State of Dogs (1998) - full transcript

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven.

I need seven reasons to die.

If I'm not inspired to write
an original verse

If I can't sense the beauty
of low hills

If I turn my head to the red light
at dawn

If I don't feel like
tasting lips and breasts

If I hear alien sounds
disturbing my dreams

If I'm seduced by someone else?s
false paradise

Or if I want to escape
from this foolish life

Then I wouldn?t hesitate
to choose death.



One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven.

I need seven reasons to live.

If I'm inspired to write
an original verse

If I sense the beauty of low hills

If I enjoy the red light at dawn

If I feel like tasting lips and breasts

If there are no alien sounds
disturbing my dreams

If I'm not seduced by someone else?s
false paradise

Or if I want to live this foolish life.

One, two, three, four, five,

six, seven hundred years.

You can see me anywhere,
anytime.

I am here now.



I am nowhere.

A long time ago,

people were offered
the water of eternal life.

But the giant dragon Rah stole it

and drank it.

The sun and the moon denounced Rah.

And God sent his messenger

to kill the evil dragon.

But because Rah had eternal life

he didn't die.

Instead, he devoured the sun
and the moon.

And there was darkness.

The people protested fiercely

and Rah spat the sun and the moon
back out.

But Rah hates the sun and the moon

and he keeps returning to swallow them.

Good morning.

This is the "Voice of Mongolia"
radio station.

Today's programme is a bit different

because of an extraordinary
upcoming event.

A total solar eclipse will be visible

from Northern Mongolia.

Many foreign broadcasters
have come

in the city of Darhan,

the best place to observe
this phenomenon.

It happened not so long ago
in the capital of Mongolia.

Baasar was one of the many strays
that infested the city.

He never wanted to live in the streets.

He wanted to belong to people.

But the people of Ulan Bator
stayed away from the stray dogs

because they were afraid
to catch disease.

Still, they accepted to live
with the dogs

because they were considered
good animals.

And to kill a dog was a bad omen.

This is Baasar's story.

The strays bred fast.

At night they howled and whined.

Dirt and disease spread rapidly

and the city officials
had to face the problem.

They employed a hunter
to clean the city.

The people disliked the dog killer.

They said he was an evil person.

They knew that when a dog died
he was reborn as a man.

Baasar was a clever dog,
and survived.

But even clever dogs must learn
how to die.

When Baasar died,
he saw a winter landscape,

so bright that it was blinding.

And in this landscape
grew steppes and cities,

beauty and cruelty,
friendship and betrayal.

He was thrown between
past and present.

It was a playful dance

that could have turned
into a battle.

He stared at his lifeless body
on the rubbish dump.

The fur smelled of blood
and gunpowder.

But Baasar's mind was clear.

He could think and feel
more than a dog could.

He was no longer a dog.

Baasar stared at the barren city
in which he had died.

People know what happens
to dead dogs, he thought.

They know that it is best

to leave bodies untouched
after death.

In time the bodies
would return to earth.

In time the souls would have
to come back to this world.

But while the dead body
was resting on the land,

the soul was free to travel.

Baasar's soul was free to travel.

Baasar shivered as his spirit
passed the airport.

He remembered when
the airport road was built.

For the people of the city
this was an important road.

When it was built,
they planted trees along it.

They wanted the trees to grow fast.

So they put the body of a dead dog
underneath each single tree,

to make it strong and beautiful.

The people were celebrating
the end of a cold winter.

In the city people cleaned
the streets and parks.

Children watered the trees,
helping nature come back to life again.

The most beautiful of seasons
is on its way

The finest buds are breaking open

My Ulan Bator under the fog

The thaw is setting in, my darling

The thaw is setting in, my darling

Warm days to enjoy

Lots of birds singing

My grandmother is sitting in the sun

It has become warm, my darling

The thaw is setting in, my darling

A soft wind blows through the window

A secret longing waves in me

My sweet child is playing outdoors

Spring is coming closer, my darling...

Why do you shoot dogs?
Baasar cried out.

But the people were not listening.

They were busy remembering
their ancestors,

asking them for help,
begging them for favours.

Baasar!

Why did people ever
give him a name?

Baasar's mind was crowded
with questions.

To seek the answers he sank down,
back to his past.

Back to the time when he was a dog.

Back to the endless steppe
where he was born.

Baasar wanted to remember.

He wanted to understand.

Naadam.
The excitement of Naadam!

Baasar had danced around his family
on two legs.

And, yes, they brought him along.

They travelled for days
to the Naadam festival.

The people of the steppe
came from all directions

to celebrate strength, courage
and stamina.

Baasar didn't understand the competitions,
but he shared the joy.

The people gathered to gossip,
to sing and to feast.

Baasar was young. His master was
complimented on his new strong dog.

This Baasar understood.
And he was proud.

It's a beautiful day.

Why are you panting like that?

Are you hot?

You must be dying of thirst.

My poor dog.

It's such a nice day and
you are panting like that.

Your father is gone.

I guess he went out drinking.

Can you find someone to help us?

Yes.

Tomorrow we are moving.

We will be travelling
for at least two days.

Once there was a man who at night
went to fetch water from his well.

In the surface of the water
he saw the reflection of the moon.

Oh no, he cried,
the moon has fallen into my well!

He grabbed a big iron hook and tried
to get the moon out of the well.

The hook got entangled in the weeds
of the bottom.

The man pulled and pulled
until the hook broke

and the man fell on his back.

And from where he was lying,
he saw to his satisfaction

that the moon was back in the sky
where it belonged.

So he went back to bed,

dreaming the happy dreams
of a hero.

There's not a lot of water
left in the well.

Baasar's master couldn?t understand
the unpredictable whims of Tenger,

the eternal blue sky.

Nonetheless he worshipped Tenger,
and the Great Black Dog of Heaven,

who was believed to be somewhere
between the sun and the moon.

It was the Great Black Dog of
Heaven who controlled all destiny.

In the movement of his heavenly body

he dealt out fortune and misfortune
to the world.

With a turn of his head

he changed winter to spring
and summer to autumn.

Baasar's family moved
with the seasons.

Baasar trotted behind.

Baasar remembered his last days
as a sheep dog.

He remembered a different kind
of danger approaching,

a danger he couldn?t keep

at a distance.

He remembered his master's face,

counting money
after selling the herds.

He remembered the children?s
dreamy eyes.

Baasar felt something was changing.

Many days passed.

Baasar had slept with one eye open
shivering with cold.

As soon as his legs
could bare him he got up

and ran and ran and ran,
until he couldn?t feel his feet anymore.

Finally, he arrived in a place
where the air was filled with smoke.

He didn't know where to go.

And so, Baasar became

a stray in the city.

Milk for sale!

Milk for sale!

Without knowing why,
Baasar thought of a young woman.

Her family had moved to the city

before she was born.

She was a student.

She had married young.

This was to be her first child.

The city was freezing.

Underground runaway children
kept warm next to the hot water pipes.

The power plant
growled like a monster.

It consumed masses of coal

to provide the city with electricity.

Baasar remembered how his strength
was challenged by hunger.

How people began to throw stones
to keep him away.

The fear of kicks and stones became
stronger than his wish for company.

Baasar became cautious.

He learned that
where there was food,

there was danger.

And where there were people,
there was food.

The memory of the dog
Baasar once was

began to fade.

He saw many dogs and many masters.

In the dogs he saw himself

and in the masters
he saw a man he once had loved.

People too had been thrown into a world
they were struggling to understand.

Their lives had changed
from one day to another.

One day the Russians left the country,
the next democracy was declared.

They learned to buy and to sell in a new way.
They learned how to make money.

In the new world
everything was for sale.

Only hats were left alone,

even if they were lost.

Because it was believed that the soul
of a man lived in his hat.

The people of the city even found
new uses for old bones.

In the steppe these bones
would have belonged to the dogs.

Here, the dogs could take what was theirs,
but only if they came early in the morning.

A life. My son.

Comes. Wants.

Goes. Dreams.

Rushes. Laughs.

Kisses and gets excited.

Sleeps. No cares in the world.

Father teaches him dawn's name.

Father tells a tale at night.

Waits. Longs.

Misses. Cries.

Wants. Greets.

Meets. Weeps.

Father comes to his son at dawn.

Father takes him in his arms at night.

Wasting. Longing.

Missing. Crying.

Wanting. Greeting.

Meeting. Weeping.

Father comes to his son at dawn.

Father takes him in his arms at night.

Are you the woman who took care
of me when I was suffering?

Was it you who brought me milk
and cleaned my wound?

Why do I know you, asked Baasar?

Baasar knew his spirit
had little time left to travel.

As his body was disintegrating
on the rubbish dump,

flesh, blood and bones

were forming a new shape
for his soul to inhabit.

This was the outskirts of the city,
the border to the open steppe

where cows, pigs, birds, rats, dogs

and people were waiting
for the trucks to arrive.

This was where Baasar's old body
was rotting away.

Baasar saw the Black Dog of Heaven
turn on his bad side.

Rah was returning to devour the sun.

Baasar knew that
even if he were to come back

to the world of the living,
this world might end.

She walked so calmly.

Baasar wanted to pull her by the arm.

To warn her of the dragon Rah,
to tell her about his love for her.

But Baasar's thoughts were getting lost
between the many gods.

He no longer knew.

Baasar hoped that
the gods could hear her prayers.

He was close, very close to her.

He wanted to tell her about a winter
landscape so bright it was blinding.

He wanted to protect her like he always
protected the people he loved.

Baasar knew he wanted to live again

but he was afraid.

He couldn?t stop Rah.

He couldn?t make Rah spit out the sun.

He had to rely on man.

Today, the world focuses
on Mongolia

because of a very rare
phenomenon.

A total solar eclipse
will be visible from our country.

Many foreign broadcasters
have come to the city of Darhan,

the best place to observe
this exceptional phenomenon.

Several "Voice of Mongolia"
journalists

are already on location.

We present their report to you.

A total solar eclipse

will be visible
from northern Mongolia.

During this event

lamas will pray and people
will bang on metal objects

to scare away the dragon Rah.

It is believed that Rah

will swallow the sun
to cause the end of the world,

unless people manage to scare
the mythical dragon Rah away.

When red and blue circles
are filling the space

with long and fine
stripes of light.

When spiral dark green triangular
light is sparkling firm

and cutting the space.

When strange
multi-coIoured lines

are cutting the sparkles

of spiral dark green
triangular light.

When very pink
square-shaped spots

are gathering
on the very blue lines.

And when under
the very bright light

the sparkles of dark green
triangular light,

the very blue lines and the very pink
square-shaped spots

are disappearing.

Then only white and empty
space is left.

And this white and empty space

can be me.

Baasar saw a boy and felt
they had met before.

The boy stared.

And Baasar stared.

The eternal water
was in the dragon Rah.

The dragon was bringing
eternal darkness.

Baasar could hear Rah growl

and he knew that
if Rah devoured the sun,

then...

there would be no water,

no sun,

no moon,

no life.

The end,

the beginning,

the good, the evil,

the black, the white,

the spring, the autumn,

the death, the life,

the sun, the moon,

the night, the time,

the food, the god,

the future, the past,

the fear, the dragon,

the power, the beauty,

the man, the dog,

the sky, the earth,

the soul, the destiny,

the omen, the poet,

the memory.

Narrated by: Banzar DAMCHAA

Distributed with the support of the
MEDIA Programme of the European Union