All language subtitles for Splav Meduze (1980) EN

Cast

THE RAFT OF THE 'MEDUSA'
(A Tearful Comedy)

Screenplay

Music

Directed, photographed
and edited by

The year 192...

Got a screwdriver
in your handbag?

I am a teacher,
not a locksmith.

It we stay longer,
it's double price.

It'll take an hour to
undo all these buttons.

Stupid, they're not real
buttons, just an ornament.

Did you ring, sir?

You're hearing things.

Why don't you write
to mother

so she wouldn't have
to ask me about you?

I haven't got the money
for the postage.

Stop playing
the fool.

I am your brother,
not your guardian.

This thing can't fail.

They are like children:

naive and fat -
and full of money.

They always take me
around the factory first.

We talk about electricity.
They praise Tesla:

one of ours
got to the top.

It'll go like this: we
take seats in the office,

I offer a cigar
and show them

the latest Siemens
engines in the catalogue.

We calculate the money
saved and the profits.

We puff cigars...

They complain they
live like savages:

there's no culture,

nobody understands them.

They leaf through
the catalogue

and come across
your photo.

It got there as
if by accident.

Surprise!

They slobber.

And then I say:

This is...

an acquaintance of
mine from Petrovo.

A clean, refined,

and cultivated young lady.

But she's very lonely.

Put on an innocent
expression.

They have a special
weakness for it.

Once more.

I trust the Americans,

but...

Safe is safe.

I'm fed up with all
this pettiness!

Don't overdo it.

Put on your dress.

You ladies catch
cold in a jiffy.

I need it like
a hole in the head.

Were you scared
the other day

when the comet nearly
hit the Earth?

Scared? Why?

When will you stop
pretending to be an iceberg?

But you like your
icy sister. I know you do.

Give me some money.

My dear sister:

this is just
a loan.

And for the
last time.

Look what you've
done! Bad luck.

The works of charity:

To feed the hungry.

To give water to the thirsty.

To clothe the naked.

To shelter strangers.

To nurse the ill.

To visit prisoners.

To bury dead paupers.

The works of spiritual charity.

What's this noise?

The vicar asked me to go
over Catechism with them.

The presumptuous fat drone!

Our job is to teach
them the three R's!

And you?

He's found himself a fool.
you got hoarse from zeal.

You're a Catholic, forget
this Orthodox rubbish.

They've brought provisions.

But they forget our pay
three months in a row.

Go home!

Doesn't the sight of this
give you the creeps?

What? The flour?

Why?

'Why'? It means
a year of your life.

The wood turns to ashes
and smoke. The food...

Forty more times
and it's closing time.

Tombstone and worms.

But I won't have it.
No, I won't!

What can we do?

We'll see.

What's flour doing here?
Am I to bake my bread?

You're always angry.

Gasa!

Get four boys and take
the sacks to the baker's.

Tell him: from Miss Ljiljana,
like last year.

Are we really going
to hear something?

Done.

The loudspeaker
doesn't work.

Miss Kristina,
get a passport.

I am taking you
abroad to Berlin,

where debauchery reigns.

You don't mind
debauchery, I hope?

Or would you rather
go... to Moscow?

The papers say it's quite
interesting there now.

What is it we can't live
without? Who knows?

Food.

Money. -Air.

We can't live
without air.

That's right, air.

I've dismissed
my classes.

Had enough for today.

Remember: without air.

The air consists of
oxygen and nitrogen.

In breathing, we use oxygen.

The candle uses oxygen,
too. So does the mouse.

When we've spent all the
oxygen, there's no life.

Watch now.

I recognized you at
once. Your brother...

Is he ill?
- No, he's well.

I left my car
outside the village.

Excuse me, I'll get mud
all over the place.

I know this
requires tact.

You are a nice girl,

everything should
be discreet.

We'll settle things easily.

Haven't you got...

I don't drink.

Of course.

Miss Ljiljana, you've got
such beautiful legs.

I noticed them
in the photo.

Are you mad?

Your brother said we're
kindred souls. Lonely.

I haven't got
a brother.

This is a school!
A Temple of Education!

I'm an honest girl.
Don't touch me!

I'm not touching,
look.

We educate children. How
dare you talk about legs?

I'll be silent as a grave.
Especially about the legs.

Florica, get the
pliceman. -No!

I'll make up for
the inconvenience.

We're respectable girls.

Our father died
for the country.

LATER ON

Write to your brother
not to send people here.

I'll lick the stamp.

He could've killed you,
ripped our bellies open.

Stop raving!

A little fright, but then,
look - 1100 dinars.

You're mad. They'll put
you in a strait-jacket.

I don't mind - if I
have my fling first.

'A new life will begin!

'War - that's over.'

'I'm sick of
mechanical power.'

'l hope everything
is going to look'

'like coloured pictures
in the Farmer's Almanac'

'with busy vinegrowers
at one end'

'and baskets full of
grapes at the other.'

'Who's coming?'

'A new era!

What do you think?

Pure Wordsworth.
Minus rhymes.

It sounds good to me.

Hop in! What do we
have the car for?

Ljiljana!

Ljiljana! Visitors!

Meet my friends from Belgrade.

Didn't you tell him not
to send any more clients?

Stupid, don't you see
they're not 'clients'?

Get acquainted.

X-1.

X-2.

X-3.

What kind of names
are these?

They are joking.

They're artists.

Don't insult us.

I am Misic.

Aleksa. Glad to meet you.
Ristic.

Borivoje Lazarevic.

Kristina Polic.

Ljiljana.

Is your headmaster still
in hospital? -Apoplexy.

He can only move the big
toe of his left foot.

Got it in the tongue,
too. -Marvellous.

How do you like
Misic¢'s coffin?

Dreamboat!

I'll have to learn
how to drive.

You should have studied
to be an engineer.

Misi¢ is starting
a new art movement.

Let them think
in peace.

Go to hell - all of you!

What an anachronism:
beside electric guns,

an electric eye, and
rotary printing presses

the poet sings
about chrysanthemums

and waters them with
his sweetheart's tears,

while being desperately
blind to everything else.

He doesn't see his soul
is a big spittoon,

full of tubercular spittle.

Misic!

Aleksa knows I'm not
aiming at him.

Here you are.

Furthermore:

Our every word should be
a poisonous injection.

Pure cyanide!

It must provoke reaction,

protest, alarm.

The European is a dancer
on the burning tightrope

strung between the Kremlin
and the Eiffel Tower.

Oh, the Eiffel Tower!

The Eiffel Tower!

People jump off
it all the time.

I saw a lunatic smash himself
three metres from me.

He wanted to fly.

He ruined
my only suit.

I walked around Paris
all in stains.

Paris must be beautiful.

Beautiful - schmutiful!

Introducing me, Tristan Tzara
used to say:

Our friends in Belgrade
don't wear a carnation

in the buttonhole, but
a lump of human brain.

LATER

I've put you up.

I see you're getting
along fabulously.

It's time for me
to set out,

but let me
eternalize you first.

Poses!

OK, poses.

We should all be
in the picture.

All!

Can't this camera take
photos by itself?

There, she'll do it.

She should hold it like
this and press the button.

Kodak does the rest.

What's up? -She's afraid
it'll steal our souls.

It won't. There's
no soul anyway.

How do you say 'now'
in Rumanian? -Acum.

Kodak will now eat up the
old woman and her smile.

One - two - three!

...and the smile on
the face of the tiger!

But this sun will melt
the dark chamber

and the celluloid plate.

At last the camera
made the kill

when the old woman showed
two prehistoric teeth.

Nature is wonderful.

Nature is obsolete.

Steel and glass are the
flowers of the future.

Reading is the only thing
that keeps me alive.

I am sure you
love Presern.

I am sure you
miserable whiner.

You throw everything
on the dump. -Pardon?

You throw everything
on the dump.

I am a little sorry.

I'm sorry, too.
Sometimes.

One can find useful
things in the dump.

Must it be like that?
- Definitely.

Kristina, this will
help you understand:

There was a ship,
packed with passengers,

her name was 'Medusa'.

A huge wave
smashed her.

The raft was too small
for all the survivors.

They pushed each
other off the raft,

cut the fingers
clinging to the planks.

But even those on the
raft barely survived,

drinking their own blood,

a draught a day.

I'll show you the picture.
- No, please, don't.

Do you think I
could write poems?

Of course.

Come along!

Aleksa! Not under
the tree!

You know so
many things,

you should know a tree
attracts lightning.

It's healthy to drink
electric milk.

Nothing's happened.

How can you say that -

when I love you!

But you think I am
a romantic ninny, don't you?

Don't!

Not on the mouth.

I don't care,
ll don't care!

I stole your bloodstained
handkerchiefs

and kissed them
all night.

Gentlemen, mail!

At last.

Coffee with cream
coming up.

And rose petals
in honey -

for Aleksa only.

The provincial circus
turned us into pigs.

Dulled by fat, we'll
forget our mission.

What's that?

Flattering regards
from Marinetti.

Mussolini's jester!
No business with him

since the fascist burned
down the Slovene house

in Trieste and threw two
men off the third floor.

Look! The spitting image
of your latest painting.

Shall I rejoice or cry?

Where does it come from?

Hannover. From Kurt Schwitters.

Inviting us to take
part in an exhibition.

He has also invited...

Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy,

Teige.

Not bad at all.
Distinguished company.

And where did this
invitation find you?

What do you mean,
where? Here.

In the village of Petrovo.
That's the point.

You're stuck in the dunghill
up to your neck,

with hens scratching
around,

pigs burrowing...

Look at him!

What's the use of his
talent in the Balkans?

No panic, please.

The European merry widow
will be glad to marry

the Balkan
barbaro-genius

who'll fertilize her.

I know your
everyday prayer:

'Give us skyscrapers,'

'millions of cars
and engines,'

'Our Mother Technology.'

Here a skyscraper would
sink into the mud.

Your 'machine art'
will wilt very soon.

What else
can you expect

in a country like
this blessed kingdom

where 'machine' means
a box of matches.

Remember: life and art
should be pleasure.

Look who's speaking!

Look at yourself
in the mirror!

Wait a minute!

This might be the
trumpet of destiny.

Are you the owner
of the vehicle?

I'm sure you've
recognized me.

I am lnidarsi¢
the Giant,

the strongest man of the
Balkans and Asia Minor.

This is my assistant,

Miss Nadezda.

Yes?

I have some business
to discuss with you.

Don't worry -
you won't lose.

Alojzij lnidarsi¢ doesn't
owe anything to anybody.

Another Slovene?

Incredible!

There are the happiest
days of my life.

I can see,

you're all swollen
from happiness.

Everybody, look here!

Step on it!

Switch off!

This is to prove

that a Serb is stronger
than 15 mechanical horses.

And the Serb happens
to be - a Slovene!

Kristina, how do you
like your countryman?

He's cute.

We intended to go
on a tour anyway.

If we unite, it'll be
like the best cinema.

Don't think I've got
anything against art.

I've got a strong
artistic urge myself.

Of course, everybody
is an artist.

And vice versa:
nobody's an artist.

And vice versa.
- Wait a minute!

How's that?
'Vice versa' -

then again
'vice versa'...

Giant, don't worry: all
the profit goes to you.

Have you got a gun?

A gun? Yes. I've got
one. What for?

I've just had an idea.

Bravo, Giant!

I nearly fainted
with excitement.

Hurray for scarlet fever!

Hurray for apoplexy!

Look how they carry on.
Schoolteachers!

Nadezda, don't
aggravate me.

Or else, get out and find
yourself someone else.

There are people who will
respect and understand me.

What a sucker
you are, Lojzi!

You only think about
which one to jump.

Kristina or
that hot pants.

Don't forget we are
a joint stock company.

Joint stock!

Without me, you'd still be
eating coal in the mine.

Half of everything -
my sweat and blood!

I can take a saw and
cut everything in two.

The car, your fine
English suit...

I'll cut YOU in two
as well -

and who's going to pay to
see half of the Giant?

Joint stock, Giant!

Talk, Nadezda,
just you talk.

Giant!

I know one Slovene
poem by heart.

If you don't listen
to Nadezda,

this will be
your destiny:

Once I ploughed land
under the sky.

Now I dig coal
under the ground.

Once a sunny field
was in front of me.

Now, carrying the lamp,
I hasten into the gloom.

For 38 years I've been
burrowing like a mole:

Pits on the right,
pits on the left.

High is the sun,

High is the sky.

Far away is
the village,

and far away
the singing bells.

Instructive, eh?

Borivoje,

don't be stupid.

Pardon, monsieur.

Aleksa, don't.

Not here.

Don't you like
it anymore?

I do...
but not here.

SEVERAL DAYS LATER

Combat is the
only victory!

All against faint-heartedness
and degeneration!

The artist is the
dynamo of society!

Giant, Giant, Giant!

Ten minutes of exercise
and New Art every day,

and you'll become like
inidarsic the Giant!

Down with the dirty rags
og namby-pamby poetry!

Art for life!

The strongest
must win!

The Balkan art
is no utopia!

FOR EXAMPLE:

It's my turn now!

Buyrum clock
watchmaker flint

overfed street
songs of lace

meatless Wednesday
is proclaimed

movement of
Mayors's fences

paroxysm of yatagans
ultimate celibacy

hotahatari
hotahatari

hydroplane sine
of the seventh heaven

akatsuki
akatsuki

I will consider
this an applause.

SAVING ENERGY

Hello. -You here?
- Business.

Is the gentleman a new
member of the troupe?

You must have
recognized me.

I'm lnidarsi¢
the Giant,

the strongest man
in the Balkans

and Central Europe.

Of course.
And what's this?

This is the health-
preserving armour.

If you're not
encased in tinplate,

life power leaks through
the pores in the skin.

Especially at night.

The tinplate stops
radiation

and sends it back
into the body:

out through one hole,
in through another.

Thus warmth and salt
are not wasted.

Salt is crucial. Salted
meat doesn't rot.

That's why his assistant
is all black and blue.

Giant, hurry up!

ATTITUDE TOWARDS
THE CLASSICS

We are pulling
Shakespeare's Latin beard!

We are cutting
Kant's navel!

B. Popovic, J. Ducic¢
and Miroslav Krleza

are thrown off the
steamer of modernity!

That's right!

NJEGOa, the author of
THE MOUNTAIN WREATH

How many of you have the
Mountain Wreath at home?

Splendid!

Keep it and use it
in case of war

following our example.

Attention!

It's a live round!

Shame!

Shame!

Only sick minds spit
on sacred things.

You need a file to
sharpen a dull saw.

You need a file to
sharpen a dull brain.

You need a file to poke
an idiot in the ribs.

Blood is the most
hygienic bath!

Cultural Bolsheviks!

From the blood-
soaked earth

shoot up toadstools
of unacy!

It's a civil duty

to hunt morons in the
jungles of idiocy!

DECLARATION OF LOVE

In remembrance

of our common
triumph.

You're beautiful
in your new dress.

Giant! Giant!

May I have a look?

A look at what?

Let's see what 'Politika'
has to say about us.

'An idiotic Tour."

The beginning
is promising.

'Mr Misi¢ hopes to
find in this country'

'ten thousand fools
like himself'

'to promote among
them his -

'artistic revolution.'

'No matter how little
we think of this State,'

'we must speak
in its defence:'

"Misi¢ will never find
10000 Misi¢s'

'in the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes.'

Excellent. Praise would
be the worst insult.

I'm not the strongest
man in the Balkans

and, tomorrow,
in Europe

to be pestered
all the time.

NadeZda, if you're jealous
of Ljiljana, here you are,

fight it out
like gentlemen.

Nobody's going
to tutor me!

I ran away from home
when I was eleven

because I loved
freedom and dignity.

Comrade Misi¢?

These are official
letters from Gosizdat.

And here's a letter
from Mayakovsky.

What's the matter?

I expected...
H. Kluge.

I am H. Kluge.

You imagined a Hubert
or a Helmuth.

My name's Hanna Kluge.

All my books are
signed H. Kluge.

Should I boast
that I am a woman?

This is supposed to be
a letter from Mayakovsky?

I don't understand.

It can't be for me.

It's written to a woman
and signed 'Puppy'.

There's also a drawing
of a little dog.

The handwriting is
Mayakovsky's though.

Poor Vladimir.

He must have mixed
up the letters.

He's desperately in love
with a woman

who thinks about nothing
but French perfumes,

French chocolates
and French fashions.

But he's strong.

He lies to himself and the
others that he is strong.

No, he's a giant
made of kissel.

Kissel?

A kind of Russian
fruit pudding.

My dear Misic¢, when I fly
over tiny white kingdoms

like yours and
the Rumanian,

I am a high society
aviatrix

about to break
the record

on the Vienna-Moscow
Vienna-route.

But I'm not going
back to Moscow.

The fault's probably mine.

The revolution, as my
friend Brecht said,

interested me as much as
the Vesuvius interests

a man who wants to boil
his kettle on it.

What time is it?

My watch has stopped.

Gorgeous! I wish I
had one like this.

Let's swap then.
- Oh, really?

Look how Mr Capital
fattens.

On your sweat,

your blood,

your muscles,
bones and lungs.

He gobbles your brains
and nibbles your hearts.

He'll eat up the dirt
from under your nails

and the nails
themselves.

Workers! Proletarians!

Let me ask you
a childish question.

Why aren't your
calluses diamonds or dynamite?

Migi¢! That wasn't
part of the deal!

Why didn't you take
my name off the roof?

I respect property
and order.

Why fight the authorities
when we're doing so well?

The papers say your
New Art spells Communism!

Comrades

we offer you our hand!
- Stop it!

You were a blacksmith
and a miner yourself.

Precisely! I don't want
to go into a mine again.

I was suffocating!

How did it turn out?

Splendid. The audience
didn't like it though.

Did you rent this
in a theatre?

I am the owner. Though
I am not that fat.

I know, that's for
the propaganda impact.

Whose idea was it?
- Mine.

Surprising, isn't it?
With such a noisy leader.

Ingenious. You are
a born publicity genius.

Nowadays an artist has no other
choice than advertising

either industry
or revolution.

Here, the moment isn't
exactly propitious

for the latter activity.

Therefore,
Mr Lazarevi¢ -

you know, I've read
your articles -

come and work for me.

You'll tide over this
unpleasant time,

I'll give you
excellent pay,

modern chromium-plated
furniture from Germany,

and a free hand.

Later, when the
revolution wins

and you become Commissar
of Arts, you'll pay me back.

I doubt it.

I'm very ungrateful
by nature.

Even better.

Think it over.

I've thought it over.

A publicity manager must
take quick decisions.

I accept.

That treacherous
rat Borivoje

is dancing in front
of the Golden Calf.

Mixed metaphors: calves
don't go with rats.

Besides, you taught us
there is no difference

between a poem
and a house,

a painting and a shoe,
if they are well made.

Giant!

We know the Serbian
revolutionary spirit.

N. Pasi¢ and other
university students

demonstrated in the theatre
against a reactionary play.

They were blowing
candy whistles.

When the police
barged in,

they crunched and
swallowed the whistles.

They looked progressive
and had their sweets too.

Later, Pasi¢ became
Prime Minister.

Why do you fume?

We're all waiting for a
buyer to domesticate us.

Never!

Look:

I press the button -
explosion -

you fly 50 metres
and fall into the net.

I'm a little afraid.
- Don't be.

What's wrong with me?

Broken three times.
I didn't even feel it.

My backbone is
reinforced concrete!

In the mine I lifted
a waggon full of coal.

We'll appear
in Chicago yet.

Giant, look! The
supreme attraction!

We'll have
to go back.

If you Slovenes don't
know the way to Trieste.

This is the way, but I
didn't invent the snow.

The air is like fire.
So cold that it burns.

Surrender! Surrender!

In the name
of the law:

Surrender! Hands up!

You're under arrest.

Hands up!

I have a clean record.

If NadeZda has slandered
me, I'll strangle her!

Don't move! I'm just
gesticulating a bit.

Stop! Stop!

It's a mistake!

These are not the
Comintern courriers.

You're late. This one
is already cold.

It's not true!

It's not true!

You're lying!

What are you doing?

I want to see if
I'm going to cry.

You are not human!

It's strange to live,
it's strange not to live.

Stand up.

Be seated.

Are you diligent?

Robar?

Yes, sir.

Are you afraid of work?
- No, sir. -And why not?

Work will make us
honest people.

Excellent.

Carry on.

Have you practised
with canes?

Yes, sir.

It's of the utmost
importance.

Our country can't afford
expensive guide-dogs.

The needs are enormous.

Follow me!

Vrhovec!

Vrhovec!

The blind need
no light. Nonsense!

We must economize.

A penny a day

keeps poverty away.

Dissipation undermines
the state.

Sir, unfortunately, some
of us are not blind.

One would like to read
something occasionaly.

You'll get electric
torches

and a battery
every week.

Now, back to work!

Tempus fugit.

Miss Poli¢!

Are you aware you
have been suspended

from all educational
institutions of the kingdom?

Pardon?

I can't hear you.

I am.

Only the entreaties of
your respectable parents

got us to employ you
in this Slovene home.

And now - you receive
a letter from abroad.

If I am not mistaken,
this is a foreign stamp.

I don't like it at all.

You risk contamination
by subversive ideas.

This is not to
happen again.

You understand?

On my last inspection I
found this in your locker.

How dare you?

It's my duty.

I leafed through
this 'work'.

I don't like
such writing.

Rading it, I felt
as if I had lifted

the lid of the privy and pushed
my nose inside.

Don't think I'm
an autocrat.

I have consulted
my friend aerko,

a doctor of philosophy
and medicine.

It is his opinion,
and he's an expert,

that such writers belong
in a lunatic asylum.

Confiscated!

Sleep, Robar.

Things will change.
- When?

I don't know.

There may be cakes
for lunch tomorrow.

Dearest Kristina,

it was difficult to
get your address.

How life has suddenly
changed.

Only yesterday everything
was possible,

but now people look
like walking corpses.

The air is heavy.

I hear Misic¢
has disappeared.

The last time I saw
him, he said:

If I am to be the last
citizen in this country,

then this country
is the last for me.

I'd like to have Aleksa's
poems published.

How much would it cost?
I'll send you dollars.

I met a Dutch planter
from Indochina.

After five minutes
he said:

'You are beautiful
and strange.'

' am rich and
ll love curios.'

'So'?

Now I have a mink coat
and a diamond necklace.

Do you want me to find
you a millionaire?

We'll live together
in Saigon smoking opium!

When you get this, I'll be
in the middle of the sea.

I am very unhappy,

but, who's happy?

Destroy this letter.

Love Lilly.

Seven children were
injured in the fire.

The cause of the fire
was never established.

While rescuing
children

Kristina received
severe burns.

Her face was disfigured.

She lost her
eyesight.

She spent the next
27 years in the home.

She was very popular
as she tried to help everybody.

In 1946, some
artists came

to shoot a film about
the blind children.

That morning
Kristina died.

So that the shooting
wouldn't be obstructed,

her body was put
in the cellar

beside American tins

and a heap of
sprouting potatoes.

She was buried
the next day.