"Heaven over the marshes, drawn from the life of Maria Goretti." "This film is acted by farmers from the Rome countryside." "Desolate, immense, wild solitude." "For kilometers and kilometers, not a house, not a face, not a fountain." "Yet water's everywhere, unmoving, putrid, muddy, a sinister realm of fever and death." "This malignant, dreadful earth of bare, twisted trees just 50 years ago surrounded Rome with a desert of water and mud." "Simple people, wild, superstitious, inhabited it, united by poverty and hunger, by struggle against malaria and death." "It's the story of these people that this film tells." "Of these people who, unable to hope for anything from man, asked God for comfort and help." "Watch out, you nearly turned over!" "What's this child have?" "He suffers from chilblains, sir." "As soon as you can, wash his sores with water and salt." "Then put this on his feet." "Thank you, sir." "God help you!" "And hope we don't see other again." "Here we go again, eh?" "You have another of them on your conscience." "Me, doctor?" "Is it my fault he's sick?" "You just want the money." "So much smoke!" "Let in a little air!" "Close it." "I wonder how they manage to live in all this smoke." "If they open, they freeze, doctor!" "Either cold or smoke!" "Where is he?" " Here." "I called you, doctor, because he's had a fever for a week." "More than a week!" "This is fever of three months!" "With this spleen!" "I didn't want to know anything about it." "Till 7 days ago, he didn't complain, he worked like the others." ""He didn't complain, he worked like the others."" "Till you don't see them drop dead, they're all fine!" "No matter if it's malaria." "Wait till the doctor passes by!" "At least call me right away!" "No!" "You call me when there's no longer anything to do!" "Lower his arms!" "Don't be afraid." "Come here." "Understand?" "Pull down his pants!" "If you touch me, I'll kill you!" "Good God!" "Is it possible that today there're still people like you?" "You've all worn me out!" "Did you understand?" "Take off his pants!" "Okay, doctor, you can go ahead." "He's quiet now." "Doctor, don't kill me!" "Doctor!" "Doctor!" "Doctor!" "Doctor!" "Mama!" "Poor people!" "Poor people!" "What do you?" "Well, let's hope." "Let's hope he pulls through." "Here's the manager!" "The manager's here." "He's come." "Get up!" "Let's go, come on!" "The rain's stopping." "Wake up." "Did you take everything?" "Hey, come right away!" "Okay, we're coming." "Hurry!" "Come, Angelo." "Let's go, come on." "And so you've come to find work here." "Sure." "In Corinaldo, everyone says there's work here." "Right, Assunta?" "Yes, from where we live many people came here and found work." "Signor Antonio gave us a letter of recommendation for you." "And we came here." "Great!" "But why didn't you stay where you were?" "Here we need strong arms and tough skins!" "Our contract had run out." "The house had been promised to another family." "And what they gave us wasn't enough even to take away hunger." "We have a heap of children." "I see them!" "Nights are long in Corinaldo too, huh?" "Certainly." "We didn't lose time." "But they're good kids and they all work, okay?" "This is the biggest." "Come here, Antonio." "This one's stronger than a grown man!" "You have to see it!" "Then there's this daughter." "She's better than a mother!" "At home she does everything." "We go out in the morning and return at dusk." "It's she takes care of everything, even the little children." "But he only knows how to open his mouth to eat." "Like that one there." "Certainly." "They're creatures." "But even he, small as he is, is starting to do something." "Don't worry, no useless mouths here!" "We all work." " "We all work" !" "Is it true, what your father and mother say?" "Answer the manager." "Answer the manager." "Come on!" "Come on, answer the manager!" "Children are a wonderful thing, but at times they make you really suffer." "Till now they are, may God bless them!" "Papa, don't worry, they won't start crying again." "I told them to tickle themselves." "Not now!" "There's no one here." "Good, kids, good!" "Let's go." "In Conca we'll find work." "The manager said so." "He could have given us some, him." "Now if the Lord doesn't help us..." "He does help us, mama." "He's the friend of the poor people." "Hey, is this the road to Conca?" "Straight ahead." "When you get to the crossing, turn left." "Is it far?" " If you go fast you're there in half an hour." " Thanks." "Papa," "In Nettuno is there the sea like in Ancona?" "Yes, there is." "When we were in Corinaldo, you didn't want to take me to see it." "But in Nettuno you'll take me!" "If we find work, I'll take you." "We'll go, me and you, just us two." "How glad I am to be leaving, Don Giulio!" "How do you manage to live here the whole year in this execrable place?" "But what's my husband doing?" "We'll end up missing the train to Nettuno!" "Riccardo!" "Riccardo!" "I'm coming!" "I'm coming." "Okay, we'll talk more about it when I get back from Rome." "Yes, signor Count." "Come here!" "Come here!" "Look, come here!" "Speak, speak, speak, speak!" "And you bring them to me here?" "!" "Sorry, signor Count, he's half idiot." " Take them back where you found them!" " Go, go, go, go, go!" "One moment!" "What do you want?" " To work." " Is there a way to help them?" " No, signor Count." " You hear?" "Sorry." "Be good, Count, let us sleep here a few days." "Till we find work somewhere else." "Don't bother signor Count!" "As if we have to listen to everybody who comes here!" "Go away!" "Go!" "I don't have time to waste!" "Understand?" "I've no time to waste!" "No." "Tickle yourselves!" "Why are they laughing like that?" "Stop now!" "Enough!" "Why're you laughing so much?" "So not to cry, signore." "Poor people!" "We absolutely have to help them, dear." "Yes, signor Count, you have to help them." " Take them, Riccardo!" " Yes, dear." "Fix them up as best we can." " Yes, signor Count." "I urge you, do what the Count says." "Don't doubt it, signora Countess." "Thank you, signora." " For what, dear?" "Don't worry, you'll have work and a house." "How pretty they are!" "All yours?" "Yes, signora." "It's all we have." "Six children." "And we not even one." "Alessandro!" " What?" "Come here!" " Here I am." "What do you want?" "What's this stuff?" "Aren't you glad?" "Now when I go away, there'll be someone to keep you company." "I don't need anyone!" "As for going away, you'll go when it suits me." "So you say!" " Give me the money!" "Some's missing!" "How?" "Ah, yes, you bought the newspaper again!" "All the ones you have aren't enough?" "I'm the one who went to Nettuno to sell the stuff." "You don't want to give me anything?" "I know what I'll give you, spending money like this!" "Why?" "Don't you drink them?" "It's really true:" "A father can feed a hundred children but a hundred children can't feed a father." "Who's that?" "Who're you?" "Good morning." "Has he been awake long?" "When did you come?" " Last night." "Who brought you here?" " The manager." "Who's the manager?" "I'm in charge here!" "I don't want you in my house!" "Where's your father?" "You want to send us away?" " Where's your father?" "He went with mama to step around the house." "I'll give him a waltz step!" "Don't send us away!" "We suffered so to come here!" "You're two men, you can't look after a house." "Mama cooks well." "And who are these?" "The other brothers and my sisters." "The rest of the family." "No one's missing!" "Don't send us away!" "If your father thinks I'll keep his children, he's mistaken!" "Ah, here you are!" " Good morning." "What "good morning"?" "!" ""Good morning"!" "You walk around the house as though it were yours." "But you're wretches?" "You like the stable, huh?" "You like the two cows inside too?" "Pretty, aren't they?" "Who don't you taste their milk?" "It'd be good for you, as hungry as you are!" "Why do you speak like this, if you don't know why we are?" "All I know is you open and close without asking anyone!" "Calm down." "One can't reason like this." "There's nothing to reason about!" "You have to go away!" "Go away?" " Yes!" "The house is mine and I don't want you here!" "Go back where you came from!" "And thank God I don't kick you out!" "Kick?" "Whom?" "Good, good!" "Hold on." "You haven't let me say a word." "Let him speak!" " You have to let him speak!" "Speak!" "What is it?" "No one wants to take anything from you!" "We came to work." "The owner sent is here." "This house isn't yours, it's the owner's." "Just as you're here, so can I be!" "He's right, it's true!" " What right?" "What do you think?" "That I and my son are so stupid that we'd work to feed you and your whole "holy family"?" "Till today, thank God, I've supported my family with these hands and arms!" "And with that face of death you have!" "Here you won't last even a week, I tell you!" "You don't know this area!" "Before sowing you have to make earth out of water and mud." "It takes just one mosquito to lay you flat." "That's my concern." "For you it's enough to know that we'll take away nothing from anyone." "We've never been afraid of work." "All of us work." "The women too!" " Who all?" "The children?" "And where are the women?" "For you, maybe, this is a woman?" "Let my daughter alone!" "Enough!" "Stop!" "Luigi, lay off!" "Papa!" "What're you doing?" "Stop it!" "Let me go!" "You want to stop?" " Let me go!" "Now you can make friends." "You can even hug each other!" "Let's leave." "You carry this." " Take it!" "Hear that wind?" "Papa, why don't you go speak to the old man again?" "After everything he did to us?" "You father's right." "Come on, hurry up!" "Don't chatter." "Put this in." "Before tonight, we have to find another house for sleep." "Mama!" "Angelo's drinking all the wine!" "Are you crazy, drinking all this wine?" "!" "Shut up, you!" " You can't drink!" "You spy!" "Please!" "Speak to your father!" "Tell him not to send us away." " He doesn't listen to anyone!" "Listen to me, it's better you go." "But where?" " Anywhere, but don't stay here." "I'm leaving too." "It's difficult to live with him." "Are you crazy, leaving in this weather?" "Take off the coat." "Put down that chest." "We spoke to him." "There's a way to agree." "You tell him, Giovanni." "They say that since the owner sent you here," "I can't chase you off." "So okay." "But first we have to make an agreement." " Certainly." "Where I come from they say, "Clear agreements and long friendship."" "Also where we're from." "So sit down and talk." "Domenico, help me clear away this stuff." "The Lord did think of us." " It's true, my daughter." "This will help you agree." "Give me that!" " No, you'd drink it all." "It's hardly two liters!" "Tonight you'll have to be happy with one glass." "Maybe two, Giovanni." "So, down to facts." "Here, the earth's what it is." "Before it gives fruits, it has to consume our arms." "Mine were consumed preparing mine." "And it's MINE!" " Who's touching it?" "We too will wear out our arms preparing ours." "I've warned you!" "You have to get used to one other thing, too:" "here the one who commands is me." "And why do you have to command?" "Because the one who has the contract with the owner is me!" "and the one who's already worked the earth is me!" "and the one who's been here a long time is me!" "But even if I didn't have all these good reasons," "I tell you right out:" "it'd be the same!" "Big bully!" "Maybe a bully, but that's how it is." "Take it or leave it." "To your health." "Sooner we get out of here the better." "These lands are cursed by God." "We have to pay back the 14 lire the manager lent us." "That'll take us at least two years, if things go well." "If the harvest's good, in 6 months we'll do it." "And where will we go?" "Here at least we have a bed and a piece of bread for us and the children." "Where will we go?" "To where we can stay without fear." "There's Maria." "Please don't be late." "When this piece is done, we'll come right home." "Why'd you come so late?" "I was involved with the children." "Watch out for your father, who's tired." "He needs rest." "I'm always afraid he'll hurt himself." "Okay, mama, don't worry." "And don't be late." "As soon as the sun falls, come home." "Alright, mama." "I brought you some wine." "It's good for you." "I feel better." " You felt bad before?" "Hey, I'm fine!" "Work!" "Before tonight we have to finish this piece." "Papa, the Lord is good." "You mustn't hurt yourself." "What he does is always done well, my daughter." "Even when misfortune happens?" "Even then." "Either one believes or doesn't believe in the Lord." "And we have to believe." "we poor people don't believe in him, whom must we believe in?" "I believe." "It's true he sees us always?" "He sees everything." "That's why you mustn't do bad things." "I wouldn't!" "I'd rather die." "Come here." "I'm always talking to the Lord." " What do you say to him?" ""My Lord, keep my father and mother well, my brothers and sisters." "Give them to eat every day and have me go with daddy to see the sea."" "And then I tell him too:" ""Let me go to Paradise!" Paradise is in heaven." "There're candles, flowers, music, like in church." "It must be beautiful." "To go to Paradise you have to be good and to pray." "Pray with me." "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." "The vine can't stand without cane," "like the woman without a lover." "Here we are!" "There's the sea!" "Where?" "Eh, the eggs!" "Watch out, that's all we have!" "Yes, papa." "The sea!" "How beautiful the sea is!" "It's big like the sky." "You always win!" "Bravo!" "Stronger!" "Just one centesimo!" "You win if you ring the bottle!" "You, signore?" "The shepherd meets a gypsy on his path." "She predicts his blackest destiny." ""I see blood!" says the gypsy." ""I see blood!" "Leave the shepherdess!" But of that love the wretched gypsy is afraid..." "Alessandro, come with us." "This one's available." "Want her?" "Like her?" "I hope you'll decide today." "Why?" "Maybe not?" " Eh, he, women scare him." "He only looks at them in photographs." "Can you cut it out?" "Come, handsome." "I like you all the same!" "Luigi, your legs hurt with ten kilos of stuff?" "If at night you'd leave your wife in peace and sleep more!" "Stop it!" " But we haven't even started!" "We're at the fair, not the cemetery!" "You're right, Teresa!" "Today we have to be happy!" "I'm going to Antonio's!" "That way you'll get drunk right away and not think of us anymore." "No, just a drop." "The time to bathe my lips." "Bathe his lips, huh?" " Let him enjoy it." "I'm going to Mass." "Come with me, Maria?" "Can I go, papa?" " Go, my daughter." "Pray for me too." "I stay here to sell the eggs." "Gentle public, don't hesitate!" "This woman tells you the truth!" "She can divine, as you request, the past, the present, and the future!" "You'll see, she's an amazing woman!" "Could you keep an eye on the eggs?" "I'll be right back." "She'll tell you everything you need to know." "Courage!" "Don't hesitate!" "She'll tell you the truth." "About love!" "Envies and hatreds!" "Cuckolds big and little!" "Omens and diseases!" "Come forward!" "This woman's amazing." "For a miserable, risible sum of 5 cents, she'll tell you all you need to know!" "Did you see, Teresa?" "There's Alessandro!" "Alessandro!" " Maria!" "How are you?" "We got here just in time for Mass." "Teresa!" " Your father's here too." " Didn't you see us?" " Yes, I saw you." "You didn't call to us?" " There was my father." "If he sees me, he'll take me back to Conca." "You don't want to go back?" " No." "You'd rather stay here, huh?" "Yes, the air's good." " And there's the sea." "I'd never seen it, you know?" "This morning..." "Right, Teresa?" "When I saw it I was on the cart." "I jumped onto my feet and was so happy I fell down." "I nearly broke all the eggs we have to sell!" "How big the sea is!" "And how beautiful!" "It's beautiful..." "like Paradise!" "It gave her a fever!" "How I'd love to see it close up!" "Will you take me?" " Take her." "Today's like spring." "A good day for the sea." "We'll meet here, in the piazza." " Let's go!" "So much foam!" "From afar it looks so smooth!" "It always moves like this, in and out?" "Yes!" "When it gets bad and expands, it makes some waves bigger than a house." "Mamma mia!" "Don't be afraid." "These are waves in good weather." "Is it really true, what you say?" "I'm a sailor." "As if I didn't know!" "Is the water cold?" " In this sun, no." "How'd I'd love to bathe my feet!" "You have to!" "What if it gets bad?" " Today it won't." "O it's cold!" " Just at first." "You're right." "Can I go farther?" "Yes, the water's low." "To not touch bottom, you need to go out a ways." "Besides, I'm here." "O God, it's getting bad!" "Let's go, let's go!" "It's getting bad!" "Why're you looking at me like that?" "Come on." "What's wrong?" "Fever." " Malaria, huh?" "Sit down and loose your clothes." "Well, didn't you hear what I told you?" "Doctor, I came to be looked at, but I can't pay you." "I've brought you some eggs, if that's enough." "I've seen you before." " Yes." "When I came from the Marche." "You gave me bandages for my son, who had chilblains." "Are the eggs enough?" " Put them there." "Stretch out and loosen your clothes." "Take a deep breadth." "An old fever, huh?" " For a year." "I got it a month after I came." "Don't breathe." "Why didn't you come sooner?" "Am I very sick, doctor?" " Yes." "You're full of malaria." "What must I do?" "You have to go to the hospital." "I'll give you a ticket." "To the hospital?" " Yes, and right away!" "Can't I go in a few days?" "It's time to sow." "I was hired to work the earth." "If I don't sow, what will my children eat?" "Nor will I be able to pay back the debt I owe the owner." "Be good, doctor!" "I'll go at the end of the week." "I feel well." " No!" "Right away to the hospital!" "Dottore:" "Appena uscito da qui!" "I can't!" "I can't!" "Be good, doctor!" "And look here!" "It's written I'll have good fortune, that all will be well for me." "Read!" "You can read." "Whom do you believe?" "That or me?" "How can I tell you, you're more dead than alive?" "You have a family." "You have to try to get well." "That's what's needed, not fortune tickets!" "Go!" "Here!" "You drink these!" "Stop, stop!" "Papa feels bad!" "Stop!" "I said so, that you wouldn't last here!" "How do you feel, papa?" "Better..." "Better..." "With all those bumps, I couldn't go on." "Is it far to go?" " A couple kilometers." "Go home, get some straw and then come back with my wife to take me to Nettuno, to the hospital." "Why didn't you go before to the hospital?" "I hoped to manage." "Till now I had." "And you will this time too." "At the hospital, they're great and cure people immediately." "Please, hurry." "Don't be in pain." "Don't worry." "We'll be right back." "Get moving and stop singing!" "It's not the time for it!" "Shame on you!" "You drive, he's drunk." "Why are you crying?" " No, I'm not." "Why should I cry?" "Because I'm dying." "No, papa, don't talk like that." "Don't talk like that!" "Don't talk like that!" "Yes." "I'm dying." "I feel it." "You mustn't stay here." "Tell your mother." "Tell her." "Here one dies." "Poor woman!" "Help her." "With all those children!" "With all those children." "I'm so tired." "When they get back, tell me." "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you." "Anna, come here." "Mariano, come here." "What is it?" " A snake." "What is it?" " A snake." "Really?" "Where is it?" " There." "What are you looking at?" " Nothing." "You're little, go away!" " You're little, go away!" "Shush!" " What are you doing?" "are you doing?" " A snake!" "Stop, it's poisonous." "What's going on?" "A viper." " A viper?" "You killed it?" " No." "Don't you know you must kill it?" "If you've just wounded it, it'll take revenge and make you die." "Now you have to find it again." "Where is it?" " It was there." "Is it really true, what you said?" "Absolutely!" "Around here everyone knows it, since more than 100 years!" "So now, if I don't find it, I have to die?" "You understand?" "If you don't kill it, it'll kill you!" "Killed by a snake!" "Papa, are you okay?" "We are, mama too." "She couldn't come because she's working in the fields." "For now, we can't complain." "The Lord's helping us." "You who're up there and can talk to him when you want, thank him for us." "Tell him we send him lots of kisses." "Me too!" " Did you hear, papa?" "They send you lots of kisses." " Tell him about the viper!" "Ah yes." "Today a viper nearly jumped us." "I tried to kill it but I didn't succeed." "Giuseppe, the old man with sheep near us, says I should have killed it, because now, in revenge, it'll want to make me die." "Tell all the saints you can see, so they help me." "Tell Jesus too." "Don't forget!" "O God, it's noon." "Let's go, it's late." "Up." "Say goodbye papa." " See you, papa!" "Bye, papa." "We'll be back soon." "Good morning." "Did you keep company with you father?" "We brought him flowers too." "Good!" "Good!" "yet made Communion?" "Yes, it's true." " At your age?" "Why not?" "Because she didn't have money for the dress." "If papa had sold all the eggs, he'd have bought it." "He didn't sell them, eh, poor man?" "Yes, all." "So why didn't he buy you the dress?" "Because he died." "For the dress I'll speak to the count." "But the dress isn't enough." "You have to prepare for Communion." "The school's far away, some kilometers from here." "You'd have to leave home before dawn." "I'm not afraid." "Do you know the way?" " No." "So how will you do it?" "It's easy to get lost in the marshes." "The Lord wants me to make Communion?" "Certainly!" "It's holy." "So he'll help me." "Can I come in?" "What do you want?" "Today you're going to sow?" " No." "If you were going, I'd have given you a hand." "Wait, I'll help you." "You know, your husband's death's been good for you." "You've even gotten fatter." "Will you stop?" "This can't go on." "That's what I say!" "You have to decide." "One father dead, you make yourself another." "How often must I tell you?" "I'm not remarrying!" "Nor I!" "I had one wife and that was enough." "She's dead." "Peace to her soul!" "I like you." "In the fury of being near you, my brain..." "Blood isn't water!" "I'm a man!" "Sure, I'm older than your husband, but my stock's better than his." "He's stretched out his legs and I'm still here." "Have you no shame?" "I just say what I think." "Me too!" "And I do so!" "If you ever try again to talk to me like this or touch me with a finger," "Yeah?" "What'll you do?" " You see this sickle?" "If you don't stop, I'll use it!" "Signor Giovanni!" "Come down." "You son's back!" "Your son's back." "You're not going to see him?" "Yes, yes, I'm going, I'm going." "But remember what I said." "Why ever did you come back?" "You loved being in Nettuno!" "I changed my mind." "Why?" "Don't you like it?" "Of course not!" "I'm so happy you came!" "It's so hard to get along with your father." "Nothing's ever okay for him." "He complains forever." "Now that I'm here, you'll see he'll not complain anymore." "You know, I've brought you a gift from Nettuno." "What did you bring me?" "This." "What is it?" " A sea shell." "I took it from a reef in the middle of the sea." "It's beautiful." "If you put it to your ear, you hear the sound of the sea." "It's true!" "Like this I seem to be seeing the sea again!" "You're really giving it to me?" " Yes, it's yours." "Thanks." "How I'd like to see the sea again!" "I prayed a lot to the Lord to have me return to Nettuno so I'd see you again." "But now papa's not here, who'd take me?" "I'll take you." " You'd take me?" "Yes." "When I go to sell the stuff in Nettuno" "I'll have you come with me." " When are you going?" "Soon... soon..." "You'll see how beautiful the sea is in calm weather." "The water's calm and hotter." "You can go in without fear." "If only your father were good like you!" "O God, the polenta's burning!" "Help me get it off the fire!" "Stand up and make the sign of the cross." "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." "Amen." "Not like that!" "Put down the spoon and do it right." "Now can I eat?" " Eat." "Let the little boy alone." "Instead of talking, you make the sign of the cross too, and ask pardon from God for all the sins you've committed!" "Willingly!" "Except for one..." "You know which." "Fine garnet, there're no vines without cane, there're no women without a lover." "What is this stuff?" "It's burnt!" " Yes." "If you don't know how to make polenta, why do it?" "My God, so it's a bit burnt, so what?" "One day it tastes burnt, another undercooked, and another who knows what." "It takes patience." "These are the first times." "She's learn." "You came from Nettuno to be this mince's lawyer?" "I can't wait for you to teach her!" "I work all day and when it's night I want to eat!" "And I want to eat well!" "When I eat I want to eat well!" "Maybe you want to box with the baby?" "Now I was wrong." "Better I leave." "Third: "Remember to keep holy the feast days."" "Third: "Remember to keep holy the feast days."" "Fourth: "Honor your father and your mother."" "Fourth: "Honor your father and your mother."" "Fifth: "Do not kill."" "Fifth: "Do not kill."" "Sixth: "Don't commit impure acts."" "Sixth: "Don't commit impure acts."" "Seventh: "Do not steal."" "Seventh: "Do not steal."" "Eighth: "Do not give false testimony."" "Eighth: "Do not give false testimony."" "Ninth: "Do not desire others' wives."" "Ninth: "Do not desire others' wives."" "Tenth..." "Where did you pop out from?" "Come forward." "You're not from here." " No, I come from Conca." "Ah yes..." "Don Giulio spoke to me of you." "But why do you come only now?" "This is the fourth lesson." "What's you name?" " Goretti Maria." "Can you read?" " No, signora." "As I thought." "Come..." "You know the Catechism?" " Yes, signorina." "After the lesson, you'll read her the pages I've explained." "Understand?" " Yes, signorina." "Next time we'll go over them together." "Now let's go on, it's late and I have to leave." "Three things are necessary to make Communion." "First: to be in the grace of God... that is, to be good and without sin." "Mortal sin is disobedience to God's law in grave matter, done with full awareness, and deliberated consent."" "What does "deliberated consent" mean?" "It means that you... that you agree to it." "How thick headed!" "How can I make you understand?" "It's like... it's like..." "It's like if you'd say yes to someone who wanted you to do something not pleasing to the Lord." "Understand?" " A little." "When someone says to you:" ""How I like you!" "How beautiful you are!" "Want to come with me?", in fact you're a fool if you answer:" ""Okay, I'm coming!"" "This would be deliberated consent." "A mortal sin, as is written here." "Understand?" " Yes, now I understand." "Another day, now I have things to do!" "Finished already?" "No, I have to tell you something." "What do you have to tell me?" "Want a caramel?" "Was that what you had to tell me?" "Yes." "It's good." "Mint." "When you're prepare to make Communion, can you eat sweets?" "I don't know." " So know what I'll do?" "I'll keep it and ask the teacher." "Maria..." " What do you want?" "Come here." "What do you want?" "Alessandro!" "Is this the road to Conca?" "Yes." "Wait, I'll take you." "With the old man, how's it go?" " A bit better." "Since his son came back, he leaves me in peace." "Now and then he likes to watch me, but he limits himself to that." " It takes patience." "You're a beautiful woman!" "If only this beauty were some use to me!" "If you knew how hard my life is!" "Now I'm worried about Maria." " What's wrong?" "I don't know." "She's changed." "And then, Maria?" "And then the Lord was angry, because everyone had become bad, like you when you cut off lizards' tails." "And then?" "Then he sent so much rain that everyone died." "Even the babies?" "The bad ones, yes." "The good ones went in Noah's ark a big, big ark!" "Bigger than ours?" " Bigger than a house." "Inside lived Noah, with all his children and all the animals." "Even red ants?" "Not them!" "They're bad and bite!" "Maria!" "Maria!" "What do you want?" " Come take the water." "I have to finish hanging clothes." "Let Antonio do it." "Understand?" "Finishing hanging up the clothes." "You have to hang the clothes!" " Shut up!" "Hang the clothes!" "Come on, hurry, run." "Is it possible that when I tell you to do something," "I call you and you never hear?" "What's going on, my daughter?" "You have to get moving." "Instead you, with all there is to do, waste time with the children or cling to my skirt." "Come on, go get the water." "And hurry!" "Maria!" "Lucia!" " Did you maybe steal something?" "You walk as if you're afraid of someone." "What happened to you?" " Nothing." "Lots of things have happened to me." "You know I'm going to Rome?" "I'm going into service with a signora who has a palace bigger than the church in Nettuno." "I'm sorry, but on Sunday I can't make the Communion." "You're not making Communion?" "The signora wants me immediately." "I have to leave tomorrow." "I'm going to Rome." "In Rome they give you gifts, too." "If the signora asks me what I want, I'll tell her:" ""A silk handkerchief, one of those big rose, with roses!"" "So when Vincenzo comes for me," "I'll put it on to go strolling with him!" "You're not afraid?" " Afraid of whom?" "Of him?" "You don't know how much I like him!" "The other day we even kissed." "But you know you're going to hell?" "To hell?" "Kissing isn't sinful at all!" "What's wrong with it?" "Besides, aren't there priests?" "You confess!" "Listen!" "If you don't let them do it, they'll never marry you." "I don't want to marry." " Now you say it." "Wait a few years..." "Hear?" "That's him!" "I'll send you a postcard with my address, so if you want to come to Rome, let me know and I'll find you a job!" "I'll carry the water." " No." "Why not?" "Come, come here!" "Don't be afraid, I won't tell anyone." "Come here!" "Let me go!" "This time you've escaped, but if you tell anyone, I'll kill you!" "Now you'll get it to, poor Columba!" "If you were mine, I'd spare you all this." "Who knows how much they'll make you suffer!" "hurt you, eh?" "Poor Colomba!" "As soon as we get home, I'll give you hay." "Have you gone mad, making that beast run like that?" "!" "What happened?" "Why were you running?" "What's wrong?" " Nothing." "Then why were you running?" "Why?" "Because it was you who were running!" "I told her that, once home, I'd give her hay, and now I can't hold her back." "But she's not moving." "Something wrong?" "Tell me." "What happened?" "I want to go home?" " You feel bad?" "No!" "I want to go home!" "I want to go home!" "You come with me too!" "With you nothing's understandable!" "Come on." "I brought your shirt." " Put it on the bed." "O what beautiful journals!" "Will you give me one?" " Let them alone." "Give me a caramel?" "Who washed the shirt?" " Maria." "Where is she?" " There." "Give me a caramel?" "Give me a caramel?" "Give me a caramel?" "Give me a caramel?" "You washed this shirt?" "Yes." " It's badly washed." "Wash it again!" "You too are starting to torment my family?" "You father's not enough?" "Give me a caramel?" "I'm not tormenting anybody." "I just say the shirt was badly washed and must be rewashed immediately!" "Me la rilavi?" "Now you have to rewash it for me." "You have to have patience, my daughter." "In three months he'll go be a soldier." "What's in your body, you and your father?" "Venom?" "We've lived together almost two years and it's always worse!" "Now you're fighting with Maria too?" "What did she do to you?" "She washed my shirt badly!" "Give me a caramel?" " Go away!" "Meanie!" "Let me see how you washed it." "I don't care how you washed it." "I only care about you." "What're you looking at?" " I'm praying to the Blessed Madonna." "For me?" "I'm praying she help you get rid of the demon in you!" "You should pray she make you stop avoiding me as though I were a mangy dog." "Why don't you want to?" "Afterward I'll leave you in peace." "You can pray to all the saints you want." "But what must happen will happen." "If it's not today, it'll be tomorrow." "Help me!" "Help me!" "I got here first." "Signora Peppina!" "Signora Peppina!" "To me you seem a divine Venus!" "Signora Giovanna!" "Signora Giovanna!" "Blessed is he who comes with you into the hut!" "And me?" "You have the black eyes of the dove, you're the most beautiful in the world." "And me?" "May you live 100 years and I 101." "Why I 100 years and you 101?" "To see your death." "Even if you tickle the feet, you laugh." "He's always thinking." "But what are you thinking about?" "Don't you know one who thinks too much dies early?" "O there's Maria!" " How beautiful she is." "You have to be beautiful to please Jesus." "What a beautiful crown you have!" " Your mother made it?" "No, I made it." " You look like a bride!" "God bless you!" "Go on, you say something to her too." "No?" "Go on." "Let him alone, signor Giovanni!" "It's I who have to say something to both of you." "But to you first." "What?" "I have to ask you to forgive me if sometimes, through my fault, you've eaten badly, and if other time I've offended you without wanting to." "And also of you, Alessandro, I ask forgiveness." "And all of you, forgive me." "And for what, holy soul?" "For what you haven't done?" "The cart's ready." "It's all full of flowers." "Even the horse." " Really?" "We tied a rose to its tail." "Let's go." "Let's get going, or we'll be late." "Easy, easy!" "There's room for all." "My Lord, Alessandro wants to go to hell." "He has the demon in his body." "If you don't help him chase it away, it'll carry him to hell." "Papa, you're with the Lord." "Ask him to make him good again." "Quickly!" "If he finds me alone another time, what'll I do?" "You know I can't say anything to anyone, or he'll kill me." "Lord, Lord, if Alessandro kills me, take me with you in Paradise, so I see papa again." "The poor blind woman!" "God bless you." "Help a poor blind woman." "God bless you." "Come on, hurry up." "We have to go to work." "Eat the rest tonight." "Do I go to?" " And me too?" "Yes, everyone!" "Tonight we have to finish." "Cover yourself!" "You're not alone." "I'd take off my skin too, it's so hot!" "You're not coming to work?" " With you, even dead!" "Let's go, hurry up." "I'll fix it." "Not coming to work?" "Yes, one moment." "As soon as I make the point on this." "Let's go." "You stay here." "You've worked since morning." "I'm not tired." " Want to kill yourself?" "Stay here and look after the baby." "Come on, kids!" " She's sleeping." "And when she wakes up, who'll be here?" "Don't run, you'll fall!" "She's afraid you'll fall." "Damn, this sun's like fire!" "It's seems like they've lit the oven." "Where're you going?" " Outdoors." "It's suffocating here." " But it's hotter out there, there's the sun." "Stay here!" " No, I'm better outside." "Come." "You have to mend my pants." "Where are they?" " On the bed, in my room." "They're also the pieces." "Come, I'll show you where to put them." "I can't leave the baby." " Come." "She can sleep without you." "Alessandro!" "Alessandro!" "What do you want?" "Come take your father's place, he feels bad." "Alright." "Remember that by tonight you have the mend the pants." "What's wrong?" " Fever." "You had to get it just now?" "It comes and goes when it wants." "One day it'll come to you too, then you'll know." "Take me on the cart?" "Why'd you stop?" "You feel sick too?" "Jump on!" " Where're you going?" "I'm just going to drink." "I'll be right back." "Do be quick!" "Come inside, I have to talk to you." "No, speak to me here, it's the same." "No, I can't tell you here." "Come!" "No, let me go!" "Let me go!" "Come on!" "Come!" " No, let me go!" "No!" "No!" "God doesn't want these things!" "You're going to hell!" "Watch out that, if you don't want to, this time I kill you." "Want to?" "I ask you for the last time!" "Want to?" "No, I don't!" "No, I don't!" "No, I don't!" "Mama..." "Giovanni!" "Tell your son to get moving." "My son can't do it." "Alright!" "Assunta!" " What?" "Come up here a moment." "The baby's hurt?" " No." "Come." "Come." "What could have happened?" " What happened, mama?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "Virgin Mary, help me!" "What's happened?" " An accident." "My daughter!" "Where is he?" " Closed up in his room." "Come with me." "I'm the father." " Ah, you're the father..." "Bravo!" "What a great son you brought into the world!" "It's no fault of mine." "The mother died in an insane asylum." "The son's crazy like her." "No, no." "You stay down there!" "Here they are." "She still alive?" " Yes, but if you don't hurry..." "She's waking." "How do you feel?" "I'm thirsty." " You can't drink, my daughter." "You can't drink." "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow" "Open the window." "You're hot, eh?" "I want to hear..." "the sound of the sea." "The sea!" "Tomorrow I'll open the window so you can see it." "When I'm better, you can let me see it close for the whole day." "She died like a saint." "They've opened the door." "They're coming in." "Be quiet, she's dying." "Where is she?" " There." "Alessandro" "What did you say, my daughter?" "Alessandro" "I forgive him and hope" "that will forgive him also God." "In heaven I'll pray for..." "for him."