ARSENAL
The revolution epic story in 7 acts
A VOUFKOU production - 1928
Screenplay and director A. DOVJENKO
Cinematography D. DEMOUTSKI
Oh, a mother had three sons.
There was a war.
The mother doesn't have three sons any more.
I killed a crow.
The weather is nice. Niki.
You've missed your aim, Ivan.
There exist gases that amuse a human soul.
Where is the enemy?
2nd act
Everything rushed and buzzed along Ukrainian paths.
Give back, foe, our Ukrainian coats!
And give back our Ukrainian boots!
For three hundred years I was tortured by the damned Katsap.
Is it about me?
Arrived at the post, at "Volynskyi".
I can't go further, comrades.
Here is a slope. The breaks broke.
- You'll take us away? - No.
- You drive? - No.
Calm down, lads.
We'll fix the breaks by ourselves.
By the name of the Ukrainian People's Republic,
lay down the weapons!
By the name of the Ukrainian nation?
Who said that?
How to steer the train?
Move, GHavrylo!
Hey, move, Havrylo!
Hey, move, move up, Havrylo!
Turn the piston!
I will become an engine operator.
Who?
Demobilized soldier from the Arsenal.
I have an honour to come back.
Ukrainian?
Deserter?
Go back, Timish, to the barracks.
The time will come
and revolution committee will call you.
3rd act
Let us pray to God
for our God-saved free
mother-Ukraine...
Orthodox people!
Gymnasia pupils!
Students!
Teachers!
Co-operators!
Actors!
Long live Ukraine!
Long live!
For three hundred years we were...
Christ will rise from the dead!
Christ has risen from the dead!
Do you know who Bohdan Khmelnytskyi was?
One of the Khokhol's generals.
Soldiers!
The Central Council calls upon you!
I wonder, can we kill bourgeois and officers
on the street if we meet them?
Distinction between "Ukrainian" and "non-Ukrainian".
And you are Ukrainian?
Yes, a worker.
4th act
We have the congress here as good people do.
First Pan-Ukrainian congress.
This is that Ukrainian presidium,
which the teacher told us about.
The representative of the Bolsheviks is taking the floor.
We, workers, we support Ukraine too,
but we demand factories and The Soviet power!
Let us see
how you will commit the self-justice
over unarmed representatives of workers and peasants!
Well, good, you say that the power is Ukrainian,
than whom land belongs?
And land belongs to lords or peasants?
The floor is taken by general Ataman Symon Petliura.
Gentlemen, we have received
the greeting from the Black Sea Fleet.
"Do not lie to our brothers and sons,
because they'll see soon your reality
and you will be cursed by all Ukraine's sons."
"Do not rely on the Black Sea Fleet,
because we will be the first ones
who will aim twenty-inch guns at you."
Gentlemen, this is mistake... I'm voting, gentlemen.
Who is for to consider this a mistake?
Who is against?
Dreadnought Maria!
Three apostles!
Donbass ! Poltava !
Arsenal was listening.
Strike.
The proletariat is cancelling trains.
Arsenal. (5th act)
Well, lads, let us start working!
They are waiting...
They are waiting for the explosion
that must occur,
with each passing minute,
with each passing second.
Let's go!
I bow low...
I bow down to the raw earth for you...
And what is the address?
Whom should the letter be addressed to?
He bowed down to the raw earth for you...
And asked everybody of you
whether one can kill bourgeois and officers
on the street if one meets them.
Yes you can!
6th act
Bakhmach and Nizhyn are flooded with blood.
Hey you, my brothers, comrades in arms...
Served for four years and was in four wars...
And one year as a civil, brothers...
Petliura wounded me by a bullet,
and I feel my heroic death.
Bury me at home for a half an hour.
I have not seen it for nine years.
Hurry up, brothers, Arsenal is dying.
Hey, you, our battle horses!
Hurry up to bury our friend...
The dead fighter of the revolution!
We hear...
We hear, our masters!
We are rushing on our 24 legs!
Take, mother, we have no time to explain.
Our life and death are revolutionary.
Armoured vehicle "Vilna Ukraina" ("Free Ukraine").
You toppled over our "Free Ukraine".
Stand with your face to the wall,
so I could kill you in your back.
Can you if I look into your eyes?
And why can I?
Seventy second hour.
What weather will we have tomorrow?
We stopped...
I think that tomorrow we will be done.
We stopped... We moved and then stopped.
Shells!
Where is the father?
Where is the husband?
Where is the son?
- Where is the metalworker? - We do not have one.
- Where is the smith? - We do not have one any more.
Do not move ! Who are you ?
A Ukrainian worker. Shoot at me!
Down! Down...
You are wearing an armour, or what?
The End
Music recorded on November 12 of 2017 at Komischen Oper Berlin,
conducted by Frank Strobel