Gorod Zero (1989) Movie Script
Leonid Filatov in
Town Zero
Cast:
Oleg Basilashvili
Vladimir Men'shov
Armen Djigarhanyan
Yevgeniy Evstegneev
Aleksey Jarkov
Peter Sherbakov
Will you drive me to the hotel?
Take a look. There should be a pass here...for Varakin.
What? Nothing? But it can't be. I just ordered it, take a look again.
No pass for you.
Damn.
Hello, this is Varakin. I am at the guard house and there is no pass for me.
I have explained it to you already half an hour ago.
I am Varakin from Moscow factory. I am here on the business trip regarding the air conditioners.
well, you supply us with the conditioners...
...all right, all right. I am waiting.
Chaos...
Yes, got it. Comrade Varakin, you may pass.
'Director'
Hello.
Ninochka, into order right a way, I have talked with Pal Palich already.
What question do you have?
So what question do you have?
I am from the Moscow factory...regarding the conditioners.
I'll announce you.
Pal Palich, there is a member of Moscow factory here.
Let him in.
Please, enter.
I am listening to you.
I am listening.
You see...I am from the Moscow factory... Our director has phoned you.
It is regarding the air conditioners you supply us with.
We supply you with the air conditioners?
Well, yes. For 15 years already.
Beautiful. So what else do you want?
We want you to change the back panel.
Why?
Well we operate on a self-supporting basis. We have changed an entire technology.
And now our panel doesn't match yours.
We have phoned you, sent the blueprints.
You asked to send a man to settle everything on the spot.
So I have come.
Well, I think, we will solve this efficiently. I'll find the chief engineer...
Nina, Nina, Nina. Where is she?
I am sorry...The thing is that your secretary there...is sitting absolutely naked.
How naked?
Well, in the nude, completely naked.
In what sense?
Literaly.
Without any clothes. She is sitting and typing.
Like everything is normal.
What are you saying?
Pal Palich. You've been phoned from GorIspolkom, ...they asked you to phone.
I have people over.
So naked you say ?
Take a look if you don't believe me.
Yes. She is truly naked.
What did we stop on? Oh yes, the chief engineer.
Nonochka, connect me to the chief engineer.
We don't have him, Pal Palich.
Where is he then?
He died.
When?
8 months ago.
What do you say?
You see what a misfortune we have.
Ninochka, so why did he die?
He drowned in the river.
Yeah...Well, your issue gets more complicated.
Let's do this: you'll come to us...two weeks later,
I and the chief engineer will work on this question......and will solve it efficiently.
Deal?
Yes, I have ordered the call.
Natasha? I have settled fine, everything is all right.
Why sick? My voice is normal.
I depart today.
No. This...I haven't done it. I can't understand myself, it is true nonsense.
Well, I tell you everything when I come home. ...It is very funny.
I leave today, see you.
Damn it...
Let's do this without the menu. Just take my order, I am in hurry.
Please.
So what do you have for the starters?
Borscht or solyanka...
We have solyanka.
Solyanka it is. And for the main course some meat, not very fat.
We have fresh beef steak.
Good, steak is fine.
mineral water and tea.
What do you want for desert?
Nothing, thank you.
We have fresh cakes.
Thank you, I don't need anything.
No more orders. We have a brake in 10 minutes.
Your tea and desert.
What desert? I haven't ordered anything.
Don't worry, it isn't included in the bill. It is just a small present from our cook.
What is that?
Cake.
Eat for your health. Our cook made it specially for you, he likes you a lot.
There, he is looking out the kitchen.
It happens, one person likes another. Sympathy was born.
Give me the bill.
You just try.
I ask you to give me the bill!
Just a slice. Otherwise our cook will shoot himself.
Listen... stop talking nonsense!
So you weren't acquainted with Nikolaev?
No.
And you have never met him before?
No, never. It is my first visit of your town.
I have the train late in the evening, so I came to have dinner and......such story.
The waiter Kurdumov says that he warned you that Nikalaev could kill himself if you refuse to try the cake.
Yes, he warned me, but I didn't worry about it. Everything seemed so silly.
...just absurd.
The colleagues describe Nikolaev as a calm, firm person, activist of Sober community, a great specialist...
If only I knew that it will turn this way...Of cause, I would eat this damn cake.
All right then, sign it here and you may go.
'It is written from my words correctly and was read by me'. And your signature.
We'll call you if we need you.
I need one first class ticket to Moscow.
There are no tickets.
I don't care which one, first or second class...
I have neither of them.
Where is the head of the station?
The head won't help.
Where?
To the nearest train station.
That's it, we've arrived. I can't drive further - see the sign?
Should I turn?
How far is the station?
1,5 kilometer, no more.
I'll walk then.
Thank you.
Hello.
Good evening.
Could you tell me where is the station around here?
There is no station here. There is our local-history museum.
But I was told that somewhere around here there is a station.
There was no any station here, this is closed area.
Would you like to see the display?
Tell me how can I get to the town?
Nohow.
Buses are out of service now.
And how are you going to get there?
I live here, in the museum.
But if you urgently need the town, there is a lady near by. Sometimes in the evening she goes to town by her car
I can find out if she goes tonight.
Be so kind.
Anna? It's me.
Do you plan to go to the town tonight? I have a handsome young man here...Would you take him with you?
Thank you.
Everything is set. An hour later she'll pick you up. And for now you can take a look at the museum, 30 kopecks for the ticket.
Where are we going?
The display is located at the depth of 28 meters.
Did they dig the mine for the museum specifically?
Of cause, not. In 19 century it was a coal mine. The workers found an old burial.
The local merchant Butov, an archeology fan, has bought out all the land around and, continuing excavations, has founded the museum.
Please, come in. Where is the light here?
The most ancient artifacts which were found on the territory of our town date from the fall of Troy.
In this sarcophagus was buried one of Trojan kings, Dardan.
Wait, how could Trojans get here?
Professor Rottenberg has proven that some Trojans after Troy has fallen went to the North
and after approaching the local lands, they have founded their first settlement, where our town is now located.
Here you see the inscription: 'Dardan - Gelen's son, Priam's grandson.
There are the same words on the shield, which Butov has discovered beside the sarcophagus.
Let's go further.
'Our power is in the truth of history.'
The second cohort of the XIVth double Mars' legion.
Wait, you mean these are Romans?
Absolutely correct.
This is the cohort, of which disappearance on the way from Britain to Caucasus, the head of the legion, Titrubriy, was reporting to Neron.
The remains of the cohort were discovered by Butov during the excavation of the second shaft.
What a nonsense. Romans have never reached the territory of the USSR.
The sculpture portraits were reconstructed by our artist Igor Rumin following the professor Gerasimov's method.
Let's continue the viewing.
Attila's bed, on which the Huns' leader raped the Vest-Ost's queen with his horde watching him.
Professor Rottenberg discovered the remains of the semen on it. He extracted the DNA,
put the data into computer and created absolutely genuine look of Attila.
These are the first people who danced rock-n-roll in our town.
Nikolay Smorodinov, the head of the Town Committee of Komsomol, who expelled them from Komsomol.
This is the pistol of Peter Urusov, who shot Pseudo-Dmitriy the Second. Here is the head of the impostor.
Where did you get the head from?
After Pseudo-Dmitry's death Marina Mnishek ordered to her doctor Izmail to embalm the head of her husband.
Her lover, ataman Zarutskiy, lost the head playing cards to Polish uhlan Beletskiy.
Beletskiy was killed during the siege of Kremlin by Minin and Pazharskiy.
and strelets Fyodor Kuzmin, the native of our town, has got the head.
He isn't here. Let's move further.
Here you see Vladimir, prince of Kiev, during him making a decision of introducing Christianity to Russia.
Famous Russian fighter, the native of our town, Nikifor Petrov.
He was reported to Tsar's guard by the head of fighting organization, provocateur Mazepa.
He died at the labor camp...and this is Mazepa himself.
Here is his lover, the actress N.
The monk Julian - the ambassador and the scout in Russia of the Hungarian king Bell the Fourth.
Another member of our town - comrade Burtsev, commandant of 'Florence' hotel in Moscow.
In 1818, the conference of Anarchists took place here.
Here you see comrade Burtsev. He is entering the door with the pillow.
Father Makhno took part in the conference. He is talking to the commander of Jewish rebellion platoon of his army Abram Shnaider.
To the left from him is famous Gavrusha - the commander of Father's 'black hundred'.
who promised to chop up his own parents if only Father would order.
First 'Stakhanovets' of our town - Egor Bikov.
Here you see the apartment of Parfiriy Kuridze, the worker of the railroad shop.
Here in November of 1904 Stalin spent in our town one night after his escape from exile .
At the dawn he toasted: "Soon it will be dawn. The sun will rise. This sun will shine for us."
Zinoviy Peshkov - Gorkiy's adopted son and Sverdlov's brother, French ambassador in China in 30-tees.
And who's this?
This is the head of our Writers' Organization, Vasiliy Chugunov at his country house.
He started as a poet. His first poem was published in 'Ogoniok' in March of 1938.
'The sentence of people'
'The guard's bayonets - we are in the October's hall. The judge's moan, the steel of prosecutor's lines.
So how much did you take from Germans to sell the Motherland so many times?
Anger in the eyes flushed and disappeared. And the defendants don't look at the people.
Yes, we blended glass into butter. Yes, I ordered to kill Gorkiy.
I took money for spying. Terror, betrayal, poison.
They sit like trapped beasts, they speak one after another.
Chernov, Yagoda, Rozengoltz, Bukharin.
The people's faces disappear.
Monstrous, devil's faces.
you see before you.'
In 1949 Chugunov was accused in cosmopolitanism for his historical novel 'Kukhelbekker's shackles'
In 1956 he was rehabilitated.
The first head of our Revolution Committee, who took part in killing of the Emperor's family - Mikhail Zverev.
Here you see him during the meeting of the workers of Belomor-Baltic canal with the leaders of the project.
He is with the accordion to the left from the director of GULAG, comrade Bergman.
During this meeting the head of the project, Yagoda, said:
"The labor camps are pioneers of the cultural assimilation of our far land."
Here is another native of our town - academician Fomin,
who is discussing in 1934 with the comrades Khrushev and Koganovich
the project of the building of Ministery of Heavy Industry at the Red Square.
Major Sokolov - also was born in our town.
In September of 1942 carrying out the air cover for the British convoy
He had a fight with 10 German fighters. He has destroyed 6 of them
and deadly wounded he landed his plain to the south from Spitsbergen.
Antonina Petukhova, also known as 'Martishka'.
She is the first citizen of our town who was arrested during the Youth Festival in Moscow in 1957
for the connection with the foreigners.
The composition of our sculptor Troitskiy with the title 'Dreams'.
Please.
Strange... Where is Anna?
I don't get it. She is usually very punctual.
May be she changed her mind.
Well, that is all right. You can spend night here.
Where is 'here'?
Our electrician lives very near, they have a big house. You will spend a night and tomorrow you'll go to the town by bus.
May be it is possible to leave right now?
No... Now you won't get out. It is 15 kilometers to the high way.
Let's go, I'll accompany you and set up your stay.
Help your self, help yourself...How did you manage to end up here?
Are you turist?
No...
Please, help yourself.
Thank you...I asked the taxi driver to get me to the nearest station, he brought me here.
We don't have any station! There is a station in Perebrodino, and we are 'Perebrodovo', so the taxi drivers mix them up.
Was your taxi driver young?
Hello. ...young.
Well, this is coomon thing.
Hostess, you have potatoes there...they have burnt, probably, already.
I'm going
Would you like to drink?
No, thanks. I don't drink.
Homemade...
You will never leave our town.
What?
You will never leave this place. You will die in 2015 and will be buried at the town cemetery.
I see your grave and the tomb stone. The engraving says "Varakin Alekseiy Mikhailovich'
1945-2015. To our beloved father from daughters: Julia, Natasha, Tamara and Zinaida.'
...great quality!
What are you doing here? Go to bed! Time is 22.00 and he is sitting here!
Good night.
Good night.
Misha, don't forget to brush your teeth.
Well... to our meeting!
Forgive me...Where can I lie down?
Why? You want to bed already?
Forgive me, I am very tired.
But you haven't eaten anything. Try potatoes at least, they are homegrown.
Thank you, I am sated. I am simply very tired.
I'll show you the way.
Thank you.
Here is the towel. Be comfortable.
Thank you.
Who is this?
You know, I don't know. After we have bought the house Victor found it in the attic and hung here.
Good night.
Good night.
Excuse me. You are being picked up.
My name is Anna. Forgive me I couldn't collect you in the museum - I had a flat tire.
If you didn't change your mind, I can take you to the town now.
I am sorry, could you take me to Perebrodino?
You need to get to the station?
Yes, I need to get to Moscow.
Two trains stop at Perebrodino: from Adler and Tbilisi.
Very good.
Has something upset you?
Upset? No...I am rather surprised.
Tell me has somebody predicted your future?
Mine? No...But I have read that French doctor Nostradamus predicted Hitler in XVI century.
Somebody is following us. They signal us to stop.
Comrade Varakin?
Yes.
I ask you to get into our car.
We have gotten new information. Some things have to be cleared up.
Do you recognize this?
It is me.
Absolutely right. The photo was found among the papers of dead cook Nikolaev.
How did he get it?
We would like to know that too.
You told me that you have never known the cook.
No...never.
So how can you explain this: "To my dear father from Makhmud."?
What, what?
It means that you are cook's son Makhmud.
What nonsense...what son, what Makhmud?
The examination has proven that your hand writing and the writing on the photograph are identical.
Listen, it is some misunderstanding. I have never seen this cook. My father is Varakin Mikhail...Alekseevich.
He has never been a cook. He is an engineer!
So how can we explain that the photograph with your writing was founded at Nikolaev's?
I don't know...
But may be you have met the cook before?
Never. I swear to you. Never!
I have to make sure you aren't going to leave.
How can it be? This is a mistake.
Don't you worry. We will solve everything.
I have to go to Moscow!
I have to make sure you aren't going to leave. But you can appeal against my actions.
Varakin Aleksey Mikhailovich?
Yes.
A public prosecutor is speaking to you...
Who?
The public prosecutor of this town. Get down, there is a car waiting for you there.
Good day, Aleksey Mikhailovich.
Hello.
Please.
Thank you.
I am familiar with the case, regarding witch you wanted to see me.
Strange case...
You see...It is some misunderstanding. I have nothing to do with that incident, I was there accidentally.
I need to go to Moscow urgently.
Aleksey Mikhailovich...have you ever wanted to commit a crime?
Why?
Just because. To commit something illegal. Well, I don't know...to steal the tape recorder?
To attack a policeman?
Why should I attack a policeman?
A policeman is just an example. Can you imagine...
I, prosecutor, am dreaming of commiting a crime?
All my life I punish the criminals and envy them inside.
Paradox, worthy to be described by the novelist.
Wouldn't it be great to commit something crazy? Which nobody expects from you.
All right...back to our case. So you want me to let you return to Moscow?
Yes!
Aleksey Mikhailovich, doesn't it seem to you that you were a witness of not suicide, but murder?
What?
Murder.
But I have seen myself when he shot himself...
The thing is that you haven't seen that. Try to remember how it all happened.
Your tea and desert.
What desert? I didn't order anything.
Don't worry, it isn't included in the bill. It's just a small present from our cook.
What's this?
Cake.
Stop! Why did jazz play?
I don't know....May be they had a rehearsal?
There is no a jazz band in the 'Dnepr' restaurant and never has been.
But they were playing.
May be this people only pretended to play? And in reality it was a record.
But why?
To prevent you from hearing the shot which was fired at that moment at the kitchen.
The first shot in this story.
I don't get it!
Even if Nikolaev was killed, why this show was needed?
First of all, I am not saying that he was killed. It's just a version.
It's true, this story looks quit strange...to find a planned murder in it .
But may be the plotters were hoping for it?
They needed to convince you, the stranger, that you were witnessing a suicide.
And they have succeeded in this.
Nikolay Ivanovich... I need to go to Moscow.
I see, you don't understand how serious Nikolaev's case is.
It concerns the state's interests.
From the times of Tartar invasion the main idea which unites us all,
the idea which so many generations of our ancestors have served is the idea of the statehood.
Powerful, great state is the ideal for witch Russian is ready to suffer for,
ready to take any hardship, to give his own life for.
This is irrational idea. This is not that pragmatic European desire to get the largest benefit for yourself.
This is the idea of the Russian spirit, which dominates and dissolves your and mine personality.
but it gives back a hundred times more.
This feeling of connection to a great organism gives the feeling of spirit, power and immortality.
'West' always wanted to compromise the idea of our statehood.
But the biggest danger for our idea is not in the West - it is in ourselves.
We ourselves grab these endless, fashionable little ideas from the West, being captivated by their clear practicality and rationality.
Not even thinking that exactly in them is hidden the destructive force.
It's all right. Our own idea in the end will be at the top.
Look for yourself - all of our revolutions in the end led not to the destruction but to the strengthening of the state.
And it will be always this way.
Not many people realize that this is one of the most critical moments of our history...
and cook Nikolaev's case, very simple at first glance, has incredibly deep meaning.
So...Aleksey Mikhailovich, you can't leave the town.
What do I have to do?
Nothing.
Just one thing...if somebody asks, don't deny that you are cook's son.
Makhmood.
Varakin?
Would you like to have some fun?
What?
My girlfriend and I are dieing of boredom, and I thought may be you want to have fun.
Who are you?
...we could make dumplings and you get the wine.
Listen, stop acting like a hooligan!
As you wish.
Who?
I am here on business.
Vasiliy Nokolaevich Chugunov, the writer, wants to see you.
Why?
This is very important for you. I have a car, we can go right now.
I won't go.
I beg you. It is your father Nikolaev we are talking about.
Aleksey Mikhailovich?
Yes.
I am glad to meet you. I am Chugunov.
Please.
I know that you were the witness of cook Nikolaev's suicide.
The thing is that Nikolaev was the first person to dance rock-n-roll in our town.
It happened in the Palace of Culture.
On May 18th 1957.
Watch...
It was usual evening for the young people...
Well, you know...they gather together, dance, have fun.
Even now It's unclear how Nikolaev got there.
He was 27 already, he was a lieutenant...One way or another he was there.
Now look - Nikolaev is walking across the room.
Watch, watch. It will start now.
Here...Do you see, waltz suddenly stops, rock-n-roll is playing. You see, everybody is confused.
Until now nobody knows who switched the records. Now look what Nikolaev does...
That was a true scandal. Our town hasn't seen anything like this since the strike of Left Social Revolutionaries.
And now take a look at this young man - Nikolay Smorodinov, the head of our town Komsomol Committee.
On the following day he expelled Nikolaev and his partner from Komsomol.
Nikolaev was fired from Police force and Lida Shulakova was expelled from the Medical Academy.
She tried to commit suicide - she drank vinegar. She was saved but her throat was burnt and she can't speak since then.
Nikolaev found work in the mess hall, then in the restaurant,
was quiet...
But I knew one day he will do something...and I was right.
To make such show out of your own death! He was the only person, capable for such thing.
Do you know that the public prosecutor thinks that he was killed?
And do you know that our prosecutor is that Smorodinov, who expelled Shulakova and Nikolaev from Komsomol?
All this is very interesting, but...I don't understand why I am involved in this?
The thing is that today in our town the club, named after Nikolaev, will be opened.
And I would like you to be at it's opening.
Me?
But why me?
But you are Nikolaev's son.
So, should we go to the stage? It is time to start.
Hello, Ivan Filipovich. Thank you for coming.
Hello, Nikolay Ivanovich.
Are you going to perform?
What should I do, Nikolay Ivanovich? It is stupid! What can I say about the man I didn't know?
Say a couple of words...What do they say in such cases? ...that he was a good man and so forth.
But I have to speak of him like of my own father!
Aleksey Mikhailovich. Aleksey Mikhailovich, we are waiting for you!
Friends! The rock-n-roll club is opening today in our town!
This is another big victory of Democracy!
After the epochs of Satanism, voluntarism, subjectivism, depression
we have carried through a passionate desire to dance what we want!
Friends...the first person in our town to dance rock-n-roll was cook Nikolaev.
It is always difficult for the first man. But there is a second man after the first one.
and this is a great logic of the history's progress, which is impossible to stop!
Let me introduce to you cook Nikolaev's son.
Comrades, I have to tell you honestly that I haven't known well this wonderful man.
It happened so, we rarely saw each other...just one single time.
He was a very good man, good cook also. I ate his solyanka and steak. Not bad at all.
Do you dance rock-n-roll?
What should I say? I danced before, while studying in Academy.
Dance!
Really, dance!
Rock, rock, rock!
Everybody is dancing!
Silence please.
Never! He could never shoot himself!
He had no guts!
Now watch...the way it's supposed to be done.
Hello. We need Varakin.
It's me.
May we come in?
Please.
Sit down.
My name is Lidia Shulakova...
and this is my son. She means me.
So what do you need?
I am Lidia Shulakova, a person who danced rock-n-roll with Nikolaev.
For that I was expelled from the Medical Academy,
I have drunken vinegar and lost my voice.
Oh, I remember. Chugunov told me about you.
I have some Nikolaev's belongings...
they are very dear for me.
But I want to give them to you.
Thank you.
You know...if this things are so important to you, may be you should keep them to yourself?
Thank you for you being like him.
You have preserved our ideals.
I want to dance with you.
Good evening.
Hello.
Here is Varakin Aleksey Mikhailovich.
I am glad to meet you. I am Ivanov Stepan Filipovich.
The head of our city hall.
This is Lidia Shulakova. Yes, that one.
Glad, glad.
I wanted to meet you for a long time. Thank you for coming, for helping.
The case isn't over yet, Stepan Filipovich.
Yes, that's true. There is a lot of work yet to be done.
But there are changes - this is the main thing.
The fact that rock-n-roll is being rehabilitated has a big, political meaning.
We can't calm down now, Stepan Filipovich.
But we aren't calming down, Vasiliy...
Please.
Thank you.
O! The hero of the day! Why did you come here?
I came to Aleksey Mikhailovich on business.
If on business, come on in then.
How could you disgrace yourself so badly, Nikolay?
Mit', turn up the volume.
You'll ruin Russia!
It's you, who ruins it!
Enough, enough...
How long are you planning to stay here, Aleksey Mikhailovich?
Yes...You know, I, actually, need to be in Moscow. Could you help me to leave?
You can't leave now.
Listen, Stepan Filipovich, I would like to talk to you in private. This is very important.
Please, I am at your service.
Could we speak right now?
I am ready.
Than may be we should step into the corridor?
Hello.
O! Hi, Pavel.
Aleksey Mikhailovich,
I was walking along the corridor and noticed
the girls guarding your door. I have invited them.
Thank you. Hello...
We phoned you. Remember?
We made dumplings and got beer.
Dumplings - it is great.
How could you disgrace yourself, Nikolay?
Leave me alone.
Well, let's drink beer.
Let me.
To progress!
I won't drink.
Why?
I won't drink to this.
Let him go to hell.
You don't want to drink to progress?! Drink to your mother then.
I'll drink to my mother.
What should we do with the dumplings? We don't have any plates.
Here is the spoon. Take it and eat right from the pot.
Aleksey Mikhailovich, we came to you on business. Tamara wants to exchange her room to the room in Tbilisi.
Would you help?
No...It would work only via the triple-exchange. Nobody will exchange straight.
We won't let Tamara go to Tbilisi. We need such gorgeous girls ourselves!
But seriously...I see you are a deputy.
I am not a deputy now, but simply a man in love.
Oh, he is in love right a way.
By the way, Stepan Filipovich, since we are talking business...We don't have a chief engineer.
We also wanted to sing for you.
Let me sing.
Don't stand out.
No, he is pretty good singer.
'Sokolov's choir at Yar...was famous once. Sokolov's guitar is singing in my ears still.
Money, money money is everywhere. Money is everywhere, gentlemen.
Life is bad without the money, completely worthless.'
Hello. May we join you?
And who are you?
We live in the neighboring room. We are the shipping clerks from KievOblRem.
We have heard your singing and decided to take a look.
Good for you.
We have beer. And where are you from?
We are local. I am the head of City Hall, this is our public prosecutor, this is the director of the factory
and this is Chugunov - the head of the local... what's it's name?
writers'...
Yes, the writer's organization.
So everybody is local.
But Varakin isn't ours.
Oh, yes...Varakin Aleksey Mikhailovich is cook Nikolaev's son.
Very pleasant company.
I don't get it, are you going to listen or not? We are singing and you are chatting here!
You are singing nonsense.
Sing yourself then.
Stop Nikolay. You here....Go ahead and sing.
Why should we sing? You don't listen any way?
Which song do you want to hear, Aleksey Mikhailovich?
Me?
'Night is bright, the moon is silently shining above the river. And the blue wave is glittering with silver.
The dark forest is there, in silence of emerald-colored branches. The nightingale doesn't sing his clear songs.
The blue flowers are blooming under the Moon, they wake up the dreams in my heart.
In this moonlit night my dear friend, tender friend, you are loved as before. Remember me.'
Let's go to the oak tree.
Aleksey Mokhailovich, we have an oak tree here...Dmitriy Donskoy himself sat under it.
Right, let's go.
This oak tree is 1200 years old.
Before Christian times this tree was considered to be sacred. A man who broke a brunch off it would become a tribe leader.
But to keep his power, a man had to guard the tree.
Of cause, one day somebody would kill him, brake off the branch and would become a new tribe leader.
In more civilized era this tradition lost it's meaning, but Dmitriy Donskoy and later Ivan the Terrible,
who used to come here, were braking off the branches from our oak tree.
The tree was taken under the protection of the state after 1917.
May I take a branch as a memento?
No, it's not aloud.
Just the smallest one...
Let her brake it off.
Well, since the City Hall is allowing...
It has rotted completely.
It had to be watered.
Well, since it's broken everybody may take.
This is a good one...
May I take one for my brother?
Run.
What?
Run, I am telling you.
Where?
Screenplay by Alexander Borodyanskiy
and Karen Shakhnazarov
Director Karen Shakhnazarov
Town Zero
Cast:
Oleg Basilashvili
Vladimir Men'shov
Armen Djigarhanyan
Yevgeniy Evstegneev
Aleksey Jarkov
Peter Sherbakov
Will you drive me to the hotel?
Take a look. There should be a pass here...for Varakin.
What? Nothing? But it can't be. I just ordered it, take a look again.
No pass for you.
Damn.
Hello, this is Varakin. I am at the guard house and there is no pass for me.
I have explained it to you already half an hour ago.
I am Varakin from Moscow factory. I am here on the business trip regarding the air conditioners.
well, you supply us with the conditioners...
...all right, all right. I am waiting.
Chaos...
Yes, got it. Comrade Varakin, you may pass.
'Director'
Hello.
Ninochka, into order right a way, I have talked with Pal Palich already.
What question do you have?
So what question do you have?
I am from the Moscow factory...regarding the conditioners.
I'll announce you.
Pal Palich, there is a member of Moscow factory here.
Let him in.
Please, enter.
I am listening to you.
I am listening.
You see...I am from the Moscow factory... Our director has phoned you.
It is regarding the air conditioners you supply us with.
We supply you with the air conditioners?
Well, yes. For 15 years already.
Beautiful. So what else do you want?
We want you to change the back panel.
Why?
Well we operate on a self-supporting basis. We have changed an entire technology.
And now our panel doesn't match yours.
We have phoned you, sent the blueprints.
You asked to send a man to settle everything on the spot.
So I have come.
Well, I think, we will solve this efficiently. I'll find the chief engineer...
Nina, Nina, Nina. Where is she?
I am sorry...The thing is that your secretary there...is sitting absolutely naked.
How naked?
Well, in the nude, completely naked.
In what sense?
Literaly.
Without any clothes. She is sitting and typing.
Like everything is normal.
What are you saying?
Pal Palich. You've been phoned from GorIspolkom, ...they asked you to phone.
I have people over.
So naked you say ?
Take a look if you don't believe me.
Yes. She is truly naked.
What did we stop on? Oh yes, the chief engineer.
Nonochka, connect me to the chief engineer.
We don't have him, Pal Palich.
Where is he then?
He died.
When?
8 months ago.
What do you say?
You see what a misfortune we have.
Ninochka, so why did he die?
He drowned in the river.
Yeah...Well, your issue gets more complicated.
Let's do this: you'll come to us...two weeks later,
I and the chief engineer will work on this question......and will solve it efficiently.
Deal?
Yes, I have ordered the call.
Natasha? I have settled fine, everything is all right.
Why sick? My voice is normal.
I depart today.
No. This...I haven't done it. I can't understand myself, it is true nonsense.
Well, I tell you everything when I come home. ...It is very funny.
I leave today, see you.
Damn it...
Let's do this without the menu. Just take my order, I am in hurry.
Please.
So what do you have for the starters?
Borscht or solyanka...
We have solyanka.
Solyanka it is. And for the main course some meat, not very fat.
We have fresh beef steak.
Good, steak is fine.
mineral water and tea.
What do you want for desert?
Nothing, thank you.
We have fresh cakes.
Thank you, I don't need anything.
No more orders. We have a brake in 10 minutes.
Your tea and desert.
What desert? I haven't ordered anything.
Don't worry, it isn't included in the bill. It is just a small present from our cook.
What is that?
Cake.
Eat for your health. Our cook made it specially for you, he likes you a lot.
There, he is looking out the kitchen.
It happens, one person likes another. Sympathy was born.
Give me the bill.
You just try.
I ask you to give me the bill!
Just a slice. Otherwise our cook will shoot himself.
Listen... stop talking nonsense!
So you weren't acquainted with Nikolaev?
No.
And you have never met him before?
No, never. It is my first visit of your town.
I have the train late in the evening, so I came to have dinner and......such story.
The waiter Kurdumov says that he warned you that Nikalaev could kill himself if you refuse to try the cake.
Yes, he warned me, but I didn't worry about it. Everything seemed so silly.
...just absurd.
The colleagues describe Nikolaev as a calm, firm person, activist of Sober community, a great specialist...
If only I knew that it will turn this way...Of cause, I would eat this damn cake.
All right then, sign it here and you may go.
'It is written from my words correctly and was read by me'. And your signature.
We'll call you if we need you.
I need one first class ticket to Moscow.
There are no tickets.
I don't care which one, first or second class...
I have neither of them.
Where is the head of the station?
The head won't help.
Where?
To the nearest train station.
That's it, we've arrived. I can't drive further - see the sign?
Should I turn?
How far is the station?
1,5 kilometer, no more.
I'll walk then.
Thank you.
Hello.
Good evening.
Could you tell me where is the station around here?
There is no station here. There is our local-history museum.
But I was told that somewhere around here there is a station.
There was no any station here, this is closed area.
Would you like to see the display?
Tell me how can I get to the town?
Nohow.
Buses are out of service now.
And how are you going to get there?
I live here, in the museum.
But if you urgently need the town, there is a lady near by. Sometimes in the evening she goes to town by her car
I can find out if she goes tonight.
Be so kind.
Anna? It's me.
Do you plan to go to the town tonight? I have a handsome young man here...Would you take him with you?
Thank you.
Everything is set. An hour later she'll pick you up. And for now you can take a look at the museum, 30 kopecks for the ticket.
Where are we going?
The display is located at the depth of 28 meters.
Did they dig the mine for the museum specifically?
Of cause, not. In 19 century it was a coal mine. The workers found an old burial.
The local merchant Butov, an archeology fan, has bought out all the land around and, continuing excavations, has founded the museum.
Please, come in. Where is the light here?
The most ancient artifacts which were found on the territory of our town date from the fall of Troy.
In this sarcophagus was buried one of Trojan kings, Dardan.
Wait, how could Trojans get here?
Professor Rottenberg has proven that some Trojans after Troy has fallen went to the North
and after approaching the local lands, they have founded their first settlement, where our town is now located.
Here you see the inscription: 'Dardan - Gelen's son, Priam's grandson.
There are the same words on the shield, which Butov has discovered beside the sarcophagus.
Let's go further.
'Our power is in the truth of history.'
The second cohort of the XIVth double Mars' legion.
Wait, you mean these are Romans?
Absolutely correct.
This is the cohort, of which disappearance on the way from Britain to Caucasus, the head of the legion, Titrubriy, was reporting to Neron.
The remains of the cohort were discovered by Butov during the excavation of the second shaft.
What a nonsense. Romans have never reached the territory of the USSR.
The sculpture portraits were reconstructed by our artist Igor Rumin following the professor Gerasimov's method.
Let's continue the viewing.
Attila's bed, on which the Huns' leader raped the Vest-Ost's queen with his horde watching him.
Professor Rottenberg discovered the remains of the semen on it. He extracted the DNA,
put the data into computer and created absolutely genuine look of Attila.
These are the first people who danced rock-n-roll in our town.
Nikolay Smorodinov, the head of the Town Committee of Komsomol, who expelled them from Komsomol.
This is the pistol of Peter Urusov, who shot Pseudo-Dmitriy the Second. Here is the head of the impostor.
Where did you get the head from?
After Pseudo-Dmitry's death Marina Mnishek ordered to her doctor Izmail to embalm the head of her husband.
Her lover, ataman Zarutskiy, lost the head playing cards to Polish uhlan Beletskiy.
Beletskiy was killed during the siege of Kremlin by Minin and Pazharskiy.
and strelets Fyodor Kuzmin, the native of our town, has got the head.
He isn't here. Let's move further.
Here you see Vladimir, prince of Kiev, during him making a decision of introducing Christianity to Russia.
Famous Russian fighter, the native of our town, Nikifor Petrov.
He was reported to Tsar's guard by the head of fighting organization, provocateur Mazepa.
He died at the labor camp...and this is Mazepa himself.
Here is his lover, the actress N.
The monk Julian - the ambassador and the scout in Russia of the Hungarian king Bell the Fourth.
Another member of our town - comrade Burtsev, commandant of 'Florence' hotel in Moscow.
In 1818, the conference of Anarchists took place here.
Here you see comrade Burtsev. He is entering the door with the pillow.
Father Makhno took part in the conference. He is talking to the commander of Jewish rebellion platoon of his army Abram Shnaider.
To the left from him is famous Gavrusha - the commander of Father's 'black hundred'.
who promised to chop up his own parents if only Father would order.
First 'Stakhanovets' of our town - Egor Bikov.
Here you see the apartment of Parfiriy Kuridze, the worker of the railroad shop.
Here in November of 1904 Stalin spent in our town one night after his escape from exile .
At the dawn he toasted: "Soon it will be dawn. The sun will rise. This sun will shine for us."
Zinoviy Peshkov - Gorkiy's adopted son and Sverdlov's brother, French ambassador in China in 30-tees.
And who's this?
This is the head of our Writers' Organization, Vasiliy Chugunov at his country house.
He started as a poet. His first poem was published in 'Ogoniok' in March of 1938.
'The sentence of people'
'The guard's bayonets - we are in the October's hall. The judge's moan, the steel of prosecutor's lines.
So how much did you take from Germans to sell the Motherland so many times?
Anger in the eyes flushed and disappeared. And the defendants don't look at the people.
Yes, we blended glass into butter. Yes, I ordered to kill Gorkiy.
I took money for spying. Terror, betrayal, poison.
They sit like trapped beasts, they speak one after another.
Chernov, Yagoda, Rozengoltz, Bukharin.
The people's faces disappear.
Monstrous, devil's faces.
you see before you.'
In 1949 Chugunov was accused in cosmopolitanism for his historical novel 'Kukhelbekker's shackles'
In 1956 he was rehabilitated.
The first head of our Revolution Committee, who took part in killing of the Emperor's family - Mikhail Zverev.
Here you see him during the meeting of the workers of Belomor-Baltic canal with the leaders of the project.
He is with the accordion to the left from the director of GULAG, comrade Bergman.
During this meeting the head of the project, Yagoda, said:
"The labor camps are pioneers of the cultural assimilation of our far land."
Here is another native of our town - academician Fomin,
who is discussing in 1934 with the comrades Khrushev and Koganovich
the project of the building of Ministery of Heavy Industry at the Red Square.
Major Sokolov - also was born in our town.
In September of 1942 carrying out the air cover for the British convoy
He had a fight with 10 German fighters. He has destroyed 6 of them
and deadly wounded he landed his plain to the south from Spitsbergen.
Antonina Petukhova, also known as 'Martishka'.
She is the first citizen of our town who was arrested during the Youth Festival in Moscow in 1957
for the connection with the foreigners.
The composition of our sculptor Troitskiy with the title 'Dreams'.
Please.
Strange... Where is Anna?
I don't get it. She is usually very punctual.
May be she changed her mind.
Well, that is all right. You can spend night here.
Where is 'here'?
Our electrician lives very near, they have a big house. You will spend a night and tomorrow you'll go to the town by bus.
May be it is possible to leave right now?
No... Now you won't get out. It is 15 kilometers to the high way.
Let's go, I'll accompany you and set up your stay.
Help your self, help yourself...How did you manage to end up here?
Are you turist?
No...
Please, help yourself.
Thank you...I asked the taxi driver to get me to the nearest station, he brought me here.
We don't have any station! There is a station in Perebrodino, and we are 'Perebrodovo', so the taxi drivers mix them up.
Was your taxi driver young?
Hello. ...young.
Well, this is coomon thing.
Hostess, you have potatoes there...they have burnt, probably, already.
I'm going
Would you like to drink?
No, thanks. I don't drink.
Homemade...
You will never leave our town.
What?
You will never leave this place. You will die in 2015 and will be buried at the town cemetery.
I see your grave and the tomb stone. The engraving says "Varakin Alekseiy Mikhailovich'
1945-2015. To our beloved father from daughters: Julia, Natasha, Tamara and Zinaida.'
...great quality!
What are you doing here? Go to bed! Time is 22.00 and he is sitting here!
Good night.
Good night.
Misha, don't forget to brush your teeth.
Well... to our meeting!
Forgive me...Where can I lie down?
Why? You want to bed already?
Forgive me, I am very tired.
But you haven't eaten anything. Try potatoes at least, they are homegrown.
Thank you, I am sated. I am simply very tired.
I'll show you the way.
Thank you.
Here is the towel. Be comfortable.
Thank you.
Who is this?
You know, I don't know. After we have bought the house Victor found it in the attic and hung here.
Good night.
Good night.
Excuse me. You are being picked up.
My name is Anna. Forgive me I couldn't collect you in the museum - I had a flat tire.
If you didn't change your mind, I can take you to the town now.
I am sorry, could you take me to Perebrodino?
You need to get to the station?
Yes, I need to get to Moscow.
Two trains stop at Perebrodino: from Adler and Tbilisi.
Very good.
Has something upset you?
Upset? No...I am rather surprised.
Tell me has somebody predicted your future?
Mine? No...But I have read that French doctor Nostradamus predicted Hitler in XVI century.
Somebody is following us. They signal us to stop.
Comrade Varakin?
Yes.
I ask you to get into our car.
We have gotten new information. Some things have to be cleared up.
Do you recognize this?
It is me.
Absolutely right. The photo was found among the papers of dead cook Nikolaev.
How did he get it?
We would like to know that too.
You told me that you have never known the cook.
No...never.
So how can you explain this: "To my dear father from Makhmud."?
What, what?
It means that you are cook's son Makhmud.
What nonsense...what son, what Makhmud?
The examination has proven that your hand writing and the writing on the photograph are identical.
Listen, it is some misunderstanding. I have never seen this cook. My father is Varakin Mikhail...Alekseevich.
He has never been a cook. He is an engineer!
So how can we explain that the photograph with your writing was founded at Nikolaev's?
I don't know...
But may be you have met the cook before?
Never. I swear to you. Never!
I have to make sure you aren't going to leave.
How can it be? This is a mistake.
Don't you worry. We will solve everything.
I have to go to Moscow!
I have to make sure you aren't going to leave. But you can appeal against my actions.
Varakin Aleksey Mikhailovich?
Yes.
A public prosecutor is speaking to you...
Who?
The public prosecutor of this town. Get down, there is a car waiting for you there.
Good day, Aleksey Mikhailovich.
Hello.
Please.
Thank you.
I am familiar with the case, regarding witch you wanted to see me.
Strange case...
You see...It is some misunderstanding. I have nothing to do with that incident, I was there accidentally.
I need to go to Moscow urgently.
Aleksey Mikhailovich...have you ever wanted to commit a crime?
Why?
Just because. To commit something illegal. Well, I don't know...to steal the tape recorder?
To attack a policeman?
Why should I attack a policeman?
A policeman is just an example. Can you imagine...
I, prosecutor, am dreaming of commiting a crime?
All my life I punish the criminals and envy them inside.
Paradox, worthy to be described by the novelist.
Wouldn't it be great to commit something crazy? Which nobody expects from you.
All right...back to our case. So you want me to let you return to Moscow?
Yes!
Aleksey Mikhailovich, doesn't it seem to you that you were a witness of not suicide, but murder?
What?
Murder.
But I have seen myself when he shot himself...
The thing is that you haven't seen that. Try to remember how it all happened.
Your tea and desert.
What desert? I didn't order anything.
Don't worry, it isn't included in the bill. It's just a small present from our cook.
What's this?
Cake.
Stop! Why did jazz play?
I don't know....May be they had a rehearsal?
There is no a jazz band in the 'Dnepr' restaurant and never has been.
But they were playing.
May be this people only pretended to play? And in reality it was a record.
But why?
To prevent you from hearing the shot which was fired at that moment at the kitchen.
The first shot in this story.
I don't get it!
Even if Nikolaev was killed, why this show was needed?
First of all, I am not saying that he was killed. It's just a version.
It's true, this story looks quit strange...to find a planned murder in it .
But may be the plotters were hoping for it?
They needed to convince you, the stranger, that you were witnessing a suicide.
And they have succeeded in this.
Nikolay Ivanovich... I need to go to Moscow.
I see, you don't understand how serious Nikolaev's case is.
It concerns the state's interests.
From the times of Tartar invasion the main idea which unites us all,
the idea which so many generations of our ancestors have served is the idea of the statehood.
Powerful, great state is the ideal for witch Russian is ready to suffer for,
ready to take any hardship, to give his own life for.
This is irrational idea. This is not that pragmatic European desire to get the largest benefit for yourself.
This is the idea of the Russian spirit, which dominates and dissolves your and mine personality.
but it gives back a hundred times more.
This feeling of connection to a great organism gives the feeling of spirit, power and immortality.
'West' always wanted to compromise the idea of our statehood.
But the biggest danger for our idea is not in the West - it is in ourselves.
We ourselves grab these endless, fashionable little ideas from the West, being captivated by their clear practicality and rationality.
Not even thinking that exactly in them is hidden the destructive force.
It's all right. Our own idea in the end will be at the top.
Look for yourself - all of our revolutions in the end led not to the destruction but to the strengthening of the state.
And it will be always this way.
Not many people realize that this is one of the most critical moments of our history...
and cook Nikolaev's case, very simple at first glance, has incredibly deep meaning.
So...Aleksey Mikhailovich, you can't leave the town.
What do I have to do?
Nothing.
Just one thing...if somebody asks, don't deny that you are cook's son.
Makhmood.
Varakin?
Would you like to have some fun?
What?
My girlfriend and I are dieing of boredom, and I thought may be you want to have fun.
Who are you?
...we could make dumplings and you get the wine.
Listen, stop acting like a hooligan!
As you wish.
Who?
I am here on business.
Vasiliy Nokolaevich Chugunov, the writer, wants to see you.
Why?
This is very important for you. I have a car, we can go right now.
I won't go.
I beg you. It is your father Nikolaev we are talking about.
Aleksey Mikhailovich?
Yes.
I am glad to meet you. I am Chugunov.
Please.
I know that you were the witness of cook Nikolaev's suicide.
The thing is that Nikolaev was the first person to dance rock-n-roll in our town.
It happened in the Palace of Culture.
On May 18th 1957.
Watch...
It was usual evening for the young people...
Well, you know...they gather together, dance, have fun.
Even now It's unclear how Nikolaev got there.
He was 27 already, he was a lieutenant...One way or another he was there.
Now look - Nikolaev is walking across the room.
Watch, watch. It will start now.
Here...Do you see, waltz suddenly stops, rock-n-roll is playing. You see, everybody is confused.
Until now nobody knows who switched the records. Now look what Nikolaev does...
That was a true scandal. Our town hasn't seen anything like this since the strike of Left Social Revolutionaries.
And now take a look at this young man - Nikolay Smorodinov, the head of our town Komsomol Committee.
On the following day he expelled Nikolaev and his partner from Komsomol.
Nikolaev was fired from Police force and Lida Shulakova was expelled from the Medical Academy.
She tried to commit suicide - she drank vinegar. She was saved but her throat was burnt and she can't speak since then.
Nikolaev found work in the mess hall, then in the restaurant,
was quiet...
But I knew one day he will do something...and I was right.
To make such show out of your own death! He was the only person, capable for such thing.
Do you know that the public prosecutor thinks that he was killed?
And do you know that our prosecutor is that Smorodinov, who expelled Shulakova and Nikolaev from Komsomol?
All this is very interesting, but...I don't understand why I am involved in this?
The thing is that today in our town the club, named after Nikolaev, will be opened.
And I would like you to be at it's opening.
Me?
But why me?
But you are Nikolaev's son.
So, should we go to the stage? It is time to start.
Hello, Ivan Filipovich. Thank you for coming.
Hello, Nikolay Ivanovich.
Are you going to perform?
What should I do, Nikolay Ivanovich? It is stupid! What can I say about the man I didn't know?
Say a couple of words...What do they say in such cases? ...that he was a good man and so forth.
But I have to speak of him like of my own father!
Aleksey Mikhailovich. Aleksey Mikhailovich, we are waiting for you!
Friends! The rock-n-roll club is opening today in our town!
This is another big victory of Democracy!
After the epochs of Satanism, voluntarism, subjectivism, depression
we have carried through a passionate desire to dance what we want!
Friends...the first person in our town to dance rock-n-roll was cook Nikolaev.
It is always difficult for the first man. But there is a second man after the first one.
and this is a great logic of the history's progress, which is impossible to stop!
Let me introduce to you cook Nikolaev's son.
Comrades, I have to tell you honestly that I haven't known well this wonderful man.
It happened so, we rarely saw each other...just one single time.
He was a very good man, good cook also. I ate his solyanka and steak. Not bad at all.
Do you dance rock-n-roll?
What should I say? I danced before, while studying in Academy.
Dance!
Really, dance!
Rock, rock, rock!
Everybody is dancing!
Silence please.
Never! He could never shoot himself!
He had no guts!
Now watch...the way it's supposed to be done.
Hello. We need Varakin.
It's me.
May we come in?
Please.
Sit down.
My name is Lidia Shulakova...
and this is my son. She means me.
So what do you need?
I am Lidia Shulakova, a person who danced rock-n-roll with Nikolaev.
For that I was expelled from the Medical Academy,
I have drunken vinegar and lost my voice.
Oh, I remember. Chugunov told me about you.
I have some Nikolaev's belongings...
they are very dear for me.
But I want to give them to you.
Thank you.
You know...if this things are so important to you, may be you should keep them to yourself?
Thank you for you being like him.
You have preserved our ideals.
I want to dance with you.
Good evening.
Hello.
Here is Varakin Aleksey Mikhailovich.
I am glad to meet you. I am Ivanov Stepan Filipovich.
The head of our city hall.
This is Lidia Shulakova. Yes, that one.
Glad, glad.
I wanted to meet you for a long time. Thank you for coming, for helping.
The case isn't over yet, Stepan Filipovich.
Yes, that's true. There is a lot of work yet to be done.
But there are changes - this is the main thing.
The fact that rock-n-roll is being rehabilitated has a big, political meaning.
We can't calm down now, Stepan Filipovich.
But we aren't calming down, Vasiliy...
Please.
Thank you.
O! The hero of the day! Why did you come here?
I came to Aleksey Mikhailovich on business.
If on business, come on in then.
How could you disgrace yourself so badly, Nikolay?
Mit', turn up the volume.
You'll ruin Russia!
It's you, who ruins it!
Enough, enough...
How long are you planning to stay here, Aleksey Mikhailovich?
Yes...You know, I, actually, need to be in Moscow. Could you help me to leave?
You can't leave now.
Listen, Stepan Filipovich, I would like to talk to you in private. This is very important.
Please, I am at your service.
Could we speak right now?
I am ready.
Than may be we should step into the corridor?
Hello.
O! Hi, Pavel.
Aleksey Mikhailovich,
I was walking along the corridor and noticed
the girls guarding your door. I have invited them.
Thank you. Hello...
We phoned you. Remember?
We made dumplings and got beer.
Dumplings - it is great.
How could you disgrace yourself, Nikolay?
Leave me alone.
Well, let's drink beer.
Let me.
To progress!
I won't drink.
Why?
I won't drink to this.
Let him go to hell.
You don't want to drink to progress?! Drink to your mother then.
I'll drink to my mother.
What should we do with the dumplings? We don't have any plates.
Here is the spoon. Take it and eat right from the pot.
Aleksey Mikhailovich, we came to you on business. Tamara wants to exchange her room to the room in Tbilisi.
Would you help?
No...It would work only via the triple-exchange. Nobody will exchange straight.
We won't let Tamara go to Tbilisi. We need such gorgeous girls ourselves!
But seriously...I see you are a deputy.
I am not a deputy now, but simply a man in love.
Oh, he is in love right a way.
By the way, Stepan Filipovich, since we are talking business...We don't have a chief engineer.
We also wanted to sing for you.
Let me sing.
Don't stand out.
No, he is pretty good singer.
'Sokolov's choir at Yar...was famous once. Sokolov's guitar is singing in my ears still.
Money, money money is everywhere. Money is everywhere, gentlemen.
Life is bad without the money, completely worthless.'
Hello. May we join you?
And who are you?
We live in the neighboring room. We are the shipping clerks from KievOblRem.
We have heard your singing and decided to take a look.
Good for you.
We have beer. And where are you from?
We are local. I am the head of City Hall, this is our public prosecutor, this is the director of the factory
and this is Chugunov - the head of the local... what's it's name?
writers'...
Yes, the writer's organization.
So everybody is local.
But Varakin isn't ours.
Oh, yes...Varakin Aleksey Mikhailovich is cook Nikolaev's son.
Very pleasant company.
I don't get it, are you going to listen or not? We are singing and you are chatting here!
You are singing nonsense.
Sing yourself then.
Stop Nikolay. You here....Go ahead and sing.
Why should we sing? You don't listen any way?
Which song do you want to hear, Aleksey Mikhailovich?
Me?
'Night is bright, the moon is silently shining above the river. And the blue wave is glittering with silver.
The dark forest is there, in silence of emerald-colored branches. The nightingale doesn't sing his clear songs.
The blue flowers are blooming under the Moon, they wake up the dreams in my heart.
In this moonlit night my dear friend, tender friend, you are loved as before. Remember me.'
Let's go to the oak tree.
Aleksey Mokhailovich, we have an oak tree here...Dmitriy Donskoy himself sat under it.
Right, let's go.
This oak tree is 1200 years old.
Before Christian times this tree was considered to be sacred. A man who broke a brunch off it would become a tribe leader.
But to keep his power, a man had to guard the tree.
Of cause, one day somebody would kill him, brake off the branch and would become a new tribe leader.
In more civilized era this tradition lost it's meaning, but Dmitriy Donskoy and later Ivan the Terrible,
who used to come here, were braking off the branches from our oak tree.
The tree was taken under the protection of the state after 1917.
May I take a branch as a memento?
No, it's not aloud.
Just the smallest one...
Let her brake it off.
Well, since the City Hall is allowing...
It has rotted completely.
It had to be watered.
Well, since it's broken everybody may take.
This is a good one...
May I take one for my brother?
Run.
What?
Run, I am telling you.
Where?
Screenplay by Alexander Borodyanskiy
and Karen Shakhnazarov
Director Karen Shakhnazarov