The transcript of all texts for the documentary
FATHER, SON AND HOLY TORUM.
Intertitles and credits are written in capital letters. Subtitles are in regular letters.
PRIX NANOOK
PARIS 1997
TO EVA
ONCE UPON A TIME THE NOMADIC KHANTY PEOPLE LIVED IN THE WOODS OF WESTERN SIBERIA. WHEN THE FILM WAS CREATED THERE WERE 18 000 OF THESE FINNO-UGRIC SOULS ALIVE. BUT STEP BY STEP THE RUSSIAN OIL INDUSTRY KILLED MOTHER EARTH, THE WIFE OF THE SUPREME GOD TORUM.
THE LAKES, RIVERS AND WOODS BECAME SILENT AND LIFELESS.
FATHER, SON AND HOLY TORUM
I paddle with my canoe,
my well-laden canoe,
paddling with geese and swans,
paddling my gamebird take home...
When I get home,
I'll taste the soup, chew meat
wash it down
with a glass of vodka...
The well-laden canoe
filled with ducks...
The canoe is very heavy. See
how my boat is full of ducks!
My boat is heavy.
My wish is for this sledge
to be placed at my grave.
I will walk and be active
in the next world, too.
I will ride with the reindeer
and live like I lived here.
There are superiors
in the Underworld, too.
The dead have
their own administration.
Such superiors who force
you to work there, too.
Do they also have a militia?
Of course, there is
a militia as well.
It is said that the soul goes
to the Upper World.
Exactly.
Who decides when it is time
for a soul to return to earth?
The shaman calls the soul back.
Have you called anyone back?
I have.
I can call any soul back.
Even our souls?
Of course I can...
When I beat the drum,
my eyes can make them out.
It has been said that life in
the Underworld is backwards.
People become
ever smaller there.
One becomes as
small as a mouse.
Then the next life
in the Underworld ends.
Show us how small
a person shrinks!
How can I show you?
I said as tiny as a mouse.
Show us, please!
As small as this
cone, that small!
A person turns into a cone?
And falls from the hand...
That is how
the next life ends.
THERE ONCE WAS A MAN CALLED SOSHO - WEASEL MAN.
SOSHO WAS ONE OF THE LAST GREAT KHANTY SHAMAN.
Torum, let life last long!
HIS WIFE TOHE, OR DUST SPECK, ALSO HEALED
PEOPLES AND ANIMALS FROM FAR AWAY.
SOSHO AND TOHE RAISED THEIR ADOPTED SON AIEM IN THE DEEP TAIGA.
Petja Moldanov, my only son,
Agrafinja, my only sister, gave birth to you.
She died giving birth to you.
I cared for you as an infant,
You forgot me when you grew up.
You don't come to us,
you don't, you don't.
Sosho the Weasel Man raised you,
now you don't even toss him breadcrumbs...
THE BOY GREW UP AND WENT TO THE TOWN.
THE TOWN FOLK CALLED HIM PETJA MOLDANOV.
PETJA MOLDANOV ENJOYED TOWN LIFE WITH HIS
WIFE RIMA AND THEIR THREE CHILDREN.
If you would only look at us a little,
glance at us from the corner of your eye?
Grief enters our hearts,
why did you forget us, Aiem?
Wipe my mouth properly!
PETJA MOLDANOV WAS AN IMPORTANT MAN IN THE KINGDOM OF OIL AND GAS.
I'm not all that important.
I am just the director
of the oil company's
department of indigenous peoples.
My position is
for fooling the public.
To make as if they
look after the people.
I have no real authority
nor the right to sign anything.
You aren't looking for me, are you?
No, I just came to work.
The administration didn't discuss
this question with me.
The same thing happens with a flock of geese.
When you kill the head goose,
the others don't know how to land.
It is the same with me.
I was ill and
the negotiations fell through.
The indigenous people didn't
have their head bird.
White Ear, don't wander off!
White Ear!
When we get the Khantys
to sign the economic contracts,
we will divide them
among the three oil producers.
Each oil producer
will get some families.
Komsomol Oil has
a larger territory.
We will give the majority
of the families to them. Agreed?
That is fair.
Petja and George Bush.
Long boat.
Bush is like Jeltsin,
the same sort of chief.
This is Bush, this is Petja.
Some girl.
He brought these photos himself
and said this is George Bush.
His superiors
sent him to America.
His superiors paid for the trip
for him to get to know America.
Again Petja
and George Bush.
Petja goes to Moscow, too.
He is an important man.
I'll put the pictures
back in storage,
so that everyone
can't paw at them.
Once upon a time,
there lived Petja Moldanov
who had to overcome
many bad things.
We are trying to protect you,
but we can't continue for long...
Our patience may last
for three years,
then it will surely run out.
The power that binds
your hands and feet,
the power that cripples
your neck and body...
...that you must yourself
turn into goodness.
So that this power will
carry you to the right path...
You can't look
out the window.
The militia forbids
us to pick you up.
Take us, too!
Fjodorovskneft gives you
money and snowmobiles.
You know their superiors?
I have spoken with them.
There is no point in taking
you into my jurisdiction.
It will bring new superiors
with new problems again.
Are you willing
to live under them?
Of course!
Is there still snow in the
forest and on the lakes?
Plenty! You can still
go by snowmobile.
How would you like to
fly south to the seashore?
No, we have our own lake.
The children swim but
how about yourself?
I swim, too.
Forest Khantys do
not swim, though?
The women never do...
I swim.
Then you are like the Russians!
Do you sunbathe? Good!
You really ought to
go to the seashore.
Surgutneftegas sends the
children of its employees
to the Black Sea shore
in the winter, too.
Look, why does he run
so slowly? Is he sick?
If the two of us can't catch
him, then I will try bread!
Their skins will all soon
fall to the ground...
PETJA'S UNCLE HAD TAKEN THE SOULS OF 33 BEARS.
Praise of the Bear.
NO DOCTOR COULD BRING BACK THE LOST STRENGTH OF THE BEAR.
Hello, uncle!
This hand is no good.
But my right hand
doesn't function at all.
How many times have I
told you to stop drinking?
You can't drink booze
like that for months!
I won't drink anymore...
Of course, if you want to live...
Your body is weak.
Booze flows in your veins
instead of blood.
Maybe I should sign
the contract after all?
Better wait.
First let them give you
a snowmobile,
a diesel electric generator
and building materials.
Then decide if you will
give up your ancestral lands.
I warned you last summer
not to sign before that.
Your neighbor got much
compensation before signing.
You signed and what
did you get for it?
THE OIL KINGS PAID PETJA HANDSOMELY.
You are even more
cunning than a Khanty!
In order to survive
in this world...
We live off our wages,
but they in those forests...
I don't have reindeer like you!
You have a cottage and
a car instead.
You go on vacation
in the south with your family.
What else do you need?
No, I don't have
the money for all that.
Money is only
for going to the cottage.
But I don't even
have a cottage.
We want to put
an oil derrick here.
They're asking for land between
your home and the highway...
If he signs,
what will you give him?
You have your wages,
but what about him?
Let Sartõmneft pay him!
And you won't
pay him anything?
We are Surgutneft.
I don't know how to write.
Sign here!
My hand is no good,
I can't write with it.
Get up!
Your feet hurt, your hands hurt.
Get up!
Revive yourself!
He does not want to.
SMOKE AND ASH FROM THE KINGDOM OF OIL COVERED THE MOSS,
THE REINDEER FELL ILL AND DIED...
Hello!
You've grown bigger
in the last year!
Did you get cold
riding on the snowmobile?
Don't allow more than six
oil derricks on your land.
If you sign on your own,
don't blame me later.
The entire oil company
directorate is here.
We have stockpiled 68
diesel electric generators
and 40 snowmobiles for you.
Those who sign our
contracts will get equipment.
You are deceiving us!
We haven't forgotten anything
nor deceived anybody.
If you want to talk to us,
first bring us better booze!
Order us booze!
Don't think that yours is the
only land being taken away.
The same thing is happening
on the banks of other rivers.
There is no other way,
the state needs oil.
We can't change anything.
We just have to come together
once a year for discussions.
Is April a suitable time for that?
Lenin left something for us,
Jeltsin is taking everything...
EACH KHANTY FAMILY WAS ASKED TO SIGN
A CONTRACT WITH THE DARK FORCES.
Prayer to the Bear, that he
would pass people's wishes
on to Torum.
THE OIL KINGS PROMISED AN EXCHANGE -
FOR A FEW HUNDRED DOLLARS THE KHANTYS
WILL LOSE ALL RIGHTS TO THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS.
Hell knows.
I don't understand.
They haven't given anything
stipulated in the contract.
It's like this was written
by someone with cholera.
This contract is useless.
Trash!
THE SUPREME GOD TORUM WAS THE LAST HOPE FOR THE KHANTYS.
THE BEAR HEAD OR THE DRUM WAS USED TO SPEAK TO THE GODS.
What brings on this illness,
do the gods see?
People's wishes,
power of the gods!
Take away the dark powers,
heal the painful hooves!
People's wishes,
power of the gods!
Heifer, raise your head
towards Fire Torum!
Fire, cut through
the animal's pain,
singe the heifer's wounds
with healing!
People's wishes,
power of the gods!
If you get up tomorrow, you
won't fall behind the herd.
But if you continue to lie here,
lie in the same spot in the forest
so that we can find you.
Lie like a leaf,
like low grass!
Who hung the stone
of illness around your neck?
Dear golden god, let him
live another 2-3 years!
People's wishes,
power of the gods!
The bear acts the way
a person thinks.
But no Petja.
Petja killed many bears,
but he threw the heads away.
His father has not
lived that way.
He has lost his mind.
Oh, my dear little one!
It seems we must try something
else with our sick animal.
What about the drum?
There is something
wrong with his front legs.
Bring some twigs when
you come from the forest.
We have to bake bread again.
We are completely flooded...
I am calling from Katya's,
I am hunting here.
Petja Moldanov roams the
taiga seeking his lost reindeer.
He doesn't check his reindeer
every day, they have become wild.
Katya's son Radik helps
Petja look for the reindeer.
Petja seems to be here more
for Katya than the reindeer...
Kiss it, too.
Don't you know
how to show gratitude?
THE WIDOW KATYA LIVED IN THE LONELY TAIGA WITH HER SONS.
KATYA LOVED AND TENDED PETJA'S REINDEER.
A REINDEER'S LIFE COULD BE TAKEN
WITH TORUM'S PERMISSION ONLY.
We raised Petja in vain.
He doesn't care
about us at all.
We should have tossed
him down the outhouse hole
when he was an infant.
When I speak the
Pimi Khanty dialect,
you immediately think I'm
looking for a mate here!
That woman knows how
to allure with her food!
Listen Petja, we can see
what is going on in this house.
When you move to the forest,
what will become of your office in town?
I need the office.
I write papers there, I
telephone and curse the bosses.
I can speak to Moscow
from the office.
Without the office, I am nobody...
Now let's look at the
most important matter.
Should we speak in Khanty
or is it not for women's ears?
We should register...
...the cooperative.
What fucking cribsheet
has he got there?
A new deception!
It's Petja, up to
his old tricks again.
I saw with my own eyes that
a derrick has been erected
just 4 km away from our home.
The oil men came to a 3 km
distance from your house.
You can't defend yourself alone.
We can make it with
the cooperative, though.
We will sit down with the oil men
and coordinate our affairs.
If we give them
permission to drill,
then only under
conditions useful to us.
We will demand money for
the land, the bore hole and the oil.
Hussainov is pressuring us
with snowmobiles and gasoline.
If we are in the cooperative,
we can tell him to suck our dicks.
I have my native land, the
cooperative, my car, my money,
my snowmobile, my
official stamp, my bank.
That's all!
Excuse me, go home!
If you want to
drill holes in the land,
sit down and we will talk!
I will extort as much
money from them
as my family and
cooperative need.
Money?
I lived without
their money before
and I plan to go on
living without it.
I will go on living
without their help.
We also lived without
their help in the past.
We will still find some sort
of game from the forest
which we will sell.
Our fathers and mothers
got along without money...
MANY KAHNTYS BELIEVED PETJA'S PROMISES.
How could he help us?
Something bad will happen
to him if he tries to coerce us.
I categorically refuse.
He will not get any
signatures from me.
He does not even
bring us a crust of bread.
What use is that talk
of 100 million to us?
Let's go into the forest instead...
SOMETIMES THE PRODIGAL SON CAME TO BORROW MONEY FROM HIS MOTHER.
I want to share a sweet
tidbit with my neighbor.
Not your neighbor but the
leader of the cooperative.
Go home!
Where are you going now?
Go!
The hole is there!
That is all!
And you, what are
you looking at?
He is already far away!
AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER IN THE NEXT FILM...
_______________________________________________________________________
FATHER, SON AND HOLY TORUM
THE YEARS PASSED, THE GODS DID NOT INTERVENE.
Life Torum!
Help that person
find the right path!
MOST OF KHANTYS MOVED TO THE TOWN.
3000 KHANTYS WERE STILL ALIVE IN THE WOODS OF SIBERIA.
PETJA'S FIRST WIFE RIMA SOUGHT A NEW FATHER FOR THEIR CHILDREN.
I have enough men.
I do not need your father.
We only need your
father for your sake.
Mother, don't cheat on him!
Need forces me
to cheat on him.
I don't understand
why he left you?
There is nothing
terrible about it.
One pack of Marlboros.
4 beers.
Surgut beer? - Yes!
What should I get
my dear husband?
Buy him beer or
White Bear vodka.
How much does
the Bear Vodka cost?
Is the cream soda fresh?
It was made today.
The circus left but
the clowns stayed behind.
I have a normal family life.
I will be taken down
"onto the carpet" on the 23rd...
...my second divorce is pending.
Everything else is all right,
I haven't been to the forest...
No, first to court,
then fishing in the forest.
ANISIA WAS THE NAME OF PETJA'S NEW LOVE.
Russian song "An Alien Woman".
Check!
Where can we escape to?
Nothing but fire all around!
THE FATHER WAS READY TO DIE BUT TORUM DIDN'T WANT HIM TO.
Listen, fairies on the sledge
behind the hut, listen to me!
Listen, all the spirits of the
Ljamin, Kazõm and Ob Rivers!
Listen to me!
Converge here on
this little dwelling!
Come taste what little
we have to offer you!
Sun and moon, stop orbiting!
Stop at this puny dwelling!
Protect our game birds
and guard our reindeer!
Heal our sick bodies with the
strength of the beginning of life!
Keep our eyes and ears clear,
keep our hands and souls pure!
Grant people a good year!
Our Golden Father, thank
you for restoring my health.
I thank you, my old Torum!
My little Petja, where
is your bear's head?
Get up lightly if you hear me!
Have you been living
with this woman for long?
Get up lightly if you have!
Can you hear me, Petja?
Is our connection good?
Reindeer, reindeer!
Is it true that you got
together with Anisia last summer?
Get up lightly if it is true!
Reindeer people, reindeer people!
Anisia, live like a human being!
You have two children
by your first husband.
Why did you leave him?
Why are you after our son?
Do you lust after mating?
Are you a reindeer in heat?
The old hag is here
and I see you!
The old man is here
and he sees you, too!
If you don't know
how to live right,
we'll take you
to the prosecutor.
Little Petja, please
start living right!
The Bear sees you
and is telling you:
Start living like people!
I feel sorry for you, mother,
sorry that you are
so miserly and greedy.
I feel sorry for you, mother,
that you didn't even
give me a reindeer
when I left home.
I feel sorry for you, mother,
that you didn't even
have a kind word for me
when I left home...
Petja Moldanov, do you remember
how I wiped your bottom?
Who wipes your bum now?
Why don't you bring your
new wife to meet us?
Are you afraid to look
the Bear in the eye?
Why don't you come
and confide in us?
Father was ill all winter, I
searched for our reindeer myself.
Why don't you come, Aiem?
Petja Moldanov!
Look over there!
Your father is in trouble.
Can you see him?
Please live properly!
Do you have any heart at all?
If you don't look toward us,
we will take you to court.
I will take you to court
if you don't understand!
To court!
Motherfucker!
No injection,
no injection!
Receive a little fabric...
...when you shoot your first bear
you will have your sacred cloth!
You bring shame on our family!
Where did you leave Petja?
In town.
Well done, pops!
Now hold your hand like this!
Be healthy, don't get sick!
Petja is always on the move.
He loves his new wife a lot.
He has no time to come here.
But where is the bottle?
You are not supposed
to think of the bottle.
Why?
It is a man's drink.
Russian women drink like fish.
Women are not
supposed to drink.
The woman looks
after the home.
City women do nothing
but drink and fight.
That is not true!
All these are my reindeer!
The soviets also said
they are all mine!
The clothes I made
for you are mine, too!
Cocksucker!
I'll kill you, get stuffed!
You're nothing but a prick!
I'll rip off your prick,
you disgusting cocksucker!
Dick!
I don't need somebody who
can't catch reindeer anymore!
Cock inventor!
Bastard!
Who fucked your mother,
a Russian or a Tatar?
Reindeer, sweethearts...
...you see and understand.
...The eye of Torum
watches over us...
Have some tea until
the car comes for you!
Oil was discovered
in your area.
We don't yet know when
we will start pumping it out.
There is oil in three
of four oil derricks.
One derrick ran dry.
The last derrick is still
being drilled, it is no. 4015.
Since you have drilled and
destroyed all around our home,
you should now
pay us subsidies.
Talk to Petja Moldanov
about that.
Petja won't help us.
He only helps those he likes.
Not us.
Petja Moldanov was still in his crib
when his father and mother died.
We raised such a man.
Now he doesn't
even come to visit us.
I wouldn't say so. He does
a lot for the good of Khantys.
He helps others, but
we haven't seen his help.
That is your problem.
Hell knows how
we offended him?
Ask him when he visits you!
He is our main representative,
the most important in our area.
The scent of woman is
between heaven and earth,
a fire which seduces and burns.
Oh, what a woman. If only I
could get my hands on her...
Take this, it is beautiful!
And don't be angry anymore!
IN TIMES OF OLD, THE KHANTYS TRADED WITH FURS.
NOW THEY ARE ONLY CONSUMERS.
Four...
She said to leave
five in the barn.
I will leave six and take four...
In this world of stars...
...in this seven layered world...
...I turn to you from
here under the sacred tree...
...our Torum, our
God and Father!
I here in a sacred spot and
you beyond seven heavens,
do we know how
to go on living?
My ancestors said: The time
will come when people live
and don't live at all.
That time is at hand.
I am confused and I ask
you how to go on living?
Look at what they
did to your son,
who is seven heavens
below you!
The Russians poked
holes in my body!
And they have covered
my land with holes.
You, the Immortal,
look down for once!
Here is the beginning of life,
the womb of life.
Life begins from between
my home and the sacred tree.
And here it also ends
if you don't see the
suffering of your children.
Why does injustice
go unpunished?
You once called your
clean children away
and sent dirty ones
to replace them.
Why did you do that?
Why don't you send
the White ones back?
How many sacred trees
have the Reds knocked down...
How many sacred places
have they ransacked
leaving only sand
to blow there...
How many times must
I offer you the bottle
for you to hear my prayers?
Perhaps your ears have
become plugged?
Then ask the Russians to
make holes in your ears!
They know how to make holes!
Let those filthy ones
be destroyed!
Let them be killed
and chopped to pieces
so that we would have something
to throw on the garbage dump!
Cheers!
Cheers!
To the health of Mother
Torum and Father Torum!
Don't forget us!
Fire Torum, get drunk, too!
Mother Torum, Mother Earth,
why do you become blacker?
Why do we sink
live to the bottom?
My mother and father, why did
you bring me into this world?
My mother and father,
why did you leave me behind
when you passed away?
Cocksucker!
Onward, onward!
AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER IN THE UNDERWORLD...
WITH THANKS TO THE FORD FOUNDATION
AND THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE
OF ESTONIA
SUPPORTED BY ORSA BEAR PARK, ESTONIAN TV,
YLEISRADIO, STET, SWELAB, DUART
ASSISTED BY AGNE SANDER, MARIE SOOSAAR, KERSTI UIBO,
PEETER TAMMISTO, MIHKEL RISTIKIVI, ARKO OKK, MART OTSA,
VALENTIN KUIK, HENN HEINSOO
DIRECTED BY MARK SOOSAAR
PRODUCED BY WEIKO SAAWA FILM, ESTONIA