Original subtitles

I gave you a break, Del.

I gave you a chance. No one in this town would give you bus fare. And I gave you

back exactly what you asked for. You can't blame this on me. You're the

accountant. You said you knew how to do this.

Del, you said nobody would know. I was wrong, so sue me.

I'm out of here. I'm not going to jail. Not for you, not for anybody.

Who said anything about jail?

Del, what exactly did you do?

I made money for you.

Give me a break, Nick. One percent profit margin doesn't turn into ten

without a little creativity.

Get out of here.

If I do something, we both regret.

Look, Nick, I'm sorry. I've got a family. They need me at home, not behind

So, what do you think, Angel Girl?

Well, Nick Stratton was a soldier once, but it seems that he sees enemies

everywhere he looks.

That's because the war that he fought, the enemy wasn't over there.

It was all around him. And the cause he was fighting for was never black and

white. It was shades of gray.

He fought in the shadows, and he lived in the shadows. And nothing has been

clear to him since then.

He's a good man with a bad attitude.

But, Tess, sometimes when you live in the gray places for too long, after a

while you don't know who you are anymore or even what side you're on.

Well, you better help him remember, Miss Williams, because this is a battle he

cannot afford to lose.

When you walk...

down the road heavy burden heavy

load I will rise 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.

I thought it's been a couple of days.

Lousy time losing account.

Are you sure you can handle this?

Helping people find the truth is one of my specialties. The truth, yeah. Well,

truth is my back to the wall.

All the easier to stand up straight.

Are you a coffee drinker, Monica?

Oh, yes. To be honest, I do enjoy a cup or two now and again.

No sin in that.

I grew up on Cajun coffee.

It looks like mud, but it'll give you a jolt.

Thank you.

Do you still have family down south?

Not for a long time.

So, Monica, I'm sold.

Welcome aboard.

So you can set up right here. Everything you'll need is on that top shelf there.

It can throw you. I'll make a couple of calls.

No, just pretend I'm not here.

Okay.

Oh, yeah. Nick Stratton for Jeffrey.

Jeffrey, buddy.

Whoa, whoa. Hold on a minute. Have I ever let you down?

I got some rush workers starting today. You'll have your pants on Monday as

ordered. Yeah.

I'll stay in touch.

Right. Bye -bye.

Excuse me, Nick.

Yeah. I noticed there's a lot of brand new entries in this book.

Right. Ah, good eye.

I got a little behind on the books.

It occurred to me last night that I should catch up before the IRS makes a

federal case of it. You know what I mean?

Yes, they tend to do that.

Yeah.

Excuse me, please.

Tuesday's application day is Tuesday.

Oh, no, I'm not. When?

You hire me for theme press?

I come early.

Okay, look. Rule number one. You people use the employee entrance only and no

employees in my office ever. Got it?

I don't mean to bother.

Too late.

Come on, Monica.

I'll give you both the grand tour.

Everybody has a daily quarter.

Shift starts at 8, and you don't leave here until you make it.

You understand? Step over here. I'll show you how this works.

Here we go.

Okay, there's no talking on the floor while you're working.

But during your break, you have to talk. It's English only.

Yes.

If we work all day, we can go to class at night, and he pays.

You pay for citizenship classes?

They got to make their quota first. All right, pay attention.

If you can't handle the job, get the hell out. Nobody's holding a gun to your

head.

Have you got anything else to say?

Go on, get out. You're fired.

All right, pay attention.

Pull here.

Now, don't worry about that.

It's fine.

It's absolutely fine.

All right, watch.

Okay, ready? Watch, push, pull.

Try it.

Okay?

Good. I can get to work.

Is it good?

Is it good?

It's nice to meet you, Amnyak.

I'm sure you'll do very well.

Thank you.

Her name is Kai.

Her grandmother taught her to sew in a little village in Vietnam.

Kai dreams of making beautiful dresses.

to wear to parties with rooms filled with other women in beautiful dresses.

Lame here, she dreams of going to the movie every night for the rest of her

life. She'd love to meet Brad Pitt.

And Vita here, she dreams of earning enough money to go to college and study

engineering.

Why do they put up with Nick and his faulty equipment, his bad lighting and

stale air?

Why don't they go somewhere else?

Well, baby, for some of these people, there is nowhere else. They come to

America for opportunity.

And Nick is providing it despite himself.

He's helping the people he hates?

There's nothing black and white about this man, is there? No, there was no

and white in the war that he fought. And he's still fighting it.

And these women are willing to put up with all of that for the reward at the

of the road.

Citizenship. What if they don't make it to the end of the road?

Oh, they'll make it to the end of the road. They have this most magnificent

teacher.

Welcome, babies. My name is Tess, and I'm here to teach you all how to become

American citizens.

Excuse me, Miss Tess.

I'm Nak Nguyen, and this is my father, Kayau.

He meet me after work and walk me home in the dark.

Is it all right that he stay?

Of course it's all right.

Nice to meet you. You're welcome to our class.

Class not only for workers?

Oh, no.

So, if we're all here, let's get started.

Guy still working.

Didn't make quota yet.

Well, maybe you could let her use your notes of the class, Lang.

Not make quota, not come class.

If you don't work hard enough, Mr. Nick doesn't pay for class.

No, Nick doesn't pay for this class.

This class is free for anyone who wants to learn how to become an American

citizen. But he still makes rules.

Must finish work to leave.

No leave, no come to class.

Let me tell you a story about rules.

During the 1700s, the English had all kinds of rules.

for Americans to follow.

But the people here decided they would make their own rules.

And so they wrote a declaration, their Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self -evident that all men

are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator

with certain unalienable rights.

That among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit

of happiness.

Founding fathers never see the place we work.

No happiness there.

We won't work there long once we pass test.

If we pass test, there is very much to remember.

Oh, remembering is easy when you know the trick. You like music?

Music will be on the test?

No, but in order to pass the test, you're going to have to know the names

the presidents.

And music will help you do that.

George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas

Jefferson.

Okay, listen up.

What is arising today?

Ten pieces each.

If the new girl can come in here and meet her quarter her first day, that

me the rest of you people are holding something back.

Nick. I don't want to hear it, Monica.

Anybody else have anything to say?

Good.

He only raised Kutah because of you.

I need water.

Okay.

Okay. You'll be okay, Amniak, but you should take a break.

But I have to make quota.

Quota?

Quota.

Quota. You can't even do your job anymore.

You're out of here.

Nick, she's hurt.

Why do you treat us like this?

Tess says everybody works for happiness in America.

She'd never meet you.

Can't you give her... What?

Give her a break?

When's somebody going to give me a break?

I said you're fired.

You're fired.

It's root beer.

That's nice.

Not everybody came back from Vietnam on an alcoholic basket case.

I didn't think you were.

Amnok is from Vietnam.

She's not the enemy, Nick. You don't have to terminate her.

That's one of those fancy words we use in Nam.

Terminate the threat.

Men kill them all. Let God sort it out.

God had nothing to do with it.

No kidding.

You can't fire her. She might have died in there.

Is the girl okay?

She should see a doctor.

Workers' compensation will cover that.

Yeah, sure, if you pay it out.

If you fire her and you don't have it, you'll have bigger legal bills than you

can afford.

I can't afford to keep her. She can't work, and I can't afford to fire her.

Nothing is ever easy, is it?

Nothing is easy, but some things are right.

Please, let her stay.

Great. We'll have two gimps in a joint.

You play?

No. I wish I did.

Well, let me give you your first lesson.

Okay, second.

Okay, ring finger, second string, second fret.

Okay, next finger, next string. Next finger, next string.

Hold it tight, strong.

There you go. An A.

You took this with you to Vietnam?

I was never very good, but I'd play all night and the guys would laugh at me,

but nobody ever asked me to stop.

What did you do there?

Never ask a vet what he did in Vietnam.

I'm sorry.

I'm not being curious about you.

I'm being interested in you.

Is there a difference?

There is to me.

I was in a unit that transported VCPOWs to South Vietnamese camps.

I was the guy in the back garden, those guys.

I look at them, they look at me.

Nobody said anything.

We couldn't speak the same language, but... Music is the universal language.

Yeah. The blues are the blues, wherever you are.

I gotta get back in.

Nick.

Why are you angry all of the time?

I'm losing my business.

It makes me angry.

I think you're losing your business because you're angry.

Yeah.

That's a friendship bracelet from Vietnam.

Why would you want a reminder of a war that you want to forget?

I really want to know.

We were going to play cool with some prisoners.

We caught this guy building a bomb in a little village we'd just taken back.

We didn't know if he was a good guy or a bad guy, but we couldn't take any

chances, so we threw him in the truck with the other prisoners.

He could have been B .C. He could have been friendly.

He could have been out to hurt us. He could have been trying to help us.

When we got to Pleiku, this guy keeps trying to get my attention.

He was trying to get me to look at something on his shoulder.

The peace sign was a totally American thing.

I knew that kid couldn't be VC. They had to shout him for a tattoo like that.

But then...

I couldn't be sure.

The whole war was like that.

Shades of grey.

Yeah.

Amidst the chaos, I untied the guy.

I didn't know what to do, so I took a chance.

His arm was injured and I loosened his hands.

He gave me this friendship bracelet to say thanks, I guess.

I was just about to put the rope back on when we got hit by mortar shells.

There was so much confusion.

The guy just took off.

I never saw him again.

Anyway, a few days later, some kid blew me traps at Tanton.

Killed three men.

You don't know that it was him?

I'll never know now.

Nick, you can't blame yourself.

You were helping a young man in pain.

A military jury didn't think so.

I was court -martialed.

for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

I spent the rest of the war in the stockade, getting knocked around every

the guard had his back turned. They broke my nose.

They broke my shoulder so many times all the nerves were shot in my hand.

By the time I got home, nobody gave me a break.

My mom and dad, Mr. and Mrs. God Bless America, disowned me.

I was a war criminal.

My Uncle Joe finally gave me a job at this place.

And then he left it to me when he died.

He was the only one who... Uncle Joe had faith in you.

He was a good guy.

I didn't deserve this place.

But now you see why I want to hold on to it.

But, Nick, as long as you hold on to that bracelet, you'll always... Look,

Monica, three men died.

Because somebody took the cuffs off. This cuff is to handle it.

Besides, it reminds me to never trust sweet, innocent faces again.

Hi.

I'm Andrew from the IRS.

I'm looking for Nick Stratton.

It's true, it's true.

The only two things in life are death and...

Okay, come on upstairs.

We missed you and your father at class tonight, Amy.

It wasn't easy teaching Lang to think the Bill of Rights without you.

It will be a long time before we come back.

Well, if Amy can't come to class, Tess will bring class to Amy.

Let's start with the president.

George Washington.

What is it?

Third quarter, 97.

Good morning.

Don't you guys have to take a break?

When we start something, we like to see it through.

It seems like a long haul, but this way we get to where we're going a lot

faster.

Was she here all night?

Yes, she was.

Good morning, Mr. Oh, good morning. Is it morning already?

I was having so much fun. I hardly noticed.

Well, we made yesterday's quota and we made a good start on today.

Isn't it wonderful what a little teamwork can do?

I'm expecting both of you at class this evening.

Alright, it's alright.

Nick?

It can't be right.

The numbers don't lie.

Taxes were paid on only half of your employees for the last three years.

You have a big problem here.

Okay, but maybe we can make it go away.

Maybe... Look, you're friendly with that Andrew guy.

Talk to him. Tell him that we lost some paperwork. Tell him that we... I won't

lie. Monica.

I know how much this place means to you.

And that your Uncle Joe wanted you to keep it to make you a better person.

But he wouldn't want you to keep it with lying and cheating.

Andrew says the IRS will work with you on a payment plan.

Oh, Monica.

Don't you get it? There's no money for a payment plan.

The enemy's closing in.

You forget to count again.

Sorry, Father.

Matthew.

Who?

Who? Who?

Who?

It's him.

Who?

I can't believe it. It's him.

That man?

Who is he?

The kid, the bomber.

I never thought I'd see him again.

Here he is.

And all I want to do is kill him.

You don't know that it's him.

Oh, it's him.

You were just a kid.

So was he.

You thought you were doing the right thing. You acted out of the goodness of

your heart, Nick. Can't you act that way now?

He lived.

He grew up. He had a beautiful daughter, and he wants to give her the American

dream. Isn't that what you wanted for him?

Yes.

But I wanted that dream for me, too.

Seems like everybody made their quota today.

Very good.

We work together, like you say.

Everyone helped me.

I am grateful.

Well, congratulations, baby.

You've just learned the best part of what it means to be an American.

To stand up and stand together when it counts.

My father says American soldier, help him to leave.

He is my hero.

In here.

Well, now, in here is a good start.

But being a hero means taking an action out here, in the world, setting an

example, standing up for what you believe in. And that's what we're going

study about tonight.

Like Boston Tea Party.

Good, yes.

Men make disguises and dump tea from English ship into Boston Harbor to...

Protest.

Protest tax on tea. And the colonialists were determined not to drink any more

English tea until the English listened to what they had to say.

Nick, I wish I had better news for you.

Just cut to the chase.

You owe $57 ,800.

And $4 .09.

Back taxes and penalties.

But he doesn't have to pay it all at once. No, no.

There are other arrangements that can be made.

Sure, maybe you can throw me back in jail.

Nick, the government would rather have your money than see you behind bars.

Maybe you could get a bank loan.

I know you find this hard to believe, Monica.

But the bank does not see this place as a good investment.

Or me.

Nick, I'm sure that we can figure something out.

We done here?

Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much all we can do now. Okay, well then, thanks.

Goodbye.

What are you going to do?

Nothing. It's over.

The government gets a factory and I hit the street.

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

There's something you're not telling me.

You're right, I'm not.

And that sweet little face of yours isn't going to get you anywhere at this

time.

This is no good.

Do them over, all of them.

I guess you won't be making your quarter today.

This is perfect.

I say it's no good.

I don't have to take this.

And what are you going to do about it?

Teacher, she teaches Bill of Rights and more.

We have right to earn decent wage.

We have right to be safe where we work.

We have rights to be treated nice.

We have rights no one take away. No one, not even you.

It says in Constitution.

Don't you dare talk to me about the Constitution.

I earned those rights with my sweat and my blood.

Those rights are for Americans and not for you.

And they never will be.

And there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

Your teacher ever tell you I have the right?

To fire every last one of you if you don't do your jobs?

Wait!

You make things better.

Or what?

We make no more clothes.

We make Boston Tea Party instead.

Amniak, this is not the right time.

You listen now, Mr. Nick?

Now.

You listen.

You're fired.

All of you.

Nick?

Think about what you're doing.

You're taking your anger out on these people and they've nothing to do with

pain. Monica, get out. I don't need you.

I don't need anybody.

Die, American.

I'll show him justice.

Now you can see a little American justice.

No.

Yes, baby.

Today, something bad happened.

Oh, you want to talk about it?

Come on, let's sit down and talk about it.

You really think Mr. Nick listened to me?

He needs you as much as you need him.

Okay.

I'll talk to him in the morning. No, no, no, baby. You need to talk to him

tonight before it's too late.

Oh, God.

Oh, God, help me.

Help me.

Papa! Peace. Kill him.

57. You're fired.

Peace. I won't lie. Give me your money. I made money for you. Somebody took the

gun. Three men died.

You listen now, Mr. Nick.

Monica. You're still alive, Nick?

Get out of here. You're going to get killed.

Look at me.

I don't get it.

Sometimes in moments of real danger, people say that their whole life flashed

before their eyes.

And that instant, that single moment between life and death can seem like an

eternity.

That's where you are right now, Nick.

Because that's where God lives in every eternal moment.

Who are you?

I'm an angel.

I live in heaven, but I serve on earth.

And sometimes I'm here, in between, with people like you.

Am I going to die?

Not in this moment.

In this moment.

is the only one that matters right now.

Tell God to go away.

I tried that stuff.

Love thy enemy, turn the other cheek, blessed be the peacemakers, and it

my life.

Tell God to split and take his angel with him.

Do you think that God didn't see what you did that day with the boy in the

truck?

He did.

And he smiled.

For every time you stop and honor even the least of your brothers, you honor

him.

And every time you try to be a peacemaker, the world may not recognize

God always will.

And he will honor you.

If he did, I didn't notice.

No, you didn't.

Because the voice of God...

can quickly get drowned out with the sounds of anger and guilt and hatred.

But God likes to be heard.

And so he spoke blessings and encouragement to you through someone

someone who was listening, your Uncle Joe.

God can use someone else to speak to you, to tell you the great things that

could have done with your life.

You could have turned a small factory into a strong business.

You could have turned a moment of kindness into a lifetime of peacemaking.

There is a God.

And he knows what I tried to do.

And he tried to help me back.

And I blew it.

Literally.

I suppose you did blow it, Nick.

But I have good news.

God loves you.

He loves you so much.

And I don't think there's a soul on earth who doesn't need to hear that.

Just as you offered hope to a young Vietnamese boy.

Just as your uncle offered you hope when you returned home.

Now God is offering you hope and forgiveness.

If you'll just step out of the in -between and stand on the side of God's

I don't deserve it.

No one does.

That's what makes it such a miracle.

Please forgive me.

Monica, wait. Monica?

Monica, wait.

Monica, wait. Help me.

Mr. Nick?

Mr. Nick? Hello?

Are you still here?

Help! Over here!

Hurry!

Mr. Nick, you're hurt.

There's a bomb over there.

That's it.

That's it.

Yeah, there you go.

Michael, get help.

Why you make that?

I'm sorry, I'm hanging.

You won't like the answer.

You know my name?

Yes. I know your name.

And I know your father.

I knew your father in the war.

Friendship, remember?

You are the soldier that saved my father's life.

Really you?

That young man with a guitar?

It's you?

It's me.

Somewhere under all these years.

My friend.

That's the last good thing I ever did.

Today you let me free.

I run for as far as I can.

I go to live in village many, many miles away.

And I told them, How you save me?

Far away.

You never went back?

You didn't come back three days later?

I never come back.

I stay away.

I never see another bomb until tonight.

Was it you?

I never get a chance to say thank you.

It was a long time ago.

But I never forget.

I named my daughter after you.

My name is Vietnamese for music.

Can you ever forgive me?

Maybe now we can work together.

Make better for all of us.

Like father said.

You said that to me a long time ago. What does it mean?

Peace.

obligations freely without any mental realization or purpose of evasion.

So help me God. Welcome to America, baby.

They had a good teacher. Not to mention a whole lot of determination.

Well, I'm proud of all my babies.

Citizens of America, citizens of heaven.