"Starring:" "In an Antun Vrdoljak film" "LONG DARK NIGHT" "Also starring" "Written and directed by Antun Vrdoljak" "In the 18th century, the queen of the Austro-Hungarian empire," "Maria Theresa, settled German farmers and tradespeople into northern Croatia." "They lived in peace and harmony with their Croatian hosts for more than two centuries." "Until the beginning of the Second World War..." "The madness of political division between Communists and fascists took a tragic toll from both the Croatians and Germans." "Come and get it, people!" "It's cheap, I just want to get rid of it!" "Come on, it's almost gone!" "Perhaps the last piece of my daughter in law's silk?" "The world's producing cannons now!" "Military uniforms are in fashion!" "Come on it's almost gone!" "Come and get it, people!" "Let me see that silk, Loyza..." "How much for a meter?" "oh, we can easily work that out, Kata!" "You old devil!" "If I were younger, you'd never catch my ey e!" " Grandpa..." " Did you hear what she called me?" "old?" "!" "Home sweet home!" "That's probably the sweetest sound in the whole language, after "mother, humanity, family"..." "That's because home means humanity, mother, family." "Home, sweet home..." "Good thing you remembered those words." "I've been thinking the whole time:" "I'm going home," "I'm getting near, and I couldn't really put it into words." "You did it with "home sweet home!" What a clever guy you are!" "Are you happy to be going home?" "At least we'll eat well for a few days." "Hey, I never asked you, where do you eat in Zagreb?" "You can always find some good places near the agricultural school." " I'm surrounded by medical clinics." " Not my fault you're studying medicine!" "I don't have any land or the need to study agriculture." "I'm just the son of a small provincial tradesman." "Come on!" "Medicine has its advantages." "When you finish, you'll be working in a warm clinic and I'll be out in the rain, mud, and snow!" "A farmer, just like before!" "Besides, if war starts, farmers will be the first to go." "Not doctors!" "Everyone needs doctors!" "Don't forget, I'm not a doctor y et." "But I am a Jew, and if war breaks out..." "You silly fool, you idiot!" "First you scare off my rabbit, then you start y elling!" " You were shooting just to scare me!" " I could've killed you!" "Yeah, you were shooting at a rabbit..." "So where's the rabbit?" "Dead as a doornail." "over there in the grass." "Leave me alone, you fool!" "I came to tell you the gendarmes are waiting for you at your house." " Waiting specifically for me?" " They're asking if you have a gun!" "Yeah, and here it is!" "And you'd shoot it and bring them right to you!" "Leave me alone, you lecher!" "I'm cold!" "I have to go home." "Mata, no..." "A shotgun!" "Is it loaded?" " It sure is." " Will it go off?" "It will definitely go off, don't worry." " Don't worry..." " I just came to tell you the gendarmes..." "And your business is going well, Mr. Schmidt?" "It's Christmas, Mr. Neumann... all the world is in a giving spirit!" "People are buying like crazy this y ear!" "Actually, money is losing its value." "My grandfather always said," ""People spent as though war is going to break out!"" "We won't talk about that." "I don't want to spoil your day, and it wouldn't be right not to wish you a Merry Christmas!" "Merry Christmas!" "Thank you." "This is for you, Mr. Schmidt." "20 percent off." "No!" "It's enough that you've let me take things on commission..." "During holidays I always give 20 percent off for larger purchases." "But I sold the wares at regular price!" "I heard you came, g." "Schmidt!" "I came to say hello and wish you a Merry Christmas!" "Thank you, Ruth." "I almost said "and I wish you one as well!"" "And why not?" "We aren't really celebrating this y ear, though, our older son is in the army..." "But otherwise... one shouldn't set oneself apart too much from his surroundings." "It's enough that we're Jewish, and then if we didn't celebrate Christmas..." "Merry Christmas, heroes!" "And merry it is, indeed!" "And does your son write?" "How is he?" "He doesn't write much lately." "He's somewhere at the border." " Christ was born!" " Fuck your mother, jerk!" "This isn't good." "He's a doctor, Mrs. Neumann." "He's better off than the others." "He doesn't carry a weapon!" "He's a Jew, my dear Loyza." "Many Jewish doctors have disappeared recently without even seen a gun!" "...the scent of flowers, violets, daisies is gone..." "Fall is coming, my little apple..." "What you've done to me, you fool!" "How can I go home like this!" "And what would I do to you if you were mine!" "Instead, I have to spare you for someone else's sake." "I've got to go home." " So should you!" " Lf I never marry it'll be because of you, I swear!" "Damn your tamburitza for pulling on my heartstrings!" "Go on, the gendarmes are waiting for you." "Don't you dare bite my neck!" "You'll leave a mark again." "Leave my gun and rabbit under the bridge." "I'll go around..." "Why don't the Slavonians sing "Silent Night" like we do?" "They are Croatians and sing their own Christmas carols!" "And do they have their own baby Jesus?" "Emil, there's only one Jesus, for everybody." "Then why do some people sing to him in German and others in Croatian?" "They're just going to confuse him!" "Nobody can confuse him." "He knows every nation has its own language." "Here we are!" "There he is!" "Robbie!" "Mama... dad!" "They're waiting for us..." "Ruth, he saw you, but he can't hear you!" "I'll come and pick you up." "Have you learned how to ride?" " I have no land, I have no horse..." " Then I'll come for you in a cart." "I don't want to impose on you at Christmas." "Will you loosen up already!" "Christmas is about having fun." "Now you'll say, I'm Jewish, I have no Christmas either!" "Loosen up, man!" "I need no land, I need no horse." "I have much more than that." "I have a friend." "Merry Christmas to you and your family." "There's no better tea than this, not even in Zagreb." "You can go away to school, fall in love with one of those fancy froofroos, but homemade teas and homemade ham..." "This is for Grandma!" "I've hated your tea my whole life." "But that's all we ever drink at home." "Mama thinks pharmacies are poisoning the world and that you're a sorceress!" "If only your father were as smart as your mother," " where would you all end up?" " In the gravey ard like everyone else, whether we drink tea like my wife, or schnapps like I do!" "Go on, get out of here!" "Merry Christmas!" "Merry Christmas to you, too, you witch!" "This is what I like best when you come home." "To just chitchat about everything on the way home." "If you were still here, I'd do it a Iot more often..." "And maybe we'd argue more often, too." "You've got quite a temper, dad." "Here he comes!" "Get back there!" "Anyone gives a signal or makes any noise, it's a bullet for them, is that clear?" "Stand over there!" "oh dear mother of God!" "Praise the Lord!" " Halt!" " Raise your hands!" "Stick 'em up!" " Where's your gun?" " What gun?" "The one you used to shoot out the windows of the barracks the night before last." "Don't make me arrest you again, Mata!" "It wouldn't look good on your record to arrest an innocent man twice." "If you're innocent, then every whore's a saint." "Sure, go on and insult me, you have three guns to do it with." "Tell this guy to get back." "I worked all day long taking care of our cattle." "I want to change, have dinner." "Tell him to move back!" "oh, I'll get you some day, Mata." "I will." "If I find a gun and I will find it you can kiss your family and your life goodby e." "You'll rot in jail!" "You're wasting your time, Sergeant." "I have no gun." "And if I had you'd never get in here!" "Look what you gave birth to and how you raised him, you scum!" "What do you think you're doing, insulting my parents?" "Have you even had a mother, or were you spawned by a snake, you son of a bitch gendarme!" "Don't listen to him, Sergeant, I beg you as though" "I were addressing God!" "You know me." "I always pay," "I'll pay again." "There's a calf in the stall, I've got a suckling pig!" "Take it all!" "Don't listen to him ranting!" "He's just a stupid boy!" "He repeats what he hears at home." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." " You shut up!" " I will, sir." "If I have to come a third time it will be the last time." "It sure will, I can guarantee that!" "Let's go!" "I should have slapped the stuffing out of you." "How could you..." "in front of your mother!" " I'm sorry, mama." " Keep quiet!" "You ought to be ashamed, Mata!" "I'm sorry, I didn't..." "I just boil over whenever I see those thieves!" "They could've arrested you again." "or worse... kill you!" "Killing a man means nothing to them." "And where's your gun?" "It's better you don't know either." "Here's our little plot of land, Grandpa!" "Mom!" "You hoboes!" "You and your grandfather!" "This is my son and father in law." "Do you remember him?" "old Schmidt?" "Has Josef been to see you?" "You know Josef doesn't come around anymore." "He and Franz don't get along, and it's better that people who don't get along don't speak to each other." "It's unfortunate that I have a son and a daughter and I Iove them both dearly." "And we both love you, Dad." " You don't trust the old guy?" " No, no, he's ok." "I don't trust his son." "I haven't told you this y et." "His son went to Germany three y ears ago." "The old guy thinks he's studying to be a photographer there." " Does he come here?" " Yes, always during holidays." "He's here now, since it's Christmas." "He's dressed well, he has money." "He's impressed with the Third Reich and the Fuhrer!" "I think he's into it deep." "What is it?" "You're not coming in?" "It's late!" "Daddy!" "Daddy, this was one of the best days of my life!" "What has grandpa made out of you, a tramp, eh?" "You play the accordion by day and listen to stories from "Der Hörner Siegfried" at night." "That was the only book our ancestors brought from the old homeland." "My grandfather read to me from it... it means everything to us." "You know what the Slavonians say:" "Slavonians aren't bad barkeepers, Krauts bad with bagpipes!" "oh, no, on!" "That's an exaggeration on the Croatians' part." "Who says Germans are only soldiers?" "And what about German poets?" "Goethe, my dear friend!" "And then... all the others I've never even heard of." "Isn't it great how Siegfried wrapped himself in a cloak to make himself invisible so he could kidnap Brunhilde?" "Yes, y es, y es." "And when the courtier Hagen cruelly slaughters Siegfried, then Etzel invites all the Burgundians to a feast and slays them all, huh?" " Never!" " No?" "Grandpa never told me that." "We only talk about Siegfried's love and marriage." "We don't talk about the slaughter, and especially not before bedtime." "You never tell anything bad to dear person before bedtime, my friend." "You'll all catch a cold." "Get into the house!" "Kiss Grandpa goodnight." "Jesus be praised, neighbor!" " Your son came from Zagreb, eh?" " Yes, they just unhitched the cart." "Granny Zdenka!" "How did you get such a beautiful name, huh?" "From my dad, the same way you got yours!" "Were you named after that Zdenka cheese, grandma?" "You look as pretty as the girl on that package of cheese!" "I'm a Iot more aged than that cheese." "My father was stationed in Zagreb." "Who knows?" "There was probably some Zdenka there." "We didn't have that name here." "I brought you some of Marijana's tea." "You always say:" "Better for the village to die out than the traditions!" "Someone smarter than I must have said that. oh, thank you son!" " Grandma?" " What?" "Do you really think Marijana is a witch?" " Iva!" "Bite your tongue!" " I'm only kidding, mom." "You shouldn't have, son..." "The precious hands of my mother!" "What's bothering you, father?" "Are you worried?" "No, I'm just a bit confused." "For the first time in my life, I'm not sure what to do." "You don't need to work anymore, dad!" "You've slaved all your life, raised us, and now it's time for your children to work for you!" "You're just comforting your old man, avoiding the real answer." "Listen, Josef, this is a good chance to ask you..." "We're not rushing off anywhere." " What's happening up there?" " In Germany?" "I'm sorry that you weren't able to see it with your own ey es." "Your heart would have exploded from joy." "one man has dedicated his life to his homeland, his oppressed homeland which he has resurrected." "He has returned its dignity, given people back love and happiness." "I can't even describe it to you." "I can't find the right words." "But they say there are many people in prison." "Well, every country has prisons." "Each system has to defend itself from criminals." " I meant political prisoners." " Communists?" "They say Jews, Josef." "Listen, dad, when a thief steals money from a bank, everyone expects him to be arrested and convicted, right?" "See, Jews have undermined the foundations of the German state and stolen all its resources." "They almost sold off the spirit of the German nation." "So what should we do?" "Stand around wringing our hands and waiting?" " Where'd you get those puppies?" " I found them in Blaz's ditch." "Imagine, someone just left him there." "Drown them, will you!" "Thank you, Lord, for all your gifts." "And to my wife, thank you." "Dinner was wonderful." "And thank you, son." "If you came more often, we'd eat even better!" "I have to go, dad." "Let him..." "Son, you're not going to the village in that, are you?" "Sure I am!" "I've been looking forward to it so, mom!" "If you have to go out your first night home, just don't stay out too late, please." "Why shouldn't he while he's still young?" "You did talk like that when I was his age!" " Those were different times." " Eh, times have changed!" "But I haven't, by God!" "It's not appropriate to be gallivanting around till late at night." "People will talk." "oK, dad..." "Good night!" "Good night!" "You'd better not stay out late." "You know how your father is." "Am I late?" "Mama made a pie, for lva..." " Good evening!" " How are you, neighbor?" "A farmer's always a farmer." "It's winter, no work to do in the fields, ...and life is a bit easier." "Right?" " That's right!" " Good night, mom!" " Good night!" "Fall is coming, my little apple... the flowers, violets and daisies" "have lost their scent..." "Fall is coming, full of sorrow..." "Have you got this in Zagreb, lva?" "No!" "Not in Vienna, or Paris." "Mata, you're the master!" " Too bad you're not a Gypsy, by God!" " How do you know I'm not, Jano?" "Right, we've been coming here for y ears..." "Come on, wine, wine for everyone!" "Where's KroI, the owner?" "He's over at the pool table with the Germans." "With his people!" "And now the creator of all these miracles, the great Fuhrer and Father of resurrected Germany!" "Adolf Hitler!" "Goose!" "You stupid goose!" "Everyone must learn this song!" "Everyone!" "oh, man, and look at where we live!" "Their pigsties are better than our houses." "The Fuhrer and a nation that knows what it wants and what it can do!" "That's it!" "The Fuhrer and the nation!" "And what do you say, BartoI?" "We're Germans, for the love of God!" "Germans, understand?" "We have nothing in common with them... or this land!" "Cut the crap, Josef!" "We live in this land." "What's wrong with you, Josef?" "Let's go, Erik!" "Sit down, Erik!" "Wait!" "Are you saying you'd shoot at German soldiers tomorrow?" " Your own countrymen?" " My countrymen live next door." "And I will shoot!" "I'll shoot at anyone who trespasses on my land or my neighbors'!" "If I didn't need a passport, I'd trespass right now!" " Let's take it outside!" " I don't need a passport." " What?" "What?" "!" " No!" "oh, Jesus... my God!" "You son of a bitch!" "Mata, they'll kill our neighbor!" "You fuckers!" "All of you against just one?" "Get lost!" "You want some, too?" "!" "Do you see bright lights shining in your head, Stefan?" " Fuck you and your family!" " You don't say!" "Very nice!" "I was afraid you'd turned sissy in the big city, but you can still throw a punch like a true country boy!" "Whenever I think about home, I always see him with the tamburitza." "Breaktime!" "Breaktime!" "And I almost cracked it open over Stefan's head." "Man, am I stupid!" "You gave him a few good ones, too." " Wait, why exactly were we fighting?" " What do you mean, why?" " BartoI alone, and them all over him?" " oh, y eah, right." "And BartoI's our neighbor." "And a nice person." "Look how they worked him over!" "Hey, come on, let's do the birds song." "Hold the machine head!" "Fuck, this is schnapps!" "You never change!" "You can take the boy out of the country but..." "The first one who forgets the fields, the first cherries, the streams and rivers, he might as well be dead!" "Fuck people with no memories!" "Yeah, fuck him!" "Come on, play, Mata!" "That's the best thing that's going to happen to us tonight!" "Let's do the one we know so well!" "Play, Mata, the night is still young!" "Spring, 1941" "Watch out!" "A train is coming!" "Loyza, have you seen anyone?" "Mata!" "Thank you, everyone!" "Take care of yourselves!" "We have our own state now!" "I missed you so much!" "Have you seen my son in law, Franz?" "No, I haven't." "But don't worry, he'll come back for sure." "There wasn't even a real war." "Yugoslavia fell apart like a house of cards." "Come on, dad!" "I've missed home so much!" "Isn't anyone going to even say hello to me?" "oh, my God!" "Franz!" "Tie him up!" "Shut up, woman!" "But why?" "Why?" "!" "Jakob!" "Jakob!" "My love..." "What are you doing to me?" "I want you to be clean when you see your son." "Faster!" "What is it?" "What is going on, Franz?" " What is this?" " I have to hide." "Franz Kirchmeier, come out!" " Excuse me, friend." "Is this seat free?" " Yes, go ahead." "Are you sure I'm not disturbing you?" "I've never seen you in the University Library before!" "My landlady kicked me out." "I have to move and I have a difficult exam in two days." "Move in with me." "I have an extra couch." " First tell yout landlady I'm Jewish." " What are you talking about?" " I have a great landlady!" " Yeah, so did I." "She was crying when she gave me a notice..." " People are terrified." " Let's go over to my place." "Colleagues, may I have your attention, please!" "on the Maksimir Sports Field a student youth assembly has been called." "The library will be closed until this afternoon." "Transportation to the field has been arranged so please move toward the exit." "Please hurry!" "The new European order has liberated us from the dregs of evil." "With this freedom we can now exercise our right to cleanse our homeland of vermin and parasites..." "Gypsies and Jews!" "In our schools and universities, there are no Gypsies, thank God!" "But there are Jews!" "This is the end!" "As our great leader, Adolf Hitler, teaches us, and I quote..." "I was so stupid to have come over here!" "Stay calm." "There's no sense in panicking. only fear can kill you." "...who has ever seen a Jew or a Gypsy break in sweat?" "Jews don't create, they have no creative capabilities." "They have only the drives of a parasite." "They are here, among us, and we call on them, in the name of the new order, to take ten steps forward!" "Lmmediately!" "No Jewish tricks here!" "Ten steps forward!" "Lmmediately!" "Don't try to be clever." "Better step forward, or we'll y ank you out ourselves!" "You will not surrender to those butchers, you hear me?" "Just stay calm." "Stay calm..." "Iva, my friend... my place is there, with the others." "Are we going to just leave them to the mercy of those people?" "When's it going to be our turn?" "Let's go, all of us!" "These are our colleagues!" "What's this?" "Sabotage!" "You riffraff!" "Riffraff!" "They've lost!" "They've lost for sure!" "Fear..." "What is fear really?" "A lack of faith." "When fear creeps into your bones, then God only knows what other unhappiness you hold within." "I am afraid, lva." "I'm afraid for you, too." "Why did you have to do this?" " At least save yourself!" " Don't be stupid, man!" "I have to tell you something..." "I am the child of a peasant." "I've seen terrified hens a hundred times." "They faint from fear but still hide their chicks under their wings." "Have we reached the point where we admire hens, and are ashamed of our own actions, huh?" "Come on over to my place!" "No, no..." "I have somewhere to hide and I have to go back, they're waiting for me." "Thank you, and now think of yourself." "Maybe we'll never see each other again." "I'll never forget you as long as I live!" "They'll be in shock when they can't find us." "Let's jump!" " And who are you running from?" " I'm keeping you company!" "Mine are after me and yours after you!" "Just like my grandma Zdenka says, "Why screw over a stranger, when you ...can screw over one of your own?"" " I don't know if you've heard, ...they killed Franz Kirchmeier." " oh, Jesus..." "If I'd been home, they'd have killed me, too." "Now I have to hide from my own local Germans and the Gestapo." "My Germans have gone completely crazy." "our own neighbors have become strangers overnight." "The worst is that blood has been spilled... a man killed!" "And such a man!" "Lva, watch yourself..." "If you believe in God, help us, Mata!" "For God's sake, help us!" "They're going to take him away in chains!" "Even though we have our own state now, our Croatia!" "Is that the same guy, that Sergeant?" "That rabble, piece of trash, that traitor?" "It's that Serbian fascist!" "The same one who arrested your father ...and then came for you!" " oh, no, that's not going to happen." "Why tie him up, he can't run away and he's not a thief!" "We have our own state now, sir." "We have our Croatia!" "Because that's the law!" "And whoever raises his hand against the government and state is a criminal!" "Tighten them up!" "Tight, till his wrists turn blue!" "Get those off him, you hear?" "For the homeland, sir!" "Get those off, you moron!" "Are you deaf?" "Don't you hear what the man says?" "!" " oh, it's you again, is it?" " Not again, sir." "Always, for all eternity!" "once a gendarme, always a gendarme!" "For the homeland!" " You trying to fuck with an Ustasha?" " I have my superiors..." "I am only a tool... of the government." "Do you know whose Croatian Catholic house you're trespassing in?" "I don't ask my commander anything." "All I do is listen and take orders." "Here's a warrant!" "It's a warrant, by God!" " Know what, you slimy little gendarme..." " Police officer, if you please." " Before it was gendarmes." " When you happened to be one, right?" "That's correct, sir." "But a warrant is always a warrant." "It always serves the same purpose." "And now I'll show you which purpose." "First we fold it like this then like this..." "And now we'll just... see?" "Then we open it..." "Here..." "You know what you can do with this warrant?" "Hang it on your dick, you son of a bitch gendarme!" "out of my village!" "What are you waiting for?" "Get lost, you gendarme bastards!" "You know, I've seen all of this a hundred times, and never paid much attention to it." "only now when I see it all maybe for the last time," "I realize how important it is to me." "Damn goodby es!" "Then why are you leaving if everything is so dear, so important to you?" "You're going to leave, too, and I know you feel the same way." "You might use different words but, you'd mean the same thing." "Is that why you defended me and put yourself in danger?" "You're smarter than I am, lva." "You know a man seldom makes sacrifices with his head, his heart carries him away, fucks him up..." "Iove betrays him." "Were you betray ed when you put on that uniform?" "Listen, lva!" "Don't you ever say that again!" "I put on this uniform out of love for my country, my Croatia!" "I don't have time to do a Iot of thinking about it." "I'm ready to die for Croatia." "Later all you schoolboys can discuss whether it was a wise or not." "I came to say goodby e to my field." "I'm ready to give my life for it." "Can you understand that much?" "I Iove people more than things" "I'd give my life anytime, but for my fellow man." "The land will be here after us, Mata." "But some people will be lost forever ...because of this senseless conflict." " So?" "And more will be born." "The world won't come to an end." "People will be born, but decent human beings?" "You know what my dad says, "A hundred people are worth less than one single human being." And when the bad times come, they are always bad because that human being is missing." "Well, what are we?" "Are we two human beings on this field or just people?" "We are friends." "You proved to me that you're my friend, and a friend is always a human being." "This is the first time we've talked like this." "Can you tell me why are they after you?" "I owe it to you to tell you." "I defended a friend." "What did he do wrong?" "Nothing." "He's simply a Jew." "But you know him yourself, Robert Neumann." "I know no Jews!" " All I know is that they killed Jesus." " And he was also a Jew." "So they killed their own." "Just like our Germans killed that Franz Kirchmeier." "Turning against your own, that's nothing new, lva." "So you're going tomorrow to your own Croatians?" "I'm not going to kill, I'm defending the country!" "I'd never betray my country for a Jew." " For a fellow human being, for a friend!" " Lf I were a real Ustasha, ...I'd kill you right now." " Lf you're not a real Ustasha, what are you?" " A Croatian, just a Croatian!" " I'm not a Croatian, huh?" "!" "You're looking for a hair up your ass during a snowstorm!" " So I'm just supposed to just let it fester?" " Fuck, why do I care so much about you?" "!" "You would have to be my friend, my best friend...!" " You're leaving without a goodby e?" " Well, you don't need me anymore!" "Go hide somewhere, lva." "They'll be after you again." "I'm off to war." "Who's going to look after you then?" "Come on, schoolboy, let's see what you can do!" "Can you do this?" "Let's see if your broken down nag can carry two people!" " We could've been killed, you idiot!" " Screw life, when it's this beautiful!" "Live, you fool, live!" "Maybe we'll both get killed in this war." "As long as one of us lives, we'll both live." "Then let is be so." "I swear to God!" "Swear to God, Mata!" "Good evening, Aunt Marijana!" "Comrade Spanac..." "This is the man I was telling you about." "The late Franz Kirchmeier told me about you as well." " You knew him?" " of course!" "His late mother was our relative." " Yes, she died young." " That brought us even closer." "He grew up in our house." " Do you smoke?" " No." "I don't." "oh, that's good, very good." "In the Partisans it's easier to get weapons than cigarettes." "The enemy has weapons, so we just take them, but cigarettes are harder to come by." "Sit down." "So what are you going to do?" "I've got no choice." "I'm staying with you." "Let me tell you right now that I expect a Iot from you." "Because nobody in Europe has stood up to Hitler like you did in Zagreb!" " Congratulations!" " It was spontaneous." "Come on, give me a break." "It was..." "The right man at the right time at the right place, and the wheel of history moves forward." " Who's the duty officer at this station?" " Schutz, Lieutenant colonel." "Then go take care of your shooting practice." "Top secret..." "Special freight train security..." "An ambush, Lieutenant colonel!" "We have taken losses!" " How many people?" " Two dead and several wounded." "Fall back!" "You'll pay for this, you bunch of cowards!" " What should I do?" " Take the child and hide!" "Faster!" "Attention!" "Due to a depraved attack on the Banovac territory, during which four German soldiers were killed, an executive order from colonel Kand for immediate retaliation is hereby in effect!" "Four hundred Croatians residing in the district of Banovac will be shot and half the houses and buildings burned!" "our Father who art in heaven..." "Have mercy, I have a child!" "Josef, you know my father and brother!" "Help me, please!" "Erik, you know me, too!" "Tell them one person will be spared to act as a witness." "one of you will be freed as a witness to these events." "You..." "This one here!" "Go, child, go!" "Thank God!" "Are you deaf?" "I said one person!" "Take the child back to the others!" "No children were firing at our columns." "At least we should let her and her child go." "Nobody from our village has ever killed a child." "And neither will I!" "What's he doing?" "I will not have them on my conscience." "I want to die with my child!" "Get back!" "Burn the field!" "Fire!" "oh, my Lord!" "Grandpa, isn't this Erik?" "Erik Lomann, the one from our village!" "Why did they kill a German?" "The homeland, my son..." "The homeland is where you bury your dead." "And where your children are born." "Grandpa, you're crying!" "They set fire to our homeland and killed our countrymen." "Erik Lomann died with his countrymen, face down on the dirt of his homeland." "Good day!" "We haven't seen each other in a Iong time." "I heard about Franz..." "What can I say?" "Thank you..." "This is unfortunately the last one." " What do you mean?" " I just killed Stefan." "And I can't go back there anymore." "This is fantastic!" "When did this arrive?" "This morning." "They'll be happy!" "We'll take our revenge on everyone with this." "In the fall of 1943, the first and only German anti-Fascist unit in occupied Europe was formed" "We have formed this unit solely from members of the German national minority, in order to remove the stigma from honorable Germans willing to take up weapons to resist Nazi-fascism, the greatest evil to have ever appeared in the history of mankind." "The battalion will carry the noble name of Ernest Thalmann, the secretary of the German Communist Party, who was put in the concentration camp of Buchenwald by Hitler in 1932." "on your Partisan caps you will have the German flag with the five pointed star." "All commands will be given in German and on your arm will be the insignia of the Spanish International Brigade." "Comrade Brko, what are we supposed to do with these?" "13th battalion for them!" " Right away?" " What have you been waiting for?" " No mercy for the Fascists!" " Have they been tried?" "Tried?" "Long live the nation!" "Revolution!" "our official greeting is "death to Fascism" and that means death to fascists!" " You're not the judge, Comrade Brko!" " Neither are you!" "You don't avenge killing with hatred and more blood!" "ok, ok, Comrades." "We will try them." "Comrade Brko, there has to be a trial." "Lock them up somewhere and we'll have the trial after dinner." "The intercepted message proves it's a top secret freight." "I figure the train is carrying munitions intended for the Italian front." "We've gotten hold of twenty German uniforms." "That's for the attack group going into the station to disarm the guards." " Stop where you are!" " ok, ok." " Who goes there?" " The commander!" " Password?" " It's me, for God's sake, can't you see?" "Is it finished?" "From now on, let that be the rule." "No shooting till the trenches are dug." "Dogs could have come upon this, damn it, and started digging up everything." "Cover up the tracks completely." "We're late..." "Whenever some stupid professor comes along... that lva, professor, whatever the fuck he is, then we have complications!" "Court, investigations, cover up all the tracks..." "I'd leave them just as they are so the dog and other beasts can rip them apart, so the vultures can pluck out their ey es, the scum!" "Fuck the professors!" "Listen, Brko, we can't win the war without them!" "You've got to have professors." "That's the revolution for you." " Even Comrade Lenin was a professor." " Who ever saw him on the front lines?" "Cut the crap, Brko." "You're a Iot better at stuffing your mouth than philosophizing." "In the Spanish war, you'd be digging your grave yourself!" " Hey, I've been waiting for you." " Are you going to bed?" "No, unfortunately." "We have a problem 12 miles from here." "No sleep for me." "And you... you have to get used to things." "You're smart." "Watch and learn." "You're telling me this because of Brko?" "Unfortunately, nuns aren't y et signing up to fight with the Partisans." "We have to do the job with what we have on hand!" "I'm sure people like Brko aren't leading the revolution, ...but we can't do it without them, either!" " Man, how easy it is for them to kill!" "Everything he does is easy for him!" "He'd do nothing difficult!" " Where do I sleep?" " In the headquarters room." "Brko was supposed to be sleeping there, too but he's on assignment tonight with BartoI." "Vera's the only one there now." "Vera?" "In a room with the men?" "When we're out in the woods, the female comrades have no special quarters." "The Partisan men and women sleep, fight and die together." "What's important is that we respect our female comrades." "You might still learn something in Partisans." "Take care!" "I could come back a little later." "No, no, no, why?" "I warmed some water." "You wash up, too" "What is it?" "You've never seen a naked woman before?" "I've seen quite a few, but none of them was carrying a gun around the waist." "Ah, so you got scared!" "Don't be." "I didn't invite you to bed, only to clean up." "Come on, get undressed and wash up." "oh, and one more thing." "Since I've been in the Partisan movement," "I always assume this might the last time." "Not a bad idea..." "So you could also be the last beauty I see before I die... and my last chance..." "It's dangerous where we're going tomorrow." "If they do kill you there... we'll die together, so at least it's better if you're clean." " And smell good, right?" " Yes, and smell good." "Now, you'd better watch out, here I come!" "Let's go!" "our task here is finished." "Get back to our meeting place!" "Run!" "This is basswood tea, from right around here." "There's no sugar, but there's honey." "You know if anyone finds out about this, we could be shot!" " Shooting people is easy for you all." " This is strictly forbidden!" "It's ok to shoot, but not make love." "Are you crazy?" "!" "How did you put it before, huh?" "That this might be the last time?" "Maybe." "But it was wonderful!" "I don't care what you think of me, but..." "I want you to know that I don't usually do things like this." "Believe me." "Maybe my loneliness got the best of me." "I feel so lonely among so many men." "Comrade lva, let's have some tea." "The horses are ready." "Right on time!" ""Act of the German anti-fascists?"" "This is an outrage." "They'll rot in hell!" "They are germs, gentlemen." "Find this garbage, Lieutenant colonel." "Find them for us, damn it." "Search the whole damn country!" " Dig into its very bowels, but find them!" " At your command, colonel!" " I'll do everything in my power!" " Just find these bandits, Ressler." "Then we'll do what has to be done." " Permission to speak!" " What do you want?" "All of them were Germans!" "Germans?" "It wasn't Germans!" "It was Jews, you idiot!" "Jews and Communists?" "Understand?" "At your command!" "only Jews and Communists!" "Dismissed!" "I don't know, Lieutenant colonel." "He's my father and she's my sister." " My closest relatives." " You know me, Josef." "I'm not a vulture, and I understand your situation, I know you have a soft heart." "Sometimes there's a third way, and then you have to decide quickly." "This is war." "Under normal circumstances, you'd have all y ear to make such a decision." "But during war you have to know in a split second what is more important:" "German duty to the nation and Ioy alty to the Fuhrer, ...or petty bourgeois family ties." " I'll try, Lieutenant colonel." "I'll do everything in my power." "Just find them, Josef." "Find them for us, and we'll take care of everything else." "You don't know how sorry I'd be to lose you, Josef." "A Iot of pressure is being put on me." "I Iove you, Josef." "I Iove you." "You're asking me where your sister is?" "An evil wind has blown you in, Josef." "And now you are spreading it by serving a dangerous master." "You ask me where your sister is?" "You know what the Bible says, son?" "And then the Lord asked Cain:" ""Where is your brother, Abel?" "'"" ""I don 't know,"said Cain to the Lord." "'"Am I my brother's keeper?" "'"" "And the Lord said:" ""What have you done?" "Your brother's blood cries to me from the grave." "And now you are cursed upon this land..." "The Bible was written by the Jews, dad!" "All evil comes from them and the Bible is a monstrous lie!" "Your daughter is a murderess, you understand?" "And she has to pay!" "No matter whose daughter or whose sister she is!" "Do you understand?" "!" "Good day, Aunt Marijana." " What good news are you bringing?" " No good news, none at all." "Cain says in the Bible..." ""My guilt is too great to be forgiven."" "My own father doesn't trust me." "And I don't deserve it either." "You know what, Josef?" "I haven't read the Bible." "But if your own father doesn't trust you, then who will?" " Nobody." "I'm not asking anyone to." " I know." "Maybe I've done a Iot of evil things, but..." "I could never raise a hand against my sister and her child, never!" "You've known me since I was a kid." "We had no mother and my sister took her place." "My sister..." "If I did her harm, it would be just like as though my mother had died again." "And to harm her child!" "What has the child done wrong?" "It will die along with its mother." "They have no mercy..." "No mercy..." "Who?" "Who has no mercy?" "I'm not following you." "My people know where the Partisans are hiding." "Someone let us know." "Early tomorrow morning there'll be an attack and destroy mission." "If nobody warns them, they're finished!" "oh, why am I telling you this?" "I have no idea." "But I know that when our dad left us home alone, when we were small, he would always say," ""If anything happens to me, you go to Aunt Marijana." "She can take the place of a mother and a father."" "Don't be angry with me, please." "Goodby e!" "Horse to Stable." "I am in control of the entire area." "I've always been proud of you, Josef." "I can hardly believe it, Lieutenant Colonel!" "We have the leader of this rabble!" "Be careful." "Follow them, and we'll follow you." "Yes sir!" "Heil Hitler!" "Women, the elderly, peasants, all need to move out!" "This is an emergency!" "Into the trenches!" "They've damaged the bridge so nobody can come up from behind!" "The bridge collapsed by itself." "But that's not good for them because most people around here can't swim." "Congratulations, Josef!" "Mom!" "Emil!" "We have to fall back!" "Retreat!" "Where to?" "!" "Start praying for my soul." "Excellent!" "The gates of Hell!" "As Goethe said..." ""It's easier to make a wreath than to find a head worthy of it!"" "You've earned the finest wreath the Fatherland could offer for your deed!" "Thank you, Lieutenant colonel!" "Loy alty can never be sufficiently rewarded, nor betray al punished enough." "We'll be celebrating tonight!" "Work makes a man thirsty!" "Who will bury the dead?" "Let the dogs and pigs eat them!" "A proper burial has to be earned!" "Cheers!" "I told the boss, right to his face, that if Ressler doesn't get the Iron Cross for this, then this war is unjust!" "Yes I did!" "Sandel, you are a superb soldier, a man with morals!" "I know this, and I thank you for it." "For your kind words and everything you did today." "But we both have to admit that what Schmidt did completely transcended our actions." "We went out as soldiers, but he went out also as an individual man," "a German who puts the Fatherland and the Fuhrer above all else!" "Kiss him!" "Thank you, Lieutenant colonel." "Kiss him..." "You maintain order here, Sandel." "Yes, sir!" "And now to our victory!" "I know you are the Lord of life and death." "I know I am not worthy of you, because you are God." "But you are also a father." "Please don 't let me act out of hatred or revenge." "Help me to recognize that this evil came from me, has been committed by my own son... my only son." "And that I, as his father, must stop him from doing more evil." "Josef!" "Son!" "If they'd done that much shooting when the battalion was on the other side..." "Yeah, now they'll kill only the whole battalion command!" "Luckily the political commissar is protected there." "You mean, even if we die, the idea of revolution will live on, right?" "I'm glad to see you like to bullshit even at times like this." "Still, it wouldn't do you any harm to shut up once in a while." "Is there anything more dangerous than what we're doing now?" "Sure, our own words!" "How can I put some sense into your head?" "Let's go, comrades, move out!" "If I survive, I won't be caught dead going back to my village." "You don't know, lva, what it's like being a poor farmer." "A farmer's a farmer." "Rich or poor, he plants in the fall in the rain and snow, and harvests in the harsh summer sun." "That's why the villages should be destroy ed and the people forced to industrialize, bring in electricity!" "Get rid of the farmers, damn it, destroy the borders, boundaries, get rid of your neighbors!" "Collectives are our future." "What would you do if everything were industrialized?" "And where did you learn about all this?" "I read about it." "A short course from the Communist Party Handbook." "All that wisdom in just three letters, all you need to know!" "So, you won't be going back among the farmers, to the land?" "No way!" "I'd rather be dead." "Ah, some idiot's gun down in the village probably went off." "What are you waiting for, death?" "Come on!" "How could this have happened?" "Did you fall asleep?" "No!" "None of us three did!" "It looks like they surprised the guards." "We had a Iong, exhausting march, they just fell asleep." "Well we're going to station the area command here." "Here?" "There are still battles going on here!" "The Ustashis aren't going to come back here, trust me." "Not after they count their dead!" "We're not counting our dead, are we?" "Get rid of that sad mask you call a face, cheer up." "I have a surprise for you..." " Were did you come from?" " I'm fighting, just like you." "If you want to kiss, go out into the forest." " I really do want to kiss you." " Then it's the forest, right?" "I have to talk to you about something..." "Why do you think I'm wearing my overcoat all buttoned up?" "Thank God it's winter, so I can hide it." "What do you think, where'd I get this from?" "I'm going to have a baby." "If you believe me, your baby." "I do believe." "If it matters to you." "Didn't you say just now you wanted to kiss me?" "Dead bodies are still warm, and the harmonica's playing." "Vera told me that you want to get married." "She was prepared to carry the burden by herself, but says you really want it." " Are you serious with this?" " So the harmonica's playing for me!" "I accepted you into the Party and everything has to be clear between us." "I'm asking you as a fellow Comrade:" "Do you want to get married?" "Listen, when I joined the Party," "I gave up the church and my religion, but not my morality." "I want my child to have a father!" "Lva, you're a great guy!" "Very moral..." "And of course, I'm happy for Vera." "When she told me you'd decided to marry," "I took over all the responsibilities." "Here's a national-liberation council, a notary public, musicians, a bit of food and some schnaps, and..." "If you don't have a best man, here I am!" "And have you chosen a best man for Vera, too?" "of course not!" "She chose one herself, her brother!" "Brother?" "Who is her brother?" "Joka, for God's sake!" "You didn't know that?" "They have a place for you at the head of the table." "He didn't even know you were Vera's brother!" "Boy, are we going to celebrate!" "Come and dance with us, Comradre Spanish!" "Damn, what are we now?" "You know, you and I?" "What we were before." "By God, you're right!" "Partisans, isn't that so?" "Stronger than any family ties." "We're not bourgeois." "Fuck marriage, that's what I say." "If you didn't marry her, she wouldn't die of hunger, and either would her child." "We're creating a new world, new morality" "If we say something's moral, then it's moral." "Something is just if we say so, regardless of what the rabble say." "Joka..." " Where are you from, Joka?" " Where are we from?" "Vera and I are from Kordun." "Joka..." "I've never heard that name before." "I'm Joseph, after Mom's father..." "Joka for short." "And Joka can also be Jovan or Joseph." "Joka can be a Serbian or Croatian nickname, get it?" "Let this stay between us." " What else do you want to know?" " That's more than enough, brother-in-law!" "I haven't asked you, how old you are?" "It's about time you asked." "It wasn't important." "I'm just asking now out of curiosity." "Maybe I'm older than you." "Just don't be a worse person than I am." "What's wrong with you?" "The war..." "The war has ruined me." "What I've gone through..." "War?" "I went into war already corrupted." "So now what?" "That doesn't matter anymore." "The only thing that matters is that everything goes well with the baby." "I regret I won't be by your side." "What was that?" "My God, what was that?" "That was your child." "It's really kicking up a storm tonight!" "Makes sense after all the dancing and music!" "You sure you're carrying a child, comrade?" "Maybe you swallowed a frog from some stream." "Look how it's kicking!" "It really is a frog, look!" "I have a lunatic for a husband!" "A crazy husband!" "Lva..." "You're my husband!" "That's right, I am." "Will we ever see each other again?" "I'm coming to see the child as soon as it's born!" "You won't be seeing me naked tonight." "With this big tummy and the frog inside..." "I've changed." " Pregnancy makes women ugly." " Then put out the candle." "We're already wasting people's kerosene." "No, I won't put it out." "I want to look at you a while longer." "I'm afraid, lva." "Rejoicing about the child is best against fear." "I didn't want this baby." "But if I'd spoke of abortion, they'd have shot me." " And who could I have told?" " What's wrong with having a child?" "I'm used to it now." "It's inside me, growing, it talks to me." "Maybe I've even begun to love it." "I've even started being afraid for it." "I often dream... that we're retreating." "our soldiers are fleeing," "I stay behind and then I wake up covered in sweat kneeling on the bed, but not knowing how to pray." "oh, God, we know nothing about each other." "Nobody ever taught me." "Nobody pray ed in my house." "Tell me about your parents." "Mom was a village teacher, a committed atheist and my dad was a gendarme." " A gendarme?" "!" " I was arrested by the gendarmes!" " They were just doing their jobs." " You were a Communist and..." " Me?" "A Communist?" "!" "I joined the Party when I joined the Partisans, forced by the gendarmes!" "Is he still alive?" "No, he's not." "After Yugoslavia's capitulation, the farmers came to us, our neighbors, and beat him to death before our very ey es." "oK, tell me how your mother came to marry a gendarme." "She was a village teacher." "Who else could a village teacher marry." "She wasn't a looker either." "Men are so ignorant!" "What kind of a question is that?" " You understand nothing." " I guess not." "What do you see from the balcony?" "Darkness..." "We're surrounded by darkness." "Spring, 1945" "It's like everyone has died off." "We should've let them know we were coming." "If I'd sent a cable, they'd have thought I got killed." "Give him to me." "Is anyone home here?" "Hello, mom!" "Should we bring in our things?" "Wait till I see if they want us here!" "My God... oh, dear Lord!" "Luka, why are you standing there like a stone?" "Your son is back!" "My son!" " Is he yours?" " And yours." "Mine!" "What's your name, sweetheart!" "Just like that guy's over there!" "And I am Vera." "Go to your grandpa..." "This is all I've brought you after four y ears of war." "Have you brought back clean hands?" "Would I ever bring shame to you?" "oh, my God!" "Nobody could say you weren't your dad's son!" "See that?" "Look!" "A mole on the same spot as lva!" "I've only seen lva naked once." "The first time, and only for an instant." "I woke up, he was already off, fighting somewhere." "I've never seen my Luka naked!" "We only do it at night, under the covers!" "My son and now my grandson are the only ones I've seen naked." "Both in this same tub." "Are we done?" "Who knows, maybe Grandpa has the same mole, huh?" "Who knows?" "Who knows?" "I haven't seen it." "We've only been together 30 y ears." "If I die first, who's going to clean him up for burial?" " Who cleans him up now?" " He bathes himself." "He's not crippled, thank God." "All these y ears I was scared lva wouldn't come back." "And now, he's back, brought me a grandson..." "Give your Granny a hug!" "oh, God." "My good, good, Lord!" "I'll leave you both of them." "Especially the little one." "You can leave lva, but not the boy." "His place is with his mother." "You're welcome here as long as you're together." "He'd be better off with you." "I don't even know how to give him a bath." "oh, you'll learn." "From now on, all you'll be is a mother, believe me." "If you're worth your salt." "You didn't smoke at all during the war?" "I was scared of getting the habit... and of you!" "Yes, one should be afraid of bad habits." "But with me... the older I get, the weaker I am." "Toward my own weaknesses." "Thank God age has taken away my desires." "So I've nothing more to fear." "But why am I afraid of you if you're so helpless, huh?" "I rarely smoked and then only a little." "But for pleasure." "When you joined the Partisans, I no Ionger had a reason to light up." "All these y ears your mom and I we haven't really talked." "We just pressed against each other like two frozen birds and languish." "Fear..." "The only thing I remember during these y ears was fear." "You caused us great suffering." "I caused myself suffering, dad." " War is a time of overall suffering." " War is a time of general insanity." "Lost time." "Two wars in one lifetime!" "I ask myself if there was any point in being born!" "My God, how we suffered!" "I'll never forget that I caused you pain." "But it's over, dad." "The worst is over." "I pray to God it really is over!" "People are telling all sorts of stories." "It's just like scum floating on the water." "You know there's clear water underneath, but all you see is the scum." "In peacetime I knew everyone from our area." "And there were some I never knew existed." "Drunkards, lay abouts, bums." "And now they're back, sayinge they're going to change everything!" " Time takes its toll." " Time creates its scum!" "I know there are turncoats, but I'd die if I had to move from my house, even if they gave me a King's palace in return!" "Yet these people grab up other people's property, saying it's going to be like Russia, everything shared!" "My house, fields, horses, granary and viney ards, and some lowlife's bare butt!" "Damn it all to hell!" "Nobody talks about it, people only whisper." "And that's what I'm afraid of." "I believe, if you have faith, then there's no fear." "But if you have a brain, then you have to be scared." "Listen well..." "I'm not asking them to return anything to me," "Not the two horses you guys took, or the two cows or four pigs, or even the wheat." "I just want them to never knock on my door again." "I have one horse left, a cow, and these two hands." "I'll join no collective, I ain't the type." "I am stubborn and I'm my own master." "I'll need some time to put the property back in order, but I'm healthy, I have the desire, so let them just leave me in peace!" "Lva, son, Mata's mom is looking for you." "What's happened to Mata?" "If he's alive, his fate is already sealed." "If they've caught him, he's dead." "He's alive, his mom say." "only he's in trouble!" "We should've killed them all when we had the chance." "What if we hadn't killed the first one?" " All evil begins with the first murder." " Depends on when you start counting." "Who do you think killed first?" "Cain." "That's what the Bible says." "Matija Èaèiæ, report immediately!" "Prisoner Èaèiæ, report..." "Don't go, it's a trap!" "We'll hide you." "Don't go, they'll kill you!" "So?" "What's the difference, now or tonight?" "I'd be happier buried here." "A part of this forest belongs to my family." "You really don't smoke, comrade colonel?" "No." "And you didn't light up once during the whole war?" "Then I must give it to you." "Why can't they find him?" "Maybe he's dead, maybe he's not in this column." " You've no prisoners lists?" " Lists?" "Do you know how many were captured up there?" "or how many times escorts have changed, who's been killed where?" "What list?" "!" "There goes another one, straight to the 13th batallon list!" "The list, he says..." "I haven't taken off my boots in three days." "Comrade Captain!" "My legs are swelling..." "This man here says he's Matija Èaèiæ!" "Is that the one?" "I'm not sure." "Have him come closer." " Bring him closer!" " Step forward, you piece of trash!" "Now give me a cigarette." "That's him!" "You'll take control of him?" "Should I tie him up?" "I'm armed, he won't escape." "Come on, keep going!" "Want me to catch a few more for you?" "Get going!" " How did you find me?" " Your mom told me." " So she's alive?" " They all are." "And your folks?" " My dad told me you protected them." " You have a chance to repay my folks!" " That's what I'm doing!" " I don't know..." "Maybe you're taking me out to shoot me." "I'd rather die by your hand, so help me..." "And what happened to yours?" "The first time they took us out to be shot, I was tied up with three others." "They tied our us real tight with telephone wire..." "They killed us above tank trenches." "I threw myself into a trench before bullets got me." "I think the wire tore off my hand." "I was too scared to realize it then, but now I see I can't even be a Gypsy anymore." "What do you mean, the first time they took you?" "Ever since the Austrian border, they take us out to be shot every day." "They kill whenever and whoever they feel like." "My God, what have we gotten ourselves into?" "You got yourself into the "winning" side, and I'm on a death march." " Fuck, such is my luck." " There are no winners in war." " I don't have a gun pointed at you, do I?" " I'd blow your stupid head off, you hear?" "Shut up!" "Listen, Mata..." "I'm going to find you a doctor to take care of that hand." "It's already taken care of." "I got rid of it along the way, but I'm still carrying around my tamburitza." " A personal debt, huh?" " Something like that." "That's how I like it." "We should all do it personally." "You know what they say, an ey e for an ey e, a tooth for a tooth all the way down to the balls!" " Comrade Captain, thank you!" " You're welcome." "We're doing the work here..." "Good luck!" "Greetings, Comrade!" " I need the doctor on duty." " That would be Dr Neumann." "Comrade colonel needs you!" "Lmpossible..." "Unbelievable!" "It can't be possible that it's you!" "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you!" "So you're alive, huh?" "I shouldn't have worried!" "It's hard to get rid of a bum like me!" " You don't look like you need a doctor." " I need one very much." "A doctor and a friend." "Come here..." "That wretch in the jeep, he's a prisoner." "When I fled from Zagreb, he saved my life." "I have to return the debt." " An Ustasha?" " A friend!" "You know him." "Mata..." " Mata Èaèiæ!" " I don't know any Ustashis!" "First he saved me, then my parents." " I know, it's a risk!" " only for you." "The Hippocratic oath protects me!" "The only question is whether I want to do anything for an Ustasha..." "Ah, what's war?" "War is full of indescribable events." "For example, I'm saving the life of an Ustasha and I haven't even counted y et all the people they've killed in my family!" "Robbie, I'd never bring an Ustasha to you." "Sometimes I'm ashamed of my hatred." "But then I think about how my parents could have spent their middle age šeacefully," "eating a piece of Christmas cake." "I should be shooting him, not of saving him!" "Until Maksimir Park, I never even thought about you being a Jew." "You were just my neighbor." "I have to give this some serious thought." "Hospital is not safe for him." "Patrols come by at night and take people away." "I'll give him new clothes, and you figure out where to take him." " Dear God, what's left of the land!" " What's left of the people?" "Come on, take it out." "It's yours now." "This is what's left of me." "I can now go from door to door," ""Hello, how about a thigh, or perhaps a stump?"" "Don't be an idiot!" "I told you to take it!" "Come to your senses." "It was only magic in your hands." "Just like any other tamburitza would be." "Go on home now." "one more thing..." "Keep low profile." " I didn't know how good you were." " You didn't?" "!" "You risked your life for me!" "You were better than others, but I didn't know how much." "Go home and stay there." "Remember what you told me when we parted here?" ""I won't be able to protect you tomorrow"..." "Say hello to your folks for me!" "I knew you loved me!" "I just didn't know how much..." "What's going on?" "BartoI's mother is inside." "Her son died fighting with the Partisans, and now the Partisans are driving them out because they're German." "Well, BartoI was a German when he joined with you!" "Do you know anybody in Germany?" "They say where they're taking you?" "I asked that guy there where were we supposed to go." "And he told me, pardon my language, "Go to hell."" "I then asked him," ""Where is hell?" "Do you know which direction should we go?"" "And he says, "Up your ass!"" "Those are the kind of people my son fought and died for!" "Get moving!" "Step it up!" "What are you waiting for?" "!" "At the end of the war, all minority Germans were driven out of Yugoslavia by decree of the Communist government" "Mladen arrested?" "!" "When?" "Who told you that?" "His wife?" "Was she here or...?" "oK..." "No, no, no..." "I'll go over to the secret police office." "Right now, y es." "Goodby e." "If I may ask, do you have to be the one to go over there again, isn't there anyone else?" "Mladen Kosiæ the director has been arrested!" "And are you the only one who knows him?" "But he's my guy." "He's from my sector." " He's a Partisan, a Communist!" " That's the worst part of it." "He's not a drunkard or some bum." "What could he possibly have done, to land in prison?" " They'll tell me there." " Does it always have to be you to make sure justice is served?" "They've arrested a big shot, so it's a Party decision!" "It wouldn 't be the first bad move the Party has made." " Give me a kiss... here!" " Go to sleep, it's still early." "When are you coming back?" "I have to go to work." "Daddy has to work." "Should we go to sleep now?" "How about a kiss?" "Here, here..." "Now let's sleep." "You're becoming a recluse." "You avoid people, you don't talk." "Who can I talk to?" "The village is plundered, all the barns empty, not a grain of wheat left, they're arresting people and looking for "surplus"!" " That's not your fault!" "our house is spared and everyone sees that." "They know lva's Partisanship is protecting us." " That's not lva's fault." " I know it's not." "You have a son to be proud of, and I'm forced to be ashamed of him." "Come right in, Comrade lva!" "You don't have to wait!" "Comrade Spanish always says, "If it's Comrade lva show him in right away"!" " And then I also add..." ""open the window, lva doesn't smoke."" " How are you, Spanish?" " Fine, fine." "I could hardly wait to see you, though, if you came more often, I'd get pneumonia!" "Take a seat." "We got some coffee from the diplomatic commissary." "Should I make some?" "of course!" "You're neglecting me, you don't come by." "I miss you, my old Comrade." "I wade through a bunch of shit here, listen to reports on what the reactionaries are doing, the priests, the intelligentsia, how the peasants are complaining..." "What a fucked up life." "At least you have Vera and your son." "I go home to a dark apartment every night." "Sure, my life is a bed of roses..." "Roses are out of season, and they have thorns!" "Listen, the war is over, and you're the only one still fighting." " You don't know when to quit." " This isn't really what I was fighting for." "You weren't fighting alone, that's the problem." "No one could have won the war alone." "Except Tito and the Party!" "We were only helping." "There's only one Tito." "Even when he's gone, there'll still only be one!" "And whatever's left of us, fuck it..." "What would say the ones who gave their lives?" "Who's going to ask them now?" "I'm complaining about my solitude, but only when I'm alone in my apartment can I think about where these two revolutions got me, two Communist wars." "N those French prison camps before the fasc a Iot of people lost hope, some went their own way and blurted out everything that had built up inside them and... nothing!" "Tiny meteors spun off from the sun, flashed but once entering the blackness of the universe." "They burned out and vanished in darkness." "Well, that's what we've got to be careful of." "If we spin off, we'll burn out and vanish." "So I should get out of my own village?" " My mother and father are there." " What matters to them is that you're ok." "I heard your father is opposed to the collectives." "What's more important to him - you or a barn and two little cows?" "I thought my head was worth more." "It is." "Long as I'm here, you need not worry." "But stay fucking clear of that major, of Joka and that liberal Kosiæ." "They're going to fight even without our help." "Don't make things difficult." "My power is not unlimited!" "Here's the coffee." "And look who's here!" "My old pal!" " How's my old comrade?" " See for yourself!" "Diplomatic commissary, coffee..." "Is that a criticism of your Party committee?" "No way!" "No problem as long as your doors are open to me." "When there's for you, then there's for me." "You just hold a firm line some elements already in deep shit." " How are things out on the field?" "Tough!" "The peasants are hard nuts to crack, but we've shut them up and now they're buying wheat and turning over the surplus to us." " I see you're making arrests too." " There's no other way." "The collective is obligatory." "They all have to be equal." " Bare-assed peasant proletariat!" " And is there resistance?" "You don't go into a village without this..." " What do you do with it?" " Proleteriatize the village!" "Communism, Comrade lva!" "Whatever the Party tells us." " You bring people misfortune." " It's a plenary decision of the Party!" "I have to make a call." "I've stay ed too long." "How much surplus did your father turn over?" "Nothing." "He's always been poor as a church mouse!" "Nothing, huh?" "No blisters..." "No back pain or rheumatism from the autumn rains." "Lucky you with such a father!" "Greetings, Comrades!" "Is he fucking with me?" "He sure is, but you're not the only one." "What are you doing in my y ard?" "Wasting my time, just like you do it with me." "When did you come?" "Well, I came..." "You're in no position to be mad at me." "You're avoiding me, because I'm a widow." "Because I'm a cripple!" " They castrated you?" "!" " I lost my hand..." "We've three more left." "oh, my God, Mata..." "What's going to happen to us?" "If something happens to lva, they'll execute me." "I'll disappear without a trace." "I should think about escaping." "Then leave a trail." "I'll find you wherever you go." "Can we at least get inside for starters?" " I'm a bit cold..." " You swine!" " You only think about..." " I sure do!" "What a sight for sore ey es!" "You always blow in like the wind, unexpected. oh, I Iook a mess again." "You ought to say:" "look how pretty I am!" "oh, my father was so lucky to find you" " Where is he?" " out in the barn." "He went out early." " I don't know what's keeping him." " I'll go to him." "Here, take this!" " You didn't have to!" " Just things you don't have here." "oil, salt, odds and ends." "Come on!" "Son!" "I have to tell you something." "His nerves are bad." "Every day they're trying to make him join the collective, since he's your father." "They cleaned out the barn, look..." "To the last grain of wheat." "They almost beat us, accused us of hiding the rest!" "Son, what is happening?" "The worst part is that the farmers turn away from us, as though the evil is coming from our house." "They say, "our men didn't make it from the war there's no one to defend us."" " Calm down, mother." "All evil passes in the end." "There's always sun after the storm." "From your mouth to God's ears!" "Mom!" "oh, dad, why... why?" "!" "oh dear God!" "Luka, why?" "!" " Hey, Joka..." " Where is he?" " Upstairs, putting the little one to bed." " You know what happened at the funeral?" "He didn't say, but nothing surprises me anymore." "He can't escape his village or his past." "There was a priest at his father's funeral!" "A priest that just got out of prison, it's in all the reports!" "He can't get over the death." "He's completely lost." " He loved his dad very much." " You and I didn't love ours?" " You can't compare the two." " oh, really!" "The Ustashis killed our father, lva's doing them favors, and you still defend him!" "Keep it down!" "How am I defending him?" "You've ruined my life, guys." "If I could have had an abortion, I'd have a future." "What can I do like this?" "You all married me off!" "Besides, he acted honorably." "He could have dumped me." "Vera, I am your brother, you know how much I Iove you." "Tell me the truth now, is the child his?" "We're not just siblings, we're comrades in arms!" "I'm not trying to insult you!" "I'm asking you in private, not even God can hear:" "When did your affair with Spaniard begin?" "The child is lva's!" "He finally fell asleep." "Hey, Joka..." "My condolences!" "I'm sorry about your father." "It's too late to be sorry now." " Why haven't you eaten y et?" " We were waiting for you." "You didn't need to, you know I can't." "When's the last time you ate?" "In the Partisans, we got used to living without food." "Then we knew why we were hungry, right?" "While we were killing and pillaging, we knew why we were sacrificing ourselves." "When you lose a father, then there's no suffering!" "Vera and I lost a father, too." "We understand you." "Your father was killed by the fascists and mine by the Communists." "Maybe it's all the same, and I'm just splitting hairs." "our father was killed, yours killed himself." "Both were driven to death." "And death is death." "But your father was killed out of revenge, and my father killed himself to revenge himself on me." "Into his village, into his world I brought Communism, non-existent surpluses, forced membership in the collectives, fear, pillaging... all that I brought with our victory!" "So then it follows I knotted that rope around his neck." "The night before, he told mama he didn't want to be an impediment to me." "He died ashamed before the whole village of his educated son." "You know that all the respectable people in the village turned their backs to us?" "What do you think, why?" "Peasants can't comprehend state politics that quickly." "The farmer is limited intellectually." "How come derelicts and bums grasped it immediately?" "Accepted it with open arms!" "What's yours is now mine, and what was mine, go ahead and take it!" "Meaning, my laziness, my naked butt!" "Take it all, comrade, we're all equal now." "It's enough to drive you crazy!" "Sit down finally and eat!" "You'd better lie down for awhile, calm down." "Calm down?" "Lie down and sleep away my father's death?" "There's something wrong with you." "My poor mom is alone there, wailing in the darkness." "Bring her here." "You have enough room." "Now when she's got nothing, bring her in a house taken from somebody else." "From pillaged into the plundered." "Joka, have you ever had your own house?" "No, I'm a born proletariat." "Mom raised us in a radical spirit, an advocated critic of everything in existence." "That's how she ended up in a fascist prison camp." "I am very proud of her." "Luckily for you, she's no Ionger alive." "What do you mean?" "If she endorsed criticism of everything in existence, what she'd have to say to your secret police major." "He'd string her up and it wouldn't help her that her two children were Partisan fighters." "Since we're on the subject of the secret police you had to bring a priest to the funeral?" " It was my father's funeral, not mine." "The dead don't summon priests to their own funerals." "My mother has the ultimate say regarding my father's funeral." "Don't talk bullshit." "You say respectable peasants turned their backs on you?" "All village reactionaries were at the funeral." " That Ustasha Mata, huh?" " Are you interrogating me?" "I'm preparing you." "The Party will be asking questions." "The Party equals the secret police?" "I'm not answering any of your questions!" "I didn't fight so the secret police could come to power." "Freedom and the secret police don't go together!" "You've usurped power and struck fear into everyone's heart." " People are afraid of you, man!" " only those who have a reason." "And since we're on the subject... you think I enjoy all this?" "It's nicer to be a liberal, a free thinking intellectual, than wear s police uniform." " But I made the decision to serve the Party!" " And your passion." "What passion, damn it?" "!" "For revenge!" "Everyone's an Ustasha in your ey es, even the farmers who beat your dad to death!" "That's not true!" "But every surviving enemy is like a smoldering fire." "You leave him be, all is going to burst into flame." "And you're the one who won't let us go all the way." "It's easy with the enemy." "Shoot him and it's done!" "But the day comes when he rises from the dead!" "Enough!" "Enough!" "Enough!" "Why did I slave all day cooking dinner?" "!" "Sit and eat!" "Sit down!" "Sit, eat and shut up!" "And keep your mouth shut!" "You're looking at all this a bit too subjectively." "I understand, it's hard for you, you lost our father, but it would be hard on me if anything happened to you." "Don't forget you have a small child." "Can't you do anything but threaten people?" "Who's threatening you, man?" "You were my hero!" "But there are also greater ones." "Can any of us measure up to Tito?" "Everything we do, everything, it was all his idea." "We live and create based on what he's taught us." " You're right about that." " And Tito's not crazy, that's for sure!" "No!" "I don't think Tito's crazy at all." "God forbid." "He's just a corrupt egocentric." "And a swindler." "Why, you are a hardcore bandit!" "A hardcore enemy!" "Because my mom buried by dad with a priest?" "I'd tolerate it considering your father's suicide." "or because I repaid a debt to the man who saved me from a fascist camp." " I'd forgive that, though he was an Ustasha and most likely a war criminal." " Do have any proof of that?" " You interrogate me?" "!" "Who's the one who fucked up here?" "No, Spanish." "I'm just trying to talk to you." "I'm not defending myself, I've no reason to!" "You have no reason?" "You have no reason, God damn you?" "!" "People of all nations within our socialist community kneel before him in love and gratitude!" "What?" "!" "Why are you gaping at me like that?" "I've done defending your stupid, dangerous outbursts." "Phony humanism!" "Kneel, you dissipate, kneel before him and repent!" "You ought to be shot even if you were crazy!" "I'm surprised Joka didn't!" "Comrade Tito corrupt?" "!" "Tito corrupt?" "Kneel, you garbage, and repent!" "His temperature's down, he finally went to sleep." " You won't shave?" " Does it bother you?" " You always shaved during the war." " I was a different man then." "Everything was different then." "Sometimes I'm sorry the war is over." "Have you got any other intelligent remark?" "our child has a temperature of 99 and that the worst is probably over!" " How could you sleep tonight?" " What should I have done?" "Luka can't talk, you don't want to..." "Maybe I should have just idle away with you." " That's what you call love." " When you talk about love, it's like someone beating against a piece of tin." " I'm just talking nonsense." " Not nonsense, but lies!" "A fool can't talk nonsense when talking about love." "Smart people lose their heads over love, but they still believe in it." "But you're lying!" " You only care about what someone says." " You got me mixed with your brother!" " He reported me just for saying something." " Joka wants to help you now." " Joka should practice euthanasia!" " I'm not defending Joka..." "But how much trouble you brought upon yourself?" "!" "I'm sorry for saying this, but you are... suicidal." "You mean, like my father?" "I don't have anything in common with him." "I don't have his wisdom or his courage." "It's too late for that now." "Vera..." "All that will remain of our love or our hate is the poor, helpless child." "Before they come for me at five, before we part for what could be forever..." "I beg you, promise you'll be good to little Luka." "Be a good mother." " He may have lost his father forever." " What are you talking about?" "Who's coming?" "open up!" "Secret police!" "They are... oK now." "Why are you here?" "My wife's brother reported me." "Maybe even my wife." " A false report?" " No." "A treacherous one!" "He was supposed to conceal your enemy activities?" "There was no activity, let alone enemy." "It was a dinner conversation." "And he was a guest in my home." "The most important thing now is that you admit you spoke out against the government." " I made a criticism, not speaking against." "oK, smartass, what's the difference?" "I just wanted to make a criticism, not destroy." "Criticize Tito?" "!" "You know everything I said in front of my wife and her brother!" " What more do you want?" " What's most important..." "Who are you in contact with and, say, what's your rank in this enemy organization?" " oh, is that it?" "Don't interrupt me!" "I've had it up to here with your arrogance." "Get one thing straight." "You are a piece of trash, a member of the Soviet Informburo, and the sooner you admit it, the less you'll suffer and the easier it'll be on me" "I'm no member of the Informburo." "I was against Stalin when everyone was singing his praises and had their heads stuck up his ass!" "That's the thing." "You were always against Party policies." "We go this way, you go that way." "Always have to stand out." "Always the smart one!" "See where that's got you now?" "It's my job to get your confession and I will perform my duty." "Here's a paper and pencil." "Write." "That's easy for you, you're a college boy, right?" "Write down what position you hold in the illegal government, who you're in contact with, what your rank is, how many foreigners there are..." "Nice and slow, and everything will be just fine." "So I will, as you say, suffer less and make things easier for you, this is all you're getting from me..." "Everything my brother-in-law reported to you, what I said at a private dinner in my own home, in the presence of my close relatives, is true!" "But it's not true that I'm the Informburo." "I've never been a Stalinist or a Bolshevik." "I was only a member of the Communist Party, which you threw me out of, and any more time you spend with me until the day I die will be a waste of time." "one more thing..." "Fuck you, major!" "Those are my final words!" "Guard!" "To the isolation cell!" "All I do the live-Iong day is wash him and his dirty diapers." " It just gushes out of him!" " What did the doctor say?" "It's dysentery, what else?" "I can see that myself." "He need to go to the hospital, because it could be dangerous." " Did he say how he got it?" " How do they know?" "Infection!" "It's nerves." "He hasn't calmed down since they took away his daddy." "Goddamn him to hell!" "He's as hard as nails." "Cheeky, brassy!" "I've seen all kinds, but none like him, none like this son of a bitch!" "What's going on?" "Has he gone nuts?" "He's what you call, a true Communist, prepared to die without giving anything up." "If you knew how many Communists started singing in the Gestapo prisons!" "All you have to do is find the right instruments and songs!" "There's no big difference between people." "Everyone has a pain threshold." "My dear Major, history has recorded the weak spots of a gallery of heroes." "In the Soviet Union everyone confessed to everything and repented." "Tuhacevski even y elled out "Long live Stalin" as he was being shot." " You're kidding!" " Milada..." "Comrade Milada!" " Yes, Comrade Spanish!" " close that door!" "Give me the telephone so I can call the hospital and get the boy admitted." "Do you know someone there?" "Does the secret police know someone there?" "We hire the directors, the administrators..." "Who appoints the ministers?" "Soon we'll be appointing bishops and cardinals!" "The Party's powers are great, sis!" "If you are so all-powerful, then resolve my case." "The boy and I are hungry." "I've got no more coupons." "Iva's salary stopped coming, all doors are closed to me." "So what else is that lunatic saying?" "That he's not the Informburo and that he's always been against Stalin ...and the Soviet Union." " So were the others, the priests, the peasants, the Ustashis, Serb fascists, and reactionaries." "If he were really against them, would he have been able to progress this far?" "But if it were true, would he ever made it so high up?" "Bullshit!" "All of a sudden everyone knows everything there is to know." "All they know is my dick!" "Let's just say, I for one don't know everything." "But you know how to keep your mouth shut." "That's most important now." "And, major..." "Don't get ahead of yourself." "You've rubbed Spanish in my nose several times already." "I'm just saying that he holds a Iot of power in his hands." "Right now, you, your husband, and your child!" "The same hands awarded you those epaulets with stars." "our relationship didn't bother you then." "Why didn't you report us then like you did lva?" "You needed Spanac!" "I still do, but you need him even more!" "Let me tell you one thing..." "I came to help, and I don't care who you whored with!" "I was never a whore!" "If I had, I wouldn't be at your mercy now!" "I never capitalized on being in the Partisans, my military rank, or what you're accusing me of!" "You're wrong!" "Services need to be paid for." "Do you know what that meant to a little naive Partisan girl, a Spanish civil war volunteer, on the Guadalajara barricades and in the mountains of Catalonia?" "The first man in our area to rebel?" "He was a God!" "And I was young, hungry, freezing, scared... a nobody!" " Why don't you get dressed?" " Do you have any idea how old I am?" " Do you know anything about me?" " Lf I did, this wouldn't have happened!" "It was my decision, Comrade Spanish." " At least I'd like to give you something." " Whenever I think about this," "I'll remember your pistol, for rubbing against me and giving me blisters!" "You do everything with a gun on your hip?" "Just what you needed, a child!" "Well he's here." "Small and helpless." " What am I supposed to do?" " Think about it." "I doubt lva is going to change his views." "We know him best." "You and the child are going to become hostages to his name." "Think what's going to happen wherever you go, when you say you're the wife or widow of Iva Kolar, or if he says he's the son." "This government is going to last, so if you don't break him down or force him to repent..." "Take back your maiden name and give it to the boy." " You're Lucifer, Joka!" " I am your brother." "If I am Lucifer, you're not far from the depths of hell." "If there is a heaven, those gates were slammed in our faces long ago." "Pray to God there's no God." "Reveal the organizations, who's involved, who you talked with against the Party and Tito." "I'm afraid you're just wasting your time with me." "I'm paid for the time." "I'm on duty." "And why are you wasting your time, huh?" "When I leave, I'll go for a drink with my comrades, then home to my wife and kids, a hot meal, a warm room, pajamas and a warm wife." "If I can get it up, and I still can, and if I feel like it..." "You won't be fucking unless you cooperate!" "In time you'll be bent over just like your dick in the isolation cell." "Guard!" "Get out of here!" "What do you want?" "What do I need to do to make you see what will happen to you if you won't cooperate?" "I talk to you man to man, or better y et, comrade to comrade, and you're still obstinate!" "It would be moral to repent, as a Communist, and we as Communists would forgive as much of it as possible." " Moral, you say?" "Moral isn't, "I have to, I'm not allowed to"." "Moral is "I won't do it", no matter what it costs me." "You won't bring me to my knees." "You won't go down on your knees?" "!" "I didn't quite hear you!" "You have a visit!" "How are you?" "Thanks to God and your brother, bad." "I tried to get to you, but they wouldn't let me." "It was easy bringing you in to testify against me." "Joka would give anything to take it back." "You and your stupid bad tempers." "Arguing like that, and for what?" "And look at the consequences!" "Your son is very ill." " He's in the hospital." " What are you talking about?" "They' let you give him blood." "He needs a transfusion." "You two have the same blood type." "How long has he been sick?" "He hasn't calmed down since they took you away!" "He doesn't need me at all!" "He doesn't need anyone but you!" "What is happening to us?" "Misfortune..." "We've had bad luck." "But only then one can see what one is made of." "I'm desperately unhappy and so very alone." "How is it possible that just one wrong little step can bring eternal unhappiness?" "We brought it all on ourselves." "But it won't last forever." "You're the smartest man in the world." "Smart and brave." "I have to tell you something." "Joka thinks you still have a chance." "Is that why they sent you here to me?" "Damn him, damn him to Hell!" "I told you who we were dealing with here." "A trap!" "And you lured me into it!" "Making up the most treacherous story about my son being ill!" "You wanted to get me over here and then break me!" "No, I didn't, I swear didn't!" "Bitch and sons of bitches!" "You're a common slut, trying to seduce and then break me!" "You bitch!" "He's no Informburo..." "He's a traitor, a hard-headed Communist, he's got faith in something, but who knows what..." "I came here mostly because of Luka." "only you can help him." "When he was a baby, I gave him milk, but only you can give him the blood he needs to live!" "So now what?" "I beg you, just do this and then kill me!" "The show must go on till the curtains fall." "Take them to the fucking hospital, but keep your ey e on them." "I'm not going to chain you, but if you try anything," "I'll shout you down!" "Comrade Doctor, this is little Luka's father." "Neumann." " You know your blood type?" " Yes, 0, Rh factor plus." "Same as boy's." "Great." "When was the last time you ate?" "Yesterday." "When's the last time you had a bath?" "A long time ago." "Doctor, can you tell me what's wrong with my son?" "Come..." "Your boy has blood dysentery." "He's gotten very weak and lost a Iot of blood." "The transfusion is absolutely necessary." "The people with his blood type can give to A, B, and of course 0 blood types, but they can only receive the 0 group." "The blood type is inherited from one parent." "Luka has yours, so that's good." "Now you'll take a bath, and get hospital pajamas..." " A bath?" "!" "Where?" " Here on the unit." " Then you'll eat something." " That wasn't the agreement!" " What wasn't?" " The food and all..." "He can't be like this in the intensive care unit." "He'd endanger the patients and most of all the child he'll be lying next to in the bed." " We're doing a direct transfusion." " I'm not approving this!" "I don't have the authority." "I'm taking him back!" "You'll be right outside the door, he can't escape." "Luka!" "Look who's here to see you..." "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "My son!" "Didn't we make a deal that men don't cry?" "I'm very brave, daddy." "Your secretary turned me away five times!" "I need your help and I think I have the right to ask." " A right to me?" " A right to get help!" "What's going to happen to me and the boy if and when he gets out of the hospital?" "Listen to me well." "If I'd wanted to take care of a child, I would have given you one." "You or someone else." "This is a country with social benefits." "You can put him into a home." "They are full of children!" "And you, dear Comrade, can report tomorrow to my secretary" "She'll tell you where you'll be working." "No more Iounging around." "And also try to think whether you really need such a large apartment." "And don't bother me again!" "You knew whose he was?" "Doctors always have a way to find things out." "I heard." "Can you tell me honestly..." "We need to talk openly..." "Is your mother alive?" "I think so." "You think?" "But don't you..." " This is my first contact with the world." " I have to be honest." "I think she'd take the best care of Luka." "How to explain to her Luka was taken from his mother?" "She belongs to an almost died out world." "She's still alive." "None of my family ever returned." "My mom, my dad... brother..." "None of my relatives in Austria survived..." "Are you married?" "No, I'm still torn." "It's hell here." "So I wanted to move to Israel..." "I was there." "It's just sand!" "Lvo, nothing grows there, it's not like home!" "Is something wrong?" "Joka, I'm cold, I'm hungry, and there's no heat..." "So you're keeping warm with schnapps, huh?" "You know what they say..." "Those who drink alone die alone." "oh, really?" "How would you know?" "You read it somewhere?" "Joka, when's the last time you read something?" "You drank all of this yourself?" "I stood drinks to the ghosts of the former owners of this house." "I had a spiritual séance." "Some old Jews came down the chimney, then the Ustashis who put them in the camps and I represented our side, the ones who killed the Ustashis, right?" "And that was a last goodby e, because Comrade Spanish gave me a hint that I need to put my son in a home," "find a job, and leave this house." "Fucking son of a bitch!" "If I'd had a gun, I would've shot him right there." " And where's that trophy gun of mine?" " I brought it to you, here." " The major said this was the one." " It is." "Spanish claims he's the one who gave it to you." "He did." "It's all he gave me for my virginity." "What?" "Yes, Joka." "You always thought I was a slut, and now it's time you knew," "that I've only been with two men in my life." "And not for long with either one..." "Now they're both lost to me forever." "I personally ruined the honorable, the kind one," "and the bastard will end up costing me my head." "Yours isn't the only one." "He took me off the roster for the military academy?" " What do you mean?" " He crossed out my name." "Supposedly I needed to be checked out, since I'm the son of a gendarme and they've done him some personal harm." "How did you put it?" "Fucking son of a bitch!" "oh, I'll get him some day, I will." "Everyone has his Achilles heel." "I'll fuck him up!" "He said he'd had it ever since Spain." "He won it as the best graduate of the Soviet Intelligence course." " What are you talking about?" " What do I know, a course!" "He was Soviet intelligence in the Spanish Republican army, s he had to have been trained somewhere." "I'm talking about the pistol which brought him luck." "Then he gave it to me as a talisman for my cherry!" "You say he was intelligence." "You hear me?" "!" "You said, Soviet intelligence!" "He just mentioned it, not bragging about it, because the pistol was Russian!" "Give it here!" "Hello there, Major." "It's Joka." "I have some incredible information for you." " You're leaving me?" " It's late, Vera." " Have one more!" " I have a meeting and you'd better go lie down." " Just one more." "You've finished it all off!" "You're drunk." "Go to bed." "Go to bed?" "Who with, brother Joka?" "I'm a woman in her prime." "I need someone." "A gentle hand..." " A gentle whisper from a living being." " What you need is a beating!" "I'm horrified to think" "I'll be left here alone again with the souls of dead Jews and Ustashis." "Go to bed!" "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "You thought you were such a genius, and you're really just filth, a spy!" "Soviet trash." " Why haven't you taken him down y et?" "!" " Take them down yourself." "I put them up there, and now any imbecile can take them down." "You fox in sheep's clothing, spying on the Party." "You're nothing and nobody!" "I admit I was Soviet intelligence in the Spanish Civil War." "At that time, it was an honorable revolutionary task." "I'm nobody's spy today." "Because we've put a little salt on your tail!" "Shut up, kid!" "You're telling an officer of the secret police to shut up?" "!" "We can deal with you a Iot differently than this." "You created this service." "Now be smart and cooperate." "You have time before the interrogation begins." "Pull yourself together, repent, write it all down." "Your contacts, who's above and below you, you're not a small fish, but you're also not the biggest." "It's obvious that you betray ed the revolution!" "Now write down who commanded you!" "I joined the revolution in Spain, and you ran for cover." "I was reading Lenin and Marx, you were reading fairy tales with the village idiots." "What do you know about the revolution?" "!" "Wait, Joka!" "No!" "Wait, stop!" "oh let him go, Major!" "He is my mistake." "And I should be the one to pay for it." "If I fed a hungry dog, it would never bite me." "But Joka will bite the hand that feeds him." "The son of a gendarme!" "But I have reliable information that you screwed the gendarme's daughter." "That didn't bother you." "We have information that, while sheepherding, you were humping goats!" " Cuff him!" " I will, let me!" "Give me your hands!" "oh, major..." "These are the hands that fed him!" "Cut the bullshit, you traitor!" "Have you got cuffs ready for the major?" "It's your turn now, major!" "ideology comes and goes, gendarmes stay!" "once a gendarme, always a gendarme!" "What is it?" "!" " Need anything, comrade Major?" " close the door, close it!" "close it!" "That chair really suits you." "Just seeing how the world looks from here." "I hope I'm looking a little better to you, too." "Take it easy, Joka." "I have to admit you hooked a big fish, even though you were advised to stick to guppies." "To your health!" "It's all over for the moustaches!" "So what should we do now?" "Trim them or shave them off?" "oh, just in case I forget..." "I've been informed your sister killed herself." "When?" "They found her y esterday." "I didn't want to tell you till we finished this." "of course." "Duty always comes first." " Who's in charge of the Spanish case?" " Until you cool off, I am." "He killed my sister!" "And the child..." "What will I do with him?" "Yes..." "That's the biggest problem." "Vera is dead and that can't be helped." "Iva will get 3 or 4 y ears isolation in prison." "If he survives, then what?" "What future there awaits a child carrying his name?" "A tough situation." "Hard to know what to do." "What do you recommend?" "Well..." "Don't react like an uncle." "Think of him as though it were my child." "The child of your close comrade." "I would put him in a home and change his name." "What should I tell his father?" "That the child died." "You'll bury them the same day." " And take lva to the funeral." " He'll want to see the child." "The child died of a contagious disease." "The coffin can't be opened." "Wait a minute..." "You want to help the child, or just up the father?" "Lva has to be broken, so he never recovers and can't take revenge!" "You put him behind bars, don't forget that." "He's never going to." " Who's going to tell lva?" " Leave that to me." "I'll handle the papers." "You go to the hospital and take the child to a home with the new documents." "We're friends, aren't we?" "You're going out." "To the cemetery." "Your wife killed herself." "Why?" "How...?" "pistol in the mouth." "Horrible!" "Why did she do that?" "Listen, I've no good news for you." "Your son has died." "She probably couldn't deal with it." "You're lying!" "You want to break me!" "I'm not lying, my friend!" "I swear." "I'm not a beast!" "This is mine..." "lave it." "oh, my son..." "My son..." "God, why are you punishing me like this?" "We are parting ways now." "The national government is turning you over to the selfgoverning camp administration, trash and traitors just like you." "From now on, you will be in the hands of your own kind." "Now you have a chance to see what the state would be like if you had won!" "So that's taken care of." "Fuck the traitors." "open up!" "They told me I can be the first one to congratulate you." "Congratulations, Comrade General!" " Joka, don't screw with me!" " I'm serious, I swear!" "on the Party's honor!" "Thank you, Comrade." "After Vera 's death, they told lva Luke died too, took the boy to a home for war orphans and changed his name." " oh, my dear God!" "But he just kept saying..." "what did you say, come on!" "I kept saying my name was Luka Kolar, just like my grandpa." "They changed homes and names, but they couldn't change him." "And now you're in your grandpa's home and in the arms of your grandma, Kata." "You'll grow up happy here and wait for your daddy, lva Kolar, to come back." "God bless you, dear Robbie!" "Four y ears later" "Luka, Luka, son!" "Someone's out in the y ard!" "Who is it?" "Who's there?" "It's me, mom... oh, my God!" "Lva!" "Look who's been waiting for you..." "And who are you?" "I am Luka Kolar." "That was my grandpa's name, too!" "And I am lva Kolar." "I know." "You're my daddy!" "oh, my son..." "Have we turned to stone here in the dark?" "We can't even see each other!" "There's always light after the darkness, mom."