Defiance
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
(MAN SPEAKING GERMAN)
(MAN SPEAKING GERMAN)
(PEOPLE SCREAMING)
(MAN SPEAKING GERMAN)
(GUN FIRING)
(ALL SCREAMING)
(SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)
(SOLDIERS SHOUTING IN GERMAN)
(DOG BARKING)
(GRUNTS)
(GUN FIRES)
(PEOPLE SCREAMING)
(PEOPLE CRYING)
(BOY CRYING)
(SOLDIER SHOUTING IN GERMAN)
(SCREAMING)
(DOG BARKING)
What do we do?
Shut up.
We’ve got to
get home. Go!
ASAEL: Oh, my God.
Oh, my…
(CRYING) Papa…
(PANTING)
Aron.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
Come. It’s safe.
Let’s go.
(ASAEL CRYING)
ZUS: Stop it.
Asael! Stop it.
(CONTINUES CRYING)
Stop! Stop!
You want to cry?
Stop! Stop!
Let’s go.
Aron, let’s go.
Tuvia. It’s Tuvia!
If I was a German,
you would be dead.
Papa and Mama,
they killed them.
I know.
(SOBBING)
Aron.
Big brother returns.
You saw them?
TUVIA:
Where is your
wife and child?
Horodyszcze.
Hiding in a cellar.
I’ll bring them
when it is safe.
And Rifka?
Novogrudok.
She wouldn’t leave.
You are still…
She is still my wife.
Your rich wife.
So tell me, Tuvia,
why have you come back?
You have a plan?
No.
Do you?
The police
will be after us.
Tuvia, we’ve run
from the police
our whole life.
You think this is
a good time to stop?
We know these woods.
They’ll never
find us in here.
Aron!
Aron!
I told him to stay here.
(TWIG BREAKING)
(PANTING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
I miss Papa.
I can’t believe he’s dead.
Bernicki.
We don’t know
he did it.
The police captain?
He always had it
in for Papa.
But we don’t know
that he did it.
So we will go and
ask him if he did it.
Koscik has a pistol.
He showed it to me once.
One pistol is nothing.
We need rifles. Machine guns.
Machine guns? What next?
You’re gonna take on
the whole German army?
Just because…
(GUN COCKS)
The child is hurt.
Please,
lay her down here.
(CRYING)
(AVRAM SOBBING)
Tuvia.
We cannot feed them.
I’ll go ask Koscik
for food.
And the pistol.
And the pistol.
(IN RUSSIAN)
KOSCIK:
(IN ENGLISH)
I only have four bullets.
(CLICKS)
Thank you.
Your father was a good man.
He said the same of you.
Ignore the bitch.
To the dead.
God rest their souls.
(IN RUSSIAN)
KOSCIK:
(IN ENGLISH)
I live with this.
Can you imagine?
The barn.
(PANTING)
(GASPS)
Oh, God.
BOTH: (IN RUSSIAN)
KOSCIK:
(CHUCKLES)
BERNICKI:
TAMARA: (IN ENGLISH)
Be quiet.
(IN RUSSIAN)
KOSCIK:
(CHUCKLES)
BERNICKI:
(COUGHING)
(IN ENGLISH)
Careful.
BOTH: (IN RUSSIAN)
BERNICKI:
KOSCIK:
(BOTH LAUGHING)
BERNICKI:
KOSCIK:
BERNICKI:
(COUGHS)
KOSCIK:
BERNICKI:
KOSCIK:
(LAUGHING)
(CHUCKLES)
(IN ENGLISH)
I am sorry,
but they have to
go with you.
And what am I
supposed to do
with them?
(SIGHS)
Those policemen,
were they the ones
who killed my parents?
You people.
Why is it so fucking hard
being friends with a Jew?
Try being one.
WOMAN 1: Who is he?
WOMAN 2: Where are we going?
Come on.
Thank you. Come. Come.
(SHIMON PANTING)
You sat at the back
in school.
I am Shimon Haretz.
I thought you were dead.
I am at least half-dead.
I heard you speaking
of your parents.
I am very sorry.
The other brothers?
What was his name,
the wild one?
Zus.
He is with the other two.
You are hiding here
in the forest?
(COUGHING)
There has been trouble
before maybe?
With the police?
So you go to the forest.
A wise choice.
A wise choice for
a stupid schoolboy.
My whole life,
I presumed to teach others
the right way to live.
I had no doubt,
this is God’s way,
this isn’t.
You’ll forgive me
if recent events
have somewhat
shaken my resolve.
Just like school.
I have no idea
what you are
talking about.
Please, let’s go.
(COUGHS)
Here, please.
Here. You’re not hungry?
The little one doesn’t talk?
He saw things.
I send you for food,
and you bring
more mouths to feed.
You send me?
Oh, please…
It was Bernicki
who killed Papa.
Did you at least
get the pistol?
Only four bullets.
Then we’ll have to
make them count.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(IN RUSSIAN)
WOMAN:
BERNICKI:
(DOOR OPENING)
(GASPS)
(WHIMPERS)
(IN ENGLISH)
For my parents,
David and Beila Bielski.
For my brothers
and for all the others.
(WAILS IN RUSSIAN)
(SCREAMING)
(IN RUSSIAN)
(SOBBING)
(PANTING)
(IN ENGLISH)
ZUS: Shit.
(GRUNTS)
Only one left.
His sons.
How was it?
How was what?
To kill them.
It was good, no?
Shut up.
(CHUCKLES)
(SIGHS)
And what about
these others?
I don’t know.
Women will slow us down
and your old teacher…
What? You afraid
he’s going to spank you
for forgetting your homework?
(LAUGHS)
We have to be able
to move, Tuvia.
And quickly.
I agree, but they’re here.
We’ll sleep
further up the trail.
If someone comes,
they’ll stumble
on them first, and
the gunshots
should give us
time to escape.
All right.
But no more.
No more.
(TAMARA COUGHS)
I know, I know.
Tamara,
you remember cousin Zus.
Please, go over
and sit by the fire.
Lazar,
he’s Isabel’s youngest.
Hello.
And this is
Isaac Malbin.
Hello.
He’s from Minsk.
Tuvia. Tuvia.
Asael! Find them
something to eat!
Tuvia, I have pity
for them all.
They are family.
And how will
we feed this family?
(PANTING)
We’ll water the soup.
And this one?
She is family?
No.
Ah.
(MEN CHATTERING)
(GRUNTING)
(EXCLAIMS)
What the fuck?
Have you never used
a hammer before?
No.
What is it you do?
I suppose you’d have to say
I was, am, an intellectual.
This is a job?
(LAUGHS)
I published a small magazine.
Ah.
Actually a journal.
More like a pamphlet.
Tuvia, this is Lila.
Lila is my forest wife.
I see.
Congratulations.
Interesting concept.
As long as
his village wife
stays in hiding.
(CHUCKLES)
(JACOV SPEAKING IN RUSSIAN)
Hello, boys.
What can we do for you?
Food. We want food.
These little shits
are holding us up.
You have the balls
to shoot me, little shit?
We have food. We have food.
We’ll share.
No. No. I want to see
if this little shit has
the balls to shoot me.
You like to shoot Jews,
little shit, huh?
You are Jews?
No, we’re the Gestapo.
Put down the gun.
Or perhaps you’d prefer
I shove it up your ass.
Hey! Look at me.
Where you from?
Horodyszcze.
We haven’t eaten in two days.
My name is Peretz.
This is Jacov.
Two days ago,
there were 3,000 Jews
in Horodyszcze.
Now there are 50.
Me and him,
we hid in a wall.
You know a woman,
Sonia Bielski?
We knew her.
There was a child.
(GRUNTING)
(GROANS)
(CRYING)
My child…
I should have
protected them.
No. No.
Sonia.
(PANTING)
Mama… Papa…
So many dead.
Yeah.
Why not us?
I don’t know.
Better to be
hiding in the woods,
like rabbits.
Hunted. No.
JACOV: We are looking
for Partisans.
What is the name
of your otriad?
What is an otriad?
It’s an armed brigade.
We heard the Russians
are beginning to organize.
Here?
And also in
the Lipiczanska.
Then we are
the Bielski Otriad.
You want to join?
The Russians are fighters.
But you need a gun
to join them.
They sabotage railroads
and kill Germans.
ZUS:
You want to kill Germans?
Come with me.
Unless you’re still
afraid to use that rifle.
Stay there!
Stay there!
We must get what we need
without killing.
This will not bring
your family back.
Blood for blood.
You had yours.
And I can still
see their faces.
“Vengeance is mine.”
Who said that, Tuvia?
What? This is God’s work
you’re doing now, Zussie?
No, only you
can do that.
Take a few lives,
spare a few others…
We must not
become like them!
No, but at least
we can kill like them.
Are you coming
with us or not?
JACOV: (SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)
(GUN FIRING)
(WHIMPERING)
(IN RUSSIAN)
MAN: (IN RUSSIAN)
TUVIA:
MAN:
(GUN FIRING)
(GROANS)
MAN: (IN RUSSIAN)
(GRUNTS)
(MOTORBIKE APPROACHING)
(IN ENGLISH)
PERETZ: It’s coming!
It’s coming!
(PERETZ GRUNTS)
(DRIVER GROANS)
(PANTING)
Car!
TUVIA: Hurry. Hurry! Go!
(ALL GRUNTING)
TUVIA: Here!
(GRUNTS)
SOLDIER: (IN GERMAN)
SOLDIER 2:
(GERMAN SOLDIERS CHATTERING)
(WOMAN CHUCKLES)
(SOLDIER WHISTLING)
(SIGHS)
Hey!
(GRUNTS)
(SCREAMING)
(SOLDIER SHOUTING IN GERMAN)
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
(GRUNTING)
(WOMAN SPEAKING GERMAN)
(SOLDIER SCREAMING)
(SHOUTING)
(SCREAMS)
JACOV: (IN ENGLISH) I got one!
No, no, no!
(PANTING)
(EXCLAIMS)
(CHUCKLES)
Vodka.
Now we are real Partisans.
To the Bielski Otriad.
Cigarettes!
(PANTING)
(TRUCK APPROACHING)
TUVIA: Asael!
(SCREAMS)
(GRUNTS)
Asael!
(GUNS FIRING)
(PANTING)
Get his rifle!
(GUNS FIRING)
(SOLDIERS YELLING IN GERMAN)
ZUS: Shit!
He is going the wrong way.
(SOLDIERS SPEAKING GERMAN)
(PANTING)
(SCREAMS)
ZUS: We can’t just
leave him!
TUVIA: We have
no choice! Go!
Asael!
Go! Go!
(PANTING)
They thought you
were bringing food.
Farmers stop you?
They had guns? Dogs?
No.
I don’t understand.
(COUGHS)
The Talmud says
if you save a life,
you must take
responsibility for it.
Again, I have no idea
what you’re talking about.
Oh, yes. I think you do.
And now
your little brother
is gone.
How did you get past Lazar?
Who?
Fucking shit.
You worthless
piece of shit!
Stop! Enough!
He walked right by you.
Someone could
have been killed!
I said enough!
Get up! Get up!
He should be shot!
If we were real Partisans,
he’d be shot.
You hear that,
you stupid little
piece of shit?
(GRUNTS)
He made a mistake!
(PANTING) Mistake?
We cannot
make mistakes, Tuvia.
Like last night, Zus.
First they will torture Asael,
and then they will hang him.
You are Tuvia Bielski?
You know me?
We heard of you in Vilna.
Vilna? My family is there.
My sister lives in Vilna.
The SD came
without warning.
(SOBBING)
Oh, God! Oh, God…
We’ll be better off
in the ghetto!
At least here we are safe!
There at least we had hope.
No, here we have hope.
Do we?
We have no food!
Tomorrow will be
another mission.
Look what happened
last time!
That was a mistake.
The mistake will
not be made again.
How do you know?
(ALL SHOUTING)
We may be here a long time,
so we have to prepare.
How?
Better security.
Better at getting food.
We don’t have weapons.
People are getting sick!
(ALL ARGUING)
Whatever it takes,
we all have to participate,
but we can’t work
against each other!
We cannot
afford revenge.
Not now.
We cannot afford
to lose friends like
Jacov and Peretz.
Or Asael.
We cannot lose anyone.
We will map out
where we have been,
so as not to visit
the same farms too often,
and we will take
only from those
who can afford to give,
and we will leave
those who can’t alone.
Our revenge is to live.
The poorest farmer
has more than us.
Quiet. What I am saying
is we are not thieves
or murderers.
We may be hunted
like animals,
but we will not
become animals.
We have all chosen this.
To live here free
like human beings
for as long as we can.
Every day of freedom
is like an act of faith.
And if we should die
trying to live,
then at least we die
like human beings.
(IN RUSSIAN)
WOMAN:
TUVIA:
WOMAN:
(GRUNTS)
(IN ENGLISH)
Thank God.
Come here! Come here.
Come here.
ZUS: Come, Asael.
(GRUNTS)
(PANTING)
(LAUGHS)
Zus, Zus, I can’t breathe.
Can’t breathe.
Look, look.
Look what we found.
Where did you
get these?
Hello?
It’s all right.
Please come.
TUVIA: Please.
ASAEL: It’s all right.
Come on. Give me that.
Asael, you’ve been busy.
Shut up.
Hello. I’m Zus.
This is Bella
and this is Chaya.
Please come.
You must be hungry.
Thank you.
(IN RUSSIAN)
(IN ENGLISH)
BELLA: And then, we fell
into this horrible bog,
and Chaya saved me.
Honestly,
I can’t swim at all.
Well, we’ll have
to teach you.
We must have got lost
a dozen times.
I was absolutely
resigned to die.
Tell him, Chaya.
Was it not
the absolute worst?
And that farmer,
a mister…
ZUS: Koscik.
BELLA: Yes.
He kept making
the most vulgar jokes.
(GRUNTING)
So you’re trying
to tell me that all
politics is meaningless?
In the West, a monster
with a little mustache,
in the East,
a monster with
a big mustache.
This is all I need to
know about politics.
Your messiah will
have a mustache, too.
And a full beard.
No. The messiahs
are all in politics,
and they are killing us.
No, you’re…
What’s killing me
is all of your talking!
And Roosevelt?
He has no mustache.
We need to know
what is going on
in the villages,
where the Germans
are patrolling,
who the informers are.
Are you listening to me?
Yes. Yes.
TUVIA: What’s her name?
Chaya.
Chaya!
What are you doing?
You go and talk to her.
I hardly know her.
You spent three days
in a cellar with her.
How much more do you
want to know her?
Malbin says
the Piznarski
granary is full.
But we still need
two guns, at least.
Whose turn is it to go?
Zus.
You go with him.
Make sure
he understands
my orders.
Go! Go talk to her.
Go!
Hello. How are you?
Hello. I’m good.
Good.
How are you?
(SHUSHING)
(IN RUSSIAN)
(IN ENGLISH)
(IN RUSSIAN)
(IN ENGLISH)
LAZAR: Halt!
Who goes there?
You know who
goes there, Lazar!
We go there.
You only say,
“Who goes there?”
when you don’t know
who goes there.
Sorry, Zus.
Milk! And eggs!
Chaya, our brave men
have brought us a feast.
You could
make me blintzes.
(CHUCKLES)
Hey! Hey!
I don’t think we’ve been
properly introduced.
Hello.
Arkady Lubczanski.
You are Chaya?
Yes.
And you’re getting
along all right?
Anything you need?
An extra blanket?
No, thank you,
I am fine.
Something nice and soft.
No, it is all right.
Couldn’t help
but notice you don’t
have a husband yet.
Yet?
A forest husband.
All the other women
have chosen already.
They haven’t told you
about this?
No, they haven’t.
Thank you for
explaining it.
Descartes at least
provided for the subjective
nature of experience.
Yes. You annoy me,
therefore I exist.
Ben Zion.
The new ones just arrived.
They are from Novogrudok.
Your wife, they say
she was killed last week.
I’m sorry.
(VIOLIN PLAYING)
Thank you for telling me.
Can I join you?
Of course.
Oh, I never…
You never what?
(CHUCKLES)
Do you get lonely out here?
I like the woods.
I get a little bit
scared sometimes.
Tell me something.
Why is there a rule
against women having guns?
There aren’t enough
for the men.
But women need guns, too.
What for?
For protection.
Women have men
for protection.
I want protection.
(MAN SHOUTING IN GERMAN)
(MAN SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)
(PANTING)
Men with guns!
Men with guns!
(ALL CLAMORING)
(WOMEN SCREAMING)
Take weapons
and ammunition only!
Weapons and ammunition only!
Lova! Ben Zion!
Stay here with us.
Asael! Keep them moving!
Don’t stop!
ASAEL: Go! Go!
Keep them moving!
Don’t stop!
Go, go! Come on,
quickly! Quickly!
Zus, now!
Quickly! Quickly!
(MEN SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Come, come.
Don’t stop till
you reach the fields!
Go! Move! Move! Move!
Isaac, keep them moving!
Zus, Asael, Ben Zion, there!
(GUNS COCKING)
(GROANING)
(IN RUSSIAN)
(GROANING)
(IN ENGLISH)
Give up Bielski, and the rest of
you can go free!
You’re from Belorussia, pig!
Why do you work with the Germans
against your own people?
For the same reason
you steal from the poor!
To survive!
(GROANS)
Shit!
Next one’s to the head!
It will be dark soon!
How will you find
your way home then?
(MAN SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(IN RUSSIAN)
(IN ENGLISH)
They’ll be back.
We will have to
build a new camp.
Next time you can
draw them a map.
And what does that mean?
It means we should have
killed the fucking milkman.
Your policy of
diplomacy is shit.
Winter is coming
and now we have
no shelter. Why?
Because you don’t have
the stomach to do
what must be done.
Go! Move.
Where is he taking us?
My feet are
going to fall off.
I need volunteers
for a scouting party.
(WHISTLING)
(GUNS COCKING)
(IN RUSSIAN)
(WHISTLING)
(MEN CHATTERING)
(IN RUSSIAN)
(IN ENGLISH)
So now
we are Partisans.
We’ll see.
(WHISTLES)
Here.
Thank you.
If my friends at the New
Socialists Club
could see me now.
I haven’t read
a book in months.
I don’t read much.
You can ask Shimon.
I did.
And yet you accept me
as commander?
Who else?
(LAUGHS)
Might I make an observation?
Please. Observe away.
We need to be
strong, yes. But…
But?
Other things
are important, too.
Such as?
(GRUNTS)
Community.
You have ideas
about community?
A few.
(GROANS)
More mouths to feed.
And more young bodies
to keep us warm.
(CHUCKLES)
Which one is Tuvia Bielski?
Tuvia.
I am Tuvia.
None of us knew
if you really existed.
Excuse me. My name
is Yitzhak Shulman.
Welcome, Yitzhak.
I am from Baranowicze.
The ghetto is
being liquidated.
The Germans warned that
everyone will be executed
if anyone is missing.
So the Council
stops us from leaving.
But every day
more people are killed.
My parents…
We will do what we can.
Thank you very…
No, no…
Thank you.
Welcome.
Please,
will you help
my parents?
I’ve seen you
looking at me.
If you were to rescue them,
I would do anything for you.
No, no…
Anything. Please?
And what does it mean,
“do what we can”?
We will send for everyone
who is left alive.
And if there are
hundreds, Tuvia?
Then we will provide.
And when the Germans
follow these hundreds,
what then?
I won’t let that happen.
You won’t let that happen.
No. I will bring
them out myself.
From the ghetto.
Yes.
So now you are Moses, huh?
Zus, go back to work.
You’re wasting time.
I’m not the one
who’s wasting time,
Tuvia.
I cannot have you
questioning me
in front of the others.
We’re family.
We have to stick together.
Why? So we can die
alongside these malbushim?
Don’t call them that.
They’re people.
They’re Jews.
Pretentious Jews.
Jews who stuck up
their noses at us.
Jews who would go
out of their way
to lock their daughters away
from our dirty hands.
You are nothing
to them, Tuvia.
They only follow you
because they
are too weak and afraid
to fight for themselves.
And what about Bella?
Do you think
she’d be with you
if this wasn’t happening?
Don’t…
Is it love, Zus?
(GRUNTS)
(PANTING)
Tuvia.
(GRUNTING)
(TUVIA PANTING)
(GROANS)
(GRUNTING)
(GROANS)
Tuvia!
(PANTING)
Lova, Ben Zion,
and anyone else
who’d rather fight
than wait to be killed.
We are leaving to
join those who fight.
Are you coming?
No.
(MAN SPEAKING GERMAN ON PA)
We are not so naive to think
they won’t kill some of us.
But all the Jews?
It makes no sense.
They need us to work.
In the factories,
in the labor camps.
They’re death camps.
We too have heard
of such places.
But have you
seen them yourself?
Can you tell me
with absolute certainty
that we won’t just as likely
die out there
with you in the woods
with winter coming on?
Do you think we
haven’t all considered
running away?
For every one who leaves,
they kill 20.
How can I sacrifice thousands
for the sake of a few?
What if we take you all?
The old, the sick?
How will we live?
We will protect you.
We have made alliances
with the Russian Partisans.
They are as bad
as the Germans.
You’re too young
to know the pogroms.
Our only weapon is time.
If I can buy more,
we will have won.
You want time?
Fine. I’ll give you time.
A day, a month,
maybe even a year.
To live.
Your daughter, Chaya,
she is with us.
Your husband is
waiting for you.
Rabbi, rabbi. Please?
We are waiting for God.
(SIGHS)
LILKA: I am going.
I am going.
I am going.
I am going.
Me, too.
Wait.
(GERMAN SOLDIERS CHATTERING)
(WHISPERING) Come on.
Go.
SHIMON: Move forward!
Come along, please!
ISAAC: Come forward!
Please have your valuables
out and ready!
Keep moving!
Come! Come!
We’re not going
to bite you!
(CHUCKLING) Mama! Papa!
My daughter…
What about you, Tateh?
I am a watchmaker.
Can you repair guns?
The trigger.
Maybe.
All right.
Please come forward.
Everyone have your things
out and ready. Yes, please?
But they were
my grandmother’s.
And now they belong
to the otriad.
Everyone sacrifices
for the sake
of the collective.
We can trade this for food
or weapons. Next!
How about carpenters?
Any boot makers?
Seamstresses?
I’m an accountant.
That should come in handy.
All right.
You have a new profession.
Mazel tov.
(CHUCKLES)
Next!
MAN: I am a shoemaker.
SHIMON: Good.
You’re welcome.
ISAAC: Yes, please.
I am a nurse.
(EXCLAIMS)
Good. You are most welcome.
Friends, this is
the happiest day
of my life,
to see you here,
safely amongst us.
But there are a few things
you must learn
about living here.
When you are rested
and settled,
you will be assigned
work duties.
Everyone will work.
There are no exceptions.
We will help supply
our Russian Partisan
comrades.
We will mend clothes,
we will repair weapons.
Women will learn to shoot,
and they will fight
alongside men.
Pregnancies are forbidden.
We cannot accommodate
an infant’s needs here.
Today,
we will start
rebuilding the lives
you have all lost.
This is the one place
in all of Belorussia
where a Jew can be free.
We welcome you
into our community.
He is a Jew?
Yes.
Reload!
This is not a gun.
To you it is
Bar Kochba’s spear.
It is Samson’s jawbone.
It is Ehud’s sword.
It is the slingshot
young David used to bring
down the monster Goliath.
And we will become warriors,
like the Maccabees
and the Tsiccerai.
Brave men and women fighting
for their freedom,
as they were.
Fire!
Good.
(IN RUSSIAN)
(SHOUTS)
(LAUGHING)
(CLEARS THROAT)
(WHISTLING)
(IN ENGLISH)
Now this, here,
this is a knight.
It can move
one, two forward,
and one to the side.
Yesterday,
potatoes with beets,
today, beets with potatoes.
Tomorrow,
special treat,
potato soup.
Stop complaining,
you wenches,
and keep mashing.
We love potatoes,
don’t we, boys?
Yes, sir!
We like latkes,
blintzes… Thank you.
Sit down.
Put some hairs
on your chest.
If you want
to be a soldier,
you drink!
What are you doing?
What are you doing?
What are you doing?
Asael, he’s having
a little drink.
So, a little bird told me
that a certain someone
is waiting for
another certain someone
to ask a certain question.
Good.
Hello, Chaya.
Hello, Asael.
Let me take…
Oh, no, no, no!
Are you sure?
No, I’m fine. Thank you.
May I help you?
I was wondering if…
Maybe you…
I mean, you and I…
If… We…
I accept.
You do?
I do.
(EXHALES)
Blessed art Thou, our God,
king of the universe,
who created man
in His own image,
and out of Himself
fashioned for us
a lasting place.
Blessed art Thou, our God,
king of the universe,
who created all things
for His glory.
O, gladden
these loving mates
as Thou did anciently gladden
Thy creatures in Eden.
Blessed art Thou, O God
who gladdens
the bridegroom
and the bride.
Amen.
ALL: Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
(READING IN HEBREW)
With this ring,
thou art
consecrated to me
according to the law
of Moses and Israel.
ALL: Mazel tov!
(CHEERING)
(PLAYING LIVELY MUSIC)
(GROANS)
(LAUGHING)
(GRUNTS)
BOTH: (IN RUSSIAN)
(ALL CHEERING)
(COUGHS)
(IN ENGLISH)
Tuvia, this is it.
This is all we have.
(MAN COUGHING)
Cover them up.
Some talk of returning
to the ghetto.
We’ve barely
eaten for days.
(COUGHS)
What time is it?
You have an engagement?
Is there any supper?
Not today.
Tuvia’s sending out
more food missions.
You follow Tuvia
like an old goat.
I’d rather be a goat
than a snake.
Tuvia is doing
the best he can.
We should have joined Zus.
Who’s stopping you?
(PANTING)
(GUN FIRES)
(ALL CLAMORING)
Out of the way.
Again. More.
No, that’s enough. No!
More! More.
Give me…
WOMAN 1: More, more, please.
WOMAN 2: No, that’s enough.
(VIKTOR SINGING IN RUSSIAN)
(ALL SINGING IN RUSSIAN)
(GRUNTS)
(SIGHS)
BOTH: (IN RUSSIAN)
(CHUCKLES)
(LAUGHING)
(PANTS)
(IN ENGLISH)
Hello.
Hello.
You’ll get used
to it eventually.
What are you
going to do today?
Today I go on
my first food mission.
I will tell Asael
to send someone else.
No.
No, I want to go.
I must go.
Here.
You must take this.
Stay warm. Please.
Lilka. Here.
Please take it.
Thank you, Tuvia.
She’s a tasty one,
your aristocrat.
What?
We were told, “Hands off.
Property of the commander.”
Tuvia,
I’m beginning to see signs
of some new sickness.
Two of the old ones
have died this week.
Tuvia.
Miriam.
TUVIA: What happened?
He says it was a patrol.
They’re watching the roads.
The Germans are everywhere.
You go back,
and stay alert!
She will be all right.
Take your food
back now.
And stay on this
side of the river.
But watch out
for patrols.
I’ll wait here
for the others.
Good luck.
(PANTING)
Halt! Who goes there?
Lazar, I’m coming from camp.
The danger’s out there.
Sorry, Tuvia.
Any sign of
the food mission?
Not yet.
(EXHALES)
(GROWLING)
(GASPING)
(GRUNTS)
(PANTING)
(GASPS)
Go.
(BARKING)
(GUN FIRES)
(PANTING)
RIVA: I think it’s typhus.
If it is,
we are in trouble.
The lice are carriers.
The Partisans
have ampicillin,
but they say
they need it
for themselves.
RIVA: Tuvia.
I heard you.
Medicine. I’ll go see
Viktor now.
What happened?
You all right?
Fine. Thank you.
(IN RUSSIAN)
(TUVIA COUGHING)
(IN ENGLISH)
You’re too sick.
Stay in the truck.
Make sure it’s in gear
when we get back.
No, I’m coming with you.
I give the orders
tonight, Tuvia.
You don’t have to do this.
I don’t?
What about the typhus?
So more die.
They will anyway.
(LAUGHS)
Zus.
For luck. Take it.
(COUGHING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(GUNS FIRING)
(GRUNTS)
(GROANS)
(GRUNTING)
(GRUNTS)
(SOLDIER SHOUTS)
Go! Go!
What about the others?
Drive the fucking truck!
(GROANING)
The others?
Fighters die so that
malbushim may live.
That’s what you believe, yes?
Yeah, and what do you believe?
Are you a communist now, Zus?
Communist, Zionist, fascist.
What difference
does it make as long as
you get your medicine?
Come back to us.
(GRUNTS)
You’re my brother.
So you remember.
SHIMON: Merciful God,
we commit our friends,
Ben Zion and Krensky,
to Your care.
We have no more prayers,
no more tears.
We have run out of blood.
Choose another people.
We have paid for each
of Your commandments.
We have covered every
stone and field with ashes.
Sanctify another land.
Choose another people.
(COUGHS)
Teach them the deeds
and the prophecies.
Grant us but one
more blessing.
Take back the gift
of our holiness. Amen.
Amen.
ALL: Amen.
(TUVIA COUGHING)
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
Chaya, this amount is shit.
Take your hand
and dig it to
the bottom of the pot…
Get off me.
…and give me
some of the beans!
(WOMEN SHOUTING)
Get your hands
off her!
What do you think
you’re doing?
Pisher, who do you
think you are?
I am in charge here.
Get back in line.
Go away, little man.
I’ll take the skin
off your face!
Come on then.
(ALL SHOUTING)
Come on! I’ll kill you!
In front of everyone!
Get back! Get back!
Put that away.
Put it away!
(COUGHING)
Now what is
happening here?
Those who risk their lives
to bring back food
deserve a larger portion
than those who risk nothing.
Everybody gets
the same portion!
Not when your little bitch
is serving, they don’t!
She is my wife!
Shut up!
Everybody gets the same.
Anybody caught stealing
will face consequences.
What consequences?
Half rations.
One week. Both of you.
What?
You questioning me?
This matter is settled.
You get back in line.
Get back in line.
(COUGHING)
Tuvia.
Tuvia, I would never…
I know.
So then why am I
to be punished?
On food missions,
they take first
for themselves
and only bring back
what’s left over.
And they spread rumors
that you are
power-hungry and corrupt.
(CHUCKLES)
That you take whatever
woman you choose,
that we keep the gold
for ourselves,
and that you…
What? What? What else?
That you’re no longer
fit to lead us.
Maybe they’re right.
Zus would have
punched him senseless.
Yes, I know.
Well, I miss him.
He made his choice.
(COUGHING)
(ALL LAUGHING)
Lova, what happened?
Who did this to you?
Gramov. Two others.
I used the officers’ latrine.
They said they won’t shit
in the same hole as a Jew.
(VIKTOR SINGING IN RUSSIAN)
(IN RUSSIAN)
(VIKTOR SINGING IN RUSSIAN)
(SINGING IN RUSSIAN)
(COUGHING)
(MEN LAUGHING)
(IN ENGLISH)
Hey, Arkady!
When will we eat?
Where is our food?
Lazar, you will eat
with the rest of the women
and the malbushim.
(LAUGHING)
(GROANING)
(TUVIA COUGHING)
Tuvia.
You must come.
I’ll be there now.
The village idiot.
(MEN LAUGHING)
Lazar, I saw him try
to impress the girls
on guard duty,
and he slipped over
and landed right in
the ditch, face first.
Chaya, you look
lovely today.
Thank you.
That looks delicious.
And you look delicious.
What happened?
Arkady.
Arkady.
What is this?
New policy.
Fighters get
better food.
But that is
against my orders.
(SCOFFS)
You are no longer commander.
As long as I am leader
of this group,
you will obey my commands.
There will be no complaining,
no sitting, no doing nothing.
Anyone who wants
to leave, leave now.
Take his body into the woods.
Leave it for the wolves.
Do it now.
(COUGHS)
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
Your fever broke
in the night.
The medicine helped.
How long was I asleep?
Two days.
You nursed me?
I should get up. It’s…
No, no, no, no.
I…
It’s all right.
It’s all right.
(SIGHS)
Did you study nursing?
I was at university.
What did you do
before the war?
My wife… Her father,
he had a business.
Before the Race Laws.
And she has passed?
Yes.
I am sorry.
What did you study
at university?
Music.
(CHUCKLES)
You should rest.
Come.
Okay.
(SIGHING)
Thank you, Lilka.
My pleasure.
(CAMERA CLICKS)
Who’s got the soap?
I know there is
a little bit left.
But use the sand, Chaya.
It’s good for your skin.
And look at that skin!
And married already!
(LAUGHING)
Look at me.
I’ve turned into
a skeleton.
When we get out
of this forest,
I’m going to eat only cake
and grow as big as a house!
Tamara. Come. Join us.
At least the sun is warm.
I can’t, Lilka.
Why?
I’m pregnant.
I had no idea.
I’ve been hiding it
for months,
but it’s obvious now.
It could come any day.
Who is the father?
(CRYING) It happened
when I was escaping.
There was a man
with a gun, stopped me.
What will happen
when Tuvia finds out?
He will understand.
No, you mustn’t tell him.
No, I won’t tell him.
(PANTING)
I feel this
new life inside me.
(BOTH CHUCKLING)
It’s the only thing
keeping me going.
And I won’t give it up.
No.
Lazar says he spotted
another patrol.
They’re getting closer.
(BABY CRYING)
You hear that?
She promises not
to take extra food.
This is against
my orders!
So you are going
to shoot her, too?
Please, Tuvia.
The baby is all
she has to live for.
I cannot allow it.
You must let it live.
I cannot keep
the living alive!
Tamara and the man
who fathered this child
are responsible for it.
They must leave.
She was raped by the Germans.
You tell us to hold
onto our humanity.
Not to become
like animals.
And what better way
than by bringing a life
into this world of
suffering and death.
It is our only hope.
All right.
Thank you, Tuvia.
I know what was expected
of the women here, and yet
you never touched me.
Lilka…
I’m not afraid
of anything, Tuvia.
I’m not even
afraid of you.
You call that a move?
I call it
an inevitable conclusion
based on an unimpeachable
process of reasoning.
The question,
my friend the genius,
is what are you
going to do about it?
I’m thinking about
what I’m going
to do about it.
(LAUGHS)
I got him!
Tuvia,
we found this one
and two of his friends
by the second bridge.
We killed two.
Aron was hurt, but he’s
a brave little soldier.
We found this.
You all right?
Look what we have here!
(GRUNTS)
(ALL CLAMORING)
(PANTING)
We found this in his pouch.
All right?
You read this.
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
Are you looking
for Jews, huh? Look!
We are all Jews!
What you going to do now?
(ALL SHOUTING)
MAN: You’re not
so brave now, no!
WOMAN: You pig! You animal!
SHULMAN: Look at him!
You monster.
You can’t shut up, huh?
(SHOUTING)
You pig!
They’ve assigned
an entire division
to surround the forest.
Don’t they have
a war to fight?
The assault begins
in two days.
Passover. How fitting.
(ALL SHOUTING)
Tuvia, Tuvia.
(PLEADING IN GERMAN)
He says he has a wife
and two small children.
So did I!
If you let him go,
he will lead them back here!
All right, all right.
Ask if he’ll promise
not to reveal our location.
No, no, no.
(BOTH SPEAKING GERMAN)
He will say anything!
(GRUNTS)
No!
Stop it!
No!
Wait!
He’s one of them!
How many of us did he kill?
No, wait, no!
Murderer! We want justice!
ALL: Justice! Justice!
Justice! Justice!
Justice!
(CRYING)
My son’s name was David!
He had blue eyes!
He was only 15!
(ALL YELLING)
My brother’s name was Hanz!
I don’t know
what’s going to
happen to us.
It doesn’t matter.
If I had stayed
in the ghetto,
I would be dead.
You saved my life.
No.
You saved mine.
(SIGHS)
(MEN CHATTERING)
VIKTOR: Zus.
(IN RUSSIAN)
(SIGHS)
(IN ENGLISH)
Zus, what are we doing?
Retreating.
What for?
I don’t know.
Then where will we go?
(PLANE FLYING OVERHEAD)
But the children
of Israel…
(COUGHING)
Children of Israel
were afraid
to leave Egypt,
until Moses said,
“Do not trust in me.
“Trust in God.
He will take care of you.”
And that is why tomorrow
we will celebrate the Passover
by sitting around
and arguing just as
we have done for centuries.
Did it see us?
I don’t know.
Tomorrow is Passover, yes?
So?
Moses, the Exodus.
He left before Pharaoh
could stop them.
You want to
move them all?
The old and the sick,
they’ll never make it.
We’ll leave now.
Spread the word.
Shimon, this is it.
We’re going.
Children, up!
Up! Let’s go!
We are leaving.
Back to your zimlankas.
What, now?
Tell your parents
we are going. Now!
Come.
(ALL CLAMORING)
MAN: Come on,
come on, we’re going.
WOMAN 1: Where is my son?
WOMAN 2: Take this.
I want every child
accounted for.
ASAEL: How will
they keep up?
TUVIA: We’ll carry them
if we have to.
Take only weapons! Hurry!
Come on!
Hurry! Please hurry!
MAN: My glasses!
Where are my glasses?
Wait for me.
Take cover!
Take cover!
(GUNS FIRING)
Take cover!
Move! Now!
Move! Move!
(SCREAMS)
Come on!
Stay with me!
Come on! In there!
Go! Get in! Move!
Go.
(GROANS)
(SOUND MUFFLED)
(MUFFLED)
Are you all right?
Are you all right?
(EXPLOSION)
I’m all right! My ear.
Go. Get them out
of the bunkers! Go!
Stay down!
No, no, no.
No, it’s over. It’s over.
They’re coming. Infantry.
Go, go, go!
We need to hold them off
until the rest are safe.
Machine guns!
Yes! With Levine
and Miriam, there!
Lazar, Rosa and Schmuel
there and there! And me.
No! No!
Yes.
Hurry! Come!
Come, Tateh! Move!
We have to hurry!
Over there! Over there!
Take all these people
with you! Go, go!
(ALL CLAMORING)
I want to stay with you.
No, you must go with them.
I want to stay with you!
It is too dangerous
here to stay.
Rosa, down there!
No! You go with them!
It is not safe here.
(PANTING)
Don’t try and fight
them, Asael.
Just slow them down,
then come and join us.
(GUN COCKS)
Chaya, please?
You go with them now.
It’s not safe here.
Go with them.
No! No.
Go with them!
Chaya. Chaya.
Please, take her.
Chaya! Move! Go!
Go!
Move, Chaya, go.
MAN: Go, Moshe, quickly.
Let me help you, come.
WOMAN: Careful, careful.
(GUNS FIRING)
(GERMAN SOLDIERS SHOUTING)
(GUNS FIRING)
(SCREAMS)
(GERMAN SOLDIERS SHOUTING)
They’re moving to the right!
Yeah.
(GRUNTS)
Go!
Come.
(WHIMPERING)
(FIRING CONTINUES)
(YELLING)
(GROANS)
Go! Go!
(GUN FIRING)
Oh, my God.
(PLANES FLYING OVERHEAD)
SHULMAN:
We have to keep going!
BELLA: The Germans
will be here any minute!
Are the others back yet?
Asael?
ISAAC: Tuvia,
do we stay or go?
WOMAN: We have to
wait for the others.
We can’t leave them.
We could hide.
I say fight them here.
That’s crazy!
Tuvia?
My father cannot make it.
There are snakes!
FROHMAN: The children.
SHULMAN: We will put
them on our shoulders.
BELLA: Tuvia,
what do we do?
MAN: We can’t go
without the others.
SHULMAN:
The others are dead.
(BABY CRYING)
Tuvia? Tuvia!
BELLA: What are we
going to do?
What’s wrong with him?
Come.
No.
Do you have a weapon?
Yes.
Give it to me.
Give it to me!
You will use this on yourself
before you let them take you.
ASAEL: Why are we stopping?
MAN 2: Asael!
MAN 3: They’re alive!
ASAEL: Someone take him!
Take him!
They’re coming!
They’re coming!
Why aren’t we moving?
We must keep going!
Through there?
It is impossible!
Nothing is impossible!
What we all have done
is impossible!
Tuvia!
The troops are coming.
God will not part
these waters.
We will do it ourselves.
But how?
Not by miracles.
We will do it together.
By our strength.
You, take the rope
from your pack,
give it to me.
And you,
give me your belt!
Quickly!
There’s not enough
rope, Asael.
Then we will link arms.
We’ll make a chain.
MOTL:
What if someone slips?
ASAEL: The strong will
take care of the weak.
Give me your belts.
MAN: Tuvia?
Give him your belt.
Give him my belt?
Give him your belt.
Here. Take these.
Use this, too.
WOMAN: I have a belt.
Here.
(PANTING)
ISAAC: Shh. Quiet.
(GASPS)
(GRUNTS)
(COUGHING)
(SHIVERING)
(PLANES FLYING OVERHEAD)
(BABY CRYING)
How much farther?
(PANTING)
(COUGHING)
RIVA: Tuvia.
Keep moving. Keep moving.
(SHIMON COUGHING)
You can’t sleep here.
It’s not time for
sleeping now. Come on.
Come on.
My books.
(WHEEZES)
SHULMAN: Asael, look!
We’ve made it!
CHAYA: We’ve made it.
(SIGHS)
(PEOPLE LAUGHING)
(BABY CRYING)
(COUGHS)
Tuvia.
(COUGHING)
Tuvia,
something to say.
No. You rest now.
Don’t talk. Don’t talk.
No!
Wait.
I almost lost my faith.
But you were sent
by God to save us.
Ridiculous.
I know.
But just in case,
I thank Him, and I thank you.
(TANK APPROACHING)
Tank! Take cover!
(ALL CLAMORING)
Everybody down!
Down! Get down!
Get down.
Move! Move!
TUVIA: Take cover!
Take cover!
ASAEL: Let’s get out.
Get down!
Tuvia, what do we do?
Do we try and go back
across the river?
No! We stay and fight!
(GUNS FIRING)
Get the ammunition
to the guns! To the guns!
(MAN YELLING)
(SCREAMING)
Isaac! Take those!
(WOMAN SHOUTING)
(SOLDIERS SPEAKING GERMAN)
(SOLDIERS SCREAMING)
TUVIA: Isaac!
Ammunition,
ammunition. Yes.
(SOLDIERS SPEAKING GERMAN)
(GROANS)
(SOLDIERS SHOUTING IN GERMAN)
(SOLDIERS SHOUTING IN GERMAN)
(GRUNTING)
No! No!
(YELLING)
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
(GROANS)
(SCREAMS)
(SCREAMS)
(GERMAN SOLDIERS SHOUTING)
(PANTING)
ASAEL: Come on, get up.
Come. Come.
Strip the bodies of weapons
and ammunition only.
Take this.
Anything else?
No.
Lilka, we’ve got
to get the injured
into the forest.
What about the dead?
We have to keep moving.
Everybody gather
your belongings!
We must get out of the open!
Shulman!
Yes, Tuvia?
Everybody, tell them.
Weapons only.
Of course.
Weapons only!
Shulman,
you’ve been promoted.
Congratulations.
SHULMAN: Weapons only.
Weapons only, everyone!
Come on, let’s move.
Let’s move, please.
Hey! Let’s move!
Where is the rest
of your unit?
(CHUCKLES)
Good question.
Are you going back?
No.
Well, we have
a new camp to build.
Perhaps you have
room for one more?
Let’s go. Come on.
(CHUCKLES)
You see that?
What?
The forest.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
Yes, it is.
