Original subtitles

- Dig.

- Hey.

- Hi.

One more?

- I think I've had enough.

- Vanya.

I got you a present.

- I'm intrigued.

Aren't you?

- I shouldn't take all the credit.

Dima made the plates,

but it was my idea.

- It looks real, I'll give you that.

But a real money

has a smell to it.

And this one smells like a chemistry set.

- It's a one that was bleached,

and then a 100 was printed on it.

- Clever.

- Not clever enough.

Look at the words,

"In God We Trust."

They're blurry.

- It's hard to tell, really.

- If I can tell,

so can anyone else.

And it's not very bright in here.

- I thought maybe you'd like it.

- What can you give a man who has everything?

- All I want in life is to keep my promises.

Mm.

- Marat got an A on his math test.

Can you say something to him?

- Mm-hmm.

- Daddy!

- Anyachka!

Mm.

- Have you seen the dill outside, Dad?

It's up to my knees.

- I told you, you have to thin them out.

- Here we go again.

Marat, you'll be late!

- I told you, you had to thin them out a little,

not kill them, mm.

How's Pasha?

- Hungry.

- That's a healthy sign.

Pancakes?

May I please have one?

- Horses eat oats, not pancakes.

- Horses eat oats.

When did you get so smart?

- Hey, Dad.

- Morning, Marat.

- Dad, where were you?

- Working.

Congrats on your test, I'm proud of you.

- I made your favorite, Marat.

- Working, where?

- In California.

Your food's getting cold, eat.

- Dad, I know California.

The teacher taught us in school.

♪ Alabama, Arizona, Alaska, Arkansas, California ♪

- That's okay, Marat.

I don't have to hear all 50 states.

How are things at the hospital?

- I may have to work a double shift this weekend.

Another nurse is getting married.

- Can't they find someone else?

- Mm.

I don't like to disappoint people that depend on me.

Eat guys!

♪ Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware ♪

- The name Oceans Import Export was my idea.

But you'll never hear me say that to Vanya.

- Piece of shit!

- It's 10:30.

What the fuck are you doing here so early?

- We started last night.

- We're celebrating Vanya's birthday and we never stopped.

- Kirill, did you sell those cigarettes yet?

- Almost.

- You need to get your shit out of here today.

- I'm just waiting for Dima.

Dima is gonna put stamps on them.

- I don't care what Dima promised you.

Get your fucking cigarettes off our property.

- Okay, fine.

- Go.

Now!

My share of the red shipments was 18%.

Of course, it didn't make a dime

but it was good for laundering money.

- OJ Simpson pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles today,

stating for the record

that he was, quote,

"100% not guilty."

- Good morning, Vladimir Abramovich.

Coffee?

- Please.

- Standing along side him

was the legendary lawyer F. Lee Bailey.

- Here you are.

- Thank you.

- Absolutely, 100% not guilty.

- My share of the black shipments was 25%.

I don't need to explain how much money it made me.

- Vlad?

You scared me.

- Pretend as if I'm not here, Dima.

- Well, how did Vanya take it?

- He thought it was

interesting.

- "Interesting"? - Mm-hm.

- What does that mean?

Either he liked it or he didn't.

- He said it didn't smell right.

- I didn't take a perfume course at the Moscow Art Academy,

so you may be on your own with this one.

- You know, if you try to fake a dollar bill,

the Secret Service comes after you.

It's just not worth it.

- Monya, I can think of plenty of places around the world

that don't have a secret service.

- Who would be dumb enough?

- So what'd you get your uncle, huh?

A $100 fucking tie?

- I got him a hooker.

- Mm.

- But he already happened to have a date for the night,

so I played with her myself.

- You're a mensch, Monya.

A mensch.

- By the way, did you tell that putz, Kirill?

- Cigarettes are coming out as we speak.

- And the chocolate?

- No one is gonna ask questions

about a warehouse full of chocolate.

- Vlad!

Vlad, listen.

That putz!

Listen, I wanna talk to you about something.

- What?

- What do you think of this color?

For the bathrooms. - Bathrooms?

- Babushka's.

- Babushka's?

Monya, what are you talking about?

- The club, you dumbass, the club.

I didn't mean that, Vlad.

Listen, I just.

I was hoping to get your opinion on this one.

Leprechaun green.

- Leprechaun green?

Reminds me of a police officer.

- Funny.

- Why are you asking me this?

I told you I don't wanna be a part of your nightclub.

- I know.

- I told you another club is more heat.

Your uncle has one already.

- Yeah, and you already said that.

- Well, so why are you asking me this?

- I was just hoping to get your opinion and,

it seems your not a fan of the color.

- I thought you'd be in late today,

or not at all.

- There's some bad news.

- You got the AIDS virus from that hooker last night?

- Worse.

- Oh, you fell in love with the hooker from last night?

- There's a problem just came up with one of our shipments.

- I'll send Kirill or Armen to take care of it.

- One of our black shipments.

I need to send someone to Russia.

There's an officer in there,

who thinks he's clever.

- Me?

I got my club opening in three weeks.

I'm fucking knee-deep in paperwork.

- I didn't say I was going to send you.

Well.

- What would you have me do?

- Print up some of that Monopoly money

you and Dima have been working on.

Spread it around.

But don't be too generous,

or they will start asking questions.

- Why me?

- I need to send someone with authority.

Our pilot is threatening to leave without the shipment.

You need to leave quick and sort it all out.

- Why don't you pull some strings?

Make one of your puppets dance.

- You ever read the Bible, Vlad?

I mean not the Old Testament, the new one.

There's a story in there,

when Satan asks Jesus,

"If you're the Son of God,

why don't you jump off a cliff and show us?"

And you know what Jesus said?

- "You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."

- And who said the Jews don't read the Bible?

Mm.

- Did you tell them about our vacation?

- You know, I couldn't say something like that.

- Why didn't you?

Maybe they could have sent someone else.

- I'll be back by Monday, Elena.

- Where are you going?

- To Russia.

There's a problem with a shipment.

- Russia?

Don't put your life in danger.

- It's nothing.

Just a misunderstanding.

Nothing to worry about.

- Why do I wish you had lied

and said you were going to California?

Wait, don't break the superstition.

- Who the hell are these guys?

- They probably just wanna check

if our seatbelts are fastened.

- Why didn't you pay me?

- I've already paid your associates.

- Those were federal authorities.

We represent the local authorities.

- We are from Golyanovo.

- Oh, wow.

How is it that I've never heard of you before?

- 1986 Wrestling Championship, Budapest.

Gold medal.

100 million people watch.

1987 Wrestling Championship.

France.

Gold medal.

120 million people watched.

1988 Olympics South Korea.

Silver medal.

One billion people watch.

And you've never heard of me?

- If you let us go, I'll give you $730,000.

- Why that amount?

- Because that's how many $100 bills fits

inside a standard Samsonite Attache briefcase.

- Mm.

You're free to go.

- You're welcome.

- Don't run, act natural.

How soon can we be ready?

- 10 minutes, to warm up the engines.

- Make it five.

- I can't believe that worked.

Those fucking morons.

- Kostyanko!

Take a look at this.

The numbers are the same.

- Let's go!

- I thought you said

we're supposed to act natural.

- Can this plane fly with holes?

- I've never tried.

- We need to take off, immediately.

- What we need to do is to get to the end of the runway

so we can turn around.

- Tell me we have a machine gun here somewhere.

- Of course.

This is a Russian plane.

- Let's get go it!

- Raise the ramp.

Raise the ramp!

- The Moscow Fire Department said it was a firebomb.

One of our guys made it out.

Raffi, the Armenian.

But the rest were trapped inside.

This is what's left of our office in Yekaterinburg.

Somehow they got into the basement.

So far, they haven't been able to identify the bodies.

So, maybe some of our employees are still alive.

I haven't heard a word from anyone.

St. Petersburg.

The bomb didn't go off,

but that same afternoon there was a gun battle.

No survivors, unfortunately.

- Who the fuck would do this?

- There is only one organization

that disrespects our territory,

the Golyanovo.

- Why now?

Why us?

- Vlad?

- We blew up their airport,

spread a lot of fake money around,

and this is their response.

- I say we put their heads on spike.

If need be.

Their girlfriends too.

- And then what?

Huh?

- Why do we need these offices for anyway?

I thought these people were just our paper pushers.

- How would you expect to run and import export company

without anyone to import or export to?

- You think your fucking cigarettes keep the lights on

in this place?

Our entire profit is based on the black shipments.

The ones that don't even step foot in New York.

- Relax!

Brothers.

We have a plan.

- This is Lublinskaya organizatsiya.

They control banks,

shipping lines,

and some night clubs.

Most importantly,

they are well represented in the Russian government.

- And you trust these people?

- I knew their leader, Pasha Ivanov, in Perm.

When you are as big as we are,

you need an even bigger roof.

- More partners means more mouths to feed.

- Did I accuse anyone here of starting this war?

I only ask if one of us makes a mess

that person helps clean it up.

In two weeks, the leaders of the Lubslinskaya organisatsiya

are traveling to the US as part of the Yeltsin delegation.

They wish to make an agreement.

- Since this regards the use of our obshak funds,

it's only fair we take a vote.

All in favor.

- You don't kill the king with a vote.

- Some guys came looking for you.

- Who?

- I don't know.

Russian guys.

They were wearing pointy shoes.

You know, the kind of where the toes curl upward?

- What'd you tell them?

- I told them to get new shoes.

- Dig.

- Never been hit with a shovel before.

- You should have shot him sooner.

- I wanted to see the look on your face.

- How did you find me?

- After you blew up the airport, everyone blamed Kostyanko.

He was toast.

And the Golyanovo ordered it that way.

But Kostyanko thought he had one more shot

at getting his spot back if he could find you.

So I told him I knew you and wanted revenge

for when you tried to kill me in Karaganda.

- He believed that?

So, now you're a gangster?

- Mm, businessman.

You?

- Also a businessman.

- Mm-hm.

- Tell me what happened to you after I last saw you?

- Your plan didn't work.

In '91, Gorbachev gave an amnesty,

became a free man.

Went looking for work, but,

well, there was only one kind of job available so.

- How long do you plan to stay here?

- Oh, I like America.

I hear you have something called warning shots?

Is that true?

- You kidding?

- So.

How about you?

Is your wife Elena in America?

- No.

- It's a long ride.

Tell me what happened.

Ah.

- I was earning 500 rubles a month,

selling boatloads of televisions on the black market,

using the connections I had made in the army.

It wasn't really the clothes or the girls

or the fact that I always knew how to get a brand new TV.

I just knew I was a little more clever at it

than other people.

- And lucky too.

- Happy Anniversary. - Happy Anniversary.

- I was gonna wrap it, but it was too big.

- It's really big. - Mm-hmm.

I wanted the best.

- I was happy with the old one, but this one is nice too.

- I know you always said you wanted to see

what life is like in other countries,

now you can see it in color.

- Where did you get it from?

- You don't like it?

- I didn't say that.

- When your mom fed you dinner,

did you always ask her where the food came from?

- Only when it tasted funny.

- You're too smart for me.

- Aren't you gonna ask me what I got you?

- Oh.

- Ooh.

Ooh.

- I always knew there's something up there.

It's, it's wonderful.

- Mm, it's not a color TV.

- It's great.

I love pineapples.

- First time we met, you said I was like a pineapple.

Tough on the outside, but sweet on the inside.

Remember?

- I seem to remember a line from Lermontov,

but I suppose I said that too.

- I took all your corny poetry.

- Mm. - Mm-hmm.

And put it into a can.

- Mm.

- To be honest, I didn't know what to get a man

who has no trouble getting anything.

- I love it.

- Happy Anniversary.

- Happy Anniversary.

- How are things at the hospital?

How's Andrei, the drunk, with the broken arms?

- Oh.

I lit a pack's worth of cigarettes for him today.

So, I'm not sure he's getting any better.

Mm.

Um, remember one of the nurses, um, Marina?

- Vaguely.

- You know the one with, uh, two kids,

and the engineer husband, Pasha.

- Mm, now, I remember.

- She handed in her resignation papers today.

She and her family are moving to America.

- And?

- She applied to the resettlement program for Jews.

The one that I showed you in Pravda, remember?

I guess she won a visa.

- I told you, this program gives out 10 or 20 visas a year

to satisfy the Americans.

The rest have a bull's eye put on them.

Not for me.

Especially considering what I do.

My partner has a fishing boat on the Black Sea.

Who knows maybe.

If I sell enough of these TVs,

we can jump in the boat and paddle to America, huh?

Elenachka?

Sorry.

Can we not think about it today?

- Okay.

- I was gonna get a bigger TV,

but then I thought you might be worried

that people will think we don't read any books.

- You're right,

I would have thought that.

- Mm-hm.

- What does Masha want now?

Oh, God.

Just tell her we're out of everything she'll go away.

- She's older, be nice to her.

Who is it?

- Masha.

- Vladimir Abramovich Bernshtein.

- It took the court only an hour

to hand me a 10-year sentence.

Elena got the same.

- I got a joke, wanna hear it?

- No, not really.

- It's funny.

- Tell it.

- So the optimist and the pessimist are standing

in line one day for bread.

The pessimist says, "Things can't get any worse."

The optimist says, "Yes, they can."

- That's funny.

- What's the matter?

You don't think that's funny?

- You're telling so many jokes, we'll miss our quota.

And then we'll drop down to a 7B ration.

- Are you an idiot?

We're building a punishment block,

sooner we finish this,

the sooner they'll have a new place to beat us.

I got one you'll like.

The International Space Convention.

- He'll never make it.

- He'll make it.

Vornin is fast, he can outrun anyone.

Vronin could've won the Olympics.

He'll make it.

- He's got no supplies.

There's nowhere to run.

- You'll see, Volodya, let's just your Jew mind thinking.

Run!

Don't look back.

- He must have made it by now.

- Well, at least he'll give the guards some trouble.

- You know that means, we have to do his share.

- You see, he made it.

- Are you a dissident?

- No.

- I thought all Jews were dissidents.

Who's that girl?

That picture you're always looking at?

- No one.

- Ah, Jewish girl, huh?

- What?

- Show me.

Show me, show me.

- Okay.

Don't touch.

- Not bad.

- Not bad?

- The beautiful ones are always trouble, huh?

- No, she was good to me.

Real nice.

For our last anniversary, she gave me a can of pineapples.

- You could get pineapples on any street corner in Moscow.

- Not in Kishinev.

You've never seen a woman with eyes like this.

- I have.

Her name was Ludmila,

ballet dancer at Gorky Theater.

I used to steal necklaces on the bus and give them to her.

- So you're a thief?

- Pickpocket. - Same thing.

- And you?

- Smuggler.

- Well, I can't see the point of being a smuggler.

What's there to smuggle these days?

And from where?

- A good television's worth a lot more

than anything you can find in someone else's pockets.

- First night of Ramadan tonight.

- What?

- For the Chechens.

And they like to beat up Jews on Ramadan.

- What are you looking at?

- Tell me,

how come the Vors have so much power in this camp?

- How come they call this soup?

- I'm serious.

- I know what you really wanna ask me.

The answer's no.

They'll never let you join them.

- Because I'm a Jew?

- Because you haven't killed anyone.

- Yet.

- Tell me how to join the Vors,

and I'll give you medicine for your hand.

- From where?

- This bread has been underneath my bed for a week.

- It's penicillin.

It'll keep you from getting amputated.

Take it for a week.

- Chechens.

- Give us your jacket.

- No.

- You're not going to be able

to get your jacket back, those men will kill you.

- If I don't get a jacket by October,

I'm dead anyway.

- I got a friend that works in Transport.

He'll probably get you a new jacket off the next train.

I know why you want that jacket.

You don't need that picture.

- You don't understand.

When I got arrested, they took my wife too.

Said she had to have known the TV wasn't Russian.

The picture's the only way to find her.

- Say your name.

- Bernstein.

Vladimir Bernstein.

- Say your name for us.

- Aleksei Rukov.

- Don't think I'll hesitate to kick your ass.

- I'll be fine.

- You haven't won until Grusinin says you have.

Don't stop fighting until then.

- I was in the boxing team when I studied in Leningrad.

You fight pretty well for an amateur.

But, I mean, you're not the boxer that Vronin was.

- You're an asshole, Aleksei.

- Don't you get it?

I got in that fight to save your life.

Anybody else would have killed you for being a Jew.

The bread you gave me saved my hand.

I wanted to repay the favor.

- You know what I want you to tell me.

- The Vors are worse than animals.

Can't let that happen to you.

- A letter came yesterday from my mother-in-law.

Elena is in a prison camp

in Karaganda region.

Lagpunkt 84.

A woman's camp.

- You think the Vors will help you find her?

You wanna join the Vors?

I'll tell you what I know.

First thing you'll have to do is,

get a little creative about your past.

- I'm sorry.

- Grusinin wants to see you.

- And if I say no.

- You won't say no.

- You look smaller than I remembered.

Come in, have a seat.

You hungry?

Want some sugar?

- Yes.

- When I was in Kolyma,

they gave us our sugar ration once a month.

We got it in handfuls.

Ate it so fast, we choked on it.

Called it, Sugar Day.

Here, drink some chifir.

I heard you're a smuggler.

- On occasion.

- It'll be a long time before you smuggle again.

Do you have enough books to keep you from getting bored?

- What do you want from me?

- What would you have to give me?

I wanna give you an opportunity.

What you did to those beasts impressed me.

Same as I'm impressed

when the guards bring me a female prisoner

I haven't fucked yet.

- Who are you?

- We're the closest to what most people mean

when they think of Anarchists.

But our rules matter more to us

than Lenin does to the party.

The Soviet Union

will only last for another 10 years at most.

Everything will be in our hands after that.

- And you plan to run Russia from these barracks?

- When the crow dies,

it will be safer here than in the Kremlin.

To join us, you must go before the other Vors.

If you answer their questions incorrectly,

they will kill you.

Do you agree?

- I only ask for one thing.

- Brothers,

tonight we're going to decide if Vladimir Bernstein

is honorable enough to join our ranks.

Give us a brief account of your life and exploits.

- I was raised in an orphanage in Kishinev.

By age 11, I had my own street gang.

We used to run through the markets

and take whatever we could

while one of us made a distraction.

By 21, I had my own smuggling racket.

- What did you smuggle?

- Televisions and radios,

from Germany and Italy for the black market.

- Later I shipped out heroin

through Odessa on a fishing boat

to Greece and Italy.

I had a connection in the Caucasus.

- But how did they catch you?

- They ratted me out.

I used to cut the tongues out of men who spoke too much.

- But it's not enough to know how to smuggle heroin.

- You are Jew, no?

- Yes.

- All the Bolsheviks were Jews.

- When I hear the word Bolshevik, I reach for my knife.

- A man after my own heart.

I don't trust a Jew.

- I only believe in what I see and what I can take.

- You see?

- Do you know our laws?

- Yes.

- Begin.

- In three years,

I had contributed enough to the obshak

to force Grusinin to make a deal with the guards.

- 2B ration.

But the quota is still the same.

- Orders from Moscow. - Look at these suckers.

- Fish for the bear.

You get sleep at your new job?

- Enough.

-Quota two tons.

- Package came for you.

- What package?

Forgive me.

This was the only way.

- I'm happy just to see you again.

Oh, God.

Volodya.

- Are you okay?

- Yeah.

I'll survive.

- Got you something.

It's not much.

Mm.

I was gonna read from Evgeniy Onegin

then I figured the timing might be wrong.

- You always know the right words for every occasion.

- Maybe the only thing I'm good at.

- It's perfect.

I'll savor every bite.

How did you find me?

- I gave them your picture.

What's wrong?

- He forced me to do things.

Terrible things.

- Who?

- I don't know his name,

but he had a tattoo.

A cat tattoo on his hand.

What now?

- Eat those pineapples, Elenachka.

Let their sweetness bring you back to life, huh?

Try and remember our apartment.

The window looking out at the park.

The sound the kettle made when the water boiled, huh?

The smell of the car we used to drive.

Try and make your mind

forget everything that happened between then and now.

- How, Volodya?

How?

- You must, Elena.

You must.

- Vlad.

- Someone get your cigarettes today?

- I'm hurt badly, Volodya, I think I broke something.

- Let me help you.

Dr. Adler, this man needs immediate medical attention.

Get him the morphine.

- Three rubles for the obshak.

- We'll deal you in the next hand.

- Tell me joke.

- No more jokes, let's play.

- I got one.

What's the difference between capitalism and socialism?

In capitalism,

man exploits man.

In socialism, it's the reverse.

- Funny.

Not as funny as the joke about the Armenian,

but still funny.

- I can't keep telling jokes about Armenians all the time.

- See?

Man exploits man.

What's the news, Father?

- The guards tell me

that there's been a syphilis outbreak in Lagpunkt 19.

It may take time but it will land here no doubt.

- Is that a piece of advice or some encouragement?

- Take it how you like.

- Oh, uh, I got another one fellows.

Uh, just remembered,

it's about two prisoners at the Mongolian border.

Siroga and Peter.

And if you don't laugh, I'll cut your eyes out.

So the two prisoners.

- Whatever debt you think I still owe you

this should repay it.

- Oh, I'd say we're almost even.

Hey, tell me, Volodya,

did they help you find Elena?

- They found her.

It was not what I expected.

- What happened?

You should make a run for it.

- Like Sherdenko and Vronin?

- Not like Sherdenko and Vronin.

- I can tell what you're planning and I'm not interested.

- Kotov and I have been

drying bread in our barracks for weeks now.

We almost saved a kilo.

- No, thanks.

- Well, if you're not coming with us, at least help us.

- How?

- You could distract the guards.

- With what?

Jokes?

- I don't know.

Bribe them.

- If you escape,

the guards get in trouble.

That means the Vors get in trouble.

I can't help you.

It's a death wish.

You shouldn't have told me.

- So now that you're a Vor,

you never wanna leave this place?

Tell me, Volodya, what happened to Elena?

Was she hurt?

I mean, don't you want revenge against these animals?

Maybe there's a way we can help each other.

- If you want more supplies, you need to pay in blood.

- Why do I feel like you're letting me win?

- Why don't you ask me at the end of the game?

- If you're gonna play like an imbecile,

I'd rather play myself.

- Father, I came to ask a favor,

the prisoner I fought, Aleksei Rukov.

He's spreading lies all over the camp.

- I remember him.

- I'd like to settle his account.

- You'll have your wish tonight.

- What, you're gonna make a run for it

during the work shift?

- How'd you guess?

- So, you think you're faster than Sherdenko and Vronin?

- The important thing is that we have supplies.

And I thank you for that.

- You'll get killed, Aleksei.

- What would you have us do?

Wait here for the rest of our lives?

Covered our bodies with words that say,

"Hey, I don't give a shit if I leave."

Hey, maybe you can.

I can't take another minute in this place.

- Get Kotov to take the shift in the woods,

cross the river and rip a piece of your shirt off.

It will cause the dogs to lead the guards to the other side.

If you jump back in the river and swim downstream,

you might get a couple of kilometers

before they figure it out.

- Always so clever, Volodya.

- Better to be lucky than clever.

Wait.

Take it.

I'm going to cooler for this.

If I don't make it out, you'll be the only left to find her.

I know you'll make it.

After that, they threw me in the cooler.

I got out when the Americans forced the Soviet Union

to allow the Jews to emigrate.

I never saw Elena again.

- I'm sorry to hear that.

I know she meant a lot to you.

- Why do I have a feeling you're gonna ask me for a job?

- Huh?

Everyone comes here now that Rasputin got raided.

Vanya holds court in the back 4 am every other Sunday.

And if a woman asks you for a cigarette,

she's not asking for a cigarette.

- Cigarette?

- This is Lyosha.

- Aleksei Rukov.

- Pleasure.

- This guy likes to dress up like a police officer

and rob people.

No amount of convincing can make him put a stop to it.

- Just like in the Russia.

- Kirill, Armen.

Armen, Kirill, Aleksei.

A good friend of mine.

- If you want any cigarettes come straight to me.

I'll get you a lifetime supply.

- Armen has a device

that can make any slot machine hit jackpot.

Really nice, you should check out.

- Built the thing myself.

- A radio transmitter?

- Something like that.

But you got to pay me to find out.

You know.

- Yeah, let me guess.

You're just one jackpot away from a decent suit?

- What the fuck does that mean?

- Oh, I'm just kidding, I'll buy you a drink.

- We'll be back, we'll be back.

What are you doing?

- Stolichnaya?

- Please.

- Take it to Monya's table?

- Will do.

- The women.

Incredible.

Been meaning to ask.

You know a good immigration lawyer?

Preferably one that doesn't have mafia stamped

on his forehead in big letters.

- I got a guy.

I'll write down the number for you.

Be nice.

Normal.

Monya Polinsky.

- Aleksei.

- Nice to meet you.

- And this is.

- Nastya Petrova.

- Aleksei Rukov.

- Monya is a business partner.

- In what?

- Import, export.

- You'll have to show me.

- Sure.

I'll give you a tour.

- And how do you two know each other?

- Karaganda.

- To friends,

old and new.

- To friendship. - To friendship.

- To friendship.

- How's my, uh, request going?

- I'm working on it.

- I feel like I know you from somewhere.

You used to drive a taxi in Moscow, didn't you?

- Don't know me.

- No, no, no, no, um.

You once drove me around town,

pointing out every casino where the prostitutes hang out.

- You're right.

Maybe that was me.

- And where are you from, Aleksei?

- Well, that depends on what you mean.

I was born in Moscow, went to university in Leningrad.

- University?

- You think it's strange for a man to be handsome and smart?

I wonder why.

- And how did you end up in Brighton Beach?

- That's one of those stories,

better left for the campfire

than in front of a beautiful woman.

- Why is it that single guys

are always the biggest experts on women?

- Just the guy that likes to have a good time.

No reason to feel threatened by it.

- Tell me, you always so good at making friends?

- Waitress a friend of yours?

- No.

She's all yours.

- All night, people came to me with complaints.

All night, they said,

"Vanya, why are the potatoes cold?"

"Vanya, why does your staff never clean the ashtrays?"

"Vanya, why the toilets in the bathroom not work?"

Tonight, I was ashamed to be the owner of this restaurant.

Who made the kutleti?

Was it you?

- Not me.

- It was you, wasn't it?

- I made the soup and the appetizers.

I didn't touch the meat.

- Vanya, a word in private?

I wanna introduce to you a friend, Aleksei Rukov.

We were in Karaganda together.

- In Karaganda?

- We started out in the same work brigade.

He has many talents.

- I'm good at keeping secrets.

Listen, Vanya,

I respect who you are.

And I respect what you do.

Actually, Vladimir didn't tell me what to do,

but I want to work for you.

If you'll give me the chance,

I'll prove to be the most loyal

and honest worker you ever had.

- And you two ran into each other in Brighton Beach,

just like that?

- Like two geese at the pond.

- I told you we might have something.

- We're not hiring.

- He helped us deal with Kostyanko.

The one from the airport.

- I'm not a picky man, Father.

Please.

I need this.

- Give us a moment.

From Karaganda?

And you never mentioned this friend before.

- I never thought I'd see him again.

- This brother of mine was dead.

And he's alive again, for he was lost, but now he's found.

- I know how it looks.

- Mm.

- But I trust him like a wolf trusts his own tail.

- If he wants to work on the red shipments,

you can hire him out of your end,

but not the black ones.

Not at least until I say so.

- You won't be disappointed.

- I know.

- Not so bad.

Let's get the ones in the back.

Volodya?

Came down to eat with the plebs?

- Just a smoke.

- What's happening?

- A group of American senators are demanding

that all Russian Jews be allowed to immigrate.

- I don't understand.

- We're sending them the worst Jews we can find.

- Volodya, what's happening?

- Your exit passports.

- I'm sorry.

- I know.

- You never have to think of that man again.

- I, um.

- What?

- I'm.

I'm also sorry.

- Don't be, huh?

He died a painful death.

I didn't wanna hear that.

- I wanted you to know.

Tell me you forgive me.

- For what?

- For all of this.

Tell me you forgive me.

- I will.

- From Karaganda?

- And who are you?

- Ivan Polinsky.

They call me Vanya.

- Vladimir Bernstein.

- I know who you are.

- I told the aid workers in HIAS to

let me know if anyone came through with Vor tattoos.

I guess they never gave you my number.

- Where did you dance to the music?

- 18 years in Perm for murder.

Pray tell how a Vor like yourself is being useful.

- Before prison I was a smuggler.

- Mm.

- What's there to smuggle now that you can buy anything

on the open market?

- Not everything.

- How do you make your money?

- I took what the Jewish charities gave me

to open an obshak with my kid nephew, Monya.

- Mm.

- But now, I'm just a roof over some smaller operations.

Mainly in the gasoline business.

- Gas?

- We pocket the taxes and bury the government in paperwork.

I wanted to ask you to come work for me.

But I know,

I shouldn't have to.

- Oh, yeah?

- Vor must forget his family.

His only family

are his brothers.

- We have to leave tonight.

- Where?

- I don't know.

Anywhere.

Just not here.

- Um, we can't do that.

- I ran into a Vor.

So I was thinking, we'll go to the train station. Tonight.

And see what options there are, hm?

Come on, let's go, I'll help you.

- I could give birth at any minute, Vladimir.

- I don't understand.

You still have two months, mm?

Hey.

- I wanted to tell you.

I knew.

I knew I had to tell you.

- You could have told me from the start.

We could have done something then.

- I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

You have no right to come here.

- Sometimes I need to pray just like you.

Where are the kids?

- Slumber party.

What are you thinking?

- I'm tired of pretending to be Marat's father.

I can't keep lying to him.

- Do you remember

when we brought him home from the hospital?

I remember

how hard it was to breastfeed, how much it hurt.

I remember sitting awake at night,

and the thoughts I had looked into his eyes.

I only saw the face of the man who abused me.

I remember I wanted to take a pill,

and end his life

as revenge against the one who hurt me.

But I couldn't.

I told myself

I would love him someday.

And I was right.

The only way I can forgive you

for what happened in Karaganda

is if you keep on being Marat's father.

- Okay.

I promise you.

- Don't promise.

I remember the promises you made

when we came to this country.

- Some promises take longer than others.

- Now I'm gonna have bad dreams

because of this conversation.

Good night.

- Good night.

- Tonight's news, Russian President Boris Yeltsin

joined other leaders of the United Nations today

on the occasion of the organization on the 50th anniversary.

- Did you hear what happen to.

- No.

- He was so drunk, he left his hotel room in his underwear

and went searching for a pizza.

- I don't believe that shit.

- So?

He likes pizza, so what's the big deal guys?

Leave him alone.

- I read it in the paper, he was in D.C.,

and the secret service was chasing him.

- Fuck that.

The Jews are on the newspapers, no offense.

- So, you think the Jews made it all up?

- It's just the part about being in his underwear.

Everywhere you go,

you're technically in your underwear, right?

So, they fucking twisted it.

- And this is the government we are partnering with.

- These fucking Jews.

We never show him playing tennis, not once.

- At least another house on the property.

It's nothing.

- And the checkpoint will be there.

- One of our guys, one of theirs.

- What about the parking?

- My plan was to shuttle our guys in,

less of a footprint.

- Huh?

You thought of everything.

And what about the house?

Did you check it for bugs?

- I haven't yet.

- Get your signal checker.

By the way, I thought about it.

I like leprechaun green.

Maybe it'll give us some luck.

- Are you saying what I think you're saying?

- Vanya want some word.

Alone.

- Oh.

It's good that we talked.

- Your nephew, Monya, wants to become a Vor.

He wants to schedule an Approach.

- There is some other business.

Our partners in Lublinskaya organizatsiya

say that your friend Aleksei is a member of Golyanovo.

That he was sent here to disrupt our operations.

- He told me he left Golyanovo.

- So you knew.

Our contact tells us if Aleksei managed to get visas

for some members of his gang.

Did he tell you anything about this?

- No.

- I tried to work it out with them,

but there was only one thing that could satisfy them.

I'm asking you, Vladimir Abramovich,

to be the one to settle the account.

- He's my friend, Vanya.

- Mm.

- When I was in Perm,

another Vor bet the watch of a dissident and lost.

But before the Vor could collect the watch,

the dissident was sent to another camp,

so the Vor could not collect his debt.

The council met to discuss his punishment.

I wanted to cut two fingers,

but the other Vors on the council thought

that wasn't enough.

They wanted to cut the whole hand.

So, we bargained for a while,

and then we agreed on three.

After that, I was called The Generous One.

- I can't do it, Vanya, not me.

- I know you have a family you brought with you

from Karaganda.

I kept that quiet all this time.

Not my business.

But now, you're putting me in an uncomfortable position.

- Please, Vanya, not this one.

- I will settle this one myself.

Bring him tomorrow.

You, him and I,

we will discuss.

- Jury selection began today in the OJ Simpson trial

for the alleged murder of Ron Goldman

and Nicole Brown Simpson.

This comes after nearly a six-week search involving

over 300 potential jurors.

Authorities are saying they wanna make sure that-

- Ride with me today, ready? - Decided by a jury of this.

- The only thing I didn't like about

was the cooking.

Ugh, she made the borsht so salty

I had to chase it down with three beers.

I have something for you.

I was gonna give this to you earlier,

but you told me she was dead.

Didn't wanna ruin the moment.

I'm sorry you never found her, Volodya.

- Give me my gun back.

- Can't do that.

It's a very bad day for your business, Volodya.

You're about to lose some employees.

- You can trust me.

- I trust you.

Insurance, keep working.

- I lied, Aleksei, my wife is with me.

We made it out of Karaganda together.

Hope you meet her someday.

I have a family in defiance of the Vor's law.

I didn't want this life in America, Aleksei,

it found me.

Where does this leave us?

- I thought you just said you wanted out.

- You're right.

To go inside, get something.

- You don't wanna go back in there.

A lot of your old friends

don't have the same faces they're used to.

- I have to get a key on Vanya.

It opens his safe with our obshak inside.

- I'll come with you.

- Sorry, boss.

- Good God.

I got something in my shoe.

- Give me that knife.

- Aleksei.

- It'll be okay, Volodya.

- You'd be okay, Aleksei.

I wanted to throw it in the river.

I wanted to leave it all behind.

But then I knew I had been given it for a reason.

- Volodya.

Are you hurt?

- No.

- What's in the bag?

- It's our anniversary present.

- It's not our anniversary.

- I was gonna put it in the closet and save it until then.

- I don't like this.

- A promise is a promise.

This is what it took.

- Okay.

Okay.

I believe you.

- It's over.

It's over.