Original subtitles

Get out of the street, you country schlump!

Are you blind?

Down!

Cossacks and the Black Hundreds are rounding up unregistered Jews!

- You've been hurt? - No, it's only dog blood.

Although it was a dog that only would starving to death.

My God!

There must be some way out.

There is.

Join the Zionists.

They understand such things.

No, no.... You'll excuse me. I'm not a Zionist.

Nor socialist also non-political as well and completely non-religious.

You've described a horse. You've explained what he's not. Huh?

Who needs a horse described, needs glasses.

But what if your papers are in order?

Are the streets still open? Is it possible to go into the Christian part of the city?

The laws are too simple to believe.

A rich Jew may live and work wherever he likes.

- But you are rich. - Hmm?

Live in an establishment like this.

I'm the poorest man I know.

A tailor.

God help the father who prenticed me.

Like all of us who had nothing.

I not only have to live in the ghetto and work here also.

But...

to walk outside of the ghetto, to spend a few kopeks for Christian merchandise...

Yes, yes, of course. Why not?

In Kiev there is no such thing...

as a Jewish kopek or a circumcised rouble. Believe me!

The same is true of the shtetl.

I mean, the village.

There is a sign out there.

It says, "Death to the Jewish Revolution!"

Since when have we got a revolution?

They're crazy. The whole thing is crazy.

Understand...

In order to make a revolution, first you must have a country.

You name me one Jew...

who calls this cesspool of a country his own!

Pigs!

Let them make their own civil disturbances.

I wouldn't start a revolution if I could.

I wouldn't do them the favour.

- Shalom. - Shalom.

Good night!

This place is worse than the village.

To call it a village makes you a Gentile?

Shtetl is shtetl.

You would like a slice?

With pleasure.

I'm on my feet all day.

One broken window, I fixed just one.

So it's better than none, don't say it.

Here's the one of a man with a wife and five children...

and had more calamities than Job. It's worse?

For the children give thanks.

For me...

The problem is my terrible appetite for roubles. Nothing but roubles.

So speaking as a friend, what do you think I got for all day's work?

Noodles.

One plate only.

And the water was so thin, our horsehair sink right to the bottom...

like that.

You'll forgive me.

I've got some advice.

It will cost me your rent money, but truth's more important.

A man like you should try to find work outside...

because... May I tell you something?

You don't even look like a Jew.

Who decides who is a Jew and who isn't?

It's a goy every time.

Try once and find out.

The more a man hides the more he has to hide.

The same can be said for starving.

What you need, my friend, is confidence.

I'll tell you exactly how it must be done.

First...

You must give the appearance of a busy man who has no time for nonsense.

At the vital moment throw back the head...

push the chin forward...

remember God's promise to Abraham...

and pass through.

With that coat and cap...

you look like any other decent, Jew-baiting Russian worker.

People will pass without even looking at you.

Drunk.

I should have known it.

Why did you have to fall across my path?

Already I look suspicious enough.

Wake up!

Troubles like you I don't need!

Freeze to death for all I care, you damned anti-Semite!

Papa! Oh, papa!

Oh, papa!

Papa, get up! Papa! Papa, please! Please!

- Please, help me get him home, sir. - He's...

It's only down there.

Yeah, he's drunk. I'm sorry I'm a busy man.

Papa!

I'm not even supposed to be...

Papa! Come home, papa.

- All right! Take his legs! - Yes.

- Yes? - Wait.

- Just right in? - Yes.

Papa.

Lidya! Take Nataliya out of here!

You fell in the snow, papa.

This gentleman found you and saved your life.

A Christian.

A Samaritan, no less.

Oh, sir!

Sir, if you will be so kind...

I didn't mean to be rude.

The gentleman you've helped is Nikolai Maximovitch Lebedev.

I am his daughter, Zinaida Nikolaevna.

If you'll come to see us in the morning...

my father will give you something more substantial than mere thanks.

Something more substantial?

It only means money.

Who accepts money from a man who advertises in his buttonhole that he hates Jews?

What better contribution could an anti-Semite make...

than a few roubles to keep a decent Jew alive?

It's a good point.

But before I accept so much as one kopek, I will have it out with him.

I will say to him,

"Nikolai Maximovich Lebedev,"

"I Yakov Shepsovitch Bok,"

"who saved your life last night, am a Jew."

"If that makes a difference, you go to hell and take your money with you."

Your name, sir?

Yakov Ivanovitch Dologushev.

Exactly.

Dologushev.

I am a painter. Also roofing and carpentering...

Lidya, take Nataliya!

I am Nikolai Maximovich Lebedev.

Please sit down.

I am an honest man, Yakov Ivanovitch. And I must to thank you for.

I might have died out there in the snow last night if you hadn't rescued me.

That many would.

True Christian feeling is the rarest thing in this world.

Don't you think?

Well...I...

I seem to run into it almost everywhere.

A man of your character would.

I take it you're familiar with the Holy Scriptures.

I know the Psalms.

Wonderful! Did you hear that, Zinaida?

He knows the Psalms!

I find it impossible to read the Bible without bursting into tears.

It's true. It's very true. No matter what he reads in it, he always cries.

Yes, always.

That's why I drink too much.

I feel the responsibility for the misfortunes of others.

And I almost take upon myself.

The sorrows of life.

When Zinaida was a little child I couldn't end crying...

over her poor crippled leg.

I mentioned this to you so you may know what kind of a man...

you rescued from near death last night.

Yakov Ivanovitch, how can I repay you?

I have an empty apartment upstairs which...

needs repainting and papering.

If you could undertake the work, I'll pay you forty roubles.

Which is more than I ordinary pay.

But for a man of your sensitivity...

the offer of work is surely a better reward than the payment of money.

Don't you think?

Of course you think.

40 roubles isn't wages, it's capital!

The man is a member of the Black Hundreds.

The girl makes me uneasy.

And the dog is the worst anti-Semite I've ever run into.

So I thought when you are through for the day...

you might like to come down and have supper with me.

Supper?

Oh, no. Well, I have to...that is...

If you're worried about papa...

He's always so drunk by nightfall that we put him to bed.

I have to supper all by myself.

It's cosy, of course.

Sometimes it can be dreadfully lonely.

For loneliness...

reading is always a cure.

As for me, I'm...

too busy to eat.

I have another room to just be finished by tomorrow.

Then make it tomorrow. We can have supper...

and if it's too late, you can spend the night here.

What?

Look what you've made me do.

Beautiful! Beautiful!

An honest and if I may say so...

an artistic piece of work.

I knew you're an impostor from the beginning!

Impostor?

You came to us as an ordinary worker...

but I now see you are a man of many talents.

And I mean to take advantage of you.

My recent misfortune had given me...

the inheritance of a small brickwork.

It is operated in the moment by...

an excellent but dishonest person...

who calls by the name of Proshko.

I would like to make him a right, this man...

by placing you in charge of the accounts.

The job carries 50 roubles a month and free rent.

And it entails living on the premises.

Of course living there's against the law. But if the job's promising...

you wouldn't be the first to buy counterfeit papers and kiss the cross.

Poor joke.

Counterfeit papers I'll never get.

Without children who can a man look in his eyes?

How can you take pride?

How can a woman take pride when her husband won't sleep with her anymore?

Who sleeps with a barren woman?

Five and a half year of my life was for you and what can I got to show for it?

An empty bed!

Raisl, where are you going?

To find somebody who loves me.

Also...

There is a most serious problem.

The girl.

What about her?

She's got intentions.

Sacrifices we've all got to make.

Take the job.

Do you believe...

in romantic love, Yakov Ivanovitch?

In what?

- Will you have a herring? - Oh, no.

But please, have something for yourself.

Sometimes I...

I think it's possible to let love fly by like...

like a cloud in a windy sky...

if one is too timid.

As you can see...

from this house, I'm not likely to end up penniless.

Certainly not.

I know that we are from different classes,

which might make you afraid to say anything about...

a more lasting relationship.

Even if it were really in your heart to do so.

I warmed it for you.

Yes...

Yes, you have. Thank you.

So I thought it...

it only fair to make it easy for you.

Do you love me, Yakov Ivanovitch?

Just a little?

I'm sorry, Zinaida Nikolaevna. I don't love you.

But on the other hand it's no loss.

I'm half ignoramus. A

No, Yakov Ivanovitch! Please!

Please for a minute don't be so serious.

Wouldn't you like to kiss me?

I dare you to.

I know my leg is ugly.

But my face is sometimes pretty.

Often I can see that men notice me.

Even young men.

Would you care to visit my room?

Excuse me for putting it bluntly.

But if you are innocent, it would be better not to go any farther.

I say this out of respect for you.

And again, what about your father?

Isn't he likely to find out?

He never has.

You may get ready there. My bedroom is here.

With a Russian girl!

It's ridiculous.

If I said Jew out loud...

she'd screech like a hoot owl.

The answer is no. Absolutely no.

On the other hand,

it's been a long season without rain.

Take off your clothes in a house of a goy, the most anti-Semitic Russian...

Are you out of your mind?

Yes!

A man's not a man for nothing.

Besides, who wants to give offence?

What's there about it that worth such a risk?

At your age!

Will it be a new experience? You expect a surprise?

Certainly not!

To a man like me, it means nothing.

On the other hand, the biggest risk is already taken.

Why climb over the orchard fence if you don't pick fruit?

Also, there's a job to think of.

A little courage, if you don't mind.

Plough deep, you'll get plenty of corn.

My God! A stool pigeon!

Yakov...Yakov Ivanovitch...

Have you ever been in love?

Truly?

Truly in love?

No, I...

You are unclean!

No. I'm not, really.

Nothing personal.

But I didn't realise your condition.

Nor did I. If I could just...

Forgive me! Forgive me, Zinaida Nikolaevna!

No, don't go. Please, don't go! I meant nothing wrong!

Excuse me.

Some can but I can't.

No! Don't go! Please!

Begging your pardon, Proshko.

Which I do most sincerely.

This is the number you checked out.

Your figure is exactly 32 loads short.

We'll talk about that later.

It's my job as fohman...

to see that all papers are registered with the police.

Hand them over.

That's very kind of you, Proshko,

but Nikolai Maximovitch has already taken care of my papers.

Do you know something?

You don't speak Russian like a workman.

You speak it like a horse.

I bet a hundred roubles, you're some stool pigeon.

Well, you had come out only 68, still 32 short.

Hey there! Stop that!

I said stop that!

Don't you ever try that again!

Bricks cost money. You should watch them better.

An intelligent answer that's not.

Dologushev!

Dologushev!

You called me?

Twice!

You run like a ruptured pig.

A pig would recognise.

"All these questions..."

"fall within a man's natural right,"

"which he cannot abdicate even with his own consent."

"Even with his own consent,"

"he cannot give up those rights."

A great man.

Great thoughts.

Yet to copy down another man's thoughts does not make an educated man.

For that...

Who is it?

It's all right, grandfather. What happened?

From Minsk I've come...

to see my brother in the ghetto.

I lost my way.

Some young men stoned me.

And I crawled here.

Which was good for you and bad for me.

I'll smuggle you out in the morning after the drivers have left.

There is a streetcar...

three squares down...

goes straight to the ghetto.

You need some food.

Thank you, but I can't.

If you'll be so kind...

only a little water.

Passover.

I am Colonel I.P. Bodyansky, Chief of Secret Police for Kiev.

In the name of His Majesty Nicholas the Second, I arrest you!

I'm B. A. Bibikov, Investigating Magistrate.

Identify yourself.

Yakov Shepsovitch Bok, your honour.

A Jew, of course. Anybody can see it.

I was stupid to try to deceive! I admitted it instantly.

I admitted it all the way here. I admit it now.

My task's to find out why you are in prison...

and how long you will remain here.

So I need to know a good deal more about you than I do now.

Where is your family?

We might say I don't have one, your honour.

My parents died when I was a child.

Do you visit their graves on the Jewish Day of Atonement?

Not since I grew up.

Dead is dead.

- Do you have any children or wife? - No children.

For five and a half years my wife couldn't to get pregnant and finally I stopped trying.

And then, well...to put it frankly...

She was unfaithful, your honour.

She ran off with an unknown party.

If she hadn't run off, I would have stayed in the shtetl where I belong.

The village I mean.

This very moment I'd be sitting down to supper, such as it was...

although It could have been worse.

To tell you the truth it wasn't such a bad place to be, now that I think of it.

Have you ever heard the expression "historical necessity"?

Excuse me, I'm an uncultured man.

Perhaps.

But you speak very good Russian. Not at all like a Jew from the shtetl.

And you can't deny that!

Well, I tried to improve myself, your honour.

Although as you see it's done no good.

Only three books I brought with me to Kiev,

one was Spinoza, the Russian grammar and rules of pronunciation.

We also found among your possessions...

selected chapters from the works of Spinoza.

Did also maybe you found my tools?

If your honour will excuse me, those tools mean my living. Without them...

Why from all philosophers...

did you choose to read Spinoza?

Because he was a Jew?

No... Not at all.

I was restricted to take that book as a payment for a job ...

and I cursed myself for it.

When I've begun to read it I couldn't put it down.

What do you think his philosophy to be?

- That's difficult for a half-ignorant man to... - No, no.

I'm only asking that because I read Spinoza myself.

Well...

I think he's saying that life is life.

There's no sense kicking it into the grave.

I think he went farther than that, don't you?

I think he taught that all free men...

have to take a positive interest in securing freedom for their neighbours.

Doesn't it right?

It's correct if your honour says so.

My personal philosophy is entirely disconnected from politics. Completely.

What is your own personal philosophy?

That life could be better than it is.

But to make it better, one has to engage in politics.

Politics are for those who can afford.

In my thinking, it work and more jobs would do it.

Not to forget goodwill among them.

Which reminds me, your honour, that I would like to see a lawyer.

Would you care try one of these?

They're Turkish.

If you were asked on your own part what would your own words...

to describe yourself? What would you say?

Well...

I'm what I am.

No longer young, yet not old.

Quick-tempered, sometimes.

But generally mild.

In strange circumstances...

somewhat timid, if you want the truth.

Yet no coward.

Lacking in education...

yet not entirely ignorant.

In short, and to sum it up,

I'm a man who, although not much,

is still much more than nothing.

Now about the lawyer.

First, there will be an investigation.

And then the indictment is drawn up and handed to you.

And after the indictment you'll see a lawyer.

- Do you understand this? - Yeah.

And answer all those questions.

And sign your name.

I'll leave you the candle but I have to hurry.

My child...a boy has asthma...

and my wife worries.

And I'm worried too.

I'm sorry to hear that, your honour. I myself had asthma so long it's a pity...

I can't take your little boy's too.

Because, if you'll forgive me, I know how to live with it and a child never does.

Guard!

Whatever happens to you, you must have great fortitude.

The law will protect you.

Unless you're guilty.

Guilty of what?

Sexual assault on the person of Zinaida Nikolaevna.

It's not true, Zinaida Nikolaevna.

I didn't try to assault you! It's not true at all!

Silence! Sit down at once!

He's lying and he knows it.

He rushed at me, all lusting and lechering, with no clothes on at all!

Only by screaming did I save myself and make him run away!

How do you explain this attempt at rape?

I didn't attempt and it wasn't rape!

She invited me to her bedroom and I went.

Maybe I shouldn't have gone.

But considering a man's nature, what's so unusual?

She was lying in bed,

and she pulled the covers down...

for me to get in beside her and I did.

That's not true! He's lying!

And then?

You'll forgive me, your honour, but something's better not said.

Tell us exactly what happened when you got in bed and tell the truth.

The truth is...

The truth...

There's something always you don't know at the time and discover afterwards.

The truth is...

She asked me if I had ever been truly in love.

And at that moment something remarkable happened to me.

I realised that I had been in love.

And everything inside me went sick at what I'd once had and lost.

So I jumped out of that bed and got out of that house as fast as I could.

And that's the truth of it.

Lies and more lies!

I asked him nothing.

It wasn't because he thought of another woman.

It's something quite simple.

We won't bother you anymore.

Ivan Semyonovitch will take you down to your carriage.

Yakov Bok, considering all of the circumstances,

and these are not mean that I admire your conduct,

I shall recommend that the charge of sexual assault be dropped against you.

Thank God!

I shall, however, I have to ask the court...

I shall ask the court to charge you with...

charge you with taking up residence in an area prohibited to all Jews...

except those who are rendered...

conspicuous service to the Crown.

Which clearly you have not.

No, never. Not even once.

Therefore you will be charged and sentenced for a misdemeanour.

A man can't be lucky all his life.

I now ask you to state whether you are a member...

of the following political organisations:

Social Democrats, Socialist Revolutionists,

or any other groups including the Jewish Bund,

Zionists of whatever ilk or stripe, Seymists, or Volkspartei?

In the interest of saving time,

may I say the prisoner's negative answers...

are already in the record.

I beg to inform the Investigating Magistrate...

that I have no interest in saving time.

I take these Jewish revolutionaries much more seriously than you do.

Time is completely immaterial to me.

Now listen to my next question most carefully, Yakov Bok.

What do you Jews mean by the word "afikomen"?

I think it's a matzo that's used in the Passover ceremony.

Is it magic?

To my way of thinking it's superstition, your honour.

This was found in your room at the brickworks. How did it get there?

An old man brought it, a Hassid.

Complete stranger to me, I give you my earnest word.

He lost his way and I let him spend the night with me.

Knowing you as a Jew.

Since when can two Jews contaminate each other?

Answer with respect.

Is it nor true that you and this old Jew personally prepared and baked these matzos?

No.

Absolutely no!

Have you seen this before?

The old man had been hit on the head with a rock...

so I used part of my shirt.

I used it to wipe the blood away.

Come.

Tell me, Yakov Shepsovitch Bok,

alias Yakov Ivanovitch Dologushev,

alias God knows what else.

Did you ever chase any children out of the brickworks?

And in particular, a twelve-year-old lad...

by the name of Zhenia Golov?

Murdered shortly thereafter.

Whose photograph I now place in your hand.

Tell me, Yankel Jew...

Why are you trembling?

Every day he entailed smaller amounts on the books than he should...

so he keep four-five roubles for himself.

The Secret Police confiscated eighty-three roubles altogether.

If he was stealing four roubles a day, he'd had many more, wouldn't he?

Who knows what a Jew does with money?

Maybe it went for buying the candy...

he was always trying to catch those children with.

Sometimes they'd have to fight to get away from him.

So when the boy turned up dead in that cave...

I searched his room...

and found the matzos and the flour and that bloody rag.

That's the one!

Oh my God! That's him.

What do you mean by "him"?

The Jew Zhenia told me about. The one who chased him with a long knife!

Note the identification.

May we come into the house, Marfa Vladimirovna?

We want you to tell us what happened a few days before the Jewish Passover this year.

Speak slowly and don't slur your words.

Are you paying attention?

The closest, your honour.

On the morning you speak of, my darling went to school as usual.

And I worked late that night.

Zhenia wasn't here when I came home,

so I decided he'd gone to his grandmother's house which he often did.

That same night I came down with the most terrible case of grippe.

And you know how that is, your excellency.

Fevers, ragings,

sweat pouring out all the time, throwing out like a public fountain.

For three days and nights I wasn't able to leave my bed except for emergencies.

And then...

just at I was getting dressed to go to the police,

my darling, little Zhenya was found dead in a cave...

with 39 Jewish stabs in his body.

Since then, my life is over!

I've lost all my reason to live!

I'll go completely mad!

Why did you wait so long before deciding to tell the police?

In my condition?

With all is going on? With everything dribble-drabble's turning to water?

- When I wasn't able to... - Let's get on with the story.

What did Zhenia tell you about the Jew prior to the murder?

He told me that one day the Jew chased him with a long knife,

and he said, "The next time I'll kill you once and for all!"

My blessed Zhenia!

He was going to be a priest, did I tell you, Father?

He said he saw a bottle of blood on the Jew's table!

There was no bottle of blood on my table!

Jam is not blood! Blood is not jam!

Be quiet!

Tell him to put that gun away.

The man is chained and manacled.

I think we have what we came for.

I think not.

I want to exercise my prerogative and question the witness.

Why are you pestering when you know I'm not well? What have I ever done to you?

We have done nothing to each other. That's not the point.

Have you ever received stolen goods from a gang of thieves,

one of whom was your lover?

Is it also true that a year ago last January...

you threw carbolic acid into his eyes and blinded him for life?

The man whom she's since been reconciled?

He used to beat me up and I defended myself.

Once he smashed me in the eye so hard it ran pus for three weeks.

Besides...

as you say, I still see him.

He thinks the world of me.

It isn't also true...

that he beat your boy so severely...

that he lost consciousness?

He killed my baby!

He killed my baby!

Zhenya!

Next he undressed the lad and prayed over him,

and then he began to stab him in certain places.

Thirteen stabs in the region of the heart.

Thirteen in the throat.

Thirteen on the face.

Collecting his poor lifeblood into bottles...

while the child screamed for mercy...

and wept for a world he would never see again.

You're crying. What for?

For the child, your honour. Who else?

Then you're ready to confess?

I cannot confess to what I have not done.

You know, more and more the evidence seems to indicate...

that you are as much a victim of the Jewish nation as the child you killed.

In other words, it was their idea, not yours.

Very well. Confess...

and we'll take into consideration that you acted unwillingly...

and under compulsion. Surely a man of your intelligence can see the possibilities.

You were duped, Yakov Bok.

Who dupes a man into innocence?

No Jew could possibly kill that child.

It's written all the books: no blood.

The rule is all over the Bible and the Torah and in the laws and everywhere.

Even my own wife would throw out an egg if it got the smallest spot of blood.

Raisl, I would say, take care. We can't afford to live like kings.

She was a fine cook, come to think of it.

Wasn't a bad eater as well.

Enough! Enough!

We have proof not only that you killed the child,

but that you are also an agent of the secret international Jewish conspiracy...

called the Kahal, which is engaged in formenting a revolution against the Tsar.

I'm not a revolutionist!

Not once in my life was I even interested in politics! Who knows about such things?

- I am a fixer. - A confession now can save you.

Later on not even God himself can help.

Confessing to lies takes a talent I haven't got.

Lie! The talent that every Jew has got!

It's character is unchangeable, it's criminal nature is constant.

Oh, it's been scientifically proven.

Stand up!

Jewish noses. Every one of them are criminal type.

Here, this is yours.

Here is yours.

A witty man.

Tell me Jew! Did no one ever teach you the meaning of the word respect?

Yes!

Define it.

That's what you've got to have it to know what's you get.

I'm going to get you...

transferred to the preliminary confinement cell, Kiev Prison.

Prelimi...

Please, your honour...

I've been over five months in jail. Mr. Bibi...

Mr. Bibikov said...

You can cry to Mr. Bibikov from now till doomsday, it'll do you no good.

I'll keep you in prison till the flesh rots off your bones.

I'll keep you there till you're...

so sick of covering up for these Jewish revolutionaries...

that you'll beg to confess the whole filthy conspiracy.

A new one.

I like you.

Nice soft skin and all that hair!

Didn't they cut it off, did they? Oh, it's lovely.

You're not a stool pigeon, are you?

No, no. 'Course you not.

Kiss me, sweetheart.

Gently, brother.

We're still strangers.

I smell Jew.

Hey, you bastards, we got another Jew.

And this one's mine.

You're going to be my momma.

Do you know that, you stinking Yid?

I know who you are.

I'm a Jew too.

So?

The difference between us is that I'm guilty and you're not.

Because of that alone I have admiration for you.

That's more than I've got for myself.

Who needs it?

I'm getting out tomorrow. Is there anybody you want to write on the outside?

No, no one.

I don’t want to break any rules. I'm in enough trouble as it is.

My lawyer will be here to pick me up. Anything you want to write, I'll slip it to him.

Nobody searches a lawyer.

Besides, I haven't got anything to write with.

Use this.

It's a pleasure to be in the same jail with you.

You're martyr for all of us.

Not by my wish, I'm not.

"Dear L. Latke,"

“I don’t want to make trouble..."

"for a poor tailor with five children."

"and arthritis."

"But I got myself into serious trouble."

"And now I'm in Kiev, Prison..."

“on Dorogozhitsky street."

"I know it's impossible,"

"but try to help me as soon as you can."

"Your former tenant, Yakov Bok."

Why are you limping?

My shoes don't fit.

May you live forever a cripple in hell!

Don't expect a moral man. I'm a counterfeiter.

I have five small children and a nervous wife.

You see the kind of assistance you can expect from your compatriots.

Yes. He's a weak man.

To me a dead man also.

It's dangerous for me to be with the others with my head isn't shaved.

They don't trust me.

Are you trying to report an assault by one of your fellow prisoners?

Reports I don't make.

The rules are that my head should be shaved! Rules are rules!

And we make them.

I'm going to keep you in solitary until you confess.

You damned bloodsucker!

They found a fingerprint on the boy's belt buckle, we'll see if yours match it.

They took them at the other jail.

So we'll take them at this one.

Also the shoes...

I bleed, your honour.

So did the child.

If you want things easier, confess!

All right, search him!

Strip!

You searched me twice already today.

Now strip!

Open your mouth!

Bend over!

Spread!

Slops!

All right, open up.

A message from your friend Bibikov.

He thinks you should confess!

All the same, if you don't mind my saying so it's a funny thing.

you coming here in the middle of the night when the Warden's away.

All right, open up!

Prison personnel will wait across the corridor.

And the door will be closed.

My friend, I can see from your appearance what you've been through.

And I beg you not to think me remiss or without feeling if I don't comment on it.

Unfortunately I was concerning myself with other matters.

Our time is short and I want very much to help you.

Then, if you'll excuse me for being out of all, your honour.

My shoes is full of nails, that hurt my feet.

I'll see that you get another pair.

Would you care for a cigarette? One of my Turkish beauties?

I'd only waste it. My asthma has come back.

I'm sorry. How is your little boy?

My boy died.

What can a man say?

Nothing.

Death says it all.

Now, listen.

I've returned this evening from St. Petersburg...

where I asked Count Odoevsky, the Minister of Justice,

to drop all charges against you except illegal residence.

And did he? What did he say?

My dear Boris Alexandrovitch,

that is rather more difficult than you think.

How can we keep a man in prison for nine months as a ritual murderer,

and then indict him for the misdemeanour of illegal residence?

- In my view he shouldn't have been indicted at all. - I'm inclined to agree.

However, by now, the affair attracted so much attention...

that the prestige of the government is at stake.

I'll tell you confidentially that the Tsar himself is convinced of the man's guilt.

He receives weekly report on the case.

He's especially impressed by the expert religious testimony of Father Anastasy.

Father Anastasy is a defrock fanatic.

He has no religion and no church but his own.

I am aware of that.

Then you should tell the Tsar that his religious expert is a charlatan.

On the day you inform His Majesty that the monk Rasputin is a charlatan.

Which he is.

I would be delighted to say the same of Father Anastasy.

In this second decade of the twentieth century,

does your excellency seriously mean...

to indict a man for ritual murder?

Do you think I'm such an idiot as to believe all these stories about the Jews?

Of course not.

There is no Jewish problem in Russia nor in anywhere else for that matter.

There is only the problem of human nature.

As it is an expression of human nature to prosecute an innocent man?

Possibly.

It's human nature to be discontented.

It is also human nature to react to discontent with passion rather than wisdom.

- But your excellency... - Please!

To govern men you must govern their passions.

To unite them you must unify their passions.

Since hate is far stronger than love, it follows that men are best unified by hate.

And best moved to action by a desire to kill what they hate.

If our workers and peasants begin to hate the Tsar, as I fear they do...

ultimately they will kill him.

Far better that they hate and kill the Jew.

In fact it's the only patriotic alternative.

That is why a confession would be so convenient at this time.

Not only for us, but for the Jew as well.

Then there's no chance at all!

I'm lost!

But for one thing.

Listen to me.

I have no intention to serve an indictment on you.

The boy had been talking to his schoolmates

about all the illegal merchandise...

that constantly passes through his mother's house.

He was murdered...

by his mother's lover.

To keep him quiet.

And probably assisted by her.

But I have a witness.

A witness who saw the boy's body in a bath in that woman's house.

Some hours before it was discovered in the cave.

The ritual perforation was afterwards. Performed...

Performed on the dead body...

to incriminate the Jews.

So that's how it goes with a man's life.

And a boy's too.

Excuse me but...

Does the Prosecuting Attorney also know what you just told me?

Grubeshov has destroyed all the evidence in your favour that comes into his possession.

They are determined to convict you.

And I am determined they shan't.

All I ask from you is your confidence...

and your patience.

Confidence you'll get.

Patience I've always had.

Although...

I don’t mean to sound bitter,

but it's not in my nature to imitate a dog.

It's not your bitterness which offends me, my friend.

It's my fear that I may fail you.

Why should you fail me?

Who can tell?

I've stayed too long.

Good night.

Your honour...

I think...

All man fail.

That is in the thing they want to do the best.

So if you should fail me...

not wanted, do you understand?

And I at this moment...

full of the most terrible fears,

still, though. Who's to call it failure?

Yes, who?

Who, indeed.

It's not madness that turns the world upside down.

That's conscience.

Slops!

Get your shoes on!

- My feet... - I don't give a damn about your feet!

Get the shoes on!

It's a trick.

They want you to come out so they can shoot you.

But there's nobody there.

Nobody.

Is it possible?

Do you take a chance now or regret the day?

Up!

The old Jew who let you staying in his stables,

has turned informer.

The only way you can save yourself now...

is to confess the whole filthy conspiracy.

Soup!

I can't stand here all day.

We need some cuttings from your fingernails.

- Get up! - I can't!

Look at my feet!

Take him to the infirmary. We get the clippings while we're there.

Now move!

I can't walk.

Then crawl!

This will be good for you, Bok.

Now you know how the child felt.

Confess and we'll give you morphine.

Bok, you're a lucky man.

The Warden's got presents for you.

He says you'll be a better man if you practice your Jewish faith.

A Bible?

A Christian Bible, thank God.

"And the centurion, who was standing in front of him,"

"saw how he had died and he said:"

"Surely this man was the Son of God!"

That poor carpenter.

Sometimes also fixing things with his hands, I bet.

The last Jew of the house of David and the first Christian.

Did the Christian part of himself hate the Jewish part?

How could that be? All of it was Jewish.

And all of him was also Christian.

Besides, it was no hatred.

What are you jabbering about?

I understand something.

Who hates the Jew...

or any other man,

hates Jesus.

To be anti-Semitic ...

you first got to be anti-Christian.

It's in the book.

Well?

Nothing. He just reads.

No magic words or praying?

- No capitation with the shawl and the scull cap? - No, sir.

Dear Lord,

forgive this poor Hebrew for his sins...

and let him forgive us for sinning against him.

Do you forgive?

I forgive no one.

Dear brother, I beg you to listen!

God has told me in a vision...

that once you have accepted Christ your troubles are at an end.

But first you must confess your crimes and repent them.

I beg you, Yakov Shepsovitch.

Thou hast heard me, O Father.

Thou hast heard.

Blest be Thy Holy Name.

Open the door!

Guard! Guard! Open the door!

For God's sake, what happened?

I've received a sign from heaven.

Tomorrow, six hours after cockcrow,

The Jew will acknowledge the deity of Jesus Christ.

and confess.

Satan! Satan!

God protect me. I've looked at the evil one.

Hold him there!

Turn him over!

My God!

My God! What is it?

I am a man.

I am a man.

I am a man.

I am a man.

Raisl! Raisl! I love you, Raisl!

Where did you go? Why did you leave me?

I'm lost, Raisl! I'm lost in the bottom of the deep sea. I'm slubbering to death.

Please, raise me for air!

Also I'm going mad!

Help me, I'm sinking.

God is destroyed me and I have no wife and friends. Help me, somebody. Help me!

Before I drown in the world's tears and it's slime!

Mama, papa, save me.

Latke! Raisl! Anybody save me! Somebody must help!

The world has forgotten.

I'm walking to Jerusalem. I'm walking to the mountains of the moon.

I'm walking to hell.

I'm walking to Saint-Petersburg to see the Tsar.

His Imperial Majesty Nicholas the Second.

Emperor, tsar and autocrat of all Russia's.

Yakov Bok here, the fixer.

I must ask you to strip!

I beg your pardon?

I said strip!

Your shirt may keep.

But anything else comes off!

Why?

Because I'm in a search.

For what?

For mercy.

Enough! Who is this you shoving me out like this?

The King of Bulgaria!

Yakov!

I'll leave you alone now. Remember, you have two minutes, no more!

Get on with it.

Look at me!

My God!

What have I forgotten?

Nothing.

Yakov...

What have they done to you?

What did you do to me?

It wasn't enough to be poor as dirt and childless...

you had to be a whore as well!

One man doesn't make a whore.

One man doesn't make a wife either.

Were you such a fine husband to stop loving me...

just because I couldn't have a child with you?

Oh, Yakov...

I didn't come here to fight about the past! Forgive the past!

Why did you come?

When I went back to the shtetl, papa told me what happened.

I went to the Prosecuting Attorney and begged him to let me see you.

Finally he said he would let me in if I brought you a paper.

If you sign it, you can go free.

A black year on his paper to sign!

A black year on you for bringing it!

Stop yelling! Hurry up with the paper!

So that's why you came?

To betray me not just once but twice!

It was the only way I could get in!

But that's not really why I came.

I came to cry.

The last time I saw you were crying.

I've been over two years in prison, since then,

and the next time I see you're still crying.

What in God's name are you crying for?

I don't know.

Crying is crying.

Stop it.

I'm sorry I stopped sleeping with you.

I had to punish somebody and so I punished you.

Who else was so close?

What more can I say, Raisl?

Except that if I had my life to live again, you'd less to cry about.

So stop crying.

Yakov...

In addition to the confession paper,

I have something else to tell you that is also maybe not such good news.

I've given birth to a child.

It was about time.

Is it a boy or a girl?

A boy.

He's got a name?

Chaiml, after my grandfather.

It's a good name.

- Healthy? - Yes.

One could expect.

Except for asthma, I've, personally, never had a day of sickness in my life.

Yakov! You don't understand!

It's been two and a half years since I left you.

Stop it!

The boy's not a year old yet.

So if you weren't barren, what was the matter?

Why couldn’t we have a child?

Who knows?

Some women conceive late.

With conception you need luck.

Luck I was always short of.

And the kind of man you find your Paradise just to be alive.

What do you want from me?

Make things easier if you wouldn't mind saying you're the child's father.

Oh, still, if you can’t you can’t.

Father...

The father was a goy.

He was a Jew, a musician. He came, he went, I forgot him.

He fathered the child but he's not the father.

One who acts the father is the father.

Right now, my own father's the one taking care.

Time's up!

Get the paper signed and get out!

Give me the paper.

Every word of this confession is a lie.

I declare myself to be...

the father of Chaiml, the infant son...

of my wife, Raisl Bok.

Please help the mother and child, and for this,

amid all my troubles.

I'll be grateful.

Yakov Bok.

Now on your way.

Yakov!

The British protest contains 240 names,

including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop of York,

the Cardinal Bourne and the Archbishop-Primate of Ireland.

The American protest was signed by...

76 Protestant and Catholic churchman,

including two cardinals.

We shall keep you informed so you...

will understand how important Count Odoevski feels it is...

to secure an immediate and voluntary confession from the prisoner.

Signed: I.N. Grubeshov.

If he gives you any trouble, kill him.

Your honour!

These people are devoid of all morality.

I begin to fear they may also try to kill you.

Is that why you're here, Mr. Bibikov?

No, not really.

I've come to salute a hero.

A hero I'm not!

A hero decides to be hero, he's got choice.

I'm just a fool. Worse than a fool, an accident.

I didn't intend.

I also bring important news.

Tell no one what I say.

The jails have blown open...

and all the prisoners are going free.

The rivers of Africa flow up from the oceans into the mountaintops.

An opal has been found which weeps blood...

I'm sorry. I don't believe in superstitions.

Then why do you talk to one?

Of course. It isn't you at all.

Then it must be my ghost.

You've got visitors.

I present Count Odoevsky, His Imperial Majesty's Minister of Justice,

a very great man.

He's left the banquet in honour of the Tsar just to talk to you.

I'm tired

I must to sit down.

If you want to shoot me, call the guard, he's got a gun.

Please.

Have you got my indictment?

Something much better, my dear man.

The Tsar is celebrating the 300th anniversary of his dynasty...

with a general amnesty for several classes of criminals, including you.

You're free to go back to your village.

Shtetl.

The word is shtetl.

No, you misunderstand me. You're a free man. Your crime has been pardoned.

I committed no crime.

I need no pardon. I want a trial.

If you try to make me leave here without one,

you'll have to shoot me.

You have called me criminal.

Now you must prove.

Yakov Bok, I appeal to you in the name of the Tsar.

Will you do nothing to avoid the most terrible tragedy...

that ever befell the Jewish people?

What I do...

I will do at my trial!

Are you mad?

No...no.

No, your honour.

That's not madness.

It's...

He would know.

Who?

Mr. Bibikov.

It's not madness.

It's conscience.

Conscience.

It was a terrible thing to kill such a man.

Do you think it's wise to charge the jailer with murder...

while you're still in his power?

Wise I never was.

But something in myself has changed, your honour.

I fear less and I hate more.

Whom do you hate?

Tsar.

Government.

You.

All those who lack the...

insight, you might call it,

that creates in a man charity.

Respect for the most miserable.

I've been misinformed about you, Bok.

Your dossier is that of a completely unpolitical man.

There's no such thing as an unpolitical man.

“Where there is no fight for it, there's no freedom,” Spinoza said it best.

He was a Jew.

He said:

"You can't stand still and let yourself be destroyed."

He said:

"If the state acts in ways that are abhorrent to human nature,"

"then it's the lesser evil to destroy the state."

You have made yourself clear.

Good night.

You have misjudged this man for three whole years.

In so doing you compromised His Majesty's justice in front of whole Europe.

There's nothing to do now. We must draw up an indictment and bring him a trial.

However I must confess I've just had a terrible premonition.

Of what, your excellency?

If he comes to trial they will acquit him. I saw it in his face. I saw it in his eyes.

If he comes to trial?

- The Chief Warden... - Grizitskoy.

Over 65 last June. He will retire tomorrow.

The Deputy Warden, Pyatikov will succeed him.

Very good.

If we discretely arranged, perhaps.

However the world has eyes and all around this Jew.

And each eyes is a potential witness to whatever may befall him.

I don't want another Bibikov.

I have the honour to inform you that an indictment has been drawn up against you.

And you will receive it shortly.

It's been a long time.

I didn't know that you were a Hasid.

Oh, this?

They want me to look as Jewish as possible.

For the trial, I think.

Of course.

Allow me to introduce myself.

Julius Ostrovsky of the Kiev bar.

I want you to know that you stand for us all.

I would consider is an honour to be in your place.

It's without honour.

It's nothing but a dirty suffering.

And there isn't any honour in that.

What about my case?

First, we have proof that the child was murdered by Marfa Golov's lover.

Second, leading people all over the world are petitioning the Tsar.

Third, even in Russia a little justice can be found.

In short, you have a chance. Not a good chance, but a chance.

As you use to say that, things look better than they did.

It's strange.

The better is on the outside, the worse is it in here.

Why do you say that?

They insult me.

More and more in every possible way they insult me.

Yesterday it was a can of sewage they emptied on my head.

Listen to me carefully, Yakov Shepsovitch.

The only way they can avoid the trial now is by your death.

It follows that you must not give them the slightest justification.

Obey every command.

Watch out for accidents.

And never allow yourself to be provoked.

Am I clear?

Who should know better than I?

They already killed Mr. Bibikov in my own cell block.

Did you know that?

We know, but we can't prove it.

Don't mention it to anyone.

Your position is dangerous enough as it is.

I've already mentioned it.

My God!

To Grubeshov and Count Odoevsky.

What possessed you?

Anger.

Anger you cannot afford.

I beg you, Yakov Shepsovitch, take care!

I can't die yet.

Not yet.

I want to live.

I will not die.

I have to live!

I will not die.

Not yet.

I will not die.

Well...

You've got what you're wanted.

I hope they hang you for it.

Your trial begins today.

Here's your breakfast.

Look!

It's a feast.

You Jews get the best of everything.

Eat it!

I don't want any.

I'm too nervous.

If I ate now I'd vomit.

I gave you an order.

When I say eat, by God you eat!

Start with the soup.

Come along!

No hurry, Captain, just take your time.

One thing I want understood, my dear Captain.

Very clearly understood!

The Jew is your prisoner now.

Whatever happens to him from this time forward...

it's your responsibility, not mine.

Yours! Is that clear?

Take him out!

Take this animal back to his cell and search him thoroughly.

He's already been searched.

Search him again.

I'm in different hands now.

Not quite.

I received a telegram from Count Odoevsky in St. Petersburg.

His Majesty, the Tsar is determined to avoid...

the slightest possibility of a dangerous incident.

To that end he's ordered...

an immediate thorough search of the prisoners person.

Twice they've searched me already!

The guards saw me naked at the bathhouse.

Quiet!

Take him away.

Back to your cell.

And shave his head.

And find him a Jewish hat!

Open your mouth.

Now bend over and spread.

And take off that stinky undershirt.

I've never had to take it off before!

Take it off before I tear it off.

What do you think I am?

A magician?

Books, you think I'm carrying inside me?

Regiment in the mouth?

Witnesses in my ears?

Hold a minute, your honour.

Law is law. The regulations don't call for shooting.

Get out of my way!

We have to obey regulations.

That's my prisoner! I've given my personal receipt!

Open up!

On your feet, Jew!

Back!

Stand back!

Get him down from there!

Put on!

Move him up fast!

Do you think I'd try to run away?

After all the trouble is taken me to get here?

The name is Yakov Bok.

A Jew.

An innocent man,

also your brother.