Shükür-Baghshi
Hey, people ...
God and Evil are at odds in the world.
Will God be preserved in our descendants?
Or will people again bury the hearts of heroes in the earth?
The earth has long been sated with their blood.
Hasn't it choked?
Ruins of past generations.
The year 1871
Shükür-Baghshi was the name of the musician whom this tale is about.
As the sun circles the earth from sunrise to sunrise,
so Shükür-Baghshi shines in the history of the people.
It was not long ago, but the story is eternal.
The flow of everyday life is what makes history.
???
Mamed-Yar Khan of ancient Iran
conquered and plundered Turan that day,
the neighbouring kingdom of the Khan Chapyk-batyr.
A sheep's body was raised on a pole
An alarming sign: the wolves are ransacking the area.
They know the two-legged wolves in these regions.
On that day, and at that very hour
Chapyk-batyr Khan gave the order to plunder their temple.
No wolves were met at the pass.
Therefore the war was put off for another day.
As if hesitating: should there be fire on earth this evening?
"Shükür-Baghshi" [cut]
Hear ye, hear ye!
The all-powerful Khan orders everyone to attend the contest today.
Our noble Mamed-yar Khan
wants you to pick the winner.
Tell them that if the Türkmen wins,
Shükür's brother will be set free.
You yourself can decide who ...
Our noble Mamed-yar Khan
wants you to pick the winner.
Tell them that if the Türkmen wins,
Shükür's brother will be set free.
and our ruler will reward that one.
Tell them that if the Türkmen wins, Shükür's brother will be set free.
Our Khan doesn't begrudge anything!
He would even let his enemy go in peace ...
What does Mamed-yar remind me of?
* Chapyk-Khan?
If Gülam plays his best and beats the enemy
tomorrow let him have the best girl in Türkmenistan.
The Khan has a new robe.
It's very nice.
Gülam will play first.
Excuse me for saying so, Khan, but I already played.
Let the guest begin.
* Tell me brother: are only you and I brothers in this country?
* Our Gülam will teach this stranger.
* It can't be done. I don't believe it.
* For if that is so, life on earth is senseless.
* Keep up with him, Gülam! Who d'you think'll win?
* I'm not thinking about that, I'm listening.
There's as many pilosophies as people in the earth.
Not even Allah knows which is the true one.
That's why He never interferes in the affairs of the people.
For there'd be no order on earth.
It's necessary to rule with a firm hand.
Let me give you an example, Yusup.
See this nest?
Whatever you say about it, I'll prove the opposite.
You destroyed these creatures' world, Khan.
That means you used your power poorly.
But these birds have overpopulated my garden.
If they have their way, they'd build a nest in my turban.
Doesn't that remind you of people?
Your comparison isn't bad.
But it'll turn against you.
You're mistaken.
And that's understandable, for power blinds people.
If there were no birds in the world, this garden wouldn't be here.
People are like birds. They rarely disrupt the peace.
They're busy creating Good on earth.
Perhaps, they don't need a ruler at all for that?
True, people are accustomed to having one.
But it's possible that at first rulers were just.
But various people came to power ...
The mistake was making in hereditary.
For each family
has its fool,
Khan.
Not bad!
Now Gülam begins.
Guard!
Tell me who was right today - Yusup or I?
Oh, God!
I can't, by God!
God, why don't you answer?
Oh God, I can't serve this way!
You've turned my head into stone and blinded me.
I'm used to that like an owl to darkness.
But now you yourself are going blind.
You let Yusup into our kingdom.
Together with him you let light into the kingdom.
He's a stranger, he blinds us.
All is spinning and cracking, the world is shaking ...
You're about to fall off the cliff.
What?
I don't want to die!
Repeat what you just said!
Kill Yusup!
Before it's too late.
Preserve the peace created by God! Or we'll all perish!
Kill him!
Shut up, jackal!
Do you imagine since I didn't answer Yusup, that he's right? [cut]
Neither of the dutarists won the first part of the contest.
It was a draw.
So, we'll continue our dispute, Yusup.
I arranged this contest to demonstrate the law of life.
Life is a contest: the strong win, the weak perish.
People have adapted themselves to this.
The majority, like this man, began serving the strong.
Others try to gain victory at the expense of the rival.
Look at my people, Yusup.
They're not happy that it was a draw.
They want to see someone defeated.
???
Now the musicians will pick a theme and compose music.
Gülam-baghshi will compose a song about the Khan's robe.
The Khan is a tree
and his subjects the roots;
the stronger the roots, the farther the branches spread.
Oh musician! Why d'you live in poverty?
Talent is good when it feeds the musician.
???
The Khan is a tree, and his subjects the roots ...
the roots are ???
entrusted ???
Silence!
You're a moth, Gülam. And your music is like the whir of wings!
And your thoughts and aspirations are like the flight of the moth around a flame.
But not with the twang of the strings nor fluttering of wings did you or it block off the sun from us.
You don't know,
the sun has a different light,
and this is only a torch which burns.
The second part of the contest ended as the first:
a draw!
* Aziz!
* Now Gülam will surely win.
Can Shükür play like I just have?
No, honoured Gülam.
You have me there.
Gülam won the third part of the contest.
Now Gülam begin! The fourth part of the contest!
The musicians must keep up with the tambourine.
And whatever happens, they must continue playing.
* Look, one of Gülam's strings has snapped!
Stop the contest!
Better post your horsemen or the crowd'll trample us, Khan!
The people are demanding justice!
"The contest must be stopped."
What is justice, Jusup?
Look at these musicians!
They're both possessed by the desire for fame!
The one who isn't afraid to be unfair, will win.
According to the rules, whatever happens, the musicians must continue playing.
He isn't fair, but he's right, Yusup.
In trying to achieve fame, Shükür won't stop at anything.
??? Yusup
But what is his unfairness in comparison to that of this crowd?
Can you stop an avalanche?
Can you stop the people whose fame you are taking away?
They don't give a damn that Shükür is right,
they'll tear him apart before he touches the wings of victory.
They are unjust, but they are also right.
It's the same with my power:
even when unfair it is sometimes just.
Stop, Shükür! Don't disgrace our people!
Stop the contest!
Kill him!
I should stop.
Let the Khan speak!
Whatever happens the musician must keep on playing!
Oh mighty God! Help me beat this boy!
And I'll declare him a great musician myself!
I must win!
* He's playing on one string!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
19, 20
* What're you doing! Why're you setting Gülam's on fire?
* How could you disgrace our musician?
Shükür-baghshi will begin the last part of the contest!
* No, we're not the only brothers in this country!
Are you afraid that Shükür will win? What if he does?
The main person in a contest is who arranged it!
I have a goal and I'll attain it ...
If Gülam wins,
then my people will go off to war inspired.
If Shükür wins,
they'll go revengeful ...
In my song I'll tell you how and why I came here.
Uncle Shükür has come! How happy we are!
- Well, who's first? - Me, me!
My little ones!
Why'd you take Uncle Shükür's dutar?
Boy, you are getting heavy!
Look what I've brought you.
- Give me the dutar! - No, I won't!
Catch!
I'm going to play it!
No, let's play together.
Has something happened? Why're you so sad?
Is everything all right?
Where is my brother?
Don't cry. We'll get him back.
Many are returned from captivity.
He'll never come back! My heart tells me so.
They free those for whom relatives intercede ...
He has a brother, Shükür!
Shükür won't lift a finger to help his brother.
You're wrong to talk about Shükür that way.
I know him better. His only interest is to play at weddings.
The world is cruel, not gentle.
In it the strong rule the weak.
People's pain and grief have been infused in my blood since birth.
People continue to be hostile to this day.
To this day power is idolized!
You didn't help them make peace, cruel world.
O world of feuding people!
You are as a turbulent river.
I, with all my pain and passion tell you, you are cruel.
No, the world is great, fine and human!
There streams run, waterfalls tumble over cliffs ...
The ants are hustling to and fro,
and the spring birds are offering up songs to the rays.
The world doesn't live in fear. Not in humbleness or repentant.
It is blossoming and full of odours, bitter and spicy.
It calls man and beast to rocky meadows!
Why does it make the soul cruel and the honest sin.
Our poverty oppresses us. The sun bakes us.
And even the wind, suddenly arisen, blows fire, not fresh air.
Honour, work, love were all carried away in a whirlwind. A sea of tears groans and heaves.
A thief has robbed us. But he didn't steal our reason.
And passion and will have been ripening in us for centuries.
Let the hand be burned, that is used to ruling, and destroyed a happy world,
the game of children ...
Oh people, unfortunate children!
How will this discord end?
No Turk nor Kurd will be left, the wind will cool our blood.
You'll bring eternal shame upon ourselves.
Not the fiery stars, nor the birds will remain ...
I don't think bitterness has led you so far astray. My people hate evil.
Thank you, Shükür. You're a real musician.
When you play, it raises goosebumps.
Your dutar plays as if the devil were sitting in it!
Couldn't it be transfered to my dutar?
No Bakhshi would refuse that.
Yes, you play well, Shükür.
One could listen to you and even forget the evening prayer.
But today we aren't gathered to relax.
We've got a problem.
Listen to us.
Let the elders speak first.
All week this is all we can talk about!
It's time we stopped talking and did something!
Right! Catch the enemy unawares!
- We could settle it peacefully. - How?
Two regiments must go behind the enemy lines.
Quiet!
Don't talk all at once!
- Shükür doesn't want to fight. - Let him stay behind then ...
- He wants to forget his brother. - We don't need him.
Don't shout - we can't hear!
The horsemen don't get riled up over nothing, Shükür. [* They want to pay back the enemy for the tears of orphans.]
Let me speak, Chapyk-Khan.
Now let's hear the opinion of the elders.
Shükür-can,
you have enough money. With it I hope we can free your brother.
I agree.
Because you're not a man!
Are you afraid of the enemy? Shame on you!
- Why begin a war? - We can hold our own!
The old men are right! - Shut up!
- Must you always shout? - I don't know any other way.
But you can learn!
Stop shouting!
Cowards! They're merciless!
Why tell me? I know better than you what war is!
Hey, young squirts! Be quiet!
Aren't you ashamed?
Why don't you speak, Shükür? It's time you said something.
What can I say ...
My brother's been taken captive, men.
I thank you for supporting me
in this hour of trial.
Only I don't know ...
Can we allow hundreds of men to go to their death to save one man?
Is that fair?
I like the way you play your dutar better than your tongue.
Don't you understand that our people need to defend their honour?
There are others besides our brother being held captive.
You've always been our pride, our fame, Shükür.
But our people must also be known as courageous.
Calm down. Don't lose your heads!
What're you saying? Our people are suffering!
It seems Shükür hasn't enough grief.
Why can't I speak like Chapyk-Khan?
He's hoping this campaign will bring him glory.
But people believe him, not me.
I'm a musician. I know nothing about war. You decide.
Mamed, have 200 horsemen wait at the pass!
Wait for me, Mamed!
I want to go too! I want to fight!
We'll fight to music.
- Look, there's my brother. - And mine too.
I wonder if a dutar can do the same as a horse and sabre?
What'd you say?
I wonder if a dutar could replace a sabre?
The dutar is more valuable that a sabre at a wedding.
Perhaps it could be of use now.
Music in a war?
What wouldn't I give so that boy might laugh together with his father again.
* Hey, Shükür!
Where is your sabre?
Why're you hitting me?
Hit Shükür - he doesn't have a sabre either.
Shükür,
where is your sabre?
Friends!
I ...
I brought my dutar rather than a sabre.
I want to try to save my brother with its help.
Only with music, with my dutar ... ???
If it doesn't work,
then it's your turn.
Shükür's talking nonsense.
What're you up to?
Even a child knows that a dutar is an instrument of loafers blissfully lying in the shade.
You are brave, Shükür. But you reason like a coward.
There never was an instance when musicians not troops went on a campaign!
And conquered the enemy not with weapons but with music.
Only slaves entertain the conqueror, Shükür-Khan!
- Shükür thinks a lot of himself! - Why fuss about him!
Let him stay behind if he's afraid.
* Shükür is right; why spill blood if we don't have to.
* Let him go and try to free his brother.
They say Mamed-yar-Khan is fond of music.
Wrong, he loves to fight more.
I'm sure Shükür is just joking.
- What a time to joke. - What're you waiting for!
Shükür, you were joking, weren't you?
I won't go with you. We walk different paths.
When you say homeland and honour, I hear combat and plunder.
You need war and plunder, not us.
The people don't see this, but I'll explain it to them ...
Listen!
We mustn't pay for all the offenses with fire and blood.
I'm dying ... don't be afraid.
Don't cry.
Stand up and tell the people.
May my words be understood even by morons.
Tomorrow you'll bury me in the earth to rest eternally.
I want gardens to grow and birds to sing over my grave.
Over my grave
* But nothing will grow in this earth ...
It is drenched ...
It is drenched in blood.
We are guilty before our fathers.
Our grandsons will be guilty before us.
And it will be thus eternally if man doesn't grasp ...
that work, water and earth bring happiness!
I listened and thought: if a boy could tell the people ...
Adults invented war and taught children to play it.
If only people understood his words!
Adults invented this game!
Would there be less graves?
And children become adults!
... red, black, blue ... no, black!
* The old man is delirious. Take the boy away from him.
* Take the boy away!
Don't die!
Grandpa!
Take the children away!
* Nothing good will come of this, Shükür!
Shükür, you got your way. But is wasn't due to you.
I can't violate the old man's last wish.
But if you don't succeed,
then the Khan of Tehran will have to deal with me!
After me, horsemen.
Oh Allah! Don't let there be war!
You've already taken all my sons.
Help, Shükür! Let his courage stave off misfortune!
May all who kill burn in hell!
The great Mamed-Khan stops the contest!
I don't know this song ...
The stranger has won.
And these sheep listened to him all agape.
They even forgot that he is their enemy.
Could I have been mistaken?
No, that's not possible!
Of course I was right.
Outstanding, Shükür!
People are cattle: they're ready to follow anyone.
He wins who isn't afraid to be unfair.
Your Khan said that if you lose
he'd make war on us.
In order to get control over the people again
I must ignite them with hate and pride.
And if I say that you didn't win? Then what?
I must take a risk. I'll make fate serve me.
What then? War?
Only thus can I turn the joy of this crowd into hatred. In that lies the might of my power.
Who do you think would win the war?
Khan, if there's a war it'll be a great misfortune.
War always takes the lives of many peope.
The courage of two people will result in a great disaster.
I know this as does everybody, but no one can say who'll win.
All right, so you won, Shükür.
Why isn't anyone celebrating your victory then?
Why has the judge forgotten his duty?
Stop!
Shükür, you stripped my people of their honour.
And I must get it back for them.
In order to do that there'll be a new contest.
And my instrument won't be a dutar, but a sabre.
I hope that your Khan can handle one well.
So, to begin the new contest,
I must say that you lost.
Forgive me! But otherwise your Khan won't come.
Don't you agree?
Judges, burn Shükür's dutar.
What's the matter, Shükür?
Why do you look so sad?
You won, and the winner has the right to play the victory song.
Play! Entertain us!
Play!
I want gardens to grow over my grave ...
Hey, people!
... for it is drenched in blood!
We are guilty before our fathers!
Our grandsons will be guilty before us.
Thus it will be eternally if man doesn't grasp
that work, water and earth bring happiness!
That's not fair!
Shükür won!
- Keep your word! - You're not just, Khan!
We don't want war!
On your knees, bastards!
No, that won't work now.
But how to rule them then? I must be strong.
I must turn it into a joke, otherwise they'll revolt.
???
Well, Shükür, it seems my people have taken to you.
Believe me, Khan, I didn't come here to pick a fight,
but to relay the good wishes of my people.
I knew that they would understand.
You're brave, but admit that my joke scared you.
Don't fear, I'm always just.
Release him.
- Soon they'll be home. - His day finally came.
Good man, Shükür! You saved your brother!
Long live Shükür!
* Don't be downcast, Gülam. See how happy these brothers are!
Don't be angry with me, Gülam.
I couldn't do otherwise. You understand.
I came for my brother.
I thought you had already left.
Why should I be angry? It was right.
Look at the river: can it go back to its source?
Nor can I begin life again.
???
I burned ...
like your moth.
Oh well, you'd better be going, they're waiting for you.
Good-bye, Shükür.
Let's go.
The earth is still steeped in blood and ashes.
But hope has again returned.
Again the sun has come out after so many nights.
And the earth has given people a stream.
And the stream has turned into a wide river.
It sweeps away stones in its way.
And they settle on its bottom. * The stream became a river, irrigating the crops.
Hey, people!
Work, water and earth bring happiness!
People!
The End
Film Studios Türkmen-Film
Engl. subtitles transcribed and re-synched by serdar202@KG 2017