Original subtitles

I am a journalist, Robert, I assure you.

I have very little interest in your flights of fancy.

You, DanieI Defoe, are a writer.

It is your destiny as such...

to bring this remarkable man's story...

a story of intense struggle...

extraordinary friendship, and undying love...

to the world.

Well done, well done.

Full of life, death, passion.

You could indeed give up publishing...

for the stage, sir.

Tell me, though...

what relevance has this fine story...

to an impoverished scribe like myself?

Because, Daniel...

you are my favorite impoverished scribe.

And what is this?

A recently-discovered journal of one Robinson Crusoe.

Then this tale you tell me is true?

Every word of it.

A travelogue of a wayward seaman.

Read this journal, Daniel.

I am confident, sir, you will find a great interest...

in the story he has to tell.

And so my story begins...

like so many other stories, with a woman.

For as long as I can remember...

Mary McGregor and I had planned to marry.

However, as the McGregor family grew more prosperous...

So, too, did the fortunes of the Crusoe family dwindle.

As a result, the woman whom I greatly loved...

found herself betrothed against her will...

To my dear friend Patrick Connor.

Though Patrick knew of our lifelong bond...

he refused to release Mary from their arrangement.

It need not end this way, Patrick.

How, then?

Shall I cease the engagement and disgrace my family?

Patrick!

We were friends once.

Does not that count for anything?

We were friends, Crusoe.

But we are friends no longer.

Then we shall fight.

She is to be my wife, Robin.

It is God's will.

You know Mary and I loved each other since childhood.

Patrick!

This is not your fight, James.

You're not like your brothers, Patrick.

Don't be like your brothers.

You will never be together!

Patrick!

No! No, no.

Dear God, forgive me.

He's dead, sir.

Murderer.

Take to your horse, sir.

I'll not leave.

Go, sir, now!

Murderer!

Uhh.

Of course he knew I did not love him.

I told him as much.

Yet he chose to fight.

You both chose to fight, Robin.

What are you saying, Mary?

Do you believe I would willfully kill my friend?

I walked away.

You accepted his challenge.

Would a wiser man have known better than to fight, huh?

His brothers will seek vengeance.

Ah, they have already.

He was my friend, Mary.

I would never have wished...

such a terrible fate on Patrick.

You must leave now.

It is not safe for you anymore.

Will it ever be safe for me, Mary?

Time will heaI this wound, Robin.

I will explain to Patrick's family.

They will come to understand.

Go with the coachman.

You can trust him.

He will take you to Edinburgh...

and arrange for your safe passage.

Come back wiser for the experience.

In a year...I'll return.

Then we shall be wed.

If it is 13 months, Robin...

then shall I marry another?

I love you.

I will always see your face before me.

A year.

No longer.

And so I took to the seas...

the one place where I knew I would be safe.

For many months we sailed the great oceans of the world.

We docked at mysterious scented islands...

under the Southern Cross.

We swam with mermaids...

and we carried fabulous cargoes...

of silks and spices, jade and mahogany.

And once, even...

we carried a human cargo of slaves.

Providence had decreed me a man without a country...

yet I was not without a purpose.

Though I had formerly served in His Majesty's army...

it was my academic background...

and my intimate knowledge of history...

that led the captain of our ship to call on me...

to chronicle our journey through the written word.

Enter.

Captain's compliments, Mr. Crusoe.

Thank you. Shut the door.

Though Patrick's death brought about my exile...

it was the thought of Mary, of the knowledge...

that I would have her hand in marriage upon my return...

that kept my spirit strong as our voyage continued.

Aye-aye, sir.

Our little ship had met and bested...

fouI weather and high seas on 3 oceans.

Sometimes the storms would last a week or more...

but I grew ever more confident...

in the skills of our captain and his crew.

Are ya seeing the coast, yes?

Up ahead.

Put your back into it, sir.

Calling away, calling away.

Aft follow.

Batten down the hatches!

Batten down the hatches!

Aye-aye, sir.

Get over here!

Ohh!

Oh, God!

Ohh!

Oh, God.

Get out!

Bring it around! Bring it around!

Aah! Aah!

Give me your hand!

Don't be foolish, sir! Give me your hand!

Give it to me now! Give me your hand!

Mikey, help me!

Aah!

Ow!

Uhh.

Uhh.

Aah.

As I took my first steps...

in that unknown land...

a dread came over me.

I began to realize in truth how terrible was my condition.

Hello!

Hello!

No!

As I laid my poor companions to rest...

I confess my thoughts were for my own souI.

I did not know in what land I had been cast...

in what country, among what nation...

nor whether I might endure a single night here...

let alone a week...

or a month.

I spent that first night not daring to imagine...

what dangers might prowI or crawI beneath me...

and sleepless for thinking...

how I might survive the next day...

without food or weapons or human company.

But as the sun rose, so did my spirits...

for then I saw that the hulk of our vesseI...

had caught fast on the reef where she had foundered.

On-board I might find food and drink for my sustenance.

And this gave me fresh hope.

Unhh.

Hello?

Is anyone there?

I found that our ship lay so on the reef...

that only half of her was filled with water.

The forward parts were dry...

and there I found powder and weapons...

and provisions.

I discovered the carpenter's chest.

Being a gentleman, I had little experience...

with the tools of the trade.

Nevertheless, there and then I resolved...

that I would learn.

The ship's lone boat...

had been dashed to pieces by the storm...

but I found a part of an upper deck torn away.

I used this as a makeshift raft.

Thanks to an incoming tide and a gentle breeze...

my modest craft took me straightaway to shore.

I began to feeI not a little proud...

of my achievement...so far.

And so I reckoned my fortunes were on the up.

I had provisions for a month or more...

tools and good timber, even good company...

in the captain's old dog Skipper.

There you go, Skipper.

That's it. No more.

From now on you find your own food.

I was now making daily excursions...

away from the shoreline.

Penetrating further and further...

into the interior of my domain.

I knew only that we'd been sailing some miles...

from the coast of Guinea...

and I had in mind the possibility...

that my soiI was somehow connected to a mainland...

where I may happen upon some human civilization.

I'm on an island.

In order to keep watch daily...

for the first ship that would pass at sea...

I resolved to situate myself...

as near the coast as possible.

The weeks turned to months...

and still no sighting of a ship.

But I truly believed it must come to pass.

Some vesseI would saiI by my shore...

sooner rather than later.

Skipper!

Quiet. Quiet, Skipper.

Oh, my God.

Oh.

Ah.

Hello! Come back!

Come back!

I'm here!

I'm here! Come back!

Fire! Fire!

Fire! Come back!

Please! Please!

Please come back!

Come back! I'm here!

Ah, ha.

It was on that day I came to see...

I must no longer rely upon chance...

or fate or divine intervention...

for my survivaI...

but solely on my own efforts...

as a man.

And I found, as time went by...

I began to grow even fond of my island kingdom.

I have not been idle with my time on the island.

Even so, my thoughts continually turn...

to the life I left behind.

Skipper! Come here.

What you're about to hear...

is the sweetest sound in the whole world.

Hmm? The spirit of Scotland.

Come on, then.

My thoughts of Mary inspired me...

for I knew that someday I would return.

I erected a monument to mark my landing here.

Upon it I've been scrupulously recording...

the days of the week and the months...

as they've passed since my arrivaI on the island.

One year, Skipper.

A whole year.

Ho.

Ha.

How many wild fantasies tormented my mind...

as I made for the security of my own castle...

fancying every bush and tree stump to be a man...

afflicted with such terror that I could imagine...

Satan himself had taken human shape...

and left his print upon my shore.

From somewhere on my island came sounds I believed...

I would never hear again.

Human voices, to be sure...

but voices unlike I had ever heard before.

Stay! Stay here!

Aah!

Don't be afraid.

I'm your friend.

I'm a friend.

Ha.

Ha.

Unhh!

Give it to me.

Come on.

Back!

What do you think you're doing?!

I saved your life back there!

I want to be your friend.

How can I make you understand?

Friend.

I am your friend.

Food.

Right.

Food. Huh?

Food. Food!

Here you go.

A gift. Peace.

Ah, you want the gun.

Oh, no. It's very powerful.

And if you try to take this...

I will use this power to kill you...

and I don't want to kill you!

You're my friend.

Food.

Food.

Hey!

No!

Blasphemy.

Blasphemy.

Blasphemy.

How could I ever have imagined...

being a friend to this savage?

I saw now he was from another world...

one surely ruled by Satan.

I, Robinson Crusoe...

would guide and protect my kingdom...

against all eviI.

Skipper! Skipper!

Prepare yourself.

It seems we have a very unfriendly heathen...

on the island with us.

Little did this pagan know...

but his adversary was once trained as a soldier...

so he would be facing one skilled in strategy...

in the military arts.

It is hard to describe my conflict of emotions.

In all these 2 years...

I'd longed for the company of another human being...

and now we were enemies.

Hunter and prey.

And he was out there...

somewhere on my island.

Aah! Unh!

Sha.

Ahh.

Stay away from me, you black heathen bastard!

Aah! Aish!

Leave it alone.

Leave the bloody thing alone.

You hear me?

That's right.

Blow your bloody brains out. Go on.

Come here. Give me that thing.

Give me that...

That's it.

Give me the gun.

Give me the bloody gun!

Aye.

Come here, come here.

I'll give you this. Look. Look.

Aye.

Ha ha ha ha!

Up.

Up.

All right, easy.

Do you understand danger?

Death?

Who are you?

Huh?

What are you?

Look.

Look!

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

That he was a savage was indisputable...

and yet he seemed to be a decent fellow at heart.

In time, I might even turn him from his pagan ways.

Perhaps this was my mission.

What's your name?

What about Hamish?

I had a brother called Hamish.

What day is it? Thursday?

No, it's not. It's Friday.

Friday.

Friday.

Friday.

Friday.

Friday.

Master.

Master.

Master.

Friday.

Master.

Friday.

Aye.

Friday.

Friday.

You sleep here.

You sleep...

here.

It's just untiI the morning.

Food.

Stay there.

F-food.

Master.

Stay.

Stay. Stay.

Come here.

Come here.

I had wronged this poor honest savage...

and I was truly sorry for it.

It became clear to me...

that I could not have found a better creature...

to be subject to my benevolent rule.

At least...

that was how I saw it then.

Friday became constant and diligent...

in his work...

and proved to know a great deaI...

about planting and harvesting our crops.

Indeed, to my surprise, he began to instruct me.

In turn, I made it my mission...

to teach Friday the King's English.

And after 6 months...

I was astonished that he learned the language...

with such great proficiency.

Yet other aspects of Friday's education...

proved more arduous.

Friday, I have to talk to you about God.

God?

Your Maker. Your Creator.

God.

He made everything. He made you.

Pokya.

Pokya?

Pokya God.

Look at that. Huh.

Before long time, no land...only water.

That's in "Genesis."

Pokya live in the water.

He make Timpopo.

He make Tompopo.

He make the sun and the moon. Right.

Mm-hmm.

Sun and moon marry.

They make baby...man.

Make all men. Make me.

No. God made you.

Pokya.

You can't worship a crocodile.

Why not?

Teeth of crocodile.

Does this crocodile...

this Pokya...

tell you to eat the flesh of your enemies?

Make strong.

You eat fish, swim good.

You eat lizard, climb good.

You eat heart, make strong!

This is pagan blasphemy, Friday!

The true God is greater and more powerful.

The true God is love.

He teaches us to love our enemies.

Pokya...

is not God.

Show me God.

I cannot show you God.

I show you Pokya. You show God.

You cannot see God.

He's in the spirit.

He's in the souI.

I see spirit in the trees.

I see spirit in fish and animals.

I see everywhere.

Here.

Here is God.

Here is the living proof of God.

His sacred word.

This is the living testament to His love, His wisdom...

His divine plan...here.

Where? I see no God.

No, you...you have to read it.

Now look what you've done, you heathen savage.

This blasphemy and your soul...

shall be damned to eternal torments.

I no like your God.

I no like you.

Forgive all those who trespass against us...

against You, Lord.

Against You.

I knew I should come to regret my harsh words.

Whether Friday was the better for our meeting...

I do not know, but I had good cause...

to think Providence was sending him to serve me.

And so, I'm alone again.

I manage well enough without him.

I eat well enough, I live tolerably well...

but I find I begin to miss him as a companion.

It's been severaI weeks now.

Our paths cross from time to time...

but we do not speak, do not communicate.

In my studies of history...

I had chronicled the religious wars...

that have plagued mankind since the beginning of time...

and how sad, I thought...

that in this universe of two...

religion had now put us at our own war.

Yet something had to be done.

Friday!

We can't carry on like this. It's silly...

the two of us on the same bloody island...

not talking to each other...

not sharing what we have.

I'm sorry for all the things I said...

everything I did.

I was angry.

I apologize.

I want you to come back.

Good fish.

Eat.

There she goes.

That's it. Come on, come on.

That's it. Come on.

So now we were three...

and I heard once again the sound of human laughter...

his and mine.

Come on.

Ha ha!

That's it.

There you go.

Go sideways.

Sideways.

Go in the water yourself. They'll go with you.

Let's get the big one. Yours is bigger.

Winner.

I had not forgotten who it was...

that had brought Friday to my island...

nor the likelihood of their return.

The Nemurs, it seemed, were the dominant tribe...

on Friday's island...

and Friday had been offered by his own people...

as a tribute to these savages.

Powder...

gunpowder.

This is it.

Power.

This is what the Nemurs come for?

This must be powerfuI.

Oh, make great warriors.

Then we'll come back.

And so I determined to be ready for them.

Like hunters setting traps for animals...

we prepared our welcome.

I explained to Friday...

that this particular white man's magic...

would ensure that our enemies...

go to meet their god Pokya...

rather sooner than they anticipated.

Skipper!

Skipper!

Skipper!

O dear Lord...

I thank you for the time I shared...

with this faithful creature.

He was my friend.

Skipper goes to Crusoe's heaven?

Dogs don't have souls, Friday.

Only people have mortal souls.

Only people go to heaven.

Too bad.

Good dog.

Aye.

Friday ask Pokya...

to look after dog's spirit.

Pokya!

Pokya-ay!

The lessons of humility...

do not come easily to a stubborn souI.

Pokya!

Once I had thought mine was the only true path.

Pokya!

Now I was no longer sure.

Pokya-ay!

The Nemurs will come back.

With new moon...

many, many warriors will come.

Want your magic.

Mmm. Well, we can't fight them all.

We could build a boat.

Go away. Go to your island.

No.

We cannot go to my island.

Why not?

Cannot go. Can never go.

I am a dead man.

This island of dead people.

Aye. Well, we will be if we stay here.

We build boat.

You go to your island.

Mmm. If only I could.

My island's on the other side of the world...

many, many moons away.

What name your island?

Britain...

Great Britain.

Brittany.

Yes. New Brittany.

You know Britain?

Not so long...

one moon, maybe.

You mean New Britain?

New Brittany.

Right name, Oamockapeet.

White men call it New Brittany.

Have you seen white men before me?

My father told me about white men long ago.

Not good.

White man, he take much everything...

not give back.

Take land, take people...

Tonga people.

Make people slaves.

You're not white man, Master.

You're a good man.

But if your island is close to New Britain...

we could build a boat, and we could go there.

I cannot.

Do not ask me, Master.

My name is not Master!

My name is Robinson Crusoe.

Rob...

Robina Crus...

Crusoe, aye.

What name is Master?

White man.

I am slave to you?

No.

It was a mistake.

I'm not your slave!

No.

No, you're not my slave.

We are friends, and we can live as friends...

but we can build a boat.

We can build a boat and leave this place!

You're going to build it!

You gave life.

I cannot kill you...

but I will kill myself!

Then stay on this island and die...

but I will build a boat...

and I will live!

So, my stupid arrogance...

had lost me my dear companion for a second time...

and I was alone again.

If what Friday said was true...

I was less than one month's traveI from New Britain...

one of His Majesty's colonies...

off the coast of New Guinea.

But my time was short.

I had to leave before the next full moon...

and the typhoon season would soon be here.

I knew I would have to leave soon...

or miss my chance...

if I had not already done so.

How I regretted my thoughtless words.

The chances were...

that I would never see my friend again.

I am not slave!

I know, Friday!

You're my friend!

I tell you my spirit name.

Only spirit, me, and Tonga big men know.

Why are you telling me this?

Crusoe gave life.

Not say more.

Give power of bird.

Fly safe to landing.

Quickly!

Quickly!

Fearing that this might be a tempest...

as violent as that which cast me on the island...

we brought our livestock...

to what shelter we could devise.

We waited together to brave the storm...

which, indeed, proved more fearsome...

than any before.

No time to build new boat.

Moon nearly big.

Nemurs come... many, many warriors.

Yeah, well, there's no place to hide.

We'll have to fight them.

We may die.

Dying not important. All men die.

What matters is how you die.

Then we'll die like warriors.

At the time of the last full moon...

I knew that severaI of the Nemur warriors...

had escaped our trap...

so this time...

the enemy would know we were there.

Our only ally would be our ingenuity...

and what gunpowder remained to us.

Our Father, who art in heaven...

hallowed be Thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses...

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation...

but deliver us from eviI...

for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory...

forever and ever.

Amen.

Ahh!

Ohh!

Aah!

Aah!

Aah!

Uhh!

Aah!

Uhh.

Ohh! Unh!

Uhh!

Uhh. Uhh.

I do not know how long I had lain there...

while Friday ministered to me.

I felt little pain...

but a coldness spread through every limb.

No, no, no, no.

Uhh.

I don't want to die here.

Will you stay with me until...

please, huh?

Then go back to your own people.

Cannot go...can never go.

You must.

Friday is a dead man.

I cannot go back from here.

I am dead to my people.

I am tanwuan.

This island of dead men.

No one ever leave.

I don't want to die here.

Because he was offered up for sacrifice...

Friday was considered dead to his own people...

In many ways, a fate worse than death...

as he could never again be accepted...

amongst his own tribe.

Ironically, this dead man...

was my only chance for life.

Friday.

Friday.

Mary.

Huh?

Robin.

Robin.

Ha ha!

Mary.

Mary. Mary.

Mary. Mary.

Mary, Mary, Mary.

No, no. No, no, no.

No, no.

You live.

No.

Friday take care of you.

No.

Unh!

Aah!

Friday...

take you home.

Aye, home.

Having neither the provisions...

Nor, in my case, the strength...

to aim our sails for New Britain...

Friday and I set out for his nearby island.

While Friday believed...

his people could cure me of my ills...

his own fate was far less certain.

I could not count the days we were on the sea.

With God's grace...

we encountered only fair winds.

And with Friday as our guide...

we sailed safely to his island home.

Friday!

Friday!

You'll be better.

She has magic leaves.

Ohh.

Thank you.

Your wife?

Netwuana.

Was my wife.

They think I dead when Nemurs take me.

Not come back. She marry a new man.

Ptt.

Nabo.

Am I an evil spirit?

They think you are a slave trader.

Ohh.

Many times, white men come...

and take many warriors... many young men for slave.

Take my son.

Oh, Friday.

They think I bring you here...

to make them slaves.

Ohh.

If I'm an evil spirit...

why does she help me?

You sick man.

Not good to kill sick man.

Bad mana.

He prays to the gods.

Aye.

What are they saying?

We fight. One of us die.

If I kill you...

I can stay.

If you kill me, you can go.

I cannot kill you.

I will not kill you.

- I am a dead man. - Ohh!

No wife, no man-child.

It's better to die like warrior.

I will not fight you.

You must...

or they kill both of us.

Yaah!

Uhh!

I cannot do this!

Ohh!

Almighty God...

welcome me to paradise, if I am worthy.

Kill me and live.

I cannot kill friend.

Do it!

Do it.

Aah!

Come on.

Go ahead.

This way. Come on.

Ohh! Ohh! Ow!

Come away, me hearty.

These savages can't harm you now.

No!

No!

No!

And so, fate had saved...

her harshest trick till last.

Just as a dueI had caused me to flee my native land...

so, too, did a battle between friends...

bring about my return.

I was to owe my freedom...

to the men who had killed my friend...

who had ravished his people and his family.

Come on, come on, mate.

The slavers nursed me back to health...

and then put me ashore at Lisbon.

There, I was taken aboard a merchantman.

6 years after my departure from Scotland...

I came home.

It was he who gave you the journal.

Yes.

Robert, I...I must write this.

You miss him, don't you?

He saved my life.

He brought you back to me.

A wiser man?

Mmm.

Perhaps.

Ohh.

And so, Mary and I settled down to marriage...

and a family of our own.

We were blessed with happiness and prosperity...

but...

for the rest of my days...

I would think often and long...

of the man who'd given me the greatest gift of all...

my life...

when I'd all but lost it...

and his friendship...

unto death.