EARTH
Written and directed by: Aleksandr Dovzhenko
Are you dying, Semion?
Yes, I'm dying, Petro.
Well, die then.
Die, Semion. And after your death let me know,
where you are: in Paradise or in Hell...
...and how you're doing.
Fine, Petro. If possible, I'll give you notice.
For 75 years he plowed the soil with oxen...
That's no small achievement!
If I were a People's Commissar,...
...I'd given him the Order of the Banner of Labor.
There are no Orders for oxen, grandfather.
For what then?
l'd like something to eat.
Well goodbye, I'm dying.
He liked pears.
Go ahead, read on, friend!
"Arkhip Whitehorse, who is undermining our operations—
hoarding seed, slaughtering dozens of head of livestock..."
I won't give it up! I'll kill it! I'll skin it!! I'm not giving it away! I'd rather kill it...!
Well, pop, now we'll put an end to the rich farmers.
And get tractors too.
But, Vasili, I think, you're not right in the head...
We'll get tractors and take the earth away from them.
That's just what I say, you're crazy...
They can get along without you. No need to go. It will work without you. You don't have to go.
Even as it is, the village is laughing.
It's not the village that's laughing, pop,
it's the rich farmers, and the dopes.
So you think I'm a dope?
Not a dope, Daddy, but just getting old.
Oh, the 'party cell' is back again.
Well, commence your "politicking"
Well I'll be a sonuvabitch, them fellows are real class! These filthy dogs, splendid fellows!
Pop, I'm on my way!
Semion, where ye be down there?
Hello, granpop! Greetings, grandfather Petro!
Grandpop, hello!
Get lost, devil's brood!
It's coming!
It has stopped!
It's moving!
It's here!
Write: there are insufficient facilities
for the collective grain and livestock...
...and next door the rich farmers have fine structures...
It's coming!
It's here!
It's coming!
l hear!
I'm listening!
No water in the radiator.
I'm listening!
Comrade chairman!
They're asking from the town whether the tractor has arrived.
Comrade chairman. The tractor is here!
The tractor has arrived, the whole village witnessed it.
The tractor won't go.
Go!
Go on then!
Go!
It has been accomplished!
The have brought it. Well, that's the end.
Grandfather Petro is right. It has been accomplished!
May we
prosper
with tractors.
Now the rich farmers can just mourn their field borders.
Beware, so your mother has nothing to mourn about.
We will see about that.
Yeah, we will see.
We're starting, Choma!
Father!
Get rid of that snag!
Toss me in the air! l'll pay for it!
Choma! Vasili has plowed up our fence with his tractor!
Vasili!
Hey, you guys named lwan!
You named Stepan!
You named Grizka!
Did you kill my Vasili?
Choma, was it you?
I'm asking, was it you who killed Vasili?
No, sir, it wasn't me.
There is no God.
And there are no priests either.
I'm asking you...
As my Vasili was killed for a new life...
So I'm asking you to bury him in a new way...
So it wouldn't be priests and parsons singing of death...
It has to be our boys and girls themselves...
And they are to sing new songs of the new life!
All right, Uncle Opanas, we'll bury our Vasili ourselves.
Without priests and without parsons.
And we'll sing new songs of the new life!
Without a priest. Good, if there's no God...
...But what if there is!
God, punish the sinners!
Punish them, God!
It's my earth. I won't give it up!
Punish them!
Where is the priest?
Over there somewhere, he's putting a curse on the collective farms.
Vasili!
In their death throes, our foes' hatred for the downtrodden
has taken Vasili away...
Hey, you have-nots! lt's me!
Beat me up, I'd rather die than give up!
With a Communist steel horse,
Vasili overturned the thousand-year-old forces.
I killed him in the night!!!
In the night, when everyone was sleeping!
But he was walking down the lane
and dancing.
...And with warm blood
he has signed the supreme verdict against our class enemy...
But you, our Opanas, do not despair.
The glory of our Vasili will fly all around the world...
Like that Communist airplane of ours up there!
The End
Original German subtitles: Anette Wagner-Müller Custom English subtitles translated from German