THE ORPHANS
"Children and war - there is no more dreadful conjunction in the world
between two conflicting realities."
Here it is: Bartenev, A.N.
"Alexei Nikolaevich"
Writer, born in 1940.
Elder sister, Natalia, born in 1933...
Bartenev, Natalia Nikolovna.
...Died in 1947.
Brother, Denis Kuskov, bears adoptive name.
Born in 1938.
Lives at this address in Odessa. He is an architect.
This brother was less fortunate.
Rogartsev, Sergei Nikolavich, bears adoptive name. Born in 1935.
He's serving a term in prison.
It's his third conviction.
Records show that all three had... the same parents as you.
It's strange they never looked you up.
They knew that you were alive, and much younger than them.
It doesn't matter.
Still, you'd think...
I was less than a year old when my mother died.
My sister looked after me. The boys were adopted.
I only learned later on that I had brothers.
It doesn't matter.
But this was a start.
Those were the toughest years of all.
The war had just ended.
We had nothing at all,...
but the first thing I learned in my life...
was that we had no father or mother.
Who'd you swipe it from?
Where did you swipe it?
How much do you want for it?
You think I don't want to eat, too?
Stop trying to make a fool of me.
I heard you singing songs yesterday.
Who do you think you're fooling?
- Who me? - Hah! A mute, eh?
Here, kid, take this.
Good morning to you.
- Good morning. - What a fine day.
Yes, isn't it?
Go away, little girl.
I can't give handouts to everyone.
What are you doing there?
Natasha! Run for it!
They're thieves. Stop them!
Stop, thief!
Stop!
- Alexei, he'll catch us! - Let's split up!
Caught you, you little brat!
Please let me go! I won't do it again.
I'm taking you down to the station house!
Excuse us.
Wait here.
He's brought two more.
Some street kids living rough.
Shit!
Take a look at that one, Doctor. See what you make of him.
How thin you are!
Sit here, please.
What's his story?
Check his arm, and you'll learn something.
I see.
The whole family was in a Nazi death camp.
He only survived by a miracle.
Valyusha! Who's next?
He's my brother and I won't leave him.
- What's his name? - Alyosha Bartenev.
We'll decide later.
Don't be scared.
We won't take him away from you.
It's for the good of both of you.
Now you'll be clothed, fed, and looked after.
I'm OK.
It won't hurt to look.
I think that girl's ill...
What's your name?
Valya.
Valya Gandin.
What's your name, son?
Alyosha.
I knew your father.
We served on the same torpedo boat.
I was wounded, and later the boat was sunk.
He had three other kids.
You were born just before the war.
We'll look them all up...
If they're alive - your mother and the rest.
If we fail, you can stay here with us.
Give him some more.
Just a drop, please.
Thank you.
What's the problem?
Why must he live here with us?
What is he to us?
He's an orphan.
He has a mother, all right.
He has two brothers and a sister.
Let them take care of him.
We don't even know if any of them are alive, yet.
Why must I take care of him?
I hope he falls and breaks his neck.
If his father were alive-
He isn't, all right? Can't you love anybody?
I've heard that a hundred times!
I can't stand this!
He's no bother to us at all.
We're not starving, and we have our own nest.
What's wrong with that?
If you hadn't taken him in...
Then what...? We're trying to live as a family!
Without him you wouldn't have gotten this nest!
You think I took him in to get this flat?
Of course I do!
Why else?
I'm fed up. I can't stand it any more!
I've stood worse!
The neighbors have told me all about you.
You can't name a single one!
Nor can anyone else!
And me? With my wooden leg...
And you make me bathe the kid.
He might be better off without you... And so might I!
How dare you!
I'm glad you ran away.
You never told me anything about our mother.
What's to tell? We had a hard time, Alyosha.
Just after you were born, the Germans came.
Mom was ill. Besides, there was Denis and Sergei.
- Who are they? - Your brothers.
You never told me about them.
I don't know anything about Sergei.
Denis lives near here. He was adopted by a big shot.
I went there once and I'll never go again.
- Why not? - I don't know.
Natasha died when she was 14,...
but I'll never forget her, or what she said about my brothers.
She was so kind, so good to me.
She was a mother to me.
Are you deaf, Mom?
See who it is, Honey, I'm busy.
I'm busy, too, you know!
Hello.
What do you want?
- Do the Kuskovs live here? - They do.
- Are you Denis? - What of it?
Have you got a sore throat?
None of your business.
- I'm going to start school soon. - Go right ahead.
I'm your brother.
Mom. A kid here says he's my brother.
Come check him out.
Tell him he's got the wrong address.
That's what I thought.
You have no brothers.
Who are you looking for?
Nobody.
What's your name?
Got none.
Thirty years passed...
before I met Denis again.
Bring us some ice and then do your homework.
It's a pity.
What pity?
It's a pity I'll never have enough time...
to read all of these.
You can use my library whenever you want!
It would be a privilege.
Here we are... enjoy!
I never imagined...
that I had a brother somewhere. An author, on top of that!
Cheers!
For the main course, we're having turkey...
and you'll see what a first- class chef I am.
Here...
May I go outside?
You may not. Go do your homework.
Or would you rather be an idiot?
I see you're a strict father.
Not really.
Let us drink to our reunion.
May we never part again!
How wonderful it is that we're brothers!
This is great!
Listen, I'll soon explode from all this food.
We haven't left the table for the past 3 days!
You call this food, Alyosha?
- And why aren't we drinking? - We do, but without getting drunk!
In the past, when I was hosting Germans in the Tjumen region,
there was real food.
Around five people came, and my superiors called me, saying that I...
Denis Nikolaevich, needed to come up with something.
And anyway, I was their chief architect, not Leonardo DaVinci.
And then I thought to myself: food is the basis for all human virtue.
If I was asked to entertain my German guests,
it should be done in the best way with the best food. After all, it is not,
is not, is not possible to leave Germans disappointed. It is not an option!
Of course not. Come on!
You understand me, right? That was some great food!
There was caviar, salmon, good liquor and beer: all of this is a must!
But that wasn't everything.
We took them to the sauna.
There, on the shores of a lake, workers built a great sauna.
While the Germans were being steamed in there...
there I am, at the spot, frying moose meat on the hot coals.
A dish of such delicacy exists -
Deer under mushroom sauce!
It's such a shame that we didn't meet back when, Anton.
Listen, brother - my name is Alyosha!
Right, I'm an idiot... and my name is fool.
I couldn't come up with your right name, can you believe it?
I guess it's not that important.
Why are you so sad? Let's drink to you.
We haven't seen each other for our whole lives!
Excuse me.
Yes, yes, I can hear you...
Hello, hello!
Okay, okay.
You are going to lose all your workers if the project won't be finished.
Interesting.
What was I supposed to do? They moved all the workers to a different project.
They didn't allocate the money. Yes, it stood there. Yes, I could have...
Instead of yelling at me you should think about our workers.
They'll all quit in half a year!
I'm telling you they'll all quit in 6 months
if the hospital isn't open in 6 months!
Yes, yes. I'm not going to agree with an opinion I don't share.
I didn't do anything wrong...
I didn't cover the walls with marble.
You can report what you like.
I tried to save this project from destruction.
OK, OK, a hospital is important.
Goodbye. I'll be there tomorrow, after breakfast.
"I will always regret dreams which did not come true."
Why so sad?
Just thinking...
No, no problem, no problem.
Father, it's late. How much longer?
Everything's just fine.
This is my brother! My brother!
But it's four in the morning, Dad!
Off to bed!
You aren't comfortable here, are you?
Aren't you happy here?
Tea, then? - Or coffee?
I remember everything, Alyosha! Everything!
Well, what do you want me to say?
How often were you wounded?
Seriously? Just twice.
How much schooling have you had?
One year of high school.
That's not much.
What kind of wound was it you got...
that would put you in the hospital for almost two years?
Ah, yes. I see.
It went clean through?
Negative, Comrade Director.
Well, since you had command of a company,...
I can offer you a position as an instructor if that suits you.
I hope I'll be able to handle it.
You're not the only one - we're all hopeful.
The school is just getting organized now...
and, naturally, we're very short of teachers.
Most of us are like you - not very well qualified.
Do you want a roast potato?
- Oh, thank you. - Thank you.
In our work here, the main thing with these kids is...
to try to make up for the youth they've lost.
We know what they've gone through.
They've seen the worst already.
Now it's our job to pass along what experience and knowledge we have.
They need to feel that someone cares about them.
No one's going to do it but us...
Excuse me.
Um... hello?
My name is Promov. I've been demobilized, and...
the Regional Committee ordered me to report here.
Well, I'm glad to see you.
"Nikolayev: Yesterday, April 18th 1946...
"In the city of Nikolayev...
"the German fascist war criminals sentenced...
"by the military tribunal in Nikolayev...
"to death by hanging...
"for their monstrous crimes against the Soviet people...
"were executed.
"This met with the unanimous approval..."
It's time.
"from the people of Nikolayev. The fascists were named as..."
Arms straight in front of you. Begin!...
Now the next exercise.
No talking! Quiet!
And the next one...
Polyakov! Stop that!
"At mealtimes, I-"
- Repeat! - At mealtimes I never talk!
- I hope you enjoy breakfast. - Thank you.
Yastrebov! You're supposed to be in class!
I can't stop!
Two days extra duty!
Cadet Bartenev reports completion!
Form ranks!
Fall in!
Dress your ranks!
Eyes right!
Good morning, boys!
Good morning, sir!
Bartenev and Gandin: why is your hair long?
I'm acting in a play.
Does this mean you can't have short hair?
Carry on! Do what you have to.
This is a short thrust.
This is a long thrust.
Our rifle is the 1891 model.
Get as used to it as you are...
to the spoon you use to eat.
That's how to become a good Soviet soldier.
What did we learn last time?
Bartenev. Front and center!
Well?
About... face!
Recite!
One night in 1942, Sergeant Feofanov crossed the river...
and broke into the Nazi trenches.
He had a rifle and a bayonet.
"Without firing a single shot..."
Without firing a single shot,...
he killed six Nazis and returned to his unit...
with two fascist prisoners who...
- "Yielded"... - who yielded...
rategic information.
- What kid? - Rategic.
Shut up, you lot!
It was rategic information?
Are you nuts?
Polyakov.
What's so funny?
As you were!
Settle down! Back in ranks!
Attent...shun!
Who knows what the word "strategy" means?
We weren't taught that.
We weren't taught that!
Strategy is the keystone of the art of warfare.
Everything else...
is subordinate to it.
Remember that.
Form ranks!
Fall in.
Shoulder... arms!
Right... face!
Mark time... mark!
Forward... march!
Sound... off!
"As darkness falls, the forest grows silent.
The birds cease their trilling.
"A woodcock flutters up behind the trees.
"A cuckoo calls.
"A thrush stops its song.
"The forest slumbers."
Don't be frightened. They're defusing mines.
There are 9,000 species of birds in the world.
To study the anatomy of birds,...
we will examine the rook.
It's appearance shows...
it is adapted to flight.
Its front extremeties have become wings.
By flapping these wings...
the rook stays aloft...
for surprisingly long distances.
The bird's movement is guided by its wings...
and its broad tail.
Let's go watch the combat engineers!
Send Polyakov to me at once.
I'll be in the teachers' lounge.
Don't give me away!
Hide and sneak!
What's going on?
Promise you won't tell a soul!
Cross my heart.
That fat fascist! He'll get it in the belly.
I'll use my slingshot.
You want to spoil it all?
I've been watching for three days now.
What can a slingshot do?
Do you know anything about the atom bomb?
Not really.
They say it can smash anything!
They're making a monument for peace.
Funke! Back to work!
No work, no eat!
Yes, Sir, Comrade!
One grenade wouldn't be enough for them all.
I need something much more powerful!
Here we need -
What was that word you didn't know?
I don't remember.
I remember what it means, but not the word.
What's important is what it means.
Yastrebov! What are you doing?
Who, me? Nothing!
Two days of extra duty!
"How vainly - and the thought of it is grievous -
"Our youth was granted us, alas!
"Our youth did nothing but deceive us...
"From hour to hour we played her false.
"Sad, that our finest aspirations,...
"Our freshest dreams and meditations...
"In swift succession should decay,...
"Like Autumn leaves that rot away."
"In not a single country in the world...
"Will a person with such outstanding gifts...
"Appear more than once in its history."
That was said about the poet Alexander Pushkin.
We'll return to Pushkin after the holidays.
Class: Attent...shun!
As you were.
Long live holidays!
Why do you think a poet like Pushkin...
can only appear once?
That's what Mickiewicz said, but it doesn't mean...
that you should stop writing poetry.
Come on in.
Make yourself at home.
Have a seat.
First, something to eat...
then we'll find you some poetry to recite.
Look at any book you like.
"After Victory Day we wanted everything...
"to change at once, like in a fairy tale.
"But life isn't a fairy tale.
"On V-Day, we saw wrecked cities,...
"smashed roads, and careworn faces.
"But the Soviet people did not complain.
"Rolling up their sleeves, they got down to work.
"Then came another trial: the drought of 1946.
"It was a hard year, but in that year...
"we accomplished so much...
"that the year ended well.
"We did it by our own efforts...
"Just as we had done during the war itself..." [Speech continues]
"Long live 4th anniversary of victory over Germany!"
"Ah, if you knew -
"That you are the only one in the whole world...
"Ah, if you only knew...
"You're the only one...
"In the whole world, on the whole planet.
"Ah, if you only knew that nobody else...
"In the whole world...
"On our lovely planet..."
"Cares about us..."
Bartenev! Alyosha! Alyosha!
Someone to see you!
Hello, son.
What's wrong?
Hello, Uncle Kolya.
I brought you a present,...
in honor of Victory Day.
Close your eyes.
Here you are!
Gosh! It's real!
That's brilliant!
- It's cool! - My pleasure.
Thanks, Uncle Kolya.
- There's an inscription. - "Remember your father."
Hide it or they'll take it away.
A short thrust!
A long thrust.
A big piece of news: your brother's address.
Denis, you mean?
No, Sergei. He's five years older than you.
Your brother was adopted by Proskovya Pogartseva.
...Sergei?...
It's now 3:30.
You have three days at your disposal.
Hello, brother.
Well, do we embrace or what?
It's up to you, Sergei.
Why did you look me up?
What were you thinking?
I thought maybe I could be useful to you.
I've read a lot of your work.
I knew you'd turn up one fine day,...
to prove there are some decent people in the world.
Did you doubt it?
You writers! Where's the Tolstoys and the Dostoevskys?
Writers like that are only born once, Sergei.
- You like Dostoevsky? - Nothing to like him for!
Who needs his tears and innocent children?
Everyone thinks the sufferings of others...
as are nothing compared to their own.
Nothing!
You know what I mean.
Are you talking about yourself?
No. About you.
I don't follow you.
You're a writer, aren't you?
Alyosha, you writers don't see things until after the fact,...
when your nose is pushed into it.
Interesting idea...
At least I'm frank...
but you can't even admit to yourself...
the reason why you're here.
You may be right.
You want to appear big-hearted...
by coming here to console your criminal brother...
whom you've never even met.
There's something in what you say.
However...
I'm sorry we didn't meet sooner.
Ten years ago, I would have hit you in the jaw for that.
I brought you a few things.
- Who's that? - Our father and mother.
I remember father hazily.
Mother's a person I can't understand.
What do you mean?
Just think: to put her head into the noose!
You can't mean that, Sergei?
No, and why not?
If you bring four children into the world,...
you've got to put them on their feet first,...
war or world-wide flood notwithstanding!
Then you're a real mother,...
and your children will be grateful to you forever.
Was it easier for other people? Did they suffer less?
Our father, her husband, died for his country.
That should have made her think of us, not herself.
Then she'd have been a real mother.
I can't believe she didn't know...
what would happen to us with her gone.
And she couldn't have cared less!
She had to know! She had to!
She knew we'd screw up our lives.
She knew -
Yet she put her neck in the noose.
Are you telling me she hanged herself, Sergei?
Yet others held firm.
I can't look them in the eye,...
because I'm the lowest of all creatures.
The lowest!
People like me should be shot on the spot.
But I won't give up! I won't!
I haven't lost hope of becoming a man, a decent human being.
I can see you're serious.
- But she gave up. - Let's not talk about it.
We can't compare ourselves with them, you're wrong.
- You think she was right? - I don't know.
How can I know what it was like for her - all alone?
If I hadn't been born,...
maybe she wouldn't have taken that final step.
That was no time to bring children into the world.
Brother, why are you so angry at the world?
I'm angry at myself, not at the world...
For having sunk so low.
I don't know how to unsnare myself.
That's not easy to figure out.
Our sister and I were thieves, too, back when.
We did lots of things we shouldn't have done.
You're probably the only person, Alyosha,...
who doesn't preach at me.
It's easy to say: "Make a new start."
But how?
Once you ask that question, you've started.
It's a pity we didn't meet earlier.
Maybe my life would have turned out differently.
If not for the war...
"What our fathers did in the war."
Is the topic clear? Begin your composition now.
You have a hour of time.
What do I know about my father?
Only what Uncle Kolya Stepanovitch told me.
A third of the boys...
know nothing at all about their fathers.
I don't really believe...
that my father is dead.
There are lots of cases of men thought dead...
who came back safe and sound in 1945.
Take that fat stinking prisoner called Funke.
Maybe he has a son in Germany...
who thinks his father was killed, too.
But he's fatter than ever, eating Soviet food.
It'd be silly, of course, to hope all my life...
But for five years, I can still hope my dad'll come back.
I wonder what Sasha Polyakov is writing.
His father was a deserter.
Finished, Valya?
Not feeling well?
May I go now?
"I clearly remember my Dad.
"He came home on leave the last time...
"In May 1946.
"We went together to watch the fireworks.
"He went back to Berlin - he served in the army there.
"He was killed a month later,...
"by fascist guerillas.
"They were never captured.
"They gouged out his eyes,...
"cut off his ears and nose,...
"and slashed his whole body.
"My mother I don't remember at all.
"When I grow up, I want to join the army.
"The fascists shouldn't think...
that we forgot what they did to us."
You all realize that...
what Valya Gandin did was wrong.
We all lost our fathers at the front.
But the war is over, the Germans surrendered,...
and we mustn't kill unarmed prisoners.
He only killed himself.
Did anyone say "At ease"?
Well?
Eyes right!
Polyakov - you all know what "eyes right" means.
Attent...shun!
Continue.
We are all to blame. We failed to reeducate Valya.
A fat lot of difference it makes to him now, though...
Watch what you're saying.
Sorry.
Whoever has any weapons must turn them in.
Whoever doesn't do this...
Gosh, we're scared!
Who's that clever kid?
You want to stand here all night?
You want us to kiss your you-know-what?
Bartenev. Step forward.
I know you all approve of Bartenev's conduct,...
but don't think he'll get away with it.
You can't scare me.
A reformatory will scare you enough.
You think I don't know...
you and Valya Gandin were in on this together?
No, we were all in the classroom.
Two days of extra duty.
What's this: a mutual protection society?
The state feeds and clothes you, but doesn't know...
it's bringing up hoodlums like Bartenev.
I don't call you names.
Just try! I'd teach you!
For the last time: does anyone have any weapons?
Be cooperative, boys!
Tomorrow we could all be blown up.
Very well.
I have plenty of time.
You're dismissed, commander.
I see you want to do it the hard way.
Bartenev, come with me.
Which bed is yours?
I'm not saying.
- Which bed is yours? - I don't know.
Stop acting stupid.
I could insult you, too.
Turn up your mattress.
I'm not a bloodhound.
You said you didn't have anything.
- I won't give it up! - You'll be sorry.
It was my father's.
Nonsense! You stole it!
It was a present, honest it was!
You'll be sorry!
Really? Give it to me!
Hand it over!
- What's he done to you? - Leave him alone!
Stop! You're hurting me!
I've had enough, Bartenev.
Fascist!
Who gave you the right to hit boys?
This is a children's home.
They're war orphans!
The state has taken them under its protection.
We were soldiers, but we're supposed to take the place of their parents...
But they can't call a teacher a fascist!
He's a war veteran, he was severely wounded.
We must have discipline, or else...
they'll walk all over us.
Damn it!
Why are you interrupting me?
Were you ever beaten up?
Were you ever subject to discipline?
That's not the point.
I don't approve of his action...
but Bartenev and those like him...
could make anyone lose his patience.
Please just look at the record!
Bartenev; Bartenev; and more Bartenev.
Poor marks in conduct throughout the year! Few can match his record!
Really?
Here: Please note what we have here.
"While unloading bread for the kitchen,...
"Polyakov, Yastrebov, and Bartenev stole five loaves."
It's the same group every time.
If a child steals bread, it doesn't mean he's a thief.
He's just hungry.
Yes - hungry and scared.
They doze in the classroom because they're hungry.
Consider Bartenev's conduct all year long...
and his complicity in the explosion.
He didn't have anything to do with it.
Bartenev's being made the scapegoat here.
They'll walk all over us.
Mon dieu! To strike a poor little child!
That's forbidden even in other countries.
We all respect one another and we realize that...
if Bartenev goes unpunished -
No! - Some persons here don't respect others.
I don't respect you.
Not at all. We're not discussing Bartenev...
but the outrageous behavior of a teacher.
Is that so hard to understand?
You made me lose my train of thought. I had an important point...
Thoughts like those are easy to lose.
Calm down, comrade.
All right, all right... I'm disgusted.
If I'm not mistaken,...
this isn't the first time you've done this.
Comrade Krivoruchko, behave yourself.
No one gave you permission to leave.
Yes, we're not done here.
I know Bartenev well...
and I like him.
I feel sorry for him.
As for Valya Gandin, I want to tell you...
that hatred of fascists,...
Germans?
I repeat, of fascists, not simply of Germans,...
is by no means the worst trait that a person can have.
Alyosha has had a hard life.
Thank goodness he has remained...
sincere and truthful.
We teach the children to defend others.
Why don't we teach them to defend themselves?
He was wrong in calling his teacher a fascist.
He should have slugged him in the jaw!
That's what I would have done in his place!
How could he raise his hand...
against a war waif?
I won't even shake your hand after this...
even though your army rank was higher than mine.
I hope that's clear.
Fortunately or unfortunately,...
the simple truth is this:...
We must never go back...
to where we were when young,...
in any way at all...
for we'll never find... never...
what we're looking for.
Sentimental journeys into the past...
should be forbidden.
Don't stir up another's soul...
Don't stir up my soul,...
or else I'll run out into the snow -
for who is there to stop me? -
and go back to 1945.
Back I'll go,...
and there I'll find... God willing...
my mother - young...
And my father - alive!