Horea (1984) Movie Script
ROMANIA FILM
presents
a NUMARUL PATRU production
producer
RADU STEGAROIU
filmed at the
CINEMA PRODUCTION CENTER
studios in BUCHARES HOREA
with
OVIDIU IULIU MOLDOVAN
SERBAN IONESCU
DAN SANDULESCU
RADU BELIGAN
MIRCEA ALBULESCU
ENIKO SZILAG Y
ION BESOIU
PETRE GHEORGHIU
FLORIN CHIRIAC
SIEGMUND SIEGFRIED
ALEXANDRU REPAN
MIRCEA DIACONU
NICOLAE ALBANI
Z OLTAN VADASZ
MIRCEA HINDOREANU
COSTEL RADULESCU
screenwriter
TITUS POPOVICI
music by
TIBERIU OLAH
with the symphonic orchestra conducted
by IOSIF CONTA
make-up artists
ELENA RUCAREANU
GHEORGHE DRAGHICI
assistant directors
MARIANA PETCULESCU
DIMITRIOS SUKAS
editor
ELENA PANTAZICA
soundtrack
NICOLAE CIOLCA
costume designer
DESDEMONA LO ZINSCHI
setting designer
MARCEL BOGOS
production director
LUCIAN DANTE GOLOGAN
director of photography
VIVI DRAGAN VASILE
director
MIRCEA MURESAN
HOREA
VIENNA 1784
A division of the Tuscany regiment
will depart to Slatna! Go on, please.
Pressbuch Herzeitung:
Transylvanian tragedy caused by
peasants' impoverishment
Wiener Zeitung presents the events...
Politische Jurnal from Hamburg:
Horea speaks German well, reads
German classical authors,
According to people who know him
intimately in Vienna.
Oberposter Herzeitung, Frankfurt:
Horea wore a precious stone, the seal
of his new kingdom, Dacia.
A company of the Romanian regiment
of frontier guards
will depart to Miercurea.
The skills and loyalty of these units
are to be tested.
Go on, please.
The point made by Gazette de France,
Journal de Geneve, Wicklaas News,
Gazeta de Madrid, and Diario Estero
from Milan is that the Transylvanian
riot is legitimate for the berserk slaves
grow relentless in their hatred as the tyrants
become more oppressive.
Gentlemen, his Majesty is at work!
He's humiliating us.
I don't see why we had to come
before the German
looking like a bunch of
beggars.
So he might see where his demented
hatred for the
Transylvanian nobles has brought us!
- What if he won't see us today either?
We'll stay here for as long as it
takes,
Until we'll all perish from starvation
on his doorstep!
His Excellency, the honored Count,
Anton lankovici.
Myes... Go on.
Der Deutsche Merkur from Weimar:
It is unknown where Horea's heroic
deeds will take him.
We hope he will not be tortured and
end as Thomas Munzer,
the hero of the German Peasants' War.
I most humbly bow before your Majesty...
...Since ballet scenes interrupt the
flow of narration rendering a frivolous note,
we propose - underline this word -
their elimination from operas
to take place in the future.
I ordered our personal physician
to tell you the truth
concerning your situation,
my esteemed Count.
I was aware of it without this gesture of
attention from your Majesty.
Palida mors aeque pulsat
pede pauperum tavernas regum vetures
If it concerned another, one may have
thought this a cruel gesture.
You are doomed, my brother.
Rest at ease, they are doomed as well.
I have a favor to ask of you.
I'm listening, brother.
You are faced with the great unknown,
a threshold, a peak, who knows?
You may look lightly upon human
passion and turmoil.
Yes. I am appointing you Royal and
lmperial Commissary
in Transylvania for the duration of
the investigation.
You shall personally look into the
causes of this riot.
I know them, brother.
The obstinate intellectually-reduced
and savage-mannered nobility
refuses to let go of old privileges.
I know, but a clear inquiry
must be made,
not necessarily for history's sake,
But for mine, first of all.
I must know how
and where this all started.
I want to learn the secret mechanism
of this storm.
The entire Europe is discontent;
I see it, hear it, feel it every day.
As far as I know, the peasants have
accepted the eight-days truce
proposed by Colonel Wajda.
Since the riot passed its initial
ebullition, it is as good as ended.
Prepare the general commander patent
of the Wurthenberg Dragons' regiment
for colonel Savelius Wajda Pustahaza.
Myes. The riot is as good as ended.
Its remittance is
next, the usual... none of your concern.
I want to know its texture,
its secret mechanism,
because you can never understand that
you must never...
I impart justice and not my subjects.
For this, the leaders must be
apprehended.
That is your mission, brother.
But alive, alive at any cost,
especially Horea.
Their fate?
The lesson given to the illiterate,
arrogant, rebellious landowners,
reluctant to my reform was
more than welcomed.
As if this Horea had read my mind.
But one who is able to read
a king's mind is dangerous.
You shall decide their fate, brother.
With the clear mind and detachment
that only your approaching end can
provide.
Beyond which we know there
is nothing else.
Farewell, brother.
I thank your Majesty for this supreme
proof of trust.
Are you wearing powder, Count?
I wouldn't have allowed myself to show
your Majesty
the image of human decrepitude.
For the noblemen refugees in the
cities of Deva and Hunedoara
there will be a daily tax of 17 kreutzers,
a sum to be returned
to the imperial treasury
as soon as calm is restored.
His Royal lmperial and
Apostolic Majesty,
Emperor of Germany, King of Hungary,
Bohemia and Jerusalem,
Archduke of Austria, Duke of
Burgundy,
Great Prince of Transylvania.
Count Karoly requests de honor of
presenting your Majesty's
high compliance to the needs and
grievances of Transylvanian nobility.
Your most sacred Majesty,
the fire and pillage caused by the
Romanian rebellious noblemen,
arsonists, harassers and assassins
lead to the utter devastation
of most nobles, the flower and
decorum of Transylvania,
and they are still relentless.
Their past and present leader is the
poisoning Urs Necula,
also known as Horea,
who shamelessly poses as an authority...
Will you be baptized as serfs?
Yes, yes...
What shall your names be?
What shall we name them?
Vasile! Gheorghe!
Then, we name Adam and Eve!
Is that rightful?
Yes, yes, we thank you.
Now you will see how we lead our lives.
Good day to you, gentle folks!
Any truce, any treaty with Romanian
peasants is wrongful.
Ever since out fathers came to
Transylvania,
seeing the nature of these peasants,
wisely ruled that only
the harshest punishments may keep
them obedient and dutiful.
This is their home!
This is to be your home.
You were quick to take on
peasant manners!
Forgive me, my love! Forgive me, light
of my eyes!
You will survive.
Freedom was given to them by the new
imperial laws,
emerged from august kindness,
but these people are against all
morals...
Enough! You've understood nothing.
Why did you dress like Bohemian
tumblers?
So that your Majesty may see to
what misery
the faithful noblemen of
Transylvania have been brought to!
Faithful? The faith in the Crown...
a minimum of intelligence and common
sense
would have dictated that you
apply a salving reform!
But you, through excessive taxations
at your own will,
senselessly and ceaselessly, in winter
and in summer,
have constantly burdened your
subjects!
I will punish with no remorse those
who dared to take justice
into their own hands but...
How many victims were there?
One hundred and seventeen noblemen
suffered an unpleasant death,
your Majesty.
Too little compared to the manner
contrary to your interests
in which you treated them.
What of the humiliation?
What of our humiliation?
What of our pride?
Countess Palfy Agnesz.
Gentlemen, the hearing is over!
He is mad! His mother was a whore and
he is mad!
Take heed of your words!
It is clear that Horea tells the truth in
saying he rebelled with His approval.
Countess, you shouldn't have!
They are returning to their homes.
The riot is over!
Now comes the most difficult part...
uprooting the very idea of riot.
Philosophical subtleties elude me,
your Excellency. I am a military.
Of Romanian origin, it seems.
Distant,
which hasn't prevented me from my
military duties
when given the order,
Excellency.
I was not making a reproach. It is a
noble origin.
Shame, shame!
The nobles are returning home as well,
Excellency.
Only they are not greeting us.
What are your Excellency's feelings
towards this Horea?
Those I am ordered to have,
Excellency.
I was asking about your personal
feelings for him.
Respect. I consider him a brave soldier.
Dangerous honesty, Excellency.
We've taken every measure
for his capture.
I also expect positive news at our
first stop, Excellency.
Seize him! Seize him!
I see not everyone regards our mission
with sympathy.
Seize him!
Leave him, Excellency. It is of no use.
Besides, we seem to be approaching
our stop.
A light meal for your Excellency.
Eat, your Excellency.
It is not virtue that makes me
abstemious, but infirmity.
A glass of warm milk,
watered down.
Have the riot leaders been
apprehended?
Not yet, Excellency.
And here? What goes on here?
Present your report, captain.
Captain Heinrich Pfeiffer of the
Dewins regiment.
Following the trial of those charged
with crime,
the sentences will be read out, part of
them being passed.
The tribunal comprised of
deputy-commissioner Faray,
baron Kemeny, count Perecay,
and members of the bourgeoisie
Maieriu, Cosma and Hopschebergen.
Approach, gentlemen.
Have the tribunal members suffered
personally from the rebels deeds?
According to express orders of his
Majesty, I assisted every interrogation
without applying extraordinary
measures.
There were only benignum examen.
Only impartial witnesses for each
case.
What is this?
The milk you Excellency requested.
The sentences.
I am Szilagy Ignac, notarius.
I present myself before your
Excellency's attention.
Ion Lupenci, from Petris,
33 years old,
instigator to the arson of nobility
courts,
sentenced to be executed before the
Petris village.
Craciun Pacurar and Toma Beghisan,
Mihai Marian and Sandu Toader,
sentenced to be burned at the stake.
Thank you.
I piss on his Excellency.
I don't work at night.
I'm no butcher.
I'm a master executioner.
Begging your Excellency's pardon.
The executioner has lost his patience.
He must cut off the heads of...
...of Gheorghe Branisteanu, the judge
from Colop,
who was first to set the riot by beating
against the castle gates
to carry out the false commandment
given by the Emperor
to strike down the nobles.
The master executioner refuses to work
without light
in order to avoid unnecessarily
torturing the convicts.
A meritorious mark of the profession's
honesty.
Is the sentence fair?
Yes, Excellency. Proceed.
We are here to strictly apply the law,
not to break it.
Branistean Gheorghe!
Sit still. You'll be in no pain,
if I don't miss.
If this is imperial justice, then cut
off my head as well!
I too have taken down castle gates,
I too have drunk the wine
of Hungarian nobles.
I too have taken under my abode
Horea, Closca and Crisan,
I too have baptized landowners as
serfs, cut off my head!
If things are as you say, you will be
punished, pater.
But not before you are tried.
Pereat mundus, fiiat justitiam.
You too are a Hungarian noble,
Count lankovici!
You cannot impart justice between
us and Hungarians.
Nemo esse judex in sua causa potest!
I thought you were an orthodox, pater.
How is it that you speak Latin?
I learnt it from my forefathers, Count.
Splendid answer.
The window from your Excellency's
carriage has been replaced.
The fire was so comfortable.
Malens suada frigor.
Excellency...
- Excellency, I beg your forgiveness...
- I was not asleep, Excellency.
Have the leaders been apprehended? Was
Horea caught?
Not yet. But those willing to capture
them have arrived.
Light the candles, lord secretary.
Bring them forth so I may inspect them.
He is Anton Melzer, ranger of the
imperial woods, robbed by the rebels.
And they are former rebels that have
contrived, the brothers Maties...
We'd best keep names under
discretion's veil.
I assume they must redeem
for petty sins...
The hell they are petty!
Begging your Excellency's pardon.
This one, Maties loan, took everything
from my home.
e destroyed every thing he couldn't
carry.
And who swears for their new loyalty?
I do.
His Eminence, Bishop Ghideon
Nichitici. I am pleased, pleased indeed.
His Majesty sends gracious thanks for
the precious help you gave at the truce.
I serve the cause of my lambs
as I see fit.
The Romanian people have not acquired
patience.
This long-oppressed race cannot be
lifted through riots and violence,
but through patient
and industrious education.
But can the Romanian peasant, the
serf, endure?
What must he be patient for? Pity and
kindness? Whose?
And will the heart of landowners
be tamed by industrious education?
Get out, lord secretary.
From now on, you will ride with the
driver.
He is Romanian.
His father and two of his uncles were
decapitated at Deva without trial.
Otherwise, he is a valuable secretary.
Eminent Nichitici, I fear that our
holy empire
is a cauldron uselessly and
dangerously boiling
incompatible passions, interests and
people.
Horea is the rebellious one.
That is why I touched the hearts of
those peasants
so they may help with his capture.
My heart grows more tired than before.
Why did you make peace
with them near Tiber?
Why did you accept their peace?
Because I did not receive your letter
in time.
The people were tired and hungry.
We'd been in that valley for two days
and people didn't know what to think,
because your letter was late.
Who knows what goes on at home? My
family's been gone for three weeks...
and Grofita Traicescu,
poor woman, they cut her head off...
You're full, aren't you? You drank, ate,
set fire! And now you're finished!
No, no, I was only babbling
away in my stupidity...
Are you their leader?
I came to hear your demands!
Your grievances!
Don't you know them?
Didn't you receive Horea's letter?
Tell the general anyway! So he may
hear them once more!
Tell him! Why shouldn't he hear them?
Why did you come in such numbers?
Why have you rebelled?
Let our brothers go free!
Let them go free!
Because our rights have been
trampled on!
And the truces we made, willingly or
not, were also broken.
There, officer, we talk of peace,
minding our business while
landowners eavesdrop.
How can there be peace?
With whom?
Between them and us?
I myself,
your shepherd,
came to teach you as a father,
and show you that
the merciful emperor has forgiven each
and every one.
Long live our emperor,
losefus Secundus!
For this mercy, clemency and wisdom to
be granted to you,
I bid you return home, my sons!
And come back here in eight days time
with your true leaders
whose orders you willingly obey,
and we will reach an accord!
You shouldn't have done that.
How can there be peace between those
who have and those who don't?
Between the powerful and the weak?
I knew the truth.
Only lies and deceit!
But, you see,
the people...
they thought that...
Don't blame the people!
Some missed their infants, others were
tired of sleeping in the cold,
others were frightened of their
own deeds!
But they didn't renounce us and they
didn't sell us out!
Who are you?
The eight days have passed!
We meet again!
Let the leaders come forth!
Are you the leaders?
The people's messengers!
You will come with me to Deva!
There you will be told...
you will hear the emperor's order!
The emperor's order or answer?
The order, Horea.
Bring three horses for these people!
Well, officer, we cannot travel that
far, alone,
together with foreign troops!
The emperor's troops, old man!
And if we all go, we cannot hold
responsibility for our people,
because they need food
and shelter!
Your leaders' conscience is not clear,
since you don't dare come alone and,
still, I am content by this!
This means you realize you've sinned
in your crimes!
No one among us has sinned, unless it
is sinful to seek justice!
It may be a sin to you, but not to us!
I demand that show here
the written orders
that you pretend... that you claim to
have
from his Majesty, the emperor,
and with which you've deceived the
unknowing crowds!
You are too insignificant in
rank to see them!
That may be!
Then, I ask you three to accompany me
and show them to whomever
you deem worthy.
Judas! You traitor!
Show us the emperor's letters!
Show them to us
if you refused to show them to the
general!
Here you are, Maties.
I cannot read.
What do the letters matter?
It is clear the emperor is a liar!
The Hungarian nobles
must've bribed him!
They must've tempted him with one of
their women!
You lied to us! You lied to us!
How did my father lie to us? How did
he lie to us?
Were we doing well and he said
otherwise?
Were we blissful and Horea said we
lived as animals?
- How did he lie to us?
- Leave him alone!
We'll put down our
weapons... the broken ones,
and we'll hide the good ones
together with the powder.
We'll make more scythes and spears.
And I say we give back
the things we seized.
The clothes of Hungarian
nobles are not suited for us.
And if you believe that myself or others
lied to you,
we'll go and surrender ourselves.
No!
Horea, these are the first weak words
I've heard you utter.
Go!
The mountains are our home.
We'll wait for you next spring.
- We can't fight the imperial troops.
- How can that be?
For the time being.
Take it!
Thank you!
And here, in the mountains,
where I believe we are truly at home,
we may crush them.
Father.
Father! Let me come with you.
Son, who knows if we'll ever sit at
the same table again
and drink to one another's health?
Here! I have nothing else to give you.
We'll stay here tonight. I'll gather
some firewood.
Spring's a long way away still.
The tracks...
I forgive you for stealing everything
from my home, Maties loan.
We'll live better with everything we'll
receive after this.
Sandor.
Did you call for me? Or did I dream?
Command me! I am prepared to die.
Take the clock outside and throw it in
the latrine!
You know, the countess cannot stand
anything
touched by the Wallachians' filthy
hands.
The entire family's been through the
Wallachians' hands.
I assume those hands touched
you, even against your own will.
Did you suffer much from
the tumult, count?
Look around, Excellency.
We invited you to these ruins hastily
put back
so that you may see for yourselves.
They took everything.
They broke what they couldn't take!
The important thing is that you live.
Only animals value life most of all!
Horea calls for you! Get out!
Horea calls for you!
Grab your axes, your forks, your
scythes! Come out!
Grab your axes, your forks,
your scythes!
Come out! Horea calls for you!
Agnes, can't you hear them outside?
Let's leave while we still can!
Sandor, Sandor! Please, try to
convince her!
Agnes, your leaving, goddess, is not
shameful,
but a gentle swan's fly through
the clouds!
Go to hell! How is it that you, a
Palfy, don't see that if we defy them,
if we are not frightened,
they will not dare!
They're plebeians!
Afraid of what they do not understand!
And if you force me to leave, we will
part forever!
I'd rather be with a gypsy than you!
They're waiting for us to leave, but
seeing us upright,
dignified, in our home,
they will not dare!
The plebeians fury in vain boils, thou
needs only draw thy sword!
Be as the lightning,
Arpad!
And the hydra penetrated
the dark abysses!
Very well.
As you wish and as God wishes!
What are you doing here drinking?
Judge, why aren't you with the people?
Rest peaceful, master.
Ever since the tumult started they keep
telling us
we'll suffer the world should we...
Be careful, for they greatly
"desire" you!
And you? Why aren't you at your posts?
In arms, so they may see and fear you?
Stay and have a drink with us,
your highness.
Ildiko! Polodar! Children, where are
you?
Children, where are you?
Stay still, son! This is not child's play!
You bragged that you wait for them,
and now you lie about?
Now is their turn to pay!
These are the emperor's orders:
there are to be no Hungarian nobles left
in the land!
Castles are burning on the Mures, on
the Cris rivers, and you...!
Or perhaps you did not hear
the command?
Perhaps you are on their side!
They've shown you too much kindness,
making your lives too full!
We've set fire to them everywhere
we've been!
And we shall do the same from now on!
and you should know,
that those who keep away when every
man will rebel,
those we'll mark with this!
You say you have the emperor's orders!
Where are they?
Can you show them?
Do you know this?
Feel it, it's made of gold?
Where would I get gold if not from
the emperor?
I see the cross! The cross is solid! But I
hear the emperor has also sent letters!
If you are so kind as to show them! So
that all things may be in order!
Here, old man,
here are the letters!
So you may seek order in
peace of mind!
I cannot read.
You are too patient, Horea!
We must!
We must have patience until we lose it
all.
Perhaps someone else can read!
I can read!
I, the emperor Josef, seeing that all
my orders in favor of the peasants
have been kept from them by the
Hungarian nobles and their servants...
...and by their servants...
They not only ignore them, but did the
opposite of what I ordered,
I, emperor Josef.
For this reasons, I command you to
rebel and do away with them,
if you love me and if you love
yourselves!
But we cannot do it without the
emperor's permission, can we?
Need we hear from the emperor that we
are hungry and mocked,
that we endure as fools do,
that we are many and that Hungarians
nobles live fully.
Do we need the emperor to tell us
that?
Come!
Leave me or I will kill you!
The children!
What would they want with the
children?
The children did them no harm!
You mad woman! Don't you see it's us
they want to kill? We'll find them!
Mother, what game shall we play?
My angels, my lambs!
Shall we shoot them?
They'll eat us alive!
What is the matter, Horea?
No matter, I'm just watching
and learning.
You're talking in parables again.
There are no parables here.
I'm trying to learn people's hearts.
Now, have you stopped again? You've
reached their gates and came to a halt?
Are you scared even of gates?
This is what I wanted to see.
What do you say, father? Are you
pleased with me?
You've grown up and slimmed down.
Of course, with all the walking from
one village to another.
- I am content with your shooting.
- I am too.
They don't pay me to die.
Wait, good folks! I'll open the gates
for you!
Don't bother! I am Boz Grigor!
Come in, brothers!
Wait! Come here, brother! You were my
brother and you beat me!
We have the same mother and father
and you tortured me!
I was doing my job, brother!
As I am doing mine!
May God not rest your soul!
What are you doing?
Get away from there!
I'll only speak to your leader, Horea!
Which one of you is Horea?
Which one do you think?
Him.
Say what is on your mind!
You are the village judge.
How did you defend the people?
Are you looking for the nobles?
You won't find them! ou can't!
If I take you to them,
will you spare me?
What you done so you may
\be forgiven for?
They built a hiding place years ago,
when they learnt that
our beloved and precious Horea went
to see the emperor.
Stop sniveling and tell us
where they are!
Come with me, brothers, and we will
drink their souls!
Look there!
You know what makes me wonder?
The fact that people like you, like me
were afraid of people like them...
who would sell their masters to us so
we may kill them!
One like him, a nobody!
Horea and Closca have been
apprehended.
They are being taken to Alba lulia,
through Slatna, heavily guarded.
They've been caught! They're in
chains!
Take me to Alba lulia! I want to see him
in torment, humiliated!
- I beg you, Count!
- These people understand nothing!
Cum victum arma povit et victor decet
odia de pove
Agnes, calm yourself.
They haven't set their arms.
And their hatred will never be
quenched.
Good day, fair lady.
Mother, when is it time?
I'll tell you when.
Madam, I bow to you.
It's harder to obtain the authorization to
see Horea in chains
than it is to see his Majesty himself!
Still, how did you do it?
What a naive question!
Allow me to escort you.
Behind these gates through which you
passed is imprisoned Closca lon.
Do you wish to see him?
No! I want to see Horea!
Madam, sir, the orders are formal
regarding the search
of those who wish to see the criminals.
The corporal, who is higher in rank,
has done me the great favor
of allowing me to search you.
Forgive me.
You don't think we've come here to put
him out of his misery.
Sweet children!
Pity! They would've enjoyed it!
This way!
Look at me!
Madam, any dialogue with
the rebel is forbidden.
Now what?
We'll try you!
Try them, Horea!
I don't know these people! They were
never my masters!
They were yours! You try them!
But is the emperor's command?
That we should do what we see fit!
Kill them!
Kill every last one of them!
What is your name?
Irimia! They call me son of Oiste!
Kill them!
If you command me to kill them,
I'll do it!
I did not command anything,
it was you who shouted! Kill them.
Start with the infants.
See, now? Then, let them go!
No! Never!
They cannot go unpunished!
It isn't fair!
But how should we punish them?
You've lived long. You should know!
In my opinion, the biggest punishment
for us is life!
Then why don't you punish them with a
life such as yours?
Come! Let's go!
Come! Don't look that way.
And leave the boy with me until you set
your home straight.
He's young and bears no fault.
Come along, little girl.
In aunt Saveta's poor home
you'll starve to death.
What's your name, dear?
lldiko. Mom, can I go with auntie?
Go, dear, go with aunt Mary.
I won't forget this.
Yes, you will, sir.
Come, children, you must be hungry.
I'll be there when you die.
Countess, any discussion with the
rebel is forbidden.
Why don't you sit at the table?
Thank you, I'm fine here.
Don't mind my asking, but why are you
staying here for the night?
The nobles' castle is empty.
People slew their animals and
are now frying them.
That is not why I lead them, I don't
shed blood to take the nobles' place.
This is one, Candea Alexa.
That's his name.
Romanian like us.
But the old Hungarian paid for
his school and he's been brainwashed.
He calls himself Kendi Sandor.
You said you needed an
educated man, there he is!
Is he any good or should we hang him?
The storm of the rage is coming, the
sacred and eternal!
You are Hercules and the mighty
scythe is the symbol...
Can you write?
Latin, Hungarian, German and, of
course, Romanian,
for I myself am one, your Excellency.
Give him a horse!
I've never been to those places.
Question 23. How did you dare deceive
the people
by telling them the riot was
ordered by the emperor?
I've never said such words.
Question 24.
Why did you seek to kill Domeneal
Cernanski-Gabrel
si Aron Alexander in Mosca village?
I have never heard those names before.
Bring in the imperial judge Craciun
Resiga and the witnesses.
Do you know this man
called Closca lon?
- No.
- When he was shown to you in prison
yesterday, you knew him.
I didn't see well.
Horea, your silence is futile!
You're making things difficult for
yourself!
When asked if he could write,
the accused answered that he could
not!
But this letter to Crisan reads:
'Your messenger has been caught!
Knowing my handwriting, you will know
that I sent you this letter!
God forbid, but should it come to the
enemy, you shall remain silent!
That is what I decided together with
Closca, I, Horea! '
What do you have to say?
These simpletons think that if they
deny everything...
We're wasting our time, Excellency!
It was a spontaneous riot!
Spontaneous, your Excellency? Do you
think the army,
with all its admirable organization
would have succeeded in conquering
such a territory in two weeks alone,
without a well-laid plan,
without connections kept secret
for years? This is what we have to find.
Simpletons? Excellency, do know
Horea's proclamation?
The bold philosophers in Paris whose
brochures are being burnt
demand the nobles be gentler
to their subjects.
This naive Horea demands the
nobles perish.
Maybe the proclamation was dictated
to him by one of his mysterious
inspirers.
Bring in the noble Kendi Sandor.
Forgive me, noble Count! I'm a poet.
As Prometheus
chained to hard and merciless rock,
I suffer for a
blame that is not mine.
Only my hand wrote the
thought of the fierce rebel!
I'm afraid his Excellency, the General
is too tired to enjoy these...
harmonious verses.
Describe the circumstances in which
Horea
issued the ultimatum proclamation of
November 11 th.
You were there, you wrote it.
Scripta manent.
In heavy chains he dragged me
on his horse,
this Rex Daciae of the rebelled
plebeians.
Excellency, he treated me kind.
As peasants treat their sowing
instruments,
I being necessary to them
as a... writing instrument.
Horea was and was not present.
As a violent blizzard born
from an abyss,
he crossed the mountains and the
hidden valley...
We cannot establish where was Horea
and what he did during the riots!
What his captains did!
The Abrud was the target of the bloody
passion that lead the crowds
with spears and thousands of scythes
that shone in the night.
Crisan rode with a merciless sword,
slaying the nobles around.
My beloved sons, the Lord showed his
will in the Holy Scripture,
commanding 'Thou shall not kill,
thou shall not steal'
as well as teaching us to love our
enemies...
God commands only us, the peasants, to
love them, but not to the nobles!
Die, you hypocrite!
They come to us with the Ten
Commandments,
what do you bring us?
Dear and respected lord Crisan, we,
the landowners in Transylvania...
...Plead you to spare the Abrud from
pillage,
for we'll pay you in gold, as
much as you want!
You worms, the money you tempt us with
are our strength!
- We don't need it!
- What is that you want the? What?
We want to do away with you!
Take them to Abrud!
Let Horea try them!
Captain, you leave us defenseless in
front of these fierce animals,
more fierce than vandals?
My orders are to defend the mines and
that it what I'll do!
But what about us, our women,
our children?!
I have no orders concerning this!
So it's true that this slaughter is going
on with the emperor's
express or tacit compliance!
Count, my instructions don't allow me
to draw such conclusions!
Gentlemen, I advise to keep hidden!
Where should we hide, captain? We have
wives and children!
The wrath of these people is terrible,
but short.
The exasperation of centuries makes
them cruel for just a few days.
The proud flower of nobility stood
helpless!
Oh, wild blaze, peasants everywhere
gathered!
Hatred, as a storm, ravaged everything
in its way!
Oh, poor flower of nobility!
I'll take you to the nobles' hiding,
brothers! Follow me!
Hungarians, yes, Hungarians started
persecuting their Hungarian brothers
and give them over to the
to the fury of the rebels!
The nobles see the mines for
themselves now!
No, no, spare me, no, don't kill me!
Let me, let me!
Sequitur superbus ulturat urga Deus.
The god of vengeance seeks
out the arrogant.
Great noble, this God not only sought
them out, but reached them.
They were forced to convert.
Do you or do you not swear to convert
to serfdom?
We swear, we swear, we swear!
Then, come here.
Now, what shall we call him?
What? lon.
What will we call him now?
lon!
Now, you are called lon.
Here are your papers,
you are to dress in peasants' clothes
and hang a white towel on your gates!
What will we call her?
Ana!
Now she is Ana!
Your papers! Isn't she pretty?
That moment, fate turned around
its way!
03:04
Fatam viam inveniat!
As your Excellency knows,
there were 50 peasants executed in
Deva under lege statario.
Do you know the names of those
who formed
this illegal and unconscious
tribunal?
We were unable to identify them,
your Excellency!
A knight comes riding a furious horse,
an angel's face but bloody
was his soul!
What are doing? Are you baptizing the?
See here how they baptize us!
They're slaughtering us like cattle in
Deva and stick our heads on poles!
Then Horea appeared!
You who were nobles, what is it that
you want of me?
Life, spare our lives!
No, no!
Let no Hungarian go unpunished!
Irimia, you are drunk and stupid!
He's Hungarian too!
And what about me?
My name is Cionkasz Fary.
Well, father, these are people,
not landowners!
And him, damn his soul,
he's Romanian and he's a noble!
Cretu Gavrila is his name?
What shall we do with him?
Horea, I reckon we kill him!
And him? He's Romanian! He is Maties
from Carpinis, and he's a serf,
but wants to be a noble!
What shall we do with him?
Take him away!
Horea had a strange nobility,
not of rank and not of power,
but of a sort of blind justice!
He commanded that I be brought forth
and dictated to me:
'Write this down, Alexandru Candea!
Today, November the 11 th, 1784.
One. Let the nobles of the county and
their children swear by the cross!
We swear! We swear! We swear!
Wait and see what is that
you'll swear...
Swear to set serfs free!
Two.
There are to be no more nobles,
everyone should work however they
can and earn their living from it!
Three.
Let the wealthy nobles forever leave
their lands and their properties
be divided among peasants according
to the emperor's command
which is soon to come!
Horea! Horea! Long live Horea!
And you, a noble, even captive, wrote
down these monstrous ideas.
Your Excellency, my hand was but a
tool
moving on the white sheet by
the crowd's fury.
Alright, you may leave.
You are dismissed.
Excellency, Excellency, my respects...
Excellency, this riot was not
spontaneous and these ideas, I fear,
have not been broken by the bullets
you fired at the heads in which they
were born.
Excellency, the third leader has been
apprehended, Crisan.
The good news is
brought by father Moise from Carpinici,
who most contributed to his capture.
Your highness, I humbly present myself
as Moise, llie Moise from Carpinici.
Palida morseque pulsat pauperum
tavernas regum vetures.
...expressing the opinions of the
radical wing
that predominates France's rulers,
brother Brissot intends to issue an
open letter addressed to the emperor.
Our Ambassador, brother Mercy
provided us with some excerpts:
'Each time power is avert from the
purpose of government
which represents public good and
public freedom is endangered,
the people may and have the right
to change the old governing and
set a new one.
The doctrine of submission to an
arbitrary government
is absurd and menial.
The riot is subsequently legitimate
everywhere power is not directly given
by the people,
everywhere the purpose of government
does not represent
the general good of society, but the
good of one man or few people.
Subject for centuries to a cruel, blind
and stupid tyranny,
the noble Romanians wallowed in
misery until,
out of the very bosom of its
suffering, Horea emerged.
People tormented by every nation
joined him
and bishops and arms were
sent against rebels.
Clergy is always present in political
turmoil,
perhaps they know the
art of deceiving.
Brother Brissot doesn't know that the
low-ranked clergy
took part in the riot
with their congregation.
The people rebel only when
they are oppressed!
The people only demand justice,
and sovereigns, no matter how wise
they may want to seem,
through the very nature of their
power...
Taxes and chores in favor of nobles
tripled over the last few years.
We work for them for five days,
and when we go home the sixth day
to work for our benefit,
they won't leave us and they call for us
everywhere to no beginning and no end
in winter, spring, summer or fall.
And Your Grace should know that we
reap, we harvest,
we carry the crops, but not for us.
We hand over everything,
butter, meat, fowl and eggs, fish, nuts,
our rags we give for their paper mills,
so that nobles may read.
We can't read, you Grace, but only few
of us, such as myself, Ursu Necula,
who was sent to you for this reason by
the people.
And it is not only the nobles who
oppress us, but their servants as well,
who torture us worse than
the nobles.
Those who rise and forget their origins
are worse than the nobles,
because they are even more greedy.
There are no laws but their
whims and desires.
Laws go according to them but the
hardest of all is the mockery,
for we feed tax collectors as well,
the investigators who torture us, those
who beat us.
Then, what is left for us, Your Grace?
Shall we perish, shall we perish from
our lands or... Or?
- Or...
- Or...
Do it!
In order to eliminate the rumors that
the rebel leaders have not been
apprehended
or enjoy special privileges in captivity,
they will be dragged in chains to the
places of their crimes, heavily guarded.
Poor horses!
They looked for you the other
day as well.
How much longer will you live in the
wilderness?
In the wilderness, as you call it,
I don't know how long.
But I will be a slave no longer.
How do you think you can set him free
on your own?
He is in chains,
people are frightened,
by the emperor's orders,
men hang each day in each village,
they are wheeled.
How am I supposed to let him be
tortured?
How can I leave him to be
mocked?
Here. Food for the road.
What are you doing, Irina?
You were kind to me and
we were happy together.
Thank you.
How?
Then, may your hand be steady.
Well, lon, let us tend to our duty.
Father, don't be afraid. It's your
son, lonut.
Good evening, lon.
Father, I wanted to shoot you in the
heart, to spare you from torments.
Is that what you think of me, that I'm
frightened by torture?
I don't fear it, otherwise they wouldn't
have caught me alive.
As to death, when I had people rebel,
my son,
I made a deal with death as
well!
We owe death anyway.
But it matters how you die.
I reckon I have the strength to die like
this, so that the people I die for
may be forever ashamed to live with
with their heads down
in front of some lowlifes, in front of
some nobodies.
But are we going to do without you?
Keep to your life as the wolf keeps
to his prey.
Have many children, starve so may
send your children to schools,
so they may be more schooled than
the nobles' children.
And from time to time, tell them a
story about me as well, but not often.
Why not often, father?
So words may not grow cheap.
Are you crying? Are you crying, son?
Let this be the last time, hear me?
We are not allowed to cry.
I understand, father. I understand.
Question no 1. Name, age, occupation.
My name is Crisan, or Giurgiu Marcu,
52 years-old, humble servant.
Question no 2. Do you know why you are
here in chains?
I reckon that it's not for
picking flowers.
For ripping out nobles' souls!
Because I made people rebel so there
may be justice for us!
Who commanded the Mesteacan riot?
I did! Don't you know?
I didn't do it in secret!
We did nothing in secret!
The nobles won't forget this
for a long time!
Their children's children
will remember!
Do you know that not even the emperor
can stand them?
I know, but for other reasons.
Was Horea present at the
Mesteacan riot?
How could we do anything without him,
without out leader?
I said he should be unchained.
Excellency, I cannot take the
responsibility...
Take them off!
Thank you, Excellency.
Good evening, Horea.
Good evening to you too, sir.
I kindly ask you to let me rest
by your arm.
I have no strength left.
I'm dying, I have cancer.
We are all mortals.
But you and myself are closer to
death than others.
Sit there in front of me,
if you'd be so kind.
And in front of him.
Thank you, sir.
You confessed nothing to
the commission.
And you thought I'd confess
to food and drink.
No, I didn't call you here to confess.
I know, I know, you called me to
treat me kind.
Take anything you want,
anything you like.
I'll ask you to forgive me.
It is not virtue that makes me
abstemious, but weakness.
I mean, the doctors... I would very much
like a glass of that wine.
If you're dying, why not drink then?
I trust you're not worried that I
might try to poison you.
You are not that kind!
What to drink to now, sir?
Health, long life?
Here's to an easy death!
It has been ruled that you'll wheeled
for your deeds,
that is, you'll have your
legs and arms broken...
Everyone dies in some way, sir...
Then your body will be ripped in four
and scattered in four corners
of the country.
I will have a large tomb then, as big
as the entire country of Ardeal.
Pour me some wine.
Palida mors eque pulsat...
Do you know what this means?
'Pale death knocks on the door
of poor and kings alike.'
It isn't true, sir.
And then do you know what they did?
They sent two landowners,
one from Cris valley and one from
Brad,
together with some soldiers,
to capture Horea.
How could they think of
something like that?
That was their final thought. I drove
them into the ground!
lmagine they wanted Horea!
Justice isn't gained through
pillage and murders?
But haven't the nobles pillaged
us as well?
For hundreds and hundreds of years!
That is our country from our ancestors,
it's out land, reaped with sweat and
blood, work, honesty, pride!
And for all that, tell me, for I know
you counted them,
how many perished while making
people rebel?
Around one hundred and fifty.
What kind of scales do you use, sir?
The scales of state reason,
the scales the emperor gave me.
Those are phony scales, sir,
as their master.
I'm getting hungry. Aren't you?
Why should I lie, captain?
I'm hungry too.
Then I'll go order something
good to eat.
You shouldn't have said anything.
Neither Horea, nor Closca said nothing.
They admitted to nothing.
What we did, we did in front of the
whole world.
They want to know how
the riot was planned.
What were your connections
in the villages,
where the secret roads
are and hiding places.
So they might know how to prevent
it in the future.
Who are you?
A Romanian,
a measly Romanian.
Good. I won't say anything more.
It's too late now, Crisan.
They're experts.
It's all done since you talked.
They'll confuse you with what you said
so far. They're good at it.
Crisan, the nobles' terror. I like the
fact that you're not stubborn.
Your comrades, Horea and Closca, told
us everything as well.
- We will consider everything.
- Everything will be considered.
I'd also like to know...
Well, general, I'm very
tired and hungry.
Of course, of course.
Tomorrow morning,
we have all the time in the world.
Take off some of his chains.
Now, sir, I thank you for dinner,
it was good.
And don't be upset that you couldn't
learn what you wanted from me.
This is secret is kept by
too many people.
It isn't mine or anyone else's, it's ours.
So, the turmoil is over.
For three weeks, Romanians were free
and you can't take that back.
People forget, Horea.
You don't know us, sir, and you can't
rule over us.
Only we know ourselves,
our good and bad,
and I did nothing but teach it to some
with a kind word, with fire,
with the scythe, with terror, so that
each and everyone may understand.
So they may rebel with me and I may
die, I, Ursu Necula, called Horea,
called thus because I enjoyed
life and singing.
Let's go outside.
We are ordered to let him rest.
Well, Horea, I didn't tell them much.
Majesty, Ursu Necula, called Horea,
has a great personality, with an
unusual force of heart,
not only with peasants, but among the
highest social ranks.
He cannot be bought,
nor made to doubt the justice of his
cause and of his means.
That is why, as a political necessity,
his execution is called for in a
terrifying manner.
Although contrary to your
august principles,
this must be done in front of three
youths and old men from each village,
so that the love and faith in Horea may
be destroyed for all eternity.
Prepare arms! Fire!
The emperor hates crime, loves the
people, he is the father of the people.
This is the reward of your faith. You did
your duty. Let this day of joy
and celebration be a teaching for your
children and their children's children.
Take this medal awarded
by his Majesty.
I was the one who caught Crisan. The
villagers will kill me.
And the bishop gets rewarded.
It's value is in the imperial grace,
not in the gold.
I wish you guide them for many years,
ruling the peasants' souls,
these children capable of
miracles and murders.
We're no longer serfs, my brother.
- We're no longer serfs...
- Shut the hell up!
Come closer and collect your reward.
Approach.
I'm free, I'm free, I'm free! I,
Maties lon, am free!
The sentence in the trial against Horea,
also called Ursu Necula,
charged with instigating to riots,
posing as leader of the rebelled people
whom he solely gathered and named
leaders lower in rank.
He gave, either personally, either
through his men,
the order that from every serf home,
one man should come to arms and,
thus, powers united,
they should kill all nobles, steal their
fortunes, turn into ruin every home,
drive them away from Transylvania that
Horea considers to be Romanian land.
As it is.
Please, forgive me, the servant, for I
only do my duty,
and I swear that I hold no
grudge against you.
You were born from the ground and
there you shall return...
Shut up, father.
Leave us to die in peace.
They're stupid, lon, they're stupid.
Why do you say that?
The city of Belgrade... Mihai Voda's
Belgrade they give to us.
Good. You made me a peasant.
Go in peace, lon!
Father, will you be upset if
I ask you something?
I am only upset with those who don't
ask. Those are stones, not people.
I'd ask myself, but I've no one
to ask anything.
What does the emperor look like?
Does he wear a crown on his head and
a beard as God?
What do you care about the way the
emperor looks?
- Now, see that I've upset you?
- Go on, ask.
And did he really tell you, Horea or
Necula,
gather the people and kill the nobles?
lon, do you think emperors talk
straight like that?
That how we talk, the peasants.
You should know when you
meet the emperor,
that he has a confusing tongue.
If things go well, he is honored
and revered,
if things go bad, it means that you
didn't understand him.
But when will I have to talk
to the emperor?
It had to begin at some point,
by any means, but it had to begin.
What's worse is not slavery,
but that people get used to it if
enough time passes.
People grow accustomed with slavery,
with obeisance, with fear,
with mockery.
They stop caring and become as the
dumb bird used to its cage,
forgetting it ever flew.
Or is afraid its master might know it
hasn't forget how to fly.
Only now, with the emperor's
permission or not,
we know we can do it.
Now I understand,
that you are the emperor.
presents
a NUMARUL PATRU production
producer
RADU STEGAROIU
filmed at the
CINEMA PRODUCTION CENTER
studios in BUCHARES HOREA
with
OVIDIU IULIU MOLDOVAN
SERBAN IONESCU
DAN SANDULESCU
RADU BELIGAN
MIRCEA ALBULESCU
ENIKO SZILAG Y
ION BESOIU
PETRE GHEORGHIU
FLORIN CHIRIAC
SIEGMUND SIEGFRIED
ALEXANDRU REPAN
MIRCEA DIACONU
NICOLAE ALBANI
Z OLTAN VADASZ
MIRCEA HINDOREANU
COSTEL RADULESCU
screenwriter
TITUS POPOVICI
music by
TIBERIU OLAH
with the symphonic orchestra conducted
by IOSIF CONTA
make-up artists
ELENA RUCAREANU
GHEORGHE DRAGHICI
assistant directors
MARIANA PETCULESCU
DIMITRIOS SUKAS
editor
ELENA PANTAZICA
soundtrack
NICOLAE CIOLCA
costume designer
DESDEMONA LO ZINSCHI
setting designer
MARCEL BOGOS
production director
LUCIAN DANTE GOLOGAN
director of photography
VIVI DRAGAN VASILE
director
MIRCEA MURESAN
HOREA
VIENNA 1784
A division of the Tuscany regiment
will depart to Slatna! Go on, please.
Pressbuch Herzeitung:
Transylvanian tragedy caused by
peasants' impoverishment
Wiener Zeitung presents the events...
Politische Jurnal from Hamburg:
Horea speaks German well, reads
German classical authors,
According to people who know him
intimately in Vienna.
Oberposter Herzeitung, Frankfurt:
Horea wore a precious stone, the seal
of his new kingdom, Dacia.
A company of the Romanian regiment
of frontier guards
will depart to Miercurea.
The skills and loyalty of these units
are to be tested.
Go on, please.
The point made by Gazette de France,
Journal de Geneve, Wicklaas News,
Gazeta de Madrid, and Diario Estero
from Milan is that the Transylvanian
riot is legitimate for the berserk slaves
grow relentless in their hatred as the tyrants
become more oppressive.
Gentlemen, his Majesty is at work!
He's humiliating us.
I don't see why we had to come
before the German
looking like a bunch of
beggars.
So he might see where his demented
hatred for the
Transylvanian nobles has brought us!
- What if he won't see us today either?
We'll stay here for as long as it
takes,
Until we'll all perish from starvation
on his doorstep!
His Excellency, the honored Count,
Anton lankovici.
Myes... Go on.
Der Deutsche Merkur from Weimar:
It is unknown where Horea's heroic
deeds will take him.
We hope he will not be tortured and
end as Thomas Munzer,
the hero of the German Peasants' War.
I most humbly bow before your Majesty...
...Since ballet scenes interrupt the
flow of narration rendering a frivolous note,
we propose - underline this word -
their elimination from operas
to take place in the future.
I ordered our personal physician
to tell you the truth
concerning your situation,
my esteemed Count.
I was aware of it without this gesture of
attention from your Majesty.
Palida mors aeque pulsat
pede pauperum tavernas regum vetures
If it concerned another, one may have
thought this a cruel gesture.
You are doomed, my brother.
Rest at ease, they are doomed as well.
I have a favor to ask of you.
I'm listening, brother.
You are faced with the great unknown,
a threshold, a peak, who knows?
You may look lightly upon human
passion and turmoil.
Yes. I am appointing you Royal and
lmperial Commissary
in Transylvania for the duration of
the investigation.
You shall personally look into the
causes of this riot.
I know them, brother.
The obstinate intellectually-reduced
and savage-mannered nobility
refuses to let go of old privileges.
I know, but a clear inquiry
must be made,
not necessarily for history's sake,
But for mine, first of all.
I must know how
and where this all started.
I want to learn the secret mechanism
of this storm.
The entire Europe is discontent;
I see it, hear it, feel it every day.
As far as I know, the peasants have
accepted the eight-days truce
proposed by Colonel Wajda.
Since the riot passed its initial
ebullition, it is as good as ended.
Prepare the general commander patent
of the Wurthenberg Dragons' regiment
for colonel Savelius Wajda Pustahaza.
Myes. The riot is as good as ended.
Its remittance is
next, the usual... none of your concern.
I want to know its texture,
its secret mechanism,
because you can never understand that
you must never...
I impart justice and not my subjects.
For this, the leaders must be
apprehended.
That is your mission, brother.
But alive, alive at any cost,
especially Horea.
Their fate?
The lesson given to the illiterate,
arrogant, rebellious landowners,
reluctant to my reform was
more than welcomed.
As if this Horea had read my mind.
But one who is able to read
a king's mind is dangerous.
You shall decide their fate, brother.
With the clear mind and detachment
that only your approaching end can
provide.
Beyond which we know there
is nothing else.
Farewell, brother.
I thank your Majesty for this supreme
proof of trust.
Are you wearing powder, Count?
I wouldn't have allowed myself to show
your Majesty
the image of human decrepitude.
For the noblemen refugees in the
cities of Deva and Hunedoara
there will be a daily tax of 17 kreutzers,
a sum to be returned
to the imperial treasury
as soon as calm is restored.
His Royal lmperial and
Apostolic Majesty,
Emperor of Germany, King of Hungary,
Bohemia and Jerusalem,
Archduke of Austria, Duke of
Burgundy,
Great Prince of Transylvania.
Count Karoly requests de honor of
presenting your Majesty's
high compliance to the needs and
grievances of Transylvanian nobility.
Your most sacred Majesty,
the fire and pillage caused by the
Romanian rebellious noblemen,
arsonists, harassers and assassins
lead to the utter devastation
of most nobles, the flower and
decorum of Transylvania,
and they are still relentless.
Their past and present leader is the
poisoning Urs Necula,
also known as Horea,
who shamelessly poses as an authority...
Will you be baptized as serfs?
Yes, yes...
What shall your names be?
What shall we name them?
Vasile! Gheorghe!
Then, we name Adam and Eve!
Is that rightful?
Yes, yes, we thank you.
Now you will see how we lead our lives.
Good day to you, gentle folks!
Any truce, any treaty with Romanian
peasants is wrongful.
Ever since out fathers came to
Transylvania,
seeing the nature of these peasants,
wisely ruled that only
the harshest punishments may keep
them obedient and dutiful.
This is their home!
This is to be your home.
You were quick to take on
peasant manners!
Forgive me, my love! Forgive me, light
of my eyes!
You will survive.
Freedom was given to them by the new
imperial laws,
emerged from august kindness,
but these people are against all
morals...
Enough! You've understood nothing.
Why did you dress like Bohemian
tumblers?
So that your Majesty may see to
what misery
the faithful noblemen of
Transylvania have been brought to!
Faithful? The faith in the Crown...
a minimum of intelligence and common
sense
would have dictated that you
apply a salving reform!
But you, through excessive taxations
at your own will,
senselessly and ceaselessly, in winter
and in summer,
have constantly burdened your
subjects!
I will punish with no remorse those
who dared to take justice
into their own hands but...
How many victims were there?
One hundred and seventeen noblemen
suffered an unpleasant death,
your Majesty.
Too little compared to the manner
contrary to your interests
in which you treated them.
What of the humiliation?
What of our humiliation?
What of our pride?
Countess Palfy Agnesz.
Gentlemen, the hearing is over!
He is mad! His mother was a whore and
he is mad!
Take heed of your words!
It is clear that Horea tells the truth in
saying he rebelled with His approval.
Countess, you shouldn't have!
They are returning to their homes.
The riot is over!
Now comes the most difficult part...
uprooting the very idea of riot.
Philosophical subtleties elude me,
your Excellency. I am a military.
Of Romanian origin, it seems.
Distant,
which hasn't prevented me from my
military duties
when given the order,
Excellency.
I was not making a reproach. It is a
noble origin.
Shame, shame!
The nobles are returning home as well,
Excellency.
Only they are not greeting us.
What are your Excellency's feelings
towards this Horea?
Those I am ordered to have,
Excellency.
I was asking about your personal
feelings for him.
Respect. I consider him a brave soldier.
Dangerous honesty, Excellency.
We've taken every measure
for his capture.
I also expect positive news at our
first stop, Excellency.
Seize him! Seize him!
I see not everyone regards our mission
with sympathy.
Seize him!
Leave him, Excellency. It is of no use.
Besides, we seem to be approaching
our stop.
A light meal for your Excellency.
Eat, your Excellency.
It is not virtue that makes me
abstemious, but infirmity.
A glass of warm milk,
watered down.
Have the riot leaders been
apprehended?
Not yet, Excellency.
And here? What goes on here?
Present your report, captain.
Captain Heinrich Pfeiffer of the
Dewins regiment.
Following the trial of those charged
with crime,
the sentences will be read out, part of
them being passed.
The tribunal comprised of
deputy-commissioner Faray,
baron Kemeny, count Perecay,
and members of the bourgeoisie
Maieriu, Cosma and Hopschebergen.
Approach, gentlemen.
Have the tribunal members suffered
personally from the rebels deeds?
According to express orders of his
Majesty, I assisted every interrogation
without applying extraordinary
measures.
There were only benignum examen.
Only impartial witnesses for each
case.
What is this?
The milk you Excellency requested.
The sentences.
I am Szilagy Ignac, notarius.
I present myself before your
Excellency's attention.
Ion Lupenci, from Petris,
33 years old,
instigator to the arson of nobility
courts,
sentenced to be executed before the
Petris village.
Craciun Pacurar and Toma Beghisan,
Mihai Marian and Sandu Toader,
sentenced to be burned at the stake.
Thank you.
I piss on his Excellency.
I don't work at night.
I'm no butcher.
I'm a master executioner.
Begging your Excellency's pardon.
The executioner has lost his patience.
He must cut off the heads of...
...of Gheorghe Branisteanu, the judge
from Colop,
who was first to set the riot by beating
against the castle gates
to carry out the false commandment
given by the Emperor
to strike down the nobles.
The master executioner refuses to work
without light
in order to avoid unnecessarily
torturing the convicts.
A meritorious mark of the profession's
honesty.
Is the sentence fair?
Yes, Excellency. Proceed.
We are here to strictly apply the law,
not to break it.
Branistean Gheorghe!
Sit still. You'll be in no pain,
if I don't miss.
If this is imperial justice, then cut
off my head as well!
I too have taken down castle gates,
I too have drunk the wine
of Hungarian nobles.
I too have taken under my abode
Horea, Closca and Crisan,
I too have baptized landowners as
serfs, cut off my head!
If things are as you say, you will be
punished, pater.
But not before you are tried.
Pereat mundus, fiiat justitiam.
You too are a Hungarian noble,
Count lankovici!
You cannot impart justice between
us and Hungarians.
Nemo esse judex in sua causa potest!
I thought you were an orthodox, pater.
How is it that you speak Latin?
I learnt it from my forefathers, Count.
Splendid answer.
The window from your Excellency's
carriage has been replaced.
The fire was so comfortable.
Malens suada frigor.
Excellency...
- Excellency, I beg your forgiveness...
- I was not asleep, Excellency.
Have the leaders been apprehended? Was
Horea caught?
Not yet. But those willing to capture
them have arrived.
Light the candles, lord secretary.
Bring them forth so I may inspect them.
He is Anton Melzer, ranger of the
imperial woods, robbed by the rebels.
And they are former rebels that have
contrived, the brothers Maties...
We'd best keep names under
discretion's veil.
I assume they must redeem
for petty sins...
The hell they are petty!
Begging your Excellency's pardon.
This one, Maties loan, took everything
from my home.
e destroyed every thing he couldn't
carry.
And who swears for their new loyalty?
I do.
His Eminence, Bishop Ghideon
Nichitici. I am pleased, pleased indeed.
His Majesty sends gracious thanks for
the precious help you gave at the truce.
I serve the cause of my lambs
as I see fit.
The Romanian people have not acquired
patience.
This long-oppressed race cannot be
lifted through riots and violence,
but through patient
and industrious education.
But can the Romanian peasant, the
serf, endure?
What must he be patient for? Pity and
kindness? Whose?
And will the heart of landowners
be tamed by industrious education?
Get out, lord secretary.
From now on, you will ride with the
driver.
He is Romanian.
His father and two of his uncles were
decapitated at Deva without trial.
Otherwise, he is a valuable secretary.
Eminent Nichitici, I fear that our
holy empire
is a cauldron uselessly and
dangerously boiling
incompatible passions, interests and
people.
Horea is the rebellious one.
That is why I touched the hearts of
those peasants
so they may help with his capture.
My heart grows more tired than before.
Why did you make peace
with them near Tiber?
Why did you accept their peace?
Because I did not receive your letter
in time.
The people were tired and hungry.
We'd been in that valley for two days
and people didn't know what to think,
because your letter was late.
Who knows what goes on at home? My
family's been gone for three weeks...
and Grofita Traicescu,
poor woman, they cut her head off...
You're full, aren't you? You drank, ate,
set fire! And now you're finished!
No, no, I was only babbling
away in my stupidity...
Are you their leader?
I came to hear your demands!
Your grievances!
Don't you know them?
Didn't you receive Horea's letter?
Tell the general anyway! So he may
hear them once more!
Tell him! Why shouldn't he hear them?
Why did you come in such numbers?
Why have you rebelled?
Let our brothers go free!
Let them go free!
Because our rights have been
trampled on!
And the truces we made, willingly or
not, were also broken.
There, officer, we talk of peace,
minding our business while
landowners eavesdrop.
How can there be peace?
With whom?
Between them and us?
I myself,
your shepherd,
came to teach you as a father,
and show you that
the merciful emperor has forgiven each
and every one.
Long live our emperor,
losefus Secundus!
For this mercy, clemency and wisdom to
be granted to you,
I bid you return home, my sons!
And come back here in eight days time
with your true leaders
whose orders you willingly obey,
and we will reach an accord!
You shouldn't have done that.
How can there be peace between those
who have and those who don't?
Between the powerful and the weak?
I knew the truth.
Only lies and deceit!
But, you see,
the people...
they thought that...
Don't blame the people!
Some missed their infants, others were
tired of sleeping in the cold,
others were frightened of their
own deeds!
But they didn't renounce us and they
didn't sell us out!
Who are you?
The eight days have passed!
We meet again!
Let the leaders come forth!
Are you the leaders?
The people's messengers!
You will come with me to Deva!
There you will be told...
you will hear the emperor's order!
The emperor's order or answer?
The order, Horea.
Bring three horses for these people!
Well, officer, we cannot travel that
far, alone,
together with foreign troops!
The emperor's troops, old man!
And if we all go, we cannot hold
responsibility for our people,
because they need food
and shelter!
Your leaders' conscience is not clear,
since you don't dare come alone and,
still, I am content by this!
This means you realize you've sinned
in your crimes!
No one among us has sinned, unless it
is sinful to seek justice!
It may be a sin to you, but not to us!
I demand that show here
the written orders
that you pretend... that you claim to
have
from his Majesty, the emperor,
and with which you've deceived the
unknowing crowds!
You are too insignificant in
rank to see them!
That may be!
Then, I ask you three to accompany me
and show them to whomever
you deem worthy.
Judas! You traitor!
Show us the emperor's letters!
Show them to us
if you refused to show them to the
general!
Here you are, Maties.
I cannot read.
What do the letters matter?
It is clear the emperor is a liar!
The Hungarian nobles
must've bribed him!
They must've tempted him with one of
their women!
You lied to us! You lied to us!
How did my father lie to us? How did
he lie to us?
Were we doing well and he said
otherwise?
Were we blissful and Horea said we
lived as animals?
- How did he lie to us?
- Leave him alone!
We'll put down our
weapons... the broken ones,
and we'll hide the good ones
together with the powder.
We'll make more scythes and spears.
And I say we give back
the things we seized.
The clothes of Hungarian
nobles are not suited for us.
And if you believe that myself or others
lied to you,
we'll go and surrender ourselves.
No!
Horea, these are the first weak words
I've heard you utter.
Go!
The mountains are our home.
We'll wait for you next spring.
- We can't fight the imperial troops.
- How can that be?
For the time being.
Take it!
Thank you!
And here, in the mountains,
where I believe we are truly at home,
we may crush them.
Father.
Father! Let me come with you.
Son, who knows if we'll ever sit at
the same table again
and drink to one another's health?
Here! I have nothing else to give you.
We'll stay here tonight. I'll gather
some firewood.
Spring's a long way away still.
The tracks...
I forgive you for stealing everything
from my home, Maties loan.
We'll live better with everything we'll
receive after this.
Sandor.
Did you call for me? Or did I dream?
Command me! I am prepared to die.
Take the clock outside and throw it in
the latrine!
You know, the countess cannot stand
anything
touched by the Wallachians' filthy
hands.
The entire family's been through the
Wallachians' hands.
I assume those hands touched
you, even against your own will.
Did you suffer much from
the tumult, count?
Look around, Excellency.
We invited you to these ruins hastily
put back
so that you may see for yourselves.
They took everything.
They broke what they couldn't take!
The important thing is that you live.
Only animals value life most of all!
Horea calls for you! Get out!
Horea calls for you!
Grab your axes, your forks, your
scythes! Come out!
Grab your axes, your forks,
your scythes!
Come out! Horea calls for you!
Agnes, can't you hear them outside?
Let's leave while we still can!
Sandor, Sandor! Please, try to
convince her!
Agnes, your leaving, goddess, is not
shameful,
but a gentle swan's fly through
the clouds!
Go to hell! How is it that you, a
Palfy, don't see that if we defy them,
if we are not frightened,
they will not dare!
They're plebeians!
Afraid of what they do not understand!
And if you force me to leave, we will
part forever!
I'd rather be with a gypsy than you!
They're waiting for us to leave, but
seeing us upright,
dignified, in our home,
they will not dare!
The plebeians fury in vain boils, thou
needs only draw thy sword!
Be as the lightning,
Arpad!
And the hydra penetrated
the dark abysses!
Very well.
As you wish and as God wishes!
What are you doing here drinking?
Judge, why aren't you with the people?
Rest peaceful, master.
Ever since the tumult started they keep
telling us
we'll suffer the world should we...
Be careful, for they greatly
"desire" you!
And you? Why aren't you at your posts?
In arms, so they may see and fear you?
Stay and have a drink with us,
your highness.
Ildiko! Polodar! Children, where are
you?
Children, where are you?
Stay still, son! This is not child's play!
You bragged that you wait for them,
and now you lie about?
Now is their turn to pay!
These are the emperor's orders:
there are to be no Hungarian nobles left
in the land!
Castles are burning on the Mures, on
the Cris rivers, and you...!
Or perhaps you did not hear
the command?
Perhaps you are on their side!
They've shown you too much kindness,
making your lives too full!
We've set fire to them everywhere
we've been!
And we shall do the same from now on!
and you should know,
that those who keep away when every
man will rebel,
those we'll mark with this!
You say you have the emperor's orders!
Where are they?
Can you show them?
Do you know this?
Feel it, it's made of gold?
Where would I get gold if not from
the emperor?
I see the cross! The cross is solid! But I
hear the emperor has also sent letters!
If you are so kind as to show them! So
that all things may be in order!
Here, old man,
here are the letters!
So you may seek order in
peace of mind!
I cannot read.
You are too patient, Horea!
We must!
We must have patience until we lose it
all.
Perhaps someone else can read!
I can read!
I, the emperor Josef, seeing that all
my orders in favor of the peasants
have been kept from them by the
Hungarian nobles and their servants...
...and by their servants...
They not only ignore them, but did the
opposite of what I ordered,
I, emperor Josef.
For this reasons, I command you to
rebel and do away with them,
if you love me and if you love
yourselves!
But we cannot do it without the
emperor's permission, can we?
Need we hear from the emperor that we
are hungry and mocked,
that we endure as fools do,
that we are many and that Hungarians
nobles live fully.
Do we need the emperor to tell us
that?
Come!
Leave me or I will kill you!
The children!
What would they want with the
children?
The children did them no harm!
You mad woman! Don't you see it's us
they want to kill? We'll find them!
Mother, what game shall we play?
My angels, my lambs!
Shall we shoot them?
They'll eat us alive!
What is the matter, Horea?
No matter, I'm just watching
and learning.
You're talking in parables again.
There are no parables here.
I'm trying to learn people's hearts.
Now, have you stopped again? You've
reached their gates and came to a halt?
Are you scared even of gates?
This is what I wanted to see.
What do you say, father? Are you
pleased with me?
You've grown up and slimmed down.
Of course, with all the walking from
one village to another.
- I am content with your shooting.
- I am too.
They don't pay me to die.
Wait, good folks! I'll open the gates
for you!
Don't bother! I am Boz Grigor!
Come in, brothers!
Wait! Come here, brother! You were my
brother and you beat me!
We have the same mother and father
and you tortured me!
I was doing my job, brother!
As I am doing mine!
May God not rest your soul!
What are you doing?
Get away from there!
I'll only speak to your leader, Horea!
Which one of you is Horea?
Which one do you think?
Him.
Say what is on your mind!
You are the village judge.
How did you defend the people?
Are you looking for the nobles?
You won't find them! ou can't!
If I take you to them,
will you spare me?
What you done so you may
\be forgiven for?
They built a hiding place years ago,
when they learnt that
our beloved and precious Horea went
to see the emperor.
Stop sniveling and tell us
where they are!
Come with me, brothers, and we will
drink their souls!
Look there!
You know what makes me wonder?
The fact that people like you, like me
were afraid of people like them...
who would sell their masters to us so
we may kill them!
One like him, a nobody!
Horea and Closca have been
apprehended.
They are being taken to Alba lulia,
through Slatna, heavily guarded.
They've been caught! They're in
chains!
Take me to Alba lulia! I want to see him
in torment, humiliated!
- I beg you, Count!
- These people understand nothing!
Cum victum arma povit et victor decet
odia de pove
Agnes, calm yourself.
They haven't set their arms.
And their hatred will never be
quenched.
Good day, fair lady.
Mother, when is it time?
I'll tell you when.
Madam, I bow to you.
It's harder to obtain the authorization to
see Horea in chains
than it is to see his Majesty himself!
Still, how did you do it?
What a naive question!
Allow me to escort you.
Behind these gates through which you
passed is imprisoned Closca lon.
Do you wish to see him?
No! I want to see Horea!
Madam, sir, the orders are formal
regarding the search
of those who wish to see the criminals.
The corporal, who is higher in rank,
has done me the great favor
of allowing me to search you.
Forgive me.
You don't think we've come here to put
him out of his misery.
Sweet children!
Pity! They would've enjoyed it!
This way!
Look at me!
Madam, any dialogue with
the rebel is forbidden.
Now what?
We'll try you!
Try them, Horea!
I don't know these people! They were
never my masters!
They were yours! You try them!
But is the emperor's command?
That we should do what we see fit!
Kill them!
Kill every last one of them!
What is your name?
Irimia! They call me son of Oiste!
Kill them!
If you command me to kill them,
I'll do it!
I did not command anything,
it was you who shouted! Kill them.
Start with the infants.
See, now? Then, let them go!
No! Never!
They cannot go unpunished!
It isn't fair!
But how should we punish them?
You've lived long. You should know!
In my opinion, the biggest punishment
for us is life!
Then why don't you punish them with a
life such as yours?
Come! Let's go!
Come! Don't look that way.
And leave the boy with me until you set
your home straight.
He's young and bears no fault.
Come along, little girl.
In aunt Saveta's poor home
you'll starve to death.
What's your name, dear?
lldiko. Mom, can I go with auntie?
Go, dear, go with aunt Mary.
I won't forget this.
Yes, you will, sir.
Come, children, you must be hungry.
I'll be there when you die.
Countess, any discussion with the
rebel is forbidden.
Why don't you sit at the table?
Thank you, I'm fine here.
Don't mind my asking, but why are you
staying here for the night?
The nobles' castle is empty.
People slew their animals and
are now frying them.
That is not why I lead them, I don't
shed blood to take the nobles' place.
This is one, Candea Alexa.
That's his name.
Romanian like us.
But the old Hungarian paid for
his school and he's been brainwashed.
He calls himself Kendi Sandor.
You said you needed an
educated man, there he is!
Is he any good or should we hang him?
The storm of the rage is coming, the
sacred and eternal!
You are Hercules and the mighty
scythe is the symbol...
Can you write?
Latin, Hungarian, German and, of
course, Romanian,
for I myself am one, your Excellency.
Give him a horse!
I've never been to those places.
Question 23. How did you dare deceive
the people
by telling them the riot was
ordered by the emperor?
I've never said such words.
Question 24.
Why did you seek to kill Domeneal
Cernanski-Gabrel
si Aron Alexander in Mosca village?
I have never heard those names before.
Bring in the imperial judge Craciun
Resiga and the witnesses.
Do you know this man
called Closca lon?
- No.
- When he was shown to you in prison
yesterday, you knew him.
I didn't see well.
Horea, your silence is futile!
You're making things difficult for
yourself!
When asked if he could write,
the accused answered that he could
not!
But this letter to Crisan reads:
'Your messenger has been caught!
Knowing my handwriting, you will know
that I sent you this letter!
God forbid, but should it come to the
enemy, you shall remain silent!
That is what I decided together with
Closca, I, Horea! '
What do you have to say?
These simpletons think that if they
deny everything...
We're wasting our time, Excellency!
It was a spontaneous riot!
Spontaneous, your Excellency? Do you
think the army,
with all its admirable organization
would have succeeded in conquering
such a territory in two weeks alone,
without a well-laid plan,
without connections kept secret
for years? This is what we have to find.
Simpletons? Excellency, do know
Horea's proclamation?
The bold philosophers in Paris whose
brochures are being burnt
demand the nobles be gentler
to their subjects.
This naive Horea demands the
nobles perish.
Maybe the proclamation was dictated
to him by one of his mysterious
inspirers.
Bring in the noble Kendi Sandor.
Forgive me, noble Count! I'm a poet.
As Prometheus
chained to hard and merciless rock,
I suffer for a
blame that is not mine.
Only my hand wrote the
thought of the fierce rebel!
I'm afraid his Excellency, the General
is too tired to enjoy these...
harmonious verses.
Describe the circumstances in which
Horea
issued the ultimatum proclamation of
November 11 th.
You were there, you wrote it.
Scripta manent.
In heavy chains he dragged me
on his horse,
this Rex Daciae of the rebelled
plebeians.
Excellency, he treated me kind.
As peasants treat their sowing
instruments,
I being necessary to them
as a... writing instrument.
Horea was and was not present.
As a violent blizzard born
from an abyss,
he crossed the mountains and the
hidden valley...
We cannot establish where was Horea
and what he did during the riots!
What his captains did!
The Abrud was the target of the bloody
passion that lead the crowds
with spears and thousands of scythes
that shone in the night.
Crisan rode with a merciless sword,
slaying the nobles around.
My beloved sons, the Lord showed his
will in the Holy Scripture,
commanding 'Thou shall not kill,
thou shall not steal'
as well as teaching us to love our
enemies...
God commands only us, the peasants, to
love them, but not to the nobles!
Die, you hypocrite!
They come to us with the Ten
Commandments,
what do you bring us?
Dear and respected lord Crisan, we,
the landowners in Transylvania...
...Plead you to spare the Abrud from
pillage,
for we'll pay you in gold, as
much as you want!
You worms, the money you tempt us with
are our strength!
- We don't need it!
- What is that you want the? What?
We want to do away with you!
Take them to Abrud!
Let Horea try them!
Captain, you leave us defenseless in
front of these fierce animals,
more fierce than vandals?
My orders are to defend the mines and
that it what I'll do!
But what about us, our women,
our children?!
I have no orders concerning this!
So it's true that this slaughter is going
on with the emperor's
express or tacit compliance!
Count, my instructions don't allow me
to draw such conclusions!
Gentlemen, I advise to keep hidden!
Where should we hide, captain? We have
wives and children!
The wrath of these people is terrible,
but short.
The exasperation of centuries makes
them cruel for just a few days.
The proud flower of nobility stood
helpless!
Oh, wild blaze, peasants everywhere
gathered!
Hatred, as a storm, ravaged everything
in its way!
Oh, poor flower of nobility!
I'll take you to the nobles' hiding,
brothers! Follow me!
Hungarians, yes, Hungarians started
persecuting their Hungarian brothers
and give them over to the
to the fury of the rebels!
The nobles see the mines for
themselves now!
No, no, spare me, no, don't kill me!
Let me, let me!
Sequitur superbus ulturat urga Deus.
The god of vengeance seeks
out the arrogant.
Great noble, this God not only sought
them out, but reached them.
They were forced to convert.
Do you or do you not swear to convert
to serfdom?
We swear, we swear, we swear!
Then, come here.
Now, what shall we call him?
What? lon.
What will we call him now?
lon!
Now, you are called lon.
Here are your papers,
you are to dress in peasants' clothes
and hang a white towel on your gates!
What will we call her?
Ana!
Now she is Ana!
Your papers! Isn't she pretty?
That moment, fate turned around
its way!
03:04
Fatam viam inveniat!
As your Excellency knows,
there were 50 peasants executed in
Deva under lege statario.
Do you know the names of those
who formed
this illegal and unconscious
tribunal?
We were unable to identify them,
your Excellency!
A knight comes riding a furious horse,
an angel's face but bloody
was his soul!
What are doing? Are you baptizing the?
See here how they baptize us!
They're slaughtering us like cattle in
Deva and stick our heads on poles!
Then Horea appeared!
You who were nobles, what is it that
you want of me?
Life, spare our lives!
No, no!
Let no Hungarian go unpunished!
Irimia, you are drunk and stupid!
He's Hungarian too!
And what about me?
My name is Cionkasz Fary.
Well, father, these are people,
not landowners!
And him, damn his soul,
he's Romanian and he's a noble!
Cretu Gavrila is his name?
What shall we do with him?
Horea, I reckon we kill him!
And him? He's Romanian! He is Maties
from Carpinis, and he's a serf,
but wants to be a noble!
What shall we do with him?
Take him away!
Horea had a strange nobility,
not of rank and not of power,
but of a sort of blind justice!
He commanded that I be brought forth
and dictated to me:
'Write this down, Alexandru Candea!
Today, November the 11 th, 1784.
One. Let the nobles of the county and
their children swear by the cross!
We swear! We swear! We swear!
Wait and see what is that
you'll swear...
Swear to set serfs free!
Two.
There are to be no more nobles,
everyone should work however they
can and earn their living from it!
Three.
Let the wealthy nobles forever leave
their lands and their properties
be divided among peasants according
to the emperor's command
which is soon to come!
Horea! Horea! Long live Horea!
And you, a noble, even captive, wrote
down these monstrous ideas.
Your Excellency, my hand was but a
tool
moving on the white sheet by
the crowd's fury.
Alright, you may leave.
You are dismissed.
Excellency, Excellency, my respects...
Excellency, this riot was not
spontaneous and these ideas, I fear,
have not been broken by the bullets
you fired at the heads in which they
were born.
Excellency, the third leader has been
apprehended, Crisan.
The good news is
brought by father Moise from Carpinici,
who most contributed to his capture.
Your highness, I humbly present myself
as Moise, llie Moise from Carpinici.
Palida morseque pulsat pauperum
tavernas regum vetures.
...expressing the opinions of the
radical wing
that predominates France's rulers,
brother Brissot intends to issue an
open letter addressed to the emperor.
Our Ambassador, brother Mercy
provided us with some excerpts:
'Each time power is avert from the
purpose of government
which represents public good and
public freedom is endangered,
the people may and have the right
to change the old governing and
set a new one.
The doctrine of submission to an
arbitrary government
is absurd and menial.
The riot is subsequently legitimate
everywhere power is not directly given
by the people,
everywhere the purpose of government
does not represent
the general good of society, but the
good of one man or few people.
Subject for centuries to a cruel, blind
and stupid tyranny,
the noble Romanians wallowed in
misery until,
out of the very bosom of its
suffering, Horea emerged.
People tormented by every nation
joined him
and bishops and arms were
sent against rebels.
Clergy is always present in political
turmoil,
perhaps they know the
art of deceiving.
Brother Brissot doesn't know that the
low-ranked clergy
took part in the riot
with their congregation.
The people rebel only when
they are oppressed!
The people only demand justice,
and sovereigns, no matter how wise
they may want to seem,
through the very nature of their
power...
Taxes and chores in favor of nobles
tripled over the last few years.
We work for them for five days,
and when we go home the sixth day
to work for our benefit,
they won't leave us and they call for us
everywhere to no beginning and no end
in winter, spring, summer or fall.
And Your Grace should know that we
reap, we harvest,
we carry the crops, but not for us.
We hand over everything,
butter, meat, fowl and eggs, fish, nuts,
our rags we give for their paper mills,
so that nobles may read.
We can't read, you Grace, but only few
of us, such as myself, Ursu Necula,
who was sent to you for this reason by
the people.
And it is not only the nobles who
oppress us, but their servants as well,
who torture us worse than
the nobles.
Those who rise and forget their origins
are worse than the nobles,
because they are even more greedy.
There are no laws but their
whims and desires.
Laws go according to them but the
hardest of all is the mockery,
for we feed tax collectors as well,
the investigators who torture us, those
who beat us.
Then, what is left for us, Your Grace?
Shall we perish, shall we perish from
our lands or... Or?
- Or...
- Or...
Do it!
In order to eliminate the rumors that
the rebel leaders have not been
apprehended
or enjoy special privileges in captivity,
they will be dragged in chains to the
places of their crimes, heavily guarded.
Poor horses!
They looked for you the other
day as well.
How much longer will you live in the
wilderness?
In the wilderness, as you call it,
I don't know how long.
But I will be a slave no longer.
How do you think you can set him free
on your own?
He is in chains,
people are frightened,
by the emperor's orders,
men hang each day in each village,
they are wheeled.
How am I supposed to let him be
tortured?
How can I leave him to be
mocked?
Here. Food for the road.
What are you doing, Irina?
You were kind to me and
we were happy together.
Thank you.
How?
Then, may your hand be steady.
Well, lon, let us tend to our duty.
Father, don't be afraid. It's your
son, lonut.
Good evening, lon.
Father, I wanted to shoot you in the
heart, to spare you from torments.
Is that what you think of me, that I'm
frightened by torture?
I don't fear it, otherwise they wouldn't
have caught me alive.
As to death, when I had people rebel,
my son,
I made a deal with death as
well!
We owe death anyway.
But it matters how you die.
I reckon I have the strength to die like
this, so that the people I die for
may be forever ashamed to live with
with their heads down
in front of some lowlifes, in front of
some nobodies.
But are we going to do without you?
Keep to your life as the wolf keeps
to his prey.
Have many children, starve so may
send your children to schools,
so they may be more schooled than
the nobles' children.
And from time to time, tell them a
story about me as well, but not often.
Why not often, father?
So words may not grow cheap.
Are you crying? Are you crying, son?
Let this be the last time, hear me?
We are not allowed to cry.
I understand, father. I understand.
Question no 1. Name, age, occupation.
My name is Crisan, or Giurgiu Marcu,
52 years-old, humble servant.
Question no 2. Do you know why you are
here in chains?
I reckon that it's not for
picking flowers.
For ripping out nobles' souls!
Because I made people rebel so there
may be justice for us!
Who commanded the Mesteacan riot?
I did! Don't you know?
I didn't do it in secret!
We did nothing in secret!
The nobles won't forget this
for a long time!
Their children's children
will remember!
Do you know that not even the emperor
can stand them?
I know, but for other reasons.
Was Horea present at the
Mesteacan riot?
How could we do anything without him,
without out leader?
I said he should be unchained.
Excellency, I cannot take the
responsibility...
Take them off!
Thank you, Excellency.
Good evening, Horea.
Good evening to you too, sir.
I kindly ask you to let me rest
by your arm.
I have no strength left.
I'm dying, I have cancer.
We are all mortals.
But you and myself are closer to
death than others.
Sit there in front of me,
if you'd be so kind.
And in front of him.
Thank you, sir.
You confessed nothing to
the commission.
And you thought I'd confess
to food and drink.
No, I didn't call you here to confess.
I know, I know, you called me to
treat me kind.
Take anything you want,
anything you like.
I'll ask you to forgive me.
It is not virtue that makes me
abstemious, but weakness.
I mean, the doctors... I would very much
like a glass of that wine.
If you're dying, why not drink then?
I trust you're not worried that I
might try to poison you.
You are not that kind!
What to drink to now, sir?
Health, long life?
Here's to an easy death!
It has been ruled that you'll wheeled
for your deeds,
that is, you'll have your
legs and arms broken...
Everyone dies in some way, sir...
Then your body will be ripped in four
and scattered in four corners
of the country.
I will have a large tomb then, as big
as the entire country of Ardeal.
Pour me some wine.
Palida mors eque pulsat...
Do you know what this means?
'Pale death knocks on the door
of poor and kings alike.'
It isn't true, sir.
And then do you know what they did?
They sent two landowners,
one from Cris valley and one from
Brad,
together with some soldiers,
to capture Horea.
How could they think of
something like that?
That was their final thought. I drove
them into the ground!
lmagine they wanted Horea!
Justice isn't gained through
pillage and murders?
But haven't the nobles pillaged
us as well?
For hundreds and hundreds of years!
That is our country from our ancestors,
it's out land, reaped with sweat and
blood, work, honesty, pride!
And for all that, tell me, for I know
you counted them,
how many perished while making
people rebel?
Around one hundred and fifty.
What kind of scales do you use, sir?
The scales of state reason,
the scales the emperor gave me.
Those are phony scales, sir,
as their master.
I'm getting hungry. Aren't you?
Why should I lie, captain?
I'm hungry too.
Then I'll go order something
good to eat.
You shouldn't have said anything.
Neither Horea, nor Closca said nothing.
They admitted to nothing.
What we did, we did in front of the
whole world.
They want to know how
the riot was planned.
What were your connections
in the villages,
where the secret roads
are and hiding places.
So they might know how to prevent
it in the future.
Who are you?
A Romanian,
a measly Romanian.
Good. I won't say anything more.
It's too late now, Crisan.
They're experts.
It's all done since you talked.
They'll confuse you with what you said
so far. They're good at it.
Crisan, the nobles' terror. I like the
fact that you're not stubborn.
Your comrades, Horea and Closca, told
us everything as well.
- We will consider everything.
- Everything will be considered.
I'd also like to know...
Well, general, I'm very
tired and hungry.
Of course, of course.
Tomorrow morning,
we have all the time in the world.
Take off some of his chains.
Now, sir, I thank you for dinner,
it was good.
And don't be upset that you couldn't
learn what you wanted from me.
This is secret is kept by
too many people.
It isn't mine or anyone else's, it's ours.
So, the turmoil is over.
For three weeks, Romanians were free
and you can't take that back.
People forget, Horea.
You don't know us, sir, and you can't
rule over us.
Only we know ourselves,
our good and bad,
and I did nothing but teach it to some
with a kind word, with fire,
with the scythe, with terror, so that
each and everyone may understand.
So they may rebel with me and I may
die, I, Ursu Necula, called Horea,
called thus because I enjoyed
life and singing.
Let's go outside.
We are ordered to let him rest.
Well, Horea, I didn't tell them much.
Majesty, Ursu Necula, called Horea,
has a great personality, with an
unusual force of heart,
not only with peasants, but among the
highest social ranks.
He cannot be bought,
nor made to doubt the justice of his
cause and of his means.
That is why, as a political necessity,
his execution is called for in a
terrifying manner.
Although contrary to your
august principles,
this must be done in front of three
youths and old men from each village,
so that the love and faith in Horea may
be destroyed for all eternity.
Prepare arms! Fire!
The emperor hates crime, loves the
people, he is the father of the people.
This is the reward of your faith. You did
your duty. Let this day of joy
and celebration be a teaching for your
children and their children's children.
Take this medal awarded
by his Majesty.
I was the one who caught Crisan. The
villagers will kill me.
And the bishop gets rewarded.
It's value is in the imperial grace,
not in the gold.
I wish you guide them for many years,
ruling the peasants' souls,
these children capable of
miracles and murders.
We're no longer serfs, my brother.
- We're no longer serfs...
- Shut the hell up!
Come closer and collect your reward.
Approach.
I'm free, I'm free, I'm free! I,
Maties lon, am free!
The sentence in the trial against Horea,
also called Ursu Necula,
charged with instigating to riots,
posing as leader of the rebelled people
whom he solely gathered and named
leaders lower in rank.
He gave, either personally, either
through his men,
the order that from every serf home,
one man should come to arms and,
thus, powers united,
they should kill all nobles, steal their
fortunes, turn into ruin every home,
drive them away from Transylvania that
Horea considers to be Romanian land.
As it is.
Please, forgive me, the servant, for I
only do my duty,
and I swear that I hold no
grudge against you.
You were born from the ground and
there you shall return...
Shut up, father.
Leave us to die in peace.
They're stupid, lon, they're stupid.
Why do you say that?
The city of Belgrade... Mihai Voda's
Belgrade they give to us.
Good. You made me a peasant.
Go in peace, lon!
Father, will you be upset if
I ask you something?
I am only upset with those who don't
ask. Those are stones, not people.
I'd ask myself, but I've no one
to ask anything.
What does the emperor look like?
Does he wear a crown on his head and
a beard as God?
What do you care about the way the
emperor looks?
- Now, see that I've upset you?
- Go on, ask.
And did he really tell you, Horea or
Necula,
gather the people and kill the nobles?
lon, do you think emperors talk
straight like that?
That how we talk, the peasants.
You should know when you
meet the emperor,
that he has a confusing tongue.
If things go well, he is honored
and revered,
if things go bad, it means that you
didn't understand him.
But when will I have to talk
to the emperor?
It had to begin at some point,
by any means, but it had to begin.
What's worse is not slavery,
but that people get used to it if
enough time passes.
People grow accustomed with slavery,
with obeisance, with fear,
with mockery.
They stop caring and become as the
dumb bird used to its cage,
forgetting it ever flew.
Or is afraid its master might know it
hasn't forget how to fly.
Only now, with the emperor's
permission or not,
we know we can do it.
Now I understand,
that you are the emperor.