1
Are you afraid?
No, I'm not afraid.
Express 290
with destination Germany
now arriving on Track One.
Departure time 21:00.
Your attention please!
Express 290 for Germany
arriving on Track One.
You here again?
What are you doing here
night after night?
I dreamt about him
last night.
He seemed bigger than
the other times.
Come on!
LANDSCAPE IN THE MIS a film by
Theo Angelopoulos
Go to sleep!
When are we going away?
Go to sleep!
Will you tell
me the story?
Again?
In the beginning
was the darkness...
and then there
was light.
And the light was divided
from the darkness...
and the earth
from the sea...
and the rivers,
the lakes...
and the mountains
were made.
And then the flowers
and the trees...
the animals...
the birds...
It's Mummy!
This story will
never finish.
She keeps coming and
stopping us all the time.
Hullo Seagull!
Seagull!
Hullo, Seagull!
It's going to rain
and my feathers
will get wet.
I'm going away.
Where are you going?
To Germany.
Every day you go away
to Germany.
Alexander, we're late!
Goodbye!
What's Germany like?
In three minutes
Express 290
will be leaving
for Germany on Track One.
Come on!
We made it!
We made it!
"Dear father,
We are writing because
we have decided to find you.
We have never seen you
and we miss you.
We talk about you
all the time.
Mummy will be upset
that we've gone.
Deep down inside we love
her, don't think we don't...
but she doesn't
understand anything...
We don't know what
you look like...
Alexander says all sorts
of things...
He dreams about you.
We miss you so much.
Sometimes on my way home
from school...
I think I hear footsteps
behind me...
your footsteps...
and when I turn to look...
there is no one.
Then I feel very lonely.
We don't want to be
a burden to you...
we just want
to get to know you...
and then we'll go away
again.
If you send us a reply...
do it with the sound
of the train...
tatan... tatan...
tatan... tatan...
here I am...
I am waiting for you..."
Tickets please!
Hey, tickets!
Have you got tickets?
I don't know what
you're going to do...
just sort things out.
Sit down.
Where are you coming from?
Orchomenos?
Clear the track for the 290.
Announcing the arrival
of express 290.
Yes, yes, yes.
At least tell me
where you're going.
Cat got your tongues.
Hell, I'm not going to do
the cops' work for them.
We're going to our uncle.
So you've decided to speak.
Good girl!
Well?
How did you get here?
And is that Alexander?
What's up?
They were found on the
express for Germany...
without tickets
They said they were
coming to find you...
Come here, come here
and tell me what's going on.
Fine then,
everything's settled...
you don't need me any more.
Just a moment!
Look here...
I can't get involved.
I'm not getting involved.
Aren't you their uncle?
Yes... I am their mother's
brother...
but we've been out
of touch for years.
I can't take the
responsibility.
The whole thing's
my sister's fault.
Did she have to tell them that
their father is in Germany?
What father?
What Germany?
She doesn't know
who their father is!
There is no father...
there is no Germany.
The whole
thing's a big lie.
And for what reason?
She didn't want to tell
them they're illegitimate.
And this is the result!
But why Germany?
How should I know?
So that they have something
to dream about.
Look here... don't get me
involved in this.
Notify their mother.
You're lying!
You're lying!
Our father is in Germany!
You're lying!
Our father is in Germany!
You're lying!
Wait here!
It's snowing!
It's snowing!
It's snowing!
It's snowing!
He slipped the rope
round his neck...
He slipped the rope
round his neck...
He slipped the rope
round his neck...
"Dear father,
How were we able to wait
so long?
We've been travelling like
a leaf blowing in the wind.
What a strange world!
Suitcases... freezing railway
stations...
words and gestures
we don't understand...
and the night
which scares us!
But we are happy.
We are moving on."
Damn!
He's dying.
He's dead.
Hello there!
What are you doing
in this wilderness?
The town's still
a long way off.
There's lots of room
back there.
I don't eat children.
You haven't told me
where you're going.
Far away.
Okay, I'll drop you off
in town.
They're stage costumes.
And that one there's mine.
What do you do?
I make people laugh...
and cry.
D'you know how difficult
that is?
What d'you play?
My part.
Seven knocks on the stage...
then three...
and the curtain goes up...
The accordion player plays
the overture...
and I enter.
"The day dawned and Pleiades
shone in the sky."
What's Pleiades?
It is the morning star...
the dawn star...
which goes out
just before daybreak.
Let her rest, you must have
walked a long way.
Want to see something?
Come on!
- D'you like it?
- Is it yours?
There they are!
They're coming!
What happened?
Nothing... we couldn't get
theatre... Do something!
Orestes, grandfather will die
if we don't find a theatre.
Do something!
Okay,
I'll go to the Pantheon.
I'll meet you back here,
okay?
Did you see them?
They're sad.
Times have changed.
Everything's changed.
And ravaged by time
they wander stubbornly...
And ravaged by time they wander
stubbornly all over Greece...
all over Greece always
performing the same play.
I've got something to do.
Let her sleep...
I'll be back.
Is your name Orestes?
A sandwich please...
D'you have money?
No, but I'm hungry.
Yes, you're hungry, but you
known to eat you need money!
Even I pay when I'm hungry.
Yes, but I don't have any
money and I'm hungry.
I understand.
Listen, if you want to earn
money for your food...
you can clear all the
tables you see in here...
you'll work a little and
then you'll eat. Agreed?
All of them?
Clear them up.
Hey, what's going on here?
Seagull!
Seagull!
Seagull!
Where have you been?
He went by and
didn't see me.
Where have you been
all this time?
See... I earned it for you...
I worked.
You're funny kids,
you know that?
It's as if you don't care
about time going by...
and yet I know that you
are in a hurry to leave.
It's as if
you're going nowhere...
and yet you're going
somewhere.
You do know where
you're going, don't you?
You're funny too.
Me?
I'm a snail slithering
away into nothingness...
I don't know
where I'm going.
Once I thought I knew.
Where am I going?
The only thing I know
is that in a few days...
I'll be going into the army...
to do my military service.
What is it?
Can't see anything.
Look carefully.
Nothing.
Can't you see?
Behind the mist...
in the distance...
can't you see a tree?
No.
Me neither.
I was kidding.
Will you give it to me?
It's yours.
Where are we?
Good morning!
In the meantime the Turks
took Afion Karahisar...
it was in August of l922.
After the Germans left...
in the autumn of l944...
the front began to break...
...the British marched
into Athens...
The first government of
National Unity was formed.
There were rallies...
enthusiasm.
Because everyone had
believed in the liberation...
and in alliances
and in the Allies.
Come child...
let me comb your hair...
That's no way for the hair
of a child like you to look.
Who'll do the train?
...and seeing the Nazi
collaborators...
free and rearmed
by the British...
we felt betrayed.
We were notified
to stage a demonstration.
I was arrested at the end
of l947.
After the Germans left...
in the autumn of l944...
the British marched
into Athens.
The first government of
National Unity was formed.
There were rallies.
There was enthusiasm.
Because everyone believed in
alliances and in the Allies.
I keep forgetting
the beginning.
Let me enumerate
the obstacles.
...events intervened,
sounds, factions...
ships intervened
from the raging open sea...
the popular orators...
my breast... the voices...
the factories...
October 'l7.
L936... December '44.
For this I will keep
on wearing the rags I wore...
when the French
revolution bore me...
when you bore
me Mother Spain...
a dark conspirator.
Shall we go...
The play that we are going
to perform for you tonight...
is Spyridon Peresiades'
immortal love story...
"Golfo, the Shepherdess"...
with a select company
of famous actors,
young and not so young.
Golfo's tragic love...
will touch the depths
of your heart... and all...
I'm sorry you people...
it's out of the question.
They want the auditorium for
a dance and paying big money.
I'm sorry! We've worked
together for many years, but...
what can
I do? Times are hard.
I know I'm putting
you in a tight spot...
Orestes,
take me to town.
There are others besides
this gentleman here.
I dreamt about him again
last night.
I can't any more.
Where are you going?
Up north.
Come on!
Are you hungry?
For three...
and wine, honey.
Are you going
very far north?
Why?
I've come!
Are you new?
Can't you tell?
Where are you going?
Up north.
Up north where?
I've come again.
I'm coming too.
The property's off limits,
buddy!
You don't say!
Now see here...
I'm busy now.
Take them with you.
I'm going in the back
to get a little sleep.
Come here a minute.
Come with me
I'm telling you.
Voula! Voula! Voula!
"Dear father,
How far away you are!
Alexander says that in his
dream you seemed very close...
if he stretched out his hand
he would have touched you.
We are travelling
continually.
Everything goes
by so fast...
cities... people...
but sometimes
we get so tired...
that we forget you...
and we don't even know
if we're going forward...
or back.
Then we get lost.
Alexander has
grown up a lot.
He has become
very serious.
He gets dressed
all by himself.
He says things
you wouldn't expect...
I have been very ill
the past few days.
I was burning up...
now I'm slowly
getting better.
But it's such
a long way to Germany!
Yesterday I even thought
we should give it up...
what is the use
of carrying on...
that we shall
never get there.
Then Alexander
got mad...
the way grown-ups
get mad...
and he told
me I was betraying him.
I was ashamed."
D'you miss Mummy?
"We each write
to you the same things...
and we both fall silent
before each other...
Looking at the
same world...
the light...
and the darkness...
and you."
That's it!
I know it!
We were on the train...
and the train stopped...
and the police came on...
and we ran all
the way here...
and here we found
more policemen.
You must help
us get away.
We got away!
The sea!
Didn't I say
you were funny kids?
And now hold tight.
We're taking off!
Are you scared?
No...
I don't want it ever to end.
What?
This.
If it was summer
we could swim.
If it was summer...
I'm thirsty...
Come on!
A beer and two
orange drinks.
Where are
we going afterwards?
Where are we going?
To Thessaloniki, remember?
Didn't I tell you
that night...
that in a few days...
I would leave the company
and go into the army?
From there you...
I don't know.
I'm not asking.
I realize I mustn't ask.
The only thing you
gave me to understand...
is that you must catch
a train at all costs.
Shall we dance?
I don't know
how to dance.
I'll show you.
Let's leave her alone...
Today's she's discovered
something very great!
We must leave her alone.
Our journey ends here.
At least mine does.
Don't let's go yet!
What?
Aren't you leaving?
Not yet.
Aren't you
catching the train?
In the evening.
Not yet.
Then there's nothing for it
You must come with me...
wherever I go.
What have you done to me?
I've lost my mind!
Shall we go?
Shall we go?
What are you doing?
Have you gone mad?
You're selling off
the costumes?
Who decided it?
Where's grandfather?
He's not well, understand?
He doesn't want to come out.
These are the ones.
Some day I'll
open my mouth...
the gardens will fill
with waterfalls...
in the same courtyards...
the arsenals.
I don't like funerals.
Goodbye.
'Bye.
If I were to shout,
who would hear me...
out of the
armies of angels?
D'you want it?
How much?
How much are you giving?
It makes me sick
to have to sell it.
Okay.
Got a cigarette?
I'll bring
it round tomorrow.
Tonight I need it.
What we just did...
is what we in the theatre
call the final act.
Shall we go have something
to drink?
Didn't you ask for an
orange drink?
What's taking him so long?
You stay here.
Is he asleep?
What's the matter with you?
Nothing.
Get some rest.
I'll be back.
You forgot your bag.
You're going
to miss the train.
I wouldn't like
us to part like this...
To hell with
everything else.
I don't care.
I wouldn't like
us to part like this...
We had agreed I was to take
you to the railway station.
I wouldn't like
us to part like this.
Little Loner, that's the
way it is the first time...
That's the way it is the
first time, little Loner.
Your heart beats
so you think it will break.
Your feet tremble...
you want to die...
How much does the ticket
for the border cost?
What's the border?
When's the last train?
Will you let
me have 385 drachmas?
What's your name?
I've said something
dumb again.
Your attention please!
Passengers for Germany
are kindly requested...
to have their passports ready
for the border inspection.
Beyond the river
lies Germany.
A boat!
Are you afraid?
No, I'm not afraid.
Wake up, it's light.
We're in Germany!
I'm afraid.
Don't be afraid.
I'll tell you the story.
In the beginning
was the darkness...
in the beginning
was the darkness...
and then there
was light.