Plague (2023) Movie Script
Miramar film
With the support of
Bulgarian National Film Center
Presents
PLAGUE
- Welcome, Hadji.
- Well met.
You took a long while.
There's no short way to Jerusalem.
How are the horses?
The servants rode them every day.
I guarantee it.
Load them and take them out.
Give us some food for the road.
The bigger sacks.
Why don't you stay over?
Get rested, and you'll be on your way
first thing tomorrow.
Time is chasing us.
You pay extra for the sack.
I don't doubt it.
You'll have to add some.
Hey, even Jerusalem is cheaper!
Your horses are strong.
They eat twofold.
Two pieces aren't enough for a hadji.
Three enough?
It's a hard time to travel.
You'll doze off your horses.
As long as the horses stay awake...
Wait.
There's been some word.
Something really bad
is happening across the Balkan.
You don't kick a horse.
Should I kick your donkey?
You hear?
Ain't the desert big enough?
You want to fight here?
Dad, how long will you keep silent?
You'll fight only when
there's no other way.
Even the weakest man with a knife is
stronger than a tough one with bare fists.
You could've died for nothing.
Halt!
We'll go to the right.
The one on the left is broader.
- We'll take the narrow one.
- But why?
Because that's what I'm deciding.
It's better for the horses.
I'm not a child, father.
I am asking, not my horse.
- The innkeeper said something.
- Go ahead and say it too.
He said the region's
been set aflame by a disease.
People dying like flies - entire villages.
Do you believe him?
He seemed like a jester to me.
If it's about something bad,
I'd rather believe.
We'll take longer.
Elitsa is waiting for me.
Women are patient
when it's about a wedding.
Women maybe. But I'm in a hurry.
Maybe I'll never get to wear it.
What are you saying!
Mom, who'll look at me
in these times.
Can't you see them?
They barely peek out,
like mice out of their hole.
It's the chorbaji's son that's taking you
for a wife. They'll gawk.
Not like mice, they'll gawk like owls.
Then they'll gossip.
I couldn't care less.
I only care about what Yono says.
The groom won't look at your dress
at the wedding.
If he's a man,
he'll remember you when you take it off.
By the looks of it,
he'll be asleep by the time I take it off.
Stop, stop.
Fires.
And not just one.
If there's a road, there's a village.
We'll spend the night. We can take it,
but the horses need rest.
Come on.
The young ones are guarding
the roads to their villages,
but we're doing nothing.
Anyone could creep in.
- And what will they take from us?
- What can they take?
We're almost starving to death.
This damned fear!
Our stock's left out on the field.
The ones that ravaged our fields
will probably come for the village, too.
They'll rob us, and bring the plague.
This scourge doesn't ask
who's hungry and who's full.
Yurdan's warehouses
are full to the brink.
People are counting each grain,
but he went to become a hadji.
You've held a grudge against him
for a long time.
The man's helped a lot of people, right?
Helped. He's been after me for years,
like I owe him something.
Like I'll make him less rich.
Here, in front of everyone,
he said he's forgiven your debt.
- Just chorbaji talk.
- The plague will settle all your debts.
If there's hunger,
I'll be the first to kick his door down.
You here stick around
and flog the dead horse.
Come dark, climb up.
There're fires burning everywhere.
People aren't playing, if you're
pestilent, they burn your house down.
Maybe the scourge will jump over us.
Yeah, it'll jump.
You don't even dare jump over a fence.
Just starve here,
as long as there's peace.
The man is right.
There're just two field hands
in the house, nice and plump.
Say, why did he kick you out?
He didn't kick me out.
Did you lay a hand on his money?
I'll lay a hand on him...
- Lift up.
- Go, go...
Go on.
- It's a funeral, where's your priest?
- There.
You're keeping your distance.
Don't fear us. We don't load them.
The relatives throw them in the cart.
Then they take their things
and go to the forest.
To do what?
Nothing.
We don't allow them in the village
if they've been around a pestilent.
If they're gone and dead,
they say, you can't get it.
They sit in the forest
and pray it doesn't rain.
When we set their houses on fire,
they howl like wolves.
- We saw the fires from uphill.
- These are other villages.
We burned the bad houses.
And these, we're yet to burn.
Only this one,
we don't know what to do with.
His house is wall to wall
with the neighbors.
And the neighbors aren't sick.
Can you spare a little bread?
Give them a loaf.
Go inside,
the innkeeper is there.
Open up. We aren't sick.
Come in.
Come in.
You'll sleep here.
- Do you have anything to eat?
- No.
The fire's out.
You'll eat tomorrow.
The villages down the road have gone mad.
A plague is cutting people down.
We saw how they throw them
in the lime pit like dead animals.
The plague doesn't strike animals.
It's still clean here, but further down...
Hunger is haunting people, hunger!
The people in our village are terrified.
If an outlander turns up,
who's to know if he's pestilent or not?
He grabs a piece of bread and runs.
People even brandish weapons now.
But they stay in their houses.
It was packed here before.
Now my rakia squats in the barrels
like a widow.
Go on. Stretch out down here.
Tomorrow's another day.
Come on.
Come on, let's go.
- Saddle the horses up.
- They're saddled.
Stop! Hey, hajduk!
- Stop!
- He's stealing the horses!
- He's stealing the horses!
- Hey! Stop!
- Hey, stop!
- You motherfucking hajduk!
He's stealing the horses!
He's stealing the horses! Stop!
You motherfucking hajduk!
Don't they steal bread?
Why do they need a horse?
They take them to the most pestilent
villages and sell the meat.
The hungry don't ask
if it's a mare or stallion.
If they don't have money,
they give their wives' jewels.
And that's that.
You can't eat silver and gold.
Have a coffee, hadji.
Until the boy gets back.
He'll ride about a bit,
and then get back.
He won't be back without both horses.
He'll chase the hajduk to the end.
To show him the price of meat
from father's horse.
Go on, get the coffee.
Who waits for coffee. Pour me a rakia.
Now you're talking! Wonderful.
Wonderful.
- Here you are.
- Call him too.
Come on, come up.
Don't fret. The boy will come.
I've always taught him
to walk against the pain, not with it.
But now he's started to seek it.
After the second rakia,
I speak to the Lord.
Your son will come back, hadji.
He is strong. He'll be fine.
I know.
God is with you, son.
If he doesn't get back by tomorrow,
you'll take me with your nag.
It's been a while since I've had a fare.
Why don't you stay, hadji?
Maybe he'll come back here.
It's been two days.
If he's gone far,
he may go straight to our village.
And there's still time until tomorrow.
You're a broad-minded man.
You're probably very rich.
I've ferried many hadjis.
All shiny and dressed up. Rich.
But cheap as a tight ass.
They bargain for each penny.
You...
You paid what I asked.
It's for the fear.
You're taking me to the plague.
It doesn't like me.
I've been that way.
I've seen the sick plenty of times.
From afar.
With black spots
and boils on their necks.
Have you seen them?
- No.
- No need to.
If you come across them,
don't look at them up close.
If it's a disease,
it goes from man to man.
But once it settles in,
it can't go further
than a man can jump.
It won't catch you
if you don't go near.
Kolyo.
What is it?
Come out to tell you something.
Tell me.
I didn't want to speak in front
of everyone, I want to tell you.
You all think I owe Yurdan money, right?
Isn't it so?
You know we started selling sheep
together in Thrace?
I know.
I'd take the herd once,
and he would the next.
I know that too.
But you don't know I haven't seen
one gold piece from the whole thing.
It's true that Yurdan
put in a lot of money.
He stuffed a whole pouch with gold
before my own eyes.
My money was little.
That's all I had at the time.
We agreed he'll take two pieces,
and I'll take one.
Fair enough, but...
My last herd was stolen on the road.
- How do you mean stolen?
- Just like that.
We hired some boys
from the hamlets to help.
One night, I had a bit more to drink
and when I woke, the herd was gone.
No boys and no sheep.
Yurdan...
said I've sold the herd
and never gave me a penny.
Why are you only saying so now?
We know a different tale.
I tell you so you know the truth.
Not what you've heard.
Why can't you settle it like men?
We will, just let him get back.
This time, we'll settle it
in front of everyone.
Stop!
Don't come near!
Where are you headed?
- We mean to sleep in the village.
- Who are you?
This is chorbaji Yurdan.
Back from becoming a
hadji. I'm taking him to his village.
What is it? I'll pay if I need to.
Who's asking for your money?
We don't let anyone by.
Turn around and begone.
Turn around.
Why are they hiding in the bushes?
So no one goes around
to sneak into the village.
Boneheads.
One who doesn't want to be seen
knows how to become invisible.
But they stand in the middle of the road.
A hajduk doesn't use the road. He walks.
Uses trails, step by step.
And leaves with a horse.
Forgive me, chorbaji,
it slipped off my tongue.
Say, we're too close to them.
What if they ambush us to check on
the money you wanted to pay with.
One that counts my money,
will get the wrong tally.
Let's sleep here.
The horse will rest, too.
- Is he calm?
- Almost like me.
You did say to get one rakia.
I did.
I got two.
I paid for three.
I must've counted wrong...
- You have two, right?
- I do, I do, chorbaji.
So what are you waiting for?
During a plague
you don't drink to one's health,
but to the evil passing us by.
- Did you just come up with that?
- No, a while back.
I remembered when I touched the flask.
- Well then, let the evil pass us by.
- Exactly.
Cheers.
Lazar, Lazar.
Lazar once a year,
Like a posy in a garden.
Where to, friend?
I've stopped, can't you see.
I'm ferrying someone sick.
I hope he doesn't die. Even if he does,
it's on him, I've been paid.
Let me see him. I cure the plague easily.
Take that hood off!
You deaf? Take it off!
Water!
Water!
That there is my village.
Looks calm, I can't see anything.
If you can't see it from here, even
if there's something, won't be as bad.
What's that there?
A monastery.
Why is it so white?
I gave them some money for lime.
Like I knew, a white monastery
against a black plague.
So you went and gave them money
just like that?
No, they came.
My friend the abbot Matey.
He breeds white pigeons.
Chorbaji, you're a very broad-minded man.
Anything else to say, or can we go?
I've been wanting to ask you,
but there wasn't a right time.
You haven't said a word about your son.
But I see he's on your mind all the time.
How can you stand it, chorbaji?
I keep thinking he'll be in the village
when we arrive.
He will. God helps good people.
God made bad people too.
Why do they fear the plague?
They already live as if they were dead.
No one has the plague.
If they did, you'd hear them.
They're afraid.
Fear is the plague of the soul.
Go, my house is this way.
Chorbaji houses always have tall walls,
so you can't see how rich is life in them.
But when people can't see,
they envy even more.
You know me, that's how I talk.
Since I was little,
I speak when I shouldn't.
I always got smacked on the head.
That's why I stayed short.
You should've stayed quiet.
A man's tongue is from God.
Some have it long, others short.
Open up! I know you're peeking.
Chorbaji, you left us to guard.
In times of plague,
doors don't open quickly.
Welcome.
Come in,
get rest for you and the horse.
You can leave early tomorrow.
No, no, I'll leave right away,
my way back is a lot longer.
I can't take the same road.
Those three cowards
will become very brave
when they see me without you.
Give him food, a lot from everything.
And fill both his flasks,
and give him one from me.
So it's as many as I paid.
Here.
But you paid me at the inn!
Chorbaji Yurdan,
you're a broad-minded man!
You've told me twice already.
But now you're even broader!
Bring another coffee.
- Where's Yono?
- He'll come.
- Did something happen?
- No. He's a man, should I hold his hand?
For 10 years now he's had no mother
to hold her skirts.
Elitza's been without a father
for 14 years, why dig up the dead?
What are you trying to say?
Why didn't you take me
when the time was right?
If you had, now we wouldn't
be having this talk.
If you hadn't taken that softie
to order around before I was chorbaji,
and just a wild scamp,
we wouldn't be chewing this nonsense.
I've always thought of you.
- Sometimes, it showed.
- And you?
I never show anything.
You didn't drink your coffee.
Dear God,
forget about me, bring back my boy.
Save my boy, God.
Where's my flask?
Why are you hanging about
like it's a funeral?
Is there plague in the village?
No, there isn't.
So I'm to understand
this is a wake before a funeral?
Don't blame them.
There's fear.
The kids are stunned.
The women don't dare leave the house.
You see us here, we broke a path
between here and the house.
No one dares go in the field,
because pestilent thieves
roam about at night
and steal anything that's left.
To our health!
Pour a drink for everyone on me.
So there's no life now.
If the plague passes, there will be.
No one has risen from the grave,
you lie in it yourselves.
We don't know how long this black tempest
will lash the villages.
Only God knows.
So what, we shouldn't live?
Give up on life without
it being taken from us?
To hang out here with long faces
over the flasks, while our pants shake?
Women stay home like it's a harem.
If we give up life on our own,
we're messing with the Lord's designs.
Because I tell you,
whether we suffer like the others or not,
it's only by His will.
But the will to live is ours.
Hear me, Yurdan.
You were gone for a long time and...
you don't know everything.
Can't you see our thinning necks?
What life?
Hunger!
Fierce hunger, Yurdan.
What are you looking at?
It's easy for him to talk,
his wheat is in the house.
But he's baiting you with a little rakia.
A little rakia, you say.
That's exactly what I'm saying.
You want to get by us with one drink. Then
you'll go to your house and bar the gate.
The hunger ends today.
I'm opening the granaries.
A bushel of wheat for each one.
I'm bringing the barrels out.
Take your fill.
The gate will remain open.
My house is in this village.
Hunger will escape through the gates
and the plague will be afraid to come in.
- Come on, go.
- Come on!
- Come on, boys!
- Come on, people!
Dawn has, mother, dawned.
It isn't dawn, mother,
dawn like any dawn.
Mother, the dawn is a fair maiden.
A fair maiden in a garden.
Come, mother, let's see.
If everyone's out, all is well.
I'm not afraid.
Why go out when I just came back.
- Yono is back!
- Sure he's back.
If he has, he'd better come to you first.
Kiss my hand.
Not run home like a brat.
They're hungry, pour less rakia.
More bread and cheese.
The meat later, with the rakia.
Where is Yono?
He went to do something. I sent him.
Where's you mother?
She stayed home.
Take bread, cheese and meat.
Pour a flask and take it to her mother.
Go. I'll pour.
Look at that field hand,
he's drunk like a log.
Pouring all over the ground.
Jesus, without you, five loaves
and two fishes aren't enough!
Stop! The plague!
Elitsa!
Yono, you're back.
It's me. Your Elitsa.
I'm here.
I can only enter our house
walking upright.
Yes, son.
You're right.
Let me lie there.
I want to look at the sky.
Elitsa, bring a rug from upstairs.
Come on.
Can't you see, I have the plague.
Be quiet.
You'll get it too.
I won't.
You'll heal.
We went...
We went to Jesus's tomb
to search for God.
He ascended to Heaven.
I look at the sky,
but he isn't there.
Water!
Sprinkle water on his face.
- He's alive.
- He's alive, my daughter.
He won't die, he won't.
I want you to wed us.
To wed us right now.
So I can be your daughter for real.
It must me in God's way.
We need a priest.
No matter.
You know what priests preach.
You can say it.
God sees and hears everything.
Elitsa, my child, open the gate!
Quiet! Leave her outside.
You are with Yono.
I can't save everyone.
I am here, my child!
I am here for you!
I will not abandon you!
It's hard to open.
You'll manage if you have to.
If they burn the house,
get out into the grove.
And Yono?
They won't dare go near him.
Where are you going?
Are you leaving me alone?
I need to do something.
Sprinkle water on him.
Pray for health, yours and his.
And mother?
Don't you even think about it!
Am I clear?
Take water to Yono.
Put it on him.
It's from his baptism.
- Where's the abbot?
- With the pigeons.
Matey!
- Matey!
- Yes.
You're back!
How should I call you now?
Chorbaji Yurdan the hadji,
or hadji Yurdan the chorbaji?
Call me as before, brother.
Speak, brother.
I need you.
I have a favor to ask.
You are asking me?
You've done so much for the monastery.
And the pigeons! If they could speak,
they'd say thank you!
I need you to come down
to the village with me.
What's so difficult about it,
I'll come and that's that.
Is there someone with the plague already?
Yes.
I won't lie to you. It's my son.
We are ready.
- Ready for what?
- We are ready.
I want you to marry them.
Is that why you brought me here?
But it could not happen that way.
This is not the church canon.
Brother...
My Lord!
Allow me to wed these children of Yours!
If there's a sin, ascribe it to me.
What is your name?
Elitsa.
Yono, can you hear me?
Yono, Elitsa,
from now on you are husband
and wife before the Lord.
Whatever God has joined,
man cannot unjoin.
From Jerusalem.
For you.
No.
Its place is here.
How I blabbered!
What canon, brother!
What canon!
In three days, if it doesn't get us,
we'll be over it.
Now we must pray.
Today is our first day.
Who's taking the horse back?
That's Yono's horse.
You left the cross,
take the horse at least.
Yono doesn't need it anymore.
Go, go.
You burn the plague with fire.
This house must burn.
What are we waiting for?
To spread to the village?
- Let's go!
- Wait! Wait!
Maybe the plague didn't strike them all.
What if someone's alive?
It'll be a big sin
to burn people alive!
- Let's burn it while we can.
- Let's wait, let's wait!
- Is there anyone in there?
- Anyone alive in there?
Run for the torches.
Father,
forgive them this sin.
Women aren't allowed in the monastery.
Stay here and guard.
I'll be right back.
I need more time.
Listen.
You know the cave.
Go down there and hide.
You'll wait until the boy
finds shelter for you.
His village is over the hill
and has no plague.
Understood?
What's this?
There's enough gold here.
It'll be safe with you.
As you've told me,
it's enough for two lifetimes
of a reasonable man,
one lifetime for the squanderer,
and half for the fool's life.
Understood.
If you don't count me among the latter,
there might be a penny left for you.
You have the money and you decide.
Wait.
Hold this.
Take this pigeon.
If there's danger, release it.
He'll fly here.
And I'll ride to the cave.
We haven't forgotten
how to shoot, right, brother?
You aren't doing anything.
Give it here.
Give it here.
That's how you set a house on fire.
My child! She's burning!
May the plague strike this village!
May the plague strike you!
Every single one of you!
May the plague strike you!
Every single one of you! Everyone!
May the plague strike you!
May you hide from it in Hell!
May the plague strike you!
Every single one of you!
Plague, dear plague, come to me!
Bring my child back,
I'll embrace you.
Come on, go to sleep.
You can barely keep your eyes open.
This will always be on you.
You pull the hammer, and point.
And shoot.
We won't be here long.
If I'm not close...
and someone comes when I'm gone,
don't delay and put the gun up.
But don't pull the trigger.
Yell I have the plague
and walk toward him.
If he doesn't step back, be ready.
Don't shoot yet.
Only if he gets close and attacks you.
So you don't miss. Understood?
- You won't leave me alone.
- You needn't worry.
I'll keep guard out front.
Go to sleep.
The most important thing is
to pull the hammer until it clicks.
Until you hear it.
Go on.
Why are you taking care of me?
You're my daughter-in-law,
isn't that enough?
You knew even before it crossed my mind.
You knew the priest was marrying me
to a dead man.
I've just seen a lot of death,
that's all.
And us?
Why are we alive?
To die another time.
See this cross?
It was consecrated on the savior's tomb.
It's yours, for better or worse.
Only better from here, because
it can't get worse than this. God sees.
The plague.
Is it behind us already?
Wherever, as long as it isn't inside us.
My mother said something to me.
She said...
that if the woman is with child,
her blood turns
and the disease can't go in.
Don't move!
Where's the gold?
What gold?
My gold!
- I don't have gold.
- Tell me where it is!
Aren't you afraid?
I have the plague.
Don't toy with me!
The gold. Where is it?
Where?
I told you, I have no gold.
I'll shoot you.
- And who'll tell you where it is?
- You.
You have the plague,
you won't need gold.
I hid it.
Get up.
Get up!
Put them down
and move to the side.
- Brother!
- I'm alive.
But not for long.
We don't have time.
Elitsa is inside.
I want you to take her
and keep the promise you made.
Where will you hide her?
I know where.
Even with the plague,
there are good people.
Elitsa.
This is holy water,
from the savior's tomb.
Protect it and it will protect you.
I hope Yono's blood is in you.
You must protect two lives now.
Go with the priest.
I need to do something.
Safe travels,
to wherever you're going.
Oh, young girl,
white and red,
pink-cheeked, blushing,
where is your old mother,
tell me true.
My mother's gone to church,
to light candles.
To burn the Black Plague
as it burned you.
FAST TITLES MEDIA
Director
Ivan Vladimirov
Screenplay
Boyan Biolchev
Based on the short story
Through the Plague
by Yodran Yovkov
Producers Ilian Djevelekov,
Matey Konstantinov
Georgi Dimitrov, Mila Voinikova
Director of Photography
Rumen Vasilev
Production designers
Georgi Dimitrov, Vladimir Shishkov
Music
Petko Manchev, Antoni Manchev
Starring
Svejen Mladenov
Evelina Bibova
Matey Michev
Dobrin Dosev, Velsilav Pavlov
Stanislav Peev, Lyudmila Slaneva,
Lyubomir Bachvarov
With the support of
Bulgarian National Film Center
Presents
PLAGUE
- Welcome, Hadji.
- Well met.
You took a long while.
There's no short way to Jerusalem.
How are the horses?
The servants rode them every day.
I guarantee it.
Load them and take them out.
Give us some food for the road.
The bigger sacks.
Why don't you stay over?
Get rested, and you'll be on your way
first thing tomorrow.
Time is chasing us.
You pay extra for the sack.
I don't doubt it.
You'll have to add some.
Hey, even Jerusalem is cheaper!
Your horses are strong.
They eat twofold.
Two pieces aren't enough for a hadji.
Three enough?
It's a hard time to travel.
You'll doze off your horses.
As long as the horses stay awake...
Wait.
There's been some word.
Something really bad
is happening across the Balkan.
You don't kick a horse.
Should I kick your donkey?
You hear?
Ain't the desert big enough?
You want to fight here?
Dad, how long will you keep silent?
You'll fight only when
there's no other way.
Even the weakest man with a knife is
stronger than a tough one with bare fists.
You could've died for nothing.
Halt!
We'll go to the right.
The one on the left is broader.
- We'll take the narrow one.
- But why?
Because that's what I'm deciding.
It's better for the horses.
I'm not a child, father.
I am asking, not my horse.
- The innkeeper said something.
- Go ahead and say it too.
He said the region's
been set aflame by a disease.
People dying like flies - entire villages.
Do you believe him?
He seemed like a jester to me.
If it's about something bad,
I'd rather believe.
We'll take longer.
Elitsa is waiting for me.
Women are patient
when it's about a wedding.
Women maybe. But I'm in a hurry.
Maybe I'll never get to wear it.
What are you saying!
Mom, who'll look at me
in these times.
Can't you see them?
They barely peek out,
like mice out of their hole.
It's the chorbaji's son that's taking you
for a wife. They'll gawk.
Not like mice, they'll gawk like owls.
Then they'll gossip.
I couldn't care less.
I only care about what Yono says.
The groom won't look at your dress
at the wedding.
If he's a man,
he'll remember you when you take it off.
By the looks of it,
he'll be asleep by the time I take it off.
Stop, stop.
Fires.
And not just one.
If there's a road, there's a village.
We'll spend the night. We can take it,
but the horses need rest.
Come on.
The young ones are guarding
the roads to their villages,
but we're doing nothing.
Anyone could creep in.
- And what will they take from us?
- What can they take?
We're almost starving to death.
This damned fear!
Our stock's left out on the field.
The ones that ravaged our fields
will probably come for the village, too.
They'll rob us, and bring the plague.
This scourge doesn't ask
who's hungry and who's full.
Yurdan's warehouses
are full to the brink.
People are counting each grain,
but he went to become a hadji.
You've held a grudge against him
for a long time.
The man's helped a lot of people, right?
Helped. He's been after me for years,
like I owe him something.
Like I'll make him less rich.
Here, in front of everyone,
he said he's forgiven your debt.
- Just chorbaji talk.
- The plague will settle all your debts.
If there's hunger,
I'll be the first to kick his door down.
You here stick around
and flog the dead horse.
Come dark, climb up.
There're fires burning everywhere.
People aren't playing, if you're
pestilent, they burn your house down.
Maybe the scourge will jump over us.
Yeah, it'll jump.
You don't even dare jump over a fence.
Just starve here,
as long as there's peace.
The man is right.
There're just two field hands
in the house, nice and plump.
Say, why did he kick you out?
He didn't kick me out.
Did you lay a hand on his money?
I'll lay a hand on him...
- Lift up.
- Go, go...
Go on.
- It's a funeral, where's your priest?
- There.
You're keeping your distance.
Don't fear us. We don't load them.
The relatives throw them in the cart.
Then they take their things
and go to the forest.
To do what?
Nothing.
We don't allow them in the village
if they've been around a pestilent.
If they're gone and dead,
they say, you can't get it.
They sit in the forest
and pray it doesn't rain.
When we set their houses on fire,
they howl like wolves.
- We saw the fires from uphill.
- These are other villages.
We burned the bad houses.
And these, we're yet to burn.
Only this one,
we don't know what to do with.
His house is wall to wall
with the neighbors.
And the neighbors aren't sick.
Can you spare a little bread?
Give them a loaf.
Go inside,
the innkeeper is there.
Open up. We aren't sick.
Come in.
Come in.
You'll sleep here.
- Do you have anything to eat?
- No.
The fire's out.
You'll eat tomorrow.
The villages down the road have gone mad.
A plague is cutting people down.
We saw how they throw them
in the lime pit like dead animals.
The plague doesn't strike animals.
It's still clean here, but further down...
Hunger is haunting people, hunger!
The people in our village are terrified.
If an outlander turns up,
who's to know if he's pestilent or not?
He grabs a piece of bread and runs.
People even brandish weapons now.
But they stay in their houses.
It was packed here before.
Now my rakia squats in the barrels
like a widow.
Go on. Stretch out down here.
Tomorrow's another day.
Come on.
Come on, let's go.
- Saddle the horses up.
- They're saddled.
Stop! Hey, hajduk!
- Stop!
- He's stealing the horses!
- He's stealing the horses!
- Hey! Stop!
- Hey, stop!
- You motherfucking hajduk!
He's stealing the horses!
He's stealing the horses! Stop!
You motherfucking hajduk!
Don't they steal bread?
Why do they need a horse?
They take them to the most pestilent
villages and sell the meat.
The hungry don't ask
if it's a mare or stallion.
If they don't have money,
they give their wives' jewels.
And that's that.
You can't eat silver and gold.
Have a coffee, hadji.
Until the boy gets back.
He'll ride about a bit,
and then get back.
He won't be back without both horses.
He'll chase the hajduk to the end.
To show him the price of meat
from father's horse.
Go on, get the coffee.
Who waits for coffee. Pour me a rakia.
Now you're talking! Wonderful.
Wonderful.
- Here you are.
- Call him too.
Come on, come up.
Don't fret. The boy will come.
I've always taught him
to walk against the pain, not with it.
But now he's started to seek it.
After the second rakia,
I speak to the Lord.
Your son will come back, hadji.
He is strong. He'll be fine.
I know.
God is with you, son.
If he doesn't get back by tomorrow,
you'll take me with your nag.
It's been a while since I've had a fare.
Why don't you stay, hadji?
Maybe he'll come back here.
It's been two days.
If he's gone far,
he may go straight to our village.
And there's still time until tomorrow.
You're a broad-minded man.
You're probably very rich.
I've ferried many hadjis.
All shiny and dressed up. Rich.
But cheap as a tight ass.
They bargain for each penny.
You...
You paid what I asked.
It's for the fear.
You're taking me to the plague.
It doesn't like me.
I've been that way.
I've seen the sick plenty of times.
From afar.
With black spots
and boils on their necks.
Have you seen them?
- No.
- No need to.
If you come across them,
don't look at them up close.
If it's a disease,
it goes from man to man.
But once it settles in,
it can't go further
than a man can jump.
It won't catch you
if you don't go near.
Kolyo.
What is it?
Come out to tell you something.
Tell me.
I didn't want to speak in front
of everyone, I want to tell you.
You all think I owe Yurdan money, right?
Isn't it so?
You know we started selling sheep
together in Thrace?
I know.
I'd take the herd once,
and he would the next.
I know that too.
But you don't know I haven't seen
one gold piece from the whole thing.
It's true that Yurdan
put in a lot of money.
He stuffed a whole pouch with gold
before my own eyes.
My money was little.
That's all I had at the time.
We agreed he'll take two pieces,
and I'll take one.
Fair enough, but...
My last herd was stolen on the road.
- How do you mean stolen?
- Just like that.
We hired some boys
from the hamlets to help.
One night, I had a bit more to drink
and when I woke, the herd was gone.
No boys and no sheep.
Yurdan...
said I've sold the herd
and never gave me a penny.
Why are you only saying so now?
We know a different tale.
I tell you so you know the truth.
Not what you've heard.
Why can't you settle it like men?
We will, just let him get back.
This time, we'll settle it
in front of everyone.
Stop!
Don't come near!
Where are you headed?
- We mean to sleep in the village.
- Who are you?
This is chorbaji Yurdan.
Back from becoming a
hadji. I'm taking him to his village.
What is it? I'll pay if I need to.
Who's asking for your money?
We don't let anyone by.
Turn around and begone.
Turn around.
Why are they hiding in the bushes?
So no one goes around
to sneak into the village.
Boneheads.
One who doesn't want to be seen
knows how to become invisible.
But they stand in the middle of the road.
A hajduk doesn't use the road. He walks.
Uses trails, step by step.
And leaves with a horse.
Forgive me, chorbaji,
it slipped off my tongue.
Say, we're too close to them.
What if they ambush us to check on
the money you wanted to pay with.
One that counts my money,
will get the wrong tally.
Let's sleep here.
The horse will rest, too.
- Is he calm?
- Almost like me.
You did say to get one rakia.
I did.
I got two.
I paid for three.
I must've counted wrong...
- You have two, right?
- I do, I do, chorbaji.
So what are you waiting for?
During a plague
you don't drink to one's health,
but to the evil passing us by.
- Did you just come up with that?
- No, a while back.
I remembered when I touched the flask.
- Well then, let the evil pass us by.
- Exactly.
Cheers.
Lazar, Lazar.
Lazar once a year,
Like a posy in a garden.
Where to, friend?
I've stopped, can't you see.
I'm ferrying someone sick.
I hope he doesn't die. Even if he does,
it's on him, I've been paid.
Let me see him. I cure the plague easily.
Take that hood off!
You deaf? Take it off!
Water!
Water!
That there is my village.
Looks calm, I can't see anything.
If you can't see it from here, even
if there's something, won't be as bad.
What's that there?
A monastery.
Why is it so white?
I gave them some money for lime.
Like I knew, a white monastery
against a black plague.
So you went and gave them money
just like that?
No, they came.
My friend the abbot Matey.
He breeds white pigeons.
Chorbaji, you're a very broad-minded man.
Anything else to say, or can we go?
I've been wanting to ask you,
but there wasn't a right time.
You haven't said a word about your son.
But I see he's on your mind all the time.
How can you stand it, chorbaji?
I keep thinking he'll be in the village
when we arrive.
He will. God helps good people.
God made bad people too.
Why do they fear the plague?
They already live as if they were dead.
No one has the plague.
If they did, you'd hear them.
They're afraid.
Fear is the plague of the soul.
Go, my house is this way.
Chorbaji houses always have tall walls,
so you can't see how rich is life in them.
But when people can't see,
they envy even more.
You know me, that's how I talk.
Since I was little,
I speak when I shouldn't.
I always got smacked on the head.
That's why I stayed short.
You should've stayed quiet.
A man's tongue is from God.
Some have it long, others short.
Open up! I know you're peeking.
Chorbaji, you left us to guard.
In times of plague,
doors don't open quickly.
Welcome.
Come in,
get rest for you and the horse.
You can leave early tomorrow.
No, no, I'll leave right away,
my way back is a lot longer.
I can't take the same road.
Those three cowards
will become very brave
when they see me without you.
Give him food, a lot from everything.
And fill both his flasks,
and give him one from me.
So it's as many as I paid.
Here.
But you paid me at the inn!
Chorbaji Yurdan,
you're a broad-minded man!
You've told me twice already.
But now you're even broader!
Bring another coffee.
- Where's Yono?
- He'll come.
- Did something happen?
- No. He's a man, should I hold his hand?
For 10 years now he's had no mother
to hold her skirts.
Elitza's been without a father
for 14 years, why dig up the dead?
What are you trying to say?
Why didn't you take me
when the time was right?
If you had, now we wouldn't
be having this talk.
If you hadn't taken that softie
to order around before I was chorbaji,
and just a wild scamp,
we wouldn't be chewing this nonsense.
I've always thought of you.
- Sometimes, it showed.
- And you?
I never show anything.
You didn't drink your coffee.
Dear God,
forget about me, bring back my boy.
Save my boy, God.
Where's my flask?
Why are you hanging about
like it's a funeral?
Is there plague in the village?
No, there isn't.
So I'm to understand
this is a wake before a funeral?
Don't blame them.
There's fear.
The kids are stunned.
The women don't dare leave the house.
You see us here, we broke a path
between here and the house.
No one dares go in the field,
because pestilent thieves
roam about at night
and steal anything that's left.
To our health!
Pour a drink for everyone on me.
So there's no life now.
If the plague passes, there will be.
No one has risen from the grave,
you lie in it yourselves.
We don't know how long this black tempest
will lash the villages.
Only God knows.
So what, we shouldn't live?
Give up on life without
it being taken from us?
To hang out here with long faces
over the flasks, while our pants shake?
Women stay home like it's a harem.
If we give up life on our own,
we're messing with the Lord's designs.
Because I tell you,
whether we suffer like the others or not,
it's only by His will.
But the will to live is ours.
Hear me, Yurdan.
You were gone for a long time and...
you don't know everything.
Can't you see our thinning necks?
What life?
Hunger!
Fierce hunger, Yurdan.
What are you looking at?
It's easy for him to talk,
his wheat is in the house.
But he's baiting you with a little rakia.
A little rakia, you say.
That's exactly what I'm saying.
You want to get by us with one drink. Then
you'll go to your house and bar the gate.
The hunger ends today.
I'm opening the granaries.
A bushel of wheat for each one.
I'm bringing the barrels out.
Take your fill.
The gate will remain open.
My house is in this village.
Hunger will escape through the gates
and the plague will be afraid to come in.
- Come on, go.
- Come on!
- Come on, boys!
- Come on, people!
Dawn has, mother, dawned.
It isn't dawn, mother,
dawn like any dawn.
Mother, the dawn is a fair maiden.
A fair maiden in a garden.
Come, mother, let's see.
If everyone's out, all is well.
I'm not afraid.
Why go out when I just came back.
- Yono is back!
- Sure he's back.
If he has, he'd better come to you first.
Kiss my hand.
Not run home like a brat.
They're hungry, pour less rakia.
More bread and cheese.
The meat later, with the rakia.
Where is Yono?
He went to do something. I sent him.
Where's you mother?
She stayed home.
Take bread, cheese and meat.
Pour a flask and take it to her mother.
Go. I'll pour.
Look at that field hand,
he's drunk like a log.
Pouring all over the ground.
Jesus, without you, five loaves
and two fishes aren't enough!
Stop! The plague!
Elitsa!
Yono, you're back.
It's me. Your Elitsa.
I'm here.
I can only enter our house
walking upright.
Yes, son.
You're right.
Let me lie there.
I want to look at the sky.
Elitsa, bring a rug from upstairs.
Come on.
Can't you see, I have the plague.
Be quiet.
You'll get it too.
I won't.
You'll heal.
We went...
We went to Jesus's tomb
to search for God.
He ascended to Heaven.
I look at the sky,
but he isn't there.
Water!
Sprinkle water on his face.
- He's alive.
- He's alive, my daughter.
He won't die, he won't.
I want you to wed us.
To wed us right now.
So I can be your daughter for real.
It must me in God's way.
We need a priest.
No matter.
You know what priests preach.
You can say it.
God sees and hears everything.
Elitsa, my child, open the gate!
Quiet! Leave her outside.
You are with Yono.
I can't save everyone.
I am here, my child!
I am here for you!
I will not abandon you!
It's hard to open.
You'll manage if you have to.
If they burn the house,
get out into the grove.
And Yono?
They won't dare go near him.
Where are you going?
Are you leaving me alone?
I need to do something.
Sprinkle water on him.
Pray for health, yours and his.
And mother?
Don't you even think about it!
Am I clear?
Take water to Yono.
Put it on him.
It's from his baptism.
- Where's the abbot?
- With the pigeons.
Matey!
- Matey!
- Yes.
You're back!
How should I call you now?
Chorbaji Yurdan the hadji,
or hadji Yurdan the chorbaji?
Call me as before, brother.
Speak, brother.
I need you.
I have a favor to ask.
You are asking me?
You've done so much for the monastery.
And the pigeons! If they could speak,
they'd say thank you!
I need you to come down
to the village with me.
What's so difficult about it,
I'll come and that's that.
Is there someone with the plague already?
Yes.
I won't lie to you. It's my son.
We are ready.
- Ready for what?
- We are ready.
I want you to marry them.
Is that why you brought me here?
But it could not happen that way.
This is not the church canon.
Brother...
My Lord!
Allow me to wed these children of Yours!
If there's a sin, ascribe it to me.
What is your name?
Elitsa.
Yono, can you hear me?
Yono, Elitsa,
from now on you are husband
and wife before the Lord.
Whatever God has joined,
man cannot unjoin.
From Jerusalem.
For you.
No.
Its place is here.
How I blabbered!
What canon, brother!
What canon!
In three days, if it doesn't get us,
we'll be over it.
Now we must pray.
Today is our first day.
Who's taking the horse back?
That's Yono's horse.
You left the cross,
take the horse at least.
Yono doesn't need it anymore.
Go, go.
You burn the plague with fire.
This house must burn.
What are we waiting for?
To spread to the village?
- Let's go!
- Wait! Wait!
Maybe the plague didn't strike them all.
What if someone's alive?
It'll be a big sin
to burn people alive!
- Let's burn it while we can.
- Let's wait, let's wait!
- Is there anyone in there?
- Anyone alive in there?
Run for the torches.
Father,
forgive them this sin.
Women aren't allowed in the monastery.
Stay here and guard.
I'll be right back.
I need more time.
Listen.
You know the cave.
Go down there and hide.
You'll wait until the boy
finds shelter for you.
His village is over the hill
and has no plague.
Understood?
What's this?
There's enough gold here.
It'll be safe with you.
As you've told me,
it's enough for two lifetimes
of a reasonable man,
one lifetime for the squanderer,
and half for the fool's life.
Understood.
If you don't count me among the latter,
there might be a penny left for you.
You have the money and you decide.
Wait.
Hold this.
Take this pigeon.
If there's danger, release it.
He'll fly here.
And I'll ride to the cave.
We haven't forgotten
how to shoot, right, brother?
You aren't doing anything.
Give it here.
Give it here.
That's how you set a house on fire.
My child! She's burning!
May the plague strike this village!
May the plague strike you!
Every single one of you!
May the plague strike you!
Every single one of you! Everyone!
May the plague strike you!
May you hide from it in Hell!
May the plague strike you!
Every single one of you!
Plague, dear plague, come to me!
Bring my child back,
I'll embrace you.
Come on, go to sleep.
You can barely keep your eyes open.
This will always be on you.
You pull the hammer, and point.
And shoot.
We won't be here long.
If I'm not close...
and someone comes when I'm gone,
don't delay and put the gun up.
But don't pull the trigger.
Yell I have the plague
and walk toward him.
If he doesn't step back, be ready.
Don't shoot yet.
Only if he gets close and attacks you.
So you don't miss. Understood?
- You won't leave me alone.
- You needn't worry.
I'll keep guard out front.
Go to sleep.
The most important thing is
to pull the hammer until it clicks.
Until you hear it.
Go on.
Why are you taking care of me?
You're my daughter-in-law,
isn't that enough?
You knew even before it crossed my mind.
You knew the priest was marrying me
to a dead man.
I've just seen a lot of death,
that's all.
And us?
Why are we alive?
To die another time.
See this cross?
It was consecrated on the savior's tomb.
It's yours, for better or worse.
Only better from here, because
it can't get worse than this. God sees.
The plague.
Is it behind us already?
Wherever, as long as it isn't inside us.
My mother said something to me.
She said...
that if the woman is with child,
her blood turns
and the disease can't go in.
Don't move!
Where's the gold?
What gold?
My gold!
- I don't have gold.
- Tell me where it is!
Aren't you afraid?
I have the plague.
Don't toy with me!
The gold. Where is it?
Where?
I told you, I have no gold.
I'll shoot you.
- And who'll tell you where it is?
- You.
You have the plague,
you won't need gold.
I hid it.
Get up.
Get up!
Put them down
and move to the side.
- Brother!
- I'm alive.
But not for long.
We don't have time.
Elitsa is inside.
I want you to take her
and keep the promise you made.
Where will you hide her?
I know where.
Even with the plague,
there are good people.
Elitsa.
This is holy water,
from the savior's tomb.
Protect it and it will protect you.
I hope Yono's blood is in you.
You must protect two lives now.
Go with the priest.
I need to do something.
Safe travels,
to wherever you're going.
Oh, young girl,
white and red,
pink-cheeked, blushing,
where is your old mother,
tell me true.
My mother's gone to church,
to light candles.
To burn the Black Plague
as it burned you.
FAST TITLES MEDIA
Director
Ivan Vladimirov
Screenplay
Boyan Biolchev
Based on the short story
Through the Plague
by Yodran Yovkov
Producers Ilian Djevelekov,
Matey Konstantinov
Georgi Dimitrov, Mila Voinikova
Director of Photography
Rumen Vasilev
Production designers
Georgi Dimitrov, Vladimir Shishkov
Music
Petko Manchev, Antoni Manchev
Starring
Svejen Mladenov
Evelina Bibova
Matey Michev
Dobrin Dosev, Velsilav Pavlov
Stanislav Peev, Lyudmila Slaneva,
Lyubomir Bachvarov