1
-[shovel scraping]
-[Jamie breathing heavily and grunting]
[thunder rumbling]
[Henry] You better get a hurry along.
We ain't gonna make it.
Oh, we will. We have to.
[thunder rumbling]
-[sighs]
-Take a break. Come on.
My turn.
[thunder rumbling]
[Jamie] "We will. We have to."
That was my brother, Henry.
Absolutely certain
whatever he wanted to happen would.
The weather would dry out in time
to resow the cotton.
[thunder cracking]
We would get this hole dug
before the storm hit.
[Henry grunts] God damn it!
-Jesus Christ!
-What is it?
It's a slave's grave.
[Jamie] How do you know that?
[Henry pants] Shot in the head.
Must've been a runaway.
[sighs]
Well, that settles it. [sighs]
Settles what?
I ain't burying my father
in no slave's grave.
Nothing he would've hated more.
Help me up. [panting]
[thunder rumbling]
We ain't got a choice.
[thunder cracking]
[Jamie grunting]
[Henry] That's it, brother! Come on!
-[Jamie] Huh?
-[Henry] That's it!
Get you out of there!
[thunder cracking]
-Come on!
-[Jamie grunts]
-[Henry] Come on.
-[both grunting]
[Jamie] God damn it!
-[Henry] Come on, Jamie. Hang on!
-No.
[Henry] I'm gonna fetch a ladder!
-Huh?
-[thunder rumbling]
Henry!
[pants]
[grunting]
[gags] Henry!
Henry!
Henry!
[panting and grunting]
-Henry, where are you?
-Right here! I'm here!
[Jamie] That was my brother Henry.
Absolutely certain
whatever he wanted to happen would.
And his little brother...
[Henry] Jamie.
[Jamie] ...would never betray him.
Come on. Come here. Come on.
What's the matter with you? Huh?
I thought you were...
gonna leave me down there!
Come on. Why would I do that?
Why would I do that?
[panting]
[thunder cracking]
[Laura]
When I think of the farm, I think of mud.
Encrusting knees and hair.
Marching in boot-shaped patches
across the floor.
I dreamed in brown.
[Jamie] All right. Come on, lift it up.
-[Henry] Come on.
-You know, just get... Come on! [grunts]
-Hang on. Just let it... Hang on.
-[Henry] Hold on.
-Lift it, Jamie. Lift it.
-Just get a little more...
Just stop, okay? Let's set it down.
Why don't we just run the ropes
lengthwise? We stand at either end.
No, the coffin's too narrow.
If it falls again, it might break.
-Well, we can try.
-No!
-Hap!
-Henry.
-[Henry] Hap!
-[Laura] Henry, don't.
-It ain't my fault what happened.
-[Hap] Whoa.
-I warned that boy. Warned both of 'em.
-[Laura] Just let 'em go.
[Henry] Hap!
Hap, can you hold on?
Can you lend us a hand, Hap?
Need to get that coffin in the ground.
Hap?
[Laura] I was a 31-year-old virgin
when I met Henry McAllan
in the spring of 1939.
[indistinct chatter]
I lived with my parents
in the house I grew up in.
My world was small,
and he was my rescuer
from a life in the margins.
[Laura's mother] Oh, really? He tells me
that, uh, you are actually a college man.
[Henry] Engineering.
-An engineering degree from Ole Miss.
-[Henry] Yes.
Did you hear that, Laura?
An engineering degree from Ole Miss.
My, my, my.
You know, Laura is a college graduate.
She got her teaching certificate from
West Tennessee State. We're very proud.
Mm-hmm. My dear sister's
the smartest one in the family.
Made better grades than I ever did.
Never heard the end of it.
[Laura's mother] She is smart.
Laura, you should, uh,
play the piano for us after dinner.
Hmm?
You should hear her sing.
She sings like an angel.
Yeah, you should play something
for Mr. McAllan later.
-Mama. Mama.
-"Ave Maria." That's my favorite.
-You will love that. It's so beautiful.
-Mama.
What?
I'm quite sure that Teddy did not bring
his new boss, Mr. McAllan,
over to hear hymns.
Well, why don't we just ask him.
-Mr. McAllan?
-[Henry] Mm-hmm?
Would you like to hear some music
after dinner?
I like hymns.
[Teddy] He likes hymns.
[Laura] I was unused to male admiration
and knew only that I wanted more.
It was at least a reprieve
from the sincere pity
and insincere kindness
directed at old maids.
-[Henry] Right.
-[Laura] So...
He didn't feel the need
to fill the air with words like I did.
He had the self-confidence I lacked.
-[Henry] That's it?
-Uh-huh.
[Henry] Well...
I can't say
I was truly in love with him then...
but I was so grateful to him,
it dwarfed everything else.
My brother Jamie's coming up
from Oxford next weekend.
I'd like for him to meet you.
[indistinct announcement on PA]
[Henry] There he is, right there.
Brother! Brother!
[laughing]
-[sighs] You look good, brother.
-Likewise.
The air up here in Memphis
agrees with you.
Or is it something else?
Miss Chappell,
this here is my brother, Jamie.
-Pleased to meet you.
-Pleasure's all mine.
Oh, he thinks he's one of them characters
in his plays.
Yes, but which play is it, dear brother?
Hamlet? Faust? Prince Hal?
One of them fellas that could earn you
a decent wage someday.
What do you think, Miss Chappell?
[chuckles]
I think you're more of a Puck.
-[stammers] Who's Puck?
-"Lord, what fools these mortals be."
Puck's a kind of mischievous sprite.
He's a hobgoblin.
Forgive me, brother.
I'm only trying to impress her.
Oh, you'll find Miss Laura is not
the impressionable type.
-Shall we?
-[Jamie] We shall.
[Henry] I went ahead and told Pappy
you were here today.
[swing music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[Laura] Uh-huh.
I wanna hear. I wanna hear.
[Jamie] Next thing I knew,
I was sucked under,
concussed and bleeding,
and I was as good as gone,
another victim of the Great Flood of '27.
-I can't believe you never told me this.
-There's more.
Then what happened?
Well, I saw a shimmering light,
-like a falling star.
-[Henry] "Shimmering."
And a great big hand reached out of it
and I thought it was God himself
come to take me.
But it wasn't.
It was my dear big brother, Henry.
-You saved his life. You're a hero.
-Indeed, he is.
Well, what was I supposed to do, huh?
Let him drown?
Here's to the future,
whatever it may hold.
May you be blessed
with happiness, health, prosperity,
and if she'll have you,
a house full of children.
My love to you both.
-[music stops playing]
-[crowd applauding]
[Laura chuckles] Bubbly.
[slow music playing]
Would you mind terribly
if I had a dance with your girl?
[sighs]
Miss Chappell, care to take a spin?
I'd be delighted.
[Laura] Jamie saw in a different way.
And when his eyes were on me,
I felt like I was no longer invisible.
[laughs]
[chuckles softly]
-[music stops playing]
-[crowd applauding]
[band member] Thanks a lot, guys.
-I'll be back.
-[Henry] Absolutely.
[swing music playing]
You look especially pretty tonight.
[chuckles] Thank you.
Jamie has that effect on girls.
They sparkle for him.
He likes you. I can tell.
I'm sure he doesn't dislike anyone.
Well, at least not anyone in a skirt,
anyways. [chuckles]
[Laura] Henry's marriage proposal
didn't play out like I pictured it would.
He wasn't kneeling and the question
came out as more of a statement.
Henry wasn't a romantic.
He was made of sturdier stuff.
[speaks indistinctly]
[sighs]
-[Laura shrieks]
-[Henry laughing]
-Yeah?
-Yeah.
[Laura] I loved domestic life.
Yielding to Henry
and waiting for him to come home to me
was what I'd been put on Earth to do.
And when Amanda Leigh was born,
I became hers completely.
Then came the day that changed everything.
Forever.
-[Amanda cooing]
-[gasps]
[President Roosevelt on radio]
December 7th, 1941,
a date which will live in infamy.
The United States of America...
was suddenly and deliberately attacked...
by naval and air forces
of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace
with that nation,
and at the solicitation of Japan...
[Ronsel] Daddy borrowed Mr. Robert
and 'nem truck to take me.
That's what I remember most.
The first things and the last things...
they always stick the hardest.
Thank you.
We'll be praying for you.
All right.
[Lilly] Don't forget about us.
Oh, I won't.
I won't. Okay?
[Marlon] You take care.
I will.
Y'all pitch in good around here, yeah?
Help your mother, now.
-All right?
-[Ruel] We will.
Keep them no 'count boys off Lilly May.
Don't let her get old so fast.
[all chuckle]
-You just come back.
-I will.
You come all the way back. You hear?
[mutters]
-I love you, Mama.
-I love you, too, baby.
Thank you.
[engine starting]
[Florence] I can't look back.
I didn't look back.
They say it's bad luck
to watch somebody leave.
I held his heartbeat in my hand.
I remember every beat.
He was warm and alive.
I know every place in him...
and it was all I could do
to not look back.
No, I don't have favorites.
I love them all equally.
Every mother does.
[all singing gospel]
[Florence]
But during all those four years...
all that time he was gone...
I only prayed for him.
God will forgive me.
[Hap] Come on, now.
Dig that hole in there.
[grunting]
[panting]
Come on, Ruel. Let's go. Come on.
Keep going.
Supper's gonna be ready when we get in.
[Hap] What good is a deed?
My grandfathers and great uncles,
grandmothers and great aunts,
father and mother,
broke, tilled, thawed,
planted, plucked, raised,
burned, broke again.
Worked this land all their life,
this land that never would be theirs.
They worked until they sweated.
They sweated until they bled.
They bled until they died.
Died with the dirt of this same 200 acres
under their fingernails.
Died clawing at the hard, brown back
that would never be theirs.
All their deeds undone.
Yet this man, this place, this law...
say you need a deed. Not deeds.
Calvin Augustus got his land here...
and then Bud Leo bought land here.
Now I figure
there's a couple acres right here.
If only fences can be put up with lead.
They get taken down with lead
all the time.
Won't be too much longer, Papa, will it?
Around this time next year,
I'm gonna have me
about 50 acres of cotton,
50 acres of oats, 50 acres of rice.
Fool, rice don't grow here.
[Hap] Never call your brother a fool.
[Ruel] I'm gonna grow some anyway.
That's why I'm not gonna be no farmer.
I'm gonna be a stenographer.
-A ste... what?
-It's kind of like a typist.
-They don't allow no colored typists.
-Your sister will be the first.
[Henry grunting]
[Laura sighs]
[Henry panting]
Honey, by the way...
I bought a farm in Mississippi.
And we'll be moving there
in three weeks' time.
It's 40 miles south of Greenville.
Big old...
porch, fig tree...
Girls are gonna love the four bedrooms.
But we love this house.
But now they get their own room each
and Pappy gets his own space.
Pappy?
Honey, now Mama's gone,
we gotta look after him.
We got 200 acres of fertile land.
Imagine that.
-You're mighty quiet.
-I'm mighty surprised.
[grunts] You always knew
I wanted my own farm someday.
-No.
-I told ya.
Henry, I had no idea.
-I'm--
-I would have remembered that.
[exhales]
Well, I'm telling you now.
You're gonna love it.
You will. Wait and see.
Hmm?
[Henry] Honey.
[Laura and girls singing]
Sweet hour of prayer
That calls me from this world of care
Sweet hour of prayer
Sweet hour of prayer
That calls me from this world of care
Sweet hour of prayer
[girls giggling]
[Henry] Huh?
-[Isabelle] I like the porch a lot.
-[Amanda] Yeah.
[Henry] Huh?
Yeah? Who's gonna get which room?
Come on, come on. Come on. You, too.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You wait up there, huh?
You're gonna get the best room
for yourself, huh?
Is that it, huh? [laughs]
Huh?
[softly] What's 'round the back
over there?
There should be a key right under the mat.
-Go on. Get it. Get it.
-[Orris] Who the hell are you?
We're the McAllans.
New tenants of this house. Who are you?
Orris Stokes.
I'm the new owner of this house.
Well, I rented this place off
of George Suddeth just three weeks ago.
Suddeth sold me this house last week.
He didn't say nothing about no renters.
Well, looks like I'm gonna have
to refresh his memory, huh?
-He left town three days ago.
-I gave him a $100 deposit.
-You get anything in writing?
-No, Pappy, I shook on the deal.
I gave him $100, cash,
right there in the front room.
Had dinner with him and his wife. I did.
I showed him--
-Y'all best be getting on.
-I showed him pictures of my little--
You got swindled, boy. Damn fool.
You damn fool.
Never thought a son of mine would be
so damn stupid.
Come on, we can stay on the farm.
There's a house there.
We're gonna stay on the farm.
We can make it work. Come on.
[Pappy] Out there with the niggers
and the farmhands?
There's no place in town big enough
for all of us, Pappy.
Believe me, I checked.
Huh? Come on, sugar.
[horn honking]
[Henry] Honey! This is it!
This is our land, honey!
[whooping]
[children laughing]
[Hap]
One of my great uncles, Uncle Willie,
got ahold of a piece of land
down Reconstruction.
He had a deed.
Four white men on horses rode up one day,
aimed a pistol...
said he was dead.
My uncle's good deed,
torn into 40 pieces
and thrown to the wind.
And so I ask, what good is a deed?
That mule made me a share tenant,
not a sharecropper.
And had me dreaming
about having my own piece of land.
Maybe that's where the problem started.
[Ruel]
You'll be coming to us for all your food.
We're gonna be getting
all your stenographer money.
Nuh-uh.
'Cause I'mma be in California or Chicago,
where all the good colored jobs at.
-War gonna be over by then.
-No, it won't.
[cutlery clatters]
-But Ronsel might be home early.
-I don't want him home early.
-Early means--
-He ain't coming back early.
Y'all finish up.
Get these dishes rinsed off before bed.
[banging on door]
[banging continues]
Howdy.
Evenin', mister.
McAllan. Henry... Henry McAllan.
-You're Hap Jackson.
-Yes, sir.
My family and I, we just arrived.
I'll need your help to unload.
-So you're the new owner?
-I am.
Thought y'all weren't comin'
until next week.
Need to get unloaded,
get a fire on before it gets dark.
-Okay?
-[Hap] Yes, sir.
Evenin'.
Then tell him to walk.
It's too far, and we don't have time.
It's getting late in the day.
I ain't movin' for no nigger.
[Henry] He can't ride with Laura
and the girls alone so...
There's no room in the back of truck.
Pappy, please.
[Hap] Mr. McAllan was from Memphis,
and my guess was
he ain't know the eating end of a mule
from the crappin' end.
Told me he intended to bring in
one of them infernal tractors.
Imagine that.
Using a machine to work his land
instead of the hands the Lord gave 'em.
-[Isabelle chuckles]
-[Henry] Huh? Gonna do some fishin'.
-You all right, Mrs. McAllan?
-[thunder rumbling]
[Laura] Fine. Thank you.
You better get him to fix them shutters
or we're gonna freeze to death.
[Henry] We gotta get that truck unloaded
before that rain comes down.
Just leave it right here.
[pants]
You relax yourself there, Pappy.
We'll take it.
Girls are done in. I need their blankets.
[Henry] All right.
There has to be some in here somewhere.
All right, girls, come on.
-[Laura] Just stack 'em in the corner.
-Yes, ma'am.
[chuckles]
"A Tale of Two Cities.
Wuthering..."
You can read?
My son Ronsel taught me.
He gonna be fightin' under General Patton.
You mean diggin' ditches
and peelin' potatoes?
No, sir, he a tank commander.
Oh, there's no way the army's gonna
turn a tank worth thousands of dollars
over to a nigger.
Now my son Jamie,
now there's a fighting man.
-He's flying bombers.
-[chuckles softly]
Uh, my son's a sergeant. 761st Battalion.
Calls 'em the Black Panthers.
Hey. [chuckles]
Boy.
You know what they call a nigger
with stripes?
A raccoon. [laughing]
[Henry]
Honey, where you wanna put this piano?
[sighs] Let me get the girls to bed first.
Ain't no room for that piano.
Where am I gonna sleep?
We'll have to put you in the lean-to.
[Pappy] I ain't sleepin' out there.
-It don't even have a floor.
-[sighs] Henry, please.
-There's no room.
-[Pappy] Get rid of that piano,
we can put a bed right there.
Put a curtain around it.
It's true, we could.
I don't want a bedroom
in the living room.
She puttin' me out.
-We're not puttin' you out.
-Henry, may I speak to you in private?
-Honey! Not puttin' you out.
-Henry.
When you told me that you were bringin' me
to this godforsaken place,
I barely said a word.
When you informed me he was comin'
to live with us, I went along.
And when Orris Stokes told you
you'd been fleeced by that man you rented
the house from, I kept my mouth shut.
But I am tellin' you now,
we are not gettin' rid of that piano.
It's the one civilized thing
in this place.
So your father can either sleep
in the lean-to or in the bed with you,
because I'm not stayin' here
without my piano.
You know what? You're overtired.
No, I'm not.
-God damn it!
-[rain falling]
[sighs]
[Henry] My great-great-granddaddy
and his slaves built the farm
that I grew up on.
One time, my granddaddy told me to go out,
grab a handful of dirt from the yard
and bring it in.
He said, "What are you holdin', son?"
And I said, "Dirt."
"That's right. Now give it to me."
So I did, and he says,
"Now what's this I've got in my hand?"
"Dirt," I says.
"No, boy, this is land that I've gotten.
Do you know why?
Because I own it. Because it's mine.
And one day, it'll be yours."
Except that land never became mine.
No, Pappy sold it after the flood.
He told people
that the river wiped him out.
But that was just a lie.
He walked away from that land gladly.
The army made Jamie a bomber pilot.
It was my fault that he's up there.
I made him promise
if he ever had to be a soldier,
he would get up to the sky.
They say battle is cleaner up there.
-[plane engine roaring]
-[Jamie] It all looks clear.
[Roger] Adam's on the left.
[Jamie] He sure is.
[Roger] All right.
Missed my daughter's birthday.
She's not too happy about that.
We'll get back soon.
I'll get you back safe, Rog.
All right, I'll hold you to that.
You got your pinup girl. I got mine.
Yeah, but mine's from a magazine.
[both laughing]
[soldiers chattering]
[Ronsel] Dear family...
I'm writing you
from a village in Belgium called Tillet.
Belgium is a country just north of France,
and it's beautiful.
Daddy would like it around here.
There's lots of farms.
-What's this?
-[laughing]
-[Cleve] "Come out fighting"?
-[Weeks] Yeah, man.
[Ronsel] Of course,
by the time you get this,
I'll probably be long gone from here.
We always seem to be on the move.
-[sergeant] Man all guns!
-On me!
[officer] Move out! Let's go!
[sergeant] Come on! Roll out! Roll out!
-[officer] These people ready to go?
-[sergeant] Let's move!
[Henry] Did you shoot your horse?
-What kind of man shoots his horse, Carl?
-Someone--
-Can't even get his feeding on time.
-My horse ate my tobacco!
-It's my property!
-Carl, I've heard enough, okay?
I don't wanna hear no more!
Okay? If you can't do your job,
I can't keep you on!
-Henry, no.
-Now, you know that!
Henry. Henry, I got--
Please. I got Vera and the girls
and I got one on the way!
-I mean--
-Man, I got--
I got a wife. I got kids, Carl.
-[Carl] I don't got anyplace else to go.
-I got a wife. I got kids, okay?
I'm runnin' a farm, not a charity.
-You got till the end of the week!
-Please!
[Henry] The end of the week.
Then I want you gone!
[horse grunting]
[gunshot]
[Laura] Violence is part and parcel
of country life.
You're forever being assailed
by dead things.
Dead mice, dead rabbits, dead possums.
You find them in the yard.
You smell them rottin' under the house.
And then there are the creatures
you kill for food.
Chickens, hogs, deer, frogs, squirrels.
Pluck, skin, disembowel, debone, fry.
Eat, start again, kill.
I learned how to stitch up
a bleeding wound...
load and fire a shotgun...
reach into the womb of a heavin' sow
to deliver a breeched piglet.
My hands did these things...
but I was never easy in my mind.
Howdy, Mrs. McAllan.
Hello, Miss...
Vera. You can call me Vera.
Hello, Vera.
This here's one of my daughters, Alma.
We need to talk to you.
You can't put us off.
Excuse me?
We ain't got nowhere to go
if you put us out.
Ain't nobody gonna hire us this late
in the season.
It's not up to me, Vera.
It's up to my husband.
I'm asking you to keep us on.
I'm tellin' you it's not my decision.
And if it was?
[object clatters]
[Vera] Alma.
-[church bell tolling]
-[indistinct chatter]
[Ronsel] Dear family...
The locals treat us real nice.
They ain't like the white folks back home.
I get homesick.
And they do all they can
to make us feel right at home.
I'm mighty grateful for that.
Ronsel.
[giggles]
-[Henry hammering]
-[Pappy] Henry!
Henry!
-What?
-Henry, your wife wants you.
Isabelle's sick and the other one's
comin' down with it, too.
-[Isabelle coughing]
-[Henry] I'm comin'!
It's whooping cough. Go get the doctor.
And tell your father
to put water on to boil.
Henry, go!
Go!
[girls coughing]
[thunder rumbling]
[Hap]
"I wish you were all there to see it.
Her dress was so glitty... glittery.
Even the white GI's couldn't
take their eyes off her.
Tell Lilly May
even the great Lena Horne hasn't got
half the voice she does. [chuckles]
Make sure Ruel stays practicing
his fastball. [chuckles]
Tell Marlon
I tried to save him some snow,
but it melted.
So I'll be bringin' him
a glass of water instead." [chuckles]
-All right.
-[all chuckling]
"And..."
[banging on door]
-[Henry] Hap!
-Comin', sir!
Hap, I need your wife. I need Florence.
My girls are comin' down sick
with a whooping cough,
and I can't get to town on account
of the bridge been washed out.
I remember you said she was a midwife.
-My wife ain't no doctor, sir.
-I realize that, Hap,
but my wife needs some help
and I thought--
-When did they start the whooping?
-Isabelle started a couple of days ago
and Amanda Leigh started coughing
a few hours back.
They still catching.
She can get you some remedies to take,
but she can't go with you, sir.
I can pay you.
I won't be able to come home
for about three or four days.
-Who's gonna look after my own family?
-Please.
My wife is afraid.
[Florence] I didn't have the luxury
of only lovin' my own children.
My own mother, I remember being blue.
Blue from the dark of the mornin'.
When the moon would still be up,
she kissin' me and my sisters
on the eyelids,
us pretendin' to be asleep.
She goin' off to work...
to wake and kiss some other woman's
children in the sunlight.
I swore that my own children would have
all of me.
-[Henry] Mind your step.
-[Isabelle coughing]
-This is Florence.
-[Laura] Who's this?
She's a midwife.
-Do you see anybody giving birth here?
-The bridge is washed out.
-She might be able to help.
-The girls need a doctor--
Damn bridge is flooded.
-What do you want me to do?
-Take her.
[Henry sighs]
[wheezing and coughing continues]
I've seen this with my own children.
-We gotta get liquid down 'em.
-[Isabelle crying]
But first we gotta clear out
some of this phlegm.
And that's real good
you makin' that steam for 'em.
Mr. McAllan, would you kindly boil
some more water, sir.
[Isabelle crying] I want Mama!
[Florence] That'll draw the phlegm
right out of them.
I should've taken them to the doctor
as soon as they started coughing.
If anything happens... [sniffles]
[Florence] Now I know
what my mother must've known.
Your girls are gonna be just fine.
Okay.
[Florence] That if something had ever
happened to that other woman's children,
that would have been the end of us.
Now I know that she left us
not just out of duty...
-but out of love.
-[Pappy] I'm thirsty.
Do you hear me, gal? I want some damn--
-You put that knife up to me...
-[Florence] Now I know...
-...I will slap the piss out of you.
-...that love is a kind of survival.
[Jamie] We're taking hits.
What's going on back there?
[gunner] I have visual. I have visual.
Bring it around. Bring it around.
[Roger] They took out the tail gunner!
[guns firing]
[Jamie] Take it down!
[Jamie and Roger grunting]
[gunner] I need some altitude.
[Jamie] Grab a left! Grab a left!
Pull it up!
[gunner] Here we go, Captain!
[gunshots]
[Jamie] Roger! Hey, hey! Roger!
[gunner] We broke formation!
[Jamie] Roger, come on!
Front gunner, are you up there?
[gunner] I'm still with you!
I got him! I got him!
-We got some coming on the left!
-[gunner] I see 'em!
[shouts] Cover me! Cover me!
[panting]
Oh, no!
[echoing] No!
[Amanda] Mama?
[Florence] Mornin'.
Glad to see you feelin' better.
[Florence chattering]
[Laura] Well, we have
some good news for ya.
We'd like to offer you a job.
Workin' here for me.
I'll need help with the girls.
Cookin', cleanin', that sort of thing.
It means extra money
for you and your family.
[Hap] We don't belong to them.
We pay rent, work our crops for us.
That's it.
They can't just pick us up,
set us down like we tools.
You're the one
always talkin' about saving,
how owning our own parcel the only way
to get out from under their foot.
-We right there.
-I don't want you workin' for them.
I won't be workin' for them.
I'd be workin' for us.
I already said yes.
"For the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church."
"An excellent wife, who can find?
She's more precious than jewels.
Her husband trust in her,
and he will have no lack of gain."
All those Sundays.
-You really are listenin', huh?
-Yes.
And now you must listen to me.
[sighs]
"In my father's house are many mansions.
I know that to be so.
If it wasn't so, I would've told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
That where I am, ye may be also."
[all agreeing]
[Hap] I know that brings me comfort.
It brings me comfort to know that...
one day, my getting up gonna be
just a little bit easier
than it was the day before.
[all agreeing]
[Hap] One mornin'...
my children ain't gonna wake up
to this place.
They gonna open their eyes up
on a new sky.
One mornin', we're gonna break this boot
from 'round our neck
and shake these chains
from 'rounds our feets.
-One mornin'.
-[all agreeing]
And I ain't talkin' about the hereafter.
I'm talkin' about the right now.
[woman] Right now!
-One mornin'!
-[all] One mornin'!
I said...
One mornin' soon
[all] Oh, one mornin' soon
One mornin' soon
I heard angels singing
All... all around my head
All around my head
All... all around my head
I heard the angels singing
Oh, just before day
Oh, just before day
Oh, just before day
I heard the angels singing
Oh, down on my knees
Oh, down on my knees
[Ronsel] Fire!
Fire!
[explosion]
-Nice shot, baby! Nice shot!
-[Weeks laughs]
Out of the tank! Out of the tank!
Out, out, out!
Out of the tank! Out of the tank!
[Hap yells and groans]
[Ruel] Dad! Dad!
[groaning]
-I got you!
-[Cleve grunts]
Move! Move! Move! Get down!
I need a medic! I need a medic!
[panting]
[panting and grunting]
[Hap] Lingered along. Lingered along.
[grunts]
Laid in that bed knowing
my wife out doin' my work for me.
Florence's hands all blistered up.
And I seen her rubbin' her back
when she thought I wasn't lookin'.
[thunder rumbling]
[Hap] The rain came that next day.
A big, hard rain that packed the fields
tight as wax.
Nothin' we could do.
Sat there, watchin' and frettin'
for two days till it finally cleared up.
[tractor approaching]
[sighs]
[Henry] Hap, you in there?
Yes, sir.
-How you feelin'?
-Gettin' better by the day, sir.
Well, you look like
you know what you're doing there.
Family tradition.
How much longer you reckon
you're gonna be laid up for?
Oh, well, Doc Turpin says six weeks.
It's already been four.
I bet I'll be out there by Monday.
-Monday, you reckon? Well...
-Yes, sir.
[stammers] I'll come to it. I don't...
I don't think you're gonna get everythin'
in the ground on time.
You're cuttin' it close.
[sighs] Florence and the boys are
out there workin' double time, sir.
And you know field needs to be rebroke
'cause of that rain.
Mmm, don't I know it? Yeah,
wish we could control the rain. [chuckles]
[exhales] Y'all ought to be
well into plantin' by now,
and you haven't even
gotten your fields laid by.
Can't afford to wait any longer, Hap.
You're a farmer. You understand that.
Yes, sir.
Of course, if you had a mule...
you'd be done in no time.
-We lost that mule to lockjaw, sir.
-I know.
Florence and the boys out there--
You're gonna have to rent one
of my mules, Hap.
You'll go on half shares
till you pay it off.
Send one of your boys around after dinner
to fetch that mule.
Yes, sir.
[tractor engine starting]
[breathing heavily]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
-[bone cracking]
-[yelps]
[yelling]
[panting]
[men chattering]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
[retching]
[sighs]
[coughing]
[Henry] Honey, by the way,
I forgot to tell ya.
Florence ain't gonna be able
to work with us for a while.
What do you mean
Florence isn't comin' back?
Well, not till the end of July, anyways.
Until we get the seed in the ground.
-Where's Hap?
-Hap broke his leg. I told ya.
-No.
-I did.
-You didn't, Henry.
-I did.
I need help with the girls.
Can't you lend them a mule--
No, I can't lend him a mule.
You don't just lend somebody a mule.
Why don't I just give 'em the whole farm
while I'm at it?
I mean, if they can't get the seed
in the ground in time,
they need to rent one of ours,
and they can pay us a half share for it.
It's tough on them, but it's good for us.
Hap hurt himself working for us.
No, Laura, Hap Jackson hurt himself
workin' for Hap Jackson.
-Farming's a business.
-I just think--
You just think. Well, I just sank
everything we have into this farm.
Everything.
We need to make some money this year,
or our family's in trouble.
Now, do you understand that?
Do you?
Yes, Henry.
All right, then. Hmm? Come on.
[Laura] 8-30-62.
The date the Confederate forces crushed
the Union army in the Battle of Richmond.
I don't think he knew
that I knew the combination.
[knocking on door]
-Hello. Mrs. Jackson?
-Yes?
I'm Dr. Pearlman.
I'm here to treat your husband.
Oh, thank you. Come in.
[Florence] If you'd asked me before then,
I'd have told you
all white folks was the same.
[Hap breathing heavily]
[shuddering]
[Laura] Henry stayed mad at me...
and he showed it by ignoring me
in our bed.
I hadn't always enjoyed
Henry's lovemaking,
but it made me feel like a true wife.
[Henry grunts]
[Laura] I never thought of refusin' him.
How could he refuse me?
[man and woman moaning]
[Harry Truman on radio]
This is a solemn but glorious hour.
General Eisenhower informs me...
that the forces of Germany
have surrendered to the United Nations.
The flags of freedom fly all over Europe.
For this victory,
we join in offering our thanks
to the providence
which has guided and sustained us...
[soldiers cheering]
[horns honking]
-[soldier 1] Hitler is dead!
-[soldier 2] War is over!
[all yelling indistinctly]
[soldier 3] Hitler's dead!
[in German] This is over, yes?
[Ronsel sighs]
[soldier 4] War is over!
[soldiers cheering]
Boom!
We're in enemy territory.
We're in enemy territory.
You dead, cracker, you dead!
[imitates tank sounds]
We're runnin' over 'em.
Watch your right, gunner.
Bang!
You dead.
[Laura]
Saturday was my favorite day of the week.
It was the only day I felt truly clean.
-[Isabelle] Am I sitting down?
-[Laura] Yes. Sit down.
The rest of the time, we stank.
Mama, somebody's coming!
-Uncle Jamie!
-[Isabelle] Uncle Jamie!
[Jamie] Now come give
your Uncle Jamie a hug.
-[Jamie] Who's that?
-[yelling]
[Jamie] Is that my little Amanda doll?
-And who is this? My little Bella.
-[Henry] Jamie!
-Oh! Give your Uncle Jamie a hug!
-Jamie! Whoo-hoo-hoo!
-[Jamie] You have grown so big!
-Whoo-hoo! Jamie! [chuckling]
-Now, who's that? [grunts]
-[laughing] Oh!
Come on, girls.
You look good, brother.
You look like hell.
-Don't sugarcoat it now.
-"Don't sugarcoat it." Come on!
Huh?
-[girls giggling]
-You see him in his uniform?
[Jamie] Oh, my sweet sister-in-law.
-Welcome home, Jamie.
-[Henry] Come here.
-[Laura chuckles] All right.
-[Henry] You gonna see what he's got? Huh?
How you enjoyin' it here
in Henry's version of paradise?
[both laugh]
You'd think a son would see fit
to say hello to his own father.
[Jamie] Oh, dearest Pappy.
God, how much I missed you.
He's missed you, too,
though he won't admit it.
Yeah. Well, I bet he's quit chewing chaw
and joined the NAACP, too.
-[spits]
-[Henry laughing]
Come on,
I can't believe you walked out here!
Well...
I didn't wanna bother you guys.
It's, uh...
[Jamie laughing]
That's the last thing that she said.
Boy!
-[all laughing]
-Oh, Lord!
Oh, boy.
So, what's it like being a big war hero?
-Shit, I wouldn't know. [laughs]
-[Pappy] No, don't give me that.
Army wrote me letters
about your fancy medals.
Said it was the highest honor
an airman could achieve.
-[Henry] They did?
-Well...
I was lucky.
-Other men weren't.
-[Pappy] Yeah. Well...
I bet you got plenty of tail
out if it, too.
Oh, Jamie never needed medals
to get girls, Pappy.
[Pappy] Mmm?
-Take after me that way.
-[Henry] Hmm.
Your mama was the prettiest girl
in Greenville.
And I had 'em all sniffing up after me.
[chuckling]
Yeah. I'll tell you one thing for sure.
You had to kill a whole lot of Krauts
to get them medals.
How many did you take out, you reckon?
Fifty? Fifty? A hundred?
-Oh, I don't know.
-[Pappy] Well, take a guess.
I don't know.
What... What's the matter?
Man ought to know
how many men he's killed.
Well...
I'll tell you one thing.
It was more than one.
Well, son...
at least I looked my one in the eye
before I shot him.
Not like dropping bombs
from a mile up in the air.
[Henry] Pappy.
-Pappy, come on.
-[Pappy] To hell with him.
[Henry] Why'd you have to go and do that?
Hmm?
He's just proud of you.
-That's all.
-[Jamie] Mmm.
-Yeah.
-Got a point, though.
We should hit the hay.
You'll be okay on the couch?
[Jamie] Yeah.
Come on.
Good to see you, little brother.
Appreciate you and Laura for having me.
[Henry] Okay.
You need a good night's sleep.
Feed you up. Get some meat on those bones.
Actually, it was more like four.
Four what?
Miles up in the air.
The altitude we dropped those bombs from.
The hell you even see anything
that high up?
You'd be surprised.
Roads, cities, factories.
Just not people.
20,000 feet, they ain't even ants.
Pappy's right.
Man ought to know.
[Henry] Good night.
[Ronsel]
Home again, home again. Jiggity-jig.
Tupelo! Next stop, Tupelo!
[Ronsel] Coon, spade, darky, nigger.
Went off to fight for my country
to come back
and find it hadn't changed a bit.
Thank you.
Howdy, Miss Tricklebank.
Ronsel... is that you?
Yes, ma'am, it is, last time I checked.
Oh, I declare, aren't you grown up!
How are ya?
I am mighty fine. How've you been?
Oh, I'm getting' along fine.
I'm getting along fine.
You seen your folks yet?
No, I just wanted to stop by and get 'em
a couple of things before I went home.
Hello, Ronsel. I'm Mrs. McAllan.
Your parents work on our farm.
How you do, ma'am?
Your mother talks about you
all the time. [chuckles]
I know they'll be mighty glad to see you.
Is that everything?
Oh, no. Uh, I just needed to get
some sugar and some candy.
Sugar and candy?
Yes. The sugar's for my mama,
and the candy's for Marlon and Lilly May.
-Figured I'd spoil 'em a little bit.
-[chuckles]
-Sergeant's pay.
-I'm sure they'll appreciate that.
Yes, ma'am.
You have a great day. Mrs. McAllan.
Look what we got here. A jig in a uniform.
Where do you think you're goin', boy?
I beg your pardon, sir. I'm just tryin'
to get home to see my folks.
-Not that way you ain't.
-[Laura] Pappy, this is Ronsel.
Hap and Florence's son.
Just returned from overseas.
Oh, oh!
Well, that explains why you're tryin'
to leave by the front door.
You must be confused
as to your whereabouts.
-No, sir, I'm not confused at all.
-Oh, I think you are, boy.
I don't know
what they let you do over there,
but you're in Mississippi now, nigger.
You use the back door.
Go on, son.
Son, we don't want no trouble here. Go on.
Go on.
You know what? You're absolutely right.
When we was overseas,
they didn't make us use the back door.
General Patton put us on the front line.
Yes, sir. You know what we did?
We kicked the hell out of Hitler
and them Jerries.
While y'all at home safe and sound.
[Laura] Henry, I'm almost done here.
[Ronsel] Home again, home again.
[Hap] Bless us, O Lord, and these
thy gifts which we are about to receive
from thy bounty through Christ,
our Lord and savior.
And, Lord,
thank you for the sun you've been sending
to make the cotton grow,
and for the health of all here present.
And, Lord Jesus,
please watch over my boy Ronsel,
wherever in creation he may be.
[Ronsel] Amen.
[Lilly gasps] Ronsel!
[Ronsel chuckles] Hey, hey, hey.
Oh, my baby! [laughing]
Oh, look at you. You're so grown.
-[Lilly May] Handsome, too.
-Lilly May! Hey.
Oh, Marlon, look at you.
You about my size. You shot up, huh?
-What'd you get them medals for?
-How was the trip home?
[Marlon] For killing Germans?
-Why you ain't tell us you was coming?
-[Hap] Quit fussing over him now...
and let him come say hello to his father.
[both crying]
I knew you'd come. I prayed for it.
Thank you, God. [breathes deeply]
Look at you.
Look at you.
[both laughing]
[breathing heavily]
What in the devil happened to you?
[grunts]
Mom, I brought you some groceries.
Oh, thank you, baby.
[laughing]
[Florence] Come on, sit down.
Providence. [laughing]
-Want some rice?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-[Hap] Thank you, God.
-[Marlon] Amen.
[Hap] I ain't never known you
to smoke, son.
Well, a lot's changed, Pop.
[Florence] You sure you get enough to eat?
[Ronsel] Yes.
I'm stuffed. I used to be dreamin'
about them biscuits, too. [chuckles]
Yeah, I dreamt about you, too.
What'd you see?
You back with us now, safe and sound.
[Hap] Be nice to have
another pair of hands.
With you home, we might can make up
what we lost after my accident.
Pay off the lien, get a new contract,
go back to being tenants next year.
Maybe he got plans of his own.
Let him follow his own mind, Hap.
No, no, Mama.
Yes, of course, I'll stay.
Of course.
Give me time to figure things out
and put this war behind me.
[truck approaching]
[Florence] What's he want now?
[truck door slams]
Evening, Mr. McAllan.
Evening, Hap. Florence.
This our son Ronsel I told you about.
[Henry] Yeah, we already met.
-Hap, I'd better speak to you alone.
-Huh.
I'm not a child, sir.
Anything you can say to my daddy,
you can say in front of me.
[Henry] All right, then. You're asking for
a whole heap of trouble...
acting the way you did
at Tricklebank's earlier.
Now, I know
you don't want that kinda trouble.
Not for yourself, or for your family.
Boy, what'd you do?
He couldn't have done anything.
-I just tried to walk out the door is all.
-The front door.
When my father and another man
corrected him, he gave a fine speech.
Put us all in our places, didn't you?
Is that true?
Then I reckon you best apologize.
I'm sorry, sir.
All right.
My father's gonna want an apology, too.
Ronsel will pay him a visit
after church tomorrow, sir.
Won't you, son?
Yes, sir.
-Welcome home.
-Thank you, sir.
[Henry] You have a good night.
No point in fightin'.
They just gonna win every time.
[truck door slams]
Just not used to walking away
from a fight, Daddy, that's all.
Not no more.
[Mrs. Tricklebank] How long you been back?
Oh, just couple of weeks.
Mm-hmm. And how are you liking Marietta?
Oh, it's a lovely little town.
Just lovely.
Oh, I got that one right there.
Put that there.
Much obliged, Miss Tricklebank.
You have yourself a wonderful day.
-Take care.
-Yeah.
-[car backfires]
-[Jamie grunts]
[man 1] Look at that.
-[man 2] What's that about?
-[man 1] What's wrong with him?
[Jamie panting]
[man 1]
He must've just come back from the war.
[Ronsel] It's all right.
It's just a car. It must've backfired.
Stuck intake valve.
They say it stops eventually.
You're Ronsel. Hap's son.
Jamie McAllan. Henry's Brother.
Pleasure to meet you.
You walk here?
Yes.
Let me give you a lift.
Come on.
[men muttering]
[engine starting]
[music playing on radio]
[on radio] This is Bob Dunning
with the highlights
for the 15th Annual All-Star Game.
-Come on up front!
-I'm fine right where I am.
Get in, soldier. That's an order.
[commentator]
In the National League, heavy artillery.
John Mize, Walker Cooper,
Ralph Kiner and Stan Musial.
The American League pioneers,
Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio,
George Kell and Lou Boudreau.
-How'd you know you outrank me?
-I was a captain.
They got Negro captains.
I served under plenty of 'em.
Well, you obeyed my order.
I bet you was a sergeant.
761st Tank Battalion.
"Come Out Fighting."
We spearheaded for General Patton.
You?
I flew B-25s.
So, Sergeant, how do you like
being back here in the delta?
Yeah, me, too.
-Heard you and my pappy had some words.
-I apologized for that.
He's a disagreeable son of a bitch.
I'm sure he had it coming.
-Here's to you.
-I'm fine, thank you.
Boy, you always this stubborn,
or just around white people
tryin' to be nice?
Go on.
Now, what kind of NCO are you?
[grunts]
[chuckles] Now, don't waste it, now.
That's my medicine.
I need every drop.
You tanker boys ever piss in your helmets?
[Ronsel coughs]
-Plenty of times.
-We had a relief tube up in the cockpit.
Sometimes it was easier just to go
in our flak helmets.
But at 20,000 feet,
that piss freezes solid
in less than a minute.
It's that cold up there?
Shit. I'm talking 20, 30 below.
One time we were on this long haul,
I pissed in my helmet,
I forgot all about it.
We were just over the target.
I put the helmet back on.
We're doing this bombing run,
dodgin' enemy flak,
and all of a sudden, I started feelin'
something runnin' down my face. [laughs]
-Yeah, I thought I was hit.
-[both laughing]
I smelled like a damn latrine.
Yeah, you must've caught hell
back at that officer's club, too.
Boy, my friends never let me hear
the end of it.
The ones that made it back, anyway.
Yeah, I lost some friends, too.
Well, here's to them.
[thunder rumbling]
"I wouldn't get home until..."
[truck approaching]
-Everythin' all right, Mr. Jamie?
-Oh, everything's just fine.
Just gave Ronsel here a little lift
from town.
I'll be heading back to town
next Saturday afternoon.
If you like, I'll stop by here
and see if you want a ride.
That'd be fine.
Well, all right.
Hap.
[vehicle receding]
[congregation]
Don't you see how they done my Lord?
Come on
Don't you see how they done my Lord?
- Do you see how they done my Lord?
- Oh, yeah
He never said a mumblin' word
Oh, Lord...
-[laughing]
-Oh!
-[Henry] Oh, Lord.
-[shushing]
I got you somethin', Mom.
Oh.
This is so much.
I'll save it for your brother and sister.
They'll love it.
No.
-I got it for you.
-Oh, baby, I can't.
I'm gonna watch you eat it.
[Florence] Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
[both chuckling]
Thank you, son.
[Florence chuckling]
Finish it, Mom. Don't save it.
Don't save it, Mom.
I better not see Lilly May or Marlon
with none of that.
All right.
I love you.
I love you, too, sweetie.
Thank you.
[Jamie] I can't...
I tried.
I'm sorry. [coughs]
I can't...
I can't swim.
Oh, God.
Oh, God.
Oh, my God.
[Jamie gasping]
Hey. It's okay. It's okay. Jamie.
It's okay. It's okay.
-It's me. It's me. It's okay. It's okay.
-[gasping]
[Jamie crying]
[Laura] It's okay. Come here, come here.
[Jamie breathing heavily]
[Jamie] No.
No, I can't.
-Jamie.
-I gotta go.
-[truck door closes]
-[engine starts]
[Laura] As usual,
when anything bad happened,
Henry was away.
He and Pappy had gone to see about
some hogs, so I was alone with the girls.
Vera?
You need to take me to town.
I'm gonna kill Carl.
Vera, why don't you come
and sit down and we'll talk--
I don't have time to sit down.
He's with her now.
Started in on Alma, just like with Renie.
Amanda Leigh,
take your sister into the house.
Amanda, go on. Go on 'round the back, go.
-Vera?
-You gotta take me to town now.
[stammering]
-I can't drive.
-I seen you drivin'--
And I got in trouble for it.
My husband took the keys away.
Come on.
[crying]
[Laura] They found Carl's body
laying in the road halfway to town.
[sniffles]
Florence said she'd seen her walking
down Main Street covered in blood.
She said it looked like
she'd bathed in it.
Vera had stabbed him 17 times.
But I didn't find out those details
till later.
I was too lost in my own misery.
[breathing heavily]
[crying]
What's wrong, Mama?
Amanda Leigh, I need you to be a big girl
and go and get Florence.
You remember how to get there?
Good girl, run as fast as you can.
No! [crying]
No!
[Florence]
I lost one of my babies once, too.
His name was Samuel.
[Laura crying]
[crying continues]
I used to come here all the time
when I was a boy.
Just when I needed to be alone
and clear my mind.
Well, I like what you've done
with the place.
Here.
Why are you being so nice to me?
You look like you could use it.
Bullshit.
We were somewhere over Austria. [sighs]
We made contact
with a whole swarm of Messerschmitts.
[sighs] I mean, they was everywhere.
Took out my tail gun, co-pilot...
[yelling indistinctly]
Made a deal with God right there.
Swore if he saved me,
I was gonna do somethin' good.
I don't know what that was, but...
I promised anyway.
[sighs]
Before you know,
whole bunch of P-51s show up...
just like goddamn cavalry.
They cleared those Germans
right out of the sky.
[guns firing]
And I swear, they were angels sent
by the Lord himself.
Those P-51s, their tails was painted red.
One of 'em buzzed me
right after the flight.
I looked over.
I thought I was seeing things.
That fighter pilot...
he was colored.
He saluted me...
I saluted him back.
Men that died that day...
they were husbands, fathers.
They were good men.
A lot better than me.
[chuckles softly]
[sighs]
[sighs]
Oh, well.
[piano playing]
We brought this for you, Mama.
[Isabelle] This is for you, Mama.
[Jamie grunts] Now, you gotta...
You can't have a shower
without the screen up.
Now, where do we put that?
What are you thinkin'?
Maybe here, in the water?
Now you gotta help me figure out
where to put this.
What do you think? In there?
You can smell it.
[Amanda] Mommy,
Uncle Jamie's building you a shower.
[Jamie] You little angel.
You were supposed to tell me
if she was gonna be comin'.
[chuckles]
[Jamie]
Thought you might want a little privacy...
every now and then,
if you were havin' a bath.
[sighs] What you think?
I think it's marvelous.
Thank you.
[Jamie] Well...
I'll fetch some water.
They smell good, baby.
[Florence]
He hardly eats... hardly sleeps.
Can't sit still... can't move.
It's like he's just stewing.
Waiting for somethin'.
Waiting for whatever didn't happen
to happen.
[horn honking]
[Jamie] Come on!
This bottle ain't gonna drink itself.
Whoo-hoo!
Already losing daylight!
-[Ronsel] Hold your horses. How you doin'?
-[laughing]
-[Ronsel] I'd be happy to see me, too.
-[both laughing]
[Hap] Woman, you ain't tired?
-We gotta let him go.
-We ain't holdin' him.
He's staying for us. I know he is.
Well, what if he wants to stay?
It's not always gonna be like this.
Soon as I'm healed...
we'll move out of here.
We'll be okay.
He'll be okay once he has his own place.
We'll be okay?
-I guarantee it.
-[chuckles]
[Hap humming]
Remember that?
-Yes, I do.
-[both chuckle]
You know what? You ain't supposed to be up
on that broke leg all the time, Jackson.
If you don't let it heal,
you ain't never gonna walk.
Why walk if I can't dance?
-[chuckles]
-Lovely woman, you are.
-[chuckles]
-[shushes]
[both humming]
[Ronsel] Silver Star?
-Yeah.
-Damn. [chuckles]
Don't be impressed.
I got it for being stupid.
-What?
-[chuckling]
[chuckles]
You ever miss it sometimes?
Being over there.
I don't mean being shot at,
but sometimes, I actually miss it.
Yeah, me, too.
Over there, I was a liberator.
People lined up in the streets
waiting for us.
Throwing flowers and cheering.
And here,
I'm just another nigger pushing a plow.
Some of the men, too.
-Yeah, I think about 'em every day.
-Seeing different parts of the world.
Italian girls, English girls...
[chuckling]
Some of those hairy Greek girls
with those big old hairy muffs...
Yeah, it was somethin' else.
It was somethin', man.
You ever been with a white girl?
Shit, well... I'll be damned. Huh?
-Oh, yeah? Tell me.
-[sniffles]
Army gave us separate barracks,
separate blood supply, separate latrines.
[clicks tongue and chuckles]
But them European girls
didn't have a problem with us at all.
One day, we were up in Wimborne,
old English girl walked past
and slapped me right on my butt.
Never laid eyes on her.
Said the white GI's told her
that we was more monkey than human.
And she was checking for a tail.
-[Jamie laughing]
-[chuckles]
I'm sorry to laugh.
So every opportunity we got,
we showed 'em just how human we were.
-Yep.
-German girls, too, huh?
Mm-hmm.
Uh-oh.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I seen that look before.
-Huh?
-[sniffles]
She must have been somethin' special.
[chuckles softly]
[sniffles]
But that was then, this is now,
and I guess I'm right where I should be.
Yep. [sighs]
Right where I need to be.
Throwing my life away.
[sighs]
-I'll get you back safe, Rog.
-I'll hold you to that.
[Jamie] We got some coming on the left!
[Roger] They took out the tail gunner!
[Jamie] Roger, come on, talk to me!
Oh, shit.
[groans]
We'll get it hauled out tomorrow, Henry.
[sighs] I'm sorry.
[Hap] Check? All right.
It's half past nine.
You just now gettin' up?
So I guess you gonna lay around all day
while your brothers and sisters work?
Hmm?
What's wrong with you, son?
What's wrong with you, boy?
Letter came for you.
Says it's all the way from Germany.
[Hap scoffs] Germany.
Who's, uh, Resl? Ress...
[stammers] Is that a man or a woman?
How you... R-E-S-L. Ressil, Reecil...
How you pronounce that?
Somebody that I knew.
Where... Where you goin'?
-[Ronsel] I'll be back!
-[door opens]
-Ronsel!
-[door closes]
-[scoffs]
-[Jamie chuckling]
Oh, you think it's funny, do you?
Spilling good milk.
Well, you know what they say.
"No use crying over it."
Yeah, at least,
when it's somebody else's, that is.
What do I... what do I owe you here,
like, a buck fifty? Maybe two?
Let's just make it even.
-I'm not talkin' about money!
-What do you want from me?
What's the matter with you? Be a man!
Oh, yeah? One pail of spilled milk
and I ain't a man?
You sure as hell ain't actin' like it!
You come and go as you please,
you disappear for days on end,
and when you are here, you're drunk.
I don't answer to you.
When you're under my roof
and you work on my farm, you do.
Oh, I'm sorry there, Mr. Boss Man.
Ain't my fault your damn farmin' dreams
ain't working out.
Ain't my fault that
your damn cotton fields are flooded out!
You know your problem, Jamie?
You don't know your own worth, brother.
You don't know what a man needs to know.
A man ought to know.
-You better open your eyes, big brother.
-Open my eyes to what?
You're so busy walkin' around here
-like God Almighty...
-Huh?
...worryin' about yourself and your farm,
you can't even see
your own wife is miserable!
-Just watch your mouth.
-[grunts]
-Or what?
-Or what? Huh?
[chuckling]
[Jamie laughing]
-Yep. You know what, brother?
-Yeah?
Fine, Jamie, go.
Be whatever kind of man you want to be.
Just do it someplace else.
-That's fine. I'll go to town.
-I'm not talkin' about town.
I'm going to Greenville tomorrow
for a few days to see about livestock.
I'll expect you gone when I get back.
-[Jamie laughing]
-[jazz playing on radio]
What's wrong with you?
[Jamie continues laughing]
You should have seen the look
on your face.
It ain't funny.
Au contraire, my friend. It is indeed.
You about crazy as hell.
Well, I can't argue with that.
What you...
What you doin' walking in the rain?
[sighs]
It don't matter.
What's the matter with you?
What's the worst thing you ever did?
Something bad.
Real bad and you knew
it was gonna hurt someone...
but you did it anyway.
Leavin' this woman right here.
Well, I'll be.
Congratulations, you're a father.
His name's Franz.
Franz, that's a good name.
What you gonna do now?
-She wants me to come back to Germany.
-That's a long haul.
Yeah.
Long way.
So, what about you?
What's the worst thing you ever done?
Who, me? I'm a saint.
[scoffs] I bet. I bet.
[jazz continues playing]
[both]
Won't you come home, Bill Bailey?
Won't you come home?
She moans the whole day long
I'll do the cooking, honey
I'll pay the rent
I know I've done you wrong
Shit, put your head down.
You think they seen us?
I don't know.
Well, here we are.
[sighs]
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm leaving town soon.
I wanted to say good luck to you.
You've been a friend.
I want you to know that.
Yeah.
You've been a friend, too.
You might be one of the good ones.
Take care.
I hope you find your way to your boy.
To your family.
Take care of yourself, huh?
You, too.
[door opening]
Hey, Mama.
-You hungry?
-No, I'm good.
Where is everybody?
Gone up to church. Late service.
Hmm.
-Here.
-[piano playing]
-And there he is, drunk again.
-[Amanda] Uncle Jamie!
Hello there, dear family.
Who the hell was that with you
in the truck?
The one I seen you drivin'. Who was it?
Ronsel Jackson. What's it to you?
You wanna tell me why that nigger
was ridin' upside you in the truck
like two peas in a pod?
He can ride wherever I say. Anything else?
You. You son of a bitch.
[grunts]
[glass shatters]
-You ain't worth a damn, you know that?
-Yeah, I know that.
Mr. Big, Big War Hero, is ya?
You're nothin' but a damn drunk!
Give me them keys.
[Laura] Just go.
Oh, you want him all to yourself,
huh, gal?
Too bad he's all liquored up.
He can't do you any good.
-I beg your pardon?
-I seen you sniffin' after him.
-Pappy.
-Maybe Henry is too thick to notice,
but I ain't.
[door slams]
[engine turns over]
-You seen the letter, Mama?
-The one from Germany?
Oh, God, okay. All right. Hold on.
Don't fret. Just wait
till your father come back, okay?
Ronsel? Ronsel!
[Laura] Hi, there.
-You'll be here for supper tonight?
-Uh, no.
You goin' someplace?
Yeah. Might, uh, head out west.
Got a war buddy who lives in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles?
Jamie, what are you talking about?
-He didn't tell you?
-Who didn't tell me what?
Henry.
Told me to leave.
-Probably for the best.
-So just like that, you up and leave?
Were you even plannin' on sayin' goodbye?
'Course. First bus don't leave till 2:00.
What about the girls?
This will break their hearts.
Laura, I can't stay here.
I don't...
You don't need to go, Jamie.
[sighs]
[panting]
[horns honking]
-[man 1] Whoo! Come here!
-[man 2] Get him!
[men shouting indistinctly]
-[man 1] Come here, boy!
-[man 2] Get him! Get him!
-[man 1 whooping] Get him! Get him!
-[grunting]
[grunting]
[man 1] Hold him down, boys!
-[man 3] Yeah, punch that nigger!
-[man 1] Hit that nigger!
[coughing]
-Get him up.
-Come on.
[Ronsel panting]
Put your shoes on. Come with us.
-Good Lord. You turn him loose.
-[Pappy] Shut up!
Like hell, I will!
You turn him loose, damn it!
-You best listen, son.
-I ain't your son!
[Ronsel coughing]
Now I suggest you use that thing,
or you better point elsewhere.
Otherwise, you better kill us both.
You betray your own blood
for the sake of a nigger?
[Jamie] You do it.
[man] Come on!
-Go on. You do it.
-[Thacker] Bring forth the evidence.
-[man 1] He's guilty!
-[man 2] Kill him!
[men clamoring]
Did you rut with this woman?
What the hell do you fellas care
about some Kraut whore anyway?
All those Frulein cunts
got a lot of our boys killed.
I say if Ronsel here
gave her a little half-breed bundle of joy
to remind her of it, I call it justice!
[man] Shut up, nigger lover!
How the hell do you know
that Ronsel here's the father anyway?
[Orris] Let's ask him.
Are you the father of this...
I ain't gonna say "child..."
This abomination?
[breathing heavily]
Go on! Say it!
[breathing heavily]
-Yes.
-[man] He said it!
[Thacker]
The penalty for abomination is death.
-[grunts]
-[men clamoring]
-[gun cocks]
-[Jamie] Huh?
[breathing heavily]
Pappy?
Huh?
No. [chuckles]
He ain't gonna shoot.
You don't have the balls
to kill a man up close, do you, son?
-[grunts]
-[Pappy] Unh-unh.
You ain't gonna kill your own Pappy.
[men clamoring]
[grunts]
[both groaning]
[thunder rumbling]
You make one more wrong move,
these boys are liable to kill you.
What we gonna do with him?
I already told you, he won't talk.
Ain't that right, son?
You set him loose.
[Orris] You ain't exactly in a position
to be making demands.
[Pappy] Nigger still needs to be punished.
You let my son there decide how.
[Thacker] All right, then.
-What'll it be?
-[Jamie groaning]
-I'll give you a choice.
-[yelling]
You don't want him killed,
then you decide the punishment.
No!
His tongue, his eyes, or his balls?
[gags]
Choose.
-[Ronsel whimpering]
-[Jamie shouting]
Choose, God damn it!
[Ronsel screaming]
[Ronsel whimpering]
[weakly] His tongue.
[whimpering]
Glory, glory
-[groaning]
-[Ronsel screaming]
Hallelujah
When I lay my
Burden down
Glory, glory
Hallelujah
- When I lay my burden down
-[Florence crying] Oh, God! No!
-[man 1] Hold him up.
-[man 2] Get the ladder!
[Hap] Take your time.
Gonna be all right.
[Florence crying]
[Hap] I got you.
-Hold his legs out.
-Hold them out, straight.
Oh, God! Oh, God! [sobbing]
I'm gonna meet my
Dear old mother
When I lay my
Burden down
- Glory, glory
-[Hap] We got him!
- Hallelujah
-Breathe.
When I lay my
[Hap] It's gonna be all right.
Hold that light up, Marlon.
Burden down
[man] Lift him up. Lift him up.
- Glory, glory
-[Hap] Come on, we got you.
Hallelujah
- When I lay my
-[Florence sobbing] Oh, my baby.
Burden down
[Florence]
I held his heartbeat in my hand.
[Hap] My boy!
[Florence] I remember every beat.
He was warm and alive.
I know every place in him.
[Florence sniffles]
[sobbing]
[baby crying]
[crying continues]
-[knocking on door]
-[Laura] Pappy?
Pappy?
[Jamie] It's exactly what you think it is.
They got Ronsel.
There were too many of them.
What? Jamie, what happened to him?
They were too many of 'em. I...
-Jamie...
-I couldn't stop 'em.
What did they do to him? Is he alive?
-They made me choose.
-Choose what?
[Jamie] Wake up.
I wanted to make sure
I looked you in the eye.
-[Jamie grunting]
-[muffled screaming]
[inaudible]
[sobbing]
[Henry] I appreciate it, sir. I'll, uh...
I'll see you in a couple of days, huh?
It's your father. He died last night.
-How?
-In his sleep, peacefully.
[rattling]
-[Henry] Hap!
-[Laura] Henry.
-Hap!
-Henry, don't.
It ain't my fault what happened.
-I warned that boy. Warned both of 'em.
-[Laura] Just let 'em go.
[Henry] Hap!
Hap, can you hold on?
[Henry panting]
Need to get the coffin in the ground.
Hap?
Hap?
Appreciate it.
Why don't you use your boys?
My sons are not gettin' down
out of that wagon.
Okay.
There we go.
[Hap] "Man who is born of a woman
is of few days and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower
and is cut down.
He fleeth as a shadow and continueth not.
And doth thou open thine eyes
upon such a one,
and bringest me into judgment with thee?
Who can bring a clean thing
out of an unclean? Not one.
For there is hope of a tree,
if it be cut down,
that it will sprout again.
But man dieth and wasteth away.
As the waters fell from the sea
and drieth up,
so man lieth down and riseth not.
'Til the heavens be no more,
they shall not awake,
nor be raised out of their sleep."
Amen.
-[Henry] Amen.
-[Laura] Amen.
[Henry] All right, then.
Come on, brother. Amen, Pappy.
-[Laura] Come on, girls.
-[Jamie] Florence?
Give this to Ronsel...
if you see him.
[Henry] Jamie!
Jamie!
Jamie!
[Ronsel] My nightmare's always the same.
First, I'm in a tank wearing a helmet.
Then I'm in the back of a car
with a burlap sack over my head.
I scream.
My lips move, and I can feel the strain.
But there's nothing coming out.
[Jamie]
I hope that my pappy's untimely death
brought the Jackson family
some measure of peace.
Though I must admit it brings me none.
All the while hoping that,
by some miracle,
-my friend Ronsel found happiness.
-[Hap] Whoa! Whoa!
[Hap panting]
[Ronsel] But should my story end there?
Silenced and defeated?
Oppression, fear, deformity.
It would take an extraordinary man
to beat all that.
I would have to wean myself off
laudanum and self-pity...
and travel with a little card
in my shirt pocket that said "mute."
And then, finally...
I would have to cross the Atlantic
yet again.
This time not for war.
[woman speaking German]
But for love.
Ronsel.
[Resl chuckles]
[Franz] Mama?
[Ronsel sobs]
[whimpering]
[chuckles]
[grunts]
[Ronsel] And so I ended with that.
[sobbing]
With love.
Life is a teacher
Time is a healer
And I'm a believer
Like a river wild
Ego's a killer
Greed is a monster
But love is stronger
Stronger than them all
White flag in hand
I don't want to fight
No lines in the sand
I'm on your side
Invisible
No color lines
It's time we put our, put our
Put our differences aside
Time tells no lies
It keeps changing and ticking and moving
Then it passes by
But if you're lucky
It will be kind
Like a river flowing through time
- Like a river
- Let it wash you clean
- Mighty river
- Going upstream
- Like a river
- Cutting through rock
- Mighty river
- 'Cause it never gives up
- Like a river
- So full of life
- Mighty river
- Thick-willed like time
- Like a river
- That'll wash away
- Mighty river
- The pain from yesterday
Love is the answer
Hate is a cancer
Oh, but forgiveness
It waters the soul
Our blood is red
We're not so different
'Cause underneath our skin
We're identical
White flag in hand
We're not gonna fight
No lines in the sand
I'm on your side
Invisible
No color line, no
It's time we put our
Oh, put our differences aside
We know wrong from right
Oh, time tells no lies
It keeps changing and ticking and moving
Then passes by
But if you're lucky
It will be kind
Oh, like a river
Flow with time
- Like a river
- Let it wash you clean
- Mighty river
- Going upstream
- Like a river
- Cutting through rock
- Mighty river
- 'Cause it never gives up
- Like a river
- So full of life
- Mighty river
- Thick-willed like time
- Like a river
- Let it wash away
- Mighty river
- The pain from yesterday
- Like a river
- Oh
- Mighty river
- Rain down on me
- Like a river
- All it takes is time
- Mighty river
- To heal this blood lie
- Like a river
- Let it wash me clean
- Mighty river
- Get this dirt off me
- Like a river
-[vocalizing]
- Mighty river
- Let it wash the pain
[vocalizing]
- Like a river
- Oh, like a river
- Mighty river
- Mighty, mighty river
- Like a river
-[vocalizing]
- Mighty river
- Let it wash away
- Like a river
-[vocalizing]
- Mighty river
- All the hurt and pain
- Like a river
-[vocalizing]
- Like a river
- Oh, mighty river, mighty river
[vocalizing]