Where We Disappear (2019) Movie Script
(wind howling)
(whooshing)
(train rails clanking)
(train horn blowing)
(people chattering)
(clicking)
(train horn blowing)
(somber music)
Who's my brave boy?
Here, hold my hands.
You're gonna wait here.
Mama's gonna be
right back, okay?
I told Grandpapa
to meet us here.
[Ivan] Be back soon.
(dramatic violin music)
(train horn blowing)
(creaking)
(steam hissing)
(people chattering)
Evgeny.
[Evgeny] My little mouse.
I didn't think you'd come home.
I thought you'd
die on the front.
Should I leave my little
mouse all alone in the world?
I get by.
(ominous music)
Where did they send you?
Novgorod?
To work in a factory?
Did you manage to keep
your legs shut, bliad?
You know nothing
about how my life is.
Must I beat the
wantonness out of you?
I'm not afraid of you.
Get back on that train.
Go!
Still my little hothead.
If you snatch a kettle from
the stove you get burned.
Can the mouse not even squeak?
No, come on, go ahead, do it!
Do it!
Stab me!
Come on, stab me!
I faced German bayonets.
Shall I now quake in
front of my own wife?!
(woman yelping)
(huffing)
Why does it have
to be like this?
Because you want it like this.
You love it.
You do, I know the
games you like to play.
I know them.
And so I shall take
my belt to you, yeah?
And I leave you
panting like a dog.
Then you'll be the
good wife again
and the fire will
go out of your eyes.
Nothing changes,
my little mouse.
Nothing changes?
(knife slicing)
(distant shouting)
(gasping)
(groaning)
(whistle blowing)
You have a son, Ivan.
And you will never
get to see him.
(grunting)
(man yelling in
foreign language)
(ominous music)
(dramatic violin music)
(dramatic violin music)
(clanking)
(soldiers shouting)
(construction commotion)
(door clanking)
(huffing)
(ominous music)
(woman coughing)
(man shouting foreign language)
(dramatic violin music)
(dog barking)
(women speaking
foreign language)
(soldier spitting)
(man shouting foreign language)
(gasping)
(water trickling)
Well, look at this.
How many rubles
did that hair cost?
Soft hands too.
Lubov, feel this
chaynik's hands.
Like velvet, no?
I'm Anastasia.
Tell us in a week, chaynik.
Where do I?
No one cares.
Not that one, that's Prushka's.
Polina's.
Just tell me which one is mine.
[Masha] None of them.
But where do I sleep?
Anywhere that isn't a bed.
(woman speaking indistinctly)
Let me see your hands.
You can share my bunk.
Because I have soft hands?
Go on.
Tell her, Svetlana.
She doesn't need to know.
Svetlana knows you
will only be here a week.
It's why we don't bother
learning your name.
Women with soft
hands never last.
On the first day of work
you will ache like never
before in your life,
digging in frozen ground,
dragging heavy logs
with your soft hands.
Second day, you will stumble
and on the third day
(whip cracking)
(Anastasia groaning)
you will fall.
And they will pick
you back up again.
And on the fourth day, they
will grind your soft hands
under their steel boots.
You think you'll live to see
the sun on the fifth day?
Sixth?
Svetlana will share
her bunk with you
because she is
furthest from the stove
and because she knows
it is only for a week
and then there will be
nothing left of you.
I'm not as weak as you think.
You have one week to live.
But here, one week
can be like a lifetime
and one night can drag
on for longer than that,
so it all works out.
(Lubov whimpering)
What's wrong with her?
She's bleeding.
Can I look.
She doesn't want your help.
- But...
- She doesn't...
- I might be able to...
- Want your help.
[Prushka] You're pretty.
The mouse speaks.
It must be a holy day.
What did you squeak?
She's pretty.
Lubov, you should
take a look at her.
I know Yuri will.
Let me through.
She won't thank you.
The rules are different here.
You can explain
them to me later.
She has a fever.
(yelping)
Might be her appendix.
(groaning)
Do we have clean water?
Only champagne
and French brandy.
There's a well.
[Anastasia] It must be clean.
It's clean enough to
have frogs in the summer.
[Svetlana]
There's always snow.
Bring some for her stomach.
Okay.
M'ne p figu
Fetch some snow.
Or drag her out into it,
cut out the bureaucracy.
(whimpering)
(wind howling)
(faint soldier shouting)
(woman yelping)
(sniffling)
(cloth tearing)
(ominous music)
(woman coughing)
[Woman] Mouse.
(quivering)
How long have I been down here?
I don't know anymore.
It's so cold.
It's so cold.
(gasping)
(woman mumbling)
I can't see you in the dark.
(dogs barking)
Come back!
(water trickling)
I take it you are the boss here.
For now.
Looks like it.
What did you do?
[Masha] I worked for a living.
No, I mean, to end up in here.
What the hell would you know?
- I...
- Nobody cares.
Whatever you have done,
there is someone in
here who has done worse.
Stolen bigger, killed
more, killed their only...
What you've done is nothing.
All that matters
is what you do now.
You stole an apple, didn't you?
(chuckling)
(water sloshing)
(wind howling)
Here.
(gasping)
Will she be all right?
Something is
bruised or ruptured.
She's a friend?
She brings us extra rations.
No friends in the GULAG.
No.
No friends.
You are in isolation.
Even when you stand at
roll call with all of us,
you are alone.
We are all alone here.
The snow will help
with the swelling.
Have to wait and see
what the damage is.
So we have a nursemaid
in the bunkhouse.
I am Masha.
This is Lubov.
And you?
Prushka.
You can call her
Mouse, everybody does.
She hates it but she does
nothing to stop them.
Mouse.
Polina works in
the kitchens today.
Another hour more.
When you meet her,
don't look at her scar.
She doesn't like it.
Thank you.
Don't thank me.
I've just had enough
fighting for one night.
(somber music)
What happened to her?
I never touched her.
She got kicked.
You see, that is
why I never fight.
One day you are well,
the next day like so.
From a kick.
Not worth it.
But your husband you fight with.
A long time ago, when
I was a hothead like you.
You were never like me.
Always.
But one time, things go too far.
And what happens?
I was sentenced to eight years.
Eight years only.
I got ten.
It was an accident.
My husband was
another like Masha.
Hothead.
One night, he came
home late from work,
stopped off for
vodka on the way,
and his food was cold.
In a fight between a
husband and a wife,
something always breaks.
He threw the dinner I had made.
I took the kettle off the stove.
Burned my hand.
Here, I still have the scar.
But I threw it.
I threw it as hard as I could.
(thudding)
Plate breaks, skull okay.
Kettle okay, skull breaks.
Something always breaks.
That's the shape of the world.
(wind howling)
(ominous music)
Did you mean what you said?
[Masha] A week?
Yes.
It's average.
The longer you survive, the
longer you keep on surviving.
10 years?
Prushka?
(Masha chuckling)
Two women, since I've been here.
Two women have survived
their full sentence.
I don't think they
had 10 years though.
Svetlana could make it.
Prushka, no chance.
And you?
What makes you think
I only got 10 years?
So you'll never leave.
I like it here.
I used to vacation on
the shores of the Volga,
a little dacha, with a
steam bath in the garden;
there was a dock for fishing
where we would...
I'm done talking.
(splashing)
(wind howling)
(huffing)
(water trickling)
(snow crunching)
(ominous music)
[Soldier] Uh-uh.
(chuckling)
Suka!
(ominous music)
(soldier speaking
foreign language)
(chuckling)
(solider spitting)
(door thudding)
The well froze between buckets.
Tonight will be
colder than usual.
Has anyone ever escaped?
They try about once a month.
[Anastasia] Does anyone make it?
None of them come back.
(wind howling)
The problem is food.
The guards only march the
fence line when the train comes
to look good for the commissar.
The rest of the month,
they don't bother.
Where would you go?
If they left the gate
open, who would walk out?
To freeze in the snow or starve.
Can you walk a hundred
miles with nothing to eat?
But some try anyway?
Sometimes they...
[Masha] Svetlana!
They try.
Sometimes they try, anyway.
The problem is food.
[Svetlana] And the snow.
And Polina works in the kitchen?
You're right, Svetlana,
this will be interesting.
(water splashing)
(electrical buzzing)
Polina's late.
She will blunder in the dark,
looking for a bunk
she's known for months
and wake us all up.
Will she bring food?
(chuckling)
Not for you.
What have you done for Polina?
She doesn't know you exist.
(Lubov groaning)
Hope Lubov gets better
and back up on her knees.
That's not why she asks.
She's thinking, this one,
thinking like a
rabbit in a snare.
Sleep, krshka.
A hundred miles
in which direction?
[Svetlana] South, to the river.
There are villages
all along the Sylva.
It's only 87 miles.
But a long way
to go on one beet.
Better to sleep.
Good night, Prushka.
Good night, Svetlana.
Good night, chaynik.
[Svetlana] Enough,
you're worse than the lice.
Goodnight, bliad.
Try not to die.
(fire crackling)
Why is Polina late?
What?
Why is Polina so late?
With her scar, no guard
would look at her.
Maybe she got
caught stealing food.
We would have heard the shot.
(gunshots booming)
(ominous music)
(soldier screaming
foreign language)
(rapid gunfire popping)
[Prushka] She's running tonight!
Polina!
[Svetlana] You knew this?
[Prushka] No.
That figures.
The only person she tells is
the person who never talks.
[Prushka] I didn't know!
[Masha] That suka!
[Svetlana] Is she
at the fence yet?
[Masha] I can't tell.
The guards in the tower,
they never look straight down.
If you're quiet,
you can go under it.
But they will see you before
you get very far from the camp.
The guards in the kalanch
saw them going over
the fence line.
Dogs in the morning.
They got away.
If she gets past them...
She will have taken
food for the journey.
There's still 87 miles
of Siberia out there.
She left her blanket,
so the cold...
[Prushka] I want her blanket.
I want a dacha with gold floors.
Do you think they made it?
[Svetlana] The guns are quiet.
True.
Why are they quiet?
Quiet is good.
One way or another.
If she went alone...
Roll call tomorrow.
But none of us knew.
I'm sure they will
take that into account.
Oh that suka!
She runs, we get punished!
If she went with others,
there's another bunkhouse
involved, maybe two of them.
They can't punish all of us.
You know what I mean.
They have to worry about
what it looks like.
[Prushka] But if she went
alone it all falls on us?
If she went, she
didn't go alone.
Then who was?
Who could she go with?
Who would be the avietchka?
She'd starve without one.
I heard there was a new girl
in the bunkhouse
near the latrine.
Maybe if she was stupid.
[Prushka] She died.
[Svetlana] Sure?
Dysentary.
Or TB.
It's not really the same.
One end or the other,
something was coming out.
(chuckling)
If not her then who?
Maybe it was her.
Maybe Polina is the avietchka.
I don't believe it.
What is an avietchka?
It's a baby sheep.
I know what it means.
Prushka?
I never told her.
It's not my place to tell.
She ran alone.
With her leg?
She limps.
Just a little.
She's not that stupid.
Tomorrow at the headcount
we will have to
answer for her escape.
We need Yuri.
If he can help us.
Maybe he can say she was
from another bunkhouse
and then we won't
get beaten at all.
Someone else can take it.
Lubov!
[Anastasia] She's sleeping.
[Svetlana] Still?
It's a healing sleep.
The mind shuts down
for the body's sake.
If we had vodka to...
Oh yes, I've got
some vodka on ice
over here with the blinis.
Maybe we can send your
servant into Moscow
to get us another bottle!
In a day or two we'll find out.
She doesn't have a day
or two, we work tomorrow.
Is there a sick
call or an infirmary?
Never mind the fields tomorrow,
we need her to work tonight!
She is sick!
You're the suka.
We need her.
This is my fault?
[Svetlana] You kicked her.
[Masha] You said
not to touch her face,
I didn't touch her face!
[Svetlana] You kicked
her in the belly,
you think that's any better?
She walks around
here like she just...
Oh, and you do?
Stop this, both of you.
She is our one
chance to survive.
[Masha] You call this survival?
She has done more
than you ever could.
You think because you
are quick with your fist,
because you have a
temper like a wolf bitch,
that you mean anything here?!
Shut it, Svetlana.
You are nothing!
Lubov!
(ominous music)
Nothing, bliad?!
Nothing, cow!
(thudding)
(gagging)
You wanna fight now?!
Can you feel this?
(thudding)
(ominous music)
Nothing?!
I take it back.
I take it back.
Wake up, Lubov.
(coughing)
[Anastasia] She can't.
It's a good thing you
helped your friends.
They rely on you.
(laughing)
Al,
Lubov!
Your boyfriend needs you!
He needs you to make him
sweet like a sugar beet.
Make him so happy
that his whip hangs
as limp as his khren.
Lubov!
Wake up, sleepyhead.
Good morning, krshka.
Stop.
She can't.
She can't do that,
she can barely walk.
Are you telling me what
she can and cannot do?
[Anastasia] Yes.
So you are volunteering.
What?
To go in her place.
You are pretty, you are new.
You're telling me the guards
didn't notice you
when you came in?
Did you see the sergeant?
His name is Yuri.
He sits in the guard
shack across the parade
when the others are off
hunting Polina with the dogs
and you will go to him,
and you will tell him that Lubov
is unavailable this evening.
Like hell I will.
You will do it or they
will beat you with a whip.
[Anastasia] I'll take the whip.
They will also
beat me with the whip
and Prushka and
Svetlana, even Lubov!
They will drag her out
of her bed and beat her
even if she's unable to feel it.
Why?
Because the rule of the
guard must be absolute.
If they were to
forgive even one blow,
who would respect them then?
If I am beaten, I will take
it out on you, you know this.
You have no friends here!
You will go, chaynik!
No!
Anastasia?
It would be easier if
you just give in now.
I will not.
(smacking)
- Go!
[Anastasia] No!
You think there
are choices here?
There's always a choice.
(thudding)
(groaning)
Don't make this happen.
Don't make us do this.
(thudding)
(groaning)
(Anastasia gasping)
You can't make me do this.
You can't make me do anything.
You can hurt me or
you can kill me.
But that is all.
Fair enough.
(fire crackling)
(dramatic violin music)
[Svetlana] Not her face!
Do you know why she
tells me that, chaynik?
Because she knows this
is no idle threat.
I'm not gonna wave this
around, make you scared.
I'm gonna burn you.
I don't want to
but you will go to Yuri.
You are too new to understand
that this is survival!
No, no.
Help me.
This will help you.
Just her feet.
- Don't do it.
Yuri doesn't care
about her feet.
(thudding)
(ominous music)
Stop it!
I will go.
[Masha] At least
someone understands here.
You can't.
Who the hell are you?
I was a nurse.
You cannot go in your condition.
Being whipped and beat
will be better for me?
He can be gentle.
It will not kill me
but tomorrow might.
So I will go, help me up.
You are doing this to her.
You.
I don't...
I cannot do this.
I thought that
too a long time ago.
(dog barking)
The guards in the
kalanchmissed.
She's out there.
Running through snow.
Limping through snow.
And this is how it is?
Always.
Where's this guard shack?
(electric buzzing)
(snow crunching)
(ominous music)
(wind howling)
(record player crackling)
(knocking)
Yes?
- I'm...
- The new girl.
You've come to complain
about the accommodations?
Is your bed too soft?
Lubov cannot be here.
Lubov, yes, of course.
Little Lubov, she
is what, indisposed?
There was a...
She had a...
Yes.
And you came here
to tell me this?
Not sure what I can do
for you but come in.
Close the door.
[Svetlana] I've not heard
the dogs come back yet.
[Prushka] Do you
think Polina made it?
Why not?
She took food from the kitchens.
She's no avietchka.
You must be happy.
Me?
You shared your
bunk for 10 minutes.
One leaves as another arrives.
We're back to five again.
And you will take the
bunk near the stove.
Don't cook that chicken.
It still has feathers.
Who will stop her?
You are no longer
the shishka here.
Oh, so you say.
[Masha] You think Yuri will
not give his scraps of meat
to the chaynik?
You know men better than that.
You lost a lot more
than blood tonight.
I am unclear,
at what point do
you get my bunk?
What do you mean?
You are not taking my place.
She is.
She will take my bunk
and grant you scraps
to keep your fists at your side.
[Yuri] I would
offer you some but
it is forbidden to have
such things in camp.
To share with a prisoner.
(ominous music)
Such a thing in itself
would be a crime.
Sit down, please.
Now you may ask,
where is the harm?
Come in here where it is warm,
have a little vodka.
And a crime with no harm,
is it really a crime?
But if I was to sit
down with you here,
soon I might become tempted.
(eerie music)
She's weak.
She's soft.
And Yuri will keep her that way.
He can have soft
hands on his khren.
What will you do?
Kick her belly until
she curls up on a bunk,
useless like Lubov?
Thanks.
Nothing changes here.
I'll kill her.
You can't.
Who'll stop me, you?!
We would.
We need her.
We don't have to stop you.
You need her too.
Lubov will recover.
If there's another
bringing in extra food,
I will take the cold
bunk and be happy.
Yuri is a pig.
You will have nothing.
You think she'd share with you?
Without Yuri, you
are the weakest here.
How long will she last?
She'll do what she
has to to survive.
No, no she won't.
She'll let him kill her first.
She went tonight.
Not because we beat her.
She wouldn't give in, she's
more than all of us together.
Then why didn't
you hit her harder?
- It wasn't us.
- Whose side are you on?!
It wasn't us.
She went for Lubov.
She went because
she had no choice.
She's stronger than you, Masha.
When she comes back,
she'll have it all.
I can break her.
They won't let you.
They can't stop me!
Even both of them.
And you would be with me.
We could destroy her easily.
She's a bigger threat to you.
So we agree.
There is no bed for her here.
You think we'll just step back?
(ominous music)
Name your price.
More food.
We get some meat.
Masha said it.
It's her or me.
(foreboding music)
Am I then so dangerous?
The danger is that
you might tempt me to
see you not as a
prisoner but as what?
That was not a
rhetorical question.
Are you so timid
you can't speak?
I don't know what to say.
So, silence.
(somber string music)
Good.
If you had drunk the
vodka, you'd be dead now.
(fire crackling)
Masha.
Svetlana.
You can't let her do this.
I'm not involved.
(mne p figu)
You know she's out there.
You know what she's
doing for this bliad
who would spread her legs
for 10 kopeks in a Mi...
(thudding)
You survive because of me!
Do you close your eyes
and leave your body
as you eat what I provide
or do you taste it?
Are you so precious
and so untouched by
the filth I walk in?
You can't let her do this.
It is the shape of the world.
I want to eat some real food.
Meat.
And for that you
would let a woman die?
Something always breaks.
Which one?
Lubov?
Anastasia?
It doesn't make a
difference anymore.
It's nice to be appreciated.
(dramatic music)
But why?
Why does it have to
be either of them?
Look, there is a
bunk right here.
It's empty.
Anastasia can just sleep here.
There doesn't have
to be blood tonight.
You don't even care if
it's Lubov or Anastasia
who brings you
food, let them both.
Let Yuri decide.
Maybe they can.
Lubov.
Just talk to her.
She's kind and she
has soft hands.
There doesn't have to be blood...
She's kind.
She's soft.
In a week, she'll
be hard like Masha.
She will be cold and
careless like Svetlana.
She will be ripped
apart inside like...
I will take her now
while she's kind,
while she is soft.
When she walks in from the cold.
From Yuri.
From her first time
with a man she despises
because her eyes will
only look at the floor.
She will see nothing.
It will be quick and
that will be kind.
(somber music)
I won't let you.
[Svetlana]
Prushka, be careful.
[Prushka] I mean it.
How will you stop me?
I will cut you, Prushka.
You're weak.
You're still bleeding,
you can hardly stand.
(groaning)
(ominous music)
You know, for someone who
wanted everyone to sit
and talk like old friends,
you seem determined to see
two dead women tonight,
are you sure you want
to join Anastasia?
Don't kill her, Lubov.
Just cut her a little.
I will fight you.
Ah.
I guess with Polina gone, we
need another scarred face!
(suspenseful music)
(whimpering)
(ominous music)
(thudding)
(groaning)
(Lubov crying)
So, you understand
the danger here?
Not to you, your
life has no meaning.
It's a fact.
The danger here is that
I must maintain my role,
my responsibility
to my men, to the integrity
of this institution,
and you threaten that
by your mere presence.
I am rather fond of Lubov.
I like her.
Much like a man likes a dog
but if even for one moment
I was to think of her as
a person,
life here would
become unbearable.
And you, (gun clicking)
you sit here,
your skin still
pink and healthy.
You are a person
still.
(knuckle crackling)
And that is unacceptable.
(ominous music)
So,
some music.
(pleasant instrumental music)
Hope you enjoy that
warm bunk while you can.
Might even get a
whole night in it.
You think you will
be better by tomorrow?
Tomorrow you'll be in
the fields with us.
Or scrubbing tubs
in the laundry,
holding your belly
while the blood
spills down your legs.
Without Yuri...
You better sleep
with one eye open.
I do not need you alive anymore.
Masha.
Put it down.
While Anastasia
lives, you do not exist.
You are nothing but a wounded
belly and bad memories.
So give me the knife.
[Masha] I already
have the warm bunk.
Only for now.
You give me the knife,
you can keep it.
[Masha] This is our trade?
- What about...
- Your made your deal.
We step back, she
brings us real meat.
(pleasant instrumental music)
For me to do my job, I must
ceaselessly guard against
sympathy, rapport, all of those
conditions that are human,
that make us human.
That's how I survive.
(pleasant instrumental music)
Do you even understand?
To remain human myself,
for my very survival,
I must act inhumanly.
Man's inhumanity to man is
nothing compared to man's
inhumanity to woman.
So,
you come to me in Lubov's place.
For what?
To engage in congress?
This will be an experience from
which you will not recover.
By design,
by careful considered
design of a man,
who, himself, is merely trying
to survive in a dark place.
Shall we begin?
[Anastasia] There
is another choice.
(instrumental music)
(record scratching)
(thudding)
(screaming)
(gunshot booming)
(groaning)
She won't even wake up.
She did nothing but help you.
She tried to usurp me.
It's only survival.
You say one word, I will
come for you in the night,
do you understand?
Yes.
You will be quiet?
Like a mouse.
(door clicking)
(footsteps thumping)
(water sloshing)
Are you going to sleep?
There's no shame in this place.
The walls, the guards, the dogs.
It's only survival.
You do what you have to.
You do what you have to.
Lubov.
What?
Tell Anastasia.
You know these things,
speak words of comfort.
Tell her.
I have no words for her.
That's because she too
must find a way to survive.
That is why all of us are here.
But if she could talk
she would tell you...
What?
That the skin can grow so
tough nothing penetrates.
Not the groping of men's hands.
Not the cutting of their whips.
Or that
there is a place
where men can not touch you.
A place where you
can remain inviolate,
so deep inside,
behind fences
dogs and guards.
Behind a thousand kalanchs.
(dramatic music)
Across the 87 miles
of frozen wasteland.
And there you can
stay for years.
Are these the words
she's looking for?
What would she tell you,
if she could cry out from
inside such a deep place?
I'm sorry!
(groaning)
(thudding)
Is that?
(ominous music)
(electric buzzing)
(women groaning)
(thudding)
(gun clicking)
- Back away!
You took his gun!
You stupid woman,
you took Yuri's gun!
[Anastasia] He wasn't using it.
What have you done?
Yuri is dead.
- No, no, no.
- He is dead.
They will shoot us.
They will shoot us in the head!
We won't be here.
You're crazy.
Where are the dogs?
Following Polina's
trail far from the camp.
Most of the guards
are with them.
I will run.
[Svetlana] Past the kalanch?
Under it, quietly
like you told me.
South to the river, the Sylva.
87 miles.
You'll never make it.
[Anastasia] The
best time to escape
is as soon as you are captured.
You'll freeze in the snow.
I'll take blankets
and I'll take Prushka.
What?
One persona may freeze,
two together, not so much.
Three, never.
We could survive the snow.
We escape together tonight.
Svetlana, can you run?
I can run.
Then we run, all of us.
Polina has thrown off the dogs.
We have a moment
while the guards' eyes
are turned elsewhere.
We can run if we run together.
You killed a guard.
I killed a pig.
Lubov, Yuri lies with his
brains steaming on the floor.
Will you run with us?
[Masha] How far will she get?
She can't walk!
I will get far enough!
[Masha] You will
die in the snow.
And you will die on your knees
with a bullet in the
back of your skull.
They find Yuri's body,
they come straight to us.
To us?
She's one of us?
She did this, her!
I know.
She makes the decision for us.
She's the only one who
had the choice to make.
We are prisoners.
You will go in the snow?
We are going!
And who is the avietchka?
Is it you, Prushka?
Svetlana?
Lubov?
You do not know.
She said Prushka
first, before any other.
She said Prushka.
But I know, I'm no
stupid chaynik, I know.
Lubov will fall, she's sick.
If you do not know who
the avietchka is, it is you.
You think I only
asked Prushka as a lamb?
[Masha] I thought you didn't
know what that word meant.
Avietchka.
A little lamb, the sacrifice.
Is it not obvious?
The one who escapes
only to make it halfway?
The chaynik who is told of a
great opportunity and takes it
only to discover the others
had their plans
for her all along.
The question is food.
And the answer is what
the answer always is,
we are animals and that in
the end we turn on each other.
Throw Lubov to the
men in the guard shack
like a scrap of meat
to the wolves, why not?
It's for survival.
Fight,
kill each other
over the warmth of a stove.
Of course it's for survival.
(dramatic music)
I refuse to survive.
But I will live.
Survival is all there is here.
You want to live, go.
Live in the cold, in the snow.
Live for one night
and freeze to death.
I will survive her
where I belong.
What did you do, Masha?
Why are you the only
one in this place
who deserves to be here?
You do not know?
You can not remember
what happened?
It is not for me to
remember, it is you, Masha.
You tell us why you are here.
I told you.
I loved my husband
even when he hit me.
I told you all my secrets.
Tell us.
You sent me to Yuri like a pimp.
You ate the food that I earned
even when it tasted
of his sweat.
Tell me.
Tell us, maybe then
you can come with us
and we leave nothing behind.
I stole an apple.
Tell us.
Think of it as a
matter of survival.
[Svetlana] Tell us.
We are murderers, you and I.
Don't you remember?
No, there was only
one, there was...
Only one.
You don't.
Who?
My son!
My beautiful boy!
He was five years old
with hair...
like straw.
His hair floating around
his beautiful face.
He floated away
and I never saw him.
How can you not remember this?
I killed my husband.
[Masha] I know.
And for that I go free.
For what I did, I stay here.
Anastasia?
Which one is the lamb?
In the cold, with no
food and miles to go.
Who will you sacrifice
for the others?
None of them.
You can not all survive.
I will not
sacrifice any of them.
Then yourself?
No.
I am no lamb.
(ominous music)
(footsteps crunching)
(rustling)
Who's there?
Lubov?
(rustling)
Svetlana?
(rustling)
Svetlana?
Is that you, Prushka?
Did you come all
this way with me?
(rustling)
I can not see you in the dark?
Why don't you speak?
Evgeny?
No.
No, I killed you,
you can't be him.
But you have his eyes.
How long have I been
running in the snow?
(somber music)
Has it been 87 miles yet?
You don't know me?
How could I not know my own son?
Ivan.
Let me look at you.
You've grown.
You...
No, you...
You can not be Ivan.
He was only a child.
[Ivan] I was five years
old when you killed Papa.
Five years old
with hair like,
like straw.
I had to shield you from him.
From becoming what he was.
That was your choice to make.
They sent me to Leningrad
to live with grandpapa.
I spent 12 years on his boat.
I'm a fisherman now.
12 years?
No.
I ran the first night.
I fought a guard, you
would've been proud.
I defended my honor.
We ran the first night
while my hands were soft.
Your hands are not soft.
No.
[Ivan] And they
have blood on them.
What have they done to my hands?
[Ivan] You served 12 years.
No one survives 12 years.
[Ivan] You survived,
you were in isolation.
(dramatic music)
[Svetlana] Here a
week can be a lifetime
and the night can drag
on for longer than that.
(groaning)
(door thudding)
You are in isolation.
That is why all of us are here.
She must find a way to survive.
[Prushka] She's more
than all of us together.
(whip cracking)
(groaning)
[Lubov] She will
be hard like Masha.
She will be cold and
careless like Svetlana.
She will be ripped
apart inside like...
[Masha] It's for survival.
Everything is.
(dramatic music)
[Svetlana] There are
places men can not touch.
Places so deep inside that
there you can stay for years.
What would you say
if you could cry out from
inside such a deep place.
[Lubov] I am sorry.
You said you would come back.
I never lost you.
(dramatic music)
Masha held you in her heart
when I was too
scared, too broken.
She was the one who could.
[Masha] His hair
floating in front of me.
So I never lost you.
I dreamt of you every night.
You never forgot me?
I'm your mother.
(steam hissing)
For what I've done, I go free.
(whistle blowing)
(train horn blowing)
(steam hissing)
(dramatic string music)
(dramatic string music)
(dramatic string music)
(whooshing)
(train rails clanking)
(train horn blowing)
(people chattering)
(clicking)
(train horn blowing)
(somber music)
Who's my brave boy?
Here, hold my hands.
You're gonna wait here.
Mama's gonna be
right back, okay?
I told Grandpapa
to meet us here.
[Ivan] Be back soon.
(dramatic violin music)
(train horn blowing)
(creaking)
(steam hissing)
(people chattering)
Evgeny.
[Evgeny] My little mouse.
I didn't think you'd come home.
I thought you'd
die on the front.
Should I leave my little
mouse all alone in the world?
I get by.
(ominous music)
Where did they send you?
Novgorod?
To work in a factory?
Did you manage to keep
your legs shut, bliad?
You know nothing
about how my life is.
Must I beat the
wantonness out of you?
I'm not afraid of you.
Get back on that train.
Go!
Still my little hothead.
If you snatch a kettle from
the stove you get burned.
Can the mouse not even squeak?
No, come on, go ahead, do it!
Do it!
Stab me!
Come on, stab me!
I faced German bayonets.
Shall I now quake in
front of my own wife?!
(woman yelping)
(huffing)
Why does it have
to be like this?
Because you want it like this.
You love it.
You do, I know the
games you like to play.
I know them.
And so I shall take
my belt to you, yeah?
And I leave you
panting like a dog.
Then you'll be the
good wife again
and the fire will
go out of your eyes.
Nothing changes,
my little mouse.
Nothing changes?
(knife slicing)
(distant shouting)
(gasping)
(groaning)
(whistle blowing)
You have a son, Ivan.
And you will never
get to see him.
(grunting)
(man yelling in
foreign language)
(ominous music)
(dramatic violin music)
(dramatic violin music)
(clanking)
(soldiers shouting)
(construction commotion)
(door clanking)
(huffing)
(ominous music)
(woman coughing)
(man shouting foreign language)
(dramatic violin music)
(dog barking)
(women speaking
foreign language)
(soldier spitting)
(man shouting foreign language)
(gasping)
(water trickling)
Well, look at this.
How many rubles
did that hair cost?
Soft hands too.
Lubov, feel this
chaynik's hands.
Like velvet, no?
I'm Anastasia.
Tell us in a week, chaynik.
Where do I?
No one cares.
Not that one, that's Prushka's.
Polina's.
Just tell me which one is mine.
[Masha] None of them.
But where do I sleep?
Anywhere that isn't a bed.
(woman speaking indistinctly)
Let me see your hands.
You can share my bunk.
Because I have soft hands?
Go on.
Tell her, Svetlana.
She doesn't need to know.
Svetlana knows you
will only be here a week.
It's why we don't bother
learning your name.
Women with soft
hands never last.
On the first day of work
you will ache like never
before in your life,
digging in frozen ground,
dragging heavy logs
with your soft hands.
Second day, you will stumble
and on the third day
(whip cracking)
(Anastasia groaning)
you will fall.
And they will pick
you back up again.
And on the fourth day, they
will grind your soft hands
under their steel boots.
You think you'll live to see
the sun on the fifth day?
Sixth?
Svetlana will share
her bunk with you
because she is
furthest from the stove
and because she knows
it is only for a week
and then there will be
nothing left of you.
I'm not as weak as you think.
You have one week to live.
But here, one week
can be like a lifetime
and one night can drag
on for longer than that,
so it all works out.
(Lubov whimpering)
What's wrong with her?
She's bleeding.
Can I look.
She doesn't want your help.
- But...
- She doesn't...
- I might be able to...
- Want your help.
[Prushka] You're pretty.
The mouse speaks.
It must be a holy day.
What did you squeak?
She's pretty.
Lubov, you should
take a look at her.
I know Yuri will.
Let me through.
She won't thank you.
The rules are different here.
You can explain
them to me later.
She has a fever.
(yelping)
Might be her appendix.
(groaning)
Do we have clean water?
Only champagne
and French brandy.
There's a well.
[Anastasia] It must be clean.
It's clean enough to
have frogs in the summer.
[Svetlana]
There's always snow.
Bring some for her stomach.
Okay.
M'ne p figu
Fetch some snow.
Or drag her out into it,
cut out the bureaucracy.
(whimpering)
(wind howling)
(faint soldier shouting)
(woman yelping)
(sniffling)
(cloth tearing)
(ominous music)
(woman coughing)
[Woman] Mouse.
(quivering)
How long have I been down here?
I don't know anymore.
It's so cold.
It's so cold.
(gasping)
(woman mumbling)
I can't see you in the dark.
(dogs barking)
Come back!
(water trickling)
I take it you are the boss here.
For now.
Looks like it.
What did you do?
[Masha] I worked for a living.
No, I mean, to end up in here.
What the hell would you know?
- I...
- Nobody cares.
Whatever you have done,
there is someone in
here who has done worse.
Stolen bigger, killed
more, killed their only...
What you've done is nothing.
All that matters
is what you do now.
You stole an apple, didn't you?
(chuckling)
(water sloshing)
(wind howling)
Here.
(gasping)
Will she be all right?
Something is
bruised or ruptured.
She's a friend?
She brings us extra rations.
No friends in the GULAG.
No.
No friends.
You are in isolation.
Even when you stand at
roll call with all of us,
you are alone.
We are all alone here.
The snow will help
with the swelling.
Have to wait and see
what the damage is.
So we have a nursemaid
in the bunkhouse.
I am Masha.
This is Lubov.
And you?
Prushka.
You can call her
Mouse, everybody does.
She hates it but she does
nothing to stop them.
Mouse.
Polina works in
the kitchens today.
Another hour more.
When you meet her,
don't look at her scar.
She doesn't like it.
Thank you.
Don't thank me.
I've just had enough
fighting for one night.
(somber music)
What happened to her?
I never touched her.
She got kicked.
You see, that is
why I never fight.
One day you are well,
the next day like so.
From a kick.
Not worth it.
But your husband you fight with.
A long time ago, when
I was a hothead like you.
You were never like me.
Always.
But one time, things go too far.
And what happens?
I was sentenced to eight years.
Eight years only.
I got ten.
It was an accident.
My husband was
another like Masha.
Hothead.
One night, he came
home late from work,
stopped off for
vodka on the way,
and his food was cold.
In a fight between a
husband and a wife,
something always breaks.
He threw the dinner I had made.
I took the kettle off the stove.
Burned my hand.
Here, I still have the scar.
But I threw it.
I threw it as hard as I could.
(thudding)
Plate breaks, skull okay.
Kettle okay, skull breaks.
Something always breaks.
That's the shape of the world.
(wind howling)
(ominous music)
Did you mean what you said?
[Masha] A week?
Yes.
It's average.
The longer you survive, the
longer you keep on surviving.
10 years?
Prushka?
(Masha chuckling)
Two women, since I've been here.
Two women have survived
their full sentence.
I don't think they
had 10 years though.
Svetlana could make it.
Prushka, no chance.
And you?
What makes you think
I only got 10 years?
So you'll never leave.
I like it here.
I used to vacation on
the shores of the Volga,
a little dacha, with a
steam bath in the garden;
there was a dock for fishing
where we would...
I'm done talking.
(splashing)
(wind howling)
(huffing)
(water trickling)
(snow crunching)
(ominous music)
[Soldier] Uh-uh.
(chuckling)
Suka!
(ominous music)
(soldier speaking
foreign language)
(chuckling)
(solider spitting)
(door thudding)
The well froze between buckets.
Tonight will be
colder than usual.
Has anyone ever escaped?
They try about once a month.
[Anastasia] Does anyone make it?
None of them come back.
(wind howling)
The problem is food.
The guards only march the
fence line when the train comes
to look good for the commissar.
The rest of the month,
they don't bother.
Where would you go?
If they left the gate
open, who would walk out?
To freeze in the snow or starve.
Can you walk a hundred
miles with nothing to eat?
But some try anyway?
Sometimes they...
[Masha] Svetlana!
They try.
Sometimes they try, anyway.
The problem is food.
[Svetlana] And the snow.
And Polina works in the kitchen?
You're right, Svetlana,
this will be interesting.
(water splashing)
(electrical buzzing)
Polina's late.
She will blunder in the dark,
looking for a bunk
she's known for months
and wake us all up.
Will she bring food?
(chuckling)
Not for you.
What have you done for Polina?
She doesn't know you exist.
(Lubov groaning)
Hope Lubov gets better
and back up on her knees.
That's not why she asks.
She's thinking, this one,
thinking like a
rabbit in a snare.
Sleep, krshka.
A hundred miles
in which direction?
[Svetlana] South, to the river.
There are villages
all along the Sylva.
It's only 87 miles.
But a long way
to go on one beet.
Better to sleep.
Good night, Prushka.
Good night, Svetlana.
Good night, chaynik.
[Svetlana] Enough,
you're worse than the lice.
Goodnight, bliad.
Try not to die.
(fire crackling)
Why is Polina late?
What?
Why is Polina so late?
With her scar, no guard
would look at her.
Maybe she got
caught stealing food.
We would have heard the shot.
(gunshots booming)
(ominous music)
(soldier screaming
foreign language)
(rapid gunfire popping)
[Prushka] She's running tonight!
Polina!
[Svetlana] You knew this?
[Prushka] No.
That figures.
The only person she tells is
the person who never talks.
[Prushka] I didn't know!
[Masha] That suka!
[Svetlana] Is she
at the fence yet?
[Masha] I can't tell.
The guards in the tower,
they never look straight down.
If you're quiet,
you can go under it.
But they will see you before
you get very far from the camp.
The guards in the kalanch
saw them going over
the fence line.
Dogs in the morning.
They got away.
If she gets past them...
She will have taken
food for the journey.
There's still 87 miles
of Siberia out there.
She left her blanket,
so the cold...
[Prushka] I want her blanket.
I want a dacha with gold floors.
Do you think they made it?
[Svetlana] The guns are quiet.
True.
Why are they quiet?
Quiet is good.
One way or another.
If she went alone...
Roll call tomorrow.
But none of us knew.
I'm sure they will
take that into account.
Oh that suka!
She runs, we get punished!
If she went with others,
there's another bunkhouse
involved, maybe two of them.
They can't punish all of us.
You know what I mean.
They have to worry about
what it looks like.
[Prushka] But if she went
alone it all falls on us?
If she went, she
didn't go alone.
Then who was?
Who could she go with?
Who would be the avietchka?
She'd starve without one.
I heard there was a new girl
in the bunkhouse
near the latrine.
Maybe if she was stupid.
[Prushka] She died.
[Svetlana] Sure?
Dysentary.
Or TB.
It's not really the same.
One end or the other,
something was coming out.
(chuckling)
If not her then who?
Maybe it was her.
Maybe Polina is the avietchka.
I don't believe it.
What is an avietchka?
It's a baby sheep.
I know what it means.
Prushka?
I never told her.
It's not my place to tell.
She ran alone.
With her leg?
She limps.
Just a little.
She's not that stupid.
Tomorrow at the headcount
we will have to
answer for her escape.
We need Yuri.
If he can help us.
Maybe he can say she was
from another bunkhouse
and then we won't
get beaten at all.
Someone else can take it.
Lubov!
[Anastasia] She's sleeping.
[Svetlana] Still?
It's a healing sleep.
The mind shuts down
for the body's sake.
If we had vodka to...
Oh yes, I've got
some vodka on ice
over here with the blinis.
Maybe we can send your
servant into Moscow
to get us another bottle!
In a day or two we'll find out.
She doesn't have a day
or two, we work tomorrow.
Is there a sick
call or an infirmary?
Never mind the fields tomorrow,
we need her to work tonight!
She is sick!
You're the suka.
We need her.
This is my fault?
[Svetlana] You kicked her.
[Masha] You said
not to touch her face,
I didn't touch her face!
[Svetlana] You kicked
her in the belly,
you think that's any better?
She walks around
here like she just...
Oh, and you do?
Stop this, both of you.
She is our one
chance to survive.
[Masha] You call this survival?
She has done more
than you ever could.
You think because you
are quick with your fist,
because you have a
temper like a wolf bitch,
that you mean anything here?!
Shut it, Svetlana.
You are nothing!
Lubov!
(ominous music)
Nothing, bliad?!
Nothing, cow!
(thudding)
(gagging)
You wanna fight now?!
Can you feel this?
(thudding)
(ominous music)
Nothing?!
I take it back.
I take it back.
Wake up, Lubov.
(coughing)
[Anastasia] She can't.
It's a good thing you
helped your friends.
They rely on you.
(laughing)
Al,
Lubov!
Your boyfriend needs you!
He needs you to make him
sweet like a sugar beet.
Make him so happy
that his whip hangs
as limp as his khren.
Lubov!
Wake up, sleepyhead.
Good morning, krshka.
Stop.
She can't.
She can't do that,
she can barely walk.
Are you telling me what
she can and cannot do?
[Anastasia] Yes.
So you are volunteering.
What?
To go in her place.
You are pretty, you are new.
You're telling me the guards
didn't notice you
when you came in?
Did you see the sergeant?
His name is Yuri.
He sits in the guard
shack across the parade
when the others are off
hunting Polina with the dogs
and you will go to him,
and you will tell him that Lubov
is unavailable this evening.
Like hell I will.
You will do it or they
will beat you with a whip.
[Anastasia] I'll take the whip.
They will also
beat me with the whip
and Prushka and
Svetlana, even Lubov!
They will drag her out
of her bed and beat her
even if she's unable to feel it.
Why?
Because the rule of the
guard must be absolute.
If they were to
forgive even one blow,
who would respect them then?
If I am beaten, I will take
it out on you, you know this.
You have no friends here!
You will go, chaynik!
No!
Anastasia?
It would be easier if
you just give in now.
I will not.
(smacking)
- Go!
[Anastasia] No!
You think there
are choices here?
There's always a choice.
(thudding)
(groaning)
Don't make this happen.
Don't make us do this.
(thudding)
(groaning)
(Anastasia gasping)
You can't make me do this.
You can't make me do anything.
You can hurt me or
you can kill me.
But that is all.
Fair enough.
(fire crackling)
(dramatic violin music)
[Svetlana] Not her face!
Do you know why she
tells me that, chaynik?
Because she knows this
is no idle threat.
I'm not gonna wave this
around, make you scared.
I'm gonna burn you.
I don't want to
but you will go to Yuri.
You are too new to understand
that this is survival!
No, no.
Help me.
This will help you.
Just her feet.
- Don't do it.
Yuri doesn't care
about her feet.
(thudding)
(ominous music)
Stop it!
I will go.
[Masha] At least
someone understands here.
You can't.
Who the hell are you?
I was a nurse.
You cannot go in your condition.
Being whipped and beat
will be better for me?
He can be gentle.
It will not kill me
but tomorrow might.
So I will go, help me up.
You are doing this to her.
You.
I don't...
I cannot do this.
I thought that
too a long time ago.
(dog barking)
The guards in the
kalanchmissed.
She's out there.
Running through snow.
Limping through snow.
And this is how it is?
Always.
Where's this guard shack?
(electric buzzing)
(snow crunching)
(ominous music)
(wind howling)
(record player crackling)
(knocking)
Yes?
- I'm...
- The new girl.
You've come to complain
about the accommodations?
Is your bed too soft?
Lubov cannot be here.
Lubov, yes, of course.
Little Lubov, she
is what, indisposed?
There was a...
She had a...
Yes.
And you came here
to tell me this?
Not sure what I can do
for you but come in.
Close the door.
[Svetlana] I've not heard
the dogs come back yet.
[Prushka] Do you
think Polina made it?
Why not?
She took food from the kitchens.
She's no avietchka.
You must be happy.
Me?
You shared your
bunk for 10 minutes.
One leaves as another arrives.
We're back to five again.
And you will take the
bunk near the stove.
Don't cook that chicken.
It still has feathers.
Who will stop her?
You are no longer
the shishka here.
Oh, so you say.
[Masha] You think Yuri will
not give his scraps of meat
to the chaynik?
You know men better than that.
You lost a lot more
than blood tonight.
I am unclear,
at what point do
you get my bunk?
What do you mean?
You are not taking my place.
She is.
She will take my bunk
and grant you scraps
to keep your fists at your side.
[Yuri] I would
offer you some but
it is forbidden to have
such things in camp.
To share with a prisoner.
(ominous music)
Such a thing in itself
would be a crime.
Sit down, please.
Now you may ask,
where is the harm?
Come in here where it is warm,
have a little vodka.
And a crime with no harm,
is it really a crime?
But if I was to sit
down with you here,
soon I might become tempted.
(eerie music)
She's weak.
She's soft.
And Yuri will keep her that way.
He can have soft
hands on his khren.
What will you do?
Kick her belly until
she curls up on a bunk,
useless like Lubov?
Thanks.
Nothing changes here.
I'll kill her.
You can't.
Who'll stop me, you?!
We would.
We need her.
We don't have to stop you.
You need her too.
Lubov will recover.
If there's another
bringing in extra food,
I will take the cold
bunk and be happy.
Yuri is a pig.
You will have nothing.
You think she'd share with you?
Without Yuri, you
are the weakest here.
How long will she last?
She'll do what she
has to to survive.
No, no she won't.
She'll let him kill her first.
She went tonight.
Not because we beat her.
She wouldn't give in, she's
more than all of us together.
Then why didn't
you hit her harder?
- It wasn't us.
- Whose side are you on?!
It wasn't us.
She went for Lubov.
She went because
she had no choice.
She's stronger than you, Masha.
When she comes back,
she'll have it all.
I can break her.
They won't let you.
They can't stop me!
Even both of them.
And you would be with me.
We could destroy her easily.
She's a bigger threat to you.
So we agree.
There is no bed for her here.
You think we'll just step back?
(ominous music)
Name your price.
More food.
We get some meat.
Masha said it.
It's her or me.
(foreboding music)
Am I then so dangerous?
The danger is that
you might tempt me to
see you not as a
prisoner but as what?
That was not a
rhetorical question.
Are you so timid
you can't speak?
I don't know what to say.
So, silence.
(somber string music)
Good.
If you had drunk the
vodka, you'd be dead now.
(fire crackling)
Masha.
Svetlana.
You can't let her do this.
I'm not involved.
(mne p figu)
You know she's out there.
You know what she's
doing for this bliad
who would spread her legs
for 10 kopeks in a Mi...
(thudding)
You survive because of me!
Do you close your eyes
and leave your body
as you eat what I provide
or do you taste it?
Are you so precious
and so untouched by
the filth I walk in?
You can't let her do this.
It is the shape of the world.
I want to eat some real food.
Meat.
And for that you
would let a woman die?
Something always breaks.
Which one?
Lubov?
Anastasia?
It doesn't make a
difference anymore.
It's nice to be appreciated.
(dramatic music)
But why?
Why does it have to
be either of them?
Look, there is a
bunk right here.
It's empty.
Anastasia can just sleep here.
There doesn't have
to be blood tonight.
You don't even care if
it's Lubov or Anastasia
who brings you
food, let them both.
Let Yuri decide.
Maybe they can.
Lubov.
Just talk to her.
She's kind and she
has soft hands.
There doesn't have to be blood...
She's kind.
She's soft.
In a week, she'll
be hard like Masha.
She will be cold and
careless like Svetlana.
She will be ripped
apart inside like...
I will take her now
while she's kind,
while she is soft.
When she walks in from the cold.
From Yuri.
From her first time
with a man she despises
because her eyes will
only look at the floor.
She will see nothing.
It will be quick and
that will be kind.
(somber music)
I won't let you.
[Svetlana]
Prushka, be careful.
[Prushka] I mean it.
How will you stop me?
I will cut you, Prushka.
You're weak.
You're still bleeding,
you can hardly stand.
(groaning)
(ominous music)
You know, for someone who
wanted everyone to sit
and talk like old friends,
you seem determined to see
two dead women tonight,
are you sure you want
to join Anastasia?
Don't kill her, Lubov.
Just cut her a little.
I will fight you.
Ah.
I guess with Polina gone, we
need another scarred face!
(suspenseful music)
(whimpering)
(ominous music)
(thudding)
(groaning)
(Lubov crying)
So, you understand
the danger here?
Not to you, your
life has no meaning.
It's a fact.
The danger here is that
I must maintain my role,
my responsibility
to my men, to the integrity
of this institution,
and you threaten that
by your mere presence.
I am rather fond of Lubov.
I like her.
Much like a man likes a dog
but if even for one moment
I was to think of her as
a person,
life here would
become unbearable.
And you, (gun clicking)
you sit here,
your skin still
pink and healthy.
You are a person
still.
(knuckle crackling)
And that is unacceptable.
(ominous music)
So,
some music.
(pleasant instrumental music)
Hope you enjoy that
warm bunk while you can.
Might even get a
whole night in it.
You think you will
be better by tomorrow?
Tomorrow you'll be in
the fields with us.
Or scrubbing tubs
in the laundry,
holding your belly
while the blood
spills down your legs.
Without Yuri...
You better sleep
with one eye open.
I do not need you alive anymore.
Masha.
Put it down.
While Anastasia
lives, you do not exist.
You are nothing but a wounded
belly and bad memories.
So give me the knife.
[Masha] I already
have the warm bunk.
Only for now.
You give me the knife,
you can keep it.
[Masha] This is our trade?
- What about...
- Your made your deal.
We step back, she
brings us real meat.
(pleasant instrumental music)
For me to do my job, I must
ceaselessly guard against
sympathy, rapport, all of those
conditions that are human,
that make us human.
That's how I survive.
(pleasant instrumental music)
Do you even understand?
To remain human myself,
for my very survival,
I must act inhumanly.
Man's inhumanity to man is
nothing compared to man's
inhumanity to woman.
So,
you come to me in Lubov's place.
For what?
To engage in congress?
This will be an experience from
which you will not recover.
By design,
by careful considered
design of a man,
who, himself, is merely trying
to survive in a dark place.
Shall we begin?
[Anastasia] There
is another choice.
(instrumental music)
(record scratching)
(thudding)
(screaming)
(gunshot booming)
(groaning)
She won't even wake up.
She did nothing but help you.
She tried to usurp me.
It's only survival.
You say one word, I will
come for you in the night,
do you understand?
Yes.
You will be quiet?
Like a mouse.
(door clicking)
(footsteps thumping)
(water sloshing)
Are you going to sleep?
There's no shame in this place.
The walls, the guards, the dogs.
It's only survival.
You do what you have to.
You do what you have to.
Lubov.
What?
Tell Anastasia.
You know these things,
speak words of comfort.
Tell her.
I have no words for her.
That's because she too
must find a way to survive.
That is why all of us are here.
But if she could talk
she would tell you...
What?
That the skin can grow so
tough nothing penetrates.
Not the groping of men's hands.
Not the cutting of their whips.
Or that
there is a place
where men can not touch you.
A place where you
can remain inviolate,
so deep inside,
behind fences
dogs and guards.
Behind a thousand kalanchs.
(dramatic music)
Across the 87 miles
of frozen wasteland.
And there you can
stay for years.
Are these the words
she's looking for?
What would she tell you,
if she could cry out from
inside such a deep place?
I'm sorry!
(groaning)
(thudding)
Is that?
(ominous music)
(electric buzzing)
(women groaning)
(thudding)
(gun clicking)
- Back away!
You took his gun!
You stupid woman,
you took Yuri's gun!
[Anastasia] He wasn't using it.
What have you done?
Yuri is dead.
- No, no, no.
- He is dead.
They will shoot us.
They will shoot us in the head!
We won't be here.
You're crazy.
Where are the dogs?
Following Polina's
trail far from the camp.
Most of the guards
are with them.
I will run.
[Svetlana] Past the kalanch?
Under it, quietly
like you told me.
South to the river, the Sylva.
87 miles.
You'll never make it.
[Anastasia] The
best time to escape
is as soon as you are captured.
You'll freeze in the snow.
I'll take blankets
and I'll take Prushka.
What?
One persona may freeze,
two together, not so much.
Three, never.
We could survive the snow.
We escape together tonight.
Svetlana, can you run?
I can run.
Then we run, all of us.
Polina has thrown off the dogs.
We have a moment
while the guards' eyes
are turned elsewhere.
We can run if we run together.
You killed a guard.
I killed a pig.
Lubov, Yuri lies with his
brains steaming on the floor.
Will you run with us?
[Masha] How far will she get?
She can't walk!
I will get far enough!
[Masha] You will
die in the snow.
And you will die on your knees
with a bullet in the
back of your skull.
They find Yuri's body,
they come straight to us.
To us?
She's one of us?
She did this, her!
I know.
She makes the decision for us.
She's the only one who
had the choice to make.
We are prisoners.
You will go in the snow?
We are going!
And who is the avietchka?
Is it you, Prushka?
Svetlana?
Lubov?
You do not know.
She said Prushka
first, before any other.
She said Prushka.
But I know, I'm no
stupid chaynik, I know.
Lubov will fall, she's sick.
If you do not know who
the avietchka is, it is you.
You think I only
asked Prushka as a lamb?
[Masha] I thought you didn't
know what that word meant.
Avietchka.
A little lamb, the sacrifice.
Is it not obvious?
The one who escapes
only to make it halfway?
The chaynik who is told of a
great opportunity and takes it
only to discover the others
had their plans
for her all along.
The question is food.
And the answer is what
the answer always is,
we are animals and that in
the end we turn on each other.
Throw Lubov to the
men in the guard shack
like a scrap of meat
to the wolves, why not?
It's for survival.
Fight,
kill each other
over the warmth of a stove.
Of course it's for survival.
(dramatic music)
I refuse to survive.
But I will live.
Survival is all there is here.
You want to live, go.
Live in the cold, in the snow.
Live for one night
and freeze to death.
I will survive her
where I belong.
What did you do, Masha?
Why are you the only
one in this place
who deserves to be here?
You do not know?
You can not remember
what happened?
It is not for me to
remember, it is you, Masha.
You tell us why you are here.
I told you.
I loved my husband
even when he hit me.
I told you all my secrets.
Tell us.
You sent me to Yuri like a pimp.
You ate the food that I earned
even when it tasted
of his sweat.
Tell me.
Tell us, maybe then
you can come with us
and we leave nothing behind.
I stole an apple.
Tell us.
Think of it as a
matter of survival.
[Svetlana] Tell us.
We are murderers, you and I.
Don't you remember?
No, there was only
one, there was...
Only one.
You don't.
Who?
My son!
My beautiful boy!
He was five years old
with hair...
like straw.
His hair floating around
his beautiful face.
He floated away
and I never saw him.
How can you not remember this?
I killed my husband.
[Masha] I know.
And for that I go free.
For what I did, I stay here.
Anastasia?
Which one is the lamb?
In the cold, with no
food and miles to go.
Who will you sacrifice
for the others?
None of them.
You can not all survive.
I will not
sacrifice any of them.
Then yourself?
No.
I am no lamb.
(ominous music)
(footsteps crunching)
(rustling)
Who's there?
Lubov?
(rustling)
Svetlana?
(rustling)
Svetlana?
Is that you, Prushka?
Did you come all
this way with me?
(rustling)
I can not see you in the dark?
Why don't you speak?
Evgeny?
No.
No, I killed you,
you can't be him.
But you have his eyes.
How long have I been
running in the snow?
(somber music)
Has it been 87 miles yet?
You don't know me?
How could I not know my own son?
Ivan.
Let me look at you.
You've grown.
You...
No, you...
You can not be Ivan.
He was only a child.
[Ivan] I was five years
old when you killed Papa.
Five years old
with hair like,
like straw.
I had to shield you from him.
From becoming what he was.
That was your choice to make.
They sent me to Leningrad
to live with grandpapa.
I spent 12 years on his boat.
I'm a fisherman now.
12 years?
No.
I ran the first night.
I fought a guard, you
would've been proud.
I defended my honor.
We ran the first night
while my hands were soft.
Your hands are not soft.
No.
[Ivan] And they
have blood on them.
What have they done to my hands?
[Ivan] You served 12 years.
No one survives 12 years.
[Ivan] You survived,
you were in isolation.
(dramatic music)
[Svetlana] Here a
week can be a lifetime
and the night can drag
on for longer than that.
(groaning)
(door thudding)
You are in isolation.
That is why all of us are here.
She must find a way to survive.
[Prushka] She's more
than all of us together.
(whip cracking)
(groaning)
[Lubov] She will
be hard like Masha.
She will be cold and
careless like Svetlana.
She will be ripped
apart inside like...
[Masha] It's for survival.
Everything is.
(dramatic music)
[Svetlana] There are
places men can not touch.
Places so deep inside that
there you can stay for years.
What would you say
if you could cry out from
inside such a deep place.
[Lubov] I am sorry.
You said you would come back.
I never lost you.
(dramatic music)
Masha held you in her heart
when I was too
scared, too broken.
She was the one who could.
[Masha] His hair
floating in front of me.
So I never lost you.
I dreamt of you every night.
You never forgot me?
I'm your mother.
(steam hissing)
For what I've done, I go free.
(whistle blowing)
(train horn blowing)
(steam hissing)
(dramatic string music)
(dramatic string music)
(dramatic string music)