"How did it all begin?" "How did it begin?" "I can't remember anymore." "I think I wanted a cup of tea." "Yes, tea." "That's it, of course." "After all, what Russian doesn't drink tea." "I am getting off the topic, off the topic." "So, I decided to drink some tea." "Yes, I took the cup." "And suddenly, I felt as though a veil slipped away from my eyes, as though someone uttered inside me, but this is the beginning of Last Judgment." "Judgment, God's Judgment." "Even the elders of the church say that all trials of history are God's judgment." "That is the truth." "It looks like it has begun." "It's thundered." "The hour has come." "A fiery sword is forged over our land." "And time is running out as though nothing ever was." "The past stands before open doors, demanding justice." "It looks like God's judgment has arrived, atheist gentlement." "The perils of Russian land are finally here for you." "Here it is!" "The brooding judge is distressing hearts." "History's secrets are reaching their zenith." "Forgive us, the damned, our Lord." "Absolve us of the judgment reigning over our land." "Show our crippled souls the path to salvation." "My lord, my lord." "Victor Mihailov" "Aleksandr Ilin" "Konstantin Lopushansky" "RUSSIAN SYMPHONY" "And it has begun after all." "Yes, it has begun." "The great war is here." "God." "God and Devil are battling." "And who will triumph, only God knows." "It cannot be guessed." "It cannot be guessed." "Here's a question." "How?" "How can a sinner's soul find redemtion before God's judgment?" "With what deed?" "With what word?" "Ah, if only I could know this." "Yes, war, war is waging." "Only its fate can not be foreseen." "No." "It can't be done." "This war is blind." "It is in the darkness of the human soul." "But what lies in those shadows?" "What is there?" "I better sit down." "May I?" "I am listening." "I don't understand anything." "I don't understand anything." "Are you ill?" "But, but, why aren't you saying anything?" "You see," "I must say this out loud." "It's hard to begin" "Just a second, I'll gather my thoughts." "What is it?" "Speak." "I, forgot about the children." "What?" "I am sitting in room." "And then what?" "I wanted to drink some tea." "And suddenly, it hit me like an electric shock." "What about the children, ah?" "But what children?" "From the orphanage, orphans, children without parents." "So what?" "Let's say I am the principal of the orphanage?" "You, a principle?" "Just look at that!" "Ah, but that's not important!" "Wait, wait, how is that not important?" "Something else is important here, which is that I, a Russian intellectual." "Who, who?" "How do they say, a successor of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky." "And What?" "Ah, just look at this, look at him!" "And what I am doing?" "Why am I sitting here?" "I must save the children." "You must understand." "They will drown." "They can't swim." "They will drown!" "But what do you want from us!" "What do you want?" "Calm down, please, calm down, go." "What scum." "The thought came so suddenly, what about the children?" "I forgot about them." "I am sitting here instead." "You know what?" "No." "What scum I am." "Just look at him, mom?" "Just look at him!" "Scum, scum, scum." "Scum." "What scum I am." "You forgot about the children, eh?" "Scum." "Scum, scum." "Just wait, just wait." "But he's making it all up!" "Just look!" "He's playing with us!" "His eyes are dry, he's not crying at all." "Why aren't you crying then?" "Why?" "Why is he hiding his face in shadows?" "Why are you hiding your face in the shadow?" "He's not looking at me, because he's lying." "I can tell." "He made it all up." "Found himself an audience of idiots, he's hanging noodles over our ears!" "Strange, this is quite strange." "Aaa, it's just a role he's made up." "Of course!" "Aaa, aww, he's saving little children." "Aww, excuse me, but you know, it's all so unrealistic." "Of course, it's unrealistic!" "Excuse me of course." "Don't apologize before this cretin." "Shame on you, came in and sat down!" "Get out of here!" "Yes, yes." "Get out of here, fool." "You'll get yours!" "Why'd you shut up?" "Why'd you shut up?" "There is no kidness in you." "There is no kindness." "No kindness, none!" "Get out of here, we said!" "What are you up to?" "What are you doing?" "God sees all!" "Knows all!" "Get out of here!" "You are scaring us!" "There are children here." "People!" "People!" "Just look at him, He's completely trashed." "A drunk." "Just go!" "Get out!" "You'll end up in jail!" "Get away, get out, you creep, we said!" "What are doing now?" "Let go of the closet!" "People!" "Leave me alone, I need your closet." "Will someone help us already?" "Please!" "What's going on there?" "Can't you see we need help." "He's taking our closet!" "Mazayev is taking the closet!" "Devil knows what's going on." "Probably only a drunk neighbor." "I think I was dreaming," "I dreamt of a church, what does it mean?" "Go to sleep." "It's not my face." "Borisovich?" "What?" "I found an oar here." "Come here." "What?" "Look here." "Look in the mirror." "The face." "It's not mine, right?" "What wrong with it?" "Looks the same to me." "The voice, the voice is mine." "The expression is mine." "But the face, the face isn't mine." "It seems not mine." "You did lose a little weight." "What are you worrying about?" "I found an oar." "Look!" "Come on." "Come on, hold this, let's go." "Just like this." "Perfect." "And now we'll sail." ""The face is not mine," haha." "Come on." "Take the oar." "Dear Lord, what are they doing?" "My god, but what will become of them?" "Let's go, go, come on!" "May God be with you, Borisovich." "You should, you hear me?" "Navigate towards the main square." "Why?" "There is less water there." "Valentina Ivanovna." "Get ready, children." "Come, get ready, faster." "Valentina Ivanovich, there's some tall man there, he opened the attic, he's taking command, where did he come from, what is he doing here?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "What does that mean?" "Anyone can just come from the street and start taking command?" "But that's Ivan Sergeyevich Mozayev, I know him, he lives in my building." "He's a little eccentric, but overall, he is probably nice." "What do you mean by eccentric?" "Is he a lunatic or something?" "Why should he be crazy?" "Why attack me?" "I also don't what he's doing here." "Mozarev, where'd he come from, I don't understand." "Maybe he just wants to help?" "What he does he want to help with?" "With what means?" "Everyone, to the third floor." "If necessary, go to the attic." "All doors are unlocked." "It's children, after all." "They must send a helicopter, or boat." "Allo, allo, miss, don't hang up, miss!" "I am calling from the orphanage, yes." "Street Poklonnaya 25." "Miss, please connect us to..." "al, allo?" "Let me try." "There is no point in calling." "We must go there." "Come on, let's go." "Is he actually sleeping?" "Let's wake him." "Ivan Sergeyevich." "Ivan Sergeyevich." "Ivan Sergeyevich." "Did we wake you?" "Forgive us." "Did you reach them?" "No, there is no point in calling." "You must go there." "Only don't get upset with us." "We've been thinking, only don't get upset with us." "What's there to be upset about." "Basically, we need to rehearse your trip to the city." "You understand?" "You see, you are a soft, intelligent man." "You'll arrive to there and ask for a boat, and they'll say no." "Why would they say no?" "Because they won't understand, You need to make them understand." "You have to twist their hearts, twist their hearts, you understand!" "These are only children." "The children are dying!" "Basically, let's go." "I will teach you." "Everything will work out." "Let's go." "It must work, most definitely." "You will see." "I will teach you." "What are you standing there for?" "Come in, come in." "Nina Stepanovna, sit down, you are going to play Vozduhina." "Nina Stepanonva, you are Vozduhina." "So, imagine you came in." "What do you need to say?" "Think of some poetry!" "*" "Let's try this." "There, you came in." "I came in." "And then you must say what?" "One second." "I..." "Look there at Nina Stepanovna, please." "I, I've arrived from the orphanage." "There's water there." "It flooded everything." "Katya, I can't do this." "This isn't acceptable." "I can't do this!" "I am not an actor, I am not actor, can you understand that?" "What are you talking about?" "What actor?" "I must feel your worry, your despair." "You must have tears in your eyes." "Courageous tears." "Eat this to make tears." "It's onion." "Eat, eat." "It's an excellent method." "Let's see." "Very good." "Let's try again." "Calmly this time." "So, suppose, you came in." "There, you came out of water." "You are all wet and dripping." "You are all wet, there is despair in your eyes." "Because you understand that there's little time left," "The children are sitting on the roof, and you, everything depends on" "Give us a motor boat!" "The children, the children are dying." "Yes, yes, very good." "It's great!" "Of course, it's very good!" "Finally, we got it to work, it's great: we need a motor boat!" "If he can do this again, then success is ensured." "Surely." "It certainly is." "Excuse me." "It's time to go." "The water has risen significantly." "And there's no time." "Yes, yes." "I am telling him that there is no time." "I am saying there is no time." "There's no time at all." "Let me through!" "It's about the children." "What are you doing?" "I am here about the children." "Get up, come on, get up." "Your hands!" "Take your hands off!" "What are you doing!" "Let me go, let me go!" "Run, run!" "Where's the car?" "I called twice." "Run there instead of calling." "Comrade Vozduhina, comrade Vozduhina, one minute please!" "Forgive me if this is not the time, but I can't wait any longer." "Children dying are dying there." "Comrade, do you understand Russian?" "We don't have anything." "No boats, no cabbage soup." "I can offer rations for soap." "No, I don't need rations." "We need a motor boat, a boat, something like that!" "Measure me." "We'll do a measurement." "Then we can talk." "General Potapov, where is the detachment?" "They've departed." "They will be there before us." "And what is that?" "Without pants?" "Hahaha." "It's a new form of dressing, given these circumstances." "Since there's water everywhere, and the pants, they get wet." "That's not neat." "I've imposed a new dress code." "If you have any objections, I can suspend it." "Colonial uniform." "Americans wear shorts in such cases." "That's what I wrote in regulations:" "shorts." "But where do we get them?" "We've only got one pair*" "Should have put those on then." "Let's get out of here." "Comrade Vozduhina, comrade Vozduhina!" "What about the children?" "What should I do with the orphanage?" "Maybe send a helicopter there?" "That's possible, maybe." "Do we have time?" "Comrade Glugin." "Yes?" "We should help the orphanage." "A helicopter is needed." "We don't have any helicopters." "Why are you always hiding behind the hat?" "What's wrong with you face, ah?" "I am ill." "I've got an infection." "I can't without a hat, it's the disease, I am sorry." "Hm, looks sober." "One will go mad with you lot here." "Where do you think you are going?" "Back up." "Go back." "I am telling you to back off, your damn mother." "Valentine Ivanovna, They are swarming in!" "They are swarming!" "I can't take it anymore." "I can't." "Get air foce, artillery." "Call them." "What the hell is going on there?" "Lieutenant, this way." "Where?" "There." "The dead." "Yes, them." "It can't be anyone else." "Go to the graves of your brothers." "Come through, don't stand there." "Grab the shovels and pass through here." "Free the entrance." "Make way." "Step aside." "Grab the shovels and pass through here." "for the graves of our brothers." "A terrible thought." "Yes." "See how man is saved with lies, and not with sincerity." "If he lies well, and pretends well." "Look, he's righteous already." "He's dodged the judgment." "Yes." "You open your eyes, you look around, and then you are overcome with nausea." "It's like they're all scheming together, hushing up he most important thing, as though it doesn't exist." "God's judgment!" "They talk of everything else, as though it's some kind of a game." "And they're all winking at each other, snickering together." "It's as if it's all make-belief." "Like there is not going to be a judgment, only pretense, a universal bravado." "Here's a question." "Could it be possible that all these are devil's minions?" "Could it be?" "It is not possible." "And then what?" "What?" "double vision, everything is slipping from my hands, as though through my..." "I can't capture the essence." "Here is this face." "Yes." "There's something demonic there." "This is not my face." "What's going on here?" "It's open, I said." "Excuse me." "I heard you had a typewriter." "So?" "Are you a writer?" "Yes, I am writer." "What about you?" "What do you want?" "You see, you see, I came here to" "And what do you want?" "Haha." "He should be thrown into the Volga river." "Look, with his iron ships*" "I traveled here about..." "about... about the children." "I don't have any." "I need to write a claim, and I am not taking no for an answer." "What is he drunk?" "You are the drunk!" "No." "I am sober." "Sober." "I just need to write a claim." "To whom?" "To Vozduhina." "To Vozduhina?" "Come in then." "But only for a minute, only to file a claim." "There we go, I, as a Russian intellectual," "as they say, a successor of of Tolstoy, Dostoyevski." "For a second day in a row, I am stuck in a hotel," "because of the terrible Last Judgment," "I presently have no means of transportation." "And, I, uh," "Excuse me." "Yes, but if..." "the current forces of nature," " they think writing is easy ...do indeed have a rational explanation, then why not evacuate the children, I ask?" "Because, just one second." "Let me think." "Aren't you ashamed?" "What?" "I am asking you, aren't you ashamed?" "Sanya, calm down, Sanya." "Just wait, let me talk!" "I am saying, aren't you ashamed?" "Disgrace!" "What is he talking about?" "Sanya, have a bite." "Wait, I said." "Tolstoy wrote before you, Chekhov wrote, and you just called yourself their successor!" "And what's here?" "How are you expressing yourself?" "Pfu, such conservatism." "Throw the paper out." "What are you yelling at me for?" "Throw out, I said, I can't tolerate this." "He's right, a different approach" " Roaring in here!" "I simply, nothing's coming into my head, what's important is that they give us a motor boat." "Boat - shmoat!" "Alma Mater!" "Go, look outside." "Sanya, have a sip." "Will you just wait, Yura." "What did you start with?" "I am asking, what did you start with?" "Come on, remember!" "Platonov begins with slicing up kielbasa on his wife's grave!" "That's a beginning!" "And what's with you?" "Successor?" "*" "Sanya, leave him, let him write as he wants." "Let's try again." "It really does need to be written somehow differently." "The important thing is to get to the point." "To the point, or no one will bother reading it." "I understand, but this needs something, a phrase of some kind." "You should start by describing nature." "What, what?" "Yes, that's right." "It's in the tradition of Russian literature." "Wait, I said!" "What, you are starting again!" "What kind of foolishness is this, moron!" "Me?" "A moron!" "What are you blabbing about?" "What nature, what nature?" "Why are you slandering me?" "What does nature have to do with it?" "Character!" "You need a character!" "There!" "Children, right?" "What kind?" "I must be able to see them, immediately, understand?" "Yes, you are right." "Of course, how else could it be?" "I..." "I... will.... one minute..." "Let's drink a little." "The children." "The children, the children." "The children, the children." "The children." "These are such children, these are special children, they are, they are different," "There's one, they burned his mother." "Another one, they killed his entire family in front of him." "They have peculiar personalities." "Basically, they mentally disturbed." "They don't even want to live!" "That's the whole problem." "And we don't even yet know how to cure them." "There is no medicine for them." "But this doesn't upset anyone." "You." "Hiding such talent!" " Do you know what you have in your hands?" "What horror!" "This is great material!" "This is priceless, any publishing house will pick this up!" "You'll be a millionaire!" "Hiding such talent!" "About this, I'd even write myself, here, right now!" "Come here, come here, pour him a drink!" "Come on." "Let's drink." "Aaaahh." "What?" "What?" "A snake, a green snake!" "Where, where?" "There it is, there it is!" "There, there, there, there!" "A joke." "Don't you get it!" "What a bitch!" "Hahaha." "A joke!" "That's all it is!" "What a pig!" "Condemn everybody!" "Condemn everybody!" "And what are you standing for here, scum!" "Comrades, I am a married man." "Corvalol." "Corvalol!" "Where is Corvavol?" "You've got nothing here!" "Allo, speak louder." "Get undressed, Valentina Ivanovna." "Undress." " Got to hell!" "Corvalol, give me Corvalol!" "Here, here's Corvalol, Valentina Ivanovna, drink this." "Speak louder." "Thank you." "Yes." "Yes." "Yes." "Yes." "Hello Valentina Ivanovna, perhaps this isn't the right time, but I've got my typewritten report here, about the children." "Not the right time?" "Not the right time!" "What, are you blind?" "Come on, don't delay." "Take it, take it, scum, take it." "Bastards, scum, take it." "Excuse me, I'll come back later." "Dear comrades, I welcome our artillery!" "Cry, Valentina Ivanovna." "I can't, I won't go there." "Cry, I already taught you how to do it." "I can't." "They'll rip you apart otherwise." "I am commanding you, go out there, go." "Don't judge and you won't be judged." "That's what's written!" "Where is it written?" "You don't know, you don't know?" "You see, you see, they themselves are setting everything on fire!" "That's what I saw, and they keep screaming too." "I saw it with my own eyes." "I saw it all myself." "I saw it myself." "Just look, you see, there, there." "Calm down, women, quiet, quiet." "I've got nothing to repent for." "I am guilty of nothing!" "You're right, man." "We've got nothing to repent for." "We're simple people." "Let's go, let's go, let's go have a drink." "The dishes are broken." "Come here, we've got something to drink." "Hold this." "There you go, swamp monster, Come on, give me, I can't wait so much." "Want some?" "No, I don't." "Why are you sulking?" "Devil's gossipers, always cleaning up after you." "Found yourself a gathering spot!" "Pigs." "I'll go and tell your wife on you!" "What are they doing?" "What are they thinking?" "What a nightmare." "What I am saying is, the factory is burning, right?" "They can't extinguish the fire for a week already." "It just keeps burning and burning." "And nobody is putting it out anyway, who'd want to climb into the fire!" "Precisely!" "And the water?" "The water?" "Well, there can be different scenarios." "For instance, maybe a dam burst?" "And why not?" "You know how they build them?" "They build them on snot!" "What I am getting at is all these conversations about God's wrath, we still have to see about that." "Maybe, as they say, it's all hogwash." "Well, actually, actually, - that's what I say, well, actually, we believe in God." "Don't think otherwise." "Everything is as it should be." "that's a given, nobody's arguing with that, Nobody is disagreeing with that, but something is amiss here, you understand?" "What's wrong with him?" "Feeling nauseous?" "***" "I must say this," "I know, I feel," "I must say," "What's wrong with him?" "I feel" " Eh, people, be quite!" "I must say - he wants to speak!" "Quiet, someone is going to speak." "Here is" " Be quiet." "a man he lives" "and life passes and that's it." "But what good have I seen in my entire life?" "And that's how every one of us is, and then they talk of happiness." "And what is happiness, has anybody seen it?" "Indeed, indeed, in India and Tibet, they say that life of a man is but a dream." "But that's not really the point." "What's important is, first reason being what?" "What was in the beginning?" "A consciousness." "Or Matter?" "The spirit of the world is imprisoned by earthly flesh," "or maybe the sin of Atlantis, for we are the fallen ones." "Yes." "The earth is cursed because of mankind." "But you, but I," "Maybe I learned something special about myself, something so special." "You think I called an old lady?" "No." "I am worse." "I ate a little onion." "An onion." "To make little tears." "To speak of the little children, with a look of pity." "Because without the onion no such pity exists." "I don't feel it." "I don't pity." "My mind understands it, but my heart does not." "What is happening here, comrades?" "Children are drowning there." "Unwanted orphans, and we're drinking beer here!" "Chasing it down with fish, eh?" "Here it is, the seal." "And they dare call our people god-bearers." "What now?" "Little god-bearing men," "Dostoevskies!" "Too weak to get a motor boat, to save the children?" "Too weak." "Too weak." "But of course," "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'." "What of the overcoat though," "what of the overcoat, ah!" "Play!" "Play merrier!" "What's wrong with you, calm down." "Can't you see he is ill?" "Calm down, everything's fine, calm down, it's ok." "Do you need help?" "What's wrong with you?" "Who are you here to see?" "You live here?" "Who are you?" "We are refugees." "Is he deranged or something?" "I don't know." "That's enough." "Who is that?" "Who's there?" "Georgi?" "Georgi?" "Who just came in?" "Georgi?" "Don't push him, don't push him." "Who are you looking for?" "What's the problem?" "That's what I thought." "That's what I thought." "Who is he?" "How am I supposed to know?" "Ask him." "Excuse me, but what exactly do you want?" "I came here to mourn." "I must see it all." "A mourner?" "Yes." "Excuse me please, are you from the paper?" "A writer?" "I, I, I don't know," "I came here to mourn." "Please excuse me, please get comfortable here, in this room, it's a mess in there." "Yes, it's a mess in there." "What difference does it make to me?" "Understand that I must mourn." "I must." "Must mourn." "My soul is aching, understand?" "Just stay there." "Very well." "Georgi, show your drawings to this man, go ahead." "What's there to show?" " Calm down." "How many times do I have to repeat myself?" " Calm down, calm down." "Just look at these drawings, what a talented boy, you see, just look." "And this one, look how good it is." "Alik, Alik come and play." "Come on, take the cello, Alik, get up, get up." "Only my hand still hurts." " Your pain is long gone!" " I threw a grenade." "Sit down, sit down." "Come on and play." " A shard wounded me." "Look." "He keeps telling everyone this story, I am already sick of it." "Such a bum." "He'll do anything to avoid school work." "Attention, attention." "Step through, step through." "Try touching the clothing." "There was a man here before you." "He remembered who he was in his previous life, through these curtains." "I feel it through hair," "I was braiding my hair, and I remembered, that in my previous life," "I was a university student." "They killed me." "A civilian." "That's it." "One, two, three, four..." "Buttons." "The buttons were different." "Yes." "Try on one dress, it's hanging there." "A scarf or a sash is essential." "That white one?" "Yes." "The moon." "The moon." "The moon." "Lilacs." "I ate lilacs, gentlemen." "I searched for happiness in lilacs." "For that, you must eat a flower with five petals, I..." "I lived along the Volga river, gentlemen," "I lived in Samara." "I was happy." "I was loved." "Excuse me, gentlemen," "I am feeling ill." "I am not well." "There's something wrong with my face, it's not my face." "I don't understand what's wrong with me, I," "Excuse me." "Gentlemen!" "Gentlemen, what's wrong?" "Let's drink champagne." "Black wine." "Black wine." "White snow," "White snow, Black wine, gentlemen." "Black wine." "Gentlemen, black wine." "White Snow." "Taste it." "Taste the black wine." "Black wine, black wine, gentlemen, drink." "Excuse me, for God's sake, let me through." "Gentlemen." "Gentlemen." "Listen, gentlemen." "But this is Andrey Bely." "Yes, look, an identifical face." "It's Andrey Bely." "Astonishing." "People, let's pray." "We stand on the brink of history," "We're the children of a universal epilogue, gentlemen." "Hear me out." "History has ended." "Gentlemen!" "A candle was burning on a table, a candle was burning." "Yes, snow in July, abandoned trains," "trains, blood on white snow," "Russia is soaked in blood." "That's how it is." "I understand." "I do have a question." "Why did every one of our native old-believers illustrate apocalypses, eh?" "Why always draw abyss?" "Surely, there is always a gloomy abyss, on the brink." "Understand?" "On the brink." "Step away, miserable man, you'll fall, you see." "No, that's not the dilemma." "It's that they want to look inside!" "But apocalypse is there." "There God and Devil are waging war, for that beauty which could supposedly save the world." "It won't save a squat." "And about what's said," "One hundred forty thousand will be saved at the terrible tribunal of penance, that's it." "And that's counting entire history." "From the clan of Israel, that is what's written, right?" "And maybe from Israel, I don't remember that part, so I won't argue." "Actually, what I came here for is," "You see, Vanya," "I can't sleep, I keep thinking of those children." "I was deeply touched, Vanya." "So deeply, so deeply, to the core." "To the very core of the Russian soul, even deeper than that." "Just thought of a scenario, for a novel." "If all the little ones of the world, the abandoned, innocent children don't want to live," "then who will multiple?" "*" "In the morning, Vanya, I surged up like a scolded man." "I wake Nina up, and tell her, you fool, you fool, get up!" "That contemporary Tolstoy at our place, looking for a typewriter!" "And you, drunkard, preaching to him, smirching him with your descriptions of nature." "Showing off her bitch brains." "I had to punch her a few times." "Why, that's not good, that's not good." "We're fine, it's nothing, we've made up already." "She sees a sausage, ah, it's ready!" "Roaches are crawling over her, almost into her mouth, but what it's to her, she'll just get up, smear her lips, paint her face, curl her hair." "Rousseau!" "Who would have thought?" "What's wrong, Vanya?" "Vanya, did I upset you?" "What are you doing?" "Let's drink some water." "I can't." "Children are dying there, and I..." "Vanya." " What?" "What must I do?" "What?" "What should I write?" "What depths of a soul?" "I need a motor boat, you understand?" "Motor boat!" "Fine, fine, boat-shmoat." "They don't want to live?" "They should decide that when they grow up, you understand?" "And what do cockroaches have to do with it?" "What cockroaches?" "Madman!" "Eh, Vanya, wait up, Vanya, Vanya!" "You need to rest." "Fine." "But that was Myshkin!" "What a chance meeting!" "Do you believe that?" "Taking a stroll here, near a government summer house, amidist fresh air." "I've been to my judgment, at the dreadful court, hahahahaha." "And he's saving the children." "He's a savior." "What are you looking at?" "What are you looking at, feeling scared?" "No, no." "You are scared!" "Look, I am dead!" "I am alive." "I am alive." "Maybe I am eternally alive!" "What's wrong with you?" "What do you want from me?" "Go, go away." "Go your own way." "Excuse me, please." "And how did you get here?" "Yegorov." "Yegorov." "What are you doing here, I am asking you." "Did you climb over the fence?" "Over the fence?" "I am here about the children." " What children!" "What children, mind you." "You've turned this property into their pedestrian cloister." "Yegorov!" "Excuse me, a minute." "Excuse me, Mr. Johansson wants to know if these mice are domestic or?" "Ah, he's saying, he's asking what breed are they?" "Mr. Johansson is a great admirer of wildlife." "These are rats, they are plenty of rats here, mind you." "Devil knows what's up, but actually, you don't need to translate that." "Mr. Johansson is enquiring why everything in your country is so strange and..." "Upside down." "Why?" "Oh, I was expecting such a question!" "You are asking the right question." "because our people are shit, they're not even people, devil knows what they are." "When I was visiting Bush, that's what Maximovna said:" "look how well-behaved they are, so to speak, greeting us with flowers." "And how they work!" "I've seen it with my own eyes, for your information, so to speak." "That's right." "I saw how they play sports, and they don't smoke." "And what have we got here?" "They drink and steal." "Steal and drink." "And smoke, and then they can't breathe, mind you, so to speak." "what are you doing there?" "One minute, I'll be right back." "Excuse me." "And it's not only us, entire Europe is perplexed with our Russian strangeness in such instances." "Who said that?" "Myshkin, Myshkin." "If one of us embraces Catholicism, then he's bound to become a Jesuit, of the most obscure sort, at that, and if he becomes an atheist, he is bound to start demanding the purge of faith with violence," "in other words, and with a sword!" "Why is that, why is there such frenzy all at once?" "Do you really not know?" "Because he..." "Excuse me, please, I am from the orphanage about the children." "Everything's flooded." "We need a motor boat." "To transport the children." "But they're not giving it to us." "Yes, yes, I understand." "You see, Raisa Maximovna and I, we read a book every evening, Dostoyevsky," "Just sit down here and listen." "I, I'll stand." "Because he's found his fatherland, which he had missed, ans so he rejoices, believing he's found the shore, and so he rushes to kiss it." "And who said that?" "Rogozhin?" "I've already told you," "Myshkin." "Excuse me." "I came to Mikhail Sergeyevich." "What Mikhail Sergeyevich, open your eyes." "That's his double, pretending." "How?" "I don't understand." "Him?" "Double?" "I am asking you!" "Why are you playing games with me?" "A double, not a double!" "I need a motor boat!" "there are children croaking!" "Eh, you!" "Let me through, I have a pass." "Stand still." " I have a pass." "Come on, hold this, hold this." "Climb up here." "You are all playing me." "Who's playing you?" "Come on, come on, up, up here." "You've gone mad." " Who me!" "Look at how he's dressing." "Don't ask." "I am not going anywhere." "I know this is a masquerade" "I am not going anywhere." "I need to save the children." "But you are not being sincere, Ivan." "playing role, but not sincerely." "You don't believe yourself." "Thought up a role for yourself, of a bearer of truth!" " What role, what role!" "Vanya!" " Stop insinuating this nonsense!" "This is what I'll tell you, Vanya." "There!" "Over Kulikovo!" "There!" " Yes, he's a little to drink, - don't mind him, the forces of light, and forces of darkness, are waging war, maybe history is taking place there right now!" "That's what I say." "Thank you." "Vanya!" "This is what I will say, in every human life, there happen to be such minutes, for which later, you feel so excruciatingly ashamed!" "That's it, you've said enough." "Vanya!" "It's ok, he's had too much." "Vanya!" "Don't yell." "People, he knows where to go." "If he's going toward Kulikovo, then there shall be a great assembly!" "Stand up!" "Ah, forgive me, people." "Shake off the dust, mankind." "Hear the tolling of Heaven's bells!" "The hour has come, Russian people." "We shall break the walls, and our heads shall not break, for our native land!" "Vanya, wait up!" "You've lost your stockings!" "He's standing over the grave, greetings, greetings, he's standing over the grave, and singing 'The Internationale.'" "Caruso, I am telling you, your mother, what a joke." "Imagine there is a hag, she's running after the train," "with a flag." "Or all of a sudden, a candle is burning." "They are singing somewhere." "And I, I see myself from the side." "Like someone else playing my role." "Meaning, it's as though it's not me, but someone else." "Aah, such passion." "Come on, read on, what's next?" "Read on." "No, let's drink first a little." "Please, please do continue reading." "You know, I love doing this on a nighttime train, even the sound of words is different." "Everything seems different." "Genius!" "Genius!" "Up there, there!" "The different." "For Russian literature, we always need something like atmosphere." "A head-spin." " Yes, yes." "Vanya, to you." "Vanya." "There is no shame in presenting such literature at the Last Judgment." "To you, let's drink." "Actually, before, I thought of this as an official claim, but now," "I don't even know, perhaps it's a novel." "Read it, read it." "I have some kielbasa with me." "Read on." "And thus, Ivan Sergeyevich became an unfamiliar persona," "so to speak, a subject of some extrinsic will, something malignant and evidently cynical." "More importantly, he realized this the moment he saw that others are not better than him." "They are merely not playing their roles better." "And the roles they've got are merely episodic rather than central." "Who is the protagonist then?" "More questions again." "The questions." "If there was anyone in our Russian empire who'd get permission to make a communal novel out of our society, then who should it to be?" "If not again, the enemy of the people, the father of lies, conspiring a cunning game, heralding a deviant spirit." "To agitate and to blind again, to prevent our beloved land from rising out of the dirt of eternal deceit." "Could it be that the demons are howling and diverting us from our paths?" "how close this path seemed, so clear and simple," "My God, my god, help us, the sinners." "Help us escape the spirit of antichrist, the spirit of pretence, with his repulsive minions, and especially, especially, the banality of corrosion." "This corrosion, which nothing to this day could withstand." "Even holy truths." "God, liberate us from our banality." "Liberate us, liberate us." "And the rest, will be as it shall be." "God knows." "O Slavs!" "Let's pray for our devastated motherland." "Let's pray for our Orthodox people." "Let's pray for the Russian conviction, for the Russian conviction is the idea of a spirit's battle with worldly evil," "And no other creed exists for a Russian man, for everything is in that conviction, and God's justifications, and the Judgment of God!" "And all the mysteries of Russian history." "The great blazing cross she bears until the end the time." "Brothers and sisters!" "My beloved!" "Let us not be ashamed of our calling at the celestial battle of all nations." "Rise, the living and the dead!" "To the final battle!" "Let us crush all worldly evil for the spiritual fate of our paternal land." "God's Great Plan shall be accomplished, for the Russian land, for the roots of our fathers, for the world." "Keep moving, believers, keep moving." "Men!" "Help, there's Men!" "Help us!" "We are not far." "There it is, Kulikovo." "Its tip can be seen*" "Brothers, listen." "Brothers, brothers!" "Rise for the holy war with the Antichrist!" "We shall upright and we shall feel no shame." "The hour has come, above Mother Russia," "God has heard our buried prayers," "Russia has risen!" "Risen against the Antichrist!" "We shall stand all together, for the world, for the Russian soil." "We won't pity our stomachs," "we won't betray our Russian dignity*" "Don't fall behind." "Stand aside, stand aside." "Let the Icon through." "Step aside!" "They are carrying the Icon." "Step aside, step aside, they are carrying the icon." "The Holy Mother of Christ." "Lord, save us." "I can hear it." "I can hear it." "The earth is humming." "O, it's humming." "O misery, misery!" "Earth is humming." "The battle is ensuing," "The prince of the universe is coming!" "Enemy of mankind!" "Came out of the lair," "A cursed snake, an ancient dragon, the Antichrist is coming." "Woe, woe!" "The great force is coming!" "It's treading on our souls!" "The earth is shivering." "It's starving*" "And with him, three thousand ?" "." "You have to consider where he'll come out from." "I don't know." "It's not possible to know!" "How is that?" "Just look around, he's emerging out of darkness." "Out of blindness, and into the Babylonian whore." "Enough of you, out of here, get out of here." "Come to your senses, O great misery!" "I can see, he will stab you in the back!" "In the back!" "But you will never know!" "You won't even notice!" "Do you see him?" "Ivan?" "Ivan!" "Ivan!" "Ivan, Ivan, Ivan!" "Where is he?" "There, there." "Let me see." "What's the delay?" "What's going on here?" "Stand upright." "Stop all chatter." "Where's the one about the children?" "What?" "Where did they take him?" "I can't hear you, come closer." "Come here." "I am telling you, I am saying, he's at the make-up department." "They are doing his face, see, the carriage is coming already." "What make-up department, are you mad?" "That's the order I received." "What order?" "Who is giving orders here?" "Damn it, what's going on here!" "We can't begin." "He's not here." "I know, I know!" "Let me run get him, I know where he is." "It's nearby." "You know, do you?" "What?" "Go at this instance, take the carriage." "Get him a carriage." "Where's Mazayev?" "There, inside." "Where?" "There, inside, I am telling you." "Everything is already set, why all this yelling?" "Everyone is idling about, everyone's out of time." "Where did you go?" "Where did you go?" "To the right, I said." "Will you have coffee?" "I haven't even had breakfast because of you." "Why are you messing about?" "Last stroke, one moment." "He's here!" "We've been ready." "Ready!" "Talk as though you invoking." " What, I haven't said anything." "What have I said?" "Hm, text from The Apocalypse." "What text?" "'There is no time, time will be no more.' Also this text, 'the silence will be as though only half an hour,'" "Tell me, half an hour, how is that?" "As a matter of fact?" "Why are you putting words in my mouth?" "Let him go immediately." "Let him go, I said, immediately." "Vanya, what are you sitting here for?" "There are people waiting." "There is a battle." "Please." "There... but what have you done with him?" "What kind of a face is that?" "What's wrong?" "I did what I was asked to do." "I'll even do an Ivan with mustache." "It doesn't matter to us." "Who asked you to do this?" "You just told me that you were asked to do this, who asked you?" "Who in particular asked you?" "Who asked what?" "Some kind of a man came in, who was it, who's the main one?" "They are all commandants there." " Exactly." "So a person a came in, gave us orders, and so we did what he asked." "Vanya?" "Can you speak?" "I can." "It's very difficult." "I have to get used to it." "Briefcase, go, go go, forget the briefcase." "We've done a brilliant job." "Brilliant." "A sportsman!" "So elegant, a man who takes care of himself." "They don't know what they want!" "Exactly." "Don't know what else we could have done." "So, why are standing!" "We must advance!" "Forward!" " Look, look at what's he doing!" "Attention." "We are happy to welcome you." "We welcome a Russian intellectual, a successor of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky." "A humanist writer, Ivan Sergeyevich Mazayev." "Let's welcome him, let's welcome him." "Everyone says, let's save the children." "somewhere children are drowning, and a motor boat is required," "they supposedly need boats." "All of this is funny." "And on top of that, it's irrelevant." "No boats for the drowning!" "Let them learn how to swim." "Whoever can swim, can live." "In accordance with the spirit of times!" "I beg you, brothers, stand together, with the world, don't run, brothers, brothers, the dead have no shame." "Don't run." "Don't run." "Brothers, stand together, brothers, with the whole world!" "Beast, beast!" "Beast!" "Greetings Simyonovna." "Why are you looking at me like you don't recognize me?" "Did I age so much?" "I didn't recognize you, thought it was a stranger." "It's you." "What a surprise." "My heart is aching, do you have some pain-killers?" "We don't have anything." "I'll bring you some hot tea right now." "It will ease the pain." "I am just collecting bottles here, thinking things out," "I'll be quick." "In an instance." "What a surprise." "Here." "Hot tea." "You'll warm up soon." "Your feet must be soaking wet." "They will be aching." "And why are you sitting in the dark?" "Look how many candles you've got." "We'll light the candles right now, it will be merrier." "Damn matches keep going out." "Flaky matches, here, here." "One candle, second candle, and you've got a lamp somewhere too." "Have you forgotten?" "Must be somewhere here." "I've been to corner store recently, bought a sugar jar." "Good sugar." "You'll be warm soon." "This kind of tea will make you feel so nice and warm." "We'll drink tea now." "You'll warm up." "There, hold this." "There." "Why are you shivering?" "Did something happen?" "What sin!" "Did you murder someone?" "You murdered." "I murdered, Simyonovna." "How could this be?" "I am a murderer." "Yes." "That's how it goes." "Who did you kill?" "Little children." "Dear God, dear God." "Orphans." "That's how it is." "I drowned them." "Like kittens, yes." "They are small children, where could they swim afterall?" "They needed protection, from grown-ups," "all of them drow..." "That's how it is." "How will you live now?" "I am not going to live." "What's wrong with you?" "Do you know what you are saying?" "I won't live." "I had a dream, an angel appears and says, he keeps saying, Mazayev, behind the curtain." "What curtain, I ask?" "I didn't understand." "But he isn't answering." "Behind the curtain, Mozayev, he repeats." "You see, calling me by last name, not the first." "And as soon he said that," "I see our building's entrance." "They are carrying wreaths." "Some people are asking where to put the lid of the coffin, but I am here." "In this room." "Laying on the table." "I am being dressed." "Everyone is looking for a shirt, but no clean one can be found." "They found one later." "There is a wake in the kitchen." "They are talking about me." "I can't remember, they are saying different things." "Strange." "I am here, and there's my wake." "Dear God." "This means, that this angel, knows ahead of time, if he's saying, behind the curtain." "It means that everything is already decided, for me, for you, for everyone, ah?" "He's kind of just reading by the book, while we are kind of like actors," "taking part in a play, forcing out demons." "That's it." "Leave me, Semyonanva, go, I still need to solve one question." "What question could there be?" "It's a difficult problem." "And there is no time, no time, go, go, go." "What's the question though?" "A question, a question." "A truly significant question." "the most important one." "About God." "About Him." "Everything else is trivial." "But this is the question." "Semyonovna?" "Put out the candle." "It's easier to think in the dark." "Easier." "What a tragedy." "What will become of us, our Heavenly Father?"