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NARRATOR: The Nile was always there.
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00:06:52,837 --> 00:06:56,757
Long before Cairo.
Long before the tombs of kings.
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It was the reason for everything.
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00:07:00,678 --> 00:07:05,179
It's a little hard to
grasp how far this river's been flowing.
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00:07:05,309 --> 00:07:08,439
This is the rain that fell on Abyssinia.
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These are the waters,
drained from Central African lakes,
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that have flowed 4,000
miles to make Egypt green.
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The Nile has its memories.
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The story of Khartoum
is a recent one, less than a century old.
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That's yesterday in this part of the world.
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00:07:30,962 --> 00:07:33,302
But however far back you may go,
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all the Nile's recollections
have several things in common.
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There's always God, for instance.
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Or, if you prefer, the gods.
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It seems to have been quite impossible
to live beside this river
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and not to have visions of eternity.
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And there's always mystery.
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You never quite know.
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You wind up with
a few questions that no one can answer.
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One more thing.
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Why is it that everything was always so
big, outsize, larger than life?
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Vanity? Perhaps.
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Or visions.
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Vanity was always mixed up with vision.
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And that's part of this story, too.
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But it's the Nile that remains
the original fact.
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The Nile and of course the desert.
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Move up, up the Nile,
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leave Egypt behind, and the green land.
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Enter the Sudan,
a million square miles of desert and scrub.
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00:08:47,964 --> 00:08:53,224
It was here,
out of the vast, hot, African nowhere,
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that a man of the Nile,
a man of vision and mystery and vanity,
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rose up in the 1880s
to challenge first Egypt and then the world.
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He called himself the Mahdi,
the Expected One,
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and he gathered about
him his desert tribesmen,
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and he cried out for holy war.
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Egypt hired an army of 10,000 men
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and a professional English
soldier to command them,
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and sent them 1,600 miles
up the Nile to Khartoum
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and on into the desert to
destroy this man, the Mahdi.
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Our history might have taken
a quite different turning
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had Colonel William Hicks
not forgotten, if he ever knew,
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the Sudan's great fact, its immensity.
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The Mahdi led him on and on and on.
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(CLAMORING)
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(WHIP CRACKING)
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Keep those men back!
Come on, keep them back!
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Stay back!
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(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
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(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
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00:11:51,626 --> 00:11:53,626
(NEIGHING)
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Bugler!
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(BUGLE CALL)
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(SHOUTING)
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(GUNS FIRING)
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Deploy! Deploy!
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(GUNS FIRING)
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00:13:23,101 --> 00:13:24,691
(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)
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(SCREAMS)
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(SCREAMING)
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Get those rifles to the high ground!
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(GRUNTS)
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(ALL CHANTING) Mahdi! Mahdi! Mahdi!
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(ALL CHEERING)
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(CHEERING)
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00:15:29,700 --> 00:15:30,910
(CHEERING STOPS)
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Oh, beloveds.
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Oh, men of the desert.
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My lord Mohammed, blessings and peace be
upon him, commands me to speak,
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for I am the Mahdi,
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the Expected One,
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and I am sprung from the forehead
of the family of my lord Mohammed,
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blessings be upon him.
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Oh, my beloveds.
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Did I not promise
thee a miracle would fall from heaven
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from the prophet Mohammed?
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And was not this so?
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(CHEERING)
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Ye fight a holy war
against the fat, the corrupt,
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the sinful, and the unbelieving.
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00:16:12,538 --> 00:16:17,129
Ye fight a war to
restore to a disobedient, forgetful world
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the laws and commands
of the prophet Mohammed,
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blessings and peace be upon him
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whose instrument on Earth I am.
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Exalt ye not that men are dead,
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since more must die tomorrow.
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Oh, my beloveds.
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In a vision the prophet Mohammed
has instructed me.
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Let mountain and desert tremble.
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Let cities shudder.
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And let the fat and the rich
and the corrupt in far places
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mark this moment and
turn in fear of all those miracles to come.
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00:16:58,881 --> 00:17:03,762
And let none in all Islam,
from this victorious hour,
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believe I am other than the Expected One.
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The true Mahdi.
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Beloveds, it is the hour of prayer.
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(ALL PRAYING IN ARABIC)
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Explain to me. Explain to me, somebody.
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00:17:32,168 --> 00:17:35,048
Where in heaven's name is Wolseley?
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00:17:35,130 --> 00:17:39,261
Explain to me how a rabble of tribesmen,
armed only with spears and swords,
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can destroy a modern army.
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00:17:41,679 --> 00:17:43,139
Not a British army, Prime Minister.
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- To the last man.
-An Egyptian army.
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00:17:45,141 --> 00:17:49,062
I don't care whose army.
10,000 men. 10,000!
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A British officer commanding.
Why did Egypt have to hire an Englishman?
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00:17:54,192 --> 00:17:56,032
Colonel Hicks was a fool.
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00:17:56,111 --> 00:17:57,532
Clearly. A fool.
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00:17:57,614 --> 00:18:00,444
That's not the question.
Why did he have to be English?
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00:18:00,533 --> 00:18:04,203
"Avenge Hicks." "Uphold Britain's honor."
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00:18:05,872 --> 00:18:08,753
Wolseley, I have the press at my throat.
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00:18:08,834 --> 00:18:12,714
I am summoned to Scotland to explain
to Her Majesty. Will you explain to me...
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Mr. Gladstone, Colonel Stewart,
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recently attached to Military Intelligence.
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00:18:17,761 --> 00:18:20,891
The Colonel's just back from Khartoum.
He will be able to explain better than I.
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00:18:20,972 --> 00:18:23,932
Colonel Stewart, sit down.
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00:18:25,186 --> 00:18:27,486
Are these bulletins from Khartoum true?
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00:18:28,564 --> 00:18:30,614
It's over a month's travel
from the Sudan, sir,
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so, obviously, I left before these events took
place, but I assume they're true.
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00:18:34,236 --> 00:18:35,327
Why?
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00:18:35,405 --> 00:18:37,995
I was sent to Khartoum to assess
the Egyptian capacity
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00:18:38,075 --> 00:18:39,665
to deal with the uprising.
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00:18:39,743 --> 00:18:41,203
I assessed it as nil.
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00:18:41,286 --> 00:18:44,587
Military Intelligence.
There's intelligence for you.
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00:18:44,707 --> 00:18:47,297
After the event, they knew all about it.
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00:18:47,377 --> 00:18:50,637
My reports were delivered to Sir Evelyn
Baring in Cairo before the event.
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00:18:50,713 --> 00:18:53,844
I was aware of the reports.
I just didn't believe them.
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00:18:53,926 --> 00:18:55,516
- I'm Granville.
-My Lord.
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00:18:55,594 --> 00:18:58,844
The reports still don't explain to me,
however, how a modern army
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00:18:58,931 --> 00:19:01,891
could be slaughtered,
virtually to the last man.
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00:19:02,309 --> 00:19:04,900
Colonel Hicks and his men
were fighting for wages.
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00:19:04,979 --> 00:19:07,279
The Mahdi and his men
were fighting a holy war.
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00:19:07,357 --> 00:19:09,697
Also Hicks made a very bad mistake.
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00:19:09,776 --> 00:19:11,777
He thought he was
fighting an ignorant savage, and he wasn't.
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00:19:11,862 --> 00:19:15,032
The Mahdi is the most
extraordinary man the Sudan has ever seen.
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00:19:15,116 --> 00:19:19,536
And he knows his people. He promised them
a miracle, he had to deliver it.
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00:19:19,620 --> 00:19:23,341
Even so, Colonel Stewart,
the extent of the disaster...
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00:19:23,417 --> 00:19:28,837
The disaster, sir, has little to do with
the loss of 10,000 men. It's their arms.
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00:19:28,922 --> 00:19:31,513
Egypt was unequal to
a horde of desert tribesmen
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00:19:31,592 --> 00:19:33,602
when they'd scarcely
a pistol to call their own.
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00:19:33,678 --> 00:19:37,768
What'll she do now? Now that they've
captured 10,000 Remington rifles,
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00:19:37,849 --> 00:19:41,940
five batteries of artillery, and very nearly
five million rounds of ammunition.
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00:19:43,522 --> 00:19:45,772
What will become of Egypt
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00:19:45,858 --> 00:19:49,028
if the Mahdi occupies Khartoum
and the Khartoum arsenal?
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00:19:49,111 --> 00:19:51,612
What a jolly day you'll have
with Her Majesty.
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00:19:51,698 --> 00:19:55,618
Gentlemen, let me make one thing clear.
I'm sending no armies up the Nile.
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00:19:56,870 --> 00:20:00,411
You, Hartington,
your imperialist friends want any excuse
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00:20:00,499 --> 00:20:02,039
to move into Central Africa.
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00:20:02,126 --> 00:20:05,926
We are discussing Egypt.
We have a moral responsibility to Egypt.
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A moral responsibility.
We have the Suez Canal. Say it.
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00:20:10,677 --> 00:20:13,397
Egypt protects Suez. We protect Egypt.
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00:20:13,472 --> 00:20:16,852
Why, in heaven's name,
can't Egypt protect herself?
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00:20:16,933 --> 00:20:19,934
We've just heard from Colonel Stewart.
She's not up to it.
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00:20:20,021 --> 00:20:23,311
Colonel Stewart. I've no doubt
he's like the rest of you.
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00:20:23,399 --> 00:20:26,860
He can see himself leading
a British army 1,600 miles up the Nile,
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flags flying, glory for all.
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00:20:29,531 --> 00:20:33,781
I beg your pardon. Before I'd accept such
a command, I'd resign my commission.
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00:20:33,869 --> 00:20:37,090
I wouldn't spend one British
life to oppose the Mahdi.
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I assumed you were for intervention.
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00:20:40,210 --> 00:20:41,760
You didn't ask my opinion, sir.
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00:20:41,836 --> 00:20:44,126
Well, I want it, by heaven,
if it agrees with mine.
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00:20:44,214 --> 00:20:45,214
(ALL CHUCKLING)
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00:20:45,298 --> 00:20:48,059
I shall suggest to Her Majesty
in Scotland tomorrow
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that we shall discharge
our obligations to Egypt
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by evacuating all the
Egyptians from Khartoum.
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00:20:54,350 --> 00:20:57,901
How, without either a
British army or loss of British honor?
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00:20:57,979 --> 00:21:02,069
I shall entertain suggestions as to just how.
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00:21:05,404 --> 00:21:06,564
Gordon.
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Chinese Gordon.
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00:21:17,918 --> 00:21:19,038
What's he doing now?
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00:21:19,127 --> 00:21:20,997
He's made a contract with
the king of the Belgians
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to take over the Congo, for Mr. Stanley.
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00:21:22,924 --> 00:21:25,014
We can arrange that with Brussels.
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Send Gordon to Khartoum.
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The man who led the Chinese emperor's
armies to victory carrying only a cane.
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Send him to Khartoum.
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Without an army?
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00:21:33,936 --> 00:21:35,196
He doesn't need one.
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Without a single British soldier
he ended slavery in the Sudan.
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00:21:38,732 --> 00:21:41,823
He's a hero to the Sudanese,
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00:21:41,903 --> 00:21:45,783
to the English, to the anti-slavery people,
to the churchmen.
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Send him to Khartoum, and you'll be
applauded from Land's End to lnverness.
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And Her Majesty.
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00:21:54,584 --> 00:21:56,794
Granville, the man's a mystic.
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00:21:56,878 --> 00:22:01,719
He's an idealist with ideals strictly his own.
Give him an instruction?
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00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,670
He treats a military
order as if it were a birthday greeting.
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00:22:05,137 --> 00:22:09,347
Besides, I trust no man
who consults God before he consults me.
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00:22:09,433 --> 00:22:10,474
(CHUCKLING)
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May I speak, sir? In my opinion,
General Gordon would refuse.
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After all, when he went to the Sudan
as Governor General
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and put down the slave trade
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00:22:19,445 --> 00:22:22,575
with nothing but his audacity
and a few loyal lieutenants,
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00:22:22,656 --> 00:22:25,696
sir, he didn't face the Mahdi,
he didn't face a holy war,
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00:22:25,784 --> 00:22:28,665
and he didn't face 10,000 Remington rifles.
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If you send him to
Khartoum on his own now, he'll simply fail.
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00:22:35,295 --> 00:22:36,835
What a pity.
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00:22:38,674 --> 00:22:42,634
Sir, if General Gordon accepted
your proposal in the conditions of today,
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my respect for him would end.
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00:22:45,139 --> 00:22:46,429
He'd be the vainest man alive.
199
00:22:46,515 --> 00:22:48,556
Thank you, Colonel Stewart.
200
00:22:48,644 --> 00:22:50,854
Now would you leave us
to our deliberations?
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00:22:50,938 --> 00:22:54,478
And my congratulations
on the excellence of your report.
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00:22:58,863 --> 00:22:59,993
Good day, sir.
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00:23:02,951 --> 00:23:04,531
I like that man.
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00:23:04,619 --> 00:23:07,080
Did I understand you correctly?
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00:23:07,164 --> 00:23:10,624
If we send Gordon to Khartoum,
Gordon, a national hero,
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00:23:10,709 --> 00:23:15,249
and he fails, then the blame will fall
on him, not on the government?
207
00:23:15,340 --> 00:23:17,340
It could happen that way.
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00:23:18,218 --> 00:23:21,508
It's the most abominable proposal
I have ever entertained.
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00:23:23,014 --> 00:23:26,015
Granville, the colonel had a point.
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00:23:26,102 --> 00:23:28,562
Just why would Gordon do it?
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00:23:28,646 --> 00:23:31,236
Because he's a patriot
and a man of conscience.
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00:23:32,483 --> 00:23:34,824
Or perhaps the vainest man alive.
213
00:23:36,321 --> 00:23:41,031
I dislike everything about this.
Worse, I distrust it.
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00:23:41,994 --> 00:23:44,665
I know nothing about this conversation.
215
00:23:44,747 --> 00:23:47,707
But let me know in
Balmoral what Gordon says.
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00:23:48,584 --> 00:23:51,754
Her Majesty would be so pleased.
217
00:24:10,233 --> 00:24:14,314
I apologize for the secrecy, Gordon.
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00:24:14,405 --> 00:24:16,525
Politics.
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00:24:16,615 --> 00:24:20,535
Let's not waste time with formalities.
Sit down, please.
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00:24:20,619 --> 00:24:26,210
I can't keep the train waiting long, or there'd
be curiosity. We need a few words.
221
00:24:27,586 --> 00:24:31,837
Granville will see you
tomorrow with a proposal
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00:24:31,924 --> 00:24:36,094
so disreputable that
I can have nothing to do with it publicly.
223
00:24:36,179 --> 00:24:38,639
Privately, I ask you to accept it.
224
00:24:38,723 --> 00:24:39,724
Why?
225
00:24:39,808 --> 00:24:43,058
Because it will provide
me with political comfort.
226
00:24:43,145 --> 00:24:47,485
I can conceive of no commodity, sir,
that could interest me less.
227
00:24:47,566 --> 00:24:50,907
I'm not a free agent.
I leave for the Belgian Congo within weeks.
228
00:24:50,987 --> 00:24:52,617
Granville could arrange that.
229
00:24:53,823 --> 00:24:56,663
Gordon, the Sudan was your child.
230
00:24:56,743 --> 00:24:59,664
I don't need to inform you
it's in the gravest danger.
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00:24:59,747 --> 00:25:01,337
You don't need to inform me.
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00:25:01,415 --> 00:25:04,795
Gordon, I cannot and will not
send military forces up the Nile.
233
00:25:04,877 --> 00:25:09,258
But I admit Khartoum cannot
be left to its fate without some gesture.
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00:25:09,341 --> 00:25:10,551
Am I the gesture?
235
00:25:10,634 --> 00:25:12,304
The country knows your capacities.
236
00:25:12,385 --> 00:25:16,475
You've done before
alone what an army of blunderers can't do.
237
00:25:17,015 --> 00:25:18,146
What's the proposal?
238
00:25:18,226 --> 00:25:21,776
That you go to the Sudan,
supervise the evacuation of Khartoum,
239
00:25:21,854 --> 00:25:24,604
and do what you can to leave
peace and order behind.
240
00:25:24,690 --> 00:25:26,781
With what powers?
241
00:25:26,860 --> 00:25:30,870
None. Oh, Egypt will give you
some ribbon or other.
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00:25:30,948 --> 00:25:32,868
(CHUCKLING) Politicians!
243
00:25:34,034 --> 00:25:36,535
And when the Mahdi floats me
down the Nile,
244
00:25:36,621 --> 00:25:39,081
the government
will assume a pained expression
245
00:25:39,165 --> 00:25:42,545
and say to Her Majesty and the churchmen
and the anti-slavery people,
246
00:25:42,627 --> 00:25:45,628
"Well, we sent Gordon.
We did the best we could."
247
00:25:45,714 --> 00:25:47,424
Precisely.
248
00:25:48,342 --> 00:25:51,892
That will be the end of Gordon,
but not of Gladstone.
249
00:25:52,221 --> 00:25:53,471
In a nutshell.
250
00:25:56,309 --> 00:25:59,149
Well, I must say,
Mr. Gladstone, you're hardly a bore.
251
00:25:59,229 --> 00:26:03,529
You don't bore me, either, Gordon.
You are illogical and insubordinate.
252
00:26:03,608 --> 00:26:07,399
I know if I send you to Khartoum,
you'll play tricks, exceed your orders,
253
00:26:07,488 --> 00:26:11,778
and in the name of some mystical
necessity, apparent only to yourself,
254
00:26:11,868 --> 00:26:16,329
you'll do your ingenious best to
involve this government up to the hatband.
255
00:26:16,415 --> 00:26:20,175
But you're in a very poor patch,
and you have no one to turn to but me.
256
00:26:20,252 --> 00:26:24,423
Again, in a nutshell. I'll take a chance
on your tricks. That's all I can say.
257
00:26:24,507 --> 00:26:29,187
Or, I'll see Sir Evelyn Baring
in Cairo brings pressure on the khedive
258
00:26:29,262 --> 00:26:32,353
to appoint you
Governor General of the Sudan.
259
00:26:32,433 --> 00:26:34,723
But I cannot and will not back you up.
260
00:26:34,810 --> 00:26:38,520
This must be understood.
No British troops will come up the Nile.
261
00:26:38,606 --> 00:26:42,067
I will not assume
a British obligation to police the world.
262
00:26:42,152 --> 00:26:45,572
If you can help the Sudan,
your country will be grateful.
263
00:26:45,655 --> 00:26:48,535
- If you can't...
-My country will understand.
264
00:26:56,626 --> 00:26:58,046
I'll go.
265
00:27:01,215 --> 00:27:02,425
You'll come back safe.
266
00:27:03,759 --> 00:27:08,979
Gordon, first, last, and above all,
you'll come back safe.
267
00:27:09,807 --> 00:27:10,887
Do you hear me?
268
00:27:10,975 --> 00:27:12,475
I hear you.
269
00:27:16,231 --> 00:27:19,402
You'll need an aide. I've a good man in mind.
270
00:27:19,485 --> 00:27:21,395
Isn't such a choice my prerogative?
271
00:27:21,487 --> 00:27:24,697
- Not in this case. Oh, he'll be useful to you.
-And to you.
272
00:27:24,782 --> 00:27:26,242
Naturally.
273
00:27:26,742 --> 00:27:28,253
Well, Gordon...
274
00:27:29,204 --> 00:27:30,254
(CONDUCTOR WHISTLING)
275
00:27:30,330 --> 00:27:33,580
God go with you. And I don't envy God.
276
00:28:05,410 --> 00:28:07,701
- Put my luggage on board, please.
-Very good, sir.
277
00:28:21,136 --> 00:28:22,136
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
278
00:28:22,220 --> 00:28:23,220
Yes?
279
00:28:27,018 --> 00:28:30,068
Your second in command, sir.
Colonel J.D.H. Stewart.
280
00:28:34,776 --> 00:28:37,616
So!
281
00:28:37,696 --> 00:28:42,496
This is for you, General. You'll find
my report in here. It'll bring you up to date.
282
00:28:42,576 --> 00:28:46,167
Am I to understand that Gladstone
has cursed me not only with a spy,
283
00:28:46,247 --> 00:28:48,667
but a subordinate
who thinks he knows more than I do?
284
00:28:48,750 --> 00:28:51,670
I was brought here in chains, sir.
I don't know what to think.
285
00:28:51,753 --> 00:28:53,334
Brandy and soda, sir.
286
00:28:53,422 --> 00:28:55,472
B and S? You sound
as though you need one.
287
00:28:55,549 --> 00:28:57,009
Thank you, sir.
288
00:28:57,092 --> 00:29:01,012
Sit down.
You are Gladstone's spy, aren't you?
289
00:29:01,096 --> 00:29:02,467
Yes, sir.
290
00:29:02,557 --> 00:29:05,887
Would it be indiscreet
of me to inquire as to your instructions?
291
00:29:05,977 --> 00:29:10,857
Not at all, sir. I am to report to
Mr. Gladstone any actions you may take
292
00:29:10,940 --> 00:29:14,861
which, in my opinion,
conflict with your instructions.
293
00:29:14,945 --> 00:29:18,325
I am to inform you,
and the government if necessary,
294
00:29:18,407 --> 00:29:23,408
of any situation which, in my opinion,
places you in physical danger.
295
00:29:23,497 --> 00:29:27,417
And if anybody in the
course of this mission must risk his life,
296
00:29:27,501 --> 00:29:29,581
then I'm to do it, not you.
297
00:29:30,797 --> 00:29:34,137
Apart from that, sir, I'm yours to command.
298
00:29:34,217 --> 00:29:37,597
Tell me what, in your opinion,
Colonel Stewart,
299
00:29:37,678 --> 00:29:39,339
are the chances of my sacking you?
300
00:29:39,807 --> 00:29:43,067
If they existed, sir,
I'd be the first to point them out to you.
301
00:29:43,143 --> 00:29:44,313
(BELL RINGING)
302
00:29:44,478 --> 00:29:45,648
Here's your brandy.
303
00:29:45,729 --> 00:29:47,729
(STEAMER HORN BLOWING)
304
00:29:50,485 --> 00:29:53,575
Ah! We seem to have sailed.
Farewell, England.
305
00:29:54,823 --> 00:29:57,993
So you and I are definitely
stuck with each other.
306
00:29:58,077 --> 00:29:59,247
Yes, sir.
307
00:29:59,328 --> 00:30:01,748
Oh, for heaven's sake, man, sit down.
308
00:30:05,459 --> 00:30:09,220
May I ask a question?
If it's impertinent, I withdraw it.
309
00:30:10,298 --> 00:30:12,178
Why did you let them
talk you into this mission?
310
00:30:18,307 --> 00:30:22,437
As is well known,
I regard myself as a religious man,
311
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:24,570
and I belong to no church.
312
00:30:24,647 --> 00:30:27,148
I'm an able soldier, but I abhor armies.
313
00:30:28,193 --> 00:30:32,743
I've also been introduced to hundreds
of women, yet I've never married.
314
00:30:32,823 --> 00:30:35,413
In other words,
no one has ever talked me into anything.
315
00:30:35,493 --> 00:30:36,873
Does that answer your question?
316
00:30:37,495 --> 00:30:38,535
No, sir.
317
00:30:40,331 --> 00:30:43,541
Then let me suggest that
my life is not an open book
318
00:30:43,626 --> 00:30:47,007
to you, to any man, least of all to myself.
319
00:30:52,553 --> 00:30:56,224
With your permission,
General, I think I need a turn on deck.
320
00:30:56,308 --> 00:30:57,388
Mmm.
321
00:31:00,061 --> 00:31:05,652
Stewart, send a telegram as soon as
we reach Calais. "Sir Evelyn Baring, Cairo.
322
00:31:05,735 --> 00:31:09,905
"Locate immediately
whereabouts Zobeir Pasha. Signed Gordon."
323
00:31:10,948 --> 00:31:15,119
That's spelt Z-O-B-E-I-R.
324
00:31:17,372 --> 00:31:18,792
Yes, sir.
325
00:31:31,889 --> 00:31:34,189
(EXOTIC MUSIC PLAYING)
326
00:31:57,583 --> 00:31:59,743
I expected outrageous
notions from you, Gordon,
327
00:31:59,836 --> 00:32:02,126
I expected the worst from Zobeir Pasha!
328
00:32:02,214 --> 00:32:04,124
Even the khedive was appalled.
329
00:32:04,216 --> 00:32:07,176
I see nothing outrageous, Sir Evelyn.
Zobeir's a Sudanese.
330
00:32:07,261 --> 00:32:12,392
He was the most important man there.
He's able, wise, has a powerful influence.
331
00:32:12,475 --> 00:32:15,435
To take Zobeir with you to Khartoum,
to give him control of the Sudan!
332
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:17,230
Gordon, the man is a slave-trader.
333
00:32:17,313 --> 00:32:18,944
Was a slave-trader.
334
00:32:19,024 --> 00:32:24,074
My instructions are to evacuate Khartoum
and leave some order behind. How?
335
00:32:24,154 --> 00:32:28,165
Most of the chiefs loyal to
the Mahdi today used to be loyal to Zobeir.
336
00:32:28,243 --> 00:32:33,333
I think they'd come back to him.
I cannot go to Khartoum without a plan.
337
00:32:37,795 --> 00:32:39,545
I insist on seeing Zobeir.
338
00:32:39,630 --> 00:32:41,050
Why would he see you?
339
00:32:41,132 --> 00:32:44,422
You not only put him
out of the slave trade, you killed his son.
340
00:32:44,510 --> 00:32:47,391
I must take the chance.
One must always take chances.
341
00:32:50,934 --> 00:32:53,814
Why is Tewfik making us wait?
342
00:32:53,895 --> 00:32:57,606
Well, Sir Evelyn, when you're giving orders
to sovereign princes,
343
00:32:57,692 --> 00:33:01,862
you have to expect a little humiliation.
It makes them feel better.
344
00:33:31,145 --> 00:33:34,856
Humbly, Highness, I accept this firman
as Governor General of the Sudan,
345
00:33:34,941 --> 00:33:37,111
and I swear to you my devoted service.
346
00:33:37,444 --> 00:33:41,484
Do you understand, Gordon pasha,
that your wages will only be £6000 a year?
347
00:33:41,573 --> 00:33:43,494
It is all I can afford.
348
00:33:43,576 --> 00:33:46,406
I'll take 2,000. It's all I need.
349
00:33:50,041 --> 00:33:51,331
What about a B and S?
350
00:34:30,962 --> 00:34:32,382
Sir.
351
00:34:37,969 --> 00:34:40,480
God be with us.
352
00:34:44,601 --> 00:34:46,931
Zobeir Pasha, you are well?
353
00:34:50,316 --> 00:34:53,816
General Gordon goes to Khartoum
as governor general for the khedive.
354
00:34:53,903 --> 00:34:56,903
He pays you his compliments
and he would speak with you.
355
00:34:56,990 --> 00:34:58,831
This is my aide, Colonel Stewart.
356
00:35:01,954 --> 00:35:03,874
We come from London, Zobeir.
357
00:35:03,956 --> 00:35:08,047
My government is determined to lend Egypt
no support in the face of the uprising
358
00:35:08,128 --> 00:35:12,218
and to prevail on the khedive
to relinquish control over the Sudan.
359
00:35:12,507 --> 00:35:14,587
Sir Evelyn will confirm what I say.
360
00:35:14,676 --> 00:35:15,966
This is unwise.
361
00:35:16,052 --> 00:35:19,143
There will be ruin
and death and tears and little else.
362
00:35:19,223 --> 00:35:20,933
It is my government's policy.
363
00:35:21,017 --> 00:35:25,267
I have no authority beyond evacuating
all Egyptians from Khartoum.
364
00:35:25,354 --> 00:35:27,275
I could wish otherwise,
365
00:35:27,357 --> 00:35:32,237
but you have the power and the influence
and the ability to oppose the Mahdi.
366
00:35:33,322 --> 00:35:38,373
Will you come with me to Khartoum
and accept the Sudan from my hands?
367
00:35:38,745 --> 00:35:43,465
Do I receive this offer
from the British government, Sir Evelyn?
368
00:35:43,708 --> 00:35:47,079
No, my government renounces
all influence over Sudanese affairs.
369
00:35:47,171 --> 00:35:49,461
This is a matter
between you and General Gordon.
370
00:35:49,548 --> 00:35:52,878
If I give you my word
that there will be no slavery,
371
00:35:52,968 --> 00:35:55,639
I regard the institution as ended,
372
00:35:55,722 --> 00:35:58,472
does my attitude influence
your government?
373
00:35:59,893 --> 00:36:03,484
I understand. My reputation.
374
00:36:03,564 --> 00:36:06,854
But what would your Christian world say
375
00:36:06,943 --> 00:36:11,033
if the slaver Zobeir
received ten million Sudanese
376
00:36:11,113 --> 00:36:14,074
from the hands of the great Gordon pasha?
377
00:36:14,159 --> 00:36:17,079
My government would oppose you publicly.
378
00:36:18,497 --> 00:36:20,747
I would defend you publicly.
379
00:36:26,506 --> 00:36:28,846
The general will defend me.
380
00:36:31,887 --> 00:36:36,937
The great Christian hero
will defend Zobeir, the slaver.
381
00:36:39,812 --> 00:36:43,573
Before I receive
my country from your bloody hands,
382
00:36:43,650 --> 00:36:45,820
I shall see it die.
383
00:36:47,529 --> 00:36:49,869
You killed my son.
384
00:36:52,743 --> 00:36:54,753
I executed him.
385
00:36:54,829 --> 00:36:57,669
Do you have sons, Gordon pasha?
386
00:36:58,291 --> 00:37:00,172
Do you have sons?
387
00:37:00,252 --> 00:37:01,962
No!
388
00:37:02,045 --> 00:37:04,345
You killed mine!
389
00:37:04,548 --> 00:37:06,548
God forgive me, Zobeir.
390
00:37:07,634 --> 00:37:10,225
But let the dead bury their dead.
391
00:37:10,305 --> 00:37:14,105
You killed my flesh! My blood!
392
00:37:14,601 --> 00:37:16,601
My Suleiman.
393
00:37:19,982 --> 00:37:26,032
Get thee from my house,
and may ye die in the desert untended.
394
00:37:26,113 --> 00:37:31,034
May vultures consume thy flesh,
sands thy blood.
395
00:37:46,845 --> 00:37:48,305
Go back.
396
00:37:48,388 --> 00:37:52,188
Go back to London.
There's too much danger, too little hope.
397
00:37:52,267 --> 00:37:55,858
I'll report my views to Gladstone.
I'll stand by you.
398
00:37:57,315 --> 00:37:58,775
Thank you.
399
00:37:59,692 --> 00:38:03,062
You said you had to have a plan.
What can you do now?
400
00:38:04,322 --> 00:38:07,033
Get up the Nile to Khartoum.
401
00:38:33,397 --> 00:38:38,277
Stewart, just how far into the Sudan
would you say we are?
402
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:40,650
We'll reach Berber in an hour or so.
403
00:38:41,780 --> 00:38:47,371
In your report, you said that the Mahdi's
people wore jibbas covered with patches.
404
00:38:47,620 --> 00:38:50,000
That's correct, sir.
405
00:38:50,081 --> 00:38:53,252
And his main force is
still beyond Khartoum?
406
00:38:53,335 --> 00:38:55,005
Yes, sir.
407
00:38:55,087 --> 00:38:58,097
Look there. We haven't
even reached Berber.
408
00:39:20,949 --> 00:39:24,369
Gordon pasha! Gordon pasha!
409
00:39:25,328 --> 00:39:26,748
Ali Ibrahim!
410
00:39:26,830 --> 00:39:28,170
Gordon pasha!
411
00:39:28,248 --> 00:39:31,009
- Gordon pasha!
- No, Ali. No.
412
00:39:31,085 --> 00:39:35,505
Sheikh Ali Ibrahim of the Monassir.
My friend before God.
413
00:39:35,590 --> 00:39:37,970
- Ali, please.
-I weep for joy.
414
00:39:38,051 --> 00:39:41,142
- We are saved. We are delivered.
-Delivered?
415
00:39:41,221 --> 00:39:46,901
Berber is surrounded. I am cutoff
from my people, except by the river.
416
00:39:46,977 --> 00:39:50,108
To the east, to the south, to the north.
417
00:39:50,190 --> 00:39:53,400
Mohammed el-Kheir,
the villain, he has gone over to the Mahdi,
418
00:39:53,485 --> 00:39:56,065
taking all the tribes along this shore.
419
00:39:56,154 --> 00:39:59,405
We saw a band downriver.
Did they get their guns from the Mahdi?
420
00:39:59,658 --> 00:40:04,868
Since the terrible disaster of Hicks pasha,
it seems all have guns.
421
00:40:04,955 --> 00:40:09,166
Ah, but you return,
and we are saved, we are delivered.
422
00:40:09,252 --> 00:40:11,252
How? I bring no army.
423
00:40:11,338 --> 00:40:15,968
You will find a way, Gordon pasha.
You have always found a way.
424
00:40:16,051 --> 00:40:21,182
Oh, my friends, we must drink coffee
and speak of the old days.
425
00:40:37,242 --> 00:40:41,532
Sir, I've prepared a telegram for London.
I request that you read it.
426
00:40:41,871 --> 00:40:45,542
I have an official responsibility
to advise you to turn back to Cairo.
427
00:40:45,626 --> 00:40:47,296
The situation has changed.
428
00:40:47,378 --> 00:40:49,048
Situations always change.
429
00:40:49,922 --> 00:40:54,093
Sir, Berber is surrounded. The uprising
spread this far while we've traveled.
430
00:40:54,177 --> 00:40:55,977
You could be caught in a trap.
431
00:40:56,054 --> 00:40:58,554
Give me a camel. I can get out of anything.
432
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:01,900
You're a responsible spy.
Send your telegram.
433
00:41:02,269 --> 00:41:06,280
You're bringing these people nothing
but false hopes and false expectations.
434
00:41:06,357 --> 00:41:10,197
There are still 13,000 Egyptians
to be got out of Khartoum.
435
00:41:10,278 --> 00:41:11,818
If the government had known that by now
436
00:41:11,904 --> 00:41:14,535
there'd be armed
Mahdist tribes on both sides of the Nile
437
00:41:14,616 --> 00:41:16,996
400 miles north of Khartoum...
438
00:41:17,077 --> 00:41:18,787
They wouldn't have sent me.
439
00:41:18,871 --> 00:41:21,211
Then you cannot proceed further.
440
00:41:21,290 --> 00:41:23,341
If Her Majesty's government,
at this moment,
441
00:41:23,418 --> 00:41:26,458
wants to run out publicly on the Egyptians...
442
00:41:27,005 --> 00:41:30,175
Send your telegram. Get them to recall me.
443
00:41:30,258 --> 00:41:32,339
But you have to make the decision.
They won't.
444
00:41:32,428 --> 00:41:34,968
I've made my decision, Colonel Stewart.
445
00:41:35,055 --> 00:41:37,425
But what is your decision?
446
00:41:39,643 --> 00:41:44,024
General, when you left London
your only hope was Zobeir,
447
00:41:44,107 --> 00:41:48,487
so if you've any further plan
beyond vague self-confidence,
448
00:41:48,570 --> 00:41:50,741
you haven't confided it to me.
449
00:41:50,865 --> 00:41:54,625
Was I instructed to confide in you?
I don't recall.
450
00:41:54,702 --> 00:41:57,372
Are you willing to delude the Sudanese,
gull the Egyptians,
451
00:41:57,455 --> 00:42:01,796
and compromise your country,
just to satisfy your own vanity?
452
00:42:04,129 --> 00:42:06,629
Next time, I'll shoot you.
453
00:42:09,385 --> 00:42:11,555
I've shot men before.
454
00:42:12,222 --> 00:42:14,552
Now send your telegram!
455
00:42:29,991 --> 00:42:32,661
The boat is coming!
456
00:42:33,370 --> 00:42:35,080
(SHIP HORN BLOWING)
457
00:42:35,997 --> 00:42:37,998
(CHEERING)
458
00:42:41,045 --> 00:42:44,585
- Look at that.
-Oh! How exciting.
459
00:42:45,841 --> 00:42:48,392
Everyone in Khartoum must be on the quay.
460
00:42:48,845 --> 00:42:50,845
(BRASS BAND PLAYING)
461
00:42:54,601 --> 00:42:56,562
ALL: Gordon pasha!
462
00:43:01,067 --> 00:43:03,857
Gordon pasha!
463
00:43:28,472 --> 00:43:32,472
(ALL CHANTING) Gordon! Gordon! Gordon!
464
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:36,601
Gordon! Gordon! Gordon!
465
00:43:40,193 --> 00:43:42,193
(CHANTING CONTINUES)
466
00:44:10,686 --> 00:44:12,686
Welcome back, Gordon pasha.
467
00:44:12,772 --> 00:44:15,062
Thank you.
468
00:44:19,946 --> 00:44:21,696
It's good to be home.
469
00:45:34,696 --> 00:45:37,406
You can't see anything from down there.
470
00:45:42,787 --> 00:45:45,038
(ALL CHEERING)
471
00:46:21,330 --> 00:46:23,501
Gordon pasha will be with us shortly.
472
00:46:23,583 --> 00:46:25,713
Sheikh Abdul Rahim.
473
00:46:25,793 --> 00:46:28,253
Gordon pasha will be with us shortly.
474
00:46:29,172 --> 00:46:32,173
Mr. Frank Power,
Her Majesty's consul in Khartoum.
475
00:46:32,259 --> 00:46:34,969
Also, The Times correspondent.
Where is he?
476
00:46:35,095 --> 00:46:37,355
Gordon pasha will be with us shortly.
477
00:46:38,891 --> 00:46:40,812
Monsieur Herbin, the French consul.
478
00:46:40,894 --> 00:46:43,104
Gordon pasha will be with us shortly.
479
00:46:43,939 --> 00:46:45,729
Khaleel, B and S.
480
00:46:45,815 --> 00:46:47,315
Yes, master.
481
00:46:57,328 --> 00:46:58,458
B and S.
482
00:46:58,538 --> 00:46:59,549
Thank you.
483
00:47:02,292 --> 00:47:06,082
Now, master, it has been a very long time,
484
00:47:06,171 --> 00:47:10,212
so you cannot expect me
to remember all things without confusion.
485
00:47:10,301 --> 00:47:13,761
For if you had left me this Bible,
then it would be different.
486
00:47:13,846 --> 00:47:15,686
I could not have read it, but...
487
00:47:15,765 --> 00:47:17,555
- Khaleel.
-I am here, master.
488
00:47:17,643 --> 00:47:19,683
Khaleel, there's something I want you to do.
489
00:47:19,770 --> 00:47:21,230
And I shall do it, master.
490
00:47:21,313 --> 00:47:23,063
Now, this great Jesus Christ.
491
00:47:23,148 --> 00:47:25,608
Sometimes, master,
I do not understand this man,
492
00:47:25,693 --> 00:47:27,984
for he announced
and he was very clear about it,
493
00:47:28,071 --> 00:47:29,451
for once, he was very clear,
494
00:47:29,531 --> 00:47:31,081
almost like the great lord Mohammed,
495
00:47:31,157 --> 00:47:32,577
blessing and peace be upon him.
496
00:47:32,659 --> 00:47:35,159
But I do not understand this Jesus Christ,
497
00:47:35,245 --> 00:47:39,916
for as I remember, you told me
he announced most clearly, as I have said...
498
00:47:40,001 --> 00:47:42,421
Khaleel, there's something I want you to do.
499
00:47:42,503 --> 00:47:44,763
You have only to speak, master. Now...
500
00:47:44,839 --> 00:47:47,720
He say, "When a man is
struck upon one cheek,
501
00:47:47,801 --> 00:47:49,341
"he must turn the other."
502
00:47:49,428 --> 00:47:51,928
Do you? Oh, no.
503
00:47:58,479 --> 00:47:59,609
You don't.
504
00:47:59,689 --> 00:48:05,900
I must inform you, Khaleel, as delicately
as possible, that I am not Jesus Christ.
505
00:48:08,073 --> 00:48:12,833
Wait. Will you first find out for me
where the Mahdi's camp is at present?
506
00:48:42,195 --> 00:48:44,365
Khaleel.
507
00:49:10,643 --> 00:49:12,853
(CHATTERING)
508
00:49:14,230 --> 00:49:16,650
- Peace be with you.
-Peace be with you.
509
00:49:16,732 --> 00:49:20,283
Send a messenger to Mohammed Ahmed,
who is called the Mahdi,
510
00:49:20,362 --> 00:49:23,782
and tell him that Gordon pasha,
governor general of the Sudan,
511
00:49:23,865 --> 00:49:25,195
has entered his camp.
512
00:49:25,283 --> 00:49:28,333
He's a liar before God!
He's not Gordon pasha!
513
00:49:35,294 --> 00:49:37,304
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
514
00:49:53,189 --> 00:49:56,189
Abdullahl Abdullahl Gordon pasha is here!
515
00:49:56,276 --> 00:49:57,947
How does he appear?
516
00:49:58,028 --> 00:49:59,238
The skin is pink.
517
00:49:59,321 --> 00:50:01,741
The beard is only here. It is gray.
518
00:50:01,824 --> 00:50:03,744
Gordon.
519
00:50:03,826 --> 00:50:08,207
Holy Person, we saw him
yesterday in Khartoum. It is Gordon pasha.
520
00:50:08,290 --> 00:50:09,660
How many are his soldiers?
521
00:50:09,750 --> 00:50:11,960
He is alone, with one black slave.
522
00:50:12,043 --> 00:50:14,173
I fear it. He makes magic.
523
00:50:14,337 --> 00:50:17,638
We saw it yesterday in the streets. Kill him.
524
00:50:20,386 --> 00:50:23,016
You're all so innocent.
525
00:50:23,097 --> 00:50:27,438
Who makes the magic that brings him
to my camp alone with one black slave?
526
00:50:27,686 --> 00:50:30,186
He or I?
527
00:50:32,524 --> 00:50:34,695
Bring the great one to me.
528
00:51:33,759 --> 00:51:36,719
Is it because you are an infidel,
Gordon pasha,
529
00:51:36,804 --> 00:51:40,435
that I feel myself in the presence of evil?
530
00:51:40,517 --> 00:51:45,527
I doubt it, Mohammed Ahmed,
for you are not an infidel, but I smell evil.
531
00:51:48,650 --> 00:51:51,611
I have 30,000 soldiers in my camp.
532
00:51:51,696 --> 00:51:54,196
Is it because you are so brave or so foolish
533
00:51:54,282 --> 00:51:59,783
that you come here alone, unarmed,
with only a black slave to hold your robe?
534
00:52:00,789 --> 00:52:05,299
Khaleel is not a slave, he's a free man.
He comes with me out of love.
535
00:52:05,419 --> 00:52:08,930
And he does not hold my robe,
but a gift for you.
536
00:52:09,340 --> 00:52:10,680
Years ago, Mohammed Ahmed,
537
00:52:10,758 --> 00:52:14,848
I led the armies of the emperor of China
at a time of great trial.
538
00:52:14,929 --> 00:52:18,230
And when his enemies
were crushed and confounded
539
00:52:18,309 --> 00:52:19,979
and his throne was again secure,
540
00:52:20,060 --> 00:52:21,730
he made me this gift.
541
00:52:21,979 --> 00:52:24,399
I have brought it from London for you.
542
00:52:26,525 --> 00:52:29,446
It is most exquisite.
543
00:52:29,821 --> 00:52:33,411
When the emperor of China
ceases to be an unbeliever,
544
00:52:33,491 --> 00:52:38,292
and accepts me,
the Expected One, as the true Mahdi,
545
00:52:38,372 --> 00:52:41,372
then I shall be happy to receive such a gift.
546
00:52:44,295 --> 00:52:46,426
Khaleel.
547
00:52:46,506 --> 00:52:48,846
You will wait just outside.
548
00:52:53,180 --> 00:52:55,511
Abri. Real abri.
549
00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:57,060
I've had none in five years.
550
00:52:57,143 --> 00:52:58,313
(CHUCKLES)
551
00:53:00,188 --> 00:53:04,229
Your meeting with Zobeir Pasha
was less than happy, I believe.
552
00:53:05,861 --> 00:53:09,861
Your intelligence service
has an excellence beyond my expectations.
553
00:53:10,199 --> 00:53:12,819
How much you must regret
having killed his son.
554
00:53:14,829 --> 00:53:18,249
I executed his son. I have no regrets.
555
00:53:18,333 --> 00:53:22,423
It was a necessary object lesson in my
campaign against the slave trade.
556
00:53:22,545 --> 00:53:26,806
And it was successful.
I brought peace to the Sudan.
557
00:53:28,052 --> 00:53:33,473
But since you have come back now
with instructions to evacuate Khartoum,
558
00:53:33,558 --> 00:53:37,728
most happily the peace
of the Sudan no longer concerns you.
559
00:53:39,106 --> 00:53:42,987
What a pleasure it is to negotiate with
a man who knows even my instructions.
560
00:53:43,069 --> 00:53:46,069
We need waste so little time
in preliminaries.
561
00:53:47,490 --> 00:53:50,250
What are your instructions
concerning Khartoum?
562
00:54:00,505 --> 00:54:05,755
I have been instructed by the prophet,
blessings and peace be upon him,
563
00:54:06,052 --> 00:54:08,812
to worship in the Khartoum mosque.
564
00:54:13,102 --> 00:54:16,692
There are those
among the Sudanese who will oppose you.
565
00:54:16,772 --> 00:54:19,193
I welcome in peace
all those who worship with me.
566
00:54:21,695 --> 00:54:23,865
And the others?
567
00:54:29,704 --> 00:54:35,544
Mohammed Ahmed, may I suggest
that when first I came to the Sudan,
568
00:54:35,626 --> 00:54:41,057
its body was sick,
stricken with hunger and abused by war.
569
00:54:42,051 --> 00:54:44,051
I cured it.
570
00:54:45,054 --> 00:54:46,804
This land.
571
00:54:47,891 --> 00:54:50,851
I'm not a loving man, Mohammed Ahmed,
572
00:54:50,935 --> 00:54:56,816
but this land became
the only thing that I have ever loved.
573
00:54:58,027 --> 00:55:01,737
I cannot, under my God. Do you understand?
574
00:55:01,822 --> 00:55:07,613
I cannot leave it to the sickness
and the misery in which I once found it.
575
00:55:07,704 --> 00:55:10,204
I respect you, Gordon pasha.
576
00:55:11,541 --> 00:55:13,551
I make no war on you.
577
00:55:13,627 --> 00:55:15,628
Make no war on your own people.
578
00:55:15,713 --> 00:55:17,423
I'll take the Egyptians back to Egypt.
579
00:55:17,507 --> 00:55:20,547
I'll leave the Sudan to the Sudanese
and be happy and contented.
580
00:55:20,635 --> 00:55:26,136
But if I'm to leave Khartoum
to sickness and misery, to death.
581
00:55:27,601 --> 00:55:30,861
The Egyptians must remain in Khartoum.
582
00:55:36,820 --> 00:55:39,530
I am a poor man of the desert.
583
00:55:39,614 --> 00:55:43,415
But I am the Mahdi, the Expected One.
584
00:55:43,494 --> 00:55:46,794
On my cheek is the mole,
585
00:55:46,872 --> 00:55:51,542
between my teeth the space.
586
00:55:53,088 --> 00:55:56,458
And so that all men
may know that I am the true Mahdi,
587
00:55:56,550 --> 00:56:00,640
the prophet Mohammed,
blessings and peace be upon him,
588
00:56:00,720 --> 00:56:03,851
makes miracles.
589
00:56:03,933 --> 00:56:05,473
Do you understand?
590
00:56:08,563 --> 00:56:10,063
I begin to.
591
00:56:12,401 --> 00:56:17,781
Gordon pasha, do you believe
that the prophet, blessings be upon him,
592
00:56:17,865 --> 00:56:22,126
has instructed me
to pray only in the mosque at Khartoum?
593
00:56:23,663 --> 00:56:25,413
No.
594
00:56:25,582 --> 00:56:30,082
I am to pray in the mosque at Cairo,
and at Mecca, and at Baghdad,
595
00:56:30,170 --> 00:56:33,421
and in the mosque at Constantinople.
596
00:56:34,383 --> 00:56:36,713
He has commanded me to make holy war
597
00:56:36,802 --> 00:56:40,633
until all of Islam
acknowledges the purity of his biddings
598
00:56:40,724 --> 00:56:44,434
and all the world trembles before me.
599
00:56:45,854 --> 00:56:50,025
But all Islam must know who I am
600
00:56:50,651 --> 00:56:52,781
and believe.
601
00:56:53,738 --> 00:56:58,118
Gordon pasha, for tasks of such greatness
602
00:56:58,869 --> 00:57:01,659
great deeds are needed.
603
00:57:01,747 --> 00:57:03,577
Egypt opposes me,
604
00:57:03,665 --> 00:57:07,956
and so the Egyptians
must remain in Khartoum.
605
00:57:08,046 --> 00:57:10,216
For I shall take it in blood.
606
00:57:10,298 --> 00:57:12,428
And the streets will run in blood.
607
00:57:12,508 --> 00:57:15,258
And the Nile will
taste of blood for a hundred miles.
608
00:57:15,345 --> 00:57:17,886
And every Egyptian will die.
609
00:57:18,098 --> 00:57:22,098
Every child, woman, man.
610
00:57:22,186 --> 00:57:27,147
Sudanese, too, who opposes the will
of my lord Mohammed, will die.
611
00:57:28,818 --> 00:57:31,568
This is how it must be in Khartoum.
612
00:57:32,822 --> 00:57:35,282
A great and terrible thing.
613
00:57:35,826 --> 00:57:40,796
Or I shall not pray in the mosques of Cairo
and Mecca and Constantinople,
614
00:57:40,873 --> 00:57:45,294
nor will the world ever tremble before me.
615
00:57:50,300 --> 00:57:54,681
I had thought in my lifetime
that I had witnessed all things.
616
00:57:55,056 --> 00:57:57,226
And you have.
617
00:57:57,433 --> 00:58:02,233
You have described
to me how it was an object lesson
618
00:58:02,313 --> 00:58:05,314
when you slaughtered
the sons of the slavers
619
00:58:05,401 --> 00:58:08,941
and brought peace to the Sudan.
620
00:58:09,446 --> 00:58:11,866
You have no regrets.
621
00:58:11,949 --> 00:58:14,790
What is the difference, Gordon pasha?
622
00:58:14,869 --> 00:58:20,799
An infidel object lesson, or a holy miracle?
623
00:58:21,459 --> 00:58:25,630
If Khartoum is sacrificed,
then all Islam will tremble and bow,
624
00:58:25,715 --> 00:58:31,305
and in peace I shall proceed
to all the mosques where I must pray.
625
00:58:31,387 --> 00:58:34,478
And the lives of millions will be spared.
626
00:58:35,892 --> 00:58:39,772
Whisper to me, Gordon pasha.
627
00:58:41,691 --> 00:58:43,901
Is there a difference?
628
00:58:45,695 --> 00:58:47,695
This is how it will be?
629
00:58:50,074 --> 00:58:52,545
This is how it will be.
630
00:59:22,486 --> 00:59:23,986
(TELEGRAPH MACHINE TAPPING)
631
00:59:24,071 --> 00:59:26,241
Stewart pasha.
632
00:59:31,287 --> 00:59:33,457
He's back, sir.
633
00:59:46,470 --> 00:59:48,731
Excellency, he has had no sleep.
634
00:59:48,807 --> 00:59:50,807
General!
635
01:00:03,489 --> 01:00:06,370
You've been to the Mahdi.
636
01:00:13,417 --> 01:00:17,258
He plans to lay siege to Khartoum.
637
01:00:17,338 --> 01:00:20,428
Take it by force.
638
01:00:20,508 --> 01:00:23,088
To slaughter all the Egyptians,
639
01:00:23,177 --> 01:00:26,008
and those Sudanese
who haven't accepted him.
640
01:00:26,682 --> 01:00:29,982
But there are 35,000 people in Khartoum.
641
01:00:31,145 --> 01:00:33,906
Those are his purposes.
642
01:00:34,149 --> 01:00:35,979
And I believe him.
643
01:00:38,027 --> 01:00:40,777
The man is sincere.
644
01:00:41,030 --> 01:00:46,331
He believes utterly in
the divine necessity for what he's doing.
645
01:00:46,412 --> 01:00:49,582
How could I have
been such a stumbling fool?
646
01:00:49,665 --> 01:00:53,426
I'm a man who will question anything
except my own religious convictions.
647
01:00:53,503 --> 01:00:55,753
The Mahdi's no different.
648
01:00:55,839 --> 01:00:57,999
There's vanity for you.
649
01:00:59,050 --> 01:01:04,391
I seem to have suffered from the illusion
that I have a monopoly on God.
650
01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:07,510
Oh, it's the failure!
651
01:01:07,727 --> 01:01:14,028
There are so many things
I'm not afraid of, but to fail...
652
01:01:16,153 --> 01:01:21,074
You haven't failed, sir. Who else could have
found out the Mahdi's intentions?
653
01:01:22,744 --> 01:01:24,244
If I'd known about this in London,
654
01:01:24,370 --> 01:01:27,540
would I have
recommended against sending an army?
655
01:01:27,624 --> 01:01:31,165
How could any British
government survive a massacre like this
656
01:01:31,253 --> 01:01:34,173
without making some attempt
to forestall it?
657
01:01:34,590 --> 01:01:37,140
Yes.
658
01:01:37,343 --> 01:01:41,924
Get off a telegram to Cairo immediately.
If the government moves on this...
659
01:01:42,015 --> 01:01:44,345
Sir.
660
01:01:44,726 --> 01:01:46,896
The telegraph's been cut.
661
01:01:51,442 --> 01:01:52,822
Where?
662
01:01:52,944 --> 01:01:53,954
Below Metemma.
663
01:01:56,239 --> 01:01:57,369
When?
664
01:01:57,448 --> 01:01:58,449
Today.
665
01:02:00,035 --> 01:02:04,715
Sir, Mohammed el-Kheir
attacked Berber at dawn.
666
01:02:04,790 --> 01:02:08,041
Your friend, Sheikh Ali Ibrahim escaped
downriver at 10:00 this morning
667
01:02:08,127 --> 01:02:10,037
and since then there's been no message.
668
01:02:10,129 --> 01:02:12,299
We presume the city's fallen.
669
01:02:12,382 --> 01:02:14,922
If so, the Nile is closed.
670
01:02:16,636 --> 01:02:18,977
The evacuation. We must get these people...
671
01:02:19,056 --> 01:02:21,686
Sir, there isn't going to be any evacuation.
672
01:02:21,767 --> 01:02:24,817
If they hold Berber, they've closed the Nile.
673
01:02:29,359 --> 01:02:31,359
Sweet Jesus.
674
01:02:33,280 --> 01:02:35,280
Sweet Jesus.
675
01:02:37,827 --> 01:02:42,167
There is no alternative.
Gladstone must send an army.
676
01:02:44,876 --> 01:02:46,916
If they've closed the Nile at Berber,
677
01:02:47,004 --> 01:02:49,924
we can get messengers
across the desert as far as Debba.
678
01:02:50,007 --> 01:02:52,007
The telegraph must be working there.
679
01:02:52,092 --> 01:02:53,592
Yes, they can't have got that far.
680
01:02:53,677 --> 01:02:57,768
Call your staff together, Stewart.
We must check the food supplies.
681
01:02:57,849 --> 01:03:00,559
We'll manage till help comes.
682
01:03:00,643 --> 01:03:03,263
I've been an engineer all my days.
683
01:03:03,354 --> 01:03:06,435
If I can't fortify
a city with rivers on two sides of it,
684
01:03:06,525 --> 01:03:08,195
I should be broken to the ranks.
685
01:03:08,277 --> 01:03:10,277
- Go on!
-Sir.
686
01:03:34,681 --> 01:03:38,391
(ALL CHANTING) Save Gordon!
Save Gordon! Save Gordon!
687
01:03:42,398 --> 01:03:44,228
(CHATTERING)
688
01:03:53,243 --> 01:03:57,293
Prime Minister, how many more
of these debates can we survive?
689
01:03:57,373 --> 01:03:58,503
We must do something.
690
01:03:58,582 --> 01:04:01,753
Gordon can get messengers
out of Khartoum, he can get himself out.
691
01:04:01,836 --> 01:04:05,046
- Prime Minister, please.
-Who is the government? Gordon or I?
692
01:04:05,131 --> 01:04:06,421
I've been talking to Wolseley.
693
01:04:06,508 --> 01:04:09,018
He can send
a small detachment into the Sudan.
694
01:04:09,094 --> 01:04:10,345
He promises no further than Debba.
695
01:04:10,429 --> 01:04:13,099
I'll make no compromises
with this man, Granville.
696
01:04:13,182 --> 01:04:15,512
I've distrusted him always,
I distrust him now.
697
01:04:15,601 --> 01:04:18,812
A small detachment
for communication purposes only.
698
01:04:19,064 --> 01:04:21,444
A gesture. A gesture.
699
01:04:22,776 --> 01:04:24,946
We are in trouble.
700
01:04:27,239 --> 01:04:30,370
Well, a small detachment.
701
01:04:30,451 --> 01:04:34,041
But I will not turn
this government to overseas adventure.
702
01:04:34,122 --> 01:04:36,832
Not for all the Gordons,
the sentimentalists,
703
01:04:36,916 --> 01:04:39,047
the plots, the intrigues...
704
01:04:39,253 --> 01:04:42,793
(CHANTING) Save Gordon!
Save Gordon! Save Gordon!
705
01:04:49,431 --> 01:04:51,891
Now then, we are here.
706
01:04:51,975 --> 01:04:55,895
You see? Here's the city wall right there
with your guns emplaced all along.
707
01:04:55,979 --> 01:05:00,900
And this is the ditch we're digging
connecting the White Nile to the Blue Nile.
708
01:05:00,985 --> 01:05:03,945
Now, when it's flooded,
the city will become an island.
709
01:05:04,029 --> 01:05:06,910
And if the Mahdi
crosses the river and attacks from out here,
710
01:05:06,992 --> 01:05:09,082
the ditch will stop any charge.
711
01:05:09,161 --> 01:05:13,291
But you must have your guns
emplaced so that their fields of fire overlap.
712
01:05:13,373 --> 01:05:17,594
Then if one gun is knocked out,
the next will still cover the same field.
713
01:05:17,837 --> 01:05:20,757
- Do you understand?
-I understand, Gordon pasha.
714
01:05:20,840 --> 01:05:22,970
I sincerely hope so, Major.
715
01:05:23,050 --> 01:05:24,050
Off you go.
716
01:05:44,366 --> 01:05:46,996
(CHATTERING)
717
01:06:03,054 --> 01:06:05,264
I've been wondering, sir.
718
01:06:05,348 --> 01:06:07,808
The Nile's at flood at the moment.
719
01:06:07,892 --> 01:06:10,052
What happens when
it falls and our ditch goes dry?
720
01:06:10,144 --> 01:06:11,565
Well, that won't be till next winter.
721
01:06:11,647 --> 01:06:15,897
If they haven't sent an army by then,
we'll all be dead of old age.
722
01:06:16,068 --> 01:06:19,028
I don't think the Mahdi's waiting for that.
723
01:06:19,112 --> 01:06:24,203
I just saw them putting up his personal
tents over the river. He's moving up.
724
01:06:24,577 --> 01:06:27,037
Well, I can have
the ditch flooded in a few days.
725
01:06:27,121 --> 01:06:29,501
Good. I don't think he'll attack for a while.
726
01:06:29,582 --> 01:06:33,093
He'll try to tighten the siege first.
Weaken us.
727
01:06:34,713 --> 01:06:38,553
I want you to help me
plan a giant-size raiding party.
728
01:06:38,634 --> 01:06:42,355
I want to take it upcountry between the
rivers and bring back every head of cattle,
729
01:06:42,430 --> 01:06:44,520
every measure of wheat
for a hundred miles.
730
01:06:44,599 --> 01:06:46,389
It might have to last us quite a while.
731
01:06:46,476 --> 01:06:49,267
It sounds like a dangerous job, sir.
I'd better do it.
732
01:06:49,355 --> 01:06:52,365
-It's in the orders.
-Forget the orders.
733
01:06:52,441 --> 01:06:54,531
Finish your ditch.
Flood it when you're ready.
734
01:06:54,610 --> 01:06:56,490
Meanwhile, let me have a little fun.
735
01:07:03,704 --> 01:07:07,585
(CHANTING)
736
01:08:04,229 --> 01:08:06,439
(SHEPHERDING CATTLE)
737
01:08:31,008 --> 01:08:33,259
Stewart pasha! Stewart pasha!
738
01:08:33,345 --> 01:08:36,975
Gordon pasha is 10 miles from the city
with a great convoy of grain and cattle.
739
01:08:37,057 --> 01:08:40,227
A spy brings news
the Mahdi is attacking him at dawn.
740
01:09:22,190 --> 01:09:24,780
GORDON: They're out there somewhere.
741
01:09:47,969 --> 01:09:49,299
We'll make a stand and hold them
742
01:09:49,387 --> 01:09:51,967
while you take all the cattle
and grain into Khartoum.
743
01:09:52,057 --> 01:09:53,717
If we divide, they'll have to divide.
744
01:09:53,808 --> 01:09:56,639
You take all the cavalry with you,
but don't let them turn you.
745
01:09:57,146 --> 01:10:00,696
You must get the convoy into Khartoum.
Good luck to you.
746
01:10:01,067 --> 01:10:02,227
Sir.
747
01:10:03,736 --> 01:10:04,786
Buglerl
748
01:10:08,033 --> 01:10:11,163
(BLOWING BUGLE)
749
01:10:14,206 --> 01:10:15,547
MAN: Hurry!
750
01:10:15,625 --> 01:10:17,585
Come along, come along!
751
01:10:17,668 --> 01:10:19,548
Hurry!
752
01:10:19,629 --> 01:10:21,629
Come. Hurry, hurry.
753
01:10:23,007 --> 01:10:26,978
MAN: Get your men in position!
You, Ahmed! Come on!
754
01:10:29,389 --> 01:10:30,399
Hurry-
755
01:10:30,474 --> 01:10:32,054
Hurry, over there!
756
01:10:45,116 --> 01:10:47,616
Now, then, we can
hold them here while the convoy gets away.
757
01:10:47,701 --> 01:10:50,171
But keep your men low.
Don't give them a target.
758
01:10:50,246 --> 01:10:52,457
Dismount yourselves.
Get your horses down, too.
759
01:10:52,541 --> 01:10:54,291
Let them charge through us.
760
01:10:54,376 --> 01:10:56,956
Once they've passed us,
we'll have them against the light.
761
01:10:57,045 --> 01:10:58,795
Well, good luck, then.
762
01:10:59,339 --> 01:11:01,139
Be quick, be quick!
763
01:11:49,604 --> 01:11:51,894
(SHOUTING)
764
01:12:13,630 --> 01:12:16,351
Re-form! Re-form and prepare to fire!
765
01:12:16,425 --> 01:12:18,755
They're coming out of the light this time.
766
01:12:23,641 --> 01:12:27,362
Stand fast! Prepare to fire!
767
01:12:28,230 --> 01:12:29,690
Fire!
768
01:12:52,798 --> 01:12:53,799
(SCREAMS)
769
01:13:05,271 --> 01:13:06,771
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
770
01:13:08,691 --> 01:13:10,441
Forward!
771
01:13:13,571 --> 01:13:15,361
(MAN SPEAKING IN ARABIC)
772
01:13:24,166 --> 01:13:27,376
Ready, charge!
773
01:13:27,545 --> 01:13:30,005
(SHOUTING)
774
01:13:46,065 --> 01:13:50,196
They'll come at us again from the dark now.
Take cover! Take cover!
775
01:13:50,404 --> 01:13:52,234
(MAN SHOUTING IN ARABIC)
776
01:14:08,799 --> 01:14:10,259
(SCREAMING)
777
01:14:25,442 --> 01:14:26,902
Re-form!
778
01:14:26,985 --> 01:14:28,236
Re-form!
779
01:14:48,968 --> 01:14:51,638
(ALL CHEERING)
780
01:15:21,504 --> 01:15:24,085
Nearly 300 dead.
781
01:15:24,174 --> 01:15:26,504
How much of the convoy did we lose?
782
01:15:26,593 --> 01:15:27,963
None.
783
01:15:28,053 --> 01:15:30,723
You must have brought
in all the loose grain and beef
784
01:15:30,806 --> 01:15:32,686
this side of Abyssinia.
785
01:15:33,518 --> 01:15:36,018
It'll have to last us till relief comes.
786
01:15:39,023 --> 01:15:44,104
This came yesterday via Cairo
and Kitchener. I've read it.
787
01:15:44,196 --> 01:15:45,196
Who's Kitchener?
788
01:15:45,281 --> 01:15:48,621
He's a major who's arrived
at Debba with an army.
789
01:15:48,701 --> 01:15:50,331
Precisely 20 men.
790
01:16:01,174 --> 01:16:03,684
"You exaggerate the danger, sir."
791
01:16:03,759 --> 01:16:05,589
"Suspicions still exist, sir,
792
01:16:05,678 --> 01:16:10,389
"that you've created a situation to fit
your own personal inclinations."
793
01:16:10,476 --> 01:16:12,776
"Leave Khartoum at once, sir."
794
01:16:12,853 --> 01:16:16,563
"This is your last, final, ultimate order."
795
01:16:18,734 --> 01:16:20,575
Obey the order, General.
796
01:16:20,653 --> 01:16:22,993
Go to London. Explain to them.
797
01:16:23,072 --> 01:16:25,322
You'll come back with an army.
798
01:16:26,409 --> 01:16:28,989
I'll come back with an army?
799
01:16:29,079 --> 01:16:31,329
They wouldn't listen to me.
800
01:16:31,415 --> 01:16:33,415
If they did, they wouldn't believe me.
801
01:16:34,293 --> 01:16:36,543
If they believed me,
they'd keep me in England
802
01:16:36,629 --> 01:16:39,880
if they had to look me up
in the Tower of London.
803
01:16:42,928 --> 01:16:44,768
You're the one to go.
804
01:16:45,680 --> 01:16:47,971
They'd believe you
if I stayed here as a hostage.
805
01:16:48,059 --> 01:16:50,689
They'd believe you because they must!
806
01:16:51,270 --> 01:16:54,400
I'll give you Khaleel. He knows the route
through the desert and the wells.
807
01:16:54,482 --> 01:16:56,482
We've enough food here now
to hold out for months.
808
01:16:56,567 --> 01:16:59,568
The Nile's too high for the Mahdi to attack.
809
01:16:59,655 --> 01:17:00,825
You must do it.
810
01:17:00,906 --> 01:17:02,196
Yes, sir.
811
01:17:02,991 --> 01:17:04,541
Let's get back.
812
01:18:00,680 --> 01:18:02,010
Kitchener.
813
01:18:07,062 --> 01:18:10,152
I'll take cholera, dysentery,
sunstroke, fleas in my bed, Arabs in my hair,
814
01:18:10,232 --> 01:18:11,272
but I cannot take politicians.
815
01:18:11,358 --> 01:18:12,319
(LAUGHS)
816
01:18:12,402 --> 01:18:14,652
I wish you well, by heaven, I wish you well,
817
01:18:14,738 --> 01:18:17,748
but I don't envy you what you're up against.
818
01:18:18,116 --> 01:18:20,286
Your man better stay
with us until you get back.
819
01:18:22,371 --> 01:18:24,201
(CHATTERING)
820
01:18:28,669 --> 01:18:30,469
Colonel Stewart, sir.
821
01:18:31,173 --> 01:18:33,753
Say absolutely nothing, sir. Do you mind?
822
01:18:33,842 --> 01:18:36,052
Say nothing, sir. Your cab is there, sir.
823
01:18:36,136 --> 01:18:38,556
Clear the way, please.
Say nothing, sir. Say absolutely nothing.
824
01:18:38,889 --> 01:18:41,560
Clear the way. Clear the way, please.
825
01:18:46,856 --> 01:18:48,146
Stewart.
826
01:18:48,232 --> 01:18:49,743
Sir.
827
01:18:49,818 --> 01:18:52,488
I, uh, wasn't prepared
for all this excitement.
828
01:18:58,494 --> 01:19:00,825
The Prime Minister's waiting for you.
829
01:19:00,914 --> 01:19:02,084
I want you to know before you see him
830
01:19:02,165 --> 01:19:03,205
that he missed a vote of censure
831
01:19:03,291 --> 01:19:06,341
in the House of Commons
yesterday by only a few votes.
832
01:19:06,419 --> 01:19:09,840
I want you to know
also that I'm on General Gordon's side.
833
01:19:09,924 --> 01:19:11,804
You mean there's hope, sir?
834
01:19:11,884 --> 01:19:13,264
I mean nothing of the sort.
835
01:19:13,511 --> 01:19:16,181
Let's put all that aside.
There's just one thing matters.
836
01:19:16,263 --> 01:19:19,524
Did Gordon or did he not
receive a direct order to return?
837
01:19:19,601 --> 01:19:20,851
He did.
838
01:19:20,936 --> 01:19:24,236
Could Gordon or could he not
be standing there in front of me?
839
01:19:24,314 --> 01:19:26,524
- He could.
-Then, Colonel Stewart,
840
01:19:26,608 --> 01:19:31,399
does your presence here confirm
or deny Gordon's total disobedience?
841
01:19:31,531 --> 01:19:35,031
- It confirms it.
-It's blackmail! Blackmail.
842
01:19:35,118 --> 01:19:40,539
A man, one man, in the middle of Africa
is blackmailing the British government
843
01:19:40,624 --> 01:19:44,504
into a course of action
it wouldn't otherwise choose to take.
844
01:19:44,586 --> 01:19:46,297
I don't agree, sir.
845
01:19:46,756 --> 01:19:48,756
You don't agree.
846
01:19:50,385 --> 01:19:53,805
Is it really blackmail
when one man a long way off
847
01:19:53,888 --> 01:19:57,399
in a besieged desert town
calls to you and says,
848
01:19:57,476 --> 01:20:00,936
"Allow these tens of thousands of
human beings to be slaughtered if you will,
849
01:20:01,021 --> 01:20:05,812
"it's your decision, but allow me the
privilege of being slaughtered with them?"
850
01:20:06,153 --> 01:20:10,403
You see, sir, if Khartoum is allowed to die,
851
01:20:10,490 --> 01:20:12,700
then Gordon will die with it.
852
01:20:14,245 --> 01:20:16,285
Well, it may be blackmail.
853
01:20:17,039 --> 01:20:20,749
And if it is, then I'm for blackmail.
854
01:20:28,719 --> 01:20:30,599
Send in Lord Wolseley.
855
01:20:31,847 --> 01:20:35,478
When I think how history
will record someday
856
01:20:35,560 --> 01:20:39,860
that the decisions of an empire were made
only by greedy businessmen,
857
01:20:39,939 --> 01:20:44,150
scheming generals,
and conniving politicians...
858
01:20:45,905 --> 01:20:48,245
It's up the Nile for you, Wolseley.
859
01:20:48,324 --> 01:20:51,835
Up the Nile to save one stubborn madman.
860
01:20:52,704 --> 01:20:57,004
But let me tell you,
if you do a Billy Hicks on me,
861
01:20:57,083 --> 01:21:00,003
if you take a British army into central Africa
862
01:21:00,086 --> 01:21:03,137
and present me with any portion
of a disaster,
863
01:21:04,008 --> 01:21:05,968
then don't come back!
864
01:21:06,052 --> 01:21:07,182
Am I clear?
865
01:21:07,261 --> 01:21:08,891
You are clear.
866
01:21:08,971 --> 01:21:11,182
Colonel Stewart,
inform your General Gordon
867
01:21:11,266 --> 01:21:15,736
that a British army will be sailing
as quickly as possible for Cairo.
868
01:21:15,938 --> 01:21:17,488
Thank you, sir.
869
01:21:18,065 --> 01:21:19,105
Sir.
870
01:23:44,477 --> 01:23:47,607
(BAND PLAYING HIGHLAND LADDIE)
871
01:24:49,299 --> 01:24:50,549
Khaleell
872
01:24:50,633 --> 01:24:52,553
Get me Colonel Stewart's man, Khaleel.
873
01:24:52,635 --> 01:24:53,925
Sir.
874
01:24:56,182 --> 01:24:57,982
(CHATTERING)
875
01:25:00,394 --> 01:25:01,684
We didn't want to come to the palace.
876
01:25:01,771 --> 01:25:04,442
This is informal, but it's serious.
877
01:25:04,524 --> 01:25:06,644
General, people are afraid.
878
01:25:06,735 --> 01:25:08,815
They have a right to be.
879
01:25:08,904 --> 01:25:11,364
What about this relief army?
880
01:25:11,448 --> 01:25:14,949
Why the hysteria? There's still enough food.
881
01:25:15,036 --> 01:25:18,036
What we're short of isn't food. It's hope.
882
01:25:18,956 --> 01:25:21,746
Power, you're English.
You know the government,
883
01:25:21,834 --> 01:25:23,715
how long they take to make decisions.
884
01:25:23,796 --> 01:25:26,376
You all know how many weeks
it is to London, how many weeks back.
885
01:25:26,465 --> 01:25:28,935
It could be another month
before we have word.
886
01:25:29,009 --> 01:25:32,009
I'm an old friend. You believe me.
887
01:25:32,096 --> 01:25:36,267
I tell you, in the bazaars I hear things.
It isn't good.
888
01:25:37,018 --> 01:25:40,388
What am I supposed to give them?
Promises I can't keep?
889
01:25:40,480 --> 01:25:42,481
Tell them lies to keep up morale?
890
01:25:42,650 --> 01:25:47,400
Maybe small lies. Just a few. Little ones?
891
01:25:51,618 --> 01:25:53,168
Khaleell
892
01:25:53,245 --> 01:25:55,995
Yes, master. Good morning.
It is such a pleasant thing...
893
01:25:56,081 --> 01:25:59,541
Khaleel, what are you doing here?
Where is Colonel Stewart?
894
01:25:59,626 --> 01:26:01,177
Yes, master. I do not know.
895
01:26:01,254 --> 01:26:03,174
But as I was saying,
that little place Debba by the river
896
01:26:03,256 --> 01:26:04,426
is the most boring place in Egypt...
897
01:26:04,507 --> 01:26:06,347
- Khaleell
-And to be home...
898
01:26:06,425 --> 01:26:09,015
Oh, yes. The Major Kitchener
sends his greetings.
899
01:26:09,095 --> 01:26:11,936
Most interesting man, the Major Kitchener.
900
01:26:22,402 --> 01:26:26,402
It's Stewart. He's sailed
from England with Wolseley and 7,000 men.
901
01:26:27,949 --> 01:26:30,620
They're coming! The British are coming!
902
01:26:34,582 --> 01:26:37,042
(ALL CHEERING)
903
01:26:56,899 --> 01:27:00,529
I do not have
the ingredients here, Gordon pasha.
904
01:27:00,611 --> 01:27:05,241
But if you will come back to the palace,
I will make you a B and S.
905
01:27:14,125 --> 01:27:16,966
Squad, attention!
906
01:27:17,046 --> 01:27:18,886
Stand to your camels.
907
01:27:21,217 --> 01:27:22,387
Mount!
908
01:27:23,844 --> 01:27:25,895
(CAMELS GRUNTING)
909
01:27:27,224 --> 01:27:29,764
(SOLDIERS LAUGHING)
910
01:27:43,157 --> 01:27:44,788
Right. Attention!
911
01:27:47,287 --> 01:27:50,167
(BARKING ORDERS)
912
01:27:58,007 --> 01:28:00,427
You! You think you've
come here on holiday?
913
01:28:00,510 --> 01:28:02,431
You think you've come to Egypt on leave?
914
01:28:02,513 --> 01:28:05,763
Look at those buttons. Filthy!
Look at this. Disgracefull!
915
01:28:05,849 --> 01:28:08,099
What would Her Majesty say?
You there, stand up!
916
01:28:09,395 --> 01:28:11,185
I don't say it isn't necessary, sir.
917
01:28:11,940 --> 01:28:15,780
But we've been in Egypt
for six weeks now and the Nile is falling.
918
01:28:17,529 --> 01:28:21,450
What I feel I must point out
is that the fall of the Nile in Khartoum
919
01:28:21,534 --> 01:28:24,294
comes two months earlier
than here in Cairo,
920
01:28:24,370 --> 01:28:29,380
and that when the Nile has fallen
sufficiently, Khartoum will be defenseless.
921
01:28:29,917 --> 01:28:32,298
Thank you, Colonel Stewart.
922
01:28:32,379 --> 01:28:34,459
But you know as well as I do
923
01:28:34,548 --> 01:28:36,168
that men who have not been
fully conditioned
924
01:28:36,258 --> 01:28:39,008
to the tropical climate simply cannot fight.
925
01:28:39,094 --> 01:28:41,645
They'll die.
By the platoon or by the company.
926
01:28:41,723 --> 01:28:43,643
I agree, sir, I agree,
927
01:28:43,725 --> 01:28:48,145
but couldn't you send ahead a detachment
of your best-conditioned men?
928
01:28:49,565 --> 01:28:50,985
No, Stewart.
929
01:28:51,900 --> 01:28:53,230
I'm sorry.
930
01:28:54,903 --> 01:28:56,243
Excuse me.
931
01:28:57,239 --> 01:29:01,490
Stewart. Don't be too hard on Wolseley.
932
01:29:01,578 --> 01:29:02,838
You haven't seen his instructions.
933
01:29:02,912 --> 01:29:05,082
I was there. He's to relieve Khartoum.
934
01:29:05,165 --> 01:29:06,915
Colonel, I've seen the orders.
935
01:29:07,000 --> 01:29:10,831
He's to bring out Gordon.
There's no mention of Khartoum.
936
01:29:11,213 --> 01:29:13,173
Wolseley knows.
937
01:29:13,257 --> 01:29:16,177
He's to proceed up the Nile
as slowly as possible.
938
01:29:16,260 --> 01:29:19,971
Oh, he'll move up
to Wadi Halfa shortly, yes, but he knows.
939
01:29:20,057 --> 01:29:23,477
He's to give Gordon
every chance at the last minute
940
01:29:23,560 --> 01:29:25,270
to come out by his own choice.
941
01:29:25,354 --> 01:29:26,605
But Gordon won't come out.
942
01:29:26,689 --> 01:29:28,569
You know it. I now know it.
943
01:29:28,649 --> 01:29:30,069
I'm sure that Wolseley knows it.
944
01:29:30,151 --> 01:29:34,331
They've been friends always.
That's why I say, don't be too hard on him.
945
01:29:34,405 --> 01:29:36,446
It's the government that's unconvinced.
946
01:29:39,370 --> 01:29:42,960
I can well understand
why you haven't told me this before.
947
01:29:43,040 --> 01:29:44,250
Why do you tell me now?
948
01:29:44,333 --> 01:29:48,044
Because it's on the cards,
Colonel, that this expedition will be too late.
949
01:29:48,838 --> 01:29:53,338
Gordon should come out.
There's no one to tell him but you.
950
01:30:17,412 --> 01:30:19,252
Did he say where they are mounting them?
951
01:30:19,330 --> 01:30:20,700
He does not know, Excellency.
952
01:30:20,790 --> 01:30:23,001
He saw the guns arriving, that is all.
953
01:30:23,335 --> 01:30:26,255
(SHIP HORN BLOWING)
954
01:30:31,885 --> 01:30:34,016
You were Gladstone's gesture last year.
955
01:30:34,848 --> 01:30:36,808
This year it's Wolseley.
956
01:30:38,935 --> 01:30:40,565
Sir, I've failed.
957
01:30:41,271 --> 01:30:46,192
I thought I'd made it clear
to them that you'd never come out. I didn't.
958
01:30:46,318 --> 01:30:49,908
You probably did.
Gladstone's a gambler. He's gambling.
959
01:30:49,989 --> 01:30:52,200
No, they all think you should come out.
960
01:30:53,160 --> 01:30:54,370
So do I.
961
01:30:59,666 --> 01:31:04,467
Sir, what's the absolute
limit of time we can hold out here?
962
01:31:04,881 --> 01:31:06,391
I don't know.
963
01:31:07,467 --> 01:31:11,268
The Mahdi's brought up
the guns he captured from Hicks.
964
01:31:11,346 --> 01:31:12,976
That means he'll start a bombardment.
965
01:31:13,056 --> 01:31:14,436
Mmm.
966
01:31:15,642 --> 01:31:16,772
How low is the ditch?
967
01:31:16,852 --> 01:31:17,862
Low.
968
01:31:17,936 --> 01:31:20,397
And the news will be all over town
by morning
969
01:31:20,482 --> 01:31:22,692
that a steamer arrived and no army.
970
01:31:23,193 --> 01:31:24,953
There'll be a panic.
971
01:31:26,696 --> 01:31:28,197
Sir, you haven't got a chance.
972
01:31:28,282 --> 01:31:30,332
I haven't got a choice.
973
01:31:30,409 --> 01:31:32,199
If Wolseley's orders are to save only me
974
01:31:32,286 --> 01:31:35,156
and not Khartoum, I'm left with no choice.
975
01:31:35,247 --> 01:31:38,378
How could I leave? Tell me.
How could I leave?
976
01:31:38,460 --> 01:31:40,590
What purpose is served by...
977
01:31:41,213 --> 01:31:44,423
If Wolseley's too late
and the Mahdi attacks...
978
01:31:44,549 --> 01:31:47,840
Oh, there are worse ways to die. Many.
979
01:31:48,679 --> 01:31:50,759
That's the essence of it, I suppose.
980
01:31:51,307 --> 01:31:54,637
Every man has a final weapon, his life.
981
01:31:55,269 --> 01:32:00,060
And if he's afraid of losing it,
he throws that weapon away.
982
01:32:00,150 --> 01:32:05,150
That's what they can't quite grasp,
that I'm not really afraid.
983
01:32:06,783 --> 01:32:09,873
And that's what they must understand,
isn't it?
984
01:32:11,079 --> 01:32:14,329
And no one can make them
understand it except me.
985
01:32:17,127 --> 01:32:19,467
You must be tired.
986
01:32:20,130 --> 01:32:22,960
Meet me at the dock tomorrow, early.
987
01:32:23,384 --> 01:32:24,555
Good night.
988
01:32:24,636 --> 01:32:25,636
Colonel.
989
01:32:28,682 --> 01:32:30,302
Good night, sir.
990
01:33:12,314 --> 01:33:14,444
To get her through
the blockade we'll have to armor the rails,
991
01:33:14,524 --> 01:33:17,324
set up Krupp guns here,
another one up forward.
992
01:33:17,402 --> 01:33:20,282
We'll carry the extra fuel
behind in a couple of luggers.
993
01:33:20,363 --> 01:33:22,954
I want every European
in Khartoum on this boat.
994
01:33:23,034 --> 01:33:26,584
The wives, children, consuls,
too, Frank Power and Herbin,
995
01:33:26,662 --> 01:33:30,833
and every Egyptian civilian you can
stack on board. You must get them all out.
996
01:33:31,668 --> 01:33:35,668
You mean, I go with them
and you stay here?
997
01:33:36,131 --> 01:33:40,052
Khartoum is my problem.
Getting these people out is yours.
998
01:33:40,803 --> 01:33:44,683
How else can I convince London
that I will not leave?
999
01:33:45,224 --> 01:33:47,264
But you'll be completely alone.
1000
01:33:47,352 --> 01:33:49,183
It's a gesture.
1001
01:33:49,271 --> 01:33:53,981
Ah. Come, little lady.
We'll take you back home.
1002
01:33:54,068 --> 01:33:58,159
Mr. Gladstone must understand
that I am capable of gestures too.
1003
01:34:01,284 --> 01:34:02,494
Hassan!
1004
01:34:11,837 --> 01:34:14,507
(PEOPLE SCREAMING)
1005
01:34:25,185 --> 01:34:26,766
(CRYING)
1006
01:34:34,570 --> 01:34:38,911
I don't ask you to be unafraid,
simply to act unafraid.
1007
01:34:52,090 --> 01:34:53,340
How are you going to handle Khartoum
1008
01:34:53,425 --> 01:34:55,136
when the word gets round that we're gone?
1009
01:34:55,219 --> 01:34:59,809
How are you going to handle Berber
if Mohammed el-Kheir has heavy guns?
1010
01:34:59,890 --> 01:35:01,770
We sink.
1011
01:35:01,851 --> 01:35:04,062
We both take our chances.
1012
01:35:05,147 --> 01:35:07,567
There are several letters in here,
1013
01:35:07,649 --> 01:35:10,399
appeals to Her Majesty the Queen,
1014
01:35:10,485 --> 01:35:13,326
the Pope in Rome,
the Sultan in Constantinople.
1015
01:35:13,406 --> 01:35:15,406
They're all for public display.
1016
01:35:15,491 --> 01:35:19,321
There's only one appeal that matters.
Wolseley.
1017
01:35:19,412 --> 01:35:22,162
And through Wolseley, Gladstone.
1018
01:35:22,248 --> 01:35:24,379
Perhaps now you can convince him.
1019
01:35:26,086 --> 01:35:30,346
Get through. You get through.
1020
01:35:33,052 --> 01:35:34,382
Good luck.
1021
01:35:40,518 --> 01:35:43,029
Gordon pasha, we are ready to sail.
1022
01:35:43,189 --> 01:35:44,859
Thank you, Hassan.
1023
01:35:48,152 --> 01:35:49,522
Well...
1024
01:35:52,282 --> 01:35:53,912
(BELL RINGING)
1025
01:36:15,057 --> 01:36:16,807
MAN 1: Why didn't we go, Gordon pasha?
1026
01:36:16,892 --> 01:36:19,313
MAN 2: Why wasn't I on the boat,
Gordon pasha?
1027
01:36:19,395 --> 01:36:21,155
I should have gone on the boat.
1028
01:36:39,417 --> 01:36:41,427
(CHATTERING)
1029
01:36:44,881 --> 01:36:48,172
This is Metema. We'll refuel.
1030
01:36:48,261 --> 01:36:50,841
Beyond here the shore
is held solidly by Mahdist tribesmen,
1031
01:36:50,930 --> 01:36:54,220
so you'd better go ashore
and stretch your legs. Be your last chance.
1032
01:36:54,600 --> 01:36:56,351
Firewood? We have no firewood!
1033
01:36:56,436 --> 01:36:57,476
Well, trees.
1034
01:36:57,563 --> 01:36:59,023
Trees? Do you see trees?
1035
01:36:59,106 --> 01:37:02,906
Oh, yes, a mile or two from the town,
and Egyptians hanging from them.
1036
01:37:02,985 --> 01:37:05,235
I need fuel. Tear up the dock.
1037
01:37:11,953 --> 01:37:13,203
Come on!
1038
01:37:30,223 --> 01:37:31,553
This is all we have left?
1039
01:37:31,641 --> 01:37:33,562
This is all we have left.
1040
01:37:33,644 --> 01:37:37,014
Excellency, do not blame
the superintendent.
1041
01:37:37,106 --> 01:37:41,486
Someone presented orders for grain,
with your forged signature and seal.
1042
01:37:41,569 --> 01:37:43,360
They sold it in the town for profit.
1043
01:37:43,447 --> 01:37:45,987
Find him. He will be executed.
1044
01:37:47,784 --> 01:37:49,834
For how long shall we eat?
1045
01:37:50,078 --> 01:37:54,499
The garrison will eat
for about two weeks. The town...
1046
01:37:54,959 --> 01:37:57,459
Requisition all stocks
of grain in the hands of merchants.
1047
01:37:57,545 --> 01:37:58,715
There is little, Gordon pasha.
1048
01:37:58,796 --> 01:38:02,587
All privately-owned livestock,
donkeys, goats, camels.
1049
01:38:17,442 --> 01:38:20,613
We ride beneath no more desert stars then.
1050
01:38:22,114 --> 01:38:24,074
And all things must end.
1051
01:38:26,077 --> 01:38:27,537
Take him too.
1052
01:38:35,253 --> 01:38:36,963
We reach Berber tomorrow morning.
1053
01:38:37,047 --> 01:38:40,718
This is the main point of blockade
so we'll be attacked from both shores.
1054
01:38:40,802 --> 01:38:45,302
If we get through,
it will be luck, discipline, surprise.
1055
01:38:45,390 --> 01:38:47,060
Pray for surprise.
1056
01:38:47,809 --> 01:38:51,610
And pray also that
Mohammed el-Kheir has no heavy guns.
1057
01:39:02,325 --> 01:39:04,495
Can't we move any further
from the shore than this, Captain?
1058
01:39:04,577 --> 01:39:08,878
I'm sorry, Stewart pasha.
We are already too close to the sandbank.
1059
01:39:40,200 --> 01:39:42,280
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
1060
01:39:45,999 --> 01:39:47,369
Full speed!
1061
01:39:51,254 --> 01:39:52,964
Number one, fire!
1062
01:39:55,301 --> 01:39:56,761
Number two, fire!
1063
01:39:58,888 --> 01:40:00,148
Fire at will!
1064
01:40:11,693 --> 01:40:12,694
(SCREAMS)
1065
01:40:37,430 --> 01:40:38,850
(GROANS)
1066
01:40:44,438 --> 01:40:48,278
They have no heavy guns.
We'll make it. We'll make it!
1067
01:41:13,512 --> 01:41:14,722
Reload.
1068
01:41:59,897 --> 01:42:02,357
(GREETING IN ARABIC)
1069
01:42:04,526 --> 01:42:07,777
The Mahdi and I,
we look at each other across the river.
1070
01:42:07,864 --> 01:42:09,694
We assault each other with assurance.
1071
01:42:09,782 --> 01:42:12,452
Mostly the assurance that we're still here.
1072
01:42:13,620 --> 01:42:15,711
I'm late. Forgive me.
1073
01:42:15,789 --> 01:42:17,579
Where is the army?
1074
01:42:19,877 --> 01:42:22,547
For whom do you speak, Sheikh Osman?
1075
01:42:22,630 --> 01:42:25,341
For myself. For the leaders of our people.
1076
01:42:29,679 --> 01:42:33,019
We do not come to you,
Gordon pasha, with cries and wails,
1077
01:42:33,099 --> 01:42:36,480
"Why did you not send us down the river
beyond the fringe of danger?"
1078
01:42:36,687 --> 01:42:39,897
We are not of Egypt. We are Sudanese.
1079
01:42:40,066 --> 01:42:43,817
And this is our country.
And this is our people within these walls.
1080
01:42:44,655 --> 01:42:46,665
When does the army come?
1081
01:42:48,450 --> 01:42:51,280
Good sirs, I can only tell you what I know.
1082
01:42:51,828 --> 01:42:55,789
I sent Stewart pasha
downriver to urge all possible haste.
1083
01:42:55,875 --> 01:42:57,875
It has been 10 days.
1084
01:42:57,961 --> 01:43:01,131
He should have reached
Major Kitchener in five or six.
1085
01:43:01,214 --> 01:43:02,715
It should not be long.
1086
01:43:03,050 --> 01:43:04,550
- How long?
-(SHUSHING)
1087
01:43:06,011 --> 01:43:08,721
The Nile is low, Gordon pasha.
1088
01:43:09,348 --> 01:43:12,069
Bellies grow empty and men feed on fear.
1089
01:43:13,436 --> 01:43:16,486
You do not have
this fear of death yourself, Excellency?
1090
01:43:17,524 --> 01:43:19,444
It's a luxury I've put behind me.
1091
01:43:20,653 --> 01:43:22,403
You are exceptional.
1092
01:43:23,239 --> 01:43:24,909
Gordon pasha,
1093
01:43:24,991 --> 01:43:28,031
when we accepted your
protection for ourselves and our people,
1094
01:43:28,119 --> 01:43:31,540
the Mahdi marked our souls for damnation.
1095
01:43:32,040 --> 01:43:34,880
We were not afraid. We trusted you.
1096
01:43:35,877 --> 01:43:37,587
Did we choose correctly?
1097
01:43:38,255 --> 01:43:41,546
You could not do otherwise.
It was against your convictions.
1098
01:43:41,634 --> 01:43:45,384
We now speak
of life and death, not convictions.
1099
01:43:49,518 --> 01:43:52,768
Do you propose going over to the Mahdi?
1100
01:43:52,855 --> 01:43:57,315
We propose nothing.
We ask, "Where is the army?"
1101
01:43:57,485 --> 01:43:59,145
I don't know!
1102
01:43:59,237 --> 01:44:02,487
I am wondering, is there an army?
1103
01:44:02,699 --> 01:44:04,579
Don't call me a liar.
1104
01:44:05,744 --> 01:44:07,335
I beg of you.
1105
01:44:08,873 --> 01:44:10,833
Or I shall have to lock you up.
1106
01:44:11,042 --> 01:44:12,582
We are locked up now.
1107
01:44:13,419 --> 01:44:16,880
Sheikh Osman,
you are Khartoum's most respected citizen.
1108
01:44:17,799 --> 01:44:20,929
If you leave, the city's spirit will break.
It will surely fall.
1109
01:44:21,011 --> 01:44:23,761
And you will be responsible
for its massacre.
1110
01:44:23,847 --> 01:44:27,638
I have no choice but to stay.
I repeat, you have us locked in.
1111
01:44:27,727 --> 01:44:29,027
- Gordon pasha.
-Wait!
1112
01:44:31,356 --> 01:44:34,987
If you were given the choice,
you still could not do this.
1113
01:44:35,444 --> 01:44:37,784
You could not leave Khartoum.
1114
01:44:37,863 --> 01:44:41,153
When one cannot choose,
one can never know.
1115
01:44:42,868 --> 01:44:45,669
But you will understand,
will you not, Excellency,
1116
01:44:45,747 --> 01:44:49,707
that there are those among us
more afraid of death than yourself?
1117
01:44:49,834 --> 01:44:52,044
We cannot all be exceptional.
1118
01:45:06,311 --> 01:45:09,441
Gordon pasha, the police.
1119
01:45:09,523 --> 01:45:11,433
They have the man who stole the grain.
1120
01:45:28,001 --> 01:45:31,172
Awaan, is this true?
1121
01:45:39,514 --> 01:45:41,395
Tomorrow morning.
1122
01:45:58,368 --> 01:46:01,699
MAN: Firing squad, take aim!
1123
01:46:02,832 --> 01:46:03,872
Fire!
1124
01:46:06,294 --> 01:46:08,595
MAN: Squad, forward march!
1125
01:46:15,721 --> 01:46:21,062
GORDON: As Governor General of the
Sudan, I issue the following proclamation.
1126
01:46:23,229 --> 01:46:28,740
At dawn tomorrow,
the city gate to the south will be opened.
1127
01:46:29,737 --> 01:46:32,737
It will stand open for three hours.
1128
01:46:33,574 --> 01:46:36,404
All inhabitants of the city who wish to leave
1129
01:46:37,579 --> 01:46:42,459
and seek the protection
of Mohammed Ahmed, known as the Mahdi,
1130
01:46:42,959 --> 01:46:45,669
will be free to do so.
1131
01:46:45,754 --> 01:46:49,085
No hindrance will be placed in their way.
1132
01:47:48,907 --> 01:47:50,537
MAN: I can't believe it.
1133
01:47:52,036 --> 01:47:53,836
When did you say the Abbas
passed through?
1134
01:47:53,913 --> 01:47:55,703
A month ago.
1135
01:48:07,928 --> 01:48:10,349
An armed steamer
called the Abbas passed through Metemma
1136
01:48:10,432 --> 01:48:12,972
downstream a month ago
and is since unreported.
1137
01:48:13,059 --> 01:48:16,229
General Gordon had
placed all Khartoum's Europeans on board
1138
01:48:16,313 --> 01:48:18,313
with instructions to run the blockade.
1139
01:48:19,649 --> 01:48:21,860
Colonel Stewart was in command.
1140
01:48:22,862 --> 01:48:24,452
Stewart!
1141
01:48:25,156 --> 01:48:28,366
Are you quite sure
that General Gordon wasn't on board?
1142
01:48:28,451 --> 01:48:30,462
General Gordon remained in Khartoum.
1143
01:48:31,038 --> 01:48:33,708
Sir, the Nile is falling.
1144
01:48:38,378 --> 01:48:40,549
What he's done
is to make a public announcement, sir,
1145
01:48:40,632 --> 01:48:42,432
that cannot be misunderstood.
1146
01:48:43,801 --> 01:48:45,471
He'll never leave.
1147
01:48:46,220 --> 01:48:48,641
Gentlemen, if you please.
1148
01:48:49,558 --> 01:48:52,518
We move instantly on Khartoum.
1149
01:48:52,603 --> 01:48:55,863
Only the camel corps is ready.
You, Sir Herbert, will take command.
1150
01:48:55,939 --> 01:48:57,190
I will stay here with the main force
1151
01:48:57,275 --> 01:48:58,785
moving up as soon as possible.
1152
01:48:58,860 --> 01:49:01,900
But you will go ahead by water to Debba.
1153
01:49:01,988 --> 01:49:05,528
Make your formation there.
Then take the desert crossing to Metemma,
1154
01:49:05,617 --> 01:49:07,828
there to embark for Khartoum.
1155
01:49:08,329 --> 01:49:11,869
Kitchener knows the route and the wells.
Move, gentlemen.
1156
01:49:12,541 --> 01:49:14,211
(BUGLE CALL)
1157
01:49:22,594 --> 01:49:24,384
Stand to your camels.
1158
01:49:25,097 --> 01:49:26,438
Mount!
1159
01:49:32,772 --> 01:49:34,983
Advance in column of sections
from the right.
1160
01:49:35,609 --> 01:49:37,119
(MARSHALING SOLDIERS)
1161
01:50:30,085 --> 01:50:31,926
Did you pack the powder tightly?
1162
01:50:32,005 --> 01:50:34,635
- Yes, Gordon pasha.
- All right then.
1163
01:50:35,508 --> 01:50:39,718
No, not too much sand on the fuse, man.
Give it plenty of air to burn.
1164
01:50:47,813 --> 01:50:52,694
Now, by firing this pistol into the tinderbox,
1165
01:50:53,445 --> 01:50:56,995
we can set off as many fuses
as we have running into it.
1166
01:51:02,955 --> 01:51:04,295
Like this.
1167
01:51:17,554 --> 01:51:19,435
Come along, come along.
1168
01:51:20,308 --> 01:51:22,518
- Call your men in.
-MAN: Over here!
1169
01:51:23,937 --> 01:51:25,567
MAN: Quickly, quickly!
1170
01:51:38,870 --> 01:51:40,080
(EXPLOSION)
1171
01:51:41,665 --> 01:51:42,745
Good.
1172
01:51:42,874 --> 01:51:46,295
Should be able to set off
about 20 fuses from each tinderbox.
1173
01:51:46,379 --> 01:51:50,049
I'll want 400 pots. The whole approach
to the city must be mined.
1174
01:51:50,132 --> 01:51:51,802
Yes, Gordon pasha.
1175
01:52:30,468 --> 01:52:31,478
Halt!
1176
01:52:34,599 --> 01:52:37,479
Form battle square!
Take up action stations!
1177
01:52:37,935 --> 01:52:40,645
Down, down! Down!
1178
01:52:42,316 --> 01:52:44,486
(SHOUTING)
1179
01:53:05,841 --> 01:53:07,221
(SCREAMS)
1180
01:53:17,938 --> 01:53:19,148
(MOANS)
1181
01:53:48,847 --> 01:53:52,267
- The Christian soldiers are on the river.
-Attack, Beloved One.
1182
01:53:52,351 --> 01:53:55,311
Attack now, Holy Person.
There is no more time. It is the moment.
1183
01:53:57,065 --> 01:54:00,065
Beloved One, give me the word.
1184
01:54:01,611 --> 01:54:03,651
Do I make my preparations?
1185
01:54:08,911 --> 01:54:12,161
Send me the one who writes English words.
1186
01:54:42,614 --> 01:54:45,035
(MEN CHATTERING)
1187
01:54:51,916 --> 01:54:54,297
- Wonderful!
-Gentlemen, what is this?
1188
01:54:54,378 --> 01:54:57,508
Excellency,
from Major Kitchener, a message at last.
1189
01:54:57,590 --> 01:54:59,800
British soldiers
have crossed the desert at Metemma.
1190
01:54:59,884 --> 01:55:01,894
They approach Khartoum on the river.
1191
01:55:05,390 --> 01:55:08,100
- And Stewart pasha?
- He's safe, Excellency.
1192
01:55:08,185 --> 01:55:10,195
The Abbas was delayed, but it is safe.
1193
01:55:10,270 --> 01:55:12,901
The messenger says,
so you know the news is true,
1194
01:55:12,982 --> 01:55:15,362
"Stewart pasha
still has the ring you gave him."
1195
01:55:16,486 --> 01:55:20,706
Give the man money, something to eat.
1196
01:55:23,786 --> 01:55:28,666
The messenger from the Major Kitchener
eats and says "Thank you."
1197
01:55:28,749 --> 01:55:30,539
- Mmm.
-He is very brave.
1198
01:55:31,628 --> 01:55:35,258
I say to the messenger,
"Is it true that the Major Kitchener
1199
01:55:35,340 --> 01:55:38,260
"has big dark eyes like fires in the night?"
1200
01:55:38,343 --> 01:55:40,264
And he say, "it's true."
1201
01:55:40,346 --> 01:55:42,556
That his eyes are like black daggers
1202
01:55:42,640 --> 01:55:44,600
and before them, all men tremble.
1203
01:55:46,769 --> 01:55:51,530
The Major Kitchener
has eyes as blue as little flowers.
1204
01:55:53,193 --> 01:55:56,733
The man was bragging. He'd never seen
Kitchener. He didn't want to say so.
1205
01:55:58,365 --> 01:56:00,156
That's true, master.
1206
01:56:02,578 --> 01:56:04,418
If he was lying, how could he know
1207
01:56:04,497 --> 01:56:07,247
about that ring I gave Stewart pasha?
1208
01:56:07,375 --> 01:56:09,956
Anyway, if the Mahdi
wanted to send me a false message,
1209
01:56:10,045 --> 01:56:11,915
why would he say the soldiers
were coming?
1210
01:56:12,005 --> 01:56:14,085
It makes no sense, Khaleel.
1211
01:56:14,591 --> 01:56:16,471
That is right, master.
1212
01:57:02,102 --> 01:57:05,693
Tell Abdullah he may make his preparations.
1213
01:57:05,773 --> 01:57:07,773
Then he must come to me.
1214
01:58:06,966 --> 01:58:08,836
Where did you get this?
1215
01:58:09,928 --> 01:58:13,308
The Mahdi asks you
to come to his tent in peace.
1216
01:58:13,848 --> 01:58:16,978
A felucca awaits
you at the ivory traders' dock.
1217
01:58:17,519 --> 01:58:21,520
I am his first khalifa, Abdullah et Taaisha.
1218
01:58:21,607 --> 01:58:23,267
And I remain here.
1219
01:58:24,193 --> 01:58:25,863
I am your hostage.
1220
01:58:27,863 --> 01:58:31,874
You will not regard it
as a discourtesy, I hope, if I lock you in?
1221
01:58:49,138 --> 01:58:51,848
If I'm not back by dawn, you'll be shot.
1222
01:59:02,569 --> 01:59:04,829
Welcome, Gordon pasha.
1223
01:59:04,904 --> 01:59:07,075
Come in peace.
1224
01:59:07,158 --> 01:59:09,158
How did this come to you?
1225
01:59:10,661 --> 01:59:12,331
It came to you
1226
01:59:12,413 --> 01:59:15,494
with the greetings
of your friend far down the river.
1227
01:59:15,584 --> 01:59:18,374
Sheikh Ali Ibrahim of the Monassir people.
1228
01:59:19,254 --> 01:59:20,964
Sheikh Ali Ibrahim
1229
01:59:21,048 --> 01:59:26,139
has been induced by my friend
and great emir, Mohammed el-Kheir,
1230
01:59:26,220 --> 01:59:28,970
to acknowledge me as the Expected One,
1231
01:59:29,515 --> 01:59:31,265
the true Mahdi.
1232
01:59:33,102 --> 01:59:37,863
He sends you assurance that, should you
care to proceed down the Nile,
1233
01:59:37,941 --> 01:59:41,071
he will offer you safe passage.
You are my guest.
1234
01:59:41,153 --> 01:59:43,413
Why do you invite me here now?
1235
01:59:44,949 --> 01:59:48,739
Because the prophet Mohammed,
blessings be upon him,
1236
01:59:48,828 --> 01:59:51,038
has appeared to me in a vision,
1237
01:59:51,122 --> 01:59:54,633
and instructed me
to attack Khartoum with fire and sword.
1238
01:59:55,836 --> 02:00:00,016
Twenty thousand angels
will precede my men into battle,
1239
02:00:00,716 --> 02:00:04,017
and terror will afflict and subdue
my enemies
1240
02:00:04,096 --> 02:00:08,356
as far as Mecca
and Baghdad and Constantinople.
1241
02:00:08,433 --> 02:00:10,643
For all will know
1242
02:00:10,727 --> 02:00:12,528
what a truly great miracle has been done
1243
02:00:12,605 --> 02:00:14,105
by my lord Mohammed.
1244
02:00:16,275 --> 02:00:21,406
I should prefer, Gordon pasha,
that you leave Khartoum now.
1245
02:00:22,991 --> 02:00:24,781
You are not my enemy.
1246
02:00:25,619 --> 02:00:28,459
Why should your blood sweeten the Nile?
1247
02:00:30,500 --> 02:00:32,970
What you're saying is this.
1248
02:00:33,044 --> 02:00:36,004
So long as I am in Khartoum,
you dread to attack,
1249
02:00:36,089 --> 02:00:39,259
for a British army is close
and you know it well.
1250
02:00:40,219 --> 02:00:41,639
British army?
1251
02:00:43,097 --> 02:00:44,097
Oh.
1252
02:00:47,309 --> 02:00:50,730
The message. I sent the message.
1253
02:00:51,857 --> 02:00:53,857
There is no British army.
1254
02:00:54,568 --> 02:00:56,778
Your soldiers are in Egypt.
1255
02:00:56,862 --> 02:01:00,583
They play cards,
drink the liquor, pursue women.
1256
02:01:01,284 --> 02:01:03,864
Why would you send me a false message?
1257
02:01:04,704 --> 02:01:08,535
Oh, it is sometimes wise, Gordon pasha,
1258
02:01:08,625 --> 02:01:13,045
to provide a man
with a few sunny hours of fraudulent hope,
1259
02:01:13,380 --> 02:01:15,380
so that when night comes,
1260
02:01:15,466 --> 02:01:19,967
he will have a more perfect inward vision
of the truth of his hopelessness.
1261
02:01:26,770 --> 02:01:28,520
I sent the message.
1262
02:01:28,939 --> 02:01:30,939
There is no British army.
1263
02:01:32,234 --> 02:01:35,905
You are alone. Quite alone.
1264
02:01:45,625 --> 02:01:47,795
If this is true,
1265
02:01:47,877 --> 02:01:50,087
then what difference can it make to you
1266
02:01:50,171 --> 02:01:53,631
if one man leaves or stays?
1267
02:01:55,052 --> 02:01:57,422
It is important to me.
1268
02:01:57,513 --> 02:02:00,433
Please explain to me the importance.
1269
02:02:00,516 --> 02:02:04,107
Because I am a man of mercy,
and I tell you, go!
1270
02:02:04,812 --> 02:02:07,432
Leave in safety now!
1271
02:02:09,192 --> 02:02:11,062
You are not a man of mercy,
1272
02:02:11,152 --> 02:02:14,693
for your visions
have not revealed to you what mercy is.
1273
02:02:15,824 --> 02:02:17,864
And so why do you do this?
1274
02:02:18,702 --> 02:02:20,282
You are not my enemy.
1275
02:02:20,371 --> 02:02:21,961
Oh, but I am.
1276
02:02:23,458 --> 02:02:26,458
You should understand, Mohammed Ahmed.
1277
02:02:26,545 --> 02:02:28,625
We are so alike, you and I.
1278
02:02:31,967 --> 02:02:34,258
You would welcome death, wouldn't you,
1279
02:02:34,345 --> 02:02:36,805
if death could be the servant of your life?
1280
02:02:37,848 --> 02:02:39,308
Wouldn't you?
1281
02:02:41,520 --> 02:02:46,280
I, too. If my life has a single point, it's this.
1282
02:02:47,067 --> 02:02:49,027
I've learned to be unafraid of death,
1283
02:02:49,111 --> 02:02:51,822
but never to be unafraid of failure.
1284
02:02:52,448 --> 02:02:55,278
If, by the act of surrendering my life,
1285
02:02:55,368 --> 02:02:58,328
I can bring down the world on your head,
1286
02:02:58,413 --> 02:03:00,834
then it's an arrangement I welcome.
1287
02:03:01,792 --> 02:03:03,462
Do you understand?
1288
02:03:04,587 --> 02:03:06,167
I'm sure you do.
1289
02:03:07,256 --> 02:03:10,307
If you, as a servant of your god,
1290
02:03:10,385 --> 02:03:13,645
must use 100,000 warriors to destroy me,
1291
02:03:13,722 --> 02:03:16,182
a solitary servant of my god,
1292
02:03:17,183 --> 02:03:19,854
then you whisper to me,
Mohammed Ahmed,
1293
02:03:20,813 --> 02:03:23,353
who will be remembered from Khartoum?
1294
02:03:23,816 --> 02:03:26,276
Your god or mine?
1295
02:03:28,195 --> 02:03:31,286
But, Gordon pasha,
1296
02:03:31,366 --> 02:03:34,706
why should you be remembered?
1297
02:03:34,786 --> 02:03:38,167
You're forgotten already.
1298
02:03:42,462 --> 02:03:45,632
Is it possible you still do not believe me?
1299
02:03:53,932 --> 02:03:56,973
I do not believe any infidel.
1300
02:03:57,062 --> 02:03:59,822
Even you, Gordon pasha
1301
02:03:59,898 --> 02:04:03,698
can face a lonely death without terror.
1302
02:04:14,205 --> 02:04:17,286
Is it the Englishman
whose name was Frank Power?
1303
02:04:27,470 --> 02:04:29,600
Is it the Frenchman
whose name was Herbin?
1304
02:04:48,243 --> 02:04:50,743
Is it not your own ring?
1305
02:05:01,090 --> 02:05:03,591
Do you leave Khartoum?
1306
02:05:05,637 --> 02:05:08,937
I cannot leave Khartoum,
Mohammed Ahmed,
1307
02:05:11,017 --> 02:05:13,148
for I too perform miracles.
1308
02:05:14,230 --> 02:05:16,280
And you shall witness one.
1309
02:05:19,068 --> 02:05:21,369
While I may die of your miracle,
1310
02:05:22,781 --> 02:05:25,161
you will surely die of mine.
1311
02:05:51,605 --> 02:05:53,855
Sir! Sir! The river!
1312
02:06:06,037 --> 02:06:07,538
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
1313
02:06:17,008 --> 02:06:20,718
So here we are.
1314
02:06:30,523 --> 02:06:32,563
All right then, gentlemen.
1315
02:07:21,829 --> 02:07:24,120
(EXPLOSION)
1316
02:07:25,917 --> 02:07:26,997
Fire!
1317
02:08:09,131 --> 02:08:10,382
Get back!
1318
02:08:19,101 --> 02:08:20,811
(SHOUTING)
1319
02:08:26,400 --> 02:08:27,860
Hurry! Hurry!
1320
02:08:33,617 --> 02:08:34,827
Fire one!
1321
02:08:37,705 --> 02:08:39,415
(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
1322
02:08:53,180 --> 02:08:54,520
(SCREAMS)
1323
02:09:09,240 --> 02:09:10,700
(SCREAMS)
1324
02:10:15,813 --> 02:10:17,893
(ALL SHOUTING)
1325
02:10:40,132 --> 02:10:41,632
(SCREAMS)
1326
02:10:41,717 --> 02:10:43,217
(GUNSHOT)
1327
02:11:11,625 --> 02:11:13,125
Well, Khaleel.
1328
02:12:08,396 --> 02:12:10,146
(ALL SHOUTING)
1329
02:12:16,322 --> 02:12:18,112
(CHEERING)
1330
02:12:46,813 --> 02:12:48,903
Take it away!
1331
02:12:50,735 --> 02:12:52,405
Where is Abdullah?
1332
02:12:54,113 --> 02:12:55,573
I forbade it.
1333
02:12:56,783 --> 02:12:58,613
I forbade it.
1334
02:13:09,923 --> 02:13:13,173
NARRATOR: The relief came two days late.
1335
02:13:13,260 --> 02:13:14,680
Two days.
1336
02:13:14,761 --> 02:13:18,392
And for 15 years,
the Sudanese paid the price
1337
02:13:18,474 --> 02:13:20,554
with pestilence and famine,
1338
02:13:20,643 --> 02:13:23,103
the British with shame and war.
1339
02:13:24,021 --> 02:13:27,862
Within months after Gordon died,
the Mahdi died.
1340
02:13:27,943 --> 02:13:30,613
Why? We shall never know.
1341
02:13:30,696 --> 02:13:34,276
Gordon rests in his beloved Sudan.
1342
02:13:34,366 --> 02:13:37,697
We cannot tell how long
his memory will live.
1343
02:13:38,997 --> 02:13:40,957
But there is this.
1344
02:13:41,040 --> 02:13:44,460
A world with no room for the Gordons
1345
02:13:44,544 --> 02:13:47,845
is a world that will return to the sands.
100837
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