"ONE PEOPLE" "I want to see Roy." "Roy should come." "Tell my son to come home from Holland." "Mum wants Roy to come." "We have to make him come over." "But how?" "I want to see Roy." "Make my son come over." "I want to see my son before I die." "Send a telegram." "He has to come." "Give Roy money, dad." "Do you have money?" "Money?" "Holland has money!" "TO THE BRIDE AND GROOM" "She's a pretty girl and she'll be gone before you know it." "Shall we go?" "You're not enjoying it." "I have to discuss my thesis tomorrow morning at nine." "Ok." "Mum, we're going." "Bye, everybody." "Roy, wait, I've got something funny." "I know a joke, before you two hit the sack." "A big black Surinamese man's walking..." "Listen, you've been here for five years." "To me, you're Dutch, no longer black." "It's a really good joke." "A big black Surinamese man's walking through Amsterdam... with a bread knife in his back." "Do you know that one?" "No, I don't." "Me neither." "Roy, there's a telegram for you." "That can only be from Suriname." "Jesus!" "Call them right away." "My name's Roy Ferrol." "You have a telegram for me." "One moment." "Yes, it's from Paramaribo and it says the following." "Mum very serious." "Come right away." "Henna and daddy." "That's it." "Thank you." "My God." "You have to make an appointment." "Tell Mr Frenkel I'm a friend." "Roy Ferrol." "I really have to know what it's about." "What are you doing?" "Sir!" "Mr Ferrol!" "Wait!" "Mr Frenkel, this gentleman..." "I'm sorry to disturb you, but it's very urgent." "My mother's dying." "You once told me I could always ask you for help." "Tomorrow morning at 9, there's a plane leaving for Suriname." "I have to go, but I don't have the money." "Three thousand guilders would solve the problem." "I'll repay you after I arrive back in Holland." "What was your name again?" "Roy Ferrol." "I understand your situation, but I can't help you." "Personal relationships are vulnerable." "Go to one of those foundations for Surinamese people." "They get subsidised for this kind of thing." "If they call me, I'll put in a good word for you." "Three thousand lousy guilders." "While my mother's dying." "I'm begging you to lend me the money." "I won't go to a Dutchman." "I came to you." "And you give me this bullshit about welfare funds." "Three thousand lousy guilders." "My mother might already be dead." "I thought you were packing already." "I can't accept this, Karina." "How can I ever repay you?" "We've discussed this yesterday." "Please." "If we'd had more time, we could have sold the car to pay for the trip back." "Let's think about that instead." "Your trip back." "Let's not fool each other." "I'm leeching enough off you as it is." "The money my father sends monthly, is hardly enough for books." "I live off your money." "And now I need your savings?" "And you're talking about selling your car and about my trip back." "I have my pride too." "You wouldn't accept all this either." "Of course I'd accept it if my mother was dying." "All this bullshit about leeching." "You should start packing." "Your plane's leaving tomorrow." "The next one won't be until two days from now." "Your mother might die in the meantime." "Here." "Pack." "Roy." "They humiliated me today." "Did I humiliate you?" "You haven't changed at all in those five years." "Even with that beard, people can see you're my half-brother." "How's mum?" "We so wanted you to be on time." "She completely collapsed today." "Daddy." "Put your jacket on." "This is the last time your mother will see you." "Juliette, look, here's Roy." "Juliette." "Mum." "Look how beautiful my son has become." "Don't let the tears ruin your face." "I knew I had to wait for you." "A message of love." "A message of life." "After all the fear, all the wailing, all the misery." "That is how our sister conquered the powers of death... to encompass numerous waters of this world." "She focused all her vital powers... to call her first-born here from the Occident..." ""Come, come once more to the warmth of my maternal love."" "Well, he did come." "He was given wings so he could hear... what our mother kept in her heart for her son." "He could see us again... negroes, half-breeds, Asians, coloured people... brothers and sisters united... to heal their hearts with their own tears." "One day, we will have to write... that we have become One People in a river of love!" "Can't you go to sleep?" "The children and I can't sleep." "Is my man home yet?" "Norman!" "Norman!" "Norman, our cab driver, is hunting big game at 2:30 AM." "If it wasn't for her, I would have kicked that bastard out already." "But each time, your mother pleaded with me." "Weren't you going to tell me how your study's going?" "When will you graduate?" "Within a year, hopefully." "And how about your woman?" "That girl in Holland." "Can't you wait until you're finished?" "Fun is fun, but living with a woman's a serious matter." "A difficult matter." "She must love you or she wouldn't have given you the money to come." "But be careful making debts with women." "I'm warning you." "I'll give you the money, so you can... repay her when you'll be back in a couple of weeks." "In a couple of weeks..." "You should go see your grandparents in Coronie." "They know you're here." "He can't walk anymore and she's half blind." "You have to go." "You'll come with me." "I have to take a drilling team over." "It's a beautiful trip." "You can really live there." "That's Suriname!" "People don't know this country." "I'm really a bush person." "Your mother never really understood that." "The death of your mother... is a piece of music... that you and I can't understand yet." "But we'll keep on dancing." "He's coming." "He was surprised, wasn't he?" "You have competition in Holland." "I can imagine." "That's why he's never written to me." "But they're not engaged, are they?" "I don't know." "You should ask him yourself." "Which Dutch girl can give a boy like Roy what he needs?" "You have plans, girl." "You should go guard him in Holland." "He has to study for at least another year." "Maybe we can go together." "What whould I do in Holland?" "Here, you can really live." "Do you still want to leave?" "I'm dying here." "Spenny!" "Sparrow!" "I thought you'd have forgotten about Spenny and Sparrow." "I can't imagine Karina here." "Suriname and Karina are two entirely different things." "Suriname's a beautiful waterfall that you can easily drown in." "And Karina?" "Karina's a tree that you can grow attached to." "Like a bush pineapple." "Roy Ferrol PhD!" "You make me so happy with this music." "I haven't heard this for four years." "You've been gone, but now you're back." "This is part of what you left behind." "If you organise parties like this in Amsterdam, it will be a success." "You're making deals." "Are you really going to Holland, with the children?" "What about...?" "People who make a problem of money, are stupid." "They don't know how to live." "I don't care." "I'll eat anything." "I have the business." "I have the taxi." "That's my bread and my capital." "When the time comes, I'll sell everything and buy a ticket." "That's how poor people live." "Otherwise life kills them." "A song that's made millions of Surinamese dream." "They're gone!" "What's your name?" "Did your girlfriend leave yet?" "Carla's not my girlfriend." "Who is then?" "I don't have a girlfriend." "Here." "What did you say?" "You don't have a girlfriend here." "Roy Ferrol PhD." "Don't you talk too much?" "Who started?" "Who continued?" "My name's Rubia." "Hello, Rubia." "Your mother's hardly dead and people see you everywhere." "How is that possible?" "Did you forget your mother already?" "I come home from church to talk to you and you're not here." "I look for you and you're not here." "We have things to arrange before you leave." "You can have your fun when you come back in a year." "But this isn't the time." "And stay away from Norman." "Norman's an artist, a tramp." "And you're a student." "People watch you." "You let me down again today." "I asked Henna to cook us pigeon soup but that pigeon's all dead." "Well, let's eat now." "Hello sister, I'm looking for someone who works here." "I don't know her name." "That makes it very hard." "What does she look like?" "Very pretty." "Hindu." "Rather tall." "Beautiful eyes like you." "Oh, her first name's Rubia." "Sister Rubia." "Head nurse Sukdil." "It has to be urgent." "She's not easy." "The men's ward is that way." "She's doing her rounds there." "Don't forget your message." "What's the meaning of this?" "Sister Sukdil." "Yes." "What are you doing here?" "I wanted to agree on a date with you." "Just like that?" "Not just like that." "You were suddenly gone yesterday." "When are you free?" "I don't have as much time as you." "Ok, but we can agree on a date." "What do you want?" "To see you, to listen to you, to talk to you." "I have been thinking of you since yesterday." "Shall we have dinner somewhere tonight?" "As long as it's not in Torarica." "I'm not a tourist." "What time shall I pick you up?" "It's better if I pick you up." "I have a car." "Where do you live?" "Surinamese women are pretty liberated." "They wouldn't even be this gallant in Holland." "Why should I have dinner with you?" "Because I'm asking." "Because it's me that's asking." "Where can I pick you up?" "55 Dr. Nassilaan." "What time will you be there?" "6:30 PM." "Now go." "I was really going to send you away." "Ok, I'm going." "A beautiful birthmark." "Rubia, what's keeping you?" "I'm busy." "You have to eat." "I don't need to eat." "What?" "I'm going out." "Out?" "With who?" "With somebody." "Somebody?" "What does that mean?" "You have to eat, don't you?" "I'll eat somewhere out." "A decent girl doesn't eat with strangers." "Who are you going out with?" "Dad, I'm an adult." "While you live in the house of your parents... you'll obey us." "That's how it's supposed to be!" "Dad, you're wrong." "Stay home, I insist." "Dad, I'm going." "Bye all." "You're going out now?" "Yes, someone's picking me up." "Will you be gone all evening?" "I don't know." "Why?" "No special reason." "I wanted to have a beer with you and talk a bit." "Where are you going?" "You smell of my aftershave." "PhD gets picked up by lady with car." "She's a Hindu girl." "I don't know her." "Look at him with his Coolie girl!" "Girls!" "Women!" "Women destroy this country." "Leave him in peace." "Damned bloody country!" "Steven, why aren't you at school?" "Where are you going?" "It's disgraceful." "Trude, why isn't this boy at school?" "Whose plants did you steal?" "Answer me when I talk to you." "Answer!" "Answer me!" "You're hitting him as if you're his father." "I'm not his father, but who's paying his tuition?" "This way, it's wasted money." "So you send him out to sell plants." "Listen, Mr Ferrol." "It's true and wonderful that you help me pay his tuition." "But the fact that he doesn't have a father... is no reason to treat him like an animal." "Daddy..." "This is how you ruin this country." "He's your child." "I'm done with it." "You'd better watch your own child." "His mother has barely died... or he starts fooling around." "And with Hindu women too." "Is that a good upbringing?" "Don't get angry, dad." "Don't play Judas with me." "Didn't you hear what the woman said?" "You're not abroad here." "But everything I say means shit to you." "I haven't studied." "I should have hit you instead of that kid outside." "Relax, man." "Go away!" "Leave me alone." "You sicken me in this country." "Good afternoon, sir." "I'm sorry to disturb, but could I speak to Miss Sukdil?" "What do you want from her?" "I'd like to talk to her." "She's asleep." "Who are you, sir?" "Excuse me." "Roy Ferrol." "Yes, Roy Ferrol." "Can I see her?" "My daughter needs her rest." "Are you from the hospital?" "Leave us alone for a moment." "This is a gentleman who studies in Holland." "You have to teach me that language." "Let's go downstairs." "I seem to annoy you." "You get angry, you walk away in a childish way." "Now you're not talking." "What's wrong?" "The first time we met, you held me as if you were afraid I'd run away." "I could hear your heart pound in my head." "You came all the way to the hospital to tell me you wanted to see me." "But each time I ask about your girl in Holland, you give me the run-around." "But I told you about Karina." "Karina?" "You didn't exactly volunteer the information." "Do you know what I mean?" "Yes, you're jealous." "No, you're playing with other people's feelings." "You make me feel I'm special to you and you deny that you already have a woman." "Karina." "You call it jealousy, I don't." "In Hindi, it's called self-respect." "Put the child in her bed, Norman." "Or she won't let me sleep tonight." "Lizard, lizard..." "Don't call her that." "It's not good." "How do you feel now?" "My headache's gotten a bit less." "A bit less." "Let it go away completely." "Dad might hear us." "This is becoming a pain." "Roy!" "Your trip back has been arranged." "Thank you, daddy." "But for which date did you book?" "They said it's an open ticket." "We can decide on the date when we come out of the bush." "But at least you can graduate soon." "Henna!" "Yes!" "Come have a look." "Didn't I tell you we'd arrange it?" "Roy can go back to Holland." "I told you." "Everything will be alright." "Your turn will come too." "I thought it was for me and the children." "It's terrible how you all worship tickets to Holland." "Holland!" "Independence of Suriname starts with..." "When will Roy go to Coronie?" "Now, I think." "What's going on that I don't know?" "Come upstairs!" "...to celebrate independence in a dignified manner..." "What's that boy doing with these women?" "Who's that girl?" "She's the lady who picked him up before." "I'm staying out of it." "I'm not!" "I won't be treated like a little boy." "Especially by my son." "Roy, you'll have to explain everything to me tonight." "Everything!" "Or else I'll break your ribs." "I didn't know this before I left." "This is also Suriname." "This, the music, you." "It's been like this for over a 100 years." "I'm only starting to understand it now." "What do you mean?" "I've been studying economics in Holland for five years." "And all that time I could have had this." "Go on." "I'm discovering something I've always had in my hands and heart." "In my feet." "Rubia, we're rich." "We're free." "Maybe." "Who is free?" "Something still has to happen, of course." "Stop here." "I have taught many Hindus to work the soil... after the plantations were closed." "I'm telling you that the Hindus have been badly abused." "But what to do?" "If you return home... you should thank your father for the cigars he sent me." "Tell him I wanted to send some products from the land... but that the land's angry with us." "I don't know what's wrong... but this is the second time this year they've sprayed the coconut trees." "But those worms don't know when to stop." "It's almost as if the spraying attracts them." "I think we can only get rid of them using witchcraft." "It's a shame, our energy's leaving our bodies." "And the land screams for fresh blood." "I won't be there anymore... but you still have to come back and help me with the land, my boy." "You'll work the land from above... and I'll help from below, by feeding the roots." "Do you hear me, my boy?" "Grandma, Rubia is here, with a negro." "What's wrong?" "Is this the first time you've seen a negro?" "To work!" "Grandma, this is my friend, Roy Ferrol PhD." "Very good." "I'm glad that he came." "Explain to him that I don't speak Dutch." "My grandmother welcomes you here." "Congratulations on your granddaughter's wedding." "Rubia, does your father know you're here with a man?" "I didn't ask him if he liked it or not." "But why is grandma asking me this?" "My child, your grandmother doesn't want an argument with your father." "Will this man stay?" "Or will he leave?" "Stay?" "He can't stay here!" "You'll sleep with Pharbatie's children." "Grandma, you just said it was good that he came." "Is there no room for him to sleep in a house this big?" "Why do you keep embarrassing your parents?" "They've always looked after you well." "What will people... think of our family?" "If I would have come with a Hindu friend... would there have been a place to sleep for him?" "This child is stubborn." "You explain it, granddad." "She drives me crazy." "No, you're exaggerating." "Why do we always look at the past?" "Why wouldn't you be welcome at a Creole party?" "You don't understand what I mean by 'party'." "I mean where you live, your house, your ministry, your political party." "There they say:" ""You can't trust that Hindu"." "Oh, is that what you mean?" "Is that normal?" "It's wrong when Creoles act like that." "It's wrong when Hindus act like that." "It's wrong when Javanese act like that." "It's wrong when Dutch act like that." "Up here, it's wrong too." "What do you mean?" "Do you know what's happening there?" "With Rubia?" "No, what." "They're giving her hell." "Because she brought you, a Creole, to this Hindu party." "So I'm not welcome here." "You're welcome as a man." "But not as a Creole." "I don't understand our old people." "They have two hearts." "One for brothers and one for enemies." "That's how we're sick in Suriname." "No one can live with two hearts." "I want to go to Holland." "What are you afraid of?" "I don't want to marry." "Don't think about running away." "Tell me what to do then, because you do exactly what you want." "I'm trying." "Granny said you brought a Creole friend." "They're angry with you." "Where will you sleep?" "We just brought him to a hotel." "He there and you here?" "Just like you." "You here and your groom there." "You can't see each other until tomorrow." "But I can't leave and you can." "Did you notice it's getting light?" "It must mean something that this is happening here." "What do you mean?" "If they only knew." "Who?" "Listen, dear Creole..." "I grew up in this district, with a 1000 rules from a distant past." "When us Hindus, Coolies, came here from India... we weren't allowed to do this, to do that... to preserve our self-respect." "We couldn't even play with Creole kids, even if they were our neighbours." "It would make us lose our culture." "But we no longer live in India or in those days." "This is a new country, with all kinds of people, from everywhere." "Our society is held back by these old ideas." "It makes people unhappy." "Take poor Rooshni." "She'll be locked up until they come to get her, so she can marry... a boy she didn't pick herself." "Who she can't love." "She hardly knows him." "Do you know what she told me last night?" "That she wants to flee to Holland." "These things drive Surinamese people to Holland." "And if they can't really leave, they'll flee here and here." "Ask for a bit of silence..." "I can't hear what I'm saying." "I shouldn't have come with you." "Let's stop talking about it, Roy." "It happened and that's good." "I just hate causing you trouble." "Those people were offended and for good reason." "They chased you away and that's my fault." "Can you finally listen to me?" "This had to happen sooner or later." "And you're forgetting a few things." "Did you see Rooshni's face?" "Do you understand what she felt when she removed her veil?" "Last night she was a scared little bird that wanted to flee." "When we showed everybody we had nothing to hide... that we weren't afraid of their eyes... we gave Rooshni courage." "She'll never forget that." "I can't explain." "I come back, my mother dies, my father wants me to return right away." "For the first time, I live in my own country as if I wasn't born there." "That damned economics study that doesn't mean anything." "I'm in the Nickerie district for the first time... and I've ruined a beautiful party that thousands of people believe in." "And all these disasters occur in some sort of paradise." "Yes, Ferrol PhD." "You care so much for your country." "You love your country." "Yes." "Yes, I love my country!" "I could eat it!" "Look!" "Lovely!" "Hi, dad." "It's me." "Regards from Coronie." "They've aged enormously." "I'll have a bath." "Which girl are you hanging out with that makes you treat me like shit?" "Do you think this is a boarding-house?" "You leave when you want and you come home when you want." "Coolie girls pick you up in cars..." "Have you really been in Coronie?" "How do you live in Holland?" "What should I answer first?" "If your mother's death didn't make me think of God..." "I'd smack you, man!" "Here!" "I want you to book a flight tomorrow." "I'm fed up!" "I'll book my flight when I want to!" "When I'm ready to go!" "What's happening to you, son?" "Who's that woman that's driving you crazy?" "The money I paid for you, all this time." "Do you know how I made mum and Henna suffer... so you could get where you are now?" "And now you tell me you'll book your flight when you want to?" "This damned bloody country!" "Rubia, do you know how they talk about you in Nickerie?" "Like a whore." "You've brought shame on the family." "Is this our reward for all our sacrifices... that we've made in this country?" "Do you know what you've done to your mother?" "You've buried your mother." "I warned you when he had the gall to come to my house." "You had already come back from Holland depraved... and I told you to be wiser here." "But now this negro, who says he's a doctor, comes to dishonour you." "Do you know what huge argument you're causing in our family?" "What did he do to you?" "It's enough." "Don't say any more." "Quiet, woman!" "This child that you gave birth to, has destroyed us." "Do you know that negro had his way with her that night?" "You should drown in a body of water." "All of Nickerie saw it." "Even the district commissioner." "You ruined the entire wedding ceremony with your behaviour." "They've had to chase you out of there." "You had the impudence to leave with him... and now you have the insolence to return with him." "If I weren't a good father, I'd have kicked you out of the house." "Father, I beg you..." "My God, forgive me and her mother too." "Dad, what you're doing is wrong." "You'll never be able to live with two hearts." "Rubia." "Get in." "Sir, I apologize for not having come alone." "I don't speak Dutch as well as you do." "That's why it's better if I speak Hindustani... and my brother-in-law, a lawyer, can translate for you." "So, I'll translate." "It's alright, brother." "He says he's here to talk as a father." "And you'll understand him well." "He's here to talk about his daughter." "He says your son eloped with his daughter." "But he doesn't hold it against you, do you understand?" "He says you have to send your son back to Holland... because he seduced his daughter in Nickerie." "Wait, wait." "I don't understand a word." "And I want to understand everything in my own house." "No, no." "He said it wrong." "Your son followed my daughter to Nickerie." "He slept with her." "My family and I don't approve of that." "Does your daughter have a car?" "Yes." "He says "yes"." "I have witnesses who've seen with me... how your daughter has picked up my son here three times... with her car." "Then he bewitched her." "Listen, sir." "Can you tell me exactly what happened in Nickerie?" "Was someone there?" "He says he didn't come to be laughed at... but to save the honour of his family and his daughter." "He says it hurts him as a father to lose his daughter." "He wants to get his daughter back." "What does he want from me?" "You have to send your son back to Holland." "Send your son back to Holland." "My friend, my son will go back to Holland." "I'll beat him into the plane if I have to." "Alright, brother." "How do you like my house?" "Nice." "How much rent are you paying?" "35 guilders." "Per week?" "Per month." "35 guilders per month?" "Not expensive." "How were things at home when you picked up your things?" "My mother was crying of course." "I'm glad my dad wasn't home." "How did it go at your place?" "Dad can't understand about us." "I called Karina." "I told her I won't come back." "Not any time soon, at least." "I don't want to leave for now." "I can't for now." "What will you do now?" "There's enough work here." "I can even work in a factory." "We have to help build the country, don't we?" "How was Karina?" "It wasn't easy to tell her." "Listen, when a man stays away for 2 days and 2 nights... and the girl's father comes to complain... then I think they're moving in together." "Not every man is like you." "There are men and men." "And Roy's a man." "He sure is." "A man..." "A man who gets carried away by a woman he doesn't know." "To the point of self-destruction." "Is that a man?" "My ass!" "That boy's in trouble." "He'll remember this piece of paper for a long time." "Good afternoon." "Are we still angry?" "Where have you been?" "Read this to him." "Then he'll know where to go." "Karina's arriving this afternoon." "What?" "Friday." "That's today." "Who opened that telegram?" "I opened it." "Go have a bath." "Get ready." "Norman will drive you to Zanderij." "Your woman from Holland is coming to get you." "And that's more than you deserve." "If she only knew." "A shame!" "But where will she stay?" "Anywhere, except here!" "I'm not that crazy." "You're making a name for yourself." "Enjoy it." "Stop it." "Do you know what that woman's doing to me?" "I shouldn't have called her." "So you called her." "She's about to make you pay for that stupidity." "One hand can't know what the other hand's caressing." "Women are beautiful but difficult." "Jesus, I haven't been able to tell Rubia." "Shame on you, boy, shame on you." "So Rubia doesn't know Karina's coming and Karina doesn't know Rubia exists?" "And you're packing shit." "There's no problem." "We'll take her to a boarding-house." "And tonight you'll bring her to the great garden party I organised." "We'll receive her like real Surinamese." "With music, dance... cold drinks, hot dishes... 2.50 entry fee." "Ladies free." "Relax, man." "In two weeks, you'll be back in Holland with that woman." "That's where your future lies." "And mine." "Yours maybe, but I'm not going back any time soon." "Karina in Suriname..." "Strange... you here, Karina." "Good on you, Roy." "What a woman." "Your mother should have seen this." "Daddy, this is Karina." "Welcome, Karina, my dear." "It's unexpected, but you're no less welcome." "Welcome in our house." "Have a seat." "Henna, bring a cold drink." "It's hot, isn't it?" "Yes, it's hot in the tropics." "Sit down, Roy." "We won't have much time to spend together." "Roy already has his ticket." "It's all rather overwhelming." "This morning my parents brought me to Schiphol and now..." "I'm at the other side of the world with new family." "I have to get used to it." "Your arrival was so unexpected that we didn't have time to prepare you a room." "I suggest you spend two days in a boarding-house." "The day after tomorrow, you'll join Roy and me for a walk... in one of the most beautiful parts of the interior." "There you'll see what Suriname's all about." "And when you'll come back, your room will be perfectly prepared." "Right, Henna?" "When you'll be back in Holland, you'll always remember your trip to Suriname." "Roy, I longed for you so much..." "When will you go back?" "Who's talking about going back?" "I told you I'm staying here." "Did you tell her that too?" "I hardly know what I've said to her." "She completely surprised me." "I've discovered there are two people:" "Roy Ferrol and Roy Ferrol." "And they're divided by a lie, a joke, nothing, Holland." "I'll take her to Norman's garden party tonight." "I can't leave her in that hotel room." "She'll have to fight for you, starting tonight." "Because I'm coming with you." "There are seats over there." "This is how I've always pictured Suriname." "You arrive and you go straight to a party." "Typical of an underdeveloped country, isn't it?" "Come." "God is unjust." "Roy gets everything and I get nothing." "Is that Taki Taki?" "What does it mean?" "It's Hindi." ""Where do I get my princess?"" "We speak all languages here." "That's why we don't understand each other." "What do the ladies drink?" "I'll have a lemonade." "A rum and coke." "Wait, a rum and coke for me too." "I think his father's a sweet man." "I look forward to the waterfalls." "Are you coming?" "No, maybe Rubia will come." "Do you think so?" "No." "Do you think Roy will go back to Holland with you?" "That's what I'm here for." "I think you're very nice, but I hope he stays here." "He's from here." "Nonsense." "He's not ready yet." "Not for here either." "He's been ready for a long time." "You should stay with her tonight." "What?" "You should stay with her tonight." "I'll see when you'll show up again." "What did you say to her?" "Nothing." "Maybe it's better if you bugger off after all." "With your white woman." "Roy... never again." "You haven't seen anything yet." "Paradise starts when we get to our camp." "Turn off the engine." "If you knew what's behind this jungle... thousands of peccaries, bush pigs, trees that have never seen a human... iguanas, bush spiders this big, ants..." "Do you know how much humus is in there?" "Roy only knows this much about Suriname." "Do you know what's strange, Roy?" "I keep thinking Amsterdam's behind those trees." "Amsterdam's never existed, child." "Amsterdam's never existed." "You've turned into some sort of medicine man." "Obiaman Ferrol!" "I've always wanted to live like this with you." "But your mother never liked the interior." "That's why you're here for the first time." "He's 27 years old, but what you see today, he sees for the first time too." "This belongs to him." "Boss Ferrol, we can't go on." "This bearing's broken." "Send a message to the city." "They have to send a spare." "Whose turn?" "Yours." "What do they teach you at university?" "Ouch, damnit!" "Don't they get you?" "I'm a child of the country." "Don't hit them with greasy hands." "That attracts them." "They just like the taste of you." "Pippi Longstocking in Taka Tuka Land." "I'll sleep on top of you tonight." "If only from fear." "What are you afraid of?" "I feel like a huge eye is watching us through a microscope." "Which makes us puny microbes." "Without you, I'd feel lost here." "I'd die." "I already felt that way when you called me." "Roy, say that we're going back to Holland together." "Look at my son..." "Roy." "This is the happiest night of my life." "You're happy." "I'm happy." "Your mother's happy." "Who was after you?" "You were growling as if you were fighting a tiger." "What did I say?" "You called my name a few times." "Was it a bad dream?" "Don't nag." "Is it salty?" "Don't you have those fish here?" "With sharp teeth." "What are they called?" "Piranhas?" "Damnit, Roy!" "Don't act like a spoilt child." "What's wrong with you?" "Did I do something?" "Of course you did." "You shouldn't have come here." "It's not possible." "What's not possible?" "That we stay together." "It's impossible!" "Impossible!" "Why not?" "I'll never understand you people." "Who's that?" "You people!" "I'm staying here!" "I can't go with you." "Roy, listen, asshole!" "You're mine, you hear!" "You're mine... you're mine!" "You're coming with me!" "You're coming with me!" "You're mine!" "I love you!" "I love you!" "No one loves you like I do." "Not Rubia, nobody!" "Norman's gone!" "He's gone!" "He's gone!" "Come and see!" "I think she fell off the stairs." "He's gone!" "He's gone!" "My God, take those children away." "Henna!" "Henna!" "What's that piece of paper in her hand?" "Dear Henna, I left for Holland." "Don't hold it against me." "Look after the children well." "Soon, I'll have you come too." "Your Norman." "My God, Norman abandoned her." "Those damned animals." "Get me a glass of water..." "I had this for you." "Keep it." "It's of no use to me anyway." "But it cost money." "How did you pay for those tickets?" "What did you think?" "I sold my car." "Damn." "I shouldn't have called you." "I should have written." "I could have known you'd come." "Keep it." "It's valid for a year." "Maybe you can use it one day." "Insane... when I'll want to see you, I won't be able to." "As if you're dead." "I can't even walk into you in the street." "Soon, I'll be back in our house." "I give up." "King Roy, King of the Republic of Suriname." "Roy, Rubia, Suriname..." "I hate you." "As sweet as you are." "Where do you think you're going?" "Don't make it too hard, daddy." "I'm already living with Rubia." "What the hell, Rubia!" "What is so hard for you to understand?" "Roy, I can't understand you walk out on your father." "At one of the hardest moments of my life." "And with someone like her!" "Why do you call Rubia someone like her?" "That racist bullshit of you all..." "I love Rubia." "She's Surinamese, like you and me." "I'll make you a proposition." "I'm selling the house anyway." "Let's all leave." "You, me, Henna, the children." "To Holland." "Holland my ass, daddy." "Don't make me hurt you, my boy." "Don't make me go to jail." "Rubia!" "Karina's leaving in a couple of days." "What happened?" "I'll never forget how she looked when I told her I'm staying forever." "In Suriname, with you." "Come lay with me." "What about your study?" "You still have to graduate." "Graduate for what?" "I won't leave Suriname again." "I'll stay with you." "Even if you hadn't existed." "Dhan Ye Baat." "What does that mean?" "Thank you." "I don't need Holland anymore." "Maybe others do." "My sister, Norman." "He ran away to Holland yesterday." "With a stolen ticket, that my father had bought for me." "He abandoned Henna and the children." "Henna's in hospital." "People ruin themselves to get out of this country." "I'm not running anymore." "Not with my legs, not here and not here." "Mr Ferrol?" "Who is it?" "It's me, Karina." "Wait, I'm coming." "My God, I can't offer you anything to drink." "This house is so empty suddenly." "Have a seat." "I've come to say goodbye." "How can a man do this to a sweet woman like you?" "Roy doesn't do things without a reason." "He explained to me why he can't come back to Holland." "Although..." "He ruined everything." "I made the biggest mistake of my life by letting him come here." "My wife's death has become even worse than it already was." "Suddenly everybody around me is gone." "This country drives people crazy." "Roy isn't crazy." "He's got a plan." "What's gotten into that boy?" "Juliette, look what he's throwing away... for a totally unknown Coolie girl." "Bye, Rubia." "Maybe one day I'll find the courage to write to you." "A lot can happen in a year." "I'll see you in the Netherlands." "Insane isn't it?" "If your mother were still alive..." "Can you understand for how long I'll be thinking about you?" "Damnit, Roy..."