(cheering)
(Adolf Hitler) Before us lies Germany,
in us marches Germany, and behind us comes Germany!
- (man) Fire! - (gunfire)
(screaming)
(shouts in German)
(soldiers shout in German)
(dog barks)
(gunshot)
(woman screams)
- (woman screams) - (child cries)
- (man) Please! He's my son! - (both scream)
(shrieks)
Mama! Mama!
Mama! Mama! Mama!
(gunfire / man shouts)
(dog barks)
- What do we do? - Shut up.
We've got to get home. Go!
(boy) Oh, my God!
Oh, my!
(sobs) Papa!
- (boy pants) - Aron.
Come. It's safe.
Let's go.
(boy sobs)
(sobs heavily)
(man) Stop it.
- (sobs) - Asael! Stop it!
(Asael continues to sob)
- (sobs) - Stop! Stop!
You want to cry? Stop! Stop!
(sobs)
Let's go. Aron. Let's go.
Tuvia! It's Tuvia.
If I was a German, you would be dead.
- Papa and Mama... They killed them! - I know.
(sobs)
Aron.
Big brother returns.
You saw them?
(Tuvia) Where is your wife and child?
Horodyszcze. Hiding in a cellar. I'll bring them when it is safe.
- And Rifka? - Novogrudok.
- She wouldn't leave. - You are still...
- She's still my wife. - A rich wife.
Tell me, Tuvia, why have you come back?
- Do you have a plan? - No.
Do you?
(thunder)
- The police will be after us. - We've run from them our whole life.
- You think this is a good time to stop? - We know these woods.
They'll never find us in here.
Aron!
I told him to stay here.
(twig snaps)
(pants)
I miss Papa.
I can't believe he's dead.
- Bernicki. - We don't know he did it.
- The police captain? - He always had it in for Papa.
- But we don't know that he did it. - So we will go and ask him.
Koscik has a pistol. He showed me once.
One pistol is nothing. We need rifles, machine guns.
- You'll take on the whole German army? - Just because...
- The child is hurt. - Please, lay her down here.
(sobs)
Tuvia.
We cannot feed them.
- I'll go ask Koscik for food. - And the pistol.
And the pistol.
(speaks in Russian)
I only have four bullets.
Thank you.
Your father was a good man.
- He said the same of you. - (knife thuds)
Ignore the bitch. To the dead.
God rest their souls.
I live with this. Can you imagine?
(engine approaches)
The barn.
- (man gasps) - Oh, God!
Be quiet!
(chuckles)
(coughs)
(both laugh)
Ah!
- I'm sorry, they have to go with you. - What am I supposed to do with them?
Those policemen... were they the ones who killed my parents?
You people. Why is it so fucking hard being friends with a Jew?
Try being one.
- (woman) Who is he? - Come on.
Thank you. Come. Come.
You sat at the back, in school. I am Shimon H'aretz.
- I thought you were dead. - I am at least half dead. (pants)
I heard you speaking of your parents. I am very sorry.
The other brothers. What was his name, the wild one?
- Zus. He's with the other two. - You are hiding here in the forest?
(coughs)
There has been trouble before, maybe? With the police?
So you go to the forest. A wise choice.
A wise choice... for a stupid schoolboy.
My whole life, I presumed to teach others the right way to live.
I had no doubt. "This is God's way, this isn't".
You'll forgive me if recent events have somewhat shaken my resolve.
Just like school. I have no idea what you're talking about.
Please, let's go.
Here. You're not hungry?
Your little one does not talk.
He saw things.
I send you for food and you bring more mouths to feed.
- You send me? - Oh, please.
It was Bernicki who killed Papa.
Did you at least get the pistol?
Only four bullets.
Then, we'll have to make them count.
(thunder)
(door bangs)
For my parents, David and Beila Bielski.
For my brothers, and for all the others.
(wails)
- (gunshot) - (screams)
(pants)
Shit!
- Only one left. - His sons.
How was it?
- How was what? - To kill them.
- It was good, no? - Shut up.
(chuckles)
- And what about these others? - I don't know.
Women will slow us down. Your old teacher...
What? You afraid he's gonna spank you...
for forgetting your homework?
We have to be able to move, Tuvia, and quickly.
I agree. But they're here.
We'll sleep further up the trail.
If someone comes, they'll find them first, and...
the gunshots should give us time to escape.
Alright... but no more.
No more.
(woman coughs)
I know. I know!
Tamara, you remember Cousin Zus. Please, go and sit by the fire.
- Lazar. He's Isabel's youngest. - Hello.
- And this is Isaac Malbin. - Hello.
- He's from Minsk. - Tuvia.
- Asael! Find them something to eat. - I have pity for them all, but...
- They're family! - And how will we feed this family?
We'll water the soup.
And this one... she is family?
- No. - Oh.
(groans) Whoa!
What the fuck?! Have you never used a hammer before?
- Er... no. - What is it you do?
I suppose you'd have to say I was, am, an intellectual.
- This is a job? - (laughs)
I published a small magazine.
- Ah. - Actually, a journal.
- Hm. - More like a pamphlet.
(Lazar) Tuvia?
This is Lila. Lila is my forest wife.
I see.
Congratulations.
Interesting concept.
As long as his village wife stays in hiding.
(man shouts in Russian)
(shouts in Russian)
- Hello, boys. What can we do for you? - Food. We want food.
These little shits are holding us up. Do you have the balls to shoot me?
We have food. We'll share.
No. I want to see if the little shit has the balls to shoot me.
You like to shoot Jews, little shit? Huh?
- You are Jews? - No, we're the Gestapo.
- Put down the gun. - Before I shove it up your ass.
- Hey! Look at me! Where you from? - Horodyszcze.
We haven't eaten in two days. My name is Paretz.
This is Jacov.
Two days ago there were 3,000 Jews in Horodyszcze. And now... there are 50.
Me and him, we hid in a wall.
Do you know a woman... Sonia Bielski?
We knew her.
There was a child.
(retches)
(sobs)
(yells)
(sobs)
My child... I should have protected them!
- No. - I... Sonia!
Mama!
Papa!
- So many dead! - I know.
Why not us?
I don't know.
Better to be hiding in the woods...
...like rabbits...
...hunted. No.
We're looking for partisans. What is the name of your otriad?
- What is an otriad? - It's an armed brigade.
We heard the Russians are beginning to organise.
- Here? - And also in Lipicanska.
Then we are the Bielski Otriad. You want to join?
- The Russians are fighters. - But you need a gun to join them.
They sabotage railroads and kill Germans.
You want to kill Germans? Come with me.
Unless you're still afraid to use that rifle.
Stay there. Stay there!
We must get what we need without killing.
- This will not bring your family back. - Blood for blood.
- You had yours. - And I can still see their faces.
- "Vengeance is mine". Who said that? - This is God's work you're doing now?
No, only you can do that. Take a few lives, spare others.
- We must not become like them. - No, but we can kill like them.
Are you coming with us or not?
(gunshot)
It's coming! It's coming!
(engine roars)
(screams)
Truck!
Hurry, hurry! Go!
Here!
(speaks German)
(soldier whistles)
Hey!
(screams)
(shouting)
(woman shouts in German)
- (gunfire) - (shouting)
(woman) Nein! Nein!
- (screams) - (Jacov) Hey, I got one!
A~ha!
- Vodka! - Hey, now we are real partisans!
- (cork pops) - To the Bielski Otriad!
Cigarettes!
(engine roars)
Asael!
(screams)
- Asael! - (barrage of gunfire)
(gunfire continues)
Get his rifle!
- (soldiers shout) - (gunfire continues)
Shit! He's going the wrong way!
(screams)
- Come on! - We can't just leave him!
We have no choice! Go!
- Asael! - No! No!
(metallic scraping)
They thought you were bringing food. Farmers stop you?
- Hm? They had guns? Dogs? - No.
I don't understand. (coughs)
The Talmud says, if you save a life, you must take responsibility for it.
Again, I have no idea what you're talking about.
Oh, yes. I think you do. And now your little brother is gone.
- How did you get past Lazar? - Who?
Fucking shit... You worthless piece of shit!
- (screams) - Enough!
He walked by you! Someone could have been killed!
I said enough! Get up! Get up!
He should be shot. If we were real partisans, he'd be shot,
you stupid little piece of!
He made a mistake!
Mistake?
- We cannot make mistakes, Tuvia. - Like last night, Zus.
First they will torture Asael...
...and then they will hang him.
You are Tuvia Bielski?
- You know me? - We heard of you in Vilna.
- My sister lives in Vilna! - My family is there!
- The SD came without warning. - Oh, God!
(sobs) Oh, God! Oh, God!
- We'll be better off in the ghetto! - At least here we are safe.
- There, we had had hope. - Here we have hope!
- Do we? - We have no food!
- Tomorrow will be another mission. - Like last time?
- We won't make that mistake again. - How do you know?
- (all shout) - We may be here a long time.
- We have to prepare. - How?
Better security, better at getting food...
We don't have weapons. People are getting sick.
- (all shout) - (sobs)
(all continue to shout)
Whatever it takes, we all have to participate!
- We can't work against each other! - (all fall silent)
We cannot afford revenge. Not now!
We cannot afford to lose friends like Jacov and Peretz.
Or Asael.
We cannot lose anyone.
We will map out where we have been...
...so as not to visit the same farms too often,
and we will take only from those who can afford to give,
and we will leave those who can't alone.
Our revenge...
...is to live. - The poorest farmer has more than us.
Quiet. What I am saying is, we are not thieves or murderers.
We may be hunted like animals, but we will not become animals.
We have all chosen this...
...to live here free, like human beings, for as long as we can.
Every day of freedom is like an act of faith.
And if we should die, trying to live...
...then at least we die like human beings.
Thank God. Come here! Come here!
Come, Asael!
- (laughs) - Zus... Zus, I can't breathe.
I can't breathe. Look. Look. Look what we found.
Where did you get these?
Hello.
- It is alright. Please come. - Please.
- (Asael) It is alright. - (Zus) Come on.
Give me that.
- Asael, you've been busy! - Shut up.
Hello. I am Zus.
This is Bella and this is Chaya.
- Please, come. You must be hungry. - Thank you.
And then, we fell into this horrible bog,
and Chaya saved me. I can't swim at all.
- Well, we'll have to teach you. - We must have got lost a dozen times.
I was resigned to die. Tell him, Chaya. Was it not the absolute worst?
- And that farmer, a Mr er... - Koscik.
Yes. He kept making the most vulgar jokes.
So you're trying to tell me that all politics is meaningless?
In the West, the monster with the little moustache.
In the East, the monster with the big moustache. That is politics.
Your Messiah will have a moustache, too, and a full beard.
No. The messiahs are all in politics, and they are killing us.
- No... - What's killing me is all your talking.
(quietly) And Roosevelt? He has no moustache.
We need to know about the villages,
where the Germans are, who the informers are.
- Are you listening to me? - Yes. Yes.
- What's her name? - Chaya.
Chaya!
What are you doing?
- Talk to her. - I hardly know her.
You spent three days in a cellar with her.
Malbin says the Piznarski granary is full.
- But we still need two guns at least. - Whose turn is it to go?
- Zus. - You go with him.
Make sure he understands my orders.
Go! Go and talk to her! Go!
Hello. How are you?
- Fine. - Good.
Ssh...
Leave half. He cannot go to the Germans empty-handed. Tuvia's orders.
Halt! Who goes there?
You know who goes there, Lazar. We go there.
You only say "Who goes there?" When you don't know who goes there.
Sorry, Zus.
Milk! And eggs! Chaya, our brave men have brought us a feast.
- You can make me blintzes. - (laughs)
Hey... Hey! I don't think we've been properly introduced.
- Hello. - Arkady Lubczanski.
- You are Chaya. - Yes.
You're getting along alright? Anything you need? An extra blanket?
Er, no, thank you. I am fine.
- Oh. Something nice... and soft? - No, it is alright.
You don't have a husband yet.
- Yet? - A forest husband.
All the other women have chosen already. They haven't told you?
No, they haven't. Thank you for explaining it.
Descartes provided for the subjective nature of experience.
Yes. You annoy me, therefore I exist.
(violin tunes up in background)
Ben Zion?
The new ones have just arrived. They are from Novogrudok.
Your wife... They say she was killed last week.
I'm sorry.
Thank you for telling me.
(plays mournful melody)
Can I join you?
Of course.
- Oh, I... I never... - You never what?
(clears throat)
Do you get lonely out here?
I like the woods.
I get a little bit scared sometimes.
Tell me something. Why is there a rule against women having guns?
- There aren't enough for the men. - Women need guns, too.
What for?
For... protection.
Women have men for protection.
I want protection.
(men shout in German)
- Men with guns! Men with guns! Up! - (all shout in panic)
Take weapons and ammunition only!
- Lova, Ben Zion, with us. Asael! - Yes!
Keep them moving! Don't stop! Keep them moving!
Go, go. Move! Come on! Quickly, quickly!
Zus! No!
Quick, quick.
Come!
- (all shout) - Don't stop till you reach the fields!
- Move, move! - Keep them moving. Zus! Asael!
Ben Zion, there!
Give up Bielski, and the rest of you can go free!
You're from Belorussia! Why do you work against your own people?
For the same reason you steal from the poor!
To survive!
- Shit! - Next one's to the head!
It will be dark soon. How will you find your way home then?
They'll be back. We will have to build a new camp.
- Next time you can draw them a map. - And what does that mean?
It means we should have killed the fucking milkman.
Your policy of diplomacy is shit.
Winter is coming, and now we have no shelter. Why?
Because you don't have the stomach to do what must be done.
Go! Move.
Where is he taking us? My feet are going to fall off.
I need volunteers for a scouting party.
- (whistles casually) - (man shouts)
Ah!
(whistles)
- (men shout) - (horses whinny)
- So now we are partisans. - We'll see.
(whistles casually)
- Here. - Thank you.
If my friends at the New Socialist Club could see me now!
I haven't read a book in months.
I don't read much.
- You can ask Shimon. - I did.
- Yet you accept me as commander? - Who else?
(laughs)
- Might I make an observation? - Please! Observe away.
We need to be strong, yes. But...
But?
- Other things are important, too. - Such as?
Community.
You have ideas about, er... about community?
A few.
Oh! More mouths to feed.
And more young bodies to keep us warm.
(kiss)
- Which one is Tuvia Bielski? - Tuvia!
I'm Tuvia.
Hello.
None of us knew if you really existed.
Excuse me. My name is Yitzhak Shulman.
- Welcome, Yitzhak. - I am from Baranowicze.
The ghetto is being liquidated.
The Germans said everyone will be executed if anyone is missing.
So the council stops us from leaving. But, er...
...every day, more people are killed.
My parents!
- We will do what we can. - Thank you.
No!
- Thank you. - Welcome.
- Please, will you help my parents? - I, er...
I've seen you looking at me.
If you were to rescue them, I will do anything for you.
- No! - Anything. Please!
And what does it mean, "do what we can"?
We will send for everyone who is left alive.
- And if there are hundreds, Tuvia? - Then we will provide.
And when the Germans follow these hundreds?
- I won't let that happen. - You won't?
- No. I will bring them out myself. - From the ghetto?
- Yes! - So, now you are Moses, huh?
- Go back to work. You're wasting time. - I'm not the one who's wasting time.
I cannot have you questioning me in front of the others.
- We're family. We stick together. - Why?
So we can die alongside these... malbushim?
- Don't call them that. They're Jews. - Pretentious Jews.
Jews who stuck up their noses at us.
Jews who would lock their daughters away from our dirty hands.
You are nothing to them, Tuvia.
They only follow you because they're too weak to fight for themselves.
And what about Bella?
She'd be with you if this wasn't happening?
- Don't. - Is it love, Zus?
Tuvia...
(grunts)
Tuvia!
Lova, Ben Zion...
And anyone else who'd rather fight than wait to be killed...
...we're leaving to join those who fight.
Are you coming?
No.
(announcement over loudspeaker in German)
(chatter)
(elder) We are not so naive to think they won't kill some of us,
but all the Jews? It makes no sense.
They need us to work in the factories, in the labour camps.
They're death camps.
We, too, have heard of such places.
But have you seen them yourself?
Can you tell me with absolute certainty that we won't just as likely die
out there with you in the woods, with winter coming on?
Do you think we haven't all considered running away?
For every one who leaves, they kill 20.
How can I sacrifice thousands for the sake of a few?
What if we take you all?
The old? The sick? How will we live?
We will protect you. We have alliances with Russian partisans.
They're as bad as the Germans! You're too young to know the pogroms.
Our only weapon is time.
If I can buy more, we will have won.
You want time?
Fine. I'll give you time.
A day, a month, maybe even a year. To live.
Your daughter, Chaya. She is with us.
Your husband is waiting for you.
Rabbi... Rabbi, please.
We're waiting for God.
(woman 1) I am going.
(woman 2) I am going.
(man) I am going.
I am going.
(woman 3) Me, too.
Wait.
Come on. Come.
Move forward! Come along, please! Come forward!
Please have your valuables out and ready. Keep moving.
Come! We're not going to bite you.
Mama! Papa!
- Ah! What about you, Tateh? - I am a watchmaker.
Can you repair guns?
- The trigger. - Maybe.
Come forward. Have your things out and ready. Please...
- They were my grandmother's. - And now they belong to the Otriad.
Everyone sacrifices for the sake of the collective!
We can trade this for food or weapons. Next!
How about carpenters?
- Any bootmakers? Seamstresses? - I am an accountant.
- Well, that should come in handy! - Alright!
(chuckles) You have a new profession.
- Mazel tov. - (laughs)
- Next! - I am a shoemaker.
- Good. You are welcome. - Yes, please?
- I am a nurse. - Ah! Good. You are most welcome.
Friends! This is the happiest day of my life,
to see you here, safely amongst us.
But there are a few things you must learn about living here.
When you are rested and settled, you will be assigned work duties.
Everyone will work. There are no exceptions.
We will help supply our Russian partisan comrades.
We will mend clothes. We will repair weapons.
Women will learn to shoot, and they will fight alongside men.
Pregnancies are forbidden.
We cannot accommodate an infant's needs here.
Today... we will start rebuilding the lives you have all lost.
This is the one place in all of Belorussia where a Jew can be free.
We welcome you into our community.
- He is a Jew? - Yes.
Reload!
(chatter)
This is not a gun! To you, it is Bar Kochba's spear.
It is Samson's jawbone. It is Ehud's sword.
It is the slingshot young David used to bring down the monster Goliath.
And we will become warriors...
...like the Maccabees and the Sicarii,
brave men and women fighting for their freedom.
As they were.
Fire!
Good.
Boom!
(laughs)
(whistles casually)
Now, this here... this is a knight.
It can move one, two, forward, and one to the side.
Yesterday potato with beets, today beets with potatoes...
Tomorrow, special treat. Potato soup.
Stop complaining, you wenches, and keep mashing.
- We love potatoes, don't we, boys? - Yes, sir!
We like latkes, blintzes...
Thank you! Sit down. Put some hairs on your chest.
If you want to be a soldier, you drink!
What are you doing? What are you doing?
- (coughs) - He's having a little drink.
So... a little bird told me
that a certain someone is waiting for another certain someone
to ask a certain question.
- Hello, Chaya. - Hello, Asael.
- Let me take it. - No, no.
- Are you sure? - I am fine. Thank you.
May I help you?
Chaya, I was wondering if... maybe...
you... I mean,
you and I... if... we...
- I accept. - You do?
I do.
(Shimon) Blessed art Thou, our God, king of the universe,
who created man in His own image...
...and out of Himself fashioned for us a lasting place.
Blessed art Thou, our God, king of the universe,
who created all things for His glory.
Oh, gladden these loving mates
as Thou did anciently gladden Thy creatures in Eden.
Blessed art Thou, O God,
who gladdens the bridegroom and the bride.
- Amen. - (all) Amen.
(recites in Hebrew)
With this ring you are consecrated to me
according to the law of Moses and Israel.
(all) Mazel tov!
(cheering)
(plays wedding dance)