He's fallen asleep.
He's been looking through
the window since Frunze.
He got bored.
There's nothing but steppe and stones.
The boy is asleep.
- How old is he?
- 17.
With his school-leaving certificate
- and to Anrakhai...
Where are they all rushing?
As if someone was driving them...
- Maybe, he's an orphan?
- No, his mother bade him farewell.
Is he sleeping?
He is.
What is it like in Anrakhai now?
Is it hot?
If you spit on a stone, it sizzles.
What about water?
No water.
Where is the boy to work?
In the field unit, among stones.
Among stones? He'll run away.
Sadabek, come out!
Dzumas is here!
- Hi, Aldei!
- Hello.
How are your achievements?
What achievements? We're stuck with thorns.
- Hello, aksakal!
- Good day.
Now everything will go swimmingly.
I've brought you an assistant.
Salaam, Abakir. Here are the cigarettes.
Finally! Thank you for the help.
So where's the assistant?
He is coming after me.
Sadabek!
Look, he looks like our Asan!
He's almost a child.
That's a hell of an assistant.
I didn't want to take him at all.
But he's got an assignment from Komsomol.
They told me to take him or there
would be trouble. What could I do?
And so here we are.
So, Kemel, have you opened your eyes?
Meet your foreman.
Take your things.
Dzumas, what about mail?
Have you brought us a letter from our son?
Aldei, nowadays only
parents write frequently.
And for letters from children
one can wait forever.
Here, this is for you.
And this is for Abakir.
It must be a mistake.
I never receive letters.
I know.
But this one is for you.
It says: to Abakir Dzuraev.
To Abakir Dzuraev?
That surname rings a bell. Is he an actor?
Is the report ready?
Are you sure it's not rigged?
Other units are failing to fulfil the plan.
Why don't you rest a bit, Dzumas?
I can't. My young wife is waiting for me.
- They only feed us with promises...
- Shut up, I'm sick of you.
To Abakir Dzuraev
from Merkul Dzuraev.
I remember now.
Dzuraev is a famous tractor driver.
It's him.
Only his portrait is not in newspapers.
No, I mean it. I read about
him somewhere. I really did.
Dzuraev was the first in Kyrgyzstan
to plough at high speed.
- Where is he now?
- Who knows.
Maybe, he's gone to the city.
To work at the factory.
I don't know.
Exactly.
I once also knew
a combine operator.
She received a letter of commendation
and moved to the city. And now she's
a manager in a restaurant.
Aldei, more tea!
I see then. You seek to become a manager.
Thank you.
Heliobattery.
What?
Solar battery.
On sattelites they transform sunrays
into electricity.
- They look like this drinking bowl.
- Savant!
Let's go, Kalipa.
Go with them, Kemel.
You'll work for Abakir.
I need him like a hole in the head.
Sadabek, take him instead of me.
And I'll leave.
I won't let you go
before the tillage is over.
Have him drive a water carrier.
Well, you'll have to drive a water carrier.
- What do you mean a water carrier?
- Don't be stubborn. And you, put this on.
But I've been sent here
to work on a trailer.
There's no other work in the unit.
Leave if you like.
Abakir!
That tractor driver
Kemel was talking about...
Isn't he your relative?
No.
Hello to the foremost people!
Don't get upset.
I've been bringing water and cooking.
And this is our "eaglet".
- Do you know how to harness a horse?
- Peace of cake.
Foreman! Here comes the water!
What is it?
There was a bucket here.
You lost it. You blunderer.
You're in trouble now.
You'll go to court for
the demurrage of tractors.
Don't just stand there!
Draw water with your hands!
Just a moment!
Hey, boy!
I'll fetch a bucket!
Stop!
You did this?
Me? No.
Now go to Abakir!
Who's going to pay for the demurrage?
We've been waiting for water for an hour.
What are you talking about?
What hour, Abakir?
Shut up.
- Can I fill it?
- Go ahead.
What about pouring out hot water first?
I forgot. I'm sorry.
It's somewhere around here.
We studied this at school.
Not there.
It's in the back.
Here?
Try and find it, savant.
- Here?
- Try harder.
You studied this at school, huh?
- Maybe here?
- You don't know how to pour out water.
Is this your idea of a joke?
Where are you going?
It's a tractor, not a water storage!
Come back in about 2 days!
What should I do now?
Sunbathe!
Kemel!
You owe us half a litre.
That's a rule.
It didn't occur to me.
It did to me though.
- You'll pay us back from your salary.
- Maybe, you shouldn't do it?
Serve the table, Kalipa.
Have a seat, savant.
You must treat the unit.
Such is the order here.
To Anrakhai!
Drink.
You've worked a lot today, didn't you?
Anrakhai is a hard nut to crack.
A very hard one.
Too hard for your baby teeth.
It requires steel teeth.
Don't worry, aksakal.
I can crack it even with milk teeth.
Steel teeth are just a denture.
Just look at him!
Don't scare him, Abakir. Our unit
- is a foremost one.
- You'll like it here.
You just need to get used to it.
A foremost one! You must know it, Kemel.
And represent it
on the same level as Komsomol.
My old man has so many
letters of commendation,
we don't know where to put them!
And I got crpe de Chine as an award.
It's with a flower pattern.
Enough already!
Have you seen our radio?
Abakir got it for good performance.
He received it on the stage.
And then he handed it over
to the unit, for everyone to use.
Oh yes, exactly!
The radio!
It's top notch!
What a wonderful radio that is!
It's simply suberb!
Here! Have a look!
It's smooth!
It's brand new!
It's polished!
The only thing is - it doesn't work.
They forgot to install
the electricity in Anrakhai.
But it's battery-powered.
All you need to do is check the contacts.
So it might even work one day?
Yeah, Abakir, here you made a fluff.
Abakir, give me your T-shirts!
To Dzuraev, the best tractor driver.
Abakir...
Abakir Dzuraev - forward!
I thought you needed the rags.
Hey you!
Leave the rags!
Stop weeping! Get to work!
And don't meddle in other people's
business next time! Know your place, woman!
You offended Kalipa.
Very much!
Listen,
why are you blinking?
I mean it!
Well, since you mean it,
then we'll talk.
Follow me!
What have you come here for?
What?
Why are you here?
Because of money or because it's your call?
- You already know it.
- Say it again.
I'm here to work.
To work then?
Do you know what is down there?
Baikonur.
The road to the sky.
They launch rockets there.
Why don't you go there
to work!
One doesn't work in Anrakhai.
In Anrakhai one sweats one's ass out
and doesn't stick one's nose into
other people's business. Got it?
No.
We're people, not cattle.
If we sweat our asses out, as you say,
then we do it for a purpose.
For what purpose?
What fine words!
"People and not cattle."
You really believe in this crap?
Here's my advice.
Trust only
your own hands and eyes.
Take a look around. Look at this dead land.
Do you know why we're ploughing this dust?
To prove to our posterity
that in this place
cannot grow
even lucerne.
You just don't understand.
Demurrage again.
I'm really sorry. I'm a bit late.
Late? You were with a girl!
- Abakir!
- What?
Why are you like this?
Why can't you treat people properly?
That was good.
Everyone respects you for your work.
You are brilliant at work.
But you treat people like slaves!
And now fill it.
No.
- I won't do it.
- What did you say?
I won't fill it for you!
You will.
I'll do it, Ab...
- Pick up the bucket and fill it!
- Abakir!
- I will...
- You won't do me anything.
Kalipa...
You're not asleep?
Me neither.
Do you hear this?
The wind is howling.
Those are wolves.
It's scary.
How nice it is that you called me.
Always call me,
my darling.
You're handsome.
You're so strong.
so self-confident.
The moon is so huge today.
Autumn is coming.
Abakir.
Do you love me?
I love
you so much.
Do you understand?
I
respect you.
Enough already...
Everyone respects you:
Sadabek, Dzumas
and even Kemel.
He's a nice boy, don't hurt him.
Dzumas...
I used to have a whole
unit of men like him.
I gave them all their ways in life.
And then, imagine,
then grew to not like me.
They said I got on my high horse.
They wanted educated people.
- And they shunned Abakir.
- Everything'll be as before. You'll see.
Kalipa...
What was before, will never happen again.
Everything will be all right.
And in winter, we'll go to the city, okay?
Don't take offence at Kemel.
Let's all be friends.
He'll apologize, you'll see.
And you can teach him to drive a tractor.
You don't understand a damn
thing, you oaf. Go to sleep.
- You indulge him in everything.
- It's Sadabek's fault too.
He indulges him out of habit.
I'd make him knuckle under,
I'd take him down a peg or two.
And look what you're doing, Kalipa!
He'll leave you as he left
his previous family.
No. He loves me, don't you understand?
And we'll get married.
Get married?
And you believe him?
Do you think that's what he wants?
Leave me alone!
I want to know why
I can't work at high speed.
Because I don't like trickery!
- There would be a lot of hectares.
- So what?
The depth of ploughing is too low.
You're ploughing nothing but thorns.
So the depth is too low then? Do you think
otherwise wheat would grow in this dust?
- It would.
- Really?
It won't now. But it will
as soon as there's water here.
I don't see any water here!
It's all bullcrap!
Try and get it.
- There's nothing but sand around.
- Your way of thinking is erroneous.
So you're a lover of truth now?
Why don't you try ploughing
instead of arguing?
You were the first one to praise me
when I set records at high speed.
Don't you dare reproach
me for that, Abakir.
Yes, I did praise you.
That's because I believed in you.
They told me, "Be proud, Sadabek,
you're following Abakir Dzuraev himself."
So I followed you, and I saw
nothing but your back.
But now that you've been
pushed aside, I see a thing or two.
What do you see - steppe, weeds, thorns?
Yes, steppe. But as far as the eye can see.
As far as the eye can see? Have you
got those fine words from that milksop?
Why don't you start composing songs?
When will you understand,
our land is not just Anrakhai.
There will be no harvest here anyway.
But we can at least set the record.
Then others will follow our example.
They will emulate us.
People are like sheep.
A billy goat stands - the flock stand.
It runs - they run. And so will you!
Sheep follow a billy goat
even to the slaughterhouse.
Try leading Kemel. Will he follow?
Sadabek!
Help me to remove
the cauldron from the fire.
This Kemel again...
Well?
- Have nothing to say?
- Enough, two of you!
What idiot has put
all this stuff in the way?
It looks like our milksop has run away.
- And left all his stuff.
- No shit.
Alright then.
- Turn off the light.
- I'm reading.
Turn it off.
Here, take some bread.
And we thought you got lost.
We were going to start looking for you.
Stop messing around.
It's time to go to bed.
Did you hear
what I said?
Abakir.
Turn off the light.
Are you deaf?
I see, you're gving
some light for the savant.
His Majesty couldn't undress without light.
- Abakir.
- Shut up!
I have the right to rest
after a hard day's work!
- I'm reading, by the way.
- What did you say?
I don't give a damn about your reading.
Why are you standing there?
No need to turn it off.
I'll dim it.
Don't. Then get undressed like this brat!
Get undressed by the light.
Don't pay attention. He's just joking.
Am I really?
I said it's night.
It means there will be night by the light.
Get undressed!
Do you hear me?
Abakir, don't.
- You shouldn't do it.
- You'll be sorry!
But I can't.
You can. It's nothing.
You should be ashamed, Abakir!
No!
Let the savants read.
And we, non-savants, will sleep.
Get undressed.
I'm waiting.
Abakir, please...
- Please, don't.
- I said it's night!
And it will be night!
Abakir, I can't!
I can't for the life of me!
I can't!
Please, don't...
Going against me? I'll show you.
Don't even come to me.
Kemel!
Kemel!
Petka, congraturations on your foundling!
So it's a boy! I thought it was a girl.
What are you doing?
We're just going to and fro.
There will be a sea here.
- A sea?
- Yes. A water storage.
We're making underground waters rise.
Give up at once.
This guy will persuade anyone.
He's already persuaded me.
Are you serious about that?
We need people very much here.
Let's go then?
We're not going there yet.
On the way back.
We're driving now.
Understand?
Old fart!
Let her rip!
Otherwise, Kosymov will get
to Marusya before you!
- What's wrong?
- It's the highway.
Anrakhai ends here.
Seishen!
Fetch the flat cakes!
Hello there!
Just in time for the supper.
Come on, help me.
- Here you are.
- Take it.
Careful.
Well?
You know,
they are making underground
waters rise already.
Soon, there will be water in Anrakhai.
That's great.
That means we won't need
a water carrier then.
I won't work on a water carrier any more.
Give me a trailer.
Like it says in my letter.
Sadabek,
let him replace me.
- And I will leave.
- I won't let you go.
What about Kalipa?
I'll work on a water carrier.
What do you say, Abakir?
Me,
I don't care who'll be trailing behind.
Here comes a pike
Riding a bike.
Followed by a cat - all black -
On a scooter front-to-back.
Next, five mosquitoes come into sight,
Flying along on a yellow kite.
Then arrives Mousie Mollie
On a limping, smiling collie.
And a strork astride a mare,
And a bear in a wheel-chair.
A frog does a funny trick...
Who's that coming round that hill?
A fierce and dreadful Roach!
"Don't you dare to approach!"
He roars, he rages.
"I'll lock you in cages
And swallow you all
Like one tiny meatball!"
Look!
Abakir has gone mad.
What is it, Abakir?
Tired?
What did you say?
Fool.
There was a turtle.
I thought you were tired.
Can I
ask you a question, comrade Dzuraev?
Your records,
have you set them with the same gap?
With such thorns,
no one would do better.
There used to be a special unit
to burn weeds for me.
- And then I came at high speed.
- Why aren't they here now?
No one cares about it.
Kalipa.
It's late. And the food is already cold.
And where is Kemel?
I'm not his babysitter.
Why are you like this, Abakir?
You've become like a devil yourself, and
you want to drive the kid to the grave.
One couldn't drive someone
like him to the grave.
You're here.
Listen, Abakir,
what was that race you organized?
Am I fulfilling the plan?
Of course.
It's almost a record.
Then congratulate me and bug off.
Why are you badgering the boy?
No matter how I bend over backwards,
I never get a kind word from you.
Are you tired?
I've grown old.
Abakir, look -
there's a glow!
Weeds are burning.
How beautiful!
Kemel!
Kemel!
Kemel!
You've burnt all the cut thorns.
Just look at the lines!
That's alright.
That means we'll plough
over the ashes today.
That's great, isn't it?
You and Abakir will get on better.
He's kind.
All you need to do is listen
to what he's saying.
And don't argue.
Listen, why don't we
try going over the ashes?
But he will kill me.
You don't know Abakir! Get up!
Do you want me to teach you?
I know how to do it.
Alright, here goes!
Look.
Who is it?
Kemel.
Let her rip!
Abakir, don't get angry.
It's me who let him.
Cunt!
Abakir!
It's Moscow!
...In the struggle you have lost...
It works.
...the worst thing
is the inertia of style...
Battery-powered!
It's a habit, but it seems like feelings.
It's a finished work,
but there's no relief.
Suberb.
It's great.
It's a changed you...
- Our Asan writes poetry too.
- Listen, Aldei.
You strive for truth,
but you lie like a fraud.
I'm sick of this noise.
It's not wings any more -
it's nothing but feathers.
Turn it off.
It gives me headache.
...you're afraid of unbelief.
Style is courage to
admit truth to yourself!
Turn it off!
Lose everything, but
not fall into illusions.
Why?
...feel oneself to be oneself only...
Even if your life has
turned out to be empty...
Kalipa,
turn off the radio.
Recognition of the end is also
a possibility of the beginning.
He who admits a defeat is not beaten.
The worst thing is the inertia of style.
Enough.
Now,
here is what, foreman -
as long as he's here, I won't work.
What's gotten into you?
But this is...
- What if...
- Sadabek!
I suggest that I be working
on a trailer with Abakir,
and you and Kemel will somehow...
- What do you say?
- No, foreman.
It's not a solution.
It's either me or him.
Do you
understand the situation?
Do you fully understand it?
What will happen if
I leave?
Why aren't you saying anything?
Make your choice, foreman.
It's you who'll stay with them.
Sadabek,
I won't
- go anywhere from here.
- And I'm not letting you go.
Winter is coming, we have plenty
of work to do, and you two...
Enough, foreman.
I got it.
Kalipa, give me my backpack.
Well?
I'll do it.
It's your fault.
You hear me?
It's all your fault!
What are you staring at?
Do you realize what you have done
with your constant arguing?
Go away!
Get out of here!
Where is Abakir?
Bring Abakir back to me! Do you
hear me? Go and bring him back!
I can't live without him,
don't you understand?
He has to be here! Here!