What's this barrier? Is it new?
The young Baron has the Princess's permission.
The old man died?
A pity.
They your horses? Got a permit?
A permit?
I've crossed without one many times.
You need one now.
No permit, no crossing.
I'm taking them to the market.
For thirty, they're yours.
Lower, I can't.
They cost me 20 six months ago.
- He has no permit. - Seriously?
Make him pledge some horses!
The two black ones!
Until he has a permit.
Horses? That's silly. I have to sell them.
All right.
He's leaving the black ones.
César, you stay here.
Mind the horses until I get back.
AGE OF UPRISING: THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL KOHLHAAS
Where are my horses?
The two black ones that were here.
Kohlhaas!
Governor.
Magnificent.
Superb.
Truly exceptional!
How do you do it?
Any other trader would have kept it, but you...
You're going to bleed me dry, right?
What are you up to?
Who gave you permission?
Thief!
Unleash it.
That's not the Bible.
You're not reading it aloud.
It is the Bible,
but not in Latin.
Would you like to read?
"Th...
...rou...
Through...
a...
glass...
darkly. "
"Through a glass, darkly. "
It's an image.
A way of seeing the world.
Darkly.
Something you see but don't recognize.
An enemy!
Or a friend.
Or yourself.
I have something for you.
I daren't look.
You know what I thought when I first saw you?
"If I could touch that man
just once.
He's so beautiful.
I'd drink his love from a pig trough. "
You're blushing!
Are you making love?
Mother told me to say if I hear you.
I heard you.
Who did this?
- Where's my servant? - He left.
We worked them to pay for their keep.
What happened?
Your man ran off with the horses.
We caught the horses but he got away.
I don't believe you.
You don't?
Suit yourself.
I'm looking for my horses, my Lord.
I left two black riding horses here.
- As a pledge. - They're in the stable.
He just saw them.
He fussed because they're dirty and we worked them.
Those aren't my horses.
I left you two handsome,
well-fed, healthy horses.
I want them back.
My Lord! The Princess abolished tolling rights.
You tricked me. Now I want my horses back.
I'll take it to the court, my Lord!
What's this money for?
Show him.
I want you to take my case to court.
Sue for reparation on my behalf and César's.
Tolling rights have been abolished.
The Chancellery confirmed it.
César has been my servant all his life.
They set their dogs on him.
I'll let you decide how much to sue for.
And say
I want my horses as they were:
well fed and in perfect health.
It's a colt.
He's yours.
Watch.
He's going to stand up.
I'm coming back from the law court.
Your case was dismissed.
It's the third and last time.
The baron who wronged you
has a kinsman at court.
You should fetch your horses back.
Why don't you dismount?
I can't stay.
I have to get back.
Won't you eat something?
Please...
don't insist.
Were you threatened?
Kohlhaas,
can't your business afford to lose two horses?
- You're not answering. - Go get your horses.
What horses?
The broken nags I left three months ago?
Please leave me out of it.
Mom! Come and see!
"... finds that trader Kohlhaas is a quibbler.
The Baron of Aujac is not withholding his horses.
Aforesaid trader can fetch them
or tell the Baron where to bring them.
Kohlhaas's case is reckless, baseless and dismissed.
If he importunes the Chancellor with it again,
he shall be imprisoned. "
You're selling the estate?
Buy now and you can name your price.
Make me an offer.
For what?
Everything.
The land, the buildings...
Is what César says true?
You're taking your complaint to the Princess...
selling the house...
getting rid of us?
Judith,
God gave me a wife,
children,
that I love above all else.
Should I start wishing He hadn't?
What should I do?
Apologize to the Baron?
Let me take your complaint to the Princess.
Judith, there's a circle around her.
How will you breach it? With a sword?
The circle around her is a court.
If you want to reach her ears,
my love,
let me go there.
Walk the mare home.
I'll go faster without you.
Lord...
Lord of all lords,
You who read men's thoughts...
You, creator of the thunder,
the lightning, the fog,
the wind,
the snow, the rain...
You who make mortals,
keep them alive
and annihilate them...
receive the soul of Judith.
Receive the soul of Judith.
Grant her the dew of Your grace.
In the shade of Your wings.
Lord,
I grieve deeply for Judith.
Lord...
Let her live in Your house.
Amen.
- I can stay here, too. - Lisbeth.
I'll bring you home when this is over.
I promise.
Giddyup!
The Bible tells us to forgive our enemies.
I pray that God
will never forgive me
as we shall forgive the young Baron.
Gird yourselves.
Drop the sword.
Carry this.
The Baron's on foot. He can't be far.
They want to join us. What do I say?
So I've come to you, Senyor Kohlhaas,
and I pay my respects.
Just one man and his horse against the whole world!
That's grand!
I too...
I too... have broken laws.
Listen! I too have broken laws.
Like everybody, sometimes.
I mean, if there's a God of Justice,
I don't know what would happen
if he weighed in the scales
all the things I've done
and all the things I've had done to me.
Look!
It's Senyor Kohlhaas's camp!
It's for you.
He's small but he'll get fatter.
How much for it?
Nothing, it's a gift.
Kohlhaas takes no gifts.
You'll be paid.
Who can fight?
Who's already made war?
You know what lords do
to rebellious peasants?
They chop your fingers off...
poke your eyes out...
and they hang you slowly.
It takes a whole day.
A peasant's death is a joke.
I was a soldier,
I know what I'm saying.
Big guy, come here. The rest of you, go home.
I can fight.
Show me.
I can learn.
I need to see Senyor Kohlhaas.
It's important.
You brought the pig. I haven't forgotten.
The Baron...
I know where he is.
When I was a boy, a revolt broke out
in a neighboring province, many miles away.
One day, a beggar came from there to my father's house
with the rebels' list of grievances.
It was a feast day
and our house was full of guests.
The priest read out the first item
and everybody laughed out loud.
My father tore up the list
and drove the beggar away with a stick.
Why?
The peasants claimed, in 12 items,
that we treated them worse than our dogs.
I was 12 years old.
The great peasants' revolt began a month later.
It cost my father's life
and three of our castles were burned and razed to the ground.
Tell the Governor I found nothing more discreet.
Be quick and keep quiet.
What are you waiting for? Hurry up!
Judith's grave has flowers.
Thank you.
The neighbor no longer wants your house.
He's keeping it for you.
You can buy back your land any time.
You know, I can't stay with you.
I know.
What do you want me to do?
Go home.
How will you manage with her?
She's my daughter.
Any news from home?
Nobody judges you.
Not a word against you.
How about you?
Do you judge me?
The Baron's left the convent.
Are you making war for Mother?
No.
For the horses?
No.
César!
Two squads.
Eighteen men.
My men!
We don't take,
we buy.
We pay
the owner.
And we take no gifts.
People give because they're scared.
War grants no right.
Looting, robbing...
lords do it.
But we don't.
Come forward.
Your house was looted.
Show me who did it.
Do you wish to say anything?
Is that your idea of justice?
Hanging your own men?
Is that why you burn and slaughter?
I hear you're about to destroy a whole town.
All these people you're dragging into war,
do they know what awaits them?
What did you tell them?
That Kohlhaas suffered a great injustice?
You're a trader.
Your business is prosperous.
For you,
life is good.
How hard did you try to get justice?
I see your heart is wicked.
I see you dragging all these people
into a war they have nothing to do with.
The sword you carry is not the sword of justice.
You are not a soldier of God.
God has been thoroughly forgotten
in this whole affair.
Kohlhaas,
what awaits you on earth...
is the scaffold.
All of you,
you all know what awaits you on high.
I am honored to meet you.
You know who I am?
I read your Bible...
and I read it to my children.
If everyone acted like you,
order and justice would collapse.
Tell me, what would you do if each of your men
fought for himself
and took the law into his own hands?
You'd say judgment comes from above,
that no man can be the judge of his own cause.
God would help you
if you embraced the suffering He sends you
and learned to bear
the burden of injustice.
A Christian should fight, not with sword and crossbow,
but with the Cross and patience.
His triumph is not domination or power...
but submission and humility.
I have spent my life persuading the Church and princes
to have no fear of us.
All we ask is to be allowed
to live and prosper beside them.
Your revolt...
has done untold damage to our cause.
The woman...
that I loved...
who bore my children...
went to the Princess' palace...
to beg...
for the justice I deserved.
Lay down your weapons.
If the Baron nurses my horses...
For the sake of your faith...
- and your children's. - with his own hands.
For the sake of all the children raised in our beliefs.
If he returns them healthy,
I'll lay down my weapons.
Otherwise?
You say you're grieving for your wife.
You say you're inconsolable.
Don't you know there are ways of overcoming death?
Every living creature has a way...
be it an ant, or a human being.
You have the easiest way.
Don't kill.
Death is a choice.
Don't kill and you don't die.
What you must consider now
is not your strength, which is great,
or your enemy's fault, which is undeniable.
I ask you only to consider
whether you're about to act
in accordance with justice...
and your conscience.
It's all very fine, goading poor folk with words,
but do you ever think of your own death,
of the child you'll leave behind?
Of the thoughts
that will never live in you again?
Never forget...
that we die alone.
You had this all along.
The Princess negotiates.
I don't.
This offer meets all my demands.
I wish the Bible had convinced you
rather than the Princess's arguments.
Would you accept my confession?
Kneel down.
Are you ready to forgive your enemies,
to bring your horses home
and nurse them back to health?
I'm ready
to forgive anyone who has wronged me unknowingly.
But...
as for the Baron...
let me demand that he nurses my horses with his own hands.
Pastor?
Are you denying me peace?
With God, yes.
With the Princess, it's in your hands.
"We, Princess of Angoulême,
Queen of Navarre, sister of the King,
grant Michael Kohlhaas safe passage to attend
a review of his case,
provided that he disarms.
If the court dismisses his complaint,
the aforesaid Kohlhaas
will undergo justice for taking the law into his own hands.
If the court upholds his complaint,
he and his troops will be amnestied
for the acts of violence they have committed
throughout the land. "
A fair trial is what I've been fighting for.
Now we disarm and stop fighting.
Every man goes home.
Nobody will die today.
What about those who already died?
And César?
Amnesty!
I'm laying down my sword!
We're laying down our weapons!
All of us!
You gave in your weapons?
All of them.
Got any children?
No.
A wife?
No.
Sure you kept no weapons?
Not a thing.
Good.
I don't know where to go.
Have you seen Jérémie?
Where's he off to?
Michael Kohlhaas?
Your Majesty.
Do you know who I am?
Father said "Your Majesty. "
Your mother was injured in my palace.
Do you believe I am sorry?
Do you think it was my fault?
The town you were about to destroy
before you laid down your weapons...
I was there.
I had no more soldiers than you.
You had much more to gain than you got by disarming.
I don't want more, Your Majesty.
I only want my due.
Are you a fanatic?
I have principles.
The Baron used his influence to have your case dismissed.
Did you know that?
Yes.
You are like me.
You live as much on the love as on the fear you inspire.
Inspire only fear and you'll be hated.
Only love...
and it will be seen as a mark of weakness.
Today, you're alone,
disarmed,
with a child.
I'd like you to accept a guard:
- Your Majesty, I don't think... - two men,
for your safety until the trial.
The Baron may have found your horses.
They're sickly but alive.
Go and identify them.
The court will have them restored to health.
It is what you wanted.
- You're filling four? - There'll be four:
two mares, two colts.
Are we going to the market?
We're waiting for more guards.
Are you scared for me?
It's orders.
You know the orders.
I do as I want.
A servant of yours didn't disarm. Two lords are dead,
their property stolen and given to peasants.
I have no more servants.
There's an investigation.
The Princess gave me her word.
The Princess has declared the amnesty void.
Does that make me a prisoner?
Get down.
Lisbeth.
Time to go.
Which way is the house?
We'll go the other way.
Lisbeth!
Eat.
I don't want to go live with my aunt.
You can't live by yourself.
I don't even know her.
I do.
What about the house?
What about it?
Can't I live there?
Lisbeth...
it's not possible.
Apples.
From your home.
The neighbor has agreed.
I spoke to him.
He's sent you a letter with the details.
People here pray at all times of day.
The bell rings and they kneel down.
All at the same time.
I'd forgotten that.
We and the Jews are the only ones standing.
What's coming...
is it difficult?
I can't find...
I don't know...
the words...
The Princess interceded.
I won't be torn apart.
Or skinned alive.
Or burned.
Thank God.
Do you know any more?
Yes.
Do you wish to tell me?
No.
The worst thing is certainty.
I'm counting:
each day takes me closer to Judith...
and away from Lisbeth.
It isn't death. Death, I'm getting used to.
I think.
But knowing exactly the day, the time,
the way it will happen...
That's the hardest part.
Kohlhaas...
In the name of Marguerite,
Princess of Angoulême,
Queen of Navarre,
sister of the King,
today I dispense the justice
that you have demanded.
I return to you what was forcibly taken:
your horses.
This is reparation
for your servant.
César had no family.
Give it to someone who needs it.
The reparation for yourself.
Two years in prison for what he did to you.
You got what you wanted.
The two black horses are yours.
Lisbeth...
I know you're angry.
Please forgive me.
I'm lucky with you.
You're brave.
You're hurting my fingers.
I want to go.
Now.
Go with her.
Are we waiting for anything?
No.
Michael Kohlhaas,
now that your rights have been publicly restored,
make yourself ready, for having breached the peace,
to restore the rights of His Majesty the King,
in the presence of his legal representative.
I am ready.