The Grand Prince is coming.
The brother has arrived.
Hold him, hold him!
Brothers, what are you doing? We are all fellow Russians.
I'll show you if we are fellow Russians, you Vladimir swine!
Catch him! Catch him!
Run around! Don't you hear me?
Where the devil are we? There's no one here.
They've all fled.
How your bitch has grown; doesn't remember me, eh?
Vaska, take the dog.
Oh please, let me go!
Don't be afraid, beautiful.
I'll show you how Tatars can love.
Well, Prince?
Aren't you sorry about the cathedral?
Tell me, Prince, who is that woman?
It's no woman, it's the Virgin Mary: the Nativity.
Who is in the box?
Christ, her son.
How can she be a virgin if she has a son?
Strange things happen in Russia!
Very interesting.
Tie his legs tighter!
Tell the truth, you dog!
Hold on, hold on! I haven't seen your gold.
By God, by God, I haven't seen it!
It hurts!
I don't know where the gold is; it probably was stolen.
Your Tatars must have taken it. You're all thieves.
Ask around your own men.
He hasn't told the truth.
Come here, I'll tell you something.
See how the devils torture an innocent Russian believer.
Look, you Judas, you dirty Tatar!
You lie, I'm Russian.
I recognize you. You resemble your brother.
You've sold Russia! I recognized you!
Mark my words!
" No Tatar shall ever set foot on Russian soil."
This is my vow to the Lord.
Give me a cross. Let a believer kiss the cross.
You'll get your cross.
If I have sinned, may God forgive me. God is merciful.
Lord, will you pardon me?
But all of you will boil in pitch.
You will leave and we will rebuild again...
...but your guts will go to the fires of hell.
What are you doing this for?
Theophanes? But you are dead.
I wanted to see you so much.
Even if you had not wanted, I would have come anyway.
I dreamed you were suspended in a window with your head down.
You look in, and wag your finger at me...
...and I'm lying across a saddle...
...and two Tatars twist my head.
And you look at me, and tap on the window.
And I cry out to you.
What do you cry?
What's happening to us?
We are being murdered and raped.
Together with Tatars, they are pillaging churches.
And you said to me...
Only now I'm worse off than you.
You're dead, but I...
Dead? What of it?
I didn't mean that.
I've spent half my life in blindness.
I worked for people day and night.
But they aren't people, are they?
What you said was true.
So what if I said it then?
You are wrong now, I was wrong then.
But haven't we the same faith...
...the same land...
...the same blood?
One Tatar even smiled.
Like this!
And shouted:
" Even without us you'll cut each other's throats!"
What a disgrace.
They killed everyone.
Even my Seryoga.
I found him on such a special day.
She is the only one that survived.
It's time for me to go.
Wait.
Don't go. Don't you like being with me; are you bored?
All right, I won't...
Let's sit and talk. I'll tell you...
But I already know everything.
Then you know I'll never paint again.
Why so?
Because it's of no use to anyone. That's all.
So what? Your iconostasis was burned.
Do you know how many of mine they burned? In Pskov, Novgorod...
You are committing a grave sin.
I haven't told you the worst.
I killed a man.
A fellow Russian.
When I saw him carrying her off.
Look at her.
Just look at her!
I don't remember how it happened.
I caught up with him...
...and I couldn't help it.
Through our sins, evil has assumed human form.
Encroaching evil means encroaching humanity.
God will forgive you; don't forgive yourself.
Live, between divine forgiveness and your own torment.
As for your sins, what do your scriptures say?
" Learn to do good: seek justice...
" ...rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord...
" ...though your sins be as scarlet...
" ...they shall be as white as snow."
See, I haven't forgotten; that may comfort you.
I know, God is merciful and will pardon me.
I shall offer the Lord a vow of silence.
I have nothing more to say to people.
Is this a good idea?
I have no right to advise you.
Didn't you go to heaven?
Lord!
I can only say it is not as you imagine it on earth.
Russia, Russia!
Our mother country suffers all; she will endure all.
But how long will this go on?
I don't know. Forever, most likely.
Yet how beautiful all this is.
It's snowing.
Nothing is more terrible than snow falling in a temple.
THE CHARITY Winter 1412
The apples are all rotten.
In all my years, I've never seen such a famine.
We are slowly dying out. Lord have pity on us.
Mefody is bringing someone again.
Mefody, you should not be the gate-keeper...
...because you will let the whole neighborhood in here to eat.
- Sit down, man of God. - Thank you.
To eat!
You can't feed all the hungry people.
There is no one in the neighborhood.
The villages are deserted.
Everyone has left Khotkovo.
The people of Semyonovka have fled.
They've fled, they've fled!
It's true. I passed Semyonovka this morning.
In Vladimir it is even worse.
No harvest for three years; everyone has fled.
Those who stayed are eating mice.
Why are you whispering?
I'm not whispering. I have a cold. I spent a night in a lake.
Why was that?
Wolves chased me; I fled to the lake, praying they wouldn't follow.
I was standing like that till dawn.
When I got out, I was completely numb.
I've been sick for two weeks and I'm shivering all over.
- So you're from Vladimir. - I used to live there.
Someone else from Vladimir is here.
Andrei Rublev. Have you heard of him?
He has sinned, and now he is atoning.
He has brought a holy fool with him from Vladimir.
A mute girl.
Now they are silent together.
Though she is a holy fool, she knows where to get better food.
He has brought her...
...so that he may always remember his sin.
Can you call it holiness?
And Rublev's guild?
It fell apart.
Some were killed by Tatars...
...others were driven away.
Is Danil alive?
Some say he went north, others say he died.
So he's given up his craft?
Aren't you Kirill?
Kirill, is it you?
Father! Master! Kirill has come back!
Father! Let your prodigal son Kirill back in!
You didn't ask me if you could leave...
...and now you want to come back?
You didn't like it in the secular world?
No, I won't take you in.
My God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Now you want back into the den of thieves...
...to the money-changers and dove-sellers.
You think because I am old, I have forgotten about it.
Begone! Go back to where you came from!
There is no place for you here!
Don't drive me away, for God's sake!
There is no truth in the world. The devil tempted me.
I can't continue sinning...
...and without sin you cannot live in the secular world.
There is sin and dirt all around.
Accept my penitence and I will kiss your feet.
You were always eloquent, but you won't move me, Kirill.
If you knew how I've suffered, what I've endured...
...if you knew what evil I've seen, you would forgive me...
...but I will never forgive myself.
You're not guilty before me, but before God.
Remain here; but to expiate your sin...
...you must copy out the Scriptures fifteen times.
Take the late Nikodim's cell.
Thank you! Thank you, God!
How wonderful! Thank you, Father, thank you!
Hey, it's bad to eat dirty meat.
Brothers, what's going on?
I'll go to tell Father Nikodim.
A good Russian. She eats horsemeat.
Do you want to come with me? You'll be my wife.
I have seven wives, but no Russian wife.
You will eat horsemeat every day, drink horse milk, wear coins in hair.
Russian wife for Tatar husband is never dirty.
Girl! Come with us!
Come! Give me your hand!
Do you hear me, Andrei?
Don't you recognize me?
Don't grieve, they'll let her go.
They won't dare harm a holy fool. It's a sin.
THE BELL Spring-Summer-Autumn- Winter-Spring 1423-1424
Is this the home of Nikolka, the bell-maker?
It is.
- Is he your father? - Yes.
Then call him.
- He's not here. - Where is he?
He's dead.
The plague took them all: mother, sister, father.
And where does Gavrila the bell-maker live?
Gavrila? He's dead, too.
So is Kasian, and the Tatars led lvashka away last year.
Only Fyodor is left. Go to him; the fifth hut.
But you should hurry; Fyodor's in bed with the plague.
He can't open his eyes. He will pass away at any moment.
I can't stand it any more. Where else can we look? Let's go home.
Get up. You aren't going home.
Is there no one left to cast the bell?
Take me with you.
Let me cast the bell for you.
Are you mad, boy?
Take me to the Prince.
Honestly, I can make everything very well for you.
You won't find anyone better than me; they're all dead.
Go to hell!
Okay! But I know the secret of bell-making, and I won't tell.
What are you saying?
I know the secret. My father knew the secret of bell-making.
Before he died, he passed it to me. No one else knows, except me.
My father died and passed me the secret.
Shall we take him?
What secret?
Do you want the Prince to flay us?
He's lying about the secret.
The worse for him!
- What is your name? - Boriska.
Come here!
Mount!
What about the hut?
Did you persuade him?
Shall we dig here?
We can do it here.
But it would be more convenient to do it closer to the bell-tower...
...so that we won't have to drag this heavy thing far.
Can't we dig here? Let's do it here.
Mark it out.
Let's dig together, shall we?
We're bell-casters, not diggers.
Why should we be digging?
You know what my father said...
...before he died?
" Bell-casters must dig the casting-pit."
" I only understood that in my old age," he said, and died.
I don't know what Nikolka said, but I'm not going to dig.
Call us when you need us.
Okay, I'll dig for you.
Well?
Did you find it?
There is no need to look for it. Here it is.
No, it's not the right clay.
- We always took it here. - Then you are fools.
The clay is very good.
- Andreika, isn't the clay bad? - Yes, it's bad.
You see? Come on.
We'll search until we find good clay.
Stepan, perhaps we shouldn't have done this.
Come on. Look what clay we have found.
How hard we've worked, and now we've found a new spot.
It's not the right kind.
It's the end of August, and we have not found the clay yet.
Think about yourself. I'm sorry for you.
I've managed all these years without your pity.
Let's go back, Boriska.
I can't. I know that's not the right clay.
Then what is right?
I know what it is.
I don't need people like you.
I can manage without you.
I don't need such people!
Andreika!
Semyon!
I have found it!
Uncle Fyodor! I've found it!
The clay! Uncle Seymon!
Stepan!
We've found the good clay, Stepan!
Here is the clay!
I have found the clay, Stepan!
Andreika! Andreika!
Where are you all?
Boriska! Boriska!
- What? - Shall I dig in?
I'm coming.
What are you saying?
I'm coming!
Where's Nikolai?
He left this morning to fetch wood.
- It should be here already. - He'll be back by evening.
The evening? I need to reinforce it now.
To the devil with your Nikolai, he's an idiot.
Why are you standing there? Work!
- The merchants don't agree. - What do you mean?
They have tripled the price.
They say it's still cheap.
Buy it. What else can we do?
Buy it at this price?
Buy, I say!
The Prince will flay you. We'll ruin him.
I no longer care. Buy it.
You're in the way, Father. It's dangerous.
Don't dig in without me.
- Boriska! - Just one moment.
The cast won't hold; it needs another layer.
Another layer? You should have applied the clay already.
You haven't put up the frame yet!
It needs reinforcing, but there are no more twigs.
We're not going to reinforce it. We start firing tonight.
Is he kidding?
If we don't reinforce the cast, it won't hold.
It will crack and our work will be wasted.
If it snows and we can't fire, won't our work be wasted, too?
They'll flog me, not you.
The cast won't hold like this.
Apply the clay.
Do you hear me?
I won't do it.
You won't? Then get out! Andreika, apply the clay.
He won't do it, either.
Are you going to apply the clay?
The metal will burst the mold.
It needs reinforcement.
Will you obey me? Who is in charge here?
It needs reinforcement.
Flog him! He refuses to work.
He won't obey my orders.
I'll show you who's in charge!
Your father treated us better.
You remember him? Then flog him in my father's name.
All right, apply the clay.
Start the work without me.
But we're waiting for you.
Start without me.
Rest, sleep a little.
Why are you staring at me?
Lost your tongue? Are you deaf?
Are you sorry for him?
Go and console him; that's what a monk is for.
O Lord. O Queen of Heaven...
I can't understand how the Grand Prince trusted him with all this.
Boriska! Wake up!
I've started the firing.
Why did you start without me?
I told you to wake me.
Only I know when to start.
Fyodor, the Prince's men have come, and they want to see you.
What heat!
That's enough.
Not enough silver; tell the Prince not to be so miserly.
Our Grand Prince is never miserly.
I don't care. I need another eighteen pounds of silver.
What's eighteen pounds of silver, more or less?
Who knows the secret of bell-casting, I or you?
Tell the Prince not to be miserly. We need another sixteen pounds.
Are you mad?
I'll get all the silver I want from the Prince.
Imagine, if after this it doesn't ring!
Watch out.
I recognize him!
Beat him! Beat him!
Are you mad? To attack someone like that.
You've mistaken him for another.
I'm not mistaken. I recognize you, Judas.
How handsome he used to be then. Now he has lost his looks.
Thanks to him, I spent ten years in prison...
...and they cut off half my tongue.
I'll kill him!
He's innocent, brother. He's betrayed no one.
I swear it by the Holy Cross. Lord, why this punishment?
Strike me, but don't touch him.
Get up.
You're heavy.
The Prince's jester died.
They wanted me to go, but I'd rather be a carpenter.
I recognize him.
He denounced me.
Give me something to drink.
There are worse things than that.
Andreika, stand aside.
Why stand there? Work!
Add some more, add some more! Come on!
Boriska, where is he?
Boriska, the second furnace is ready.
Go, go! We're all ready.
Open!
Everything is ready. Shall we begin?
Come on!
It's coming, Boriska! It's coming! It's coming.
God, help me.
What a day tomorrow will be!
We should get some sleep.
Boriska! Let's go, shall we?
Just a moment.
This is what happened, Andrei.
I've thought it over and I've decided to tell you.
You know how much I envied. Envy just gnawed at me.
It was inside me like a poison.
I couldn't stand it any longer, that's why I left. I left because of you.
When I heard you had given up painting, the envy went.
My heart grew lighter. Then I forgot.
I only want to copy the Scriptures before I die.
The Father Superior is strict...
...and his punishment is not easy in my old age.
I'm afraid I won't have enough time to finish my task.
Why am I repenting? Why should I repent to you?
You yourself are a greater sinner than I.
Yes, yes, greater than I.
What am I? A humble worm; nothing is demanded of me.
But you, what are you?
For what sacred deed did God give you your talent?
For what did you deserve it?
Lord, I don't want to say this.
I know Nikon has sent a third messenger to you...
...to persuade you to come back to paint the Trinity.
And you sent them all back. You wouldn't even talk to them.
I'll tell you the truth. I won't lie.
Then, in my dirty soul, there, in the very depth of it...
...there was a tiny flicker of joy.
And now...
...my life is ending; my soul calls out for rest.
Nikon doesn't care a bit for your life.
He wants you here, to glorify and strengthen his power with your talent.
Never mind Nikon, but listen to me.
Go to the Trinity Cathedral and paint, paint, paint!
Don't burden your soul, for it is an awful sin to deny the divine spark.
If Theophanes were alive, wouldn't he say the same thing?
Look at me, look at the ungifted one. Why do you think I returned?
For a crust of bread, to finish my life in peace.
I shall die soon and nothing will remain after me.
And I know that I will die soon.
Nor have you much longer to live.
Do you want to take your talent to the grave?
Why are you silent, Andrei? Give me at least one word.
It was I who denounced that jester then.
Curse me, but don't stay silent, Andrei.
Curse me.
Well, how is it?
Come on, then.
Everyone, get away!
What's going on up there?
Everything is okay.
Come on, come on! Everyone go up!
Is everyone ready?
Well? Come on.
Go on. Give the signal.
Come on!
The Grand Prince is coming with a foreign ambassador.
Is everything ready?
If not, watch out!
Motherfucker!
We bless and consecrate this bell with holy water.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Look what kind of people are overseeing here.
Where are you going?
Isn't it rather peculiar?
They're all peculiar here.
Come on, come on, dumbbell!
Shall I help you, or will you touch it yourself?
What do you think will come out of all this travesty?
What do you think?
In my opinion, nothing good will come out of this.
Excuse me, Your Excellency, but I think you are being deceived by appearances.
Look at all of this!
What do you think of this dumb bell, this awkward scaffold?
I would sum it up and say this bell will not ring.
In fact, it can't ring.
Does Your Excellency wish to make a wager?
I think you underestimate the situation these people are in.
Besides, they were the ones that built it.
That may be true, but I wouldn't venture to call that thing a bell.
Excellency, they fully understand...
...that the Prince will behead them if it doesn't ring.
Judging from the face of that youth...
...one could say that he is aware of the circumstances.
Don't you think so?
Excellency...
...have you heard that the Grand Prince beheaded his brother?
It seems they were twins.
Look at that marvelous girl! My God!
My friend, that girl is not more than thirteen years old.
That doesn't make her less attractive.
Sometimes these girls are women at the age of thirteen.
What's the matter with you, Your Excellency?
Come on, come on.
My father, that old snake, didn't pass on the secret.
He died without telling me, he took it to the grave. Skinflint scoundrel!
You see, it's turned out very well.
Come on, come on.
Let's go together, you and I.
You'll cast bells. I'll paint icons.
We'll go to the Trinity Monastery together.
What a feast day for the people.
You've brought them such joy, and you're crying.
Come on, come on.
THE END