All language subtitles for Fugitive.Pieces.2007.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]-English

I did not witness the
most important events in my life.

My deepest story must
be told by a blind man

from behind a wall,

from underground.

Bella...

Jake,
can you get me a towel?

Here you go.

I've been thinking
about paper.

Paper or China?

China or paper?

I think it's paper. What?

First year
anniversary.

That's next week. I know.

I think we
should celebrate.

Why wait?

Hmmm.

Are you all right?

Yeah.

Maybe we should
just get ready.

Okay.

You ready to go?

This woman at Birkenau,

she kept an image of
her husband and daughter

cut from a photo,
underneath her tongue for three months.

She could've been
killed at any moment.

Incredible.

Yeah.

That a person would
die for a photograph.

You don't want
to come, do you?

Everyone will
miss you.

They're starting to
think you don't like them.

You can't work on
this all the time.

You'll drive yourself mad.

Actually, I've
finished it.

Why didn't you
say anything?

It's great, Jake.

You can
move on now.

Start your own book,
do whatever you want.

We could take
that trip. What trip?

To the island.
To Greece.

Yeah. I...

Maybe.

Oh, Jake.

Come on. They'll
be waiting for us.

We can share
the good news. No, I...

I'm not up for it.

You go.Or...

Maybe I could
just stay here. No, no.

Go alone.

Say hello
to everyone.

Okay.

It's great, Jake.

A new beginning.

Hey...

Home.

When we were married,

I hoped that if
I let Alex in,

if I let in
a finger of light,

it would flood
the clearing.

And at first, this is
exactly what happened.

Mingus, Mendelssohn,
Mozart...

Mantovani.

That's an
odd selection.

I'm on the "ms".

Huh!

Crash course?

Uh, yeah.

Something like that.

I really don't know
that much about music.

My sister used to play.

Did she? Yeah.

What? the piano.

Beethoven,
Brahms, Schumann.

She had good taste.

Yeah. does she
still play?

No. No, she's...

She doesn't
play anymore.

Do you know about the
concerts at the conservatory?

No.
Ah.

The Workers
Education Association.

The union.

Ah.
Every Sunday afternoon at 2:00.

It's all amateur
stuff, really,

but a lot of
my friends go.

Who do you
hang out with?

Uh... I don't really
have any friends.

No? well...

A few.

Well, I could probably
afford to be...

More discriminating
myself.

Oh!

Oh, look at those.

Those are perfect.

You need a pair
of galoshes.

No, I need those.
It's the colour.

They'll look brilliant
on the wet pavement.

Hee-ha!

What?

You're so... Why are you laughing?

You're so...

You're so serious. I'm sorry.

No, don't be sorry.

Okay, I'm not sorry.

I brought you
back your books.

Hi, Ben.Hey.

I really liked
"the stranger".

"Seven days in may",
not so much.

I don't know.

I'm not really into
political thrillers.

It's a little early, Ben.
What time is it?

Uh... I don't know.

Man:
Ben?

Ah, there you are.

Leave Jakob alone.

He probably hasn't even
had his breakfast yet.

That's all right.

Come on.

How about I bring you a
new batch of books later?

Okay.

You've always spoiled him.

Oh... hello.

Oh, this is Alex.

Uh, this is Jozef.

Jozef, um...

Nice to meet you.

Uh,
he I-lives down the hall.

Ah.

I've known Jakob
since he was a boy.

Really? Jozef:
Oh yes.

He was a
lovely boy too.

So quiet,
so polite.

You're embarrassing
me, Jozef.

Oh, well.

I'll, uh...
I'll leave you and, uh, your friend.

Bye. Huh.

So, you've lived in
this place a long time.

Yeah.

I've never lived anywhere
for more than two years.

Well, it's comfortable.

Hmm.

Mmm, what's that?

You're not too big
on change, I'm guessing.

Oh...

Jakob and I came
here on our first date.

That wasn't a date.
We'd just met.

A date or not,
I thought you'd have taken him

to some horrible
underground jazz club.

Or some god-awful
lecture by Marshall McLuhan.

Or to some very worthy,

but also very dull
meeting on the joys

of the labour
progressive party.

And now you're making
fun of my politics.

Well, we know you come
by them honestly.

Oh!

Hey!

Thank you.

Hey, where's mine?

There you go.
Right over here.

They liked you.

Hey, hey, hey,
I learned some Jewish.

Uh-huh?

I have a yellow dog?

You don't even
have a dog.

Is that what I said?

That lady in the
market tricked me.

Oh, I...

I think we should
get married.

What? and I don't want
to wait too long

for you to ask.

I'm just saying,
I think it looks...

Pretty inevitable.

You think so? Yeah. I do.

I think we can make
each other happy.

Mmm.

Alex never understands;

thinks that
she's doing me good

snatching me from the jaws
of despair, rescuing me.

But each time a memory
or a story slinks away

it takes more
of me with it.

Everything is wrong.

The bedroom,
Alex beside me, my panic.

How will Bella
ever find me here?

Beside this
strange woman,

speaking this language,

eating strange food,
wearing these clothes...

Hello. congratulations
on your book.

Poppy seed. Poppy seed.

Elaine, you're
a goddess.

Give me your coat.

Alex, they're here.

How are the children? Ah, who cares?

As long as someone else
is taking care of them.

Hi.there she is.

Hello.mmm.

Hi.hi.

How are you?

Aha!

Poppy seed. Your favourite.

So, Maurice,
how's the museum?

Oh, you know,
it's palaeontology.

It's not a
very glamorous...

Not that
much to say.

Well, never mind.

I get more than enough
history right here at home.

Alex? yeah.

Maybe I could give you
a hand in the kitchen.

Sure.

And there was this Czech woman,
a farmer's wife.

Mm-hmm.

She hid a family of Jews,

people she
barely even knew.

Seven of them,
for the entire war,

almost two years,
feeding them.

At the end
of the war... Jake...

Was the first time her husband
found out about it. Just a second.

You'd think he'd be proud of her,
yes?

Sure.

He beat her so badly
she almost died.

Jake, maybe you should
just give Maurice a break.

No, this is okay. Alex:
No, it's not.

It's... you're not
married to him.

You're not obligated to listen
to this stuff 24 hours a day.

Alex, really, it's... No, Maurice,

it makes your brain
explode. His obsession

with these details... Alex.

It's obscene.

What's going on?

No. No!

"The moment
I'd spent half my day

crawling through
misery to reach

vanishes under a bulb.
The shadows slip away

as Alex again
barges in

with her
shameless vitality."

Do you have any idea what
this has been like for me?

I can't take
this anymore.

This is what you
want, isn't it?

Then you can...

Sit in the
dark forever.

Every trace of me
will be gone,

my clothes which you
think are too flashy,

and my job which
you think is trivial

and my friends whose names
you can't even remember.

You're ungrateful,
Jake.

Alex. what?

Right.

I tried to Bury images,

to cover them over
with distractions,

with attempts at love.

By day,
I entered the world,

but at night, my mother,
my father, Bella

simply Rose, shook the earth from their clothes,

and waited.

To live with ghosts
requires solitude.

I know only
fragments of what Athos contained.

Salt, olives,

vine leaves, sea foam,

a life spanning two
wars and one love.

Eleni.

Were there words
that they regretted?

Did they imagine children?

When a man dies...

His secrets bond
like crystals.

There is no one here.

You can come out.

You need some
fresh air, Jakob.

Come out.

One day
you have to come out.

At least
we have this.

Your gums
are bleeding.

I'll soak some bread
in water for you.

Eat. Eat.

Your Greek is still
better than your English.

Hmm?

Oh, Nicolaos.

My brother.

He died at age of 18

in a traffic
accident.

Hmm.

Sometimes people die
when it's not expected,

not just
during wartime.

Come here.

No one will see you.

We are
too high up.

My grandparents
used to have a house

on the island of hydra,
overlooking the sea.

Once when Nicos
was a boy,

he folded a
paper airplane

and sent it
over the edge.

It landed in the hat
of a man drinking ouzo

in a cafe near
by the dock.

On the wings
of the airplane,

my brother had
written a note

begging to be saved
from a kidnapper.

And he described where
he was being held captive.

Then, the police
came to our house,

and Nicos laughed
and laughed...

While my father

chased him, yelling
halfway down the hill.

It's all right.
It's all right.

I'm here.

Hmm?

Hmmm... hmm.

Hmm?

I have to go into town.

Hey. Don't worry.

I'll be all right.

Man 1:

Man 2:

Man 1:

Can you read this?

Jakob.

Jakob! Jakob.

Oh...

You are back.

It's over.

Come outside.

It's safe now.

This is a letter

I received
a few months ago.

It's invitation
to teach in Canada.

See the stamp?

Mountain...

Snow...

As soon as I get a visa.

Jakob.

Jakob!

Jakob!

Jakob. Ja...

That the dead
may drink.

That the dead
may not go hungry.

For your parents.

For Bella.

For all who have no one
to recall their names.

Tell me.

Jakob,

it may not mean
anything to you now,

but you must
try to be buried

in ground that
will remember you.

I long
for the loss of memory.

Though I have tried
to will my parents

and Bella from my sleep,

this will
amounts to nothing,

for my mind betrays me
in a second.

I've crossed an ocean and
lived many years without them,

yet I can feel Bella's
gentle fingers on my back,

my father's hand on my head,

and suddenly I'm afraid,

and turn around
in empty rooms.

How are your parents?

They're fine.

How are you? I'm all right,
I guess.

I start university
next year. I know, that's good.

I'm dating someone. Oh, really?

Is she here? No.

Oh.

What's her name?

Naomi.ah.

An excellent name.

Do you know
what it means? No, I don't.

In Hebrew, it means
"full of grace".

I didn't expect
you to be here.

Do you still think
it's true, that I...

Wanted to change you?

I mean, it's in the book,
so I suppose you do.

Alex, if it hadn't
been for you,

I never would've
written the book.

I would never have...
Gone to Greece.

I don't
know if that's true.

Well, I...

So what now?

I'm going to teach here
for a few months every year,

when I'm not
on the island.

Are you seeing
anybody? Uh, no.

You? sort of.

He's a musician.

Aren't you lonely?

Yeah. Same old Jake.

You've written
a very good book.

You should be proud.

From Mr. Taylor,
my new colleague.

It's invitation
to party.

Look how
popular we are already.

Electricity.

Running water.

It's like
living in hotel.

I was looking
forward to snow,

but there is
hardly any at all.

You're like a lot

You've got a
fascination with the cold.

Well, a few winters here will change that,
I'm sure.

Excuse me.

I hope you're
having a good time.

I'm sorry there aren't
more children here.

Thank you,
it's very nice.

Oh, wait. I have
something for you.

I know you're not...

I mean...

Well, everyone should be able
to take part in a celebration.

Right?

Thank you. You're
much too kind.

Oh! I almost forgot.

Jakob...

Why don't you
pose with Athos?

Oh. Hmm.

Come.

Good.

Smile.

Too much champagne.

I'll feel better
in the morning.

Mmm!

Ah, excellent.

I taught you well.

You didn't open
your present.

What do you
think it is?

Refrigerator?

Locomotive?

A frog?

Open it.

Put it on.

Ah. Looks good on you.

What is it?

My god.

Stay where you are.

Oh. Careful.

Now what?

I'm... um, I'm
sorry to bother you.

Everything all right? Ah...

This crazy storm.

Do you want to come in?

Oh, no, no, no, no.
Thank you. Um...

I was wondering I-If you
had any extra candles?

Of course.
Take this one.

I'll bring
you some more. Thank you.

I'm, uh, sorry
to bother you.

I-It's...

It's my husband. He...

What is it?

He doesn't take too well to,
uh...

I shouldn't leave
him alone too long.

Huh.

So,
this book you're writing.

"Bearing false witness".

But it's not
really a book yet.

Just a lot
of notes, ideas.

Who knows if
I ever finish it.

And, uh,
it's about what happened during the war?

Well, uh, it's about
the abuse of history.

It starts, uh, with
Biskupin in Poland,

where I met Jakob.

10 years ago,
a river dried up there

and people started
finding artefacts.

But then the Nazis came
and they buried everything.

As far as they
were concerned,

there couldn't possibly
be an advanced culture

that they didn't create.

So they destroyed
the evidence.

It's a good thing
you're doing.

Already,
people say the things I lived through

never happened.

You'd think they'd at
least wait a few years,

until we're all dead.

The mitzvah
that you did

for that boy,

it's a blessed thing.

Did you know...

That jozef was
a conductor in Warsaw...

Huh. before the war?

A very good
conductor.

Oh, not
that good.

And he's a very good
piano teacher too.

Parents pay me

and children
resent me.

Is that good
teaching?

Don't listen to him.

Thank you. My Sara,

she was a singer.

Not bad either.

Now I sell dry goods
in the market.

I'm the singing
dry goods lady.

Things change.

Some more sugar.

You eat so slowly,

like an aristocrat.

I think
about her too.

You think she's dead.

I don't know, Jakob.

Maybe it's better
not to hope.

Listen...
When I feel things

building up
inside me, I write.

You have also
something to express.

So...

You will write too.

Write what?

What you must.

"The great mystery of
wood is not that it burns,

but that it floats."

No.

There is a good and
bad side to everything.

You can choose to see
what destroys something

or what saves it.

"There is earth
that never leaves your hands,

rain that never
leaves your bones.

At night, memory
roams your skin.

While you sleep,
the sea floods your house.

You wake in the bog,

burning with
the smell of earth."

"Nothing releases you,

not death in the dream,
not waking.

This is how one becomes
undone, by a smell,

a word, a place,

a photo of
a mountain of shoes.

By love that closes its
mouth before calling a name."

Jakob, it's beautiful.

Beautiful.

Oh-h, damn you.

Look at us, huh?

Uh? Ah-hah.

The two bachelors
crying into our coffees.

Okay.

Then I'm going to do
some work of my own.

Ben, it's getting late.

Your parents will
think we kidnapped you.

I know you're not asleep.

Come on, Ben.

Come on.
Time for bed.

Ah, there you are.

Did he fall asleep?

Come on, now,
time for bed.

Don't make me go.

Ben.

Come on, Ben. Ben, Ben.

Come on.

Okay... go on.

Good night.

You always
know, Jakob.

If he ever gives
you any trouble,

you just send
him back, huh?

He can overstay
his welcome. It's no trouble.

Good night. Good night.

You should rest.
It's not good for you

to work night after
night like this.

There is an old
Greek saying...

"Light your candle
before night overtakes you."

You have a saying
for everything.

That was a beautiful
ceremony.

So many people.

Yeah.

You know, when you
first came here,

you were what, 11?

Mmm-hmm. just a little bit
older than Ben.

Hey. What's this?

An apple.

Is an apple food?

Why do you
throw it away?

I don't want
the other half.

Can you imagine?

Take it.

I said take it!

During the war,

everything had value,
no matter how small.

A button,
a pencil, a spoon!

Not to mention the things
that could make you weep.

A good pair
of shoes.

Hot water.
A scrap of food.

Isn't that right, Jakob?

Now my own son
throws away an apple.

Jozef.

Well, if my only son doesn't even
understand the value of things,

why did we
even survive?

I'm sorry.

Why don't you
play something?

I know I have
written to you before.

This letter is in regards
to a missing person.

Bella;
LAST NAME: Beer.

Biskupin, Poland, 1942.

15.

I'm seeking
any information

regarding her possible
whereabouts...

Please post the
following every Friday for one year.

I know the records
are incomplete...

I know I have written
to you before.

Check your list,
taking into account

possible variations
of spelling.

Bella;
Beer. Age: 15.

Hello?

Jakob?

It's Ben, how are you?

Oh, hi, Ben.
Uh, I'm fine.

I'm just sleeping. We were thinking of you.

How are things in hydra?

Good. How's Naomi?

She's fine. And your dad?

How's he, since...

He's okay.

Well, I'll be
seeing him soon.

I'll be back for class
in a couple of weeks.

That soon? Yeah.

Okay, hang on.

Jakob! hi, Naomi.

Good to hear your voice.

Well, say you'll
come to dinner.

Oh yes, of course.
Soon as I get back.

Great.

Finally!

How was your trip?

Oh, you remembered
my olive oil.

How could I forget?

Hi!

Welcome back.

Listen, there's this woman
from the museum Naomi knows.

She's a curator.
Very smart.

Oh, no!

All right, then.

"All right", what?

Invite her
over sometime.

Well, actually,
she already did.

Jakob. Michaela.

Naomi's had us on her
thesis diet for months now.

When I was doing
the Russians,

all we ever ate was
cabbage soup and perogies.

Then it was
the Latin Americans.

Empanadas, rice, beans.

And now it's Sweden.

And every other day,
we're eating salted fish.

That's not true!

And what's wrong
with salted fish anyway?

You know,
when I was small,

I was obsessed
with salt.

I think it started because
we travelled so much

and everywhere,
I kept hearing about salt.

City of salt.

Road of salt.

And in the Sahara,
there were entire cities built of salt.

I used to
imagine caravans

weighed down with
thick cakes of salt.

I'm talking too much.

So, Naomi.

How's your project? Um, good.

I... collect songs and lullabies
from everywhere in the world.

Become a kind of
a mania with me.

A song for every occasion.
Or person.

By now I can match a
song or a ballad to anyone.

What about ja... What about...

What about Jakob?

What about Michaela? Jakob. No!

No, I don't...

Try, try.Um...

Well, for you, I...
I would have to say, "Moorsoldaten".

Mm-hmm.

"The peat bog soldiers".

Peat bog.

You're very good.

Do you know the song?

Oh, yes.

It's...
Well, it's...

Uh,
it was written by prisoners during the war.

And they weren't allowed to
sing anything but marching songs

while they were working,

so they wrote something that
sounded like a marching song,

but...

Well, really,
it's a song about hope.

Sing it.

Uh...

Very good.

So, you still
live in Greece.

Back and forth.

I write there,
teach here.

How long have
you known Naomi?

Well, to tell you
the truth, not that long.

I've only been at
the museum a few months.

How long have you
known each other?

Well, I've known Ben
all his life, really.

I was there
when he was born.

His parents lived in the
apartment next to ours.

Ben was very premature.

And when his mother
went into labour,

his father came running
into our apartment in a panic.

And Athos, my godfather,
was away at a conference,

so I called the
ambulance and...

Anyway, I ended up being at
the hospital when she gave birth.

When they brought him
from the delivery room,

he weighed less
than three pounds.

So small

in this almost
transparent body.

He was like a spirit.

Not even a person.

No bigger than my hand.

Take off your coat.

I'll make
some tea.

Oh, this is...

From my mother's
side of the family.

She's Russian,
he's Spanish.

Fabulous arguments,
as you can imagine.

And they used to
go on for hours.

What stamina.

Hmm.

Hmm.

What?

Lemon.

Why? You...
You want milk?

No.

...Even the
horror of the past,

you try to reinvent it
and re-imagine it.

Like my Russian
grandmother.

Yeah, sort of.

Not always
so amusingly.

Take specific
moments and...

Your mind fills
in the gaps.

I've spent years
trying to imagine

Bella's route
from the house.

Where did she die?

In the street?
In the train?

In the barracks?

You try
to reconstruct,

visualize every
possible scenario.

I used to dream that
maybe she escaped.

I haven't dreamt
that in a long time.

I also used
to wonder

what might have
happened if I'd stayed.

Waited in the house
instead of running away.

Maybe she came back.

There's a poem
by Akhmatova.

"You are many
years late.

How happy I am
to see you."

Jozef?

Jozef?

We shouldn't tell
the rabbi

or they won't let him
into the cemetery.

At least he waited
till my mother died.

I still can't believe
he would do that

after everything
he went through.

Your father
suffered a lot, Ben.

He didn't suffer.

He was impenetrable.

Can I ask you
something?

I don't understand how you could
have gone through what you did

and still be
so generous,

still write
the things you do.

I used to think that
if I understood you,

I could understand
my father better.

But it's like you're
from different worlds.

Well, I don't think so.

Your father told
me not long ago...

That he still would dream

about his mother
and father.

The smallest things.

The detail of his mother's coat,
a button,

his father's shoes
outside in the rain.

And that when he
woke up in the morning,

old as he was...

He was still crying.

After years of
trying to be closer to them,

I now fear that I am only haunting
my parents and Bella with my calling,

startling them awake
in their black beds.

All the years I've felt
Bella entreating me,

filled with
her loneliness,

I have misunderstood
her signals.

Like other ghosts,
she whispers,

not for me to join her,

but so that when
I'm close enough,

she can push me back
into the world.

Whoa!

Ah!

Mmm.

Garlic.

And, uh...

Basil.

Mmm. Sweat.

Honey.

Mm, oh, coconut oil.

Salt.

Read it.

You sure?

"I did not witness
the most important events of my life.

My deepest story must
be told by a blind man

from behind a wall,
from underground,

from the corner of a
small house on a small island

that juts like a bone
from the skin of sea.

While I hid in the radiant
light of Athos' island,

thousands suffocated
in darkness.

While I hid in
the luxury of a room,

thousands were stuffed
into crawlspaces,

stables, pigsties.

While I was learning
Greek and English,

learning geology
and poetry,

Jews were filling the corners
and cracks of Europe.

I didn't know that while I
listened to stories of explorers,

a Jew could be purchased
for a quart of Brandy,

for sugar, cigarettes.

What do our bodies
make us believe?

That we're never ourselves
until we contain two souls.

Now I'm not afraid when
harvesting darkness.

Night after night it is
happiness that wakes me.

There is room at last for
everyone I have ever loved.

As Michaela approaches,
I shake like a compass needle,

feeling for the
first time a future,

my words, my life,
no longer separate

after decades of
hiding in my skin.

Here is a woman who will
slowly undress my spirit,

bring my body
to belief."

We're going to be late.

Coming.

"Each morning I
write these words for you all,

for Bella and Athos
and eleni; For Alex;

for jozef and Sara; For
Ben and Naomi; For Michaela.

Michaela.

I can describe what
her wrists look like

or how her hair grows
at the back of her neck.

But more, I know
what she remembers.

I know her memories.

I pray that soon my wife will
feel new breath inside her own.

I pray and press my head against her side,
and whisper a story.

Child I long for,
child I dream...

If we conceive you,
think of us sometimes,

your mother and me,
when it rains.

And one day, when
you've almost forgotten,

I pray you'll
let us return.

That through an open window,
even in the middle of a city,

the sea air of our
marriage will find you.

I pray that one day,

in a room lit only
by night snow,

you will suddenly
know how miraculous

is your parents' love
for each other.

My son, my daughter...

Bela.

Bella.

If we conceive you,

know that once
I was lost in a forest.

I was so afraid,

my blood pounded
in my chest,

and I knew my heartstrings
would soon be exhausted.

I saved myself
without thinking.

I grasped the two
syllables closest to me

and replaced my heartbeat
with your name.

Bella.

Now I see that I must
give what I most need."