This is the valley of Ling...
... as it was in the early summer of 1937.
The people who lived here were farmers.
They'd heard there was a world beyond the hills that bounded their little valley...
... but as yet, no one had climbed those hills to see for himself.
Perhaps it is because they were more fortunate than most.
The land was rich, and their bellies were full.
On this farm, lived Ling Tan and his family.
And they were among the most fortunate.
They were neither too wealthy, nor too poor.
And they were greatly respected in the nearby village.
They owned a strong house...
... and tilled the soil that belonged to their ancestors.
They were both good and bad, both wise and foolish...
... and sometimes all these things at the same moment.
And therefore, they were very much like such families in any other land.
It was time for the rice seedlings to be planted...
... and Ling Tan was eager for but one thing:
To finish as much of the work as could be done...
... before the sun was gone from the sky.
But Ling's first and second sons were eager for many other things as well.
For they were young.
Hey!
- Is that your mother? - Yes, my father.
Come, old man. I want to speak to you.
Time enough to speak with women when the sun is gone.
I know you hear me, you old turnip.
You two do not stop for anything until the field is done.
Ease your heart about that, Father.
What is it, old woman? What is it?
You grow deaf? Must I bawl like an ox to make you hear?
There is work and you call me from the fields.
Come. Come.
You work too hard and too long. You have sons to labor for you.
What nonsense is this? I'm not yet so feeble.
You're no longer young and you must not strain.
I do not strain myself. I'm as much a man as I ever was.
Come now. Wash your legs.
The very weight of the mud can tire a man of your great age.
Well, perhaps a younger wife with a softer will might be added to a man's household.
Bring her on, old man.
I shall have someone to help me with my work.
And you shall be in your grave before your time.
I think I would survive. I may try it to see.
What of those teeth marks behind your right ear, old turnip?
A hill tiger bit me. It was a long time ago.
I was the hill tiger.
You made the mistake of treating me like a tame house cat.
It could happen again.
Not so long as the scars remain to remind me.
Is it not good with me here?
Yes, it is, but a man with his juices still in him should not so indulge himself.
- I should go back to the fields. - The field will be finished without you.
Here. If you must be useful, help me prepare these ducks for market.
Ducks. That is woman's work.
If heaven sends a woman too much work, heaven will also send help to do it.
How is it, old woman, that heaven's will and yours are always the same?
The grass is good in the hills and the ox grows fat.
Which is the ox and which is our brother?
Is our brother dreaming?
No, that vacant look is his usual expression.
You are very dirty. Have you been playing in the mud?
We have. It was very pleasant. Why do you not join us tomorrow?
Oh, you ask too much.
Where you find hard work, you will not find our brother.
There is work for all. For those with strong backs and for those with strong minds.
If the mind is strong, the back need not bend.
Nor need the feet get muddy.
He has no mind, only a temper.
Brother, your mind is absent these days. Why is this?
I think, and my thoughts trouble me.
What is a brother for if not to share your troubles?
Well, then, here is one of the things:
Women are not the same as we are.
Married four months and you just found this out?
But here is another thing: Women do not think as men do.
Women should not think. They're not equal to it.
My wife Jade is equal to it.
You worry too much about that one of yours.
When she has a son, a son will be more important.
A son. I have not yet a wife... As I would have her.
She is like a western wind. When I reach for her, she's gone.
Even western wind can be caught and tamed.
I do not want her tame. Only, I do not understand her.
She is mine and yet she is not mine.
When I touch her, it is as if her spirit goes and only her body is left.
She is beautiful and sweet-smelling. Is that not enough?
It is your fault. I've watched you.
When the men sit and smoke, you're the first to leave.
Can I help it if the desire for sleep overcomes me?
Do you not know that with a woman, eagerness passes for weakness?
- Sit with the old men until the last as I do. - That is easy for you.
I've not found Jade in the same place twice.
And never waiting for me.
- Do you think that is the answer? - Yes.
Then I will not go to her until dawn. And perhaps not even then.
Jade, Orchid. The men of the house are at home.
Now, where are the women my sons married?
Jade, Orchid. Oh, there you are.
- Your husband comes. Attend him. - I go, Mother.
Take this clean towel I have made ready.
Mother, I must tell you about my youngest child.
My grandchild? What about her?
She was lying there and all at once, she opened her mouth and I thought...
I thought she was going to speak.
You are surely one of those who has given birth...
...and remains in a daze at what you've done.
- Your husband waits. - Yes.
Jade.
- Take care. - You take care.
I wish you would take that squealing thing from him.
You should get him a wife. It's time he brought grandsons into this house.
- In time. In time. - If you told him to marry...
...you're not sure he would obey.
- So you spare yourself dealing with him. - There is no need to deal with him.
- Shall I tell you a secret thing in your heart? - No.
Our third son is the son you love best, but most uneasily.
He's different from the others. You fear that.
That's why you go on the far side of an argument.
Our sons wait for their towels.
Jade. Jade, where is my towel? Jade?
Thank you, Jade.
I've not seen her since the sun was in the middle of the sky.
The matchmaker cheated us.
- What? My wife is not in the house? - I could not find her.
This comes of women having their feet free. Nowadays they run around like goats.
- May I help you, Mother? - Have you ever done so?
Or has your worthless one?
All that is done in this house, I do.
- At least my wife stays at home. - Jade has a reason to go to the village.
When a woman knows a man wants her, she will ever display herself.
That is true. Have you not seen our fourth cousin look at Jade?
He resembles a sick cat:
I would beat her until she was not so good to look upon.
If more of that were done, there will be less trouble with wives.
Only men should make sure first they are able.
These new-fashioned women are not easily beaten.
I will dress and go find her. Then we will see who is able.
Eat first, my son, and your arm will be stronger for all this beating.
Who tries to see within our house without himself being seen?
Are you eating, wife of my third cousin?
Our rice is poor and scanty. And we have no pork at all.
- But will you share it with us? - Thank you. But I cannot.
Are you alone, then? Is my fourth cousin not here?
My son is not home yet.
But your third cousin, my honored husband, is here.
How are you, sir? What new thing have you found in your book?
Nothing his family can chew, swallow and grow fat on, I can tell you.
My fourth cousin is in the city perhaps?
I do not know. My son has been gone since the noon meal.
Well, I must get on. I have business in the village.
He lies.
He has no business in the village at this hour.
He looks for his wife, Jade.
And if he finds her with our son, as he well may...
Jade is married to Lao Er. The thing my son felt for her has ended.
It will never be ended until one of them is dead.
You old book fool, it is your fault. It is your fault we starve.
It is your fault we did not get Jade for our son.
- Can I control a woman's choice? - A woman's choice?
Did not your cousin Ling Tan give you 30 silver dollars?
Did you not tell our son he could not have the girl?
Quiet, woman. I read.
Out of all this, something terrible will happen.
We are students who have come from the university...
...to travel through the country and tell you and others like you...
...news of the war in the North.
The Japanese march toward us.
These are two pictures of what the Japanese are doing.
They are doing it now.
While you sit here and watch, these very things are happening.
Shen, have you seen my fourth cousin?
These are your people they are murdering and mine.
This is our country they are looting.
The enemy is ruthless. He regards us only as slaves.
We cannot deal with him. We must resist him.
- I'm sorry. - Seeking someone perhaps?
- Not the one who would sit near you. - If she were my wife...
It is with pleasure that I leave you.
When the Japanese reach your village...
...they will come with lies in their mouths and death in their hands.
And you must resist them, even to your own deaths.
And beyond.
Are you able to do this?
Tell me you are. All of you rise and tell me you are able.
We are able.
See? There is one who speaks.
Are there not others? Tell me. Come.
Yes. Come.
You come. I'm hungry.
The woman should have food ready when her man is hungry.
My wife is at home where she should be.
Am I speaking into the wind?
Have you not understood what you have seen and heard?
I know you have. Tell me you will resist the enemy when he comes.
- How then can we resist? - Can we fight machines with our hands?
Why do you shame me by showing yourself off to everybody?
I come home, my belly roaring like a hungry lion.
Why did you not eat and silence it?
How can I when you're not in your place? I'm ashamed before my parents.
- I wish you'd not go in the street alone. - Why?
- Other men will see you. - I do not look.
I do not want them to look at you. You're my wife.
But I cannot stay always in the courtyard. These are not ancient times.
I wish it were those times. I'd like to lock you up.
If you lock me up, I wouldn't eat and then die.
I would not let you.
But these are the new times, and I will come and go as I please.
- I should beat you. - I have done nothing.
But you are not where a woman should be at...
At home, waiting for her husband.
And there is this thing.
Before we were wed, when the choice was put to you...
...why did you not choose me above my fourth cousin?
If you could choose now, which would it be?
You both have two arms and legs, and all your fingers and toes.
Neither of you are scabby-headed, nor cross-eyed.
- What, then, is the difference between you? - You used me very ill.
You look so pale and so thin. You are so to be pitied, you big turnip.
I wish I were a man of learning.
I wish I knew the words to ease myself so I could tell you what I feel.
What do you feel?
I know, but...
I do not have the words.
I too am not very learned.
Is that why you do not often speak to me?
Two must speak for understanding.
If I tell you everything that is in me, will you tell me all that is in you?
- Yes. - Then tonight we will speak together?
Yes.
Fetch me my food. I will eat here in the courtyard.
- Yes, my husband. - And since you did not cook the meal...
...you may clean up after it. - Yes, my husband.
He must have beaten her.
I do not take too much credit to myself...
...that I'm the only man in these parts who can read and write.
But how would I find time for my books if you did not send me rice...
...and a new coat now and then, and sometimes even meat?
You are a scholar and my honored cousin.
It is only proper that your needs and comforts be supplied.
My land yields enough for all.
Orchid, it is time my grandson was in his bed.
- Yes, my mother. - But, cousin, have you ever thought of this:
When your time comes to go into the earth yourself...
...shall you divide your land between your sons?
Yes, I have thought of that.
You have made a good beginning. Do not spoil it.
Will there still be enough for all?
Or will they quarrel because their bellies are not full?
As my eldest son, you must answer our cousin.
Can this land feed three men and their wives and children after I am gone?
It can. For I will eat less meat, if my brothers will, and leave in peace with them.
If I have taught my sons that peace is good, I am content.
If you had been with me today, you would not speak so easily of peace, my father.
If it were proper for a man to speak to his daughter-in-law...
...l'd ask her why should not peaceful men speak of peace.
Forgive my wife, Father, for speaking so boldly, but today at the teahouse...
...students came and showed the magic pictures and talked.
They told of the war in the North and how the dwarfs...
...from the East Ocean islands burn cities and kill our people.
I wonder if my daughter remembers...
...when other students brought the pictures of flies.
I remember. Flies as large as water buffalo.
Yes, and they told us they were more dangerous than tigers.
And everyone knows that our flies...
...are as small as a grain of rice and as harmless.
And so does it not follow that today also perhaps...
...both words and pictures were made too large to be either truth or life?
Does that not quiet the woman's fear of my daughter?
Of course it does. And it is time she was in her bed.
But we who are men know that there is killing and suffering in the North.
And do you not believe it will come here, Father?
I believe something else.
If a man lives his life in decency and as he should...
...and then evil comes to him, it cannot harm him.
And he can conquer and overcome it. This, I live by.
And so I think do all the kinsmen in our village.
- We are men of peace. - True, true, true.
Also, the North is a long way from here. And so is my bed, and I must get to it.
She still is not cured. Wait 500 heartbeats. Then go to her.
I will have my shadow to walk home with.
Yes, the moon is round tonight and the color of a ripe peach.
I have read that the Earth, too, is round.
You have told me that but one thing troubles me.
How is it then if the world is round that men on the bottom side can walk?
Everything is opposite there.
Children are born with white hair and blue eyes.
Scholars begin to the write from the wrong side of the page...
...and youth is admired instead of age.
So why can we not believe they walk with their heads hanging down?
And enjoy it too.
Old woman, have you ever thought that somewhere very far below...
...the spot where we stand, our land goes on and on...
...until at last a stranger stands on it?
And plants seed and takes his harvest from it as though it were his own?
But it is not. It is ours. And our sons' after us.
Yes, the land is ours as deep as it goes beneath our feet.
And the stars above our heads belong to us, and whatever there is beyond them.
But I'm troubled about that stranger on our land.
Somewhere he reaps his grain without telling you.
- You should ask him for rent. - That I would do.
I would have the law on him if I knew how to tell him so.
Do not be troubled, my son. It is often good to beat a woman.
Oh, yes. Yes, my mother.
Old man, there is something here and now that troubles me.
It is Jade.
Orchid is stupid but she does what I tell her to do.
While Jade... I do not think I like her.
Do you know why? Because she is the same as you are yourself.
No man can tell what will come out of her. And here is another thing:
Our second son will never tire of her as I have never tired of you.
This is the first time I found you waiting for me.
Who will speak first, then?
You. Ask me what you will.
Well, then...
What are you thinking all day?
I think 20 and 30 things at a time.
My thoughts are like a chain, and one is fast to the other.
- But what are they? - I think of the bird and how it flies.
And why is it I cannot lift myself above the earth.
But now, what are you thinking now?
Now?
I think nothing.
Well, then...
...what did you think of me the first time you saw me?
- I cannot remember. - No, I mean... I mean...
...after we were married.
I was glad you were taller than I. For a woman, I am too tall.
No, you are not. Then what did you think?
And then I wondered what you thought of me.
But you knew that I wanted you.
- And then I wondered... - Yes?
I wondered if you would give me the thing I would have.
Tell me. I will buy it for you.
Buy?
Perhaps all the things I want cannot be bought.
All women like presents. Tell me what it is.
I want...
Earrings.
Yes, that is it. A pair of earrings.
I will buy them for you tomorrow.
- Now have I made you happy? - Yes.
No. You have not made me happy. I do not want earrings.
But there is something that can be bought that I would have.
- Buy me a book. - A book?
- But you cannot read. - I can read.
- Women like you never read. - I learned.
A word or two at a time. My brother could read and I learned from him.
A little every day.
But I have no book of my own.
I never thought to see a woman read in this house.
There must be changes even in a household if there is to be life and growth.
I do not know that. My mother and my father have done well.
- But they are of the old. We are of the new. - Oh, I am not sure if I am of the new.
I will buy you the book.
- You are angry? - There is no room in my mind for anger.
It is...
It is just that I do not understand.
- Ten thousand greetings, Mr. Chow. - Thank you.
- You are well, young sir? - Yes.
- I would see my brother-in-law, Wu Lien. - He is within. He takes his morning rest.
Are all asleep in this house?
I greet you, my brother-in-law. And your honored mother.
Welcome, welcome. Sit down.
Here's your second brother, mother of my children.
- Sit down, sit down. - Thanks.
Well, then, you're a farmer and one who looks it.
The dirt is still beneath your fingernails.
My brother, how are the old ones and all of the others?
- Well, thank you. - Tell me...
...is my sister-in-law, Jade, with child yet?
Can it be you take no interest?
It would seem you take interest enough for both.
- My interest will never make him a father. - No.
But you are hungry. I can tell.
In each generation, a city man should do as I have done.
Take for a wife a woman from the country.
Thus the line... Thus the line is kept strong and hard.
And here is the proof of your wisdom.
Brother-in-law?
Will you dip into your wisdom and tell me a thing?
- Yeah? - I know you're a man who reads.
Yes. Yes, I read.
Often in the winter to warm my blood. Sometimes in the summer to cool it.
If you were to buy a book, what book would it be?
Well, there are books for every need.
If a man wishes to read secretly for his own private pleasure...
...there are books for that.
No? Well then, for what is your book wanted?
I married my woman thinking her like any other one and...
Now I find out she can read and wants a book.
So.
You're only a woman, mother of my children...
...but if you could read, what would you like to read?
- I never thought... - I have thought of the one.
It has everything in it. The good prosper and the wicked are punished.
The name of the book is All Men Are Brothers.
- Thank you. I will remember what you... - Sir.
Sir. Sir, there is something.
- As before? - Worse than before. Much louder, sir.
They said they have warned you many times and their patience is at an end.
These students cause trouble.
An honest merchant cannot live in peace these times.
Well, what is this?
We ask you once more, do not deal with the Japanese.
We're at war. You cannot buy and sell Japanese goods and call yourself a patriot.
Do you ask me to stop breathing in and out?
There's a call for these, and a profit in them.
Save your breath for arguments you can win.
Then we must speak to you in words you can hear.
- Leave nothing. - Stop. You are vandals. Stop.
Destroy all Japanese goods.
We must make him understand what he has done.
Bandits. Thieves. You'll pay for this. Thieves.
This is the only way to make him see.
What's happens here will happen to every shop that sells Japanese goods.
No. No.
Wu Lien walks hand in hand with those who deal in your blood.
I'm only a merchant. Why do you destroy my goods?
He pays for Japanese goods in money that'll come back to us in pain and death.
No, no, I deal only in innocent things that harm no one.
This man, Wu Lien, loves his cash box above his country.
That is not true. That's not true.
Turn away from this traitor as you would turn from the Japanese.
Come.
How can you say that?
Can it be that the thing I have done all my life...
...is now held against me as a crime?
Did you see...?
Did you see those merchants turn away from me as from a bad odor?
- They are of my own kind. - Be of stout heart, my brother. It will pass.
No, no, I do not think it will and I'm not a stupid man.
I must turn this thing over in my mind. Decide what to do in the days I see ahead.
I must think and weigh what comes out.
And think again.
And then this strange young man jumped down, ran away and was gone.
- Was he a bandit, then? - No, it was said he was a student.
First you encounter this trouble and then you buy a book.
This book that Jade now has, what is it?
- Books have names. - So has this one.
- It is called All Men Are Brothers. - All Men Are Brothers?
What of the stranger who lives on the other side of the earth...
...and reaps his grain on my land? Is he my brother? I think not.
Today I pulled a turnip. They grow small this year.
Can it be this strange brother is pulling at the roots to plague us?
It's good to have him to blame.
A book. And Jade can read in it.
You see? An idea spreads. A book.
I have said and say again it is wrong to give a woman such a dangerous thing.
It is unnatural and mine will never have one.
What if a child comes? What will your woman do if she has not finished the book?
Will she read on and let the child be born anyhow?
She will manage.
The day has been full.
There's work tomorrow.
Yes, my son. Your eyes are heavy with weariness.
Your wife waits for you, brother, with a book in her hands.
Even a book can be closed and put away.
It is but a book, and yet it keeps your eyes from me.
Come sit beside me.
I will tell you what I have read.
How shall I know if you read truly?
You will know I could not make up such things.
In this place, it tells what happens when men know only greed.
It tells how peace is then lost, and what men may do to each other.
It is magic.
Your eyes pick up those bird tracks and your eyes give them to your voice...
...and your voice gives them to my ears.
And here, it tells how then there is killing...
...and fighting and even torture.
Oh, it is wrong to torture.
- That is what it says. - It is magic.
You do not listen.
I try.
You must try harder.
Money was spent for this book. We must not waste it.
We must waste nothing that is given to us.
Neither money, nor the hours we have together.
I cannot read when you keep watching me.
Since I cannot look at the book and know what it means...
...I must look at you...
...so the money will not be wasted, and nothing else.
Then I will teach you to read.
There is word here...
...of how men must rise up and resist the things that make them weak.
That is advice I cannot take.
Can you?
Well, you will not listen.
And now you place the book where my hand cannot reach it.
- Shall I put it back within your grasp? - Yes.
No.
I will rest my eyes now.
I will teach you to read another time.
I will remind you when I'm ready for reading.
Let the gods forgive me for saying this but I am wicked.
I love you more than I love my father and my mother.
I am more wicked than you. I want to hear you tell me this.
If there were food enough only for them or for you...
...I would give it to you and let them starve.
You turn to me of your own will, and it is the first time this has been so.
Yes, for this night, you have told me the thing my heart needed to hear.
Now I know that you'll care what I think and feel, and what I am.
Not only that I give you children and make your food.
I know that I'm not only to belong to your house...
...but I am to be yours.
And I am content.
You're late. Did you once more have trouble...
...escaping my mother's eyes?
From this day on, I will come to you openly.
She will say nothing.
I cannot believe my mother will change that much.
No. But I have changed.
Do you not see it?
Your eyes are as soft.
Your hair as pleasant to my touch.
No, I cannot see this change...
...and I do not wish a change.
It is within me.
But it is so great I thought it must show on my face.
What is the cause of this great difference? And when did it begin?
On the night we first opened our hearts to each other, my husband.
Even if it is only a girl, I shall be very happy.
We shall be ancestors?
- Oh, it will be a son. - I shall ask the gods for one.
But if it is only a girl, she still will be welcome?
If you're her mother, she will be welcome.
And she will be taught to read...
...even if her father is always too busy with lesser things.
Where would this upstart daughter be...
...if I did not busy myself with those lesser things?
Oh, this is a good moment.
The best in my life so far.
- Something falls. - It shines like silver.
Look at the earth. It's a black fountain.
A hole big enough to bury 50 men.
And smokes still comes from it.
If one of us had stood near here, he would no longer live.
I've wanted to dig a pond on my land for 10 years, and here it is.
It would be better if the barbarians did use the sky ships...
...to dig ponds and wells.
- Maybe it is an idea. - Look. Look, rolling smoke.
It was the same in the magic pictures.
There are many fires over the city wall and small ones outside.
- Flying ships come out of the smoke. - What shall we do?
Someone of us should go to the city.
My... My wife thinks of our elder sister and what happens to her.
We should all think of that. I'll go.
I would not be hasty, cousin. If it is good news, it will not spoil.
The more slowly one hears bad news, the better.
My woman wouldn't let me rest if I didn't go, nor could I rest.
- Let me go in your place. - All right, go quickly.
Do what you can. The rest of us should go back to our work.
Can it be our son at last? I'm afraid to believe it is.
We're all but dead. We're all but dead.
We might have been killed had we been 10 feet nearer to street.
There was such noise. There was such noise.
The shop half gone.
We have nothing but our bare lives in our hands.
We're lost. All is lost. All.
All day the flying ships came.
And everywhere the silver eggs dropped, they burst the buildings into dust.
And the shops and all the goods within are waste.
- But what of the people? - The people...
Into pieces, as if they were made of clay.
- Here an arm, there a head, there a piece... - But why? Why?
How can men do this to other men? The sky is over us all.
Our own servants and the clerks are dead.
And one such an honest young man. Where shall we find one like him again?
What is the use, even of an honest man, if there's no shop to put him in?
Our shops, our goods, gone, all gone.
I'm a man who can prosper only in peace.
Can it be those students who cried out spoke the truth?
The truth? Now, what is the truth?
Each men sees it differently.
The truth I see is that the East Ocean people will come...
...and enter the city, and the city will fall.
- Yes, and so will the nation. - Can that be?
The nation is only the people, and we are the people.
- And while we remain, so does the nation. - We're not strong enough.
Why are we not strong enough? Why do we not have things to kill with too?
They have no use to people like us who love only to live.
Then we will die.
Death is each men's natural end, and that I know. But not this kind.
This is beyond the mind of man unless he sees it for himself.
That I must do.
Hurry. It is my husband.
He's here beneath this rubbish.
It is his hand! I would know it anywhere.
Oh, my God!
It is too much to bear, and I do not blame you.
We must see what can be done here. Come.
Our village has become an island in a river of fleeing people.
But they cannot run fast enough to forget the horror behind them.
My grandfather will speak to you now.
I know that you are looking to me to save you from this great trouble.
I've been trying to find a way but I cannot.
I cannot save myself.
I know that what today was will be again tomorrow.
You, my three sons, are men. And you, Wu Lien, are older than they.
- If you have anything to say, then say it. - I...
I have not yet thought of any way to save any of us.
There are two things which can be done.
One is to escape the evil by running away.
And the other is to let it come down and bear it.
In this, my father, I ask, what will you do yourself?
Stay here where I was born and where I have lived.
Then I say I will do what you do.
I, too, will stay.
But I, my father, will escape it.
I will say nothing to any who do go.
Let those who will stay with me, and those who would go, let them go.
You blame me, my father?
No, no. I do not blame you, my son.
Then do as I will do. Leave this place.
If I could roll up my land like a cloth and take it with me...
...but that is impossible. No.
No. I stay, my son. You are free to go.
I do not run away because I'm afraid.
I only fear for my coming child.
A grandchild?
That is good news, my son.
And I think it well that you go.
When will you leave us, brother?
We have yet time.
We will wait until we find those we would go with.
I do not like this talk. I do not see why Jade should be taken away.
It is only that I may finish what I was made to do, my mother.
But who will look after you when your time comes?
Why should our grandson be born somewhere in a field like an animal?
It may be better that they go.
We do not know what lies ahead. Strange feet may enter our gate.
If my son wants to go, he will go. But let Jade stay.
- Her duty to you comes first. - I think it does not.
A woman should go with her man.
There are so many who flee these past weeks.
The whole face of the earth must be changing.
Cousin, what comes now?
These carry different burdens.
Move along!
Keep to the road!
What foolishness is this?
Only a city man would break his back under the weight of iron...
...when he might carry a bag of rice.
Why did you not take two wheels and make a cart and ride?
Look at those fools. They will eat iron if they eat at all.
This is not iron, my wise country friend. This is a factory we carry on our backs.
And you may as well get used to seeing such things...
...for a whole city follows behind us.
These are not as the others were. They seem to have a plan.
- Halt! - Halt!
- We will rest now for a little while. - Halt!
- Rest! - Rest!
I've never been so tired.
Why do you not sleep here in our land?
There is water, and we will share what we can with you.
You are good to us as all have been, or we could not have come this far.
We will rest here tonight with these, our friends.
These are the people we will join, my father.
Yes. They are the ones we have waited for.
They are strong and full of courage.
I would ask you, my friend, where do you go?
Our eyes are on the mountains, a thousand miles from here.
What will you do there, sir?
We'll set up these machines we carry, and they will be a factory.
Then we'll make bullets and guns for the army.
Where is our brave army now?
They fight between you and the Japanese.
Many thousands of them have already died to delay the evil dwarfs from coming here.
My son would join you in your journey if he is welcome.
We would be happy to take something of yours with us.
And what is a man without his wife?
I, too, am strong and can be of help.
You are welcome also.
The wind has brought rain. It is good for our land...
...but is it not bad for travelers? - If it helps you, then it must help us.
Now that we are to go, I wonder if it's too far.
I will be on my feet when others drop.
- I wish I could carry the child for you. - One of these days you shall.
I never thought a child of mine would be born anywhere...
...except here on this land.
He will find a place of his own.
It is very meaningful to a man where he is born.
We must mark the place.
A man begins his life before he is born.
So, what better place to mark for him than our tree.
There. Now it will be his also.
All right, take your places!
- Take you places. - Take your places!
We must cross those hills before the midday rest.
Take your places!
I've looked everywhere but I cannot find our mother...
...to say goodbye.
Tell her it is our sorrow that we could not find her.
I will tell her. You must not keep your friends waiting.
Send me word somehow when the child is born.
If it is a boy, send a red cord in the envelope.
If it is a girl, let it be a blue one.
Remember, my child...
...that the woman is a root, and the man the tree.
The tree grows only as high as the root is strong.
I will remember, my father.
Go.
This place is yours.
- March! - March!
So this is where you have been.
They looked for you.
I would not come to see him go.
Pulling, straining like an ox and bawling like one.
- You have been weeping. - I have not.
Splashed water on my face.
He looked so small beside the others.
He did not. He was the largest by far.
You are the best mother in the province. Where is there one better beyond the seas?
I'm a fool.
I miss them already. Even Jade.
Yes, yes, some sort of strength has left the house with their going.
I would not say I want them back.
They want to go, they go.
I would not have you a cool, thin soul. I like you hot-tempered and gusty.
You old turnip.
Come here, old man. Let me see that spot on your neck.
- See if you have boil after all these years... - It's where a mosquito bit me.
Do not tell me what it is. I can see for myself.
Well, can you not catch a mosquito anymore?
Must you be bitten like a child?
You're clumsy.
I like your quick tongue even when it is turned on me.
Old woman, I tell you this.
If you should die before I die, even then I would not marry another.
For after you, any would be like a carrot dried without salt.
The guns of the enemy came ever closer.
And still the people fled before them.
Some of the kinsmen of Ling Tan fled also.
But most of them stayed and went into the fields to reap the grain.
And each man helped his neighbor...
... for the harvest was at hand, and they were farmers.
And war or no war, they knew they must bring their food from the earth...
... so that whatever came, they could feed their families.
Day after day, the flying ships came...
... and then flew on and bombed the city.
The people of the valley of Ling were afraid.
But they stopped only to look up and then turn back to their work...
... for they'd heard that the Japanese had taken the land...
... a hundred miles deep from the sea...
... and were even now approaching the nearby city.
Time, too, had become their enemy.
It seemed nature itself was against them.
The rains were early that year.
And the farmers fought the wind and the water as they always had.
Here was a thing they understood and, understanding, could defeat.
But they could not defeat the fear that was in them.
For always in their ears was the sound of the bombardment.
A sound that was louder now...
... and they knew that the enemy was storming the gates of the city.
Then the day came.
The day that Ling Tan dreaded above all others.
The guns were silent...
... and the flying ships were gone from the air.
I fear this quiet more than the noise of battle.
It does not mean peace.
It means but one thing, and we must face it.
The defenders of our city have been overcome.
And even now as I speak to you, the enemy is at our gates.
- Within hours, they will be upon us. - That is true.
The enemy moves swiftly, and we have no arms.
How can we resist him? Are we to fight him with our hands?
I speak for myself but you are welcome to listen.
We cannot stop the Japanese, no.
But as soon as they have occupied a city...
...I believe we shall be able to deal with them.
How can you say this?
I bought and sold their goods as did my father before me...
...and I have found no great evil in the face they turned to me.
I did find evil in my own people, in green boys...
...who burned my goods without reason.
Wu Lien, if when they come, you are right, I will say you are.
But even if you are not, what can we do but take their rule for ours also?
All we want is peace and to be left alone to live.
- Our time is short. What is the plan? - How shall we meet them?
How can we show them what is in our hearts?
What ways do we know but our own? Let us do what we would do...
...for any new ruler coming to our village, but let us keep our pride.
But they are machines.
How can you talk to machines when they're belching smoke?
- Speak, here is the enemy. - Do not use that word.
Sirs...
Sirs, I am come...
We are come, sirs...
Sir, we are only farmers...
...a small merchant or two, and my cousin here the scholar.
- We are men of peace and reason... - Where is your inn, farmer?
- Lead us there. - But...
Waiter. Waiter. Service for my soldiers.
You there, line up against the wall.
- Steady, now. Give us no trouble. - Let's get out of here.
Get him over here, right now.
- You are ill, my father. - No, no, no. It's nothing.
- Wine with it. - Wine, wine.
Over here.
- Wine. - Bring the wine or we'll shoot you.
Tea. We want wine, not tea.
- Wine? - Yes, wine.
We... We have no wine.
We have that only on feast days.
Oh, no wine, huh?
And where are your women?
There are other things than wine.
Women.
Bring them. Bring me a young one.
I do not care if mine is young or not. What matters so long as they are...
Does anyone else care to run?
We have wine in our homes. Good wine.
We will have our women bring it to you.
See that they do, then.
No, do not stop.
Get to your homes.
Old woman. Old woman.
Get the household together inside quickly. The enemy comes.
Orchid, eldest daughter, all of you.
- What? - Bring the children.
- Lao San, my son. - What of the speech?
Our mouths spoke into the mouths of guns.
Come with me.
You must scatter over the lands. Each man look after his own.
My third son, his mother. I'll stay with the house.
- I'll stay by you. - No, you cannot.
- I'll climb the rafters and hide there. - Then I'll climb also.
They come by the road.
- Mother. - Oh, no, no, wait.
No, this way. They will see us there.
We must hide. Find the hole in the wall.
Here. My son.
Orchid. Take the baby.
Come, my son, you must be brave. We will be soon be safe.
Safety. Where is safety?
Mother, please. Please, Mother.
She can go no further.
- Go. I will do my best for your mother. - Yes. Yes, I...
- My mother. - Remember...
...let each look out for those in his charge and pay no heed to the others.
We must hide safely, and each group to itself.
Yes, yes. Then if one is found, only they perish.
Go. We must hide you. Quiet, quiet.
Do not move. Do not speak. We will not be far away.
- Old man, hermit. - The door is locked.
Our old dog. They will kill him.
Take what you want and destroy the rest.
Is there anything here worth having?
All of them are gone. No one is in the house.
You will stay here, my eldest son, like a man and by yourself.
Lie down, make yourself small against the ground.
And you here, my wife. Do not move for anything.
Where will you go?
Back a little, between you and the evil thing there.
Yes, my husband.
You tremble.
Your nose twitches like a little rabbit.
Come, do not waste time here. Find the farmer.
Search the courtyard.
And the first woman we find belongs with me.
Is there a way out of this courtyard?
Here. Here's a hole in the wall.
Pull aside the vine. Someone has crawled through here.
Come, see what I found.
Something they left behind.
No wonder. Look at it.
Here is the first woman and she belongs to you.
No. She is old.
There are the young to think of.
Do not be afraid.
My husband.
Come, my son, we'll be safer in another place.
I heard a child.
Where there is a child, there is a woman.Dragon Seed
Remember, a little man does not cry out. No matter what he sees.
The sounds of death are far away now.
My good red pigskin boxes...
...that I brought here as a bride.
Come, old woman.
There's worse to see in the courtyard.
Wait here.
Do not spare me what you must see.
Someone comes.
Is anybody here?
It's our third son.
Mother. Father.
- You are safe. - Yes, yes, we are safe.
We're safe. Where's your brother and his family?
I don't know. We lost each other and did not come together again.
- Sit down. - Where are the others?
We met people who told us it was safe in the foreign school in the city.
- My sister and her children are there. - Where then is Wu Lien?
Perhaps he stayed in safety with our daughter.
He went back to his shop and he will stay there, he said.
But how he can, I do not know.
The women, little children. Streets run with their blood.
In the village, the young women are dead in the grass.
And no one knows how many others still live...
...but would be better dead.
Oh, what I have seen this night.
Oh, I cannot. I cannot.
There, there, my meat dumpling.
She was ever a poor, foolish little thing, without courage.
But she was my wife.
And the mother of my children.
I cannot stay here. I cannot.
Quiet, my son. This is your home.
No longer. I hate it.
I do not care where I go, but I cannot stay here.
I will go with those in the hills who fight this horror.
Rest today first. Do not think of it now.
I cannot rest. I must go.
Help our third son make ready for his journey.
Remember, my son, all weeping ceases at last.
Your brother's rash and foolish, and I will keep an eye on him.
If not my own, then one that I can trust.
I would have you follow him to the hills and watch over him for me.
- Do you so command me, Father? - I do.
The hills.
There I, too, could fight.
Yes, I can pay these dwarfs some of what I owe them.
I could kill them like lice in a winter coat.
Since this time yesterday, cousin, we have both lost sons.
- Can a cock still crow? - It does not seem one should.
I feel there is no tomorrow.
Come in. Come in, sirs.
- Salted fish. - Fish, yes. Yes, sir.
Here, here is fish. Oh, no.
What...?
I'm of all creatures, the most unfortunate.
These fish are not salted. No, no, sir. They are only soaked in oil.
- I will take them. - Then take them as a gift, please.
I bought them from your country and now I return them to you.
- Thank you. You are Wu Lien? - Yes, sir.
- And you do not hate us? - Why, no. I hate no one, sir.
Thank you. For all this damage we are sorry.
- Our soldiers very brave, angry. - Oh, yes, I know. I know how soldiers are.
But now... Now let us hope for peace. Only in peace can we do business.
I am glad to meet a man who hates no one.
What can I say except that whatever you want me to do I will do.
You maybe useful to us, if you will.
Will I not be...?
We shall set up a people's government here.
And those who rule, shall rule for us. Can you read and write?
Oh, certainly, sir. I'm a man of culture.
- You know the address written there? - Yes. Yes, sir.
I have delivered goods there. It is the house of a very rich man.
And now he shares it with us, his friends.
You will come there tomorrow. And live there.
You'll see how merciful we are with those who do not resist us.
Yes.
Our flag above your door will protect you until you come to us.
All my thanks, great one. Oh, even to 10,000 thousand.
I'm more cheered than I've been for months. Now I can be with my household again.
How wise am I to arrange my own affairs so well.
- Another patriot has died. - Patriot. What, then, is a patriot?
To be one must a man die and let the worms eat his flesh?
No, no, no. I think not.
All these thing that happen are not my affair.
Whatever comes, I'm a man of peace.
And whatever heaven sends I will take and go on with my business.
If this foolish resistance will stop there will be peace.
Do you not agree?
Farmer, this country now belongs to us, your conquerors.
You must produce on your land as we say.
And the harvest is to come to us at the price we tell you it shall be.
And those who disobey us will need their land no longer.
- But they take all the fish. The pond is mine. - Nothing is yours.
Will you village men never learn that you are conquered?
If they take all the rice, how can we live and plant in the spring?
You can live off your own fat and you will be given seed when the time come.
You don't even leave us breeding stock.
We will raise the animals henceforth and also eat them.
My ox. Who will pull the plow?
Your own back looks strong.
How would we feed our grandchildren now?
- Why did you not defy him? - Alive, I can hold my land.
Dead, I can only hold so much as I am buried in.
So while Ling Tan and his kinsmen tried somehow to live on...
... those who had taken machines apart with their hands...
... so they could be carried piece by piece, were making their way forward.
Mud could not stop them. Nor could rain.
Rain that so filled the air that fish could have lived in it.
Mud so thick that it held them back like evil hands.
Water was made to cross and it was crossed many times.
And when it could not be walked in, boats were built.
And the people rowed upon the water.
And were grateful for the moment that they need not walk.
Time came when the earth opened at their feet...
... but they did not stop.
They took what they had, rags and belts and ropes, and made bridges...
... and passed over.
And then they reached the high mountain passes...
... where no one had gone before.
And many faltered, for food was gone and strength was near an end.
Many faltered but did not stop.
Nothing could stop them but their own will.
Nor could it stop Jade and Lao Er.
Although now and then, they rested...
... and she yearned for the end of the journey...
... for she knew that her time was at hand.
The enemy was everywhere, leaving footprints on the sick earth...
... and many of Ling Tan's kinsmen died.
Some met death quickly but they were the fortunate ones.
For others found a longer, harder way to die.
And then starvation came, and pestilence...
... and did not spare the house of Ling Tan.
The little children were struck down for they were the weakest.
So Ling Tan and his wife went into the fields...
... to dig for roots and forgotten kernels of grain.
All about them were the other people of the valley.
And the hunger pain in their bellies drove some of them mad...
... and they became as animals and fought each other.
Some of them fell upon their knees...
... and fought for swill that not even swine would eat...
... while the enemy laughed.
But still, Ling Tan and others like him clung to their land.
Old woman?
I have found food for them.
Girl is dead.
But the boy... There is food. We can help him.
It's too late. He is past all help.
What is a house where no children are?
They brought only happiness and they have taken it away.
What need could the gods have of them?
That should I go on living when my grandchildren die.
Curse all these men who would make wars.
Curse all women who give birth to these men.
And curse their grandmothers and all who are their kin.
Why do not men of peace and sense band together...
...and forbid life to those who would make wars?
Yet what can I do?
One man upon my land.
Cousin, cousin? Are you here, then?
Cousin, are you here, then? Cousin, cousin? Where is the man?
I come with big news in my mouth.
See. See, they have food and did not share it.
This is from your son. A messenger brought it to the teahouse.
A letter from a son is something I will never have now.
We have all lost much.
Well, then, open it.
The cord is red.
- It is a son. - We have a grandson.
But you weep. This is a time for joy.
Two grandchildren lie dead in our house.
Shall I thank heaven for sending us back but one?
Quiet, woman, or heaven will hear you and take even him away.
Thank you, cousin. This news lightens our heavy hearts.
A grandson is no small thing.
By rights, this child of Jade's is not yours.
You talk with no thought.
Pray excuse her. Bitterness has turned her words to gall.
Had Jade married my son as she ought...
...he would be alive today and safe there with her.
And so before the gods, her child is our grandchild.
I should drive you from my house...
...but it would soil this moment.
This joyful moment.
But not even the enemy could stop the seasons.
And at last it was spring.
And each farmer was given grain. Not to eat, but to plant.
And it was said that each seed was counted...
... and the man would answer for it if each seed did not yield.
So Ling Tan harnessed himself to his plow like an ox.
And together, he and his old woman felt the earth turn beneath their feet.
The grain grew straight and tall.
But Ling Tan and his wife could no longer take pleasure in it's promise...
... for they knew that what they worked for would not be theirs.
Now what, old woman? Has the enemy not done enough damage to my house?
Must you dig up the foundations?
We will keep our seed and the vegetables we grow...
...and hide them in this hole.
- I will make it big enough to hold a pig. - What pig?
The one you'll steal from the enemy's breeding farm.
But it will have to be big.
How can you dig such a thing without help. The earth is stubborn.
Heaven gave me the thought. Heaven will provide the help.
The shovel is there.
We will steal food from ourselves and eat it.
I am too just a man to deny sense even to a woman, when I hear it from her.
If all do this, we'll harry the enemy like fleas in a dog's tail.
And it may be that he will make little headway for stopping to gnaw at his rear.
- My son. - My father.
Oh, what gladness.
My mother.
Have I no grandson? Where is he? Where is he?
Quiet, woman. Before you burst, and the enemy hears the sound you make.
Where have you left my little dumpling?
Books, still books. You've crushed him beneath them.
You seem to love them more than you love your child.
How sweet his flesh smells.
Bring the lamp close so I can see him.
Oh, my little meat dumpling.
Oh, how firm he is of body, and his hair like black silk.
He's exactly as I thought he would be.
I knew you'd bring him back to me. I knew. I knew.
Else I could not have lived.
Night after night, I've dreamed of holding him like this.
Guard you heart, old woman. Guard your heart.
Yes, my mother, too much joy is as bad as too much sorrow.
Here, my mother, drink down this cold tea. Then the words can come out.
Why, this is no usual child. Look at his face, how square it is.
And he has a square mouth.
- Now give him back to me. - In a moment, old woman. In a moment.
What can the enemy do to us when our family goes on like this?
There, now. You are in your home and you must eat.
I beg you not be angry with me, Mother...
...but do not put food from your mouth into the child's.
Well, I fed my own son so. It did him no harm.
But it is not thought good now. I bought a book and it told how to care for children.
- And it spoke against such things. - Why, you better take your child back.
- Doubtless, I pollute him when I hold him. - Mother, it was for you I brought him home.
Cool your anger, both of you. Should we quarrel this night, of all nights...
...and over the child who is the center of our hearts?
Did I ever have a book to feed my children?
Did I ever lose a son?
Indulge her with the child. It will heal her for everything.
Our house has come alive again, old man.
- Good day, friends. - Good day.
My son comes from the free land. He has a message from the high command.
There are many like me and we spread among the villagers...
...to tell such men as you what we must do.
This enemy must be resisted.
Openly where the land is free and secretly where the land is lost.
We, who must resist secretly, have a harder task than the others.
We must work together as the fingers on one hand.
We must track down this enemy and kill him.
What we should do is this...
Join with the hill men? You're inviting us to die.
Yes, but to die like men, not sheep on the butchering block.
You must not blame our cousin.
A scholar can never be as brave as one unlettered.
We must build the hole under my father's house into one strong room.
And there we will hide the men that must be hidden.
- Where did you find these guns? - Some have foreign writing on them.
A wise man does not question a gift too closely.
I will take the guard now.
No, eat first. I am not weary.
One of our kinsmen wants to know where you found the guns.
Tell him they are easiest found by sticking a knife into the belly of an enemy soldier:
And there is the gun for you, as if from his insides.
My sons, all my sons.
What more can I ask, who am only a woman?
To hear our third son speak, one would think he'd like to kill.
Oh, how well he looks.
And not on my cooking. I do not understand it.
Oh, you should see the women admire him now.
- And still he has yet to choose one. - Women.
Do not turn your nose toward heaven.
It's time you brought home a daughter-in-law. See that you do.
What would become of us if we did not have the women to keep at us?
If you had no women, none of you would be born.
I want grandsons before I die.
Let fat men like Wu Lien bother with such nonsense.
I'm lean enough to fight. That is what I'm going to do.
I wanted to ask, what news of Wu Lien?
He and his family live in the city and are protected, I heard.
Yes, we have heard, but they haven't come to tell us so themselves.
Nor has Wu Lien been here to his mother's grave.
I have known of others who are protected.
Could this mean he deals with the enemy?
- I will not believe that until I know it is so. - Nor will I.
Someone comes.
It is Neighbor Shen, the lookout.
Enemy soldiers are in the village.
They look for young men to slave for them.
Well, then, let us help them find what they seek.
- How many of the enemy? - A line from here to the door.
Kinsman, come out and bring enough guns...
...for the others who will act with us.
This is the beginning of it, then.
- You will be safe? - Let them come, the bandy-legs.
Get into the cart.
These Chinese pigs do not fight.
They were born to be slaves.
But this one is strong.
Yes, a good work animal.
- This one will be sent to the mine. - We made a good catch tonight.
This is almost too easy.
Bring the rest to the cart.
They're the ones I found.
We need more work animals like this.
Search the houses again.
Some of them are still hiding.
Shoot any that resist.
We must teach them that it is an honor to serve the emperor.
- Stop him. - Catch him.
If he escapes, we are lost. He will bring others to kill us.
- Don't shoot. Don't shoot. - Do not be afraid.
I am not going to shoot you.
Come to bed, old man. Or have you learned to sleep standing up?
The name of the book that Jade once read...
...was it not All Men Are Brothers?
It was. But is that something to steal your rest?
This is what troubles me.
How can Jade send forth her husband to kill other men if all men are his brothers?
Perhaps because the bandy-legs are no longer men but beasts.
But must we, too, become as beasts?
Tonight, I learned that men kill differently.
I saw our third son with his knife and...
He came back into this house...
...and picked up food and ate it with the blood still upon his hands.
I say that is wrong.
Yet the enemy is upon us. We must kill them or be killed.
But there is one thing we must remember, old woman, or we have killed ourselves too.
Peace is good.
The young cannot remember it.
And it is we who must remember...
...and teach them again that peace is man's great food.
If you had two sons, there would be no work done.
Someone comes.
It is only your elder sister.
- Do not tell them we are here, Mother. - We will go to the hidden room.
This is a strange day when brothers and sisters hide from each other.
All days are strange now.
Soldiers.
They look rich.
Were they always so fat?
Perhaps our eyes have grown used to people afraid and hungry.
My old ones, here we are to see you.
A thousand fortunes.
I trust you are well.
Are we then welcome to come within?
You and your family are welcome.
But I cannot let others into my house.
You need not fear. These two only came to guard me.
What guard do you need in my house?
My father-in-law is old and afraid.
I'm not afraid. But I will not have them in my house.
Then I must wait here with the guards.
- Will you bring stools to sit upon? - I will.
Country people, they have no manners.
Where, then, are my brothers?
They are gone, and we are alone.
Even your elder brother's children are dead.
They died of sickness and starvation.
It is the times.
I grieve for my elder brother and for you also. I weep for you.
Do not waste your tears. My own have dried.
Why are you so stiff?
You must know that what I do is done only for the best.
I do not know what you do.
Times are times, and the wise man takes his time as he finds it.
Compromise is sometimes better than valor.
Where do you live now?
At the 10th house of the North Gate Street.
That is a street of fine houses. How can you live there?
I am told to live there. I work for the new government.
I'm well-paid and I'm content.
You see what I would say, my father-in-law?
I am a common man. I am so stupid...
...I understand only a thing when it is said to me, and when I hear it.
I come here today to help you.
If you do as I say, your life will be easier.
- What must I do? - Do whatever is told you to do.
And I will manage for you here and there as I'm able.
What had you to do, son-in-law?
For one thing, I'm a controller of all incoming goods.
Rice and wheat, fish, opium, salt...
Opium? Opium? That evil was driven from our country by great pain and suffering.
- And now you bring it back. - But I'm not my own master.
How can you be so hard?
After all, there are only you two old people left.
- And we are all you have. - We can live.
You do well to leave. We are not wanted here.
What our son feared was true.
Curse this enemy.
He has made me quarrel with my daughter.
See? Silk coats and enemy soldiers to serve him.
It is plain Wu Lien has got his fingers into the fat.
Of what value is a rich relative unless you can put him to use?
We are his kinsmen and would see Wu Lien.
Go in. Wu Lien sees anybody.
Where are the rooms of Wu Lien, our rich relative?
In there.
What greater pleasure is there than a short visit from relatives?
But next time, eat the fish. Do not bring it to us.
Wu Lien, you're a kind, good man.
Can you not find my old man a worthless little piece of work...
...here in these walls to pay us something?
But will my father-in-law let him come here?
My husband by right should have more power than your father-in-law...
...because he is older. And it is time he took that power.
Do you think the same way, elder cousin?
- My husband always thinks as I do. - And how's that?
I think we must save ourselves at all cost...
...and bow before what is upon us...
...and do what we can to make something of it.
Yes, perhaps you will be more content to remain in the village...
...where you are known and know everybody.
But you are welcome to visit us here. We'll give you food, money.
And then you can give us the news.
We have very little to tell. Nothing happens in our village.
Much has happened and more will. Wu Lien.
My old man and I will be as one eye and one ear.
And all that we see and hear, you shall see and hear also.
We always like to hear how you do, and my wife's father and mother.
- And her brothers also? - Of course, of course.
They are also our kin.
But since they are away, there must be little news of them.
True, true, they're all in the free land and not at home.
Then perhaps I saw Jade and her fat child in a dream.
Oh, Jade has a child, then?
Yes, yes, the news came in a letter from the free land.
- But we've not seen the child. - Child is a fine boy. Too fine.
Death sits on his eyebrows, I say, whenever I look at him...
...which is often.
You live well here, cousin. Your position must be good.
It is smooth on the top but under it is another thing.
Our conquerors feel a rising anger that may engulf us all.
How then?
Too many soldiers have gone forth from the city for food and goods...
...and have not returned.
Not even their bodies have been found.
It is a great mystery, and one that may destroy all of us.
Even the innocent.
Now, now, I will speak and fully.
The enemy is sure to find out that the killing started in our village.
Then what will our lives be worth?
Wu Lien, we had nothing to do with it. It is Ling Tan.
Ling Tan and his sons. They are all returned and work with the hill men.
- I've seen them and they are the leaders. - The woman's blind as a mole and crazy.
Not too blind to see enemy dead piled in the streets and buried...
...in the hidden room beneath Ling Tan's house where men and guns are.
Yes, other young men have died, my son among them.
But not the sons of Ling Tan.
No, they still spit and stride about and boast.
Woman, how can you utter such lies against Ling Tan?
He has been good to us. He has fed us often.
- Can you forget this? - I can forget it.
He likes to give us small gifts. It makes him bigger in his own eyes.
- Shall we thank him for his own pride? - I'm not concerned with his pride.
- I'd rather have some of my own. - And you shall have. I will see to it.
When you wear a silk coat over a full round belly...
...you will have pride in yourself then.
What use to speak to you of pride when we use the same word...
...but mean different things by it?
Of all men on earth, you are least like a man.
- Do not worry about that one. - Yes.
He will follow me, or answer to me.
We will always be glad to see you, kinswoman.
Another time? Another quiet little talk such as this one has been.
Yes. Yes, as soon as we have fresh news.
My poor father and his household walk on a rope above a pit.
I have forgotten the things we have heard.
Have you, my husband?
No, I have a mind that lets go of nothing.
Captain Sato calls for you.
- He says, bring the work you have finished. - Oh, yes, yes. Yes, at once.
The Chinese people welcome their good neighbor...
...who gives them food, peace and safety.
- It is a clever work. - Thank you.
And perhaps it will help us to put an end to all these killings.
I will put the poster in all the usual places.
Chinaman!
Come here.
Did I not instruct you to obtain information for me...
...about the disappearance of our soldiers? - Sir, I...
I have found nothing as yet.
Do you think that one village is the center of this rebellion?
And if it is, how can we find it?
Perhaps we should burn all the villages and shoot all the farmers.
Will that end this stupid resistance?
Perhaps, sir. Perhaps, but then...
...who would plant and harvest the crop next year if you did that?
And if there was no crop, how could your army here be fed?
- How would you yourselves eat, great ones? - We thought of that, Chinaman.
We only wondered if you had also.
- And so we are all agreed. - Yes, great one.
We are agreed that we must find that center.
- And destroy it. - Yes, great one.
- And it will be your privilege to help us. - Thank you.
I will have information soon. If it is possible, very soon.
Thank you.
How could we conquer a country without its traitors?
They order me to broaden the smile on the face of the soldier.
Do they not know a broader smile will only make him resemble a shark the more?
You did not speak of your new knowledge?
I did not.
Will you ever speak of it?
As long as I am able, I will not.
But when you are no longer able, what then?
How can I tell that?
How does a man know today what he must do tomorrow?
You are afraid. You are in danger here.
Where am I not in danger?
In these times, one chooses to live in the den of the tiger or the lion.
There is no other place.
And I am a man in the middle.
How can a man in the middle stay there without splitting himself?
And if he does that, he is only half a man.
Half. Can half a man still live?
Here is our third cousin.
How are you, cousin?
What is it?
I should have killed her even as she spoke.
Who would you kill then?
The female I call my wife.
Has that woman been snapping at your heels again?
Had I killed her, I myself would have been killed...
...but at least our village would now be safe...
...and all our kinsmen.
What is this, cousin?
This is not easy for me to say but I must.
My wife is a traitor.
She has told Wu Lien all she knows of what happens here.
Of the secret room and your sons and the resistance.
Wu Lien, the running dog.
He must be silenced.
But he may not speak.
There is another who has already spoken and may do so again...
...the wife of our cousin here.
I can say only this. She will speak no more.
You have killed her.
No, no, I did not kill her. Although there was a moment...
...when I thought she no longer breathed.
I beat her.
I beat her until she leaned against the wall to keep from falling.
What then of Wu Lien?
We must remember this: He is of our family.
Our sons return from the hills tonight.
They will know how to deal with him. There is but one way.
I know my husband will see it as I see it and be willing to do what must be done.
Would you have him kill his brother-in-law?
Rather than have his brother-in-law kill him.
I cannot decide this alone.
Come, cousin.
It concerns us all in the village.
Can anything ever be the same again even though peace comes?
Some small good has come of this. Out of it, I am born a man again.
I must go to the city.
I read what you would do in your eyes.
- You are with me on this, Mother? - I am with you, Daughter.
Women ever must act while men waste time in talk.
The great power of this...
...is that a grain kills in a second and is as tasteless as flour.
Many women buy this poison in these times.
Some for themselves and some for others.
How much will you need?
I may not need any at all. I hope I do not.
But I will take as much as I have money to buy.
Wu Lien?
Jade. It cannot be.
How are you, sister-in-law?
This house is well-guarded.
But when I told them I was your relative, the gate opened like magic.
Yes, they guard themselves, but not against my husband.
Why do you stare so at me? Are you not glad to see me?
Yes. Yes, I am glad.
You look well, if not fat.
I have not rested yet. I returned from the free land only yesterday.
- Only yesterday? - Where's my silk coat, I...
Here is Jade to see us. She tells me she returned but yesterday.
Together with my husband and son. And today, they still sleep.
Welcome, sister-in-law, we're glad you are home again.
The old ones have been too long alone.
- Now, where is my coat? - Here it is. Ready for you to wear.
My husband will be honored tonight at a banquet for the conquerors.
Yes, and now I must dress for it.
Will not our women's prattle disturb him?
Oh, no, no. I will not hear it.
As I came through the city, I found many changes.
My husband says the conqueror prides himself...
...on the public improvements he has made.
Improvements?
Today, I saw enemy soldiers pasting up a picture...
...which showed another enemy soldier smiling and giving food to our people...
...who knelt before him.
That is my husband's handiwork. Is it not good to look upon?
Very.
Beneath the picture and looking up at it stood hungry people.
And they brought bowls and crept close...
...and scooped up some of the paste that the soldiers were using.
And then they ran away and hid and ate it.
Ate the paste?
Even that is better than nothing.
But the conqueror does give food.
He gives it to us and there must be others.
Yes, there are others.
The enemy sometimes gives sweets, and often to children.
Well, then, you must admit that giving sweets to children is not evil.
Is it not? In the sweets is opium.
When once the children eat it, they have the hunger that is fire in their veins.
And so they are spoiled forever.
Your own children look well.
He has learned the tongue of the enemy very quickly.
Who knows what he may grow up to say in it.
We will remember our own things to tell him.
Then do not forget to tell him of the other children.
And the mothers and fathers of those children...
...all tied together and soaked with oil.
And burned alive while they cried for mercy.
I will hear no more of this. All the killing.
Tell your wife not to shudder, brother-in-law.
People now take these as things that may happen to any one of us.
- And any day. - I will get tea.
I trust I did not disturb you.
I heard very little.
Can it be that you have trained your ears not to hear what you do not wish to hear?
You...
You must forgive my wife. She is but a woman and not as we are.
I do not think we are the same.
I think you are against me and all who are with me.
I am against no one.
Are you for us, then?
I'm neither for nor against anything.
What you are not for, you are against.
You have changed while you were away in the free land.
I'm not sure the change becomes you.
No. No, it does not.
A woman should be soft, like the skin of a peach.
Not hard like the stone which does no one any good.
Do not forget that the tree itself grows from the stone.
Surely that is the beginning of everything.
If I could see my parents sometimes, I would be content.
Your husband is content and so must you be.
Yes, I am what I am. And so is my wife.
And she is one who has always known her place as a woman and kept to it.
Will you tell my parents this for me?
- Will you tell them I think of them often? - Yes, she will tell them.
And now, if you wish to feed your children, we will excuse you.
Will you not share some tea with me, brother-in-law...
...although I am only a woman?
Come, I will pour it for you.
No. Although I thank you.
I cannot eat when I have something on my mind to do.
My stomach growls and takes offense.
Surely you are a man who should nourish himself at every opportunity.
Do not worry about me. I will eat myself full tonight.
There is duck and I am very fond of duck.
Oh, enter, enter.
Well, then, cook, I trust everything in the kitchen is well.
You sent for me. I am here. Do not waste time on idle talk.
Yes, I sent for you, but only to ask...
...if the food will be prepared in fashion as I have ordered.
Steamed duck, pullets with Chinese herbs...
...pigeon eggs in soup, and shark's fins with crabmeat.
All will be ready. You have too many words.
- Be sure everything is ready... - It will be ready when it is ready.
- I am not a man to be hurried. - Yes.
You see, we have plenty of food here. More than enough.
- Will you not take some home with you? - No.
Oh, but why? It will only be thrown to the dogs. Why do you not take it?
Because, brother-in-law, we are not dogs.
Wait. You cannot enter. Strangers are not allowed in the kitchen.
What is the...?
Did you not send for someone?
A new cook, perhaps?
Well, I would not think cooking is one of your talents.
How can you know that until you have tried me?
I will throw her into the street.
I will do that myself. Later, perhaps.
Get on with your work.
How did you get into this house?
Is it not plain? Wu Lien sent for me.
Why?
Oh, you need not answer. I have seen his wife.
It is time to baste the pigs. Get them ready.
Now, tell me, why did you come into the kitchen, huh?
I am hungry. There is food here.
Why, did you not get food from Wu Lien?
Wu Lien will not last. He could not feed me for long.
Nor can I. Chinese are not allowed in the kitchen.
But I am one who is of no country. I am only a woman.
Can you blame me if I would be with those who have conquered here?
- So you like us, then? - No, I do not.
But I like hunger even less.
Oh, so you're not afraid.
Can it be that I have found a woman of my own liking?
- You will feed me then? - Feed you? Food is dear.
How will you pay for it?
How? How else then to make myself useful?
Useful? Oh, yes, I will make you useful.
Noodles, bring the noodles. Hurry.
Here, you. You, bring the noodles, quick.
I am busy.
Stay out of my way until I finish my work. Then we shall eat.
Yes, we shall eat together.
Alone and in private.
Here. Soup noodles, are they ready? Come.
Where are the pigeon's eggs?
These are the fish.
Have you not finished yet? It's almost time to serve them.
Fine duck. Gravy. Gravy for the duck.
Mushrooms. Where are the mushrooms?
- These are not fine enough. - The fish.
Noodles. More noodles, hurry.
You fool. Do not burn the sauce.
The crabmeat. Cut it fine.
I have said stay out of my way.
So you have eyes only for the food, not for me, huh?
Very well, if you are so greedy, take some of the duck.
Go on, take it.
Eat it.
No. No, little one, it would be my head if I were to let you have any of that.
Here, now, take these. Serve them while they're hot.
I have your own word for it, little one.
The hungrier you are, the better it is for me.
Duck.
Duck, swimming in its own juices.
I went to great trouble to get them and have them cooked to your orders, sirs.
The wine for the duck, where is it?
Wine?
Well, it will be served soon, I have ordered it.
- Order it again. - Yes, great one.
He sweats a great deal, even for a Chinese.
He will sweat even more tonight.
We will amuse ourselves a little with him before we make him talk for us.
Excellency, admiral, major, captain, please.
Be patient, little one.
Now, they call these shrimp? I asked for fresh shrimp.
Here now.
You would not be leaving before you have eaten.
I was weary of waiting. I would eat elsewhere.
- You will not... - Where is the wine?
- The wine will come later. I am trying to... - That woman! Stop her. Stop her.
Stop her. That woman. Stop that woman.
Do not let her get away. Stop. Stop her.
- You. You frightened her away. - How long has she been in this kitchen?
Why the difference? A woman like that is too good for you.
Now neither of us will have her.
Was she...?
Call the guard. Call the guard.
Family.
Call the guard.
Chinaman!
What is it?
The enemy...
...was poisoned.
They blame me.
Go to your father. Take children. Quick.
- Quick, quick. - No. No, I cannot.
Who did this?
Go.
Our kinsmen are not agreed among themselves.
Some say kill Wu Lien at once.
I say kill Wu Lien. Yes, kill him and let me do it.
Heaven will lead me to the place and time and heaven will put power in my hand.
Do not say heaven this and heaven that.
If we kill, let us not say it is heaven who bids it.
It is not heaven's will that men kill each other.
We know better. You lie dead with your ancestors...
...instead of living. - How could you have borne such a son?
- How could you have fathered him? - Wu Lien is of our family.
It is our one hope that he cannot bring himself to destroy us.
But we must be sure.
My mother, my father, it is your daughter.
I will go.
- Mother. Mother. - What is it?
My husband is dead.
And so poison was put into the food of the high enemy officials by someone...
...and they blamed my husband for it and killed him.
- The enemy killed him? - They shot him.
And he came to me holding the last of his life inside him with his hands.
He lived only for his family, and now he is dead.
- He was so good. - I have been cheated of my pleasure.
You were there today, Jade. You saw him. And now he's dead.
My husband is gone and I'm a widow.
Poison is a woman's weapon.
Yes, it is.
And it was I who used it.
I thought so.
I saw the look that passed between you and my mother.
You said we must be sure.
I was sure.
He would have betrayed us.
I would not have killed him had I thought he would not.
You did not kill him.
The enemy did.
No.
No, I killed him as surely as I'm now here.
And he was one of ours.
It was right that he should die.
And will you hate me?
Why would I hate you?
I am so thin.
My flesh is so hard.
My face is dark and not like a woman's face.
You do not look as you did when I married you, it is true.
Would you have married me then if I had looked as I do now?
Doubtless, I would not.
But I myself was not the same man that I am now.
And what pleased me then would not please me now.
- Do I please you now? - You do.
As always, this feeling between us...
...we can return to it from anything.
And then summer was gone.
And the grain had kept its promise.
Again, the old ones waited for the return of Jade and her husband...
... who'd been summoned to the meeting place in the hills.
Someone comes.
It is our children, home from the hills.
- Well, then, you are back. - Father, Mother.
- You are well. - Well enough.
You are in time to help us harvest.
If we are clever, we can pass this winter safely.
The crop is good this year and the grain lies heavy in the hand.
Yes.
This field would feed many people.
Father, will you call the heads of the village?
We have a task for them to do.
A meeting? But there is a danger in a meeting while it is still light.
Tell them to gather at the first hour of the darkness.
There is a thing we must do, and at once.
The enemy will never be defeated if we feed him...
...but without our food, he will starve.
- I will not destroy food nor my house. - It's too much.
- It's against the law of man to do it. - It is the task the high command has set.
You must burn all you have and leave only the ashes behind you.
Can it be that you, my son, ask this of me and our kinsmen?
I ask it that the enemy may be destroyed.
Not only do we feed them but we stay here as their work animals.
What we hear are the words of a young fool.
I, for one, will not listen to any more.
I will not burn my house, nor leave what I have.
But we... We resist here.
We keep what food we can from the enemy...
...and we kill him how and when we can.
- It is enough. - It is not enough.
- Do you not love your country? - Love my country?
You say that to me? Do I not love this earth and is this earth not my country?
Though I die, I stay with it.
Can a man love his country better than that?
But, my father, this earth is only your country...
...in peacetime when there is freedom.
I know only this. We must hold the land.
You will hold only a handful of dead soil.
You will lose your whole country doing it.
- I will not listen. - Ling Tan is right as always.
Yes, we will not leave our land. We will hold it.
Now, what's wrong with all these long faces?
We have failed.
Our kinsmen and our father among them have refused our plan.
- You will not do as you're told to do? - I will not, nor will the other kinsmen.
There's an answer. Hold a gun at their heads and make them do it.
- It must be their own will. - The old should be allowed no will.
The old and the new again. There must be some meeting.
There's no meeting what is dead and what is alive.
Father and men like him grow too old and have walked too long.
Others need the room they take.
You may not strike me.
I should beat you.
Killing and love of killing, that is all you know.
Yes, but I know it well. These are other times.
And I can kill you as well as any other.
Yes, you can kill me.
I think you can kill anyone now.
But I will kill no more.
- Come back here. - I will not.
I've eaten enough foolishness in this house, and for the last time.
I must go with him.
You will find us in the hills, for you will follow us.
Happiness in this family is over.
Nothing is left to anyone...
...if the old can no longer look to the young for obedience.
I have come to this.
I will not grieve the day they tell me my third son is dead.
He has become the sort of man I hate and fear most.
Such men will not allow peace in the world.
War springs from them as fire does from tinder...
...and is their pleasure in their life.
Such men should die for the good of all.
You blame your son for what he is.
Who should I blame, then?
It was his own arm he raised against me and his own voice.
You cannot blame him.
Has his life been as it should?
Has he had peace to live and find a wife?
Have sons of his own?
No, he put the will he would have used...
...into another thing: The will to kill.
So changed from the boy who wretched at the sight of the first dead...
...that he would strike his own father.
Well, are we not all changed?
Can we get our old selves back if the devils are not driven out soon?
Can you?
You...
You hate to kill above all else.
Yet you have killed...
...as skillfully as you once tilled the land. - I will not hear this.
But you shall hear it. And our mother, has she not changed?
Now she runs, takes up her hoe and buries the enemy...
...as though the human flesh were animal.
Can she get back to the old way? Can she forget what she's done?
And your sons, they all kill. Your third son because he has come to love it.
Your eldest because it's the easiest thing to do and my...
Your second son because he must. But we all kill.
We kill and kill again. Can you deny this?
No, no, I cannot.
I've learned to hold a gun and fire it from the doorway.
And then go in and feed my son.
And what is the child eat into himself with the food?
Look at him. Look at him.
Do not turn away.
Even now your grandchild sharpens his little teeth on an empty shell...
...and does not hate the taste of gunpowder.
He's young still. His mind, at least, is untouched.
He can be saved and taught a decent way to live...
...if the enemy is driven from our country.
What will become of him if this horror goes on?
How can I teach him honesty when he must lie and cheat to live?
How can I teach him mercy when he must either kill first or be killed?
How can I teach him faith in mankind...
...when he sees nothing but distrust and when even in his own family are traitors.
- Am I to blame for these things? - You're not.
But you will be to blame, we'll all be to blame...
...unless we defeat the Japanese and drive them from this country...
...and prevent them from ever doing this again.
How will you answer your son when he asks you why you left our land?
I will tell him...
I will tell him it was to save him and his family...
...and his whole country.
You had no...
I cannot...
For a cloud covers my mind.
What will you do now, my son?
We will join our brothers in the hills where at least we can fight on.
We will leave this house during the last hours of the darkness before dawn.
Here is food for your journey.
We are glad you have come.
It would have been a bitter thing if you had not.
If you can wait, we will go with you.
Go with us?
Yes, I will burn my fields and my house and go with you.
Do my ears hear what you are saying, old man?
They hear what we must do, for the cloud is now gone from my mind.
I have spoken to all our kinsmen in the village...
...and told them the things you told me.
I gave them the hour that I would fire my house...
...and asked them to do the same thing.
- But will they? - I do not know.
It is a great deal to ask of them, and against their natures.
But what will become of me and my children?
You will go and take your children to where my sons are in the hills.
- The son of Neighbor Shen can guide her. - Yes. We will meet you there.
And you will take our son too.
These things will mark our land...
...so when we come back we can prove it is ours and claim it.
What nonsense is this?
In a while, these things will be ashes, so, what matter how they look now?
Would you bury a friend without first arranging him decently?
In these rooms, your father and his father before him died.
And our children were born here and should die here.
I helped you dig once, now you help me.
- A worry has struck me. - What now, woman?
What if the stranger who walks on the other side of your land...
...finds these things and steals them?
- He will not steal from us. - How can you know that?
I see clearly now, and for the first time.
Third cousin once said that there is one sun and one moon for all.
If that is true, all share the sun and moon...
...why should we not also all share the earth?
This valley is not the world but only part of the world.
And there are others like me whose faces I have never seen.
Elsewhere, there are men who love peace...
...and long for good and who will fight to get these things.
So the stranger is no longer a stranger to me but a man like me.
If I could but know him.
If I could but see him.
What good to see him if you could not speak?
You would not need speech.
If what you wish is the same, there would be understanding between you.
Yes, that is true.
Somehow tonight, I feel that there is a power sweeping around the world...
...bringing us all together with that stranger.
- And I, too, feel it, my father. - So do I.
- Why am I left out of this? - It is time now, my father.
- Shall I fire the house? - No.
Your mother and I will do this.
We will fire the east field first, then.
Leave the north fields for the last, so that we may escape that way.
Look back once, old woman.
Then look back no more.
Keep to the hill road.
My father, look.
Can it be even one of our kinsmen is with us?
It is only a lantern.
No. No, it is a fire.
- And there's another. - And another.
- Can it be? The whole village? - It is, old woman. We are not alone.
- I'm weary, my lord. - But you are not bruised as yet.
Why can you not come with us?
No, my mother. My place is here with my brothers.
The enemy fears to come here. My sister will be safe and have food.
I think it best. Our road ahead will be hard, old woman. And our daughter...
My father, I have seen what you have done, and the others also.
I am ashamed.
No more than I, my son.
Well, then, I would have you take your place of command...
...as head of our family once more.
I think there is now another command, even above that.
We have each been told what we must do, and we will do it.
- You that our young will stay here and fight. - And you, Father?
I would be where these hands can be used.
I and my old woman will go into free China...
...and raise food to fill your bellies while you fight.
Let us go, then, while the strength is still in us.
There is a thing.
If one of us lives, he must go back one day to claim the land.
I so charge you all.
If you live, you must do this.
My wife and I will walk a little way with you.
We would see you out of sight.
At this moment we part, we are closer than ever before.
When will this one begin to read?
As soon as he can be taught.
He will learn quickly, for he is the hope of us all.
His eyes are open.
Make sure that the one who teaches him has his eyes open also.
We will do that. We do it now.
Take your grandchild with you.
Yes, my father, take him with you.
Care for him and teach him.
He will be as our own.
What else? For that is what he is.
So it came about that while Ling Tan left the land behind him...
... he did not leave hope.
For he carried it with him in Jade's child.
That child so truly, the seed of the dragon.