Four friends gather for Christmas dinner at an old cottage. Suddenly, there's a power failure and the phone goes dead. Then their wine turns to blood and the turkey makes them violently ill. Then things really get strange!
Source: IMDB
Source: IMDB
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Finding the right cottage is the most important thing.
00:22We were very lucky.
00:23Did someone put you on to it?
00:25No.
00:26We were out driving one weekend and we saw it from the road.
00:29It was evening and the sunset dramatized it a bit, I think.
00:32Anyway, it looked interesting and pleasantly isolated, so we drove up the path and had
00:36a look.
00:37It's getting harder and harder because all the decent ones are getting snapped up.
00:39Of course, it was a little more than a ruin, really.
00:42Doors and windows, boarded up nettles three feet high, right up to the walls.
00:46But we liked the area and it's reasonably convenient for London.
00:49And anyway, Rachel fell in love with it.
00:56It's lovely, Rachel.
00:57It is, really.
00:59It's funny about houses, isn't it?
01:00It's friendly here.
01:01You know how a house sort of welcomes or repels you the moment you open the door?
01:04We've been looking for years on and off.
01:06But Dan seems to think that beautifully decorated cottages just sit there in idyllic surroundings
01:10waiting for him to take out his checkbook.
01:12I felt it the very first time we came inside, almost as if something was saying, you're
01:16welcome here.
01:17The whole place was completely derelict.
01:19Been standing empty for years and years.
01:21It is a bit off the beaten track, I suppose.
01:24We had a devil of a job finding out who owned it, actually.
01:27My solicitor, the best part of six months.
01:29And then it was only the land, not the building.
01:31As far as we can make out, there's no trace of any owner for the house.
01:34Even by descent.
01:35We drew a complete blank.
01:36Well, whoever owned it, farm labourers must have lived here.
01:40Family after family of them.
01:41Right back into the 18th century.
01:43My dad said, ten generations of men who lived on bread and cheese are now us.
01:49He sees it as symbolic.
01:50And I bet you've got it for about 50 pounds, haven't you?
01:54A bit more than that.
01:56Not much more, though.
01:57You must have had the kitchen built on.
01:58It was a sort of shed thing, but we had to rebuild it almost completely.
02:02And the loo and the bathroom, of course, that's all new.
02:04Well, if one's going to live in the country, then at weekends, one must provide for the
02:08creature comforts.
02:09I can't bear all those dreadful people who live civilised lives in offices and suburbs
02:14all week, and then go back to nature and live like cavemen at the weekends.
02:18They deposit their dung in piles outside your bedroom window because it's good for the soil.
02:22If they give you a cup of tea, it's full of boiled moose.
02:25Don't worry, we're very civilised here.
02:27You've really just ragged on the lot, haven't you?
02:29Shower, stereo, radio.
02:31There's so much we had to do, they didn't save any point in half measure.
02:34Oh, this is us, is it?
02:35The guest room?
02:36The stairs look draughty, but they're not, actually.
02:38The central heating is adjustable to each room.
02:41It must have cost a bomb.
02:42Too much.
02:44I've got some photographs downstairs we took before work started.
02:48I'll get them out for you after dinner.
02:49I'd rather you didn't.
02:50I don't think I could bear it.
02:53I warn you, Christmas with Dan is usually ghastly.
02:56I don't know what you've let yourself in for.
02:58Margaret, you're biased.
02:59It's the same every year.
03:00He overeats like a pig at dinner, fills himself up with gallons of red wine,
03:04and snores and groans his way through to Boxing Day.
03:07It's a memorable experience.
03:09What does your dad think of all this?
03:12So points.
03:13Has he seen what you've done to him?
03:15He had me down for a weekend a month ago.
03:17Rowed non-stop for 48 hours.
03:19I can't help admiring your old man.
03:22I'd like to do an article on him one of these days.
03:23Master Sherry?
03:24Please.
03:25It would be nice, wouldn't it,
03:26if we could all keep our simple beliefs,
03:28regardless of the facts.
03:29Medium or dry?
03:30Medium.
03:31What did he say?
03:33Oh, asked me if I had anything better to do with my money,
03:36which is blood money anyway, as far as he's concerned.
03:39Advertising, public relations, market research,
03:42any of the selling professions,
03:43all out over there with the goats.
03:45I should have been here and put the lot on tape.
03:47The working class and its wealthy sons.
03:49It's worth a page or two in the Statesman any day of the week.
03:51He fixed me this branch meeting look and said,
03:53Eddie, my son, this is no way for a socialist to look.
03:55Indeed.
03:57So I told him in that case I'm not a socialist.
03:59What did he say to that?
04:01Nothing very much.
04:02I think he was rather shattered.
04:04So was I.
04:05Oh, the blackmail that goes on between parents and children.
04:08The other way around.
04:10After all, if one is forced to live in a bourgeois society
04:12against one's will, as it were,
04:14I don't see why one shouldn't enjoy legitimate rewards.
04:16I think we should be concentrating
04:19on happiness and rich.
04:21Politics are forbidden at Christmas.
04:23Don't let him tempt you, Edmund.
04:25He's only collecting material for an article.
04:27I already told him that.
04:28Sherry?
04:29Gin, please.
04:30How long now, darling?
04:32Not long.
04:33Time for a glass of sherry.
04:34Well, we're both green with envy.
04:36Darling, Edmund's having an attack of guilt.
04:38They had a traumatic weekend with his father.
04:40Oh, it wasn't that bad.
04:42They get into those two chairs
04:43and they go at each other like hammer and tongs.
04:45They enjoy it.
04:46Poor old boy's probably lonely.
04:48He'll go down to his son's place
04:49and have a good old row, won't he?
04:51I think that's right.
04:52What is this beautiful machine?
04:54Another affluent indulgence?
04:55That's my clavichord.
04:56Edmund bought it so I can give him practice once in a while.
04:58Oh, darling.
04:59It is gorgeous.
05:00It is an indulgence, really.
05:01Central heating doesn't do it any good.
05:03Of course, that didn't occur to me.
05:04It's a beautiful instrument.
05:05Play us something.
05:06In the middle of getting dinner?
05:07Oh, something gentle and civilized
05:09to usher in the feast.
05:10You are pompous.
05:11How do I endure you?
05:12Pray, madam, play.
05:13Ignore the interruption.
05:14Well, let me see.
05:19Oh.
05:22Bach had one, you know.
05:24And his son.
05:25Shh.
05:37Beautiful sound.
05:39Just right for the cottage.
05:41Small scale.
05:42Intense.
05:49Love.
06:00What's the matter?
06:03That music.
06:05Something in the back of my mind.
06:09Darling.
06:10What was it, that piece?
06:11Do you know?
06:12No.
06:13No, I never heard it before.
06:14No, neither have I.
06:18Sorry, I can't think where that came from at all.
06:21I don't know what it is or why I played it.
06:24Funny.
06:25It's something lodged in your memory from years ago.
06:28I suppose so.
06:29You must have played hundreds of pieces like that.
06:31You could never remember them all.
06:34I'm sorry to make such a fuss.
06:36For a moment, I was quite frightened.
06:41Frightened?
06:42Déjà vu.
06:44What?
06:45It's déjà vu.
06:46That strange feeling of having said or done something before.
06:49Like when you recognise a place you're sure you've never been to.
06:52It happens to everybody.
06:53Like when a goose walks over your grave.
06:55You can't beat him, can you?
06:56Always on hand with a superficial explanation.
06:59No, it's true.
07:00The wires get crossed in the mental computer
07:02and they come up with the wrong answer.
07:04Rachel's head, for instance, is full of music,
07:06but for a moment, the filing system went wrong.
07:08Oh, do shut up, dear man, or I shall begin to get embarrassed.
07:11Well, I'll go and get the dinner out if you'll excuse me.
07:13Pour some more sherry, darling.
07:15Put the lights on, it's getting dark.
07:17Well, I can't bear all this mystic rubbish age-old.
07:46Mystic rubbish age of Aquarius and all that nonsense.
07:49It's just an easy way out for people who can't be bothered to think things through.
07:52My darling, it's true that we know very little about the mind.
07:55What really happened to Rachel then at the clavicle?
07:57She forgot the title of a piece of music.
07:59Then why did it frighten her?
08:01Precisely.
08:02The mind absorbs facts through the senses, we know,
08:05but how does it evaluate them and then act on that evaluation?
08:08What powers does it possess beyond the obvious ones?
08:11Thank you very much.
08:12What do you mean?
08:13Powers of survival?
08:15Well, possibly.
08:16There are countless examples, for instance, of people separated by thousands of miles
08:20who are aware of the death of someone close to them.
08:23But if mind can be projected through space, why not through time?
08:27Haven't you ever stood on a battlefield and felt the presence of the dead?
08:30Well, it's just imagination.
08:32You see a bleak-looking field, and because you happen to know a lot of men died there,
08:35you people it with ghosts.
08:36The mind covers the facts to suit its own preconceptions.
08:38It's more than that, though, isn't it?
08:40The mind can have a definite physical effect,
08:42even change the state of the body in certain circumstances.
08:44Well, you're proving my point, not his.
08:46These are rational explanations. They depend on cause and effect.
08:49But the point is that the reason alone can't be trusted.
08:52It can look at the facts, and because of its preconceptions, it can come up with the wrong answer.
08:56Do you remember that party game, Nelson's Eye?
08:58Oh, it used to frighten the life out of me.
09:00No, what was that?
09:01Oh, it was a favourite at every children's party I was ever invited to.
09:04I can't remember the details, just the traumatic bits.
09:07Yes, I remember this.
09:08You were blindfolded, and you had to touch certain objects and guess what they were,
09:11and at the end, they plunged your finger into a raw egg
09:14and told you you were poking it into Nelson's blind eye.
09:17It still makes me shiver to talk about it.
09:19Well, that's a perfect example of what I've been saying.
09:21And I just thought it would be an even better one, my darling.
09:24Close your eyes.
09:25What? What are you up to now?
09:28Now, shut your eyes.
09:29Now, stay like that for a moment.
09:36What's he doing?
09:37I don't know.
09:39You know the trouble with Dan, don't you?
09:41He got to the age of 30 and started going backwards.
09:43God help me when he's 15.
09:45Are your eyes still shut?
09:47Yes.
09:48Dan, what are you doing?
09:50I'm blindfolded.
09:51Why?
09:52It's the rules of the game.
09:53Edmund, don't say anything, just watch.
09:58Dan.
10:03I have in my hand...
10:05an open razor.
10:07What?
10:08An old-fashioned cutthroat razor.
10:10It's very, very sharp.
10:12Really, the things some married people get up to.
10:14Quiet. Concentrate.
10:16I'm going to come very close to you.
10:18And with this open razor...
10:21I'm going to cut open your cheek.
10:23Oh, are you charming.
10:24I'm coming now.
10:25The razor's wide open.
10:27It's so sharp that I don't even feel it.
10:29It would lay open my finger at the slightest touch.
10:31My husband is quite mad.
10:33Quiet!
10:34I want the most of the last few seconds before the pain.
10:37I'm very close now.
10:39The razor's about two inches from your cheek.
10:42Can you feel it?
10:43Dan, what is this?
10:44I told you, with this open razor...
10:46I'm going to cut open your cheek.
10:48There.
10:52An ice cube melting.
10:53No damage done.
10:54Oh, my God, that did frighten me.
10:56Point proved, I think.
10:58It's the coldness and then the wetness on my cheek.
11:00You can kill a man with a drop of water on the back of his neck.
11:03If you tell him, it's a guillotine.
11:05What was that noise?
11:06Don't worry, darling.
11:07A little practical psychology from Dan.
11:09Is my husband frightening the life out of me?
11:11It's party games, my darling.
11:12Don't be alarmed.
11:13Well, the dinner's ready, nurse, if you'd like to come through.
11:16Yeah.
11:22Behold the feast.
11:24Come on, please, darling.
11:25Margaret, would you like to sit here?
11:27Dan, you here?
11:28Ah, Rachel, you've gone far too far.
11:30I'm a terrible pig.
11:31I can't leave any of it.
11:32I've already made your excuses.
11:34My darling, have you noticed the carving light?
11:36Neatly on the plate.
11:37A little idea of the architect.
11:39Notice the little things that count after all.
11:41That's real style.
11:42You're beginning to embarrass me.
11:44But you can't be a socialist
11:45with a spotlight on your carving plate, love.
11:47Oh, no, no, he shouldn't laugh.
11:49What's he going to do for Christmas?
11:50The old man.
11:51He did invite him here.
11:52Well, the fact is, he'd be much better off there.
11:54He'd enjoy himself much more.
11:56Ah, yes, I suppose he would, really.
11:57I've forgotten the wine.
11:58What wine?
11:59We've got a couple of bottles of Burgundy over there.
12:01Oh, my darling, this is a very special bottle
12:03that I've brought down to crown the celebration.
12:05I've had it on...
12:06Go and get it, dear, and shut up.
12:08I've left it in the other room
12:09to settle down after the journey.
12:11Dan's a wine boy.
12:12You think yourself lucky
12:13you didn't get the whole decanting bit.
12:27Corkscrew.
12:28Now, does everybody eat everything?
12:29You can work on that, Principal, isn't it?
12:31Well, here we are, then.
12:32There's some broccoli and sprites, potatoes...
12:34Don't worry, we'll manage.
12:35Let me see about this.
12:37Suddenly, I'm very hungry.
12:39How are you doing, darling?
12:40Not too badly.
12:43Oh.
12:44Oh, no.
12:46That must be the bowl.
12:47No, it's the kitchen as well.
12:48Oh, hell.
12:50How about that for timing?
12:52Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
12:54There must be a few, isn't there?
12:56I'm sorry, everybody.
12:57Oh, don't fret, dear man.
12:58No harm done.
12:59It's rather nice by candlelight.
13:01But it's this carving light.
13:02It's a special toy.
13:03It will be a minute.
13:05Oh, well, don't worry.
13:06We'll wait if it won't spoil.
13:08It should survive a few minutes.
13:09Yes, and I'll send you the first glass of wine.
13:27Oh, Christ.
13:58Now, this is too much.
14:03Don't worry.
14:04I've taken over, and I'm carving quite beautifully,
14:06even without the benefit of a special angle spotlight.
14:08Is everything all right?
14:09No, it isn't.
14:10What's wrong?
14:11Looks as if we've got a disaster on our hands.
14:13A disaster?
14:14Just a minute while I check the other room.
14:16Oh, wow.
14:17Well, you really oughtn't worry about that.
14:19It's all right.
14:20It's all right.
14:21It's all right.
14:22It's all right.
14:23It's all right.
14:24It's all right.
14:25It's all right.
14:26It's all right.
14:27You're under the tears.
14:28Yes, get me under the tears.
14:37Bloody electrician.
14:39now how are you going to power it?
14:58it's not the fuses. as far as I can see we've lost all electric power
15:02throughout the house. no light no heating cookers central heating television all
15:05gone kaput even the phone. there is no need to panic you've all forgotten the
15:10obvious solution. what is that? this is England remember what always happens
15:14every year as soon as it snows or one two people put the cookers and heaters
15:17on at once. a power cut. correct a power cut. either that or the government's decided
15:22to give the miners another lesson and what better time to do it than Christmas.
15:24I do hope you're right. of course I'm right. there'll be a great big inquest in the
15:28papers and they'll all talk about how democracy's at stake and revolutions
15:31around the corner and they'll all forget about it three weeks later. no it can't be a power cut.
15:34why not? the phone's gone that's nothing to do with the power. well don't worry
15:41it doesn't matter. I haven't finished the pudding or the coffee. there's enough food
15:44here to last us a month. just wait till I see that bloody electrician. six months
15:47has been done that's all. you can imagine what it cost me. it's probably
15:50something very simple like a little join or leave. you will gather from that
15:54remark that my husband is no electrical genius. the heating's gone as well. the fire
15:57will keep us warm Rachel. don't panic. I'm terribly sorry everyone. I'm afraid this has
16:01spoiled everything. nonsense. we've been dead lucky actually. the food's cooked to perfection.
16:04we've got gallons of wine and brandy so we won't miss the coffee. I vote we forget
16:10all about the minor inconveniences and eat this fabulous meal. we've all been
16:15hostesses in our time. I think I'll just get some candles out. I'm going to do it now before we all start falling over one another.
16:20I'll come and give you a hand. the lady's finished serving. Ed, the Marxists go on about how
16:28society determines consciousness but it's not true. technology determines
16:32consciousness these days. last year during the strike Margaret and I spent
16:39whole evenings reading aloud to one another. I'm sure if we'd had a piano we
16:43would have sung duets. any minute now. she'll begin to get the giggles. I plan it all to be
16:47so splendid. the sight of Dan trying to be helpful is more than I can bear. I suppose we
16:52could always make coffee in a saucepan on the fire. I wouldn't give him a candle. he'll burn the house down.
16:55give me a cross and a censer and I'm ready for editing.
17:02do you know anyone who wants a beautiful cottage or modcon except that none of it
17:12works? you know this is becoming a very moral tale. our civilization hangs by a
17:17thread. you throw a few switches and we're back in the Dark Ages.
17:42fire's nice. Dan, I don't understand it. what's that? well if it was a power cut
17:58the phone would be working but it's not. it's not conceivable that the phone and
18:03the power should have given out simultaneously. surely. in England at
18:06Christmas anything's possible. I don't see what it could be that could affect
18:09both. well for instance a pylon could have fallen on a telegraph pole. you
18:15lack imagination Edmund. come and eat. well we can see to get up the stairs at
18:23least. but I suggest that we forget all our little setbacks and concentrate on
18:26enjoying ourselves. I second that. calm down Rachel. I'm going to set them all rolling with this bottle of wine.
18:34Merry Christmas everybody. now you try that for size Edmund. cheers everyone.
18:40oh darling. whatever. look what you've done to the table. must have gone down the wrong hole.
18:49what's the matter?
18:53it's not wine.
18:57what do you mean it's not wine? of course it's wine. it's blood.
19:05what?
19:07it's blood it is. it's blood. don't be silly. it's blood. taste it. I'll get a cloth.
19:26it's burgundy. it's very good burgundy. taste it.
19:34I don't understand. well here taste this. I'm not joking. here.
19:49I don't understand. well here taste this. I'm not joking. here.
20:05I must be going mad. it smells the same. look.
20:14now that is not blood is it?
20:25to me it is. I mean it. stop it Ed. stop it. whatever sort of game you're playing.
20:32stop it. Rachel it is not a game to me. it's wine. obviously it's wine. look.
20:50it's wine.
20:54well don't worry old fellow. I won't insult you next year by bringing my own
20:58bottle. Dan I'm not joking you know. I believe you when you say that it's wine
21:03but to me it's not possible is it? let's all eat our dinner quietly and privately
21:13shall we? wine or no wine before it all finally gets cold. very good idea.
21:58oh what is it? curried turkey? recipe. it's the meat.
22:22it's the meat too. it's a joke. this is the big joke Christmas. it isn't any joke. I cooked it in the
22:27normal way and it tastes like fudge. what's happening here?
22:36burning my throat. drink water I think lots of water.
22:41I can't bear it. I can't bear it anymore.
22:57oh it's better. oh my god. it's going off.
23:28that's Rachel.
23:40what is it darling? in there on the bed.
23:52something on the bed.
24:13it's nothing. you see anything? no just the bed.
24:22darling there's nothing on the bed. nothing? just the bedspread. what do you see?
24:34I saw a dead child. I saw the skeleton of a dead child.
24:40there's nothing there now. do you want to go and look? no.
24:45come on let's go downstairs.
25:16what's happening dad? something very strange. I feel quite all right. so do I.
25:25not very hungry anymore. no trace of the pain? no none.
25:30no. what about Rachel? did you feel? yes terrible sort of hot griping pain in
25:36the stomach. with me it went quite sudden. yes and me. but none of us tasted blood
25:42except Edmund. no no. I still hardly believe it. and now this upstairs. I definitely saw it.
25:49I didn't imagine it. I looked for quite a long time to make sure it was the
25:54skeleton of a child about two feet long with bits of clothing on the bedspreader.
25:59I promise you I really did see it. darling nobody's saying you didn't but
26:04equally none of us did. but we've all seen or felt something. Edmund the blood.
26:09the rest of us the food and the pain that just disappeared and now Rachel this.
26:12and all of us the house. what do you mean? we've all experienced the failure of the
26:17machinery in the house. that's just straightforward simple mechanics is it?
26:21what are you implying? that this whole thing the power failure included is some
26:24kind of mass hallucination? can you suggest anything better? well if it is
26:28then we're still in the grip of it. because the lights are still out the
26:31clocks are still there. if it's some form of mass hysteria something that our four
26:35minds are creating between us then we're still under its spell. nothing's been
26:39right since the lights went. before that the music. what are we going to do then?
26:44there must be some kind of rational explanation. we don't need any rational explanation. I just want it to stop.
26:48if it's some form of mass hysteria. it can't be we're forsaying mature people.
26:52we know what we're doing what we're saying. do we though? we all think the lights have
26:57failed but maybe they're on all the time. maybe they're blazing away across the
27:01fields for miles. if you tasted blood and Rachel saw a dead child on the bed
27:05that's just as possible. our perceptions tell us that we're sane and balanced and
27:09that those are the facts. but maybe that's the prime constituent of our
27:12hysteria. so that we've lost all distinction you mean between what's
27:15really happening and what's imagination? how else to explain what's been
27:18happening in the last 15 minutes? I mean these delusions have come from somewhere.
27:22if not from our own minds where? if what you say is true then what we need to do
27:27to reassert reality ordinary daily reality where wine is wine and all the
27:31machines work is to get out of here. if necessary separate break whatever it is
27:35that's mentally binding us together. so I suggest we go out get in the cars
27:39drive away to some nice uncomplicated hotel where they have an emcee and
27:43dancing and they're playing silly innocent Christmas games. so that we
27:46dissipate whatever it is that's been distorting our perceptions here. do you
27:49agree? yes I think it's a very good idea. Dan? yes. there's no such thing as
27:56absolute darkness is there? it's never absolutely dark. I don't think so. why?
28:03I can't see anything. I can't see the dark shapes where the trees and the
28:08hedges should be or the grass under the window. I can't see anything at all.
28:13let's see. there's light coming from this room from the candles and the fire. it
28:17should shine out onto the path. there's nothing. it's like a black curtain.
28:28give me a hand Dan will you?
28:39it won't budge. help me to shoulder it.
28:47it's not going to open is it? no it's not.
28:57this window is the same. it's like the bottom of the sea. we're caught in here I know it.
29:04something has got us trapped. you go and check the windows upstairs. I'll look at
29:10the other door.
29:17don't worry Rachel there must be some kind of rational explanation. no there
29:35isn't. we're caught. it's black as pitch. nothing at all. the back door is the same as the
29:41front. so that's it. we stay and sit it out whatever it is. well if there's some
29:45sort of mental force that's holding us in here let's see if it'll stand up to
29:48this. I'm gonna have a brandy. I hope. this window's made of perfectly ordinary
29:55glass. the builder broke a pane when he was putting it in by dropping his trowel
29:59on it. so this should do the trick. the brand is okay. well all I can say is we
30:11must be very strong-minded lot. can I get anybody else a drink? all right let's
30:25try and work it out. it's a waste of time. why not just sit back and enjoy? in a
30:29sense with privilege we're experiencing something that's probably unique. inside
30:32this house several extraordinary things have happened which we can only explain
30:35by suggesting that we're all sharing the same hysterical delusion. I'm glad I
30:38married a rationalist. I always knew it would come in useful. but by now the house
30:42itself has become part of that delusion. we look out of the window and we see
30:45nothing. some inexplicable force keeps the doors and windows shut. the house
30:50itself? what do you think is beyond these walls? outside the door? I mean do you
30:55think it's the two cars and the grass track and the track leading to the main
30:57road? or is it something else? just space perhaps? it'd be just space. your
31:04rationality is wearing a little thin. what time does your watch say? 5.30 it's
31:10stopped. Edmund? 5.30. Rachel? 5.30. so does mine. so does the electric clock. I'll bet
31:21you every other clock in the house says 5.30 too. that must be the time the light
31:23spent. so everything stopped at 5.30. or started? everything. I wonder what time it is now.
31:28for a rationalist you're getting extremely fanciful. I prefer to wait and
31:32see before entering the realms of science fiction. after all we're all okay.
31:35there's nothing happening to us at the moment. it's the house. I'm sure it's the
31:38house. everything began when the house stopped functioning. and the machinery in
31:42the house. it may be that the house itself is working perfectly well. I think
31:45we've been selected. what do you mean? chosen in some way. the four of us. for
31:51what for? something nice I hope. no I don't think so. we don't achieve anything
31:56by getting all intense and visionary about it do we? what we need to do is to
31:59keep our eyes open and our minds at full stretch and whatever we find
32:02happening to us try to understand it. oh our antennae you mean. you have always
32:05placed too much reliance upon the intellect. look at Rachel. she's got all
32:09her receivers working at full power but it's nothing to do with the intellect
32:12what's registering on her. you want to believe it don't you? that's what it is.
32:15well I don't. I want to know. do you remember those photos I told you about?
32:20what photos? photos of the house. it's coming nearer. I can feel it. it's almost here.
32:26the two sets I took. one before we started and one after. I wonder. so do I.
32:32the choice has been made.
32:36I can feel it. it's coming nearer. I can feel it.
32:38it's coming nearer. what can you feel?
32:40the two sets of prints. before and after.
32:42what's coming nearer? where's it coming from?
32:44it's here. it's here in the house.
32:46what?
32:48these are the before ones you see.
32:50that's how it was.
32:52the choice has been made. now it's beginning to work.
32:55what choice? what's been chosen? us. the four of us. we've been chosen.
32:59just like this. just as I took it. but look at this and this. this should be the
33:05modernized ones but Dan I I did not take these pictures. I can see you didn't.
33:09I've never seen the cottage looking like this. no you haven't because these
33:12pictures were taken 200 years ago. but I mean that's impossible. I mean look. look
33:17at this one. there's someone at the window. it's a woman. a fair-haired woman with a shawl.
33:21yes a fair-haired woman with a thin face and a shawl. it's beginning. how does she know?
33:27listen. listen. what is it? be quiet. concentrate. watch what happens.
33:37oh
34:07the pain. what is it? tell us. there's nothing more to be done. the children have cried
34:23themselves to sleep and we're all too weak to move now. I can only lie here
34:29talking to the walls wondering how long it will be. what is she saying? what
34:33children? just listen. go on Rachel. we can all hear. if I could write I'd write it all in a book for the
34:38whole world to know what they've done to us but no one bothers to teach the poor.
34:43so even that comfort has denied me. but I have to speak. I have to make it known
34:49even if only to the bare walls. who is it? who is it speaking? I don't know. just listen.
34:55Sarah Jane Morby. born a Christian. aged 26 years. a married woman but now a widow.
35:03I'm lying here on a straw mattress with my two children Robert and Jane.
35:08there's a little water but nothing to eat. we have none of us eaten for well
35:13over a week at least. I don't remember when. yeah in this house. my husband
35:20Robert was a hard-working man and we were all happy till the bad times came
35:24and people had to leave for the times and many houses in the village stood
35:29empty. there was no trade and no work till bread became too dear to buy. then
35:35there was none at all to be had. the squire told us that there was no more
35:39work and we must fend for ourselves. and the parson told us to pray to God. he did
35:47pray. we prayed to him day and night but the food got less and less and my
35:52husband was in despair. he talked of going out at night. some nights he'd come
35:59back with a rabbit or a hen even a lamb one time. we managed to live for several
36:03months that way. but the gamekeepers got stricter. a man in the next village was
36:08hanged. there was no more game to be had with half the county living on it. a man
36:14came one night with a book in his hand and he talked to Robert till dawn. they
36:20spoke angrily and cried out so that I heard it. the children stirred in their sleep.
36:26the next night Robert went out with that man and some others and he didn't come
36:34back the next morning. and I heard there were fires in the field and the bricks
36:40were burning and the squire's barn had been burnt down and that my Robert had
36:48been taken by the soldiers. Rachel darling. I went to the assizes. I saw my
36:57Robert in the dock with the other men looking pale and ill. I was praying for
37:05transportation.
37:09but it was death.
37:13I cried out to the judge that we were all starving.
37:16what were we expected to do without food? but the judge spoke grandly about property and
37:24rights and I was dragged from the court. I took the two children to see their
37:32father hanged. I told them to remember what was being done to him so they
37:39should grow up to avenge his death on all the wicked men responsible. that
37:45will never happen now. a doctor told me it takes 20 minutes for a hanging man to
37:54die. I stood there all the time watching his poor face giving him all my love to
38:06help him bear that terrible death. he moved a little at first but gradually
38:16became still. but I waited for over half an hour to be quite sure. none of us
38:26cried. not even the children. barbarians. barbarians. that evening I went around to
38:33see the squire. but I was chased away angrily and told that my husband was a
38:41criminal. I crept round the side of the house hoping to go in and tell the
38:46squire of my children's hunger and ask for his mercy. when I got to the window I
38:54could see them at table. the squire was there and his brother the parson and his sons. there was a
39:04side of beef and several roast chickens and cakes and pies and bottles of red wine. and in the corner the squires
39:17daughter was playing music. a sweet melancholy tune. whilst my husband lay
39:26dead and my children were crying for food. and I thought this could never be
39:36forgiven. no circumstance. no degree of self-interest. not even ignorance can
39:44excuse this feasting and dancing whilst on the same planet in the same village
39:50people are starving. and I knew then that I was beaten. that where there was no
40:00conscience there was no hope. there was nothing to be done. that this wickedness
40:07and injustice was too great a monster for me to grapple with. I came home and
40:15closed my door and since that day no one has bothered to open it to see who may
40:21be inside. here she means. she means here. I used to believe in God but this world
40:30is man's work. I recognize it by the bloodstains. if God still sees us he
40:37sees us with despair. like Pilate he shakes his head and washes his hands
40:44unable to save us. I know we will soon be dead now. the worst pain is over. my
40:55bodily weakness is almost comforting like the beginning of sleep. I have no
41:03forgiveness for the selfishness and greed which has destroyed my family. the
41:11hardest thing of my dying is to know that our murders will go unpunished.
41:16someone surely must pay for our unjust deaths and all the other deaths like
41:22ours for I know that we are not unique. if no ear can ever hear my accusations
41:31no eye ever read them. let my words burn themselves into the fabric of these
41:38walls so that the brickwork beams and plaster shall remember the agony and
41:45injustice of those dying under this roof. how can this ground ever be easy when
41:55there is no atonement for crimes like these? the soil is bitter with my
42:01children's blood. I can't say any more. justice cry against injustice from the
42:17dark centuries.
42:26Jane is dead now I think.
42:36and Robert in a deep sleep from which he will never wake. I can't speak anymore.
42:52I have to save my breath to face the reality of this starvation which is slowly
43:00draining my life whilst we sleep in our paupers grave. let someone, somewhere, remember.
43:13us. the Chosen Four.
43:23♪
43:43Rachel. where are you going?
43:48♪
43:59Dan. hold my hand.
44:04don't be frightened. I told you you were privileged.
44:09♪
44:39♪
44:59♪
45:29♪
45:56yes. I understand now. now I understand.
46:05...
46:25motorway driver. the chairman of the World Famine Relief Organization speaking
46:32at a UNESCO conference in Paris on Europe and the underdeveloped world has
46:36called for a radical heart-searching on the part of the developed country. it is
46:41well known he said that under the present circumstances far from
46:44rectifying the situation the rich countries are getting richer and the
46:47poor countries are getting poorer. how much longer are we prepared to let this
46:51situation continue? he asked the assembled delegates. his question was
46:55received in silence. finally news is just coming in of a bizarre Christmas
47:02tragedy. in a remote country cottage four apparently healthy people in their
47:07middle thirties have been found dead. an air of mystery surrounds the story at
47:11the moment said a spokesman at Scotland Yard but foul play is not suspected. the
47:16four bodies when found were in an extremely emaciated condition and
47:20although the house was full of food and drink and a sumptuous Christmas dinner
47:24was laid on the table apparently untouched all four people appear to have
47:28died of starvation
48:58you