George!
I was often disturbed in life.
Time has blurred so much.
Some things are forgotten.
Memory pieces together the remaining images...
knitting the memories together.
I can also recall...
it beginning on that summer's day in the first year...
of the French and Indian War.
BLUEBIRD
Mildred.
Woman.
Praised be Jesus Christ, John.
Blessed be your arrival in the promised land where milk and honey flow.
Blessed be the year 1755.
There's salt here!
Expensive, holy salt.
Deer, pine martins, ground squirrels!
Bears!
Pigs and Pigeons!
Meat and skins for all eternity!
The most fertile soil!
A most pleasant heaven!
The strongest trees!
Acacia, Chestnut, Sycamore, Hickory!
And here... our daughters... will grow into women...
and our boys into men.
The Rusters, the ruler of the most beautiful kingdom on Earth.
Georgie!
Paradise!
Georgie!
Paradise.
Georgie.
- You're speaking like the Almighty, John. - I'm omnipotent.
- John! - Yes, yes, I'm a sinner.
In old England we'd have long since starved to death.
Here we have everything we need: bread and freedom.
- Freedom, John! - Yeah, freedom!
The forest is our best neighbor.
You exaggerate, John.
Maybe it would be better to quarter the children
and Mildred in the fort over the winter, John.
They belong here.
What does the bible say?
Be fruitful and multiply.
You should also prove a piece of land!
Over there, by the creek.
And you should start a family, Hunter.
General Braddock is waiting for me.
So does life!
Life, life! It's war, John!
I liked Archie.
His uniform...
and how he rode.
He rode off to war.
Back!
Come back!
Oh, go on! Hup!
Hey!
Don't let the fire go out, Georgie!
You move a bit, Georgie!
Come on! Come!
Come on! Pull! Pull!
Come on!
And the Lord God...
planted a garden in Eden...
towards morning.
The Garden of Eden, Georgie, that's Paradise. That's Paradise, Georgie.
And the Lord God...
and there grew from the Earth...
every tree, which He saw was good...
and good food.
And the Tree of Life grew in the middle of the garden,...
and the Tree of Knowledge...
and it was free from ev... il...
You read, Georgie.
How far are we going to clear the woods?
Georgie,...
you see the maple...
there on the mountain, with all the other trees towering over it?
We're going to clear the forest up to there.
Is this Paradise, then?
Yes, Georgie, yes.
And... the... Lord... God...
took... the... men...
and... put...
him...
- in the Garden of Erden,... - Eden!
to... tend... it... and
watch over art.
One.
three, four, five. Six!
- 306, that makes 612 furrows. - 612!
What are 612 furrows? Georgie!
When its roots prospered, England was still in diapers.
In England I was a servant.
For 40 years, Georgie.
Now I'm the Lord.
612 are a lot for a laborer but not for an independent farmer.
Wait here, Georgie!
For a moment I was really in Paradise.
Father was right.
Everything was confusing.
I saw my father but couldn't make him hear me.
Hey!
I must have been knocked out...
because when I came to, it was the next day.
Dad, help! Dad, help!
Hey, wait! Take me!
I'm George Ruster, an English frontiersman!
Indians, hey, Indians!
Indians! Indians! Indians!
Indians! Indians are coming!
I'm George Ruster, an English frontiersman! Hey!
I'd like to see Braddock...
Bad luck, Kid! These are French. Braddock lost his battle.
I was in the middle of the war.
I saw French and Indians killing English soldiers.
I also expected to be killed.
By age, according to the strict code of our fathers...
every day a drop of white blood was replaced with red in your veins.
You're flesh of our flesh and bones of our bones.
We love you like we love our sons and daughters.
We'll protect you as one of us.
You're now part of the Iroquois Confederation.
You're a member of the family of Turtles.
Lord of Life, see us well.
We take a youngster in among us, he seems to be pretty bright,...
and has strength in his arms and body won't flinch before his enemies.
My grandchildren, you will receive you in place of a youngster whose spirit...
will now find peace in the Kingdom of the Dead.
His name was Bluebird. Your name is now Bluebird.
Don't speak your name lightly.
The name means your essence. That is true.
Your mother is Noonday Sun, your father Little Bear, your sister Malia.
You are the equal of my dead son in body and soul, in age and appearance.
You are him.
There should be no grass growing by my threshold,
when the Great Spirit should happen to call me.
She will have someone to support her in her old age, take care of her.
Have you dreamed well, my brother?
I'm not your brother!
For me it was still a war.
Abducted to a strange place, I felt surrounded by enemies.
Bluebird had a clear eye and a strong arm.
You're not bearing his name rightfully.
I've been crying secretly when you were born...
secretly, so your father won't despise me,...
and your spirit is not cowardly and you can contend for your life.
When you died, I shed tears again.
But I knew that when you were going on a long journey...
in a country... a country where it's always daytime.
The trees are always green. The air is always mild.
And where you were dancing happily.
I hoped your soul would come back to this life...
so you will find peace.
You've been given back to me. I worry about losing you again.
They never spoke to me about this day.
They kept quiet.
I saw that I couldn't flee at the moment, and I felt I was their prisoner for good.
I decided to feign adopting their customs.
But their life was full of secrets.
Don't be angry with us because we'll kill you.
You are wise and know our children have to eat.
They love you and invite you in their bodies.
The moment had come for me to speak up.
I had to soak up their world,...
in order to tell friend from foe.
Who showed you that?
My father.
My son.
Onondaga.
- I'm your friend. - You're my friend?
The Lord of Life has given you great strength and great courage,...
Your son has much, much spirit.
It will soon be winter.
There'll be lots of snow.
Do you understand this?
Yeah. There'll be a lot of snow.
- Thank you. - Your visit has made me happy.
- I have to go. - You have to go?
- I'm going. - Yeah, go ahead.
Where are you going to?
In the forest you don't ask where to or where from.
The unrest in your heart is from an alien life.
But I'm sure you'll soon find some serenity.
You'll be a man among the Iroquois.
You're laughing?
Now I know we can cry together.
The Earth is the turtle, she's bearing everything.
Heaven is an eagle which protects us from above. In between are the people.
Man and wife.
Don't you see they live? They will have children who live, too. And so on.
The experiences of the hunting ground had almost displaced the images of the war.
Peacefully, I found the French fort.
I felt good in the familiar surroundings,...
forgetting that the French were the enemies of the English...
and both need the Indians.
Sometimes as friends, sometimes as enemies.
Nice guy, your son.
Soon, it's one like the other.
You have beautiful wives.
You're so sweet.
But you shouldn't have too much candy on your lips.
One... Two... Oh, oho, a red fox!
I've rarely seen such a nice brute.
The paws and snout are white.
Your teeth hurt in laughter.
You wearing your hair over your face to hide yourself.
It's a business like any. At least I've found a way to live.
What's your name?
- What's yours? - Alfonse. Nice to meet you.
Alfonse.
Alfonse? Like me? My father's an officer.
- And yours? - Alfonse!
I have to go home.
Will you give me that?
I give you that...
that... my drum!
So are your bartering?
Who is that?
- What's your name? - Alfonse, like me!
My name's George.
George Ruster.
George? I thought it was Alfonse?
You're English, right?
Come on, George. Come on!
So you're giving me the Tomahawk?
We say grace before even a morsel of bread.
And we pray that God will always give us what we need.
In a dream I come to you.
This is mine?
Bluebird.
- Eat! - Eat, eat, I've been eating for a week!
Safodafos will come after us.
Eat! Nothing can be left over!
Otherwise we'd humiliate the animals' spirits.
What's good in this life is three things I've always loved.
Women, dreams, and eat-everything parties.
So you can clothe yourself with meat and become a deer again.
Do you recognize him?
- Onondaga. - Onondaga.
The messenger from Onondaga, his coming has always meant war.
Brothers!
You see this rich land, which the Lord of Life has given to our father and to us.
You see the animals and plants, our food.
You can see our women and children.
But I don't sleep and I see...
the enemy before us.
The English!
These people from an unknown world burn our forests,...
destroy our hunting grounds,...
They scatter the remains of our fathers and violate our dignity.
Brothers!
We don't want them excited prematurely.
A few weeks ago our men were against the French.
Now you rail against the English.
The white beast has two heads.
I've never heard that one of them is favorable to the red man.
The Iroquois is a free man.
Each man has to follow the inclinations of his heart.
Got it.
Got it, that everyone can decide on his own who...
to fight against.
He only needs to dance.
You wanted to follow him.
Revenge and stone were cooked together.
The stone was seasoned. Revenge remained tough.
It's time I became a warrior.
Oh, my ancestral fire, give me a powerful body.
Protect me in a fight.
Let me kill many enemies.
Red Fox wants to get his first scalp.
His hatred directed at me.
Desperation drove me into the forest.
I had to kill Red Fox.
I don't know whether it was all just dreams.
- Have I been ill long? - Long, my son.
And the warriors? Are the warriors back?
No, they're not back yet.
I'm hungry.
The Sagodafo will get me.
We're all hungry.
It's the time of crusts.
I want to go home.
I've suffered hunger every year.
But I always survived.
I want to go home.
If you have the tribal borders under your control,...
then you are our enemy.
I'd have rather died than live under the Iroquois.
When I got back to the village, the warriors had returned.
They were carrying a dead man, and Red Fox carried a scalp.
I shot a bear.
I shot a bear!
It's good dreaming on an empty stomach.
What did you say, my son?
I shot a bear!
You? A bear?
Yes! Me!
Are you sure you really killed it?
My brother's fallen into a storage pit.
He has happy feet! He has happy feet!
My children!
You've given us proof of your courage, determination, and manhood.
You have the wisdom to scalp the heads of our enemies.
And you have stilled our hunger, the menace to our lives.
At the salt creek we could have started a friendship.
Red Fox and me.
You're caught by a woodpecker?
Woodpeckers eat worms...
and eat names.
You could lose your name.
Stuck-in-Woodpecker-Hole Fox.
How does that sound?
Give me your knife!
Now you're caught.
I'd rather lose my hand than my name!
No one will know.
I remember exactly.
I'd just freed Red Fox when I saw the fire.
And this Englishman in a frontiersman uniform reminded me of Archie.
Archie, who gave me the knife.
It drew me to them.
Hey! Where did you come from?
From there!
And what are you doing here?
He fell from Heaven.
We're boiling salt.
Who is it? Who's "we"?
Turtles.
Turtles?
Turtles.
Iroquois! The family of Turtles! Come on!
You say your turtles?
How many these Turtles are creeping around? Down by the creek?
- Two dozen, maybe. - Male or female?
Maria, my wildcat. Many females.
Ah, but you're not a turtle.
No, I'm not a turtle.
- Where are you from? - From the border.
Ah, from the border.
You're a young English frontiersman. Will you travel with us?
But we have to cook a turtle soup first.
This day had dealt me scars...
it would take me long to recover from.
Neither with the fall or the coming year.
New fire! New light! New Life!
We thank you, masked one, for leaving.
We thank you that we're still alive. Please continue your work over the year.
Take all disease from our body.
Wipe away the dust from our eyes.
Purify our ears, our tongues,...
and our hearts from evil...
that we have seen and heard.
And protect our spirit from evil thoughts.
Give us wisdom!
Seven summers have passed.
Seven winters.
I have become a man among the Iroquois.
The war is over.
The English defeated the French.
Now their soldiers visit our villages.
They've taken hostages and have demanded all prisoners back.
I must go.
Must my son return to his other life?
I did not dig up the hatchet against the English.
I can shut my ears against such talk.
You've now lived many winters among us.
We have seen that you have the heart of a red man.
Did you think that we and the French banded
together could have defeated the English?
You see here two knives,...
which move against each other like two warriors.
It's believed they meet...
and destroy each other. But they only rub.
As soon as something gets stuck between them, it gets cut to pieces.
The two knives...
are the English and the French.
The corn leaf...
is us.
I must go back...
where I came from.
But my situation is ambivalent.
Am I a red man or a white man?
Am I Iroquois?
Or English?
Bluebird? Or George Ruster?
Simon! Simon! Archer! William!
William! William!
Barry!
Will! Will Hastings! Maggie! Paul!
Maggie Burns! Jenny! Jenny!
Hey! Maggie! Paul! David!
I had to remember images of the past...
so I could determine who I was.
I'm afraid to lose my face.
The eyes!
They're moving!
Yes! They move!
If they move, they live.
When you're alive,...
you can probably also talk.
As soon as they want.
Then you can get our chiefs in two places...
living at the same time.
They are there — even if they're not here.
The white man has much power.
Black Hawk is only half a man.
- Who says so? - The Dog says so.
Why does the Dog say that?
Ask the white man.
He's only painted half of your face...
because he knows the other half is no good.
If the white man says it, I believe it.
But when the Dog says it, he must prove it.
Let your whole face...
be shown without shame.
Black Hawk can face anyone and now he sees an old woman.
George?
I'm Andrew.
He painted his face only on one side.
He left off the other side.
The side he painted was alive.
The other was dead.
The Dog shot it off.
But I know both sides of his face were good.
And the painter knew that, too.
Why was it only half an effort, then?
We wanted you, George.
The painter has killed him.
You're close! Now what?
Mama! Indians! Mama!
Caroline?
Elizabeth! This is Caroline!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
This is your brother Peter.
But first now come down.
My God! You've grown!
Praise be to Jesus Christ!
You're finally back home. Now you can be happy. Come along!
Doesn't a man of the savages have many wives?
Caroline!
The women bring children into the world in the forest, alone.
- Horrible! - That's Burke, my fiancé.
They give birth without having to scream.
What is the manner of your walk, George?
- Look how Georgie's walking! - How is he walking?
And the men? What are the men like?
So George knew how the men were?
But the wives? Did you have one??
- Our Georgie was a savage! - Couldn't you escape, George?
Escape?
Were you hungry?
- Marian, prepare the food! - Yes, Ma'am!
Where? Where's Dad?
You don't want to take those togs off first?
No! Father wants it that way!
Georgie as an Indian.
George, I've been waiting for you.
George!
How long since I've spoken your name.
I looked at the tree and waited to see you again.
Look and hope.
Do you remember?
Once it topped all the other trees of the forest.
Paradise, Georgie!
Paradise! Or do you say that I'm lying?
You're here. I don't need to wait.
Cut down the tree!
Tomorrow.
Come on, come on!
How is that country there?
There in the west?
As fertile as here?
Sometimes I think we should move on.
How is it with Georgie? What can we expect?
You and I?
We're packing. We have hands!
- He looks good. - It's good on him.
My God, Georgie!
- You are a man. - Don't call him Georgie, then!
Seven years we've been waiting for you.
Seven bad years for us and for you.
Erase it from your memory as the candle flames are blown out.
George! You have to blow it out
Sleep well, George.
Dip your finger into the water!
Pull your finger out!
Now show me where your finger was immersed!
Are you sure?
Isn't it perfect?
Before the tree falls, thank God and say the Lord's Prayer.
Our Father...
Who art in Heaven...
It's good that men wear the yoke in youth.
Tree!
You are the tree of my fathers.
I didn't come here,...
to hurt you.
You know I'm a stranger.
Tree!
You are the greatest of all enigmas.
George?
George!