Original subtitles

Lookie there.

A waxing crescent.

Oh, dang it, Charlie.

Got the Jim Jams, pal.

Padlock to padlock these days.

Mexicans.

Well, I'm decking my halls, all right.

May as well go out with a bang.

box of snakes.

Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy.

I am an angel sent by God to tell you, Charlie, not that this Christmas You are

to receive a miracle.

And I will walk with you I'll walk with you Till the

sun don't even shine Walk with you Every

time I tell you I'll walk with you Believe

me, I'll walk with you

You can't be lit up. I haven't plugged you in yet.

I'm plugged in deeper than you know, Charlie.

There's an advantage to a steady diet of tequila. First, nothing surprises

me.

And second, I forget the second.

And that's good.

Forgetting.

Forgetting is good.

Oh, oblivion.

That's... The second advantage.

Never discount oblivion while you're on this earth.

You're a loquacious man, Charlie Knott.

It's because I don't have anybody to talk to.

Sorry. Hey, you know my name.

Yes, I'm an angel. I know many things.

Oh.

Can I wake up now?

You don't think I'm real?

Well, why not?

I see purple spiders on my couch.

Seven -headed serpent wrapped around my arm. Why not an angel on my roof?

Those beasts were illusions, Charlie.

But a message from God at Christmas is very real.

Christmas.

A bad time.

I get blue devils at Christmas.

This year you've been sent an angel.

You're my assignment, and my job is to stand up here and shed light for you,

perhaps for others, too.

Okay.

What's that first thing you said again?

Fear not.

Behold. No, not that part. That's the boilerplate. I want that personalized

greeting.

You're going to receive a miracle this Christmas.

Well, I wouldn't turn that down.

What sort of miracle is this going to be?

I can't tell you. You have to discover that for yourself. That's your job.

Ah. And your job is to stand up there and shed light.

Okay.

A miracle.

I'm going to get a miracle.

What, all by myself?

No one is alone, Charlie.

Order on.

Ma 'am, go juice, please. Go.

Another Christmas Eve.

What is it?

Seven? Seven years we've been getting together here.

Twenty -seven for me.

You guys just kept me waiting a long time.

Dressing Moon tonight.

Can't believe it.

Won't get to see Matty open his presents again.

Gotta make a living.

Oh, now, there's nothing wrong with a little extra work.

Especially when it means double time.

Yes, sir, you can take a day off, but you can't put it back on again.

Yeah, there's gotta be some better way.

Yeah, kids get used to it, Jasper.

That's what happened to mine.

We all got used to it, I guess.

Until there wasn't a we anymore.

Alone, alone on a wide, wide sea.

That's us, boys.

Captains of our ship sailing out across America.

Well, what do you say, good buddies? Time to hit the road.

What are you hauling, Bart?

Ah, sheep, livestock, going east.

That's funny. I got wool blankets going west.

We got them coming and going.

I'm heading south with hubcaps.

Go figure.

Semi -full of hubcaps for the smelter.

Sheep, wool, and hubcaps.

Got to be more to life than that.

Oh, Mr. Thompson.

You sure are.

Coffee.

Dr. Holmes.

Where's Janice? She took the day off and knows she can't put it back on again.

Father loves us.

You're going to need something more than that tonight.

What? We'll listen to anyone. You got answers for us? Well, what you're

is down there in Narva at that Desert Star Motel.

That dump?

You're kidding.

I'm not kidding. I don't kid. I just point.

Desert Star Motel? I wouldn't stay in that dive if my life depended on it.

darling, your life does depend on it.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Oh, and play off the eggnog.

Oh,

your pony's nice, isn't he? Oh, yes, and you have the safety strap.

See, very nice.

Is your wife sick?

Your pony's healthy, isn't he?

I'm here for your grandmother.

Can all this wait? The party's about to begin.

No, I'm sorry. This is urgent.

There's something that you need to do for her.

Believe me, I'm a friend.

A friend from Tonala.

We have to go over here.

It's a sign.

A sign from God.

Okay.

Sorry, Mrs. Willis.

What?

I'm so sorry. Oh, no.

I can write with you, man. You're probably going to need a hand.

Okay.

Not a creature stirring.

Not yet, anyway.

They will be.

Every Christmas, some mojado thinks he's gonna catch immigration asleep at the

wheel.

Sorry that you have to work on Christmas Eve, Cole.

Right back at you. Thanks for filling in.

Yeah, that Ed's got some nerve, huh?

What's he thinking, anyway? Deserting the INS to spend Christmas with his

Sounds like Mike got a guy.

Sure is missing a beautiful night, though.

Your kid, a little sliver of a moon, always means trouble.

Dark night.

Some garbanzos are going to try to sneak over that fence and get lucky.

You don't like Mexicans?

Yeah. I like them enough.

As long as they stay on their side of the fence.

A miracle!

Why should an old rattler like me get a miracle?

I don't know.

They just gave me this assignment and said, tell Charlie not, there's a

coming. A miracle?

To me?

For me?

Around me?

I'm sorry, I don't know.

Yeah.

In the end, there ain't an answer.

It's quite a display you have here.

My last blaze of glory.

When a dying star explodes on itself, it makes a supernova.

Brightest thing in the sky.

Well, that's my idea.

I'm going to go out big.

This is my last bleak Christmas in this sinkhole.

My last view of that border.

Mexico. Great cancer to our South.

Wait, is that the miracle?

God's going to show me one Mexican pickup truck that doesn't need a jump?

God doesn't draw borders and has love, Charlie.

Everyone is equal in his eyes.

Well, God's a fool.

Like me.

An old fool.

Working my way down to the worm.

Wasting my time chatting with a phantom when I should be getting ready to die.

The moon is waxing and I am waning.

See, I'm going to leave all these lights on.

And then I'm going to drive out to Guadalupe Peak with my telescope.

And once I see one new thing in the sky, I'll be ready to leave

this old carcass to rot under the stars.

They're one of God's greatest creations.

Like you could be, Charlie.

Yeah, that would take a miracle.

I love the stars.

The nebulae, the Milky Way on a clear night.

Oh, all my life I wanted to find something out there that nobody else

had ever seen.

I spent years saving up to get my own telescope.

It's a Dobsonian mount.

It's only got an eight -inch mirror, but...

It does the job.

I can see the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter.

Oh, the sky is so vast.

Mysterious. It takes your breath away.

That's God you're describing.

God?

Is he out there somewhere?

Orion?

Ursa Major?

Ursa Minor?

God is everywhere.

If God's given me a miracle, why do you wait till I'm such an old critter? Why

do you wait till it's too late?

It's never too late, Charlie.

Yeah, true.

True, while there's death, there's hope.

Night train lane here looking for Captain Mel.

Yeah, I'm here, Bart.

Out here in the dust. It whipped up on me out of nowhere.

And me too. We got ourselves a situation here, Mel.

Country boy here.

I'm reading you, night train and Mel. Same here.

Dust storm like I've never seen.

You fellas all right out there? This is Tess, the one with the gold juice.

Well, I'm heading for shelter, Tess. If there's any out there.

Copy that.

Hey, I see a light down the road.

I'm going to pull in there.

You do that, and all of you turn around from where you're going, and you'll see

a light on the horizon.

Steer to it. Keep your eyes on it, and follow that star.

Here you are, clear test.

It's a pretty bad storm, Carl.

Yep. Can't drive anywhere in this.

Better just to gut it out.

You watch.

Some clown is going to try to use this for cover.

We're going to grab somebody trying to hop that fence before the night is out.

That could be.

I still pity anyone trying to get through this.

Tell me what can I do for my family?

You can help somebody this Christmas.

It's very, very important.

And you won't regret it.

Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

He didn't desert us. Look.

Here, we have the light on for you.

don't worry

look

out

oh but i

love a god

This is it.

Destruction. Chaos.

Scott's miracle has arrived.

No.

It's yet to come.

Just a little further.

Okay, all right.

Right up there.

That storm didn't last long.

That's because we're in the eye of the storm.

God is sure putting this old man through his paces.

But his best miracles destroy us.

The flood, that was good.

He just forgot to finish the job. A few human beings short of getting rid of the

whole stinking race. I guess God just doesn't know how to close, huh?

Is that his problem?

Hey.

The primary mirror isn't cracked.

Amazing.

God almighty!

Hey,

that's not my miracle, is it?

No, that was the tarp it fell on.

Would you like a snort?

What do you think, Charlie?

I think I am asking an exquisite delusion if she would like to have a

The diagonal mirrors are out of line. I'm going to have to re -glue that.

Get my tools.

Charlie, it's Christmas night. Aren't you going to do something to celebrate?

Celebrate? Well, sure.

I was feeling festive.

My scope's busted.

God's wrath is pelting the earth.

Mankind toils on worse than hyenas, fighting, killing, polluting.

Mexicans dumping raw sewage in the river.

They're overrunning our borders.

I'm yelling at an angel.

I tell you.

Charlie Knott, you must prepare yourself for what's about to arrive.

What's arriving is my going.

I'm going to fix my scope so I can spot something new before I kick off.

Charlie, you don't need lenses and boxes.

You need hope.

Well,

maybe.

Hope is for the hopeless.

Life.

has lost its fizz.

I find my life not worth the living of it.

Hello?

Anybody here?

Hey, you the owner?

Sorry, we're full up.

Full? I don't see any cars around here.

Well, they're not here yet, but we're booked.

Booked?

Or just no room for Mexicans?

Just no vacancy. No vacancio. Keep it simple.

Yeah, you're keeping it very simple. I know exactly what you're doing.

And so do I.

You don't understand.

These fellas stroll into this country. They take our money, our services.

They don't pay any taxes. And then they go home. I've had it with them.

Charlie, your hatred will poison you before that alcohol will.

Listen,

you get three Mexican kids in here, then you got a gang partying.

Next it's gunshots, then somebody's dead.

Well, I ain't picking corpses out of that ice machine again.

Shame on you, Charlie, not have you no heart.

I have a business, that's what I got.

Your business should be humanity.

Yeah, that's easy for you to say. You don't know these people. You never lived

on the border.

I've lived on a border for eternity.

The border between heaven and earth, and I cross it every day.

And I know love does not need a work permit.

There's a young woman down here in a lot of pain.

If you have a shred of decency, man, call a doctor at least.

Okay. Go in my office right there.

I'll make the call.

It's okay, let her go. She's more important.

You have a call to make, Charlie.

Dang, Jim James.

You're not going to leave me, are you?

I get squiffed and I get mean as a rattlesnake.

I wouldn't blame anybody for leaving me. It's happened all my life.

I'm not leaving, Charlie.

Thanks.

You're not bad company for a delusion.

Oh, darn DTs.

I'm not leaving.

I'm staying right here.

There's a miracle coming, and I have a job to do.

I'm a lighthouse in the storm.

And I'm a frigate that's sinking on the rocks.

You call?

Yeah.

That train, you still there?

By my fingernails, country boy.

Still following that light.

Me too.

I figure it's still a couple miles away.

Yeah, it's hard to tell with all the dust.

Hey, guys, it's Ted. Anybody heard from Mel?

Nope. He's been quiet.

I hope he's okay.

You hang in there, Jasper.

I'm hanging.

Keep your eyes on...

That's right. The Desert Star Motel.

And come as quick as you can.

Yeah, okay.

Right. Yeah, we'll get right over there.

Yeah, roger that.

What's up?

Some motel manager over in our vows just called the office.

Got a couple of illegal aliens and one of them is sick.

See, what they want to do is they want to get a U .S. hospital to treat him.

Then they'll disappear and stiff the bill.

We don't know that.

Well, let's find out.

Desert Star Motel.

Over that way.

Direction of that light.

Did you call a doctor?

I put in a call.

Poor girl.

She looks like she's in good hands.

Kinsabe.

Who knows?

Any sign of the miracle?

What do you think?

You mean you don't see all, know all?

No, only God does.

So life's a mystery to you, too.

This life's a hollow bubble, don't you know?

Just a painted piece of trouble, don't you know? We came to Earth to cry.

We grow older and we sigh.

Older still...

Then we die, don't you know?

Life is only a hollow bubble until you fill it with faith.

Faith's fine, but doubt's what gets you an education.

Faith will bring you to God.

He has something for you.

Faith again.

This is the best faith of all.

Sure, and the worm at the bottom of the bottle, that's God.

Curled up there under all our troubles, just sitting there waiting for it all to

end.

I put my faith, my hope, in this spirit.

Spirits.

Angels.

Genies of the bottle.

Pour forth in black smoke and grant me three wishes.

One, keep me in a fine stupor.

Two, tonight, let me see something in my telescope that no

one has ever seen before.

Three. Let me die before I wake.

The hopes and fears of all these years are met in thee tonight, as

they have been for centuries.

I'm praying for Charlie Nott and waiting for your miracle.

We still got some big winds and dust kicking up here at Lombard.

45. 10 -4, Puff.

Hello,

Mel.

It's Ted.

Mel? Do you copy?

Mel! Come in, Mel!

That will be in store, okay? It will be okay.

Think of something happy.

Christmas.

When you were a kid?

In Chiapas.

How beautiful.

I know a lot of things.

Like you and Jorge knew each other when you were very young.

And he barely talked to you, right?

It would only be good if you were too pretty for me.

Ay, no, hombre.

I know about your last Christmas there.

Uncle Octavio set off the fireworks.

You ate your grandmother's panes relleno.

The abuelita.

They were

killed.

We knew we had to go.

Even though my mother, she... She was too sick, you know? But, um...

The rest of us traveled north.

Then we met a man who told us he could get us across the border.

For a price?

Yeah. A price.

We got him the money.

Everything we had.

And we never see him again.

We

were

stranded.

All of us.

My uncle, my...

My aunt in Ciudad Juarez.

Ciudad Juarez, yeah, I know it well.

She lived there for one year, hand to mouth.

Finally, one night, we made her our friend.

We had to. We all would have starved.

Now here, we make enough with the pony rice to send them back to Octavio and

Marisol's mother.

They need it.

And now...

Don't, Charlie.

How did you know what I was thinking?

I told you.

Angels know many things.

And one of them is the taking your own life, if not the answer.

You can take your life, Charlie, but you can't get rid of your soul.

My battered, worthless soul?

God can heal it.

Let it go.

You can't patch it. Let it fall.

You can have my soul, free of charge.

It's not worth a penny to me.

God doesn't buy souls, and he doesn't take them as presents and packages.

Souls turn to him for his love.

I knew love once.

I felt the world melt under my feet once, and I didn't have to be talked

it. I knew it. It enveloped me.

It ate me up.

I was a wanderer.

Yeah, I was a young man once.

Worked a fishing boat. Shrimp, crabs, down the coast.

Mexico.

I got off the boat in a little place called Tanala.

Looked around.

It was Christmas.

A family was walking to a posada.

A Christmas party.

Yeah.

Pilgrims. Half the party was pilgrims. Joseph and Mary, you know.

A young woman at the head was the angel.

She held a candle, leading them on.

She looked up at me and... Those eyes.

Sweet.

Sweet eyes.

And I followed her.

She laughed. They all laughed.

I talked myself into the home.

I couldn't speak Spanish, but that didn't matter. I could sing.

I could drink.

I could look in those eyes.

And suddenly the world was new again.

Estrella. That was her name, Estrella.

Star. Yes.

She was my northern star.

My Polaris.

My guidepost in the night that Christmas. I didn't leave her side.

That Christmas.

The doorways were filled with flowers.

White lilies and Spanish moss and evergreen branches.

Estrella.

Why did she love me?

I don't know.

There was a miracle.

I did have a miracle in my life.

Estrella.

Kiffism. For nine days, then for a month, a season,

I was loved.

She lifted her face to me and soft.

She cradled my head.

She wept soft tears on my lips when she told me that her family said, No.

No, you cannot marry this American.

No, he cannot see you again.

No.

Never. Nunca. Never.

No.

I never saw her again.

I'm sure she loved you very much, Charlie.

I know she did.

Because after that Christmas, that Christmas, Spanish moth and white

filling the streets of Ternala, her father called me and

told me she shot herself.

She killed herself for me.

And once I see one new star, one estrella that nobody else has ever seen,

I'll pull the trigger too.

God, help me. I will.

Don't give up, Charlie.

I'm going to do it.

Find my star and leave this world.

It's time.

It's time.

You can't give up now, Charlie. They need your help. The baby is coming.

Father, I thought there would be four.

So what's the word?

It's coming, Raphael. Can you take care of them just a bit longer?

You got it.

You know him?

Yes. He's another angel.

That Mexican fella?

You never know when you might be entertaining an angel, Charlie.

Why does everything have to go wrong?

I got Jim Jams to the very end.

If this is your last moment on Earth, Charlie, do something to make the angels

sing. Go to her.

What would Estrella do?

Still can't figure that line out.

Probably just some kind of advertisement.

Not an article or something.

Yeah.

It's advertising something, all right.

Country, it's Ted. Are you there?

Just barely.

You heard from Mel? I was hoping you had.

Yeah, me too.

I've been trying to raise Mel. Nothing but dead air.

I'm getting closer to that line.

Yeah, can't be much more than a mile from me now.

You're almost home, good buddies.

You ought to see something!

Where's the doctor?

I can't smell.

Where's the doctor?

Never mind. It's too late.

He's here, Marisol.

He's here.

Hey, boy, ayudar.

Don't worry.

You're going to have a beautiful baby.

Tell him, Rafael, I have work to do here.

God is here.

He's in this room.

We're his messengers.

We're here to tell you that he watches over every soul.

He pours his love into every baby.

So no hay nada que temer, Jorge.

Even you, Charlie, not.

Even someone who's carried hate in his heart for so long.

You hated a family that kept you from the woman you love.

But you turned that hatred towards a whole nation.

Towards the world.

You turned away from humanity and you looked up to the sky.

You spent years of your life looking for a star that no one else had seen.

But it wasn't there, Charlie.

You said you wanted to see something new.

It was right here.

This child.

That beautiful baby.

This baby had never been seen before.

Miracle. Yes.

Every giant is.

I know.

Felicidades. It's a girl.

A niño.

De maravilloso.

What's the name of your grandmother?

Patricia.

Is that a baby?

We're going to take you back to Donara so you can meet your mama again.

Estrella.

Marisol's grandmother is... You're Estrella.

My Estrella.

Her father lied.

She didn't... She lived.

She learned how to love again, Charlie.

Which is something you forgot how to do.

Every child deserves the love you found with Estrella.

Every child.

Deserves a star.

That must be the doctor.

No.

I didn't call the doctor.

You said you called the doctor.

No, I... I called immigration.

Oh, no.

Oh, they're nearly here.

I'm so sorry.

God knows what we're going to do now.

Yes, he does.

The light.

The wind.

This young couple.

This whole night has been in God's hands.

And he brings you good tidings.

Are you ready, Raphael?

Let's do it.

Jasper, you ought to be there.

I'm here.

Look who the cat drug in.

Where'd you get that?

I thought you were a gunner, man.

Well, I swerved amidst this darn thing and my truck went off the road.

So me and Little App, we hoofed it to the light.

Weird how the wind died down.

That's because all is calm and all is bright, honey.

Well, I'll be.

Tess, did you get here?

There's a miracle going on here.

You all thought you were missing something in life.

Well, Merry Christmas, because here it is.

I'm an angel sent by God.

Now, we're a little short of time here, so you got to just trust me on this.

God has led you to fulfill a wonderful purpose.

He's even had you hauling everything you need to carry it out.

Now, get these trucks open, get those animals out, and get me a great big

of them blankets.

Come on now, get to work.

Now listen, they always try to get out the back, so you go around the rear.

And get your gun out.

I'll go in this way.

I'll find something in there.

You're going to find something, Carl.

Carl?

You really outdid yourself this year.

Those animals are a great touch.

These statues.

It's real, Charlie. Must have cost you a bundle. Nah, it didn't cost too much.

So you got some illegals, huh?

Oh, you know that turned out to be a false alarm.

Maybe you better go check out back.

I'm sorry to bring you fellas all the way out here.

Well, I'm sure you don't have any problems. No, no, there's no problem.

Merry Christmas, Carl.

See anything back there? No, no.

Nothing out back.

You really outdid yourself this year, Charlie. Yeah, well, this is my last

here. I'm going down to Mexico.

Find an old friend.

Suit yourself.

Merry Christmas, Charlie.

Thank you.

Real nice what you did here.

Merry

Christmas.

Charlie, Feliz Navidad.

Merry Christmas to you, too.

Glory be to God in the highest.

And on earth, peace and goodwill to men and women and we babies and

angels.