TEN THOUSEND DAYS
Written by
Music
Photography
Cast
translated by usagi. celen
timed by mitbrille
Directed by Ferenc Kósa
You have come a long way, haven't you.
Drink some, István.
István Széles, I used to think that I would be able to read the stars
the day I see happiness on your face.
How long would it take to read them, Uncle Imre.
Well, if we don't count today, since you can only read the stars at night,
adding the Great Bear to it, it would take about 132 days.
Are you sure you've counted right, Uncle Imre?
I think so.
You're a happy man, István Széles.
I work.
I don't have time for such things, Uncle Sándor.
I'm needed here.
You forgot about everything quite fast.
I also went to the sea yesterday.
I slightly lifted my skirt and stood right into the water.
Whether it was summer or winter, hard to say.
Anything could happen to you there.
Take some soup with you, will you.
Don't forget to write to your father when you get to the sea.
There must be some problems at the co-op,
because father kept riding a bike in his sleep.
For a while now I can see that there are too many people
in this country who have too much free time on their hands.
And I'm just trembling here like an engine, running up and down day in day out.
And you said everybody would be happy here eventually.
I never said such nonsense.
You probably read it in the newspaper.
Your duty is to make sure that each and everyone in the co-op gets their own money,
their 10 quintals of grain and potatoes.
This much money, this much grain and this many potatoes...
and you'd think...
Even though you did say we would live in a
world where things are not important, but people are.
It will be like that eventually. You'll see.
Come, stand next to me.
Have you grown recently?
No.
Can you see..
The only thing we do is shrinking.
What does it matter if we're short or tall?
Wood will be 20 Fts cheaper.
Even Lenin used to be a shortie.
They come to me a million times.
Urging me for this and that.
What could I say?
I can feel their problems on my shoulder.
Even farming the soil is about life or death for me.
You have no idea how much it hurts me that all the youngsters leave this village.
We live in the era of the atom.
We'll die like this.
Yea we can argue about how to farm corn. But who cares.
But putting private property into a museum without
anybody getting hurt, now that's important.
Your mother never even got to bathe in a
basin and your son is going to the sea tomorrow.
You can't even expect the river to flow nicer,
or faster.
Even the sun starts going down once it reaches its peak.
Time will do everything, you'll see.
But when?
I'm just a simple peasant.
I'm always reminded how much we paid for the life we're having today.
You're mother has kept this a secret..
but since I thought of it, I'll tell you.
I hung myself.
You're my son, you should know.
When this happened, I wasn't walking not slower nor faster than now.
"To live is the only way and the only escape. "
How much do you want?
12 kg bacon, 100 pengős and 6 quintals of wheat in installments.
And a soap every month for bathing.
You want to bath so often?
Well, here's a string.
Make five strong knots on it.
All right.
And now undo them as fast as you can.
Alright.
Take off your shawl.
Let me see you.
You're still very skinny, darling.
Don't compare her to yourself.
Have you had someone before?
A man whom you slept with.
And has your wife slept with a man already?
My good man...
I wouldn't give a damn for you.
Here's the advance payment.
You'll be in good hands.
I'll visit you at Easter.
Send me a message.
I could get the money by working in about two years.
My mother has already seen it too.
A friend was the one who had seen it first.
It's a nice land and it's also close by.
This winter was so heavy that you could get lost here.
I'll take you my wife.
Alright.
You won't have a good deal with me.
I get tired really fast.
And I don't even have a horse.
I'm just saying.
What's your name?
Usually Juli.
I only have this one friend and mother.
Juli, you will have a good life with me.
Or else I'll die.
Can you trust me?
Well then what could I say?
Nothing.
You can tell everything from the sound.
The one who's chewing makes a clang-clang sound.
When it's just wandering around it doesn't make a sound.
Of course it's not so simple.
We need a bell that doesn't stand out of the rest.
Sometimes I put some soil in it so that it only hits the side.
You have to listen to it from afar, whether the new sound fits the rest of the herd or not.
Every strike sounds three times.
That's why it's so beautiful.
When the sun is way too strong and there's too much heat, you can barely hear anything.
Even though there's many kinds of bells.
You know, the herd would probably just laugh at me.
But I have this dog with me, a black dog. If he sees a bird, he barks right away.
I named him Musician.
You will be a godfather.
Really?
If he's born with two ears, that calf will be his.
A long time ago the stars used to be gods.
But later on when some people were born as heroes..
and they died, they became stars on the sky.
And ever since, every star is a man.
István, we forgot to take the sieve and the kneading tub.
Also the barrel of the sauerkraut.
You know Juli, if we have a son, I'd rather kill him than have him live a poor life.
The time you were born, everything was covered by snow.
You weren't even bathed and your grandmother already was bringing the hoe..
to touch it with your little hands. Be a good worker my son!
But your father didn't let her do it.
He wanted to do something else.
We had a big thick book with a buckle, it was called the Bible.
He put it under your head,
because it had as many letters as the dust around.
Once I read it and it made my eyes hurt so I had to put some soup on them to heal.
And when we slept outside in the barn
I suddenly woke up to this horrible noise.
I couldn't tell if there was a war going on or Mihály Csere was snoring.
I got hungry.
I saw a big yellow pumpkin on the tracks.
I wanted to pick it up..
but it suddenly moved!
"Oh my god, Juli!"
So I threw it on the ground.
There was a hamster in it, standing on two legs like this.
And then he says: "Have you heard that the son on Gyuri
Kígyós was born with an umbrella and a stick in his hand. "
He opened his umbrella and said: "Good morning, Father. "
- So I told him: "Yes, I've heard. " - Ahaha, he must have been a smart kid.
Well, it's done.
Look at the funnel, Grandma.
My god, pagan tricks.
Good morning, Lali.
Answer with a yes or no.
What did you burn yesterday night?
Hay.
How did you get it?
I got it from a friend of mine, Fülöp Bánó.
Go that way!
Good morning.
István.
You had a good hunch, Mr Balogh.
All the clues have led us to him..
and he doesn't even deny it.
What did I not deny?
Come with me.
Poor pigs.
István, please, kneel.
What for?
Admit it, they froze to death.
I don't want to go to court with you but István, ask for forgiveness from it.
Did you go crazy?
Go away!
I'm not angry at you.
István, come on.
Get out of here!
I'm so sorry pig but we burnt your hay..
it was New Year's Eve so..
we got the house hot so that it stays hot all year.
And we listened to music.
Did you hear that, István?
It forgave you.
Amen.
You could all see it now my friends, it's important for the pig to be treated nicely.
It's also a creation of god, just like we are.
And god wants us to live in peace with each other.
Even if god wants you to kneel, you shouldn't do it! Not for anyone! You piece of..
You attack me, don't you!
István!
Come to your senses!
You'll both become miserable!
Don't kill him!
You dare to raise your hand on me!
Mother, go out. - Mother, stay.
And take the kid as well.
If you wish for me to go away or die..
I know.
Why did you marry me.
Because you asked me to.
You have no idea how beautiful you were.
Why didn't you run away from me?
You don't even have a mirror.
We have a son.
And we also have a mirror.
We don't!
I'll go away.
When you sent mother out I thought you'll beat me to death.
Me too.
I'll never hit you again.
If I ever hurt you again, don't bake bread for me.
István...
I can't be angry at you.
I brought this police-guy here.
You can talk to his right ear, I'll talk to the left and then it's all good.
I can't deny it, I'm a bit drunk.
But I've seen a man being thrown into the Danube for something like this.
And it's different if you're angry.
And also different if 90 people stay stubborn
but four won't have to starve.
István has already betrayed us.
They got the job for half of it.
Just because you like to strike more than to work, we won't get any further.
I give you this.
You look alike anyways.
I'll blow you away.
Wait.
I'll show you what to blow.
Stop it!
I'll cut your thing off with these scissors.
Do you think you can just order my Mihály around so easily?
And all that potato that you ate. Right, Mihály?
Don't compliment me so much.
You better tell them not to make me angry.
You're also going your own way.
Even the detectives were asking István..
about where you go every night.
And I told them.
What?
That you're a sleepwalker.
Maybe I'm a sleepwalker.
But if we could hold on till now..
we can hold on till the end.
We're right, that's for sure.
You think the people from the brick factory give a damn about that?
They are laughing at us.
They don't care about your hard work.
I wasn't born to freeze here with an empty stomach.
Come on, Mihály.
Imre.
Do it.
Do not dare to touch me.
Go ahead. Don't be afraid.
Whoever raises a hand at me, I'll kill him.
Come everyone.
Don't be afraid.
Stop!
Come to your senses, for heaven's sake!
Traitors!
You'd work, right? For half the money!
We'll starve without a job.
Beat him hard, don't be soft on him!
How much?
200 pengős.
Not more, not less.
I didn't come to haggle.
I want this horse.
Here's the advance payment.
I'll bring the rest of it from my wife.
What's your name, huh?
You'll see, he'll even say his name with time. Now he's a bit grumpy.
She grabbed a branch of a tree and that's how she gave birth.
And when she was taking me home in her apron,
a cart caught up with her and the man asked her:
"What are you carrying Juli?"
And since my mother was ashamed, she said:
"I caught a small rabbit. "
What are you doing, Juli?
We have to sell it.
István bought a horse.
That's how women are.
They see something fancy and they want to buy it right away.
She even left the kid here.
Luckily I have friends all over the place.
For example... I just met one of them, an architect.
He came from Budapest by car.
"You? Here?" he asks.
"Yes. I just bought a horse. "
He wants to build houses in which all windows face the sun.
I'll call him here when he comes with his car.
You don't even have a wife.
Here's my son.
Son, show the nice man what you can do.
There.
He definitely didn't grow from the ground.
Good boy.
Listen, my good man.
I'll give you back the advance payment, buy something for your son.
Finally at home.
I'm so hungry, I can barely walk.
Don't hurt your poor father.
Let this salt burn your blood,
your liver and your bones.
This is our house.
War don't bother us here.
This is our yard.
Let this salt burn your eyes.
Shoo, shoo.
May the ground swallow you.
Go away, where there isn't a house like this, where there isn't a child like this.
Ask your holy son for us.
Mother, don't sing yet.
Let me spice it up with some politics.
I'll tell you what you have to think about.
For example, there's Karl Marx.
He wasn't from here.
He was a foreigner.
But he really cared about the fate of the peasants.
So what he said was:
Workers of the world, unite.
And he also said that human dignity is more important for a worker than bread.
Don't kneel please.
The 1945/600 law of the government is holy.
Even the bible says: "The land belongs to those who farm on it. "
There are eight categories from today on.
For example:
István Széles belongs to the fourth category.
István, quick, to the storehouse.
He has six acres, and he will get four more.
Or like in 1919, everybody who accepts it will be hung.
I'm the one doing it, I'll be hanged first!
Relax!
Everyone belongs to a category.
From now on we will be like god, we will create a world
and we will be like the world.
Stay back, people!
Stop!
It will all be yours after all.
Stop!
It will all be yours!
I'm not angry at you, István.
Because I'm not important anymore.
But when someone starts something, I can tell how it's gonna end.
Don't ever forget, this land was once mine.
Bánó took it from me!
We're simply categories.
Blind fate decided for us.
Mihály.
I'm not angry at you.
I'm not important anymore.
But don't ever forget, this land was once mine.
Well, Mihály.
Here we go.
Let's see!
Go go, Bánó!
Come on, Fülöp! Eat!
Come on, brother. Eat as much as you can.
You don't like those dumplings!
Come on! You still need to train yourself for this!
Don't bother him.
Eat as much as you want Mihály.
C'mon, more more, c'mon!
Did you get tired?
Bring me some sour pickles.
Too much sweet will give me a stomachache.
And bring some beer, too.
Fülöp Bánó will pay for it anyways.
Don't cheat!
That's yours and this is mine.
You can't eat all those too.
What do you mean all those too!
Let him eat as much as he wants.
Don't give up, Bánó.
Now you have more on your plate than when you started.
Can you still eat, Mihály?
Great.
Here comes the help.
I bring you beer and you're starving here.
Starving?
He nicely finished it.
You haven't eaten a thing since I left.
What?
István, you've seen me eating.
No, I haven't.
Brother, you've seen me eating.
Not really.
Not?
You have more on your plate than before.
More?
Have you lost your appetite, Mihály?
When we were younger you almost ate your boots, too.
Quiet!
The more I think about it, the more certain it is that I WON.
I ate your portion and the pickles as well.
I won!
Penalty!
Catch him, Mihály!
Come on!
Good afternoon.
Who helped you?
Get off or else we will..
Never.
Be quiet, István.
You also know what's the price of ten acres.
Not one grain. You understand?!
Oh my god, how much are they taking?
Are you human!
Shame on you!
We won't have anything but our red eyes after all the crying.
So this is why you gave us the land!
You lousy servant!
And you, you come with a gun to us!
Don't do this Juli néni, or I'll have to do something horrible!
Calm her already, István for god's sake!
Ah, you Bánó!
You're a pagan like your father.
How you betray your own kind!
For god's sake!
Good evening, everyone.
I think it's getting late.
Good night.
Good bye, István.
Good evening.
You see, your mother still brings this picture out.
I have the same.
But you can't tell the city people that you don't.
When I was participating in the demonstration, I saw the poverty.
And a person is the happier the more he can give to others, isn't it so?
I married my wife with three grown children.
Since then we get more kids by the year. I do everything I can.
Because.. I went to a seminar once.. where they said,
the biggest wealth of a human being is the need for another human being.
I've just found this zither.
I've brought it for you.
Take only yours.
Don't touch others' bags.
- Don't pant so much. - How could I not pant? It's very heavy.
Good morning.
You got me in trouble this time.
According to the law I should handcuff you two right here.
Come on, you snotty brat.
This is a police station.
Stand up.
Brother Mihály, what are you doing?
This desk is a desk of the working people.
Then it's mine.
Definitely not yours, is it.
Good morning.
Did your wife go to the market?
No.
I would've gone but this pipsqueak husband of yours summoned me here.
There was a theft.
We only took what belongs to us.
And you got them back. Even the bags themselves.
What more do you want?
We have to set an example to others.
Whatever.
István, tell him not to make me angrier,
or else I'll eat him for breakfast.
Remember that I'm wearing a uniform.
I'll spit the buttons out.
Brother Mihály, I hereby arrest you.
Alright.
Arrest me.
Get off.
I'll blow you away.
Make him stop already brother István, for god's sake!
Help!
Oh my god.
Oh István, I finally found you!
How did it happen?
István, you saw it, didn't you.
I was.. just sitting on the bench.
Nothing I could do.
Quick, fetch the doctor.
Mihály?
Mihály.
Get out of here, or else I'll blow your head off.
How could you?
What kind of man are you!?
Sitting on a bench, watching them!
Did you like them killing each other?
Calm down.
What are you looking at!?
You should be begging me to spit at you!
You'll regret this!
Together!
People!
Shoot!
People!
Colleague.
Can't you speak?
I can.
Does your family know where you are?
We're not allowed to write.
Silly.
Don't be a fool.
How much do you want for a message?
Come on.
What did you do?
A man got shot and... I was an accomplice.
I thought it was about those bags..
Yeah.
I've heard it from a fellow prisoner.
Yeah. Yes.
They sentenced me fot that.
Even though it was a friend of mine who got me in here.
Good afternoon.
Please comrade, take me to my husband.
József Bócza.
Didn't it get cold?
No.
I hurried as I could.
Thank you.
Nothing changed. I mean..
Every day I cook
something that you like.
I already forgot how to cook anything else.
Even your son became just like you.
He even likes the same food..
But.. he recently bought a saxophone.
He's always playing that.
And also.. I donate blood sometimes.
According to the doctor I might gain some weight because of it.
Although he told Mrs Kígyós that she might lose weight because of it..
But they pay pretty well.
They even give me some beer.
I already donated 34 dl.
This morning when I was hammering a wedge I hit my finger and the nail fell off.
This was the ninth time it happens.
I don't know if I had told you.
I put a leaf of fig on it. That's what they call it.
It has like... a big and yellow flower.
And big leaves.
It helps.
I was so glad that the Olympics have ended.
We listened to the radio broadcast.
And I was rooting for all.
They were all serious people and they all really wanted to win.
But only one can win..
so no use having my fingers crossed for all of them.
I was so glad that the Olympics finally ended.
At first we were expecting a letter from you.
But Fülöp said that there is no mail in this area.
Sometimes he comes over... and it's like in the old days.
He brings the stool and sits on the porch and keeps quiet.
He arranged the dormitory for our son, Pista as well.
In the spring when Stalin died even the bus was late.
I just remember that there was such a great war that we cried.
Since she became a widow, nobody heard a word from the wife of Mihály Csere anymore.
Not even her father.
Oh.. what happened these days.
Our dog disappeared.
But then we found it again.
You know, a lot of people say hi over the fence.
My husband's trial was when we had a weekly market in the village.
And they transferred the sound on a cable to the marketplace.
Everyone heard it.
When they got to know that I'm visiting you
a whole crowd saw me off at the station.
Even Fülöp Bánó and half of the village too.
Mother told me that the trees are blooming. And in my dreams it's always raining.
Oh what am I saying.
Say something.
They take good care of me here.
Good evening.
They just let me out.
I'd come over sometime, Uncle Imre.
István.
I thought I'd not live by the time you come home.
At first, I often dreamed about you.
And well.. we were talking in my dream.
Now it only happens about once a month.
Did they hurt you there?
Oh, no.
I even got paid for my work.
They just deducted the price for keeping the guards.
Why are you crying, mother?
I'm too old.
But I bought you something for Christmas, a tie for
the first one and then glasses for the second one.
It looks the same as the one of Fülöp Bánó.
Or even better!
In the first year we didn't even know where you were.
Your son was looking for you all over.
Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to live like that.
He already worked through two summers.
We even bought that land from Ács, the one you always wanted.
See? We're always waiting for you with dinner.
Last Thursday we bought a new barrel.
In the spring we bought an electric iron.
Two brooms.
In March our Bimbo had pups.
But a different doctor gives them the injections now.
And the new fashion is nylon.
I don't even dare to tell you, our cow disappeared.
We looked all over the forest for it with your son.
And mother sat in front of the barn all night so that
in case the cow came back, he would be welcomed.
She was really waiting for it all night.
István.
Heh, I became a lord..
.. to hell with me.
I don't wake up early in the morning anymore like I used to.
In there I had time to think about everything.
I went to Mihály's place before going home.
I was really hoping they wouldn't ignore me.
Come on, don't bug yourself about this.
Why did you get in prison in the first place?
Did you hurt anyone? That's what we should be thinking about!
Were you the one who got my son into university?
Because you have connections through me!
Can't you be a bit more quiet?
No! My friend is here!
Good evening.
I mean, good morning.
Is it really you!
We even cried with my husband when they took you in.
Don't pity him so much.
There were the prisoners and the guards.
Didn't need to kiss ass to anyone.
They told him what to do. End of story.
Why did you even care?
When they took you in, your mother fell.
She fractured her bone.
She ate like this.
She was in so much pain.
But she still came to the field and picked up a hoe to farm the land.
She always said, when she works on the land, she doesn't feel the pain.
In all this chaos I got one more son again!
I named him after you.
Where is he?
Good morning, uncle.
Good morning.
Don't cry you little dummy.
Everyone dies with their last thought in mind.
Mihály Csere wanted to go home. And that's that.
They accused me of being a traitor.
Because I cried in front of everyone even though I was a communist.
You know it best that I have never cried.
You've changed.
Yes I have.
I don't worry anymore.
Although that's what we need here. Nervous people.
Where's the policeman?
I remember comrade Rákosi once drove by a taxi here.
They came with those agents in leather coats and searched my house.
Say, you live in Budapest?
Yes.
At which number?
16.
Then you must know my godfather.
'Coz he lives right there at 14.
He's Christian.
And when I was taken, they stripped me naked.
Tell me, what kind of world will we live in now?
Do you know that guy in the cap?
I've heard this and that about him.
Well, yes, but..
He's a communist, isn't he?
Yes, I am.
Yea, right now he claims to be.
But he took on many jobs.
He had been a shepherd, construction worker, played the zither.
The devil only knows.
Actually, I don't really care.
Because he took all my crop to the last grain.
He slept at the mill.
Because this is my kind, we would do anything for our children.
My son is also an architect.
He's studying to be an architect.
He's also participating in the uprising.
I sent him a telegraph that his mother is dying.
Do you think he came home?
Tell him straight in the face, what do these kind of people deserve!
But Fülöp Bánó right there is a decent man.
Officer, will you show respect to this good man or you want a bullet in your head?
That guy in the cap has as many children as rabbits do.
I've seen it.
We went to his house looking for the police officer.
He threw a bucket of swill in my face.
The truth is that the policeman shot Mihály Csere,
but they still put this guy in prison.
Just because he was sitting there on the bench.
Really?
Well, I didn't exactly spend my 852 days on vacation.
Maybe you were the one who was knocking on my wall at night?
Let's get them naked.
Make them eat this bread like pigs.
Young man, we respect each other here.
You said that this revolution is ours.
Right is on the side of those who have weapons.
But something's not right.
Strangers have yet never come to farm our lands.
But they always come to do what they want to.
Take it.
You're right.
Shoot them.
Don't worry, nobody will hold you responsible.
What are you waiting for?
Come out of the water!
What's up old man? Did you chicken out?
Silence!
I'll shoot whoever tries to defend them.
Also the ones who make a sound.
Got it?
Come on!
Oh my god.
Turn around.
Come on!
Aren't you scared?
And what do you care?
On your knees.
Stand up.
Stop.
If you don't kneel, I'll shoot all of them.
Got it?
Listen to me, boy.
Don't you know that those suffer more who are alive?
Because I bought a house on the corner?
A rocking chair?
I'm just asking you kid, what kind of humanism is this
that you want to gain by shooting and killing?
And you put my father behind bars.
Me?
You people!
Be quiet.
If I haven't held back Mihály Csere at least I could've stopped the policeman.
Nonsense!
I believed in what I did.
Even the inquisitors did, that's how they sent people to burn on the pyre.
Would have been better if they had doubts.
I always had doubts, too.
I went against a shotgun with a bucket of swill.
Revolution?
I knew it from the first moment that it's all just a farce.
Oh because you're so smart after patching up things!
You think you're so great because you chickened out before anything happened?
Watch your mouth!
You should just be quiet! You plot something like mother is dying
and send me 20 telegraphs of it?
Oh you brat,
I won't go not even to your funeral.
Stay Fülöp.
When everything calms down you can go home.
If somebody wants to change this world by hurting my or others' dignity...
He will die in a ditch and will be eaten by flies.
You should've seen the guys in Budapest...
fighting for you to breathe clean air.
They weren't as wise as you here.
They just died anonymously.
And I'll never get to go back to university..
because they would spit at me or strangle me if I did!
Because I left them for you!
Somebody please throw mud in my face!
Pista, for god's sake!
Your hair is still wet!
You'll catch a cold!
Please take off your hat, uncle Imre.
Grab the fish.
Just put your hat on the ground.
Please look into the camera.
And smile. Smile please.
Done.
Comrades, I invite you all to a pint of beer.
Come with me, please.
You can take on harder work as well.
Even this winter, there was barely any music.
We collected wood,
cut off branches.
Even his finger got broken.
Luckily only on my right hand.
I put it in a splint and pissed on it, 'coz it heals faster.
Drink up.
The people I was with on the mountain, they sang with motionless faces.
True, Juli?
True.
I'd hire you for some work.
You'd be treated well.
I'd always tell you what to do.
I can't go without my wife.
But I already have my wife to do all the women's work.
I'd give you potatoes, corn, a piglet, some money.
You could even play some music.
I'm clean as a tear.
Come and check my neck.
Take a good look at her teeth too.
Mind your own business.
Why are you just standing here!?
Damn you!
I'll kill him.
Don't hurt your poor father.
A peasant can't tell the soil that he's tired.
Probably I had too much water.
I thought I'd kill him!
Hit him with that hoe.
I've never felt such a thing in my entire life.
Don't worry, boy.
But he is my father!
Once I also attacked him with a knife.
You were a small kid back then.
At least he listens to you!
Ah I wish.
I've been telling him forever that this dirty land makes us all crazy!
I feel sorry for your mother.
Even though your father is not a bad man.
Last Sunday he wanted to buy that musician... like a can of oil.
This is why I wanted the co-op 15 years ago.
Make one!
With a hoe, a rake and a horse?
Godfather! You're a communist.
Tell me, why is this country cursed?
Why is everyone here scared of responsibility?
Why can't we do anything? Why is everything happening so slow!
It's hard to be a communist.
Even if I'm right, I can't just shout it out to the world.
And if I say it softly, nobody will hear it.
Even so you have to do it!
Till you die!
Look at this river.
It made its own path.
And ever since it only flows where that path lets it flow.
And a flood would always hurt people. Hurts a lot.
Why aren't you sleeping?
I was watching the river Tisza.
Why do you meddle in my affairs?
I know what to do even without your opinion.
If you don't go back to university,
I'll strangle you with my own hands.
I think I deserve this much.
For 23 years I slept like this on the threshold...
so that the plank hurts my waist and so I won't want to sleep more than 3 hours.
For 23 years I always said hi before anyone else.
Now I finally became my own master.
I have a piece of land that would finally make me a living.
And now they want to give me some kind of pension!?
Till now at least I had something to be envious about!
But if they take away my land, I will have nothing to be envious about!
Come on, uncle Sándor, who did envy you for anything.
Everyone! Every one of them!
What could I possibly earn with these two hands of mine at this age!
I did the math! 2 loaf of bread, 1 stack of tobacco,
1 box of matches and 1 pinch of salt daily.
Is that what our lives are worth!?
And it's you who wants us to give them all we have!
Old age takes away our hair, tooth, peace of mind and eyesight.
But to give away our own nature.. our motivation!
Who was ever born to this soil won't be able to die on a bed.
You've seen it when my son-in-law was shot!
What did he fall on?
On this ground.
Fülöp Bánó is blind because he couldn't get anything.
But you must be able to see how these people are trembling!
We tremble more than what we have reason for, it's not that cold.
Didn't you hear it on the radio yesterday.
About this King Lear who had three daughters.
He went on a horseback into this great storm and they all died in the end.
Just because he gave away his land.
You let my son-in-law get killed, didn't you.
And I have paid the price for it.
I bought four little acres of land this autumn.
If I can't reap what I sowed, I'll die! You want that?
Help me take off my shirt, let's show him.
I have eight bullets in my body.
I put all my energy into my land.
Take a good look.
But if they drive some machine on my land,
I'm sure my blood will leave my body.
I wrote a letter to Comrade Kádár.
I gave it a title and called him 'My friend'.
Please let my land be mine,
I'm the kind of man who thinks of others as well.
So please, think of me as well. If possible, I'm staying.
Sincerely, Mihály Papp, 48 Main Street.
In the answer he wrote he has no problem with that.
Nobody can feel this pain of giving away his land more than me.
But a better future awaits us.
And we must initiate.
Fülöp Bánó told me about communism.
That kind of future is just a dream.
But it's as pure as glass.
It's a dream, but the things are reality that we sacrifice for it.
On paper, communism is a beautiful thing.
And the paper is patient, but humans are not.
But you sent me away
to go away as far as possible from the land.
This is from your mother.
Soup. Eat up.
You know what a man needs to live?
27 square meters of natural environment.
Grass and trees.
Where I live, there's not even 1/10 of that.
Every year 700 tons of soot per square kilometre gets deposited.
That's what we get.
If you just held your hand like this for a while it would get covered by soot.
We either get buried under it or push it all away.
Yes.
If something happened to your mother.. me too.
By the time you get something you want
you loose your peace of mind, teeth and eyesight.
Yesterday evening I met with the elders.
They took their clothes off. They said they trust me.
This is the first time in my life somebody said something like that to me.
Is this seat available?
Please.
Should I let them down?
There isn't a good reason to stay.
Imagine it like we are all connected by wires.
If you do something, I can also feel it.
Other as well. Many people.
But that's exactly why it's worth it.
They are forming a co-op in the village.
I know.
I wanted to ask you something.
I just answered it.
I'm not a wire.
I was your father.
Even you can see that all we did was going in circles.
We must break this vicious circle at all cost.
Because if we don't, our descendants will go in the same circle.
You promised that you would go from house to house with me and tell them.
Did you get scared?
Do you need some diapers perhaps? What kind of man are you?
If we gave away our lands to a museum
and stay human as we are,
noone would get hurt at all.
And then they would remember us even in a hundred years!
It would be thought of as a miracle, trust me.
The peasants who live on the shores of the river Tisza
don't expect strangers to act instead of them.
I believe you that
communism is as pure as glass.
But we are still far from it.
What are we going to see of it?
Should we sacrifice our lives and keep on working on the land just like till now?
Maybe they will plant some flowers on our bones in a hundred years from now.
Enough of the preaching.
If we won't have a land not anything else... what will we have instead?
We will have a world where the important things are not objects but human beings.
And is it so urgent to get this world that you wouldn't mind sacrifices?
Your mother was screaming too when she gave birth to you.
I think of it like how I think of embers.
It gives heat but I don't touch it because it would burn me.
It doesn't burn!
People!
Look here people! I'm holding it in my hand and it doesn't burn!
Look!
It doesn't burn me.
Put some bacon fat on it.
Coward!
Coward.
Juli.
When those strangers come in here, ask them:
Why am I a coward?
Why did Fülöp Bánó curse me?
When they were taking people to war
I stood on the courtyard of the barracks with a thousand other men.
A truck drove in.
Ten men in monochrome got off of it.
The commander said: "Here are ten prisoners.
Ten men can stay home instead of them. "
"Those who have ten or more children, step up. "
Two of them stepped up.
"Those who have nine children, step up. "
Three of them stepped up.
I was looking at you back then.
You were standing at the fence with a watermelon in your arms.
"Those who have eight children, step up. "
And I thought to myself "I only have one son.. "
".. but for his sake, it's better if I stay home. "
"They'll either shoot me or not. " So I stepped up.
You didn't cry.
I will never forget that.
Fülöp Bánó already had four children by then.
He stayed there.
He didn't ask for war, but they still took him.
Which one of us was the coward?
István, I wasn't standing by the fence.
And you have never told me about this.
I came because Lenin had written that nobody could force you to anything.
You could really understand that my husband is only human as well.
Where else could you have been if not there?
This happened at 11:30 AM.
There were fifty suns on the sky.
I was thinking.. if there were enough bricks
around, I'd throw them all up to the sky
right into the sun.
Whether it was summer or winter, hard to say.
Well... the other day I dropped this plate.
It fell on it's edge and it kept rolling and rolling.
But it doesn't even have a crack.
I don't know if I've already told you.
A letter had come from your son. I put it under the salt shaker in the morning.
They are coming, my son.
I had no idea that the fig tree had those big yellow flowers and large leaves.
Good morning.
István Széles, we know that it's a hard decision.
Because everyone clings to the things they have created.
But this small country of ours can only progress
if we change it from the roots.
We can't do it with speeches. Nor lies. Nor cowardice.
We need people who act and sacrifice everything in order to have a better world.
What you're saying refers to the whole world. I'm only 70 kgs of that.
But I won't be a coward.
Where do I sign?
Here, please.
Go back home, everyone.
There's no use standing here anymore.
Everyone!
Be quiet.
Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
Then we will become really strong.
Mother, where's István?
I have no idea.
Oh my god, István!
Mother, please go out.
Everyone, go back home.
This is my business.
Why do you even ask if I had grown lately?
Who cares?
On that day when you came to me to Budapest
I said only what I could say.
Or - or. Because what had I seen till then, father?
The more you gained the less good words you had for each other.
This world kills you when you're trying to do your purest best.
You got knocked to the ground so that I could stand up straight.
I'm uneasy ever since yesterday.
I always imagined seeing the sea according to those ten thousand days beforehand.
And I'll just run right into it, forgetting even my name.
But you told me yesterday that we had less time than worries.
You left a strange legacy to me.
Strange responsibility.
When we got the land grandmother ate a piece of it as if it was bread.
When I was born she wanted to touch a hoe with my hands
so that I'd always love the soil.
But I feel as if the whole earth was mine.
The sea lies right before me.
Even this is mine. In a strange way I can feel it with wide-open eyes
that I continue as a body in the outside world.
Not in the grass, not in the trees. But in all of it.
I'll write again tomorrow.
THE END