Natural Light (2021) - full transcript
World War II, occupied Soviet Union. István Semetka is a simple Hungarian farmer who serves as a Caporal in a special unit scouting for partisan groups. On their way to a remote village, his company falls under enemy fire. As the commander is killed, Semetka has to overcome his fears and take command of the unit as he is dragged into a chaos that he cannot control.
NATURAL LIGHT
Between 1941 and 1944, 100,000 soldiers
of the Hungarian army
served as occupiers
in the territories of the Soviet Union.
The task of the Hungarian troops,
along with the German occupying forces,
was to maintain order
in these vast regions,
in addition to finding Soviet partisans
and their helpers.
Stop!
To the shore!
Get over here!
Take this away!
Grab the rope!
One-two-three, push!
Let's go, come on!
Push it!
Let’s go! It’s moving!
C’mon, push it now!
Push it!
Push it!
Push!
- Harder!
Push!
- Push it!
Push it!
Lead the packhorses along the side!
Don’t lag behind!
- Out of the way!
Go around the hole!
Watch out! It's up to your ass here!
- Don't let it drag you away!
Push it!
What the fuck is
happening up front?
C'mon already!
- For God's sake!
Yank it!
- Pull it, c'mon! Pull already!
We gotta get the horse free!
C'mon, pull!
Let's go!
C'mon, pull!
- Push it!
Let’s go!
Step back, goddamnit!
We move on!
Sanyi! Come quick!
Against the wall! On the ground!
Where are the partisans hiding?
Let us go. We didn’t do anything.
C'mon, move already!
I'm not going anywhere!
Let me go!
- Guard the villagers!
Search the houses!
We stay here
till tomorrow night.
Move, goddamnit!
Is this the starosta?
Are you the starosta?
- Yes, I am the starosta.
What's your name?
- What's your name?
Sergey Alexandrovitch.
Where are your animals?
- Where are your animals?
The partisans took them.
The partisans took them.
- Where do the partisans live?
Where do the partisans live?
- They all left.
Everyone left.
Sergey, do you like to drink?
Sergey, do you like to drink?
Then drink some well water.
Well, was it good?
Was it good?
It was very good.
Take him away.
Ah, so tasty.
Should I send them out?
Let them stay.
I just wanted the chamber pot.
Nobody here is going home.
I think you’re scared.
I’m not scared.
I thought you don’t even get letters.
- I do.
I’d like to ask for one week leave.
Who does he think he is, eh?
Are you joking?
I would like to ask for a week's leave,
for family reasons.
Just one week.
Forget about it.
Please, just a week only.
Dismissed.
He's gotten really cocky.
Here's our little Semetka.
We stay here today.
The company moves on after dark.
We'll take a detour,
and have a look around the area.
Distribute three days' worth
of cold rations to everyone.
We'll take a machine gun.
And the two Ukrainian policemen
come with us.
I see you like the woman too.
Did you get hard?
We received report of woodcutters,
5km up the road.
Ride out after lunch
and check them out.
Outside one of the houses
two guards fell asleep on duty.
Tie them up before lunch.
Tie them and pull them up!
Pull him up hard!
I MISSED MY GUARD DUTY
No more than one puff!
Take your smoke, goddamnit!
Let them down in one hour.
Jocó, what would you give
to squeeze her tits?
She’s right behind you,
so go ahead.
Yes.
Sanyi, you want another bone?
- No.
Drink, drink up!
To your health!
Give my potatoes back!
I have nothing to feed my children!
- Haul your ass, fucker!
You steal from your own folk,
you prick?
You should have your hands cut off!
Let's go!
Vanya, you thieving pig!
Get down under the table!
C'mon, climb under the table!
Climb under, climb under, you pig!
C’mon, crawl!
Let's go, you pig!
Let's go!
Pig!
Push him from the other end!
We’re here!
Take a picture of him!
Shame on you!
Semetka, come out
and take a picture.
Look at you, son!
Is that how you want
your picture taken?
Hurry up!
You're taking forever.
We made the kid shit himself.
I'll go get water.
Alina!
Give it here.
Give him the berries.
Soldiers!
Soldiers!
Put your gun away.
Where are you from?
Where are you from?!
Vigonichi.
We're cutting wood.
What do they want?
We'll go back.
You already took everything!
We have nothing left!
Get out of here, you hear?!
Don't turn around.
Get the hell out of here!
We're not afraid!
Semetka, come here!
What's this road like?
That's a swamp.
Don't go that way.
We even lost two horses there
this winter.
Do you know the road
suggested by the starosta?
I haven’t been that way.
Can we trust the starosta?
- Yes.
Then we’ll choose this road.
Semetka, come in!
Pour!
Sergeant.
What happened
with the woodcutters?
Nothing happened.
We’ll leave the village
before nightfall.
We'll turn north and
march alongside the river.
You're up front with
the two Ukrainians.
Understood?
I understand.
For fuck's sake! Move!
Fucking hell.
Vanguard stop!
Vanguard, stop!
Why are we moving so slow?
We can't move any faster.
Haul your ass to the back.
Secure us from behind.
What? Did you shit yourself?
Let's go!
Are you injured?
They scraped my left arm.
Where's the sergeant?
He's there, lying in the road.
Crawl back.
Take the horses too.
Back!
Cover him, then put him up
on the horse.
Understood.
We're going back to the village.
There are traitors in the village.
They told them
which road we would take.
TRAITOR
Get up.
The soldiers are back.
Where did you get the milk?
There are no cows here.
You're a partisan.
I'm not.
- Yes, you're a partisan!
Who killed the starosta?
Look at me, you partisan!
I'm not a partisan.
- Yes, you are!
You want to play around with me?
Look at me.
Who killed the starosta?
Talk!
You want me to fuck you?
You little whore.
I'll shoot you.
We'll herd them into the barn.
C'mon, herd them into the barn!
Faster! Move already!
Let’s go! Faster!
Let’s go! Inside!
Search the houses!
Bring the first one out
and get him up against the wall!
Here are your shoes,
so you don't freeze.
"Add iniquity to their iniquity:"
and let them not come
into thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out
of the book of the living,
and not be written
with the righteous.
For they persecute him
whom thou hast smitten;
"and they talk to the grief
of those whom thou hast wounded."
C'mon, dig!
Faster!
"...and your heart shall live
that seek God."
For the Lord heareth the poor,
"and despiseth not his prisoners."
Reinforcements have arrived.
Go unload by the barn!
Corporal István Semetka, reporting.
Go on! Go on!
Pista.
How's your mother?
Thank you for asking: well.
Your son?
He's a fine, tall lad.
I'm glad.
Sorry about your commander.
We'll find who did it.
Let's look at the people.
Where are they?
I shut them in the barn.
How many are there?
33.
And how many men among them?
They're escaping!
After them! Hurry! Hurry!
Semetka, you stay here!
Let's go!
Secure the barn!
Fill it up.
Seven got away.
Please, bring water.
Come out! Koleszár's sergeant
wants to speak to you!
Illés.
- Semetka.
We're taking over command
of the village, starting now.
Go search the swamp.
I'll take over guard of the barn.
I'd like to speak to Koleszár.
Koleszár is not in the village.
Get going.
Did you understand me?
Get going!
Understood.
Stop!
You can't come any further!
Koleszár summons you.
- I'm coming.
Have a seat.
It was late afternoon.
I was walking through a clearing,
a bit tired.
Horses grazing all around me.
My groom and I were leading them
down to the lodging to feed them,
when suddenly, the earth moved.
Everything rumbled around me.
I turned around.
From the left,
a huge noise coming closer.
Before I realized,
there's a huge bear in front of me.
It's threatening me with its paws.
Sweeping the ground.
Clumps of soil hit my leg,
grass, roots and all.
The fur on the bear’s neck
stood on end.
I was frozen with fear.
I wanted to run,
but my feet would not obey me.
I wanted to shout.
But only a horribly distorted
sound escaped my throat.
My dog appeared for a few moments.
After a while,
bear started to back away.
My dog caught the scent,
and ran barking after the bear
into the woods.
I heard his barking for a long time,
as he drove the bear through the woods,
late into the night.
After settling the animals,
I headed off to my tent to rest.
That's when I noticed
the hole in the tent's side.
It was torn.
That’s where my dog broke through,
rushing to help me.
He was my best friend.
The groom just watched from behind
as the bear threatened me.
Drink.
I sent you to the swamp
so you wouldn't be here.
Sin is waiting behind the door.
Longing for you.
You must control it.
Come on, let's take a picture, Pista.
Embrace me.
You'll take my two ill men
and your own wounded
to the hospital in Navlya.
And mail the picture to Erzsi.
You know the address.
I'll take seven of your men,
your horses,
and your full equipment
at my own risk.
Let's forget all this.
There are no healthy soldiers.
No.
I said so yesterday.
I’ve had enough of them.
Sit down.
Semetka István, reserve corporal
from Company 44/23.
We were sent out
on patrol 3 days ago
with a machine gun sub-unit.
Continue.
We got mixed up in enemy fire
beside Saltanovka.
My unit commander lost his life.
We returned to the village
we were lodging,
to question the villagers.
I gathered them in a barn.
Soon after,
reinforcements arrived,
led by Sergeant Major Mátyás Koleszár.
He took over the village from me.
Seven villagers escaped.
After this...
Continue.
Sergeant Major Mátyás Koleszár,
at his own risk,
kept my weapons
and seven of my men.
He sent four injured men with me.
They require hospital treatment.
Have a smoke.
Do you have a family?
Yes.
When were you last home?
Eight months ago.
You'll take two weeks leave,
and embrace your family.
Afterwards,
you report back to me here.
Between 1941 and 1944, 100,000 soldiers
of the Hungarian army
served as occupiers
in the territories of the Soviet Union.
The task of the Hungarian troops,
along with the German occupying forces,
was to maintain order
in these vast regions,
in addition to finding Soviet partisans
and their helpers.
Stop!
To the shore!
Get over here!
Take this away!
Grab the rope!
One-two-three, push!
Let's go, come on!
Push it!
Let’s go! It’s moving!
C’mon, push it now!
Push it!
Push it!
Push!
- Harder!
Push!
- Push it!
Push it!
Lead the packhorses along the side!
Don’t lag behind!
- Out of the way!
Go around the hole!
Watch out! It's up to your ass here!
- Don't let it drag you away!
Push it!
What the fuck is
happening up front?
C'mon already!
- For God's sake!
Yank it!
- Pull it, c'mon! Pull already!
We gotta get the horse free!
C'mon, pull!
Let's go!
C'mon, pull!
- Push it!
Let’s go!
Step back, goddamnit!
We move on!
Sanyi! Come quick!
Against the wall! On the ground!
Where are the partisans hiding?
Let us go. We didn’t do anything.
C'mon, move already!
I'm not going anywhere!
Let me go!
- Guard the villagers!
Search the houses!
We stay here
till tomorrow night.
Move, goddamnit!
Is this the starosta?
Are you the starosta?
- Yes, I am the starosta.
What's your name?
- What's your name?
Sergey Alexandrovitch.
Where are your animals?
- Where are your animals?
The partisans took them.
The partisans took them.
- Where do the partisans live?
Where do the partisans live?
- They all left.
Everyone left.
Sergey, do you like to drink?
Sergey, do you like to drink?
Then drink some well water.
Well, was it good?
Was it good?
It was very good.
Take him away.
Ah, so tasty.
Should I send them out?
Let them stay.
I just wanted the chamber pot.
Nobody here is going home.
I think you’re scared.
I’m not scared.
I thought you don’t even get letters.
- I do.
I’d like to ask for one week leave.
Who does he think he is, eh?
Are you joking?
I would like to ask for a week's leave,
for family reasons.
Just one week.
Forget about it.
Please, just a week only.
Dismissed.
He's gotten really cocky.
Here's our little Semetka.
We stay here today.
The company moves on after dark.
We'll take a detour,
and have a look around the area.
Distribute three days' worth
of cold rations to everyone.
We'll take a machine gun.
And the two Ukrainian policemen
come with us.
I see you like the woman too.
Did you get hard?
We received report of woodcutters,
5km up the road.
Ride out after lunch
and check them out.
Outside one of the houses
two guards fell asleep on duty.
Tie them up before lunch.
Tie them and pull them up!
Pull him up hard!
I MISSED MY GUARD DUTY
No more than one puff!
Take your smoke, goddamnit!
Let them down in one hour.
Jocó, what would you give
to squeeze her tits?
She’s right behind you,
so go ahead.
Yes.
Sanyi, you want another bone?
- No.
Drink, drink up!
To your health!
Give my potatoes back!
I have nothing to feed my children!
- Haul your ass, fucker!
You steal from your own folk,
you prick?
You should have your hands cut off!
Let's go!
Vanya, you thieving pig!
Get down under the table!
C'mon, climb under the table!
Climb under, climb under, you pig!
C’mon, crawl!
Let's go, you pig!
Let's go!
Pig!
Push him from the other end!
We’re here!
Take a picture of him!
Shame on you!
Semetka, come out
and take a picture.
Look at you, son!
Is that how you want
your picture taken?
Hurry up!
You're taking forever.
We made the kid shit himself.
I'll go get water.
Alina!
Give it here.
Give him the berries.
Soldiers!
Soldiers!
Put your gun away.
Where are you from?
Where are you from?!
Vigonichi.
We're cutting wood.
What do they want?
We'll go back.
You already took everything!
We have nothing left!
Get out of here, you hear?!
Don't turn around.
Get the hell out of here!
We're not afraid!
Semetka, come here!
What's this road like?
That's a swamp.
Don't go that way.
We even lost two horses there
this winter.
Do you know the road
suggested by the starosta?
I haven’t been that way.
Can we trust the starosta?
- Yes.
Then we’ll choose this road.
Semetka, come in!
Pour!
Sergeant.
What happened
with the woodcutters?
Nothing happened.
We’ll leave the village
before nightfall.
We'll turn north and
march alongside the river.
You're up front with
the two Ukrainians.
Understood?
I understand.
For fuck's sake! Move!
Fucking hell.
Vanguard stop!
Vanguard, stop!
Why are we moving so slow?
We can't move any faster.
Haul your ass to the back.
Secure us from behind.
What? Did you shit yourself?
Let's go!
Are you injured?
They scraped my left arm.
Where's the sergeant?
He's there, lying in the road.
Crawl back.
Take the horses too.
Back!
Cover him, then put him up
on the horse.
Understood.
We're going back to the village.
There are traitors in the village.
They told them
which road we would take.
TRAITOR
Get up.
The soldiers are back.
Where did you get the milk?
There are no cows here.
You're a partisan.
I'm not.
- Yes, you're a partisan!
Who killed the starosta?
Look at me, you partisan!
I'm not a partisan.
- Yes, you are!
You want to play around with me?
Look at me.
Who killed the starosta?
Talk!
You want me to fuck you?
You little whore.
I'll shoot you.
We'll herd them into the barn.
C'mon, herd them into the barn!
Faster! Move already!
Let’s go! Faster!
Let’s go! Inside!
Search the houses!
Bring the first one out
and get him up against the wall!
Here are your shoes,
so you don't freeze.
"Add iniquity to their iniquity:"
and let them not come
into thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out
of the book of the living,
and not be written
with the righteous.
For they persecute him
whom thou hast smitten;
"and they talk to the grief
of those whom thou hast wounded."
C'mon, dig!
Faster!
"...and your heart shall live
that seek God."
For the Lord heareth the poor,
"and despiseth not his prisoners."
Reinforcements have arrived.
Go unload by the barn!
Corporal István Semetka, reporting.
Go on! Go on!
Pista.
How's your mother?
Thank you for asking: well.
Your son?
He's a fine, tall lad.
I'm glad.
Sorry about your commander.
We'll find who did it.
Let's look at the people.
Where are they?
I shut them in the barn.
How many are there?
33.
And how many men among them?
They're escaping!
After them! Hurry! Hurry!
Semetka, you stay here!
Let's go!
Secure the barn!
Fill it up.
Seven got away.
Please, bring water.
Come out! Koleszár's sergeant
wants to speak to you!
Illés.
- Semetka.
We're taking over command
of the village, starting now.
Go search the swamp.
I'll take over guard of the barn.
I'd like to speak to Koleszár.
Koleszár is not in the village.
Get going.
Did you understand me?
Get going!
Understood.
Stop!
You can't come any further!
Koleszár summons you.
- I'm coming.
Have a seat.
It was late afternoon.
I was walking through a clearing,
a bit tired.
Horses grazing all around me.
My groom and I were leading them
down to the lodging to feed them,
when suddenly, the earth moved.
Everything rumbled around me.
I turned around.
From the left,
a huge noise coming closer.
Before I realized,
there's a huge bear in front of me.
It's threatening me with its paws.
Sweeping the ground.
Clumps of soil hit my leg,
grass, roots and all.
The fur on the bear’s neck
stood on end.
I was frozen with fear.
I wanted to run,
but my feet would not obey me.
I wanted to shout.
But only a horribly distorted
sound escaped my throat.
My dog appeared for a few moments.
After a while,
bear started to back away.
My dog caught the scent,
and ran barking after the bear
into the woods.
I heard his barking for a long time,
as he drove the bear through the woods,
late into the night.
After settling the animals,
I headed off to my tent to rest.
That's when I noticed
the hole in the tent's side.
It was torn.
That’s where my dog broke through,
rushing to help me.
He was my best friend.
The groom just watched from behind
as the bear threatened me.
Drink.
I sent you to the swamp
so you wouldn't be here.
Sin is waiting behind the door.
Longing for you.
You must control it.
Come on, let's take a picture, Pista.
Embrace me.
You'll take my two ill men
and your own wounded
to the hospital in Navlya.
And mail the picture to Erzsi.
You know the address.
I'll take seven of your men,
your horses,
and your full equipment
at my own risk.
Let's forget all this.
There are no healthy soldiers.
No.
I said so yesterday.
I’ve had enough of them.
Sit down.
Semetka István, reserve corporal
from Company 44/23.
We were sent out
on patrol 3 days ago
with a machine gun sub-unit.
Continue.
We got mixed up in enemy fire
beside Saltanovka.
My unit commander lost his life.
We returned to the village
we were lodging,
to question the villagers.
I gathered them in a barn.
Soon after,
reinforcements arrived,
led by Sergeant Major Mátyás Koleszár.
He took over the village from me.
Seven villagers escaped.
After this...
Continue.
Sergeant Major Mátyás Koleszár,
at his own risk,
kept my weapons
and seven of my men.
He sent four injured men with me.
They require hospital treatment.
Have a smoke.
Do you have a family?
Yes.
When were you last home?
Eight months ago.
You'll take two weeks leave,
and embrace your family.
Afterwards,
you report back to me here.