"Midw ay in the journey of our life I found my self in dark w oods, - for the straight w ay w as lost" "I c annot rightly s ay how I entered it " "I w as so full of slee p at the moment " "I left the true w ay" "VILLEALF A FILMPRODUCTIONS PRESENTS" "DIRECTED B Y MIKA KAURISMÄKI" "They c ame for Rosso at midday" "He w as dreaming of driving a w hite Alfa Romeo to Rome or Milan to see friends he did not have" "No." "Impossible." " What did you say?" "Leave me out o f this" "I decide who's in and who's out" "You're in and you know quite well what that means" "Remember Luigi?" "He's out for good" "I can't do it anymore." "I'm tired" "What do you mean?" "Do you want us to use your head as a football?" "Have a nice trip, Giancarlo" "He'd been asked many times before and at first he had liked it" "First to the vic inity to sc are peo ple w ho didn't w ant to pay" "And later, w hen they gave him a gun - he had done as he had been told and had killed three men" "Tw o from a c ar - and one to a red c arpet outside a restaurant" "He had bou ght fine c lothes and a c ar - in w hic h he had taken Marja to see the voic ano and the cemetery" "Life w as good, - and the killing didn't seem to touc h him at all" "But w hen they took Marja aw ay from him - he no longer w anted to do w hat he w as told to do" "But they didn't let him quit" "First he failed in Hamburg - and from then on - he failed time and time again bec ause he didn't w ant to succeed" "Hi, Giuseppe." " Hi" "Everything good?" " Just fine" "Give me a beer." " No beer for you." "Get out" "Listen..." " Get out!" "I have money." "Out?" "I see" "Now, thou gh, he had one million liras - and a plane tic ket to Finland." "He'd get further instructions in Helsinki" "Rosso w as tired, fed u p and thirsty - and he had no intention of going" "O nly w hen getting off the plane at a small, misty airport - did he realize that he had come to Marja's homeland - and first dark nagging doubts arose" "Briefly he hated everything he had done and w as doing again - but he pushed the disturbing notion out of his mind " "and took a taxi to the address he w as given" "Good day." " It's hot in Sicily" "Welcome, Rosso!" "I didn't expect you so soon" "Is this all?" "Excuse me" "Watch it!" "It's loaded." " I know..." "A beautiful gun." " I know." "And it isn't hot" "Wait!" "Your instructions." "Good luck, Rosso" "Finally Rosso w as forced to realize that he had been sent - to kill the only person he had ever loved besides his family" "He had no idea w hat Marja had done - before leaving Italy, - or w hy of all the killers in Sic ily he alone should be given the jo b" "Instead of draw ing the right conc lusions - and blow ing his brains out Rosso let his thou ghts - w ander bac k to the times w here the s ad memories w ere c reated" "I don't suppose you speak Swedish?" "No." "I don't either" "What are you doing here?" " Just a moment." "I don't speak Finnish" "Maria!" "I'm looking for Maria..." "Marja?" "Martti!" "I don't speak English" "What are you say ing?" " I don't speak English" "Well, you're a foreigner" "You sure look like one" "Are you looking for a job?" "No, I guess not" "See, this is somebody's home." "How about getting out..." "Want to see the city?" "Daughter o f the Baltic." "Shall we leave?" "I'm looking for Maria." "She was my woman" "I'm Rosso, Giancarlo Rosso" "Riding on the bike w ith a stranger " "Rosso doesn't see the dirty w et c ity around him - or feel sorrow or re gret" "In this comple x and impossible situation, he c an only believe - that seeing Marja again w ill solve all problems, - inc luding the things he w ill have to s ay, do - or leave undone" "Two pizzas" "Two pizzas" " With garlic?" "Yes" "I know, but I told you I couldn't find her" "That wasn't the deal." "She wasn't there" "No, not there either..." "This bloody country is enormous" "She might be any where." "Nobody knows anyhing" "Wait." "Stop that!" "Stop that!" "There's an idiot outside." "One day, you said!" "I can't stay here!" "I haven't got any money" "All right, let them come, then we'll see" "Maria!" "Where is Maria?" "Ave Maria." "Maybe she's at home" "With her parents." "At home, you understand?" "Martti didn't know w hat made him buy the c ar - in order to take this quiet stranger to his sister's" "What w ill be, w ill be, he simply thou ght" "As his dark business in Helsinki - had met a blind end any w ay - and things w ere all going to hell - he had nothing against leaving" "So they headed tow ards the north" "Hi." "Have you seen Marja lately." "We've been looking for her" "This is Rosso, Giancarlo." "From Sicily, Marja's friend" "Let's ask mother" "When did she leave?" " Yesterday" "Where did she go?" " I don't know" "Damn it!" "I must take that Italian to her." "Do you have any sausage?" "In the fridge" "Sausage!" "Walking throu gh the half empty rooms, Rosso understood - w hy Marja had left her home forever, - tolerating anything - not to have to return to the stagnated scenes of her c hildhood" "By the w ay, as the Americ ans s ay" "We'll find Marja" "She's looking for a job in some small town on the coast" "I don't think you understand anything I say" "I'm talking Finnish, you Italian" "What am I doing here with a stupid Italian?" "Sometimes I'm so fucking stupid" "Fuck, why did I have to get in this mess?" "Water, dirt, barns, and crazy people!" "Stop this fucking car!" "Are you mad?" "Do you want a piss?" "Get lost" "Come on!" "Get back in, we'll talk." "I was only joking" "Shut up!" "That's enough!" "Go to hell, you and all you Finns!" "You're all mad, understand?" "Do you think you're being funny?" "I've never met anybody so stupid!" "Swine." "And you smell!" "Don't try anything!" "Do you want me to kill you?" "Is that what you want?" "But so they drive on northw ard along the coast - c hec king one small tow n after another" "Wherever they go, Martti know s shady, strange peo ple" "He asks questions, w heels and deals - w hile Rosso doesn't even bother to try to understand" "Wait here." "There's something I must do" "The melanc holy of this God-fors aken land soon gets a hold of Rosso" "He gets used to the c hill and the ever-present w ind" "The sc reaming birds remind him of the stony beac hes of Ac i Trezza" "But the blurred memory belongs to a past he has lost" "Rosso know s that somebody has - c rossed his name out long before he w as sent here, - but he doesn't c are any more" "O n night on a side road w hile Martti slee ps, Rosso understands - that there is no life for him w ithout Marja" "I have my home here beneath the North Star" "I sing to y ou about life bec ause I w as born a Finn" "I know this song, it's Italian" "If the w ide w orld only had a notion of w hat w e've got" "The tears my peo ple have shed could fill an ocean" "Just a moment..." "Mustard, please" "Sau-sa-ge" "He's my friend" "Let him be!" "He's just a crazy Italian" "I'm taking him home" "You'd better..." "Poor guy, y ou're a long w ay from home" "She's not running aw ay from y ou, but the peo ple w ho sent y ou" "She loves you" "If you only knew how much she has told me about you" "Or how difficult it was to get her out" "Hiding around Europe for three months - never knowing if there's somebody coming a fter you" "And the same thing here." "And then you came" "But you won't take her back" "I'm taking you to her because I know she wants to see you" "Why don't you stay here?" "Open a pizzeria" "I'm searc hing... for Titina" "My Titina" "I'm searc hing but I c annot find her" "Who know s w here she is?" "That night their luc k turned" "Having buried his only friend in this hostile country " "Rosso continues his journey w ithout destination" "He doesn't feel sorrow bec ause he has alw ay s considered death - a release from the pain and suffering on Earth" "He know s that the police are after him - and he ho pes in v ain that they w ill sto p him" "The land around him is desolate and empty" "Hello, Maria" "So here you are" "Come, let's go!" "When throu gh impression of pleasure - or of pain w hic h some of our fac ulties receive the soul of w holly centered thereon, - it seems that it gives heed to no other of its pow ers" "and this is contrary to that error - w hic h holds that one soul above another is kindled w ithin us and therefore w hen au ght is heard or seen w hic h holds the soul strongly bent to it " "the time passes aw ay and w e perceive it not - for one fac ulty is that w hic h notes it and another that w hic h possesses the entire soul the latter as if it w ere bound, the former free" "I w ant a w oman!" "You're beautiful." "Really" "We have no women like you in Italy" "Come with me!" "I must phone them Perhaps..." "I ought to ask my mother..." "I have a beautiful house by the sea" "I really want to marry you" "Eat!" "Eat!" "You must eat!" "You're young" "Would you like a drink?" "No, thanks" "Wine is good for you." "It renews your blood" "Have you ever been to Italy?" "No, I don't think you have" "You're really beautiful!" "Wait" "I have a lot o f money." "I'm very wealthy" "If you come with me we'll never part" "That night Rosso has a nightmare" "Dark water, green fields" "Life begins in a couple o f minutes" "Quiet." "Everything's alright" "I'm late... enough" "Take it slow" "Life begins in a couple o f minutes" "Everything's OK" "The slow traveller moves sa fely and far" "When I reac hed the foot of a hill, - there at the end of the v alley - that had pierced my heart w ith fear" "I looked u p and s aw its shoulders" "Already c lad in the ray s of the planet - that leads men aright by every path" "Then fear w as somew hat quieted" "That had continued in the lake of my heart - throu gh the night I had passed so piteously" "And as he w ho w ith the labouring breath - has esc aped from the dee p to the shore" "Turns to look bac k on the dangerous w aters" "So my mind w hic h w as still fleeing turned bac k - to gaze u pon the pass that never left any one alive" "It's me, Giancarlo" "Everything's fine" "I've almost found her... no..." "No need to send anyone." "I can do it" "Trust me!" "Have I ever failed you?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Midw ay in the journey of our life I found my self in dark w oods - for the straight w ay w as lost" "Judge C arlo Palermo w as in jured in Sic ily today - w hen a c ar-bomb e xploded, killing a w oman and tw o c hildren..." "I am my self" "And I fell like a lifeless corpse falls"