Gost' (1987)

According to some, Judas betrayed Christ
to force him to declare his divinity,
and thus cause a great
rebellion against the rule of Rome.
Well, I think that what
Judas did was superfluous.
Jesus preached
daily in the synagogue
and did miracles in front
of a lot of people.
There was no need for the betrayal of
an apostle to identify the teacher.
However, it happened.
Is it a mistake of the Holy Scriptures?
Or a simple casual event
in the most beautiful drama in the world?
No, there was no error.
Judas's betrayal was not accidental.
- Explain yourself.
- It was a predestined fact.
And it is related to redemption.
The word 'Jesus', by becoming flesh,
went from eternity to history.
He passed from the divinity without limits
to changeability and death.
A spoken word
crucified Christ.
To correspond to such a sacrifice,
It was necessary that a man,
on behalf of all men,
made an adequate sacrifice.
And it was Judas Iscariot,
alone among the apostles,
who intuited the secret divinity and
the terrible purpose of Christ.
Wait. Jesus did not need to use a
man to redeem all men.
He could count on considerable
resources offered by omnipotence.
And we do not know anything about the traitor.
Only in the Gospel of John is it said
that he was a thief and a greedy one.
Assign his crime to greed?
I do not think so, it's too simple.
Do not forget that he was an apostle.
Chosen to proclaim the kingdom of heaven.
To cure the diseases, clean
the lepers and resurrect the dead.
That's why I'm sure that
Greed was not the cause.
I suggest
another version of betrayal.
An extravagant
and unlimited asceticism.
The ascetic, for the greater glory of God,
degrade and mortify their flesh.
Judas did that with the spirit.
He renounced honor, good,
to peace, to the Kingdom of Heaven.
And why did not he
renounce his renouncement?
Why did not that man
renounce his renouncement?
With a terrible lucidity
he premeditated his offense.
Almost all sins
have dual nature.
In adultery there is usually love.
In murder, courage.
And in blasphemy,
a certain splendor.
Judas chose those
offenses for some virtue.
Abuse of trust and betrayal.
He acted with great humility.
He considered himself unworthy of being good.
Judas searched for hell because
he was satisfied with the happiness of the Lord.
I thought that happiness,
like the good,
is a divine attribute
and can not be usurped by man.
The water of the forest flows serene.
But we can be cruel or suffer.
It is a simple perversion or
exacerbation of the mental game. Nothing else.
I have not finished!
The fact is that God stooped to be
a man to redeem humanity.
His sacrifice was perfect. One that can not
be shrunk or invalidated by any omission.
But that sacrifice
was a great success.
After just 33 years passed among people
he won universal recognition.
In exchange for the agony of a single
night on the cross he got a lot of fame.
You're wrong. The crucifixion
of God has not stopped.
Everything that has happened once
is repeated over eternity.
Do you think that Judas continues to receive
the silver coins and kiss Jesus?
Continues tying
the hangman's rope?
Of course. And the word of God made
man, which is what Christ was,
it was not the fruit of a moment,
but an exact prophecy.
Did you say that Jesus
is just a word?
Now listen to the most important thing.
This is the third version
of the betrayal of Judas.
God became man completely.
And if he could feel tired,
cold, hungry and thirsty,
we should admit that he could also
sin and condemn his soul.
God became a man until he arrived
to infamy, to culpability.
To save us, he could have chosen
any of the destinations that weave
the uncertain cobweb of history.
He could have been Alexander the Great
or Pythagoras or Ririk or Jesus.
And he chose...
a sadly famous destination.
But, dear, if that is true,
You have unveiled a terrible secret.
The Latin writer, Valerio Sorano, died
for revealing the secret name of Rome.
What infinite punishment would be yours
for having discovered and divulged
the terrible name of God?
I refuse to listen to this!
We are on the edge of the abyss.
This building is collapsing!
I'm going to my farm. Come with me.
I can not.
THE GUES Based on the story by Jorge Luis Borges
'The gospel according to Mark'
Written and directed by
ALEXANDR KAYDANOVSKY
Holy Golden Age!
When there were neither laws nor officials.
And the people respected
justice by own wish.
They did not know fear
neither punishment nor judgments.
They did not read threatening sentences
in bronze plates.
The people lived in peace without courts.
Without knowing either Christ or the Antichrist.
They did not know
Judas or betrayals.
All the crimes were judged on
the basis of justice and trust.
That disappeared. The deceit, the betrayal
and the abuse came instead.
The war came. The hosts
could not believe their guests anymore.
And I am not saying this for you!
Come and help me!
Raise it up!
We have already arrived.
Watch out.
Scrub the stairs.
And polish them.
Place the sculptures.
Place the carpets.
Hang the pictures.
There has to be dust.
Do it tomorrow morning.
Now hurry up, we want to eat.
Make big dinner!
Better show me my room.
My head aches
and I prefer to rest.
Is it a goldfinch?
Do you need something, sir?
What's wrong? Are you feeling bad?
No, do not worry.
You look strange.
You have not recovered yet?
- Have you heard about that street?
- No. Where is it?
- Does not it remind you of something?
- No.
Why do you ask?
I have a stupid feeling.
A sensation or a desire.
I miss sites
where I have not been nor will I be.
Silly stuff. That means
that you are overworked.
You should rest. You can not repeat
your damned exams so many times.
- Excuse me, how old are you?
- 33
33!
When will you finally find
a job of your liking?
Please, have a drink.
I need to go to the city.
I have to review some documents.
The idiot of my foreman packed everything.
I'll fix it and I'll be back
within a week.
I would take you with me,
but the trip would be uncomfortable.
It's not worth being overwhelmed.
I have warned the butler and
will treat you as if you were the owner.
Rest and do your exercises.
By the way,
have you seen the foreman's cabin?
He has lived there with his son
and his daughter for many years. His wife...
Remove that tree from the table!
His wife died long ago.
They are good people,
but they are very stupid.
Once I asked the foreman when
he was born and he could not answer.
Imagine, you do not know your date
of birth or the name of your father.
I have my own
theory about that.
I think a lot of the stories
of the people about their past
are the result of false
memories or mixed data.
- Where are they from?
- Who knows?!
The foreman works here
since the beginning of the century.
Sometimes they use
words that I do not know.
If they had a language, they have forgotten it.
And they have not learned ours.
They have never been able to write.
They do not believe in God.
They do not have religious feasts.
They live in misery and
are very superstitious.
By the way, you should not
gallop near his cabin.
They get scared.
I do not know why.
And now, let's go for a walk.
- You ride horses?
- Yes.
The horses are ready. And remember:
do not gallop near the cabin.
I can not believe
that all this is mine
Here, apart from the pure air, and these
infinite trees, there is nothing special.
And not to mention women!
I've seen a tailcoat in your suitcase.
I assure you that here
you will not need it
I did not warn you
in the hotel not to scare you.
Here there is no more
than sheep and pigs.
My foreman has many.
Nature, my friend, is a
beautiful solitude hard to get.
A finch!
A bittern? They live here?
A goldfinch.
Sings beautifully.
Why are you stopping? Come on!
Your bathroom is ready, sir.
Do everything he asks you to do.
Bye!
Bye!
Come here!
Drink.
This is how it is written
in the book of the prophet Isaiah.
I send you my messenger.
He will prepare the way for you.
I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.
Make straight the way of the Lord.
People went out to him from all
of Jerusalem and the countryside of Judea.
Confessing their sins, they were
baptized by him in the Jordan River.
John wore clothing made of camel's hair,
with a leather belt around his waist,
and he ate locusts and wild honey.
And he began to proclaim:
After me will come One more powerful than I,
the straps of whose sandals
I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
I baptize you with water.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Your tea, sir.
Your tea, sir.
Serve yourselves.
Sir, can you read us
what you've read us yesterday?
Of course.
As soon as Jesus got out of the boat,
a man with an unclean spirit met Him.
He had been living in the tombs
and could no longer be restrained.
Though he was often bound with chains and shackles,
he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles.
Now no one had the strength to subdue him.
Night and day in the tombs
and in the mountains.
He kept crying out
and cutting himself with stones.
When the man saw Jesus from a distance,
he ran and fell on his knees before Him.
And he shouted in a loud voice
"What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?"
I beg You before God
not to torture me.
For Jesus had already declared,
"Come out of this man, you unclean spirit!"
"What is your name?"
Jesus asked.
My name is Legion, he replied,
for we are many"
And he begged Jesus repeatedly
not to send them out of that region.
There on the nearby hillside
a large herd of pigs was feeding.
Send us to the pigs,
so that we may enter them.
He gave them permission.
And the unclean spirits came out
and went into the pigs.
And the herd of about two thousand
rushed down the steep bank into the sea.
Bring a horse, please,
I want to ride a while.
Yes sir.
- Your tea, sir.
- Thank you.
Serve yourelves.
Early in the morning, the chief priests
and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan.
They bound Jesus, led Him away,
and handed Him over to Pilate.
So Pilate questioned Him,
Are You the King of the Jews?
You have said so,
Jesus replied.
And the chief priests began
to accuse Him of many things.
Then Pilate questioned Him again,
Do You not answer?"
But to Pilates amazement,
Jesus made no further reply.
It was Pilates custom at the feast
to release a prisoner of people's choosing.
And a man named Barabbas was imprisoned
who had committed murder during the insurrection.
Do you want me to release to you
the King of the Jews? Pilate asked.
But the chief priests stirred up
the crowd to have him release Barabbas.
So Pilate asked them again,
What then do you want me to do with the King of the Jews?
And they shouted back,
Crucify Him!
Why? asked Pilate.
What has He done wrong?
But they shouted all the louder,
Crucify Him!
And wishing to satisfy the crowd,
Pilate released Barabbas to them.
But he had Jesus flogged,
and handed Him over to be crucified.
Your name...
I do not even know your name.
Your name...
Sir, is it true that Jesus
died to redeem men?
Yes, to save them from hell.
And what is hell?
It is an underground place where
the souls burn eternally.
And those who crucified him...
were they saved too?
Yes.
Read us how it ends.
Then the soldiers led Jesus into the palace
and called the whole company together.
They dressed Him in a purple robe
and set a crown of thorns on His head.
And they began to salute Him:
Hail, King of the Jews!
They kept striking His head with a staff
and spitting on Him.
And they knelt down
and bowed before Him.
After they had mocked Him,
they removed the purple robe.
They put His own clothes on Him
and led Him out to crucify Him.
The water is going down.
Almost there.
Almost there.
Give us your blessing, sir.