Reel American History - Films

0:05:24 No Need to Worry: Count: I can't stand this smell, but it's good for me. Very good. And your work, Father?
Priest: Precarious, sir. It is hard teaching Christian doctrine to these blacks.
Count: Cheer up, man. You know why I've come.
0:05:58 A Report on Don Manuel: Priest: It's a pity that not everyone fears God. These abuses by the overseer...
Count: Perhaps we're being unjust to Don Manuel. These days it's hard to steer this ship. The sea is stormy.
Priest: If he trusted God more...if he spent more time in church and less with cockfighting...with brandy and the female slaves...
0:06:31 Altar-side: Count: But, Father, I can find no peace. I live in constant uneasiness. Even by day I walk lost in a maze of darkness. Where can I find a way out?
Priest: In God and only in God.
0:07:45 Not My Problem: Don Manuel: I'll have to whip them harder. I'll have to put many blacks in the stocks.
Count: Why tell me? It's your business. You're the overseer. But the church must be respected.
0:11:12 Souls and Sugar: Don Gaspar: The sugar has been purged by fire. Like the souls of the righteous in purgatory.
Priest: Unhappily, not all souls are purified in purgatory.
Don Gaspar: Unhappily, not all cane is converted into white sugar.
0:11:51 More Blacks Needed: Don Gaspar: They've not yet invented anything but blacks to cut cane.
Count: What do you mean?
Don Gaspar: We shall need more blacks.
Count: If necessary, we'll bring in more slaves.
Don Gaspar: A time will come when there are more blacks than whites.
Count: Don't worry. We know how to handle the blacks.
0:13:52 The House Slave Spared: Count: Emundo!
Emundo: Did you call, Count?
Count: I want you to send a message to the overseer.
Emundo: I'll go. The sugar mill blacks are too stupid.
Count: Tell him to assemble all the slaves.
Emundo: Me, too, Count?
Count: No, you are my slave, my servant.
0:17:19 The Glory of Heaven: Priest: What is it like to go to Heaven? To go to Heaven is to see God, to be with God, to live in his house...not in the kitchen, but in the dining room...You eat at God's table...with the Most Holy Virgin who is our mother...and with the angels and saints who are our brothers. That's what going to Heaven means. Up there...nobody gives orders, nobody dislikes anyone...nobody fights or gets angry. All love one another. Nobody says, "This is mine and this is yours." Everyone's got enough. Isn't that wonderful? Doesn't it make you long to go to heaven? To go, you must be pure...and keep the commandments. The slave must do his duty as a good slave. He must respect and serve his master as God requires. He must love him, because God commands this.
0:24:54 A Bad Memory: Don Gaspar: I know very well what happens when slaves revolt. In Santo Domingo...
Don Manuel: You always talk about Santo Domingo.
Don Gaspar: Because I know them. There were more blacks there than whites or mulattos. Now only blacks are left. I don't want to see my head used by blacks as a football.
0:26:19 My Good Master: Count: On a day like today, Christ called in His friends, the saints, His disciples, who were His slaves...to take leave of them. Christ was going to die.
Slave: No! My master can't die! My master is good!
Count: No, I'm talking of Christ.
0:30:49 A Clear Answer: Count: Which do you prefer? Africa, or the sugar mill?
Bangoche: Bangoche is a slave.
0:32:15 The Admonishment: Count: You see where your pride has brought you, Sebastian? You don't learn. You're stubborn. Overseer orders, niggers must shut mouth and obey. This happens to nigger because they're stupid. So the overseer is right to treat you like this. Nigger runs away, overseer catches him. He must punish him hard, so nigger doesn't do it again.
0:37:33 Communion or Cannibalism??: Count: It was then He said: Eat. This is my body. Drink, this is my blood.
Ambrosio: And they ate?
Count: Yes, of course they ate.
Ambrosio: Oh my God! They ate Christ!
Count: No, the wine and the bread.
Ambrosio: I thought these saints were like the black Carabali, who cook and eat people. Master, look. Those are Carabali men.
Count: I want you to understand that Christ's friends didn't eat him.
Ambrosio: Now I don't understand anything. Do these saints eat or don't they?
Count: Well, they eat.
Ambrosio: I see, Master. Christ doesn't tell lies.
0:47:40 Freedom and Happiness: Count: Pascual, sit down here. How do you feel? Are you happy? And what will you do now?
Pascual: Nigger doesn't know, Master.
Count: You see! He's got his freedom, and doesn't know what to do.
Pascual: Nigger Pascual is old and tired
Count: Then you will stay at the mill?
Pascual: Where can Pascual go?
Count: Do you like the mill?
Pascual: No, Master.
Count: Then why stay?
Pascual: Nigger has no place to go.
Count: Well, why not go back to Africa, to your native land? That's why you want to be free.
Pascual: Nigger has no place.
Count: Then you're not content. Not happy. That's what I wanted to explain. You can't be happy although you're free.
0:56:11 The Lesson Understood: Ambrosio: Master, let me see if nigger Ambrosio understands. When overseer beats me, I must be happy?
Count: If you understand this, you will be truly happy. Even happier than the whites.
0:57:47 The Lesson Protested: Pascual: Why must the black man take the overseer's blows without protest?
Bangoche: Why doesn't the overseer get beatings too?
Count: Because it is God's will and God's punishment! God is merciful, but is pitiless with the disobedient.
1:01:09 Speaking Candidly: Antonio: Why is there no overseer in paradise? The priest says overseers are like Jesus Christ.
Count: The overseer is a bastard. Jesus Christ? I don't know what the priest told you...but Don Manuel, the overseer can never be like Jesus Christ. Don Manuel is a great sinner. He not only flogs you, he steals from me if I'm not careful. The villain. The overseer in paradise...no. There's room only for all of us. The Lord and his disciples.
1:03:55 The Count Switches Sides: Emundo: I think it's time to sleep.
Count: And who are you to give me orders? Are you forgetting the role you have to play? Your master! Understand? Your master! Clear off.
1:05:12 Sebastianâ€™s fable: When Olofi made the world: When Olofi made the world, he made it complete: he made the day, he made the night; he made a good thing, he made bad things; he also made lovely things and he also made ugly things . . . Olofi made well all the things in the world: he made Truth and also he made the Lie. The Truth appeared nice to him. The Lie did not seem good to him: it was ugly and skinny, skinny as if it were sick. Olofi thinks it pitiful and gives it a sharp machete to defend itself. Time passed and people always wanted to go with the Truth, but no one, no one wanted to go with the Lie . . . One day Truth and Lie met each other in the road and as they are enemies they fight . . . The Truth is stronger than the Lie, but the Lie has the sharp machete which Olofi gave him. When the Truth was careless and dropped his guard, the Lie â€"zip!-- cuts off the Truthâ€™s head. The Truth no longer has eyes and begins to look for his head with his hands . . . Looking and looking he suddenly blunders into the head of the Lie and â€"whup!â€"pulls off the Lieâ€™s head and puts it where his own had been. And from then on he goes about the world, deceiving all the people. The body of the Truth with the head of the Lie.
1:10:51 Sebastian's Magic: Ambrosio: If you run away again, the master won't spare your life.
Sebastian: This time Sebastian has ways to defend himself. I have powers. Sebastian will become a tree in the mountains. A fish in the river. A stone. He'll turn himself into a bird and fly away. Nobody will ever catch me. Nobody can kill me.
1:12:30 The Supper Ends: Count: Get me out of here.
Emundo: Shall I wake the slaves?
Count: No, leave them. If only they would never wake up.
1:16:35 Argument over Work: Don Manuel: What's up with that bell? Who stopped it?
Priest: What are you doing?
Don Manuel: Father, what are you doing here?
Priest: Before leaving, the Count said definitely no work today.
Don Manuel: I don't know what you discussed, but he gave me my orders. We must not lose a single day. Work is behind at the mill. (To slave) Ring that bell. Get every slave up!!
Priest: Don Manuel, at least respect Holy Week.
Don Manuel: What have niggers to do with that?
Priest: You take responsibility for what could happen?
Don Manuel: And you, father? To what extent are you not responsible?
Priest: It's useless trying to reason with you. I have nothing more to say.
1:20:15 Argument over Don Manuel: Priest: But Count...today is Good Friday. It's not right they should work.
Count: Yes, I agree with you. But you know the overseer. He's a violent man who commits necessary sins. It won't be his last sin, either.
Priest: Then sir, what can we do?
Count: What can we do? He'll receive his punishment from a hand higher than mine.
1:30:48 The Death of Christ: Count: Father, at what time did Christ die?
Priest: At this very hour.
1:35:19 Who Belongs in Church: Count: Why are they here?
Priest: They're dead, sir.
Count: Get them out, immediately!
Priest: No, this is a church, and in death all are...
Count: Go on, Father...go on. You weren't going to say "equal?" Equal! They've spent their life devouring one another...and now they've found our flesh is better, they want to devour us. What happened in Santo Domingo is not going to happen here! Martin Sanchez! Here is one of the twelve who sat at the Lord's table. And him! There's another for you. Show them no mercy. I want them dead, as examples. I just want their heads.
1:43:52 Confession and Redemption: Count: I humbled myself, and seated them at the Lord's table...but they were never satisfied and kept asking for more. Then God, chastising me with all His strength... made me understand that my heart was ensnared in dark thickets. I shall have no peace until my abode is raised anew... and the temple is cleansed of those who traded with my heart... and the whole mill arises from its ashes into plenty. For this, and so that God may assist me in that work, I shall raise a new church on this site, to Don Manuel's memory. It will stand as witness to all the sorrows of these days, but also to all the joy of our Christian triumph... over bestiality and savagery. Amen.