convent.

They both agreed, and it was all settled.

The baby was baptized,

and the best of it is

that the priest and the nun

became his friends.

When he was 20, he left to do his military service.

He was assigned to the Air Force, in command of a helicopter.

I'm pleased. I'm so pleased!

I'm a maverick, always alone.

I tried to get married, but couldn't.

I'd like to have had lots of kids.

But I'm lucky to have the son of the lady and the shark.

I like having a son in the Air Force, and a helicopter pilot.

Then he spoke to Manuel as if he'd always known him:

"Come", he said, "let's go to the sea".

Tomorrow, at 8 a.m,

I'll wait at the door of your school.

We'll both go off and take all your books with us.

If we drop anchor, it falls to the bottom of the sea.

You'll study at sea, at least an hour every day.

Don't go home. You mustn't run around.

At evening, we'll go to our home, by the fire.

We go in at the bottom and out in the middle.

You're smiling. You understood me.

Friend dog is silent.

Are you sad? Ah, yes!

For hours, the fisherman told him stories,

long stories, to put him to sleep.

He told me stories and stories...

He told me stories and stories until I fell asleep.

When he awoke, it was almost night.

"How long was I asleep?" Manuel asked.

"For years, for centuries", said the fisherman.

"We visited far-off countries, but you saw nothing.

Too bad!

Next time you mustn't fall asleep."

When Manuel went home, it was very dark out.

In a window of his house, he saw his teacher.

He knew he'd be sternly punished.

He's here! - Let's hope so!

Where have you been all day? - Easy!

What have you done?

While he slept, the parents devised punishments,

each worse than the rest.

Not asleep?

I must speak to you.

What happened today saddens me.

It mustn't happen again.

I spoke to your mother.

We feel you deserve to be punished.

I dislike violence, but,

sometimes...

punishment is necessary.

Therefore,

don't try to talk me out of it.

I promised I'd be pitiless. I'll be implacable.

Got that?

What I'm about to do

will hurt me more than it will hurt you, believe me.

Your mother and I

have decided to give you 10 ruler blows on the hands.

You agree?

That's worse. Come here!

12 rules blows!

15! On the hands.

How many blows did I say you merit?

15. - I said 15? That's a lot.

It's what you said. - Didn't I say 12?

Think you deserve this?

Alright.

This time, you're forgiven.

Lie down, turn out the light,

and good night, son.

From then on, Manuel's life changed radically.

Each day, a kind of indifference,

of disappointment on his parents' part

told him they'd given up on him.

He was only 7, and already a total failure.

The family was in a bad way.

His mother fell gravely ill.

She no longer spoke to him.

One afternoon, she silently died.

It's best you know

your mother died of an incurable disease,

and...

I had no money for a hospital.

We had only the jewels

that were stolen.

It's certain that

your conduct in school made her worse.

It had to end badly.

"We were in sight of the Cape

of Good Hope, formerly called the Cape of Torments,

thinking of all the terrible effort,

of all the blood spilled, the dead..."

Years went by, and after failing in school,

he dropped out and went to the city to seek work.

On his last day, while walking near the Bridge of Winds,

he saw that all his woes stemmed from a single cause,

perhaps a single act:

entering the forbidden garden,

instead of going to school.

He made one last visit to the garden.

A surprise awaited him.

The fisherman was still there.

Young people today and our country's future...

We'll go to the sea to make a man of you.

The smell of salt water is good for the lungs

and the health. Strengthens the whole body.

It replaces all the rest.

Besides, at sea...

you don't need to eat. Look how fat I am.

I look powerful, yet...

He renewed the old invitation: "Let's go to sea!"

It's agreed, then. I'll pick you up at school.

We'll take coffee and sandwiches. I have to buy gas.

There was Manuel, on the open sea,

with the fisherman

who was again weaving his sly tales.

Manuel fought off the sleep trying to

consume him body and soul.

Suddenly, a fish bit.

A tiny fish with prodigious strength.

A tiny fish that sang songs as hypnotic as

the fisherman's tales,

songs that don't make any sense.

"This time", Manuel thought, "I won't sleep."

When the sea falls,

when the sea falls,

sailors go to sleep...

sailors go to sleep...

Jeremiah!

Little fish, don't do that!

You were in the army with me.

We were in the same barracks.

Have you forgotten?

Don't do that, we're pals.

Let me eat you. Next time, it will be your turn.

Then Manuel saw the sun recede.

Days, months,

years went by backwards

while the fisherman fought the fish.

The passage of days, months, years

makes you sleepy.

"No," Manuel said, "I'll never sleep again."

Just you wait!

Sweet Jesus!

You think you're smarter, eh?

We'll see about that!

At last, the fisherman caught the fish and killed it.

Stay there!

He cut it open and in its belly

found the jewels stolen from Manuel's family 6 years ago.

"They're yours", the fisherman said.

You earned them by resisting sleep.

When he reached the village, it was night.

To his surprise, the lights were on at his house,

which had been empty since his Dad remarried.

Amazed, he again heard his parents' voices.

He saw himself, as he was at 7,

looking from the window.

He realized he'd been sent back to a time he dreads:

the terrible night of the theft.

The next day, he watched himself get up,

recognizing his way of putting on his coat,

the one he lost months later,

in a fight

when all was lost for him and his family.

He knew his other self would play hooky that day.

He calls the other who seems to hear him.

He sees him leave home, cross the bridge...

He sees him turn and run to the garden.

He calls himself once more,

and awaits their meeting.

Well,

my story ends here.

Now it's your turn.

Here!

The jewels

stolen during the night.

Who told you about that?

The fisherman.

I want to meet him, too. - No! Forget it.

Avoid him like the Devil!

Now, I'll give you some advice.

Take your things and run to the school.

At school, the teacher will ask you five questions.

To the first 3,

answer yes.

To the last 2, answer no.

Three times yes, twice no.

Now go right to school, and try to be on time.

You may save my mother's life.

Manuel decides to return to school.

The fisherman calls him:

"To sea!"

Three times yes,

twice no.

That's the key to happiness.

The key to success.

Forget school! It's useless for a fisherman like you.

Children, today we'll talk about fate.

Just what is fate?

What is fate?

To the ancient philosophers, it was a fixed law

that governed all our acts.

Science has proved the opposite.

We are free,

masters of our fate, on one condition.

What condition?

That we solve the problems of daily life.

That's what's difficult!

For that, the first thing we must do

is overcome our natural laziness.

For example, no one in this class would spend his free time

memorizing "The Lusiades", a wonderful poem, by whom?

Cam�es! - Very good!

For instance... Mr Gomez da Silva,

are you capable of using your play time

to memorize "The Lusiades"?

You fully realize:

no free time for 3 months. Understand?

You agree to be punished, if you fail?

You don't mind if I tell the media?

I can invite the authorities and notables

so there's a crowd when you recite the poem

from the first line to the last?

This is such an example that

I smell the opportunity, for the first time in ages,

to see a gleam of hope

in the darkness that seemed to grip our country forever.

"Obedience, obedience...

the teacher said, appealing to Pedro..."

You will repeatedly be asked five questions.

To the first 3, answer yes.

To the last two, no.

Don't worry. Believe me, it'll do him good.

Rest assured. Here he is now!

You see? It's alright!

Good work!

What's the matter?

Have no fear.

It's all working out!

Not asleep?

I want to talk to you in private.

I'm pleased with what happened today.

Your mother and I

have discussed about you and we think

you deserve a reward.

I don't approve of these methods,

but sometimes

an earned reward must be given.

This won't be an ordinary gift.

I want this to be special.

What would you like?

A ball.

A ball?

That's not enough.

A bicycle.

That's too little for what you've done. You deserve far more.

A train.

An electric train?

Better,

but still not enough.

Two trains.

Two electric trains? Three?

Four? Ten? 20?

You'd deserve them all.

Mom and I will make sacrifices

to do something really big.

You'll go to a good school on the mainland,

then to high school in Paris.

You'll study medicine in London

and do your specialization in South Africa.

You've earned it.

You leave in a week.

Yes.

Yes.

The years go by serenely.

Manuel is a good student.

He'll succeed in life. But, which life?

One day, he receives a telegram:

His mother calls him away. His father has died.

"Why did I alter my fate? Before, I was naughty,

so I lost my mother.

Then I was good. I saved my mother

but lost my father."

I wanted you home.

You know of your father's death. He was buried this morning.

When you're older, you will learn how he died.

All you need to know now is that, after you brought back the jewels,

Dad started gambling.

First to pay for your studies,

then for my medicines.

Third, to pay off our home,

lastly, as a vice.

It had to end badly.

Manuel opts to finish his studies on the mainland.

Before he goes,

he roams the street of his village.

Suddenly, he realizes his misfortunes stem from one act:

going to the forbidden garden,

where, earlier,

another single act had led to the death of his mother,

now a healthy, young widow.

He decides to return to the garden.

As expected,

he sees the fisherman.

They took the boat to Lisbon. I even paid for the tickets.

I was in Lisbon once.

Twice I've been to Lisbon.

But, I was unlucky.

Lots of trouble. I reached Funchal with 25 escudos,

too poor to send the suitcase. I left it at Customs.

I had to beg the nuns for money

to get the bag out of Customs. I was broke.

Know what happened then? The Funchal and Madeira nuns,

they thought I wanted to go to the far end of Lisbon.

So what happened? These religious zealots...

Without illusions, Manuel goes back to sea...

... but my aunt was a bigot, too.

With no surprise, he watches the capture of the reborn fish.

With no thanks, he takes the gems that had been stolen again.

Almost without hope,

he returns home.

Unsurprised, uninterested,

he again sees himself get up,

leave for school,

turn and go to the forbidden garden

and come face to face with himself.

Here my story ends again. Now yours begins.

All the advice I got was bad.

The most important thing is:

don't memorize "The Lusiades."

What if we're wrong again?

Then we start again from the beginning.

You can't keep going back forever.

Do as I say. You may save my father's life.

Throw that in the sea!

This time, he chooses caution:

he must ignore the fisherman's call,

but he mustn't succeed at school.

This must be

just an ordinary day.

Maybe that way he'd save both parents' lives.

... solve the problems of daily life.

For that, the first thing to do

is overcome our natural laziness.

Mr. Gomez da Silva, could you memorize "The Lusiades"

by the end of the year?

What's that noise?

The whole village is on the beach.

Something very serious has happened.

People on the beach!

You stay here.

To leave means to die.

The worst of it for us, the blind, is that we miss the best of the party.

These papers are dated 1983!

They're from the future.

A fine death!

A happy one!

Poor child! Who can he be?

Manuel finally realizes that his parents would live

but that he is doomed to die.

I am him.

My name is "now."

The stories I tell happen all the time,

they're forever ending and begin again the next day.

At the end, we say they never occurred.

So I prefer to tell them in the future tense.

Enough of that! Sing something else.

Careful of the rabbit!

Children, we've arrived. Let's go!

Everybody out!

Careful!

Stick together. Wait until everyone's out.

Next!

Easy! Now you.

Careful! Get up, quick!

That's it. Next!

Over here, now. Line up!

It's that way. Stay together! Fine!

All there? One, two, three...

This way, walk behind me.

Let's go! Follow me.

Sing a little song.

Come along!

No one lag behind!

Keep going! That way!

What are you doing down there? Join the others!

Straight ahead.

Five, six, seven, eight,

nine, ten, eleven, twelve...

Don't sing so loud. You're scaring the birds!

Step it up!

Walk faster, because... - Slow and steady wins the race.

Look out, it's dangerous here!

Hold on to the branch!

Keep moving, kids!

Down to the bottom!

We'll reach a clearing. Out of the woods!

Hurry!

This looks like a good spot.

Come on, Sonia.

And you, No. 14.

Know what time it is?

Very good!

Sit down here, close together! Quick!

Very close!

You, 32, sit here. That'll be your place.

Hurry up, latecomers!

Sit with the others. Stay calm!

No more moving! Know what we've come here to do?

Stay close together!

The experiment we'll do, when everyone's settled,

is for all to try to have exactly the same dream.

The experiment's been done by students from a Funchal School.

They got together and dreamed of a sailing ship

and made it materialize in Funchal Bay.

There was a crowd, they took photos, confirming the event.

Maybe we can try here to do the same

if we concentrate on the same dream.

But, since a sailing ship is useless,

let's dream of something useful.

What's most useful to us is a hospital. The island needs one.

Without it we...?

Cannot heal the sick!

To start our experiment, squeeze closer together.

Only together can we have a collective dream.

You already know that to succeed, it's essential

that we count.

One! - Good! Stop there.

You also know that we need

close collaboration from the rabbits!

Two! - Because rabbits like arithmetic,

if we keep counting, they'll join us.

Three! - Keep counting as I talk.

The rabbits will bite us, and that will put us to sleep.

At the instant they bite,

we'll automatically, slowly, begin our mass dream.

Four! - That's it! Don't stop counting!

Five!

Six!

Seven!

Shut your eyes. You'll start to feel sleepy.

Eight!

Nine! - Close your eyes!

You'll see, the dream will soon appear.

16! - Good! - 17!

Keep on counting. Never stop counting!

20! - 21!

22!

18!

Keep going! Slowly, don't stop!

18! - Louder, so the rabbits hear you!

Louder!

English subs transcribed & edited by: marooned2 & aloysius70, 2016