And he is...
Is he a man or a woman?
I'm both, a man and a woman.
I've won.
Kitchaka! My general!
My king!
At last you are back.
I can't run my country without you.
Where have you been so long?
I've been with Duryodhana.
The Pandavas have disappeared.
He is furious. His spies have been searching the earth for them,
but if I find them, he will give us gold.
I think you should search in remote ambients.
Yes.
- In far away mines... - Yes.
Caves...
...Grottoes.
Yes.
I will track them down even if it takes me to China!
Who are these men?
My new servants. They served Yudhishthira in the forest.
- Yudhishthira? - Yes.
Come!
One, two, three, four, five.
They are five, like the Pandavas!
This one is very strong...
And this one...
What have you got in your hand?
A game of dice.
Ah, you play at dice.
Yes, very often.
So, tell me... You win or you lose?
He wins every time.
Then you can't be Yudhishthira.
Who's this beauty? Tell me.
I don't know, she's just a servant.
Beloved sister,
send her to me, I must have her. I'll give you emeralds.
Very good. I'll send her to you tomorrow.
Good.
Come...
Sit down.
From now on, all my wives are your servants.
Yes, there is no one like you.
You shine like the moon.
Your two breasts...
your lips...
Don't push me away. You'll regret it. Come.
You are sick. I see you already in ashes.
In ashes? Just the reverse.
Come. Come into my fire!
Who do you think you are to say no to me?
Open your arms.
Wait...
Later.
Tonight?
- Tonight. - Good... Good.
Bhima, stop cooking! Listen to me!
Draupadi? What are you doing here?
I don't care anymore, I think all your brothers are dead!
What do you mean?
Your elder brother lives only for his dice.
He once nourished the earth, and today he eats from a stranger's hands.
And you, stewing rice in a kitchen?
And Arjuna, the great conqueror,
teaching dance to the king's daughter!
I'm ashamed!
Look at this miserable dress, these chapped hands!
I know some people are beginning to suspect us, but I'm in agony!
My heart is racing! Listen!
Kitchaka's violence terrifies me.
I've promised to meet him again,
but I'd rather swallow poison than fall into his hands.
Draupadi...
You know the new pavilion?
Are you there?
I received your message.
I am here.
You see,
I've spent hours dressing
and scenting myself for you.
It's a very expensive scent.
When I left, my servants gasped.
They said I was the king of beauty.
I'm happy, it's like a dream.
I'm in ecstasy.
Yes, yes, yes... caress me. Yes!
I see you know the ancient art...
Again, again!
I've never been caressed so strongly!
My whole body's tingling!
Speak to me, tell me something!
It's true, you are the king.
What?
It's true, you are the king of beauty.
No wonder women adore you!
What's that voice?
- No! - I'll take you in my arms now!
Yes!
You didn't know, did you,
that you came here looking for death?
No... no!
My fingers sink into your flesh!
I will grind you to powder, my love!
What's this?
Is this Kitchaka?
These are certainly his clothes and his perfume...
But, where's his neck?
Where are his feet?
Where's his head?
Who killed him?
He's been killed by greed, by pride.
But who turned him into a ball? Only a demon could do that!
No. It was my brother.
Who are you?
I am Yudhishthira.
I can't lie to you.
And here is my brother Bhima,
who killed Kitchaka to protect our wife Draupadi.
Here are Arjuna...
Nakula and Sahadeva.
I have to close my eyes.
Is it true?
You have honoured my palace in secret. What can I do for you?
Our time of exile is over.
We must now demand
the return of what is ours.
And if Duryodhana refuses?
I will fight.
You? Would you launch a war?
Yes. With my brothers.
Yudhishthira!
They say that we have entered the age of destruction.
Is it true?
Don't go away without answering me.
I see the coming of another age,
where barbaric kings
rule over a vicious and broken world.
Where puny, fearful,
hard men, live tiny lives.
White-haired at sixteen,
copulating with animals.
Their women, perfect whores making love with greedy mouths.
The cows, dry, sterile.
Trees, standing lifeless.
No more flowers, no more purity.
Ambition, corruption, commerce,
is the age of Kali,
the black time.
The countryside a desert,
crime stocks the cities.
Beasts drink blood and sleep in the streets.
All the water's sucked up by the sky.
Scalded earth,
scorched to dead ash.
The fire rises, born by the wind.
Fire pierces the earth.
Cracks open the underground world.
Wind and fire calcining the world.
Immense clouds gather,
blue, yellow and red...
They rise like deep sea monsters,
like shattered cities.
Forked with lightening, the rains fall.
The rains fall and engulf the earth.
Twelve years of storm.
The mountains split the waters.
I no longer see the world.
Then,
the primary God, when all that remains is a grey sea without a man,
beast or tree...
...the Creator...
...drinks the terrible wind...
...and falls asleep.
You said everything will be destroyed...
So, what's the use of fighting?
Welcome to you both.
Why this visit?
War is drawing near.
Krishna, I've come to ask you to be our ally.
I make the same request in the name of my brothers.
I love you all. I cannot take sides.
It is true.
Our family bonds are the same,
but I was the first to enter here.
I have priority.
Yes, you were the first to enter,
but when I opened my eyes, they fell on Arjuna.
It's for him to say what he would prefer.
On one side I set the mass of my warriors,
fully equipped, ready for war,
and on the other side myself, alone, unarmed,
taking no part in the battle.
- What do you choose? - I choose you.
- Me? Alone, unarmed? - Yes.
That means I have the entire mass of your warriors?
They are yours.
Fully equipped? Determined to fight?
Determined and faithful.
Even to fight against Arjuna?
Even against him.
You yourself won't fight?
I will not fight.
Arjuna?
Has everything been done to prevent the war?
Absolutely everything?
Can it be prevented?
Arjuna, I can tell you with absolute conviction
you won't have the choice between peace and war.
What will be my choice?
Between war and another war.
The other war, where will it take place?
On a battlefield...
or in my heart?
I don't see a real difference.
You said that war is inevitable, yet you do everything to prevent it.
Yes.
When you chose me, what was in your mind?
I'm strong, I don't need your strength.
But I need you to drive my chariot.
Be my driver.
Yes. I will drive your chariot.
Karna...
Each day I feel the breath of war come closer.
I know your power and your influence.
If you wished, you could avoid it.
It's not me who decides if there'll be a war,
but if the day comes, I will fight.
Your sons are my enemies.
They have despised,
soiled and rejected me.
You can never beat them.
You see this launch?
Touch it. Feel how it vibrates.
When I was born,
I had a golden brass plate, like a second skin.
One day a god disguised as a beggar said to me:
"Give me your brass plate".
I heard a voice in the sky crying: "Don't part with that brass plate!"
But I couldn't refuse.
I can never refuse anything.
Without the least hesitation, I tore it off and gave it dripping with blood.
It was then that the god held out to me this launch,
with these words:
"It will kill a living being, whoever you choose,
"man, god or demon".
But it will only kill once.
Bhishma,
We must make the last offer of peace.
It's too late. Death is already here, observing us.
The Pandavas are preparing for war.
Yes.
They will come to inform me of the death of my children...
...and of my children's children!
Our friends laugh at your fears.
They would throw themselves into the fire for us.
We have eleven complete armies against seven.
Victory is a fruit in my hand. It's the truth,
and I will govern the earth,
or else I will die.
You reign has been rich and calm.
Yes, so the poets say.
All around me I see happiness.
Is it true, Drona?
It is true.
Is it true, Bhishma?
It is true.
Nobody is calling for our enemies to return.
I was given a kingdom which I stamped with a number: one!
I won't mutilate this kingdom, I won't skin it alive.
I will leave it intact just as it was given.
I will never share it, I'll yield nothing.
I will kill Arjuna.
I've known this in a dream.
Karna...
This earth that you despise and walk on with such pride,
will strike you one day.
You always treat me like an imbecile and a coward.
Is it because of your great age?
Old I may be, as you enjoy repeating,
still I don't know a warrior in the earth who is my equal.
Not even Drona?
Not even Drona.
Then I ask you, and you can't refuse...
take command, be our general!
Me?
Aren't you the best? The one that's impossible to kill?
Duryodhana, don't impose this burden on me!
Everything that's threatening us,
everything that's tearing us apart comes from you,
from the lunatic promise you made long before we were born:
"Never a woman, never a child".
Your interminable, useless life, you've spent here,
eating and drinking from the king's hand!
If you shrink from this battle,
your white life will be stained.
Bhishma,
accept the commandment.
With you and Drona there will be no more risk.
You accept?
Or you're afraid of death, after all?
I'm afraid of everything except death.
Yes, I accept.
But on one condition.
Karna must not fight.
Why?
I can't say why.
Are you afraid his light might outshine yours?
No, that's not what I fear.
Then why leave Karna idle?
Here.
I will only fight...
...after your death.
- Bhishma? - Yes.
Is it night?
Yes, it's already dark.
- Gandhari? - I'm here.
Something keeps me awake every night.
I dread the moment of sleep.
Your sons are burning with hatred,
and the same hate is clouding your reason.
You want to keep what isn't yours.
Stay close to me all night.
- Krishna is on his way. - Krishna?
He comes in embassy, sent by Yudhishthira.
This is the perfect moment. Let's seize Krishna and put him in irons!
Yes. I already have all his armies, I will keep him prisoner!
No! Krishna brings danger. Don't touch him! Duryodhana!
Prepare him a palace!
Let all the city gaze upon him!
Sprinkle water before him!
It's not worth the trouble... I'm here.
Ambassadors only receive honours at the end of their mission.
This refreshment must be eaten in joy.
Dhritharashtra, my words are for you.
The Pandavas, your five nephews, are like your sons.
You must give them what is theirs.
There's nothing more to say.
Krishna, I am not the master,
I can't answer for myself.
Speak to my son.
Do you wish to listen?
I'm listening.
You're of noble blood, you're learned.
Your qualities are real,
but you're destroying your life.
The man who scorns advice
burns his stomach as though with green fruit.
His friends groan for a moment,
then disaster catches up with him.
The earth loathes and rejects him.
Krishna, do you believe in the possibility of peace?
I think what I say is possible,
otherwise I wouldn't say it.
But in your heart...
if you listen without lying...
don't you hear the growl of war?
Can a war without a winner be a war?
Could a man with his eyes open plunge into war
knowing that everyone will die?
You all keep telling me I can't win.
Very well. Death by arms is a glorious death.
I will never bow down.
As I was leaving, Yudhishthira called me back and said:
"Let Dhritharashtra leave us five villages...
"...and there'll be no war".
A king does not stake his kingdom.
A king does not stoop to us for five villages.
I will not give five villages, I will not give one village. I will not give...
the point of a nail of earth.
Then one thing be certain:
you will have your glorious death!
If the earth is clamouring for victims,
we will see a splendid massacre!
Dhritharashtra, call them back.
They want to take hold of me.
Like madmen, like children.
Your son wants to make me his hostage. It's a mistake.
Stop!
My son, your hatred's for yourself.
After thirteen years of anger, try to be calm.
Duryodhana, you think I'm alone?
You want to take hold of Krishna? You don't know who he is?
You think he's defenceless? Look! Look carefully!
When he laughs...
thirteen tongues of fire spring from his mouth.
Brahma sits on his brow.
The guardians of the world stand on his arms.
From his eyes, his ears, his nose,
there are fire and smoke. Rays of light stream from his skin,
heavenly, universal, terrible form!
Krishna, lighten my eyes for a moment.
I beg you, let me see you.
Yes. Here are eyes.
I see you!
Out of chaos, a miracle.
My sons, can you see as I do?
Can you see?
Where are you going?
Come back, listen to us. Look!
Darkness covers me again.
I can no longer distinguish anything.
Krishna, I did what I could.
So did I.
Kunti, I am leaving.
What should I tell your sons?
That I found you sad and silent...
...because of this war which is drawing nearer and nearer...
...and which fills you with horror?
No.
Tell Yudhishthira
that a bad king is a contagious disease,
that he perverts his age.
Say to him: "Awake, arise!"
Your son could answer:
What does a piece of land mean to me? Or pleasure, or life?
Answer him he is not alone.
For all the creatures around him, he is the centre.
And if he says: "You have shut your heart to pity"?
Tell him to forge himself a heart of iron.
Tell him pity is a poison.
He will say he feels tenderly towards his body.
What right have we to destroy our bodies?
I would tell my son: your body is beautiful,
your body is noble,
but if you live with the fear of death, why ever give you life?
Burn like a torch...
...if only for an instant.
You were with Kunti?
Yes. You were looking for me?
No.
I was walking by myself in the palace.
Sometimes I like to be alone.
I go my own way, you know,
closed, confused...
Plagued by rumours.
Him whom I call father and her whom I call mother
are not my father and mother.
Karna, you are the son of Kunti.
Your enemies are your brothers.
- They know it? - No.
But if I reveal your birth to them, they'll bring you perfumes and gold,
and on the sixth day, Draupadi will be your wife.
Your brothers, your friends, your mother, will be happy.
Duryodhana will no longer dare to fight.
My mother abandoned me.
A chariot driver found me and took me home.
Neither the earth itself,
nor mountains of gold, neither joy
nor fear could make me change my mind. I have given my word.
I won't take it back.
Don't reveal my birth.
Yudhishthira would want to give me his crown,
and I would pass it on to Duryodhana.
May Yudhishthira have a long reign.
Everything I've said to wound him, I regret.
Krishna...
We're going to celebrate the great sacrifice of arms,
and the eye that lights on everything will be yours.
We will have drums and cries of war,
we will have blood, and skulls in which to drink the blood.
The sacrifice will invade the night,
dispose of everything.
I know what you want.
I give you the earth, you reject it.
Put Arjuna in front of me, and do not tell him I'm his mother's son.
The victory of the Pandavas is assured.
Tell your friends: Look!
It's spring, the buds are sweet,
the water sparkles, everyone is joyful...
...We're going to die.
You,
who know me so well...
...why do you trouble me?
If you are here to bring the earth to its end, very well:
the time has come.
No.
I'm not here to destroy.
Flesh and blood rain from the sky,
bodiless voices cry in the night.
Horses weep...
One-eyed, one-legged monstrosities hop across the land.
Birds purge on flags with fire in their beaks
crying: "Ripe! It's ripe!"
A cow gives birth to an ass, a woman a jackal.
Newborn babies dance,
cripples laugh.
The different races merge.
Vultures come to prey.
The setting sun is surrounded by disfigured corpses.
Time will destroy the universe.
I'm racked all night by my dreams.
I've dreamed of you surrounded by bleeding entrails.
I've dreamed of Yudhishthira radiant,
mounted on a pile of bones, drinking from a golden goblet.
I know from where victory will come.
You must be right.
If I can't touch your heart,
the ruin of the earth is near.
One thing is certain, Krishna.
We will make a great journey together.
Yes, and we will find each other again,
one day.
The two armies are face to face,
ready to throw themselves on one another.
For fourteen years I have waited for this moment.
Krishna is preparing your chariot, he's talking to your horses,
he's checking your weapons.
Everything is in your hands. You know it.
Duryodhana, you have chosen war.
It is here.
Now, all is ready.
My warriors, my horses, my chariots,
many millions of weapons,
convoys, food stoves, forgeries
tents for the wounded, logs for the funeral pyres,
musicians, soothsayers,
poisonous snakes.
My orders are given.
My armies shake the earth.
Arjuna, with Krishna at his reins, will give the signal,
and the battle you wish for will begin.
We must fix the rules of war.
Speak.
Never fight at night.
Never strike a fallen man,
an unarmed man, nor a man who had withdrawn from the fray.
And never strike in the back, nor on the legs.
Bhishma, I touch your feet.
We are going to fight against you,
you whom no one can kill.
Grant me leave to strike you.
If you hadn't come to me, Yudhishthira,
I would have hated and despised you.
I am chained to your enemies.
Commit yourself to the struggle,
and fight until you win.
Drona, I touch your feet. We will fight against you,
you who made us. Grant me leave to strike you.
If you hadn't come to me,
I too would have despised you.
I too am chained to your enemies,
I too wish for your victory.
Fight with them, but think of me.
You can't be beaten.
You promise us victory?
As long as Bhishma and I are alive,
that victory is impossible.
Victory and defeat are impossible?
That's what I say.
Is there a way of killing you?
No. Not unless I lay down my arms
to prepare for death.
Before whom could you lay down your arms?
Before a man of truth,
the day he chooses to lie.
Who will give the signal to launch the battle?
Arjuna. He's led by Krishna,
he's advancing between the two armies.
Krishna, my legs grow weak.
My mouth is dry, my body trembles.
My bow slips from my hand.
Uncle, cousins, nephews...
...and Drona my teacher, they are all there.
I can't bring death to my own family.
My resolution's gone.
I can't defend myself.
I will wait here for death.
Arjuna has thrown down his bow and his arrows.
He has thrown down his bow and his arrows?
Why does he bow his head?
Where is his pride?
Where is his wish to fight?
What is this mad and shameful weakness?
Stand up and fight!
I'm in anguish.
I can't see where my duty lies.
Teach me.
What is Krishna doing?
He's speaking to Arjuna.
What is he saying?
He's telling Arjuna that victory and defeat are the same.
He's urging him to act, but not to reflect on the fruit of the act.
He says to him: Seek detachment,
fight without desire.
You say: forget desire, seek detachment,
yet you urge me to battle, to massacre.
Your words are ambiguous, I am confused.
Krishna tells him: don't withdraw into solitude.
Renunciation is not enough.
You must act, yet action mustn't dominate you.
In the heart of action, you must remain free from all attachment.
How can I put into practice what you are demanding of me?
The mind is capricious, unstable...
...it's evasive, feverish, turbulent, tenacious.
It's harder to subdue than taming the wind.
You must learn to see with the same eye
a mount of earth and a heap of gold,
a cow and a sage,
a dog and a man who eats the dog.
There's another intelligence
beyond the mind.
Passion drags us away. Darkness dulls our senses.
How can I find this intelligence?
With what will?
To reply to this question,
Krishna led Arjuna through the tangled forest of illusion.
He began to teach him the ancient yoga of wisdom
and the mysterious path of action.
He spoke for a long time,
very long time,
between the two armies preparing to destroy themselves.
All men are born into illusion.
How can man reach the truth, if one is born in illusion?
Slowly, Krishna led Arjuna
through all the fibres of his spirit,
he showed him the deepest movements of his being,
and his true battlefield,
where you need neither warriors nor arrows...
...where each man must fight alone.
It is the most secret knowledge.
He showed him the whole truth.
He taught him how the world unfolds.
I feel my illusions vanish one by one.
Now,
if I am capable of contemplating it,
show me your universal form.
I see you,
in one point I see the entire world.
All the warriors hurl themselves into your mouth.
You grind them between your teeth.
They wish to be destroyed, and you destroy them.
Through your body I see the stars,
I see life and death, I see silence.
Tell me who you are,
I'm shaken to the depths. I'm afraid.
I am all that you think, all that you say.
Everything hangs on me, like pearls on a thread.
I am the earth's scent and the fire's heat.
I'm appearance and disappearance.
I'm the trickster's hoax.
I'm the radiance of all that shines.
I'm time grown old.
All beings fall into the night,
and all beings are brought back to daylight.
I have already defeated all these warriors.
But he who thinks he can kill,
and he who thinks he can be killed,
are both mistaken.
No weapon can pierce the life that informs you.
No fire can burn it, no water can drench it...
No wind can make it dry.
Have no fear and rise up,
because I love you.
Now you can dominate your mysterious
and incomprehensible spirit.
You can see its other side.
Act as you must act.
I myself, I'm never without action.
Rise up!
My illusion is dissolved. My error destroyed.
By your grace now, I'm firm.
My doubts are dispersed.
I will act according to your word.
When will they stop talking?
If Arjuna refuses to fight,
if he is paralysed with fear,
let him and his brothers go back to the woods, and let me reign!
Vyasa,
you who are composing this poem,
do you know who'll win?
The future doesn't exist, Dhritharashtra.
But I can give you eyes to see the battle.
No. I don't want to see my children die.
Already torn flesh...
...stomachs ripped, stamping horses crashing chests...
Fathers can't recognise their sons.
The dying cry: It's me!
Do I know you?
Don't move! Don't leave me!
Stop!
The day is over.