1
WOMAN:
This is County Limerick, Ireland.
The year is 1847.
(bugle calls)
(dogs barking)
In Ireland, a woman seems to need very
little reason to kill a man or herself.
And how are they in South Africa?
A little more civilized.
You'd like to dismount?
Why?
Well, your recklessness
has lamed my horse.
I'm very sorry.
Well, in that case then,
you should be happy
-to walk him back to the stable.
-(gasps) I doubt that.
I don't.
Well, I finally made you speak to me,
even if it was an insult.
Do you know you've been a guest
in my house for two weeks
and you've thought of nothing
and spoken of nothing but horses?
I'm a guest of your father's.
I came to Ireland to buy horses,
not to be killed by one.
Oh, come now, Mr. Van Riebeck,
you're not really gonna make me
walk all the way home?
Oh, yes, Miss O'Neill, I am.
(band plays lively chamber dance)
Katie.
My name is Katie.
- We call it "Katie" in South Africa.
- (music ends)
Don't you ever think of anything
except South Africa?
- Yes.
-(band plays waltz)
Right now, I think this is our dance.
(waltz continues)
Good-bye, dear.
You're a killer, Katie.
You're a beautiful, murderous Killer.
(horse blusters)
In.
- In.
- Tschaka.
- Yes, Inkosi?
- When will they be ready?
- Tomorrow, Inkosi.
- Then we go home.
Good, Inkosi.
(horse neighs)
Where were you?
I've been looking all over for you.
I was here paying for my horses.
We're invited to Lady Vernon's Saturday.
Saturday?
Saturday, I'll be on the way
to South Africa.
Oh, Paul.
I told her we'd be there.
I have to leave, Katie.
You have to leave?
Just like that?
Well, not just like that.
Oh, couldn't you stay a bit longer?
For my sake.
I'm sorry, Katie.
Well...
if it's that important,
I'll go with you to South Africa.
No, you couldn't live there, Katie.
It's a hard and grim land,
wild and untamed.
You think I'm tame?
It couldn't be, Katie.
Paul.
I don't care how hard or how bad it is.
If I'm with you,
I can live anywhere you live.
I'm sure of that, Katie,
but... that isn't it.
Well, what is it then?
Well, it's...
It's what I belong to.
The only thing that I can belong to.
It's, uh, a country we're trying to build.
(stutters) A dream
we're trying to make come true.
We call it the "Dutch free state."
I lead a group of border fighters
called "Commandos."
Our only home is the jungle
and the mountains.
We live by our guns and for our dream.
Once I lived as you do, Katie,
a fine home like this in Cape Town.
- You gave it all up to fight?
- Yes.
Then this is all that matters to you,
this dream.
Yes.
Not you, or me,
or our lives?
Not anything.
I just want to say good-bye, Squire,
and thank you for everything.
It's a good day for a man
who's leaving Ireland,
a bad one for those who stay.
Why, what's happened?
Potato blight has
crossed into our county.
Every farm is hit by it.
But you're not a potato farmer, Squire.
In Ireland, there are only two crops, sir,
potatoes and famine.
Then I'd seek a more merciful land.
Why, there are good lands all over
the world for raising a hundred crops,
and I'm going back to one of them now,
South Africa.
Perhaps I'm just a little biased
about my own country.
- At any rate, good-bye, Squire.
- Good-bye.
God bless you.
- Good-bye, Shawn.
- Good luck.
KATIE: Within six months,
the blight destroyed the green of Ireland.
With the hunger came fear,
plague and death.
My father was one of the first to go.
His last words were an echo
of what the South African had said,
"Find a new land, a more merciful land.
In the year that passed,
many things happened.
I married Shawn Kildare.
We turned our backs on Ireland,
and during the long six months'
voyage to South Africa,
-our child was born.
-(baby crying)
Let me have him, Aggie.
Are you afraid, Shawn?
Not with you.
It's like the end of the world,
or the beginning.
KATIE: Cape Town,
like something out of the Arabian Nights,
full of strange people
and sounds and color.
A new world,
Paul's world.
Our very entrance seemed a good omen.
New friends, the DeGroot family,
were kind enough to give us a lift
from the boat to the town.
What is all this?
They're preparing for the big trek
to Hoff en Valley.
- SHAWN: What are they trekking for?
- Land, son, free land.
As much as a man can farm.
- Are you a farmer?
-1 was.
Then it's a land for you.
- Hoff en Valley, where is that?
- Eight hundred miles.
- Hiya, Jim.
- Hiya, Maria.
Hoff en's a name in the wilderness,
but we'll make it a place.
- You're going?
- I am. And the brood with me.
- Isn't that a bit dangerous?
- Everything is.
It's just the Zulu country that's bad
and we'll have an escort through there.
Paul van Riebeck and his Commandos
will meet us at the Blood River.
Van Riebeck!
We knew him in Ireland.
The same.
- Where is he?
- Who knows?
Up north, fighting,
anywhere, everywhere,
but he'll meet us.
Do you want to go?
Well, it's rich land, it's new land.
- Sounds good.
-1 want to go.
Mind, no potatoes.
Mrs. DeGroot, could we go?
- Sure, if you want to.
- What do we have to do to join?
Well, here comes Simon Hout,
the trek leader.
He can tell you.
Hey, Simon!
- Simon.
- Maria.
Jan.
Simon, these are the Kildares
from Ireland.
They want to join the trek.
- Mr. Kildare.
- How do you do, sir?
- How do you do?
- Aggie O'Toole.
Uh, it's not quite as simple
as it might seem.
You'll need equipment.
A wagon, oxen, guns, supplies.
Well, I'll get them.
Can you ride, shoot, farm?
I've done them all.
It's a long, hard journey,
and some of us will never finish it.
Can we join?
Would you, uh, want to come over
to headquarters with me now?
- Why don't you, Shawn?
- Go ahead. We'll wait right here.
Oh, Aggie, I forgot to ask you.
You always do.
Do you think it'll be all right?
It's what you wanted, isn't it?
From the very beginning?
Now what do you mean by that?
You know what I mean.
That's what I like about you,
you're sweet and modest.
Be just that while I'm gone.
I won't have to, Kurt.
I'm going, too.
Maria DeGroot's going on the trek
and I'm going with her.
Just to be with you.
What's the matter?
You disappointed?
No.
Kurt.
Kurt!
Yes, Father?
Check all the wagons, Kurt.
And let me know just as soon
as they're ready to leave.
Yes, sir.
Good morning.
Whose woman are you?
My husband's.
If you want anything, call me, Kurt Hout.
Head of the outriders.
- You ever trek before?
- No. Never.
- It's pretty rough.
- Yeah, it's what they tell me.
Can you ride?
I never sat a horse
until I was six years old.
Keep your eye
on your wheel block.
On the-- On the what?
You know what a wheel block is?
Oh, you mean that contraption
down there.
Yeah, in Ireland,
we call it a "scotch brake."
You do? Well, watch it.
It's important.
That's what I've been told.
Now I'm telling you and you know it!
JOUBERT:
Pardon, madame. Are you the Kildares?
I'm one of them.
We are the Jouberts,
riding in front of you.
Oh, well then we'll be seeing
a lot of each other.
- Shawn.
- SHAWN: Hmm?
- Shawn.
- Yes?
These are our neighbors,
the Jouberts.
- Enchante.
- How do you do? I'm glad to meet you.
You are also from a distant place?
- From Ireland.
- We are from France.
My father here is 80.
That is young for a Basque.
In France, I was a cook.
In Africa, I want to be a good farmer.
I was a good farmer but a bad cook.
- Then we will help each other.
- It's a bargain.
Are they all ready, Kurt?
Well, as ready as they'll ever be.
Voorwarts!
(baby wailing)
Voorwarts!
(all chattering)
En avant!
- Halt!
- MAN 1: Whoa!
- Halt!
- MAN 2: Whoa!
MAN 3: Whoa! Whoa!
Halt!
Halt for rest!
Well, we're on the edge of Zulu country.
See there? That's a Zulu kraal.
KURT: I shot these for you, Katie.
Thank you, Kurt.
- You've been kind to us.
- To you.
KATIE: How soon before we reach Hoff en?
Who knows? First, the river,
and then across the mountains.
And where do we meet Van Riebeck?
The river.
SIMON: Voorwarts!
MAN: Voorwarts!
Get on the wagon.
(indistinct chattering)
All right, come straight across!
- What do you make of it, Kurt?
- Of what?
- Van Riebeck's not meeting us here.
- Oh, he knows what he's doing.
- I hope so.
- He always has.
Aggie.
- Hmm?
- You see that?
"Van Riebeck.
-1 see a skull.
- It's an arrow to show us the way.
Then it's pointing wrong.
(speaking Zulu)
Nothing but women.
Come on.
There are no men, Oom Simon.
- Not even in the fields?
- No.
We've seen ten kraals
and it's always the same.
The men are gone.
That's strange.
Maybe this has something to do with why
Van Riebeck didn't meet us at the river.
Whoa!
- Halt!
- Halt!
Halt!
Halt!
Shawn! Shawn, why don't you stop it?
The brakes, they won't hold!
-(indistinct shouting)
-(woman screams)
Use your wheel block, you fool!
Stop it! Stop it!
Papa!
(speaks French)
(woman screams)
(clattering)
(baby crying)
God rest their souls.
(indistinct chattering)
(zither playing faintly)
(music continues)
Father! Oom Simon!
(concerned chattering)
What is it, Piete?
Zulus, thousands of them.
Where?
Camped by the river.
North side of the pass,
about two hours from here.
We'll have to get word to Van Riebeck.
- I'll go. I'll find him.
- No. You'll be needed here.
Piete, go back.
Circle the Zulus to the north
and look for Van Riebeck.
- Find him.
- Yes, Father.
Prepare for battle.
Make ox-hide shelters for the children.
Get the oxen out
and trample the grass against fire.
Cut thorn bushes and make barricades
underneath, around and beyond the wagons.
Now fill it up.
Yeah, there, right up to the top.
And also under this wagon,
right up to the belly.
He said thousands of them,
Maria, thousands.
- And we only have 50 men.
- But we have rifles.
And with one of these, I'm like 10 men.
With a thousand Zulus
looking for trouble,
Van Riebeck won't be far away,
and Piete'll find him.
- And if he doesn't?
- Then Paul will find us.
We're in trouble and that's something
he could always find.
No, no. Overlap them. Overlap them.
Ox-hide's the only thing
that'll stop an assegai.
- A what?
- An assegai. You'll find out.
Hand me the other skin.
- York, has he got a gun?
- He lost it with his wagon.
- Joubert, you want a rifle?
- It is a land of death.
Well, here's something to die with.
Katie, when the signal's given,
put your baby over there in the shelter.
I'll be back.
I'll fight at your wagon.
Thank you, Kurt.
- No. You promised to fight with me!
-1 can fight with you anytime.
You're in love with her!
That is why you fight at her wagon.
(screams) Kurt!
Kurt, Kurt! Stop that!
Stop it!
What do you think she is?
Come on, Julie. You come with me.
That's what she is.
Smile at her and she thinks she owns you.
- She's in love with you, whatever she is.
-(scoffs)
You don't understand such women, Katie.
(insects chirping)
(sighs)
I'm afraid, Shawn.
All of a sudden, I'm afraid.
We all are, my darling.
It's all my fault.
I never should have brought you here.
You didn't bring me here, Katie.
We came together.
And however it ends,
that's all that matters to me,
that we're together.
(Zulus chanting, distant)
(chanting continues)
Drums speak, Inkosi.
- Your people, Tschaka?
- Not my people, Inkosi.
They are deserters who fight
under their own chief.
- How many?
- Drums say many from north.
A great many, Tschaka?
Like leaves on trees.
Wake the men.
(all silent)
-(Zulus vocalizing)
-(anxious chattering)
Quick! Hurry!
Bring that wagon down here.
(all vocalizing)
-(man calls out)
-(all respond)
-(man calls out)
-(all respond)
-(man calls out)
-(all respond)
(all singing chants)
What are they doing?
What does a cat do with a mouse?
(chanting continues)
- Kurt!
- Yes, Father?
Get all the men mounted.
Come on.
Joubert, get ready to fight.
(Zulus continue chanting, shouting)
SIMON:
We will ride out and offer peace.
But be prepared to fight.
Well, open the gate.
Maria, how can they hope to win?
Fifty men and boys
against an army of thousands!
He's trying, Katie.
Simon knows what he's doing.
-(chanting stops)
-(all murmuring)
-(man shouts)
-(all rattling shields)
Tell them we come in friendship
to meet the proud Zulus.
We ask nothing but peace.
(speaking Zulu)
(man shouts)
All they say is, "Kill, kill, kill."
Tell them we have sent a messenger
and the Commandos are coming to our aid.
(speaking Zulu)
(man shouts)
(blowing horns)
(horn blows)
They're retreating.
I think we scared them off.
That's because you don't know
how Zulus fight.
- Do you think they'll be back?
-1 don't think, I know.
- They'll be back, all right.
-(man vocalizing)
Back and back and back
till we kill every one of them,
or they slaughter every one of us.
Load your rifles and be ready.
(Zulus chanting)
(chanting continues)
(baby crying)
(blows horn)
(all shouting)
(gunshots)
(groans)
Aggie! Aggie!
(gunshot)
(groans)
(gunshots)
Joubert, take cover, you fool!
-(groans)
- Joubert! Joubert!
(groans)
(man screams)
Oh, Shawn! Shawn!
Tschaka, you lead the spare horses
with the ammunition.
Christian, we'll charge through the Zulus
around the laager. Ready?
Move!
Open the south gate!
There's Van Riebeck
with more ammunition!
Circle them, Paul.
Circle them, Paul!
You got them running, Paul.
You got them running, Paul!
Keep them going! Run them, Paul!
Run them off the end of the earth!
Keep going, Paul!
(all cheering)
Katie.
Come on,
it does no good to be alone.
There's gonna be a meeting of the people.
- We were down to our last bullet.
- We couldn't have lasted another hour.
- Now they all know you'd be on time.
- Of course.
- But I was the one who knew it.
- Of course you did, Kurt.
- But did you?
- MARIA: Paul!
- Paul.
- Maria.
-(chuckles)
- Oh, my lovely Maria!
- There's more of you to hug than ever.
-(chuckles)
No, I don't think so, Aggie.
You take him on into the wagon.
Isn't that Katie O'Neill?
Katie Kildare, poor thing.
Her husband was killed in the battle.
- Husband?
- Shawn. He was Killed in the first attack.
Katie.
Paul.
I just learned about Shawn. I'm sorry.
Yes.
(scoffs) I can hardly believe it.
You, Katie, here in Africa fighting Zulus.
It's me.
It's still good to see you, Katie.
It was good to see you, Paul,
for everybody.
It gave them their lives. Some of them.
(baby crying)
Let me have him, Aggie.
Isn't he that African we met in Ireland?
Yes.
I suppose we have him to thank
for all this.
And our lives.
You know her?
Yes, from Ireland.
I told them a long time ago
to find a new land
and now she's alone in it.
Oh, no, she isn't, Paul.
I fought at her wagon.
- You almost left me for the Zulus.
- Oh, I wouldn't do that, old friend.
- You're gonna take us to Hoff en?
- All the way.
I picked these for you, Katie.
Oh, thank you, Kurt.
Why did you leave Cape Town?
I've told you.
We wanted free land
just like everybody else.
Was Paul long in Ireland?
I really don't remember.
He bought some horses from my father.
See you again.
There'll be a place for you
in the government
when we get the free state, Kurt.
Not me.
I had my fill of it.
Fighting and politics both.
I don't want to build a state.
I want to build a house to live in.
I wanna go to bed
with something except a gun.
We'll hang up our guns and all of us
start building when it's finished.
- You finish it.
-1 will.
There's nothing else in your life,
is there?
- Huh?
- Nothing else on your mind?
Not yet.
Well, there is in mine.
It's Hoff en, Hoff en!
Hoff en! We've made it!
(all cheering)
(cheering continues)
(band plays folk dance)
- KATIE: You don't approve?
- I'd say it was a bit too soon.
It's never too soon to live, Aggie.
And maybe never too late.
Katie.
Katie, you'll have all the men
at your heels
and all the women at your throat.
Katie, you look beautiful.
Will you dance with me?
Why, Kurt.
Aren't you gonna ask me for a dance?
Well, I did.
- How are you, Paul?
- Well, thank you.
-1 must talk to you.
- Not here. We're holding up the dance.
- We must move on.
- Not until you tell me what I wanna know.
I'll meet you at your wagon.
Aggie and the boy are sleeping.
Let's walk.
Why have you been avoiding me, Paul?
Look, Katie, this is not Ireland.
This is South Africa
and Kurt is my friend.
What's Kurt got to do with it?
He fought at your wagon.
Out here, when a man does that,
it means something.
It meant nothing to me.
Shawn fought at my wagon
and died there.
That meant something.
Tschaka, wait here.
Does Kurt know how you feel?
I don't know what he knows
or what he thinks. I don't care.
I care about you,
what you think.
I want to know, Paul.
Why did you come to South Africa, Katie?
Didn't you say to leave Ireland?
Find a new land?
Yes, well, Australia's a new land,
or America.
But why did you come to South Africa?
You.
Me?
You-- You married Shawn,
brought him here and your child for me?
- Does that shock you?
- Well, don't you think that it should?
I don't know what to think.
Can I tell you what love is?
Does anybody know?
I loved Shawn.
I thought you were just a memory.
I was sure of myself.
I thought if I ever met you again,
I could look at you and smile
and be all right.
I was wrong. I can't.
When I saw you again,
I knew I loved you and nobody else.
All these years,
everything I've done was for you.
To find you, to be with you.
If I deceived anyone,
it was only myself.
If that was wrong and bad, then so am ll.
I love you and that's all I know.
- Katie.
- No.
You asked me, now I ask you.
What was it to you?
Was I just another girl?
Was I just someone you met and kissed
on the spur of the moment?
Was I just someone you could leave and
walk away from without a backward look?
I must know, Paul.
Was it that easy for you?
No, it was not easy
to leave you in Ireland,
to go back to my life and try to make it
what it was before you.
Do you think it was easy
these last weeks,
with you at one end of the trek,
me at the other
and my friend Kurt in between?
I tried to fill the emptiness
with work and violence.
I tried to get you out of my mind.
It can be done, too, Katie.
But not as long as I live.
(Paul and Katie laughing)
Everything is beautiful.
Africa...
is even more beautiful than
you told me it was going to be.
You choose the land.
-1 want you--
- KURT: You liars.
Liars, both of you.
You tricked me.
PAUL: Nobody tricked you, Kurt.
Nobody will again.
You made a mistake, Kurt.
- Don't make another.
- I haven't made any I can't correct.
Listen to me, Kurt.
Inkosi.
(both grunting)
Kurt!
Paul?
Kurt.
I'm sorry.
Ah, he'll get over it.
Well, what do you think of it?
It's wonderful.
How much of it is mine?
As much as you can cover on a horse
in half a day.
Where would you like the house, Katie?
Right there, facing the river.
-1 want four rooms to begin with.
- Four?
Nothing else?
No ballroom? No wine cellar?
- Someday, everything!
- Well, two will be enough to start with.
Oh, you, I love you.
Until we have those two rooms,
we'll live right here
under this wonderful tree.
What was the name
of your house in Cape Town?
- Abend Bloem.
- The Moonflower.
Then this will be our Abend Bloem.
This is where we'll spend our lives, Paul.
This is our place.
Home.
What are those poles for, the roof?
No, those are for the walls.
You see, it's easier
to build the roof on the house
than it is the house under the roof.
Someday, it'll be a mansion.
And for miles,
all the land will belong to us.
Our empire that we'll rule together.
- Is that what you want?
- Well, don't you?
- Nope.
- Well, what do you want?
To make it free.
Our land and everyone's.
Now what's the matter with him?
I don't know.
I love this hour.
The "evening hush," your people call it,
when everything's at peace.
You once told me I could never live here,
a woman like me, remember?
-1 was wrong.
-(chuckles)
I don't know whether you were or not.
Hmm. I've never been so tired.
I'm numb.
Here.
Let me.
Mmm.
Oh, that feels wonderful.
Lower.
Oh, higher.
Wonderful hands.
They've got magic in them.
You just say that so I won't stop.
(chuckles)
Paul.
Hmm?
Are you happy?
Happy?
I mean with me.
You know I am.
Say it.
All right.
I'll say it.
(chanting)
(chanting continues)
I don't know what he's doing,
but it isn't respectable.
He's driving off the evil spirits, Aggie.
Well, spirits or no,
I'm gonna move in now.
(horse blusters)
I can't hold the men together
any longer, Paul.
I'm not their leader, you are.
- It's just a short time now, Christian.
- It's been three months.
Is that a long time
for a man to have for himself?
For you, yes.
Without you, the Commando is nothing.
Either lead them or disband them.
All right, Christian.
I'll be there tomorrow.
He told you you ought to go, is that it?
Yes.
And what did you say?
Well, they depend on me, Katie.
I depend on you, too.
Yes, but it's more than that. It's--
It's more than just you and me.
- Have you been unhappy with me, Paul?
- You know I haven't.
Then isn't that enough? Isn't that
what matters, what really counts?
I won't let you go, not ever.
Not for anything in this world.
No, I won't listen to you.
I love you. I love you. I love you!
And I'll never let you--
- Good-bye.
- Godspeed, Paul.
God grant your mission
be successful, Paul.
We all pray for a Dutch free state.
It may be six months, maybe a year,
when I finish, I'll return.
- Tell her that, Simon. Tell Katie.
-1 will. I'll do it.
(horse galloping)
I hate you for this. I hate you!
PAUL: Ready, mount.
MARIA: Katie.
KATIE: Maria.
- Oh, it's good to see you.
- Oh, I've been so worried about you.
You look pale.
- Are you ill?
- No, I feel wonderful.
How are you, Kurt?
Aggie, Maria's here.
Oh, but you're welcome, Maria!
You're a sight for sore eyes!
-(both chuckle)
- We've had no one to talk to!
- Oh, you should see how Terence has grown.
- Yes!
- Take her in and show her the boy, Aggie.
- Oh, the boy is wonderful.
-1 bet he is.
- You wouldn't know him.
- It's been so long since I've seen him.
- Oh, yes. Well, he was growing so--
I'm glad to see you, Kurt.
- I could've done it better.
- Of course, you could.
And I can plow better than that, too,
in my sleep.
I know. You're probably the best farmer
in this part of the country.
I've often wondered how you were.
I've been offered a seat
in the Council of the Free Staters.
Oh. Well, congratulations.
Kurt, do you know a farmer?
Someone who's looking for a good place?
- I'd share the crops with him.
-1 don't know anyone.
You're waiting for Van Riebeck
to come back, aren't you?
I'm not waiting for anybody.
Then I'll wait for you.
I'll do your work here.
I'll show you the man I am.
- Oh, Kurt.
- I'm the man for you, Katie.
And when the planting's over,
you'll say so.
Hey-yah!
Hey!
Hey-yah!
KATIE: Kurt. Kurt! Supper's ready.
Thank you, Katie.
Oh, come in, Kurt.
Aggie, you'll sit here, I'll sit here,
and, Kurt, you can sit
at the head of the table.
What are you doing here?
Oh, I asked Maria to let her help us.
There's so much work to be done.
I don't want her around.
Julie's going to stay, Kurt.
Get the ladle.
Oh, Katie, you don't need Julie.
We made a bargain, you and me.
I'll keep my side of it.
- KURT: Ho!
- More grain, Jantsie.
(Kurt speaking Zulu)
(Kurt speaking Zulu)
No, Kurt!
Stop it! Stop it!
Don't you touch that tree.
It casts too big a shadow.
Nothing will grow under it.
- Got to cut it down.
- This tree stays!
This is my land
and I'll do with it what I want!
All right.
(speaks Zulu)
I won't touch your Abend Bloem yet.
Yeah, Aggie told me.
(speaks Zulu)
Taste a bit of this.
You're working too hard.
I'm all right.
Tomorrow or the next day,
or whenever the planting is done,
she's going to turn you
right off the place.
(thunder rumbles)
Oh, don't you hear me?
Don't you believe me?
She's tricking you.
No one will trick me again.
(thunder rumbling)
(oxen lowing)
Julie, come in, I want you.
Kurt, the thunder's frightening the oxen.
See they don't get out.
(thunder continues)
(oxen bellowing)
(wind howling)
(ax chopping)
Aggie!
What?
(baby cries)
Easy, girl! Easy!
I told you I didn't want
that tree cut down!
I know what it means, but I cut this place
out of a wilderness for you
and I'll cut him out of your life.
- You're mine now.
- Kurt, we'll talk about it tomorrow.
Let's go back to the house.
There's a storm coming up.
I asked you decently.
- Not now, Kurt.
- Yes, now!
I dug and sweat for you.
I made a bargain and kept it
and you'll keep yours.
No!
-1 said now!
- No, Kurt, no! It's impossible!
Why?
Why?
I'm going to have a baby!
Whose? Shawn's? Paul's?
Or one you're dreaming up to trick me?
Or any lie you can think up
to get rid of me?
- You're a liar. A cheat and a liar.
- No!
(thunderclap)
Help! Help!
Help!
Help!
Kurt!
Help! Get help!
Oh, no!
Get the farmhands!
Get the farmhands!
Aggie! Aggie!
Help! Help!
Aggie! Help!
AGGIE: Try again, harder.
KATIE: Easy. Easy. Easy.
Be careful.
Be careful. Be careful.
KATIE: Aggie.
(thunderclap)
-(screams)
- Be quiet.
We must decide now.
We need more light.
Julie, get some more candles.
(thunderclap)
Jantsie!
Jantsie!
JANTSIE: Yes, Missus!
Come quickly!
Is it possible to get into town now?
No, Missus. River too big.
Then his leg must come off or he'll die.
You must do it, Jantsie.
-1 do not like the man.
- For my sake?
- For your sake, yes.
- Come on.
(thunderclap)
(Kurt groaning, screaming)
(thunderclap)
(Kurt screaming)
(sobbing)
What now?
When the river goes down,
we'll take Kurt to Hoff en.
The doctor can tell me
when I'm going to have my baby.
What about us?
What will we do then?
Then we'll come back.
We'll plow and we'll seed.
And we'll begin again.
KATIE: My baby was born.
We named him Paul.
It was a name that was always in my mind.
We worked to build up my farm again.
It was slow, cruel, impossible.
And then one day, months later,
we rode into Hoff en.
Good morning.
Good morning.
- How are you, Mrs. Kildare?
- Good morning, Mr. Simon.
- Aggie.
- Good morning.
- Tell me, how is Kurt?
- Oh, he's not good.
He's eating his heart out.
Well, how's the fine new baby?
- Oh, strong as his Irish ancestors.
- Fine.
MAN: Come one, come all,
to Schuman's stall.
(speaks Afrikaans)
Meneren, mevroue.
This is the last time I take Dutch money.
The next time, I want to be paid in gold.
Where would we get gold?
We're farmers, meneer.
Up there. The mountains are full of it.
Send your farmhands.
Give them the things you don't want
and let them trade with
the mountain natives for nuggets.
I've never seen a nugget.
Show me one.
(indistinct chattering)
Come one, come all, to Schuman's stall,
regardless of the weather.
Bargains big and bargains small.
They're here to buy at Schuman's stall.
(man chuckles)
JANTSIE: Mrs. Kildare?
Well, the heathen are here again,
waiting to trade their gold
for your trash.
I hope they like what I've got left.
She'll be trading the both of you next.
(indistinct chattering)
- Tallyho!
- (speaks Zulu)
Jantsie, tell him this,
in exchange for his gold.
(speaks Zulu)
(speaks Zulu)
He says, it is not enough.
He has come a very long way.
- Tell him he's a robber!
-(both speak Zulu)
- Wait.
-(speaks Zulu)
(crowd chatters)
You're a thief!
(speaks Zulu)
Who else has gold, Jantsie?
This man says he has no gold
but he has this.
Does Missus like?
If it's what I think it is,
Missus likes very much.
Give this man all I've got left.
(speaks Zulu)
We're going to start all over again,
Aggie, but not here.
We're going to Cape Town.
We're going to live!
We'll show them how the Irish can live.
Oh, la.
Suppose it isn't a diamond after all.
KATIE: It was a diamond.
One of the largest
found in South Africa.
I sold the diamond
and with the money settled in Cape Town
to a life I'd always dreamed of living.
! had a house,
property, position.
Although I had my sons, I was alone.
Over the years,
I haunted every place Paul knew.
I tried to hear some echo of him.
The money I spent so freely,
failed to bring me happiness.
In South Africa,
finally the dream of a Dutch free state
became a reality.
But for the Dutch,
there was one more battle to win.
They wanted to have
their own representative
in the national assembly at Cape Town.
- Commandant Van Riebeck.
- Yes, Captain Eaton's expecting you, sir.
Commandant Van Riebeck, sir.
- Ah, good morning, Commandant.
- Captain Eaton.
Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you,
but the final word is that
the governor won't see you.
And I repeat that I will not
take that word back to my people.
But, my dear sir,
we've acknowledged
your existence as a state.
Why won't you be satisfied?
If we're fit to be free,
we're entitled to be represented.
And the governor
is entitled to his decision.
Would you like a glass of water, sir?
No, thank you.
Captain, I will not leave Cape Town
without seeing the governor. Good day.
Oh, one minute, commandant.
I've heard it said that
you're a very stubborn man.
Have you?
Officially, of course,
your request to see the governor
was quite impossible.
But, unofficially, sir,
this evening a ball is being held
in Sir George's honor.
And I have been asked to invite you.
Oh.
Beneath the official uniform
beats an unofficial heart.
- A British custom, sir.
- Where is the ball to be held?
At Abend Bloem.
- Abend Bloem?
- Yes.
- Thank you, Captain.
- Oh.
Christian, we seem to have a friend
in high places.
- The governor agreed to see you?
- No. I've agreed to go to a ball.
(orchestra plays waltz)
(waltz continues)
- Ah, Commandant.
- Captain Eaton.
I believe you know the mistress
of Abend Bloem.
How are you, Commandant?
Sir George, I don't think you've met
Commandant Van Riebeck.
- A pleasure, sir.
- Excellency.
He's been trying to see you
about something very important.
Yes, sir, for a fortnight now.
Ah, but I promised there'd be
no politics in my house.
So, Sir George, would you meet
him tomorrow at your mansion?
Say ten o'clock?
You leave me little choice.
My compliments to you, sir.
Mrs. Kildare is worth
an army of Commandos.
Well, there you are.
Well, isn't that what you've wanted?
Isn't that why you've come to Cape Town?
That was one of the reasons.
There's another?
You know there is.
- You've changed, Katie.
- Have I?
You're even more beautiful
than I remember,
if that's possible.
Abend Bloem has changed, too.
It's beautiful again.
The way it was?
The way it was long ago.
Will you dance with me?
(knocks)
Katie, how are you?
Well. Thank you, Paul.
Did the governor agree?
- To everything, almost.
- Oh, I'm so glad!
- Sit down, Paul.
- Katie, last night,
you did in one moment what I've
been unable to do in two years.
The Dutch people will never be able
to thank you enough.
Nor will I.
Oh, it's-- it's strange, all of it.
You, everything...
happening here at Abend Bloem,
where I was born.
(chuckles)
I hung my stockings here.
So do the boys.
Would you like to walk around the place
and see it again with me?
- Yes, I have time before I go.
- Go?
Well, the news of our success
is important to my people, Katie.
Well, it'll keep for an hour or two!
Come on.
This is my place.
I used to come here
and dream of what I would become
and all the splendid things
that would happen to me.
I come here, too.
- You do?
- Many times.
Lonely people look for lonely places.
Are you lonely?
Sometimes.
What do you dream about, Katie?
Just dreams,
about what I missed and lost.
About you and me.
You never lose what you remember, Katie.
I've dreamed about you many times
in many places.
Why does it always have to be a dream?
(rapid footsteps)
BOYS: Mommy!
Well, it's all right.
I'm Paul van Riebeck.
- My name's Terence.
- Terence!
My goodness, I bounced you on my knee
when you were a baby this big!
And now look at you, you're a man!
- And who's this young fellow?
- He got a splinter.
- A splinter?
- In his finger!
Well, let's have a look.
A splinter's not very much.
Is it all right if I have a look?
Well, we'll see if we can find it.
We couldn't squeeze it out.
Ah, there it is!
Now you just hold that still,
and we'll have that
out of there in no time.
Now...
hold it still now.
It's just about...
There.
There we are.
Now you're a brave little man.
You didn't even cry.
What's your name?
- Paul.
- He's my brother.
KATIE: Terence? Paul? Come, boys.
Excuse me.
Why didn't you tell me, Katie?
Why?
So you could dream about him, too,
in strange places?
But I had a right to know.
I'd have come back from anywhere.
And tell me, where would I have found you
to tell you?
Where was the hero leading the Commando?
Well, I'm back.
Yes, and now you're back,
and you've been told.
You're back and you've gotten
something done
and you're leaving again to tell them
so they can sing your praises.
Paul Van Riebeck,
the savior of his people.
The father of his country,
but not of his son.
You arranged it all, didn't you?
First, Abend Bloem and then that business
with the governor and now this.
You tell me all this just to keep me!
- You think they're all lies?
- Yes, I think it.
I think your whole life is a lie.
All but the boy. He's the truth
and that you wouldn't tell me.
Get out.
I never want to see you again in my life!
No, you won't, Katie,
not until I come back for my son.
Your son?
You think now that he's yours?
Well, he isn't, and he never will be!
You have to share something to own it.
You have to live for something
except yourself
-to belong to anything!
- I'll be back for him--
You come back for him
and you'll kill me first!
Not that you aren't good at that too!
But that's the way it will be!
- Is that it?
- That's it.
Now get out.
Get out, get out!
(door slams)
Look, Mommy, he fixed it.
He took the splinter out.
(sobs)
KATIE: I lost Abend Bloem
as I'd lost so many other things,
but there was nothing to do
but start again.
If there were diamonds to be found,
I could find them too.
Unless it was God's will
that ll pay in full
for the ways I'd lived and loved.
At least it was Aggle's will that
I never be left in peace with my shame.
- Did you hit it?
- Oh, it's a big one.
Are they looking for diamonds, too?
Maybe, I don't know.
Ho! Now, Terence,
let me do all the talking.
- Where you going, ma'am?
- Kolesberg.
The town's been taken over by outlaws.
Killed a man and stole our diamonds.
Every decent person's left town.
I beg you to turn back.
Have the soldiers been sent for?
Yeah, but ours isn't the only town
that's been taken.
- Who knows when they'll get to Kolesberg.
- I'll find out.
Katie! All you have left are these boys.
Do you want to lose them, too?
We came here for diamonds.
Gee up!
And diamonds we're going to get.
So, this is Kolesberg, eh?
(all shouting)
Well, this is a den of iniquity.
(shouting continues)
(all laughing)
Now where?
How are you, beautiful?
Where ya going?
- Kolesberg.
- Well, you're there. And I'm waiting.
Say, you're kind of pretty
not to have a man with you.
- Get away from me, you scum.
- Ah, come on now, pretty--
- Don't you, don't you--
-(gunshot)
Let her alone.
That's a friend of mine.
-1 didn't know, boss. I'm sorry.
- Kurt.
Put these horses in my barn.
- Yes, sir.
- Get in this house right here, all of you.
- Joop.
- Yes, sir?
- Show them in. I'll be back.
- Yeah.
- Go ahead.
- That's right.
Terence.
Come on inside.
Stay in here.
It's all right, boys.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
I'm not afraid, Mama.
Oh, Kurt, I'm so glad to see you.
What are you here for?
Diamonds.
Aggie, take the boys in this room.
I want to talk to Katie.
- You look well, Kurt.
- Why not?
Lose one part of your body,
the rest grows stronger.
Julie!
Hello, Julie.
Bring us a drink, we have a guest.
Sit down, Katie.
Do you like this house?
It belonged to the mayor.
Now I'm the mayor of Kolesberg.
He was killed, wasn't he?
He made a fool of himself
and he paid for it.
You should understand that.
Perhaps you will, too.
Have you come for Kurt?
- He's rich now, you know, and powerful!
- Shut up and get out.
But I'm not afraid of you anymore
because what's left of him belongs to me!
Get out!
Only I'll tell you what's left of me.
Kolesberg belongs to me.
I'm the power and the law here.
Then from here we go to the next place
and the next,
till the whole territory's mine.
Didn't you see the people running?
Didn't they tell you what had happened?
- They told me.
- Why didn't you go back?
Oh, I know.
You didn't have anything to go back to.
You lost it all.
Him, Abend Bloem,
-everything.
- Not everything.
I still have two sons.
He wanted the boy.
The boy, but, uh...
not the mother.
(door opens)
They're coming.
- Where?
- Just beyond the Malu mine.
- Get the men ready.
- Yes, sir.
- What is it? What's happening here?
- Sit down, Katie.
Sit down and wait for him.
Haven't we always waited for him,
one place or another, you and 1?
Paul...?
I never thought the day I'd kill him
would bring you back, too.
Ruined,
crawling on your hands and knees
for diamonds.
Don't crawl, Katie. Here.
Take these from me.
Sit down.
You were always a fool.
None of it would've ended like this
except for you.
He didn't want you.
You didn't want me.
But you lied and cheated both of us,
even God!
At least I would've married you.
I would've kept you decent!
Isn't that the truth?
For once in your life,
can't you see the truth?
Yes.
Yes, it's the truth.
Boss!
Down the Malu road
and Van Riebeck's leading them.
You still want him?
I'll give him to you.
- Watch her. Keep her in here.
- Yes, sir.
CHRISTIAN: They've abandoned it.
PAUL: Maybe they have.
It's just too empty.
You know what to do.
(gunshot)
- Send out your leader!
- Come on! Alone!
- PAUL: Kurt.
- Yes, Paul, it's me.
And you're surrounded.
You rode right into my trap.
This town belongs to the free state, Kurt.
It's mine now
and I don't recognize the free state.
We've all fought too long and too hard
for freedom to lose it this way.
Get out, Paul.
Take your men and get out while you can.
- Is this your final word?
- That's the way it is.
Tschaka, take your place.
They're in hiding, ready and waiting.
We'll attack.
When they open fire, we'll retreat
and draw them out into the open.
Ready, go.
Pull back! Pull back! Retreat!
Yah!
(gunfire continues)
Tschaka, the signal.
There's the signal.
Let's go! Come on!
Ready? Close in.
(gunfire ceases)
(gunshot)
(empty chamber clicking)
- No, Kurt! No! Kurt!
- You know who this boy is?
Put him down, Kurt.
You make one move, Paul,
and I'll kill him.
Anybody moves and I'll kill him.
Throw that gun over here.
(cries)
- What do you want?
- Your horse. Get down.
Paul!
You always win, don't you, Paul?
Well, not this time.
Because... I'm gonna kill you.
Kurt!
Kurt!
Oh, Kurt!
Come on.
Move along.
Well, may God ride with you, Christian.
Thank you, Paul.
May he also ride with you.
Tschaka, serve Lieutenant Christian
as you've served me.
Farewell, Inkosi.
Ready!
Forward!
(neighs)
What now, Paul?
Katie...
do you remember... in Cape Town,
I told you there were two reasons
that I'd come to see you?
Yes.
You heard the first reason,
but you never heard the second.
(gasps)
Oh, Paul.
Where to, Paul?
Hoff en.
Back to the land.
There you are.
There.
(whinnies)