Can you hear me?
What do you want?
I've killed Ashwattaman!
Ashwattaman is dead.
I can't believe my son is dead.
I suspect a lie.
Yudhishthira!
You...
...who can only tell the truth,
I ask you:
Has Ashwattaman been killed?
Yes or no?
Ashwattaman...
...has been killed.
Drishtadyumna...
Why are you advancing on me?
Has day-break brought my by death?
Your greed for victory has corrupted you.
You slipped into a lie like the rest of mankind.
From now on, he's part of the earth.
Perhaps this weakness will bring him victory.
Look at Drona...
He's like to fight still,
but he can't.
His death is inconceivable.
His death is natural. Look.
His eyes are already closed,
his breath quietens,
he's reached the furthest fringe of life.
His breath leaves him,
rises into the air...
Only his body stays.
Drishtadyumna will cut off a dead man’s head.
Rise up! Rejoice!
We've committed a crime. Victory is meaningless now.
I hear you calling our enemies' death a crime... I don't understand.
Did Drona leap up to forbid Shakuni to cheat
and Dushassana dragged me by the hair?
Yudhishthira, I've endured shame and exile with you...
...and you went on repeating: I'll destroy them! I will destroy them!
And now you despise us...
Yudhishthira, you shove glass in our wounds.
Karna, your day has come.
You hate is pure, your strength intact.
Drive away our darkness.
I will only return in victory.
Arjuna has Krishna as his driver.
Where could I find someone of his power?
You are looking for a driver, Karna?
Who are you?
I'm king Salya.
I'm looking for a driver, I don't need a king.
All the horses in the world obey me.
You won't find a better driver anywhere.
I heard you say: "I'm superior to Arjuna".
Well, I'm superior to Krishna.
Don't be afraid.
I promised your mother not to kill you.
Bhima...
Who's coming towards me?
My eyes are full of blood.
It's me!
Who you?
Bring your body over here.
Try to see who I am. It's Dushassana!
They've told you I've been wounded,
and you're coming on tiptoe to kill me!
You are slow and heavy! I'm not afraid of you!
I am heave with the dead men’s blood!
You touched me!
Your friends will be happy,
You sweat like an old elephant!
You can't move anymore!
Think of your life,
- which ends here! - Dushassana! Dushassana!
Miserable abortion!
- Who do you want to kill! - Help!
Stop crying! Your black hour has come Dushassana.
Here is where it all end! Now!
Draupadi!
Draupadi! Can you hear me?
Look! I will drink his blood because I promised.
It's your turn Dushassana.
Do you remember? Draupadi drown by the hair!
Let her be the last thing you see!
Karna!
Help, my brother!
They can't hear you! There's no one to help you!
And I rip out your life!
My enemy's blood is more delicious than my mother's milk!
Better than honey, sweeter than the sweetest drink on earth.
Draupadi, don't go away...
Watch what I'm doing for you.
Come!
You can wash your hair now.
We weren't born to be happy.
Farewell.
What are you thinking about?
A curse.
The one that Parashurama made, the man with the axe?
How do you know?
I heard the story of the worm that pierced your thigh,
how you resisted the pain so as not to wake Parashurama who was sleeping...
And he awoke, he burst with anger and cried:
You cheated me about who you are!
At the moment of your death you will lose your memory,
and suddenly you will forget the secret of the weapon I taught you.
Have you forgotten it?
No.
The worm in your thigh
was probably some god trying to protect Arjuna.
Irresistible, incomparable Arjuna!
You are coming towards me with your extraordinary weapons,
with your god-like hands
but I will kill you.
I will lift your head from your body!
I will kill you!
If you are so sure of killing him,
why are you afraid?
Salya,
or whoever you are...
I'm surrounded in omens,
menaced by darkness.
Another time, a Brahmin cursed me.
He shouted:
The moment fear enters your flesh,
your chariot wheel will plunge into the earth.
Yes, I think I'm afraid.
Here I am, Arjuna!
I, the bastard!
The obscure!
You, the prince, the conqueror!
But the sky has opened up for me,
and the sun fills me with strength!
You won't end this day alive!
Where are you Arjuna?
Wait! Wait until I free my wheel!
You have no right to strike, you know it!
Strike! This is the moment, don't listen to him.
Don't wait.
I stand before you unarmed, threatened, weak!
Law and honour protect me! Let me free my wheel!
You speak of honour now, but when Shakuni threw the dice, where was your honour?
What hole did you hide it in? Don't scorch your mouth with that word.
You won't escape alive.
He's crying with anger.
He's yours.
A chariot wheel doesn't stick without reason.
Who has got hold of this wheel?
Who is playing this final trick?
I'll tell you who's got hold of this wheel.
It's the earth herself with her muddy hands,
it's she who's grasping this wheel, and she won't let go.
Yes, strike. Finish the war.
Don't let yourself be killed like a driver! Rise up!
Call your irresistible weapon and release it!
This is the moment! Quick!
Yes Karna! Refuse to die!
Launch the final weapon!
I know the secret formula.
If I pronounce it,
a heavenly creature will come and place that weapon in my hand.
Strike! What's paralysing you?
Yes, I call...
...I call this distant creature...
...and I say to her...
What's happening? Speak!
What do I have to say?
It was a simple phrase...
Suddenly, I can't remember it anymore.
Why has the sun fled?
What's this...
...shadow?
My wheel is buried in the mud...
My head is dark...
and an ancient mystery kills me.
What do I have to say?
All signs are against him.
Take his life.
When you asked him for anything,
he always answered:
"Yes. Here it is."
He didn't know how not to give.
Lifeless, glorious man.
Everything bleeds.
- Everything weeps. - Vyasa...
I'm here.
My heart must be made of stone...
...not to have broken by now.
Duryodhana, are you here?
Yes, I see him.
He's there with his club.
The waters opened to let him in,
and he made them hard.
No one can break them now.
Duryodhana, do you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Don't disturb my peace. I am resting.
What are you doing in these icy waters?
Get up!
Leave your conjuring. Come out and fight!
Tomorrow. I'll fight tomorrow.
I want to stay here all night and sing.
You are afraid?
It's not fear that's drawn me into this lake. It's fatigue.
It's good down here,
in the clear, clean water.
I give you this earth, ruined,
clothed in corpses.
The earth you give me isn't yours.
Now it's your life I want!
Come out of the lake and fight!
If you win the kingdom is yours!
Can I choose my weapon?
Yes, choose your weapon.
I choose clubs!
I will put an end to your life!
Come closer! Come, come!
You're heavy! You can't keep up any longer!
I could smash your skull,
but one does not strike a fallen adversary!
Get to your feet!
- You're wounded? - Yes.
Badly? Don't show it!
You must convince him you're strong. Stay on your feet,
attack, aim low. Hit his legs.
His legs? I can't! It is not allowed!
I said, hit his legs! Strike his thigh.
Bhima, take away your foot! Don't insult him!
He has the same blood as you and he was a king.
The war is over.
Yudhishthira...
I was hit shamefully on the legs, against all the rules.
Come. He's neither a friend nor an enemy.
You don't waste words on a block of wood. Let's go.
Krishna!
You are the origin of evil!
Sikhandin, it was your idea!
And who threw Ghatotkatcha against us to force Karna to give up his launch?
And the lie: "Ashwattaman is dead"?
And when Karna's wheel stuck in the mud,
you said to Arjuna: "Take his life!". You!
Always you!
All that you say is false,
and your only assassin is yourself.
Yes... Go your way,
stay in this unhappy world.
I am going to another world.
Who is happier than I? I reigned on earth,
I was just. I laughed, I sang,
I loved my friends and my wives.
I protected my servants, I held out my hand to the afflicted.
I knew all human joys.
Go and eat, and dance. Go!
No good man is entirely good.
No bad man is entirely bad.
Duryodhana, I salute you.
I do not find any pleasure in your suffering,
but your defeat is a joy.
Your victory is complete. Let's go and celebrate.
If you still have breath...
...listen to me.
After the battle, I hid in the forest
and there, in the darkness of a vast tree I saw an owl
ruthlessly exterminating baby crows in their sleep.
I said to myself: my hour has come.
That was true. I made a sacrifice.
A God welded this sword to my hand
and infused my body with his power.
I entered into the camp
slipping softly towards Drishtadyumna's tent
where on rare carpets my father's killer lay asleep.
I kicked him awake.
He tried to scream. I threw him into the ground...
...I crushed his throat with my knees.
I've killed him as one kills cattle!
Good.
That's good.
Then I hurled myself about the camp.
My force was superhuman,
I massacred everyone:
I killed Bhima's son, Arjuna's son...
Yudhishthira's son, I killed the twins' sons...
Draupadi hasn't one son left.
Good.
I stabbed backs, I tore throats,
I amputated head, arms, ears!
Then I withdrew in silence.
I met Abhimanyu's young widow.
I killed the foetus in her womb.
The Pandavas have no more descendents.
There,
I've done what I needed to do.
I'm calm.
Good. That's good.
We'll see one another again.
Now I die.
Why are you kneeling beside Karna?
Karna, who you killed...
Karna was your eldest brother, my first son.
I was just fifteen.
Karna was our brother?
Yes, Arjuna.
He knew it?
Yes, he knew it.
Why did you hide this from us?
Constantly hated by you,
despised and rejected,
he swore not to kill you,
to spare you all, except you,
Arjuna,
so that after the battle I would have the same number of sons.
Krishna, you knew it?
Karna forbade me to reveal Kunti's secret.
His promise was absolute.
He preferred his word to his brothers...
And you must respect his choice.
I led my brother to his death.
Now I'm going off into the woods.
Yudhishthira, don’t go.
Don't despise this earth,
you are the most upright,
you are the truest of men.
And it needed exile, long suffering,
this desperate war,
and this harsh battle in yourself,
and your lie, and you anger,
and your delirium,
for you now to be him whom
the city awaits with all its gallants.
Bhishma,
this world is savage.
How can one understand the savagery of this world?
A man
is walking in a dark, dangerous forest,
filled with wild beasts.
The forest is surrounded by a vast net.
The man is afraid, he runs to escape from the beasts.
He falls into a pitch-black hole.
By a miracle, he's caught in some twisted roots.
He feels the hot breath of an enormous snake
its throat wide open, lying at the bottom of the pit.
It's about to fall into its jaws.
On the edge of the hole,
a huge elephant is preparing to crush him.
Black and white mice
gnaw the roots from which the man is hanging.
Dangerous bees fly over the hole,
letting fall drops of honey.
Then a man holds out his finger.
Slowly, cautiously, he holds out his finger
to catch the drops of honey.
Threatened by so many dangers...
with hardly a breath between him and so many deaths,
he still isn't free from desire.
The thought of honey
holds him to life.
But...
how can one escape?
Come with me to the city.
Krishna!
You didn't keep your word!
You took part in the battle with weapons more terrible than all the others!
You rejoiced in our misfortune.
You watched my son die.
Krishna, I curse you!
One day, all that you are building will crumble.
Your friends will be massacred by your friends.
Dry blood will coat the walls of your dead city,
where only vultures reign.
Your shattered heart will crack!
You will leave, solitary.
A passer-by will kill you.
Yes, Gandhari. What you say is true, I know.
But even if you can't see it,
a light has been saved.
Are you going to die too?
Yes, of course,
like any other life.
Time has fixed my limit.
Gandhari's vision was right.
Later, thirty-six years later,
terrible convulsions tore my kingdom apart.
and I said to myself: time has come.
I must go into the forest,
alone, and die...
on the spot where I drop with fatigue.
A hunter mistook my feet for the ears of a deer.
There's no cause for concern.
I die.
It's as it should be.
Krishna, I've so many things to ask you.
Tell me quickly.
Why all your tricks
and your bad directions?
I fought against terrible powers,
and I did what I could.
What was it you said to Arjuna before the battle?
I showed him the power of freedom,
of true, right action,
but he's forgotten it all.
What freedom? What path?
These are very difficult questions
and I can never say anything twice.
Please!
Thirty-six years have gone by since the great battle
but I still hear the clash of steel and the cry of flesh.
Last night there were rings of light around the moon.
You sigh, Gandhari. Are you sad?
It was not a sigh of sadness.
You were married without being told I was blind.
I destroyed your life.
At first you thought that I couldn't hold out, that I'd take off the veil.
You could have ordered me to take it off. You were the king!
You could have said to me:
"At least look at your children!"
But you never said it.
I felt your anger,
I always felt it towards me. I still feel it.
Our life is nearly over.
- Take off your veil. - No.
You cannot die with your eyes closed.
Take off your veil.
It's an order.
Have you taken it off?
- Yes. - What can you see?
I can't see anything clearly.
My eyes must get accustomed to the light.
And now?
Yes... I begin to distinguish shapes.
Trees... The sky...
Two birds go by.
- It's you, Kunti? - Yes. It's me.
I've never seen you.
I've never known the look in your eyes.
What?
I've just seen a whole army rise out of the river.
All my sons
smiling. Their wounds healing, they're reconciled.
An immense wave of men, all white, mounting into the air.
I can't see them anymore.
The river is quietly closing again.
There is a fire somewhere in the forest.
Yes. since morning I've felt the smoke,
I hear animals crying as they run away.
The flames are coming towards us.
Dive into the river! Save your life!
Come. Let's both walk towards the flames.
Who has come as far as this? Who are you?
I am Yudhishthira.
I'm looking for the gate of paradise.
It's here.
- Are you alone? - Yes.
We decided to leave the earth,
my brothers and Draupadi.
But while climbing the mountain they slipped.
One after the other, they fell into the abyss: the twins, Draupadi...
even Arjuna, even Bhima.
Yes, I've come here alone.
Your kingdom has known many years of happiness,
you have proved yourself to be the best of kings.
Leave this dog, and enter.
- I can't leave this dog. - Why?
He's followed me ever since I left the city.
Paradise isn't open to dogs!
Leave him behind!
It's no cruelty,
your brothers are here already. Enter!
Come and join them.
Leave this dog!
Abandon a creature who loves me?
Who's alone and defenceless?
I can't.
You've given up everything...
Give up this dog,
otherwise you won't get past this door.
I will stay out here in the freezing cold,
with this dog.
Enter.
The dog is another form of Dharma, your father.
Do you remember that a long time ago he took the shape of a lake?
He's always followed and observed you.
Enter the inconceivable region.
Can I go in with my body?
Yes, come.
- Is that Duryodhana? - Yes.
He's here?
He's here with his family, with all his brothers.
Millions of men died because of him, and he's here?
He drinks, he smiles... he seems happy!
He is happy. Here all hates vanish.
Kiss him.
Don't ask me to kiss him. I can't.
If this murderer is here,
where are my brothers?
Where is our wife?
What is paradise if I'm separated from my family?
I want to see them.
I'll show them to you. Come!
Where are you taking me?
To your brothers. Come.
Where is this path here leading?
The stench is dreadful, it's all black.
The mist smells of putrefaction.
Follow me.
Where are we?
Where are my brothers?
Farther still.
Go on a bit,
I'm stopping here.
If the smell upsets you,
you can turn back with me.
Yudhishthira, don't go!
Stay with us!
You bring us a fresh breeze.
Stay!
Our pains are lighter when you're here.
Who are you?
Who's speaking?
Don't you know me? I'm Karna, your brother.
I'm Arjuna.
I'm Bhima.
I'm Nakula.
I'm Sahadeva.
I'm Draupadi. We are all here.
You! Here!
Tortured!
In this rotten smell of corpses...
Who decided this?
Am I awake?
What act have they committed to be thrown down into hell?
I condemn the gods!
I condemn Dharma!
I will stay here, forever,
with my family.
Then the keeper of the last dwelling
said to Yudhishthira:
You've known neither paradise nor hell.
Here there is no happiness,
no punishment, no family, no enemies.
Raise in tranquillity.
Here words end, like thought.
This was your last illusion.
So they died without children?
All of them?
Yes, all of them.
But you told me:
This story tells the story of your race.
Am I born from a dead race?
Look at this woman.
She was Abhimanyu's wife, and she bears his child.
Krishna saved the life of this child
because his blood is the blood of Arjuna, his friend.
Centuries and centuries will go by
and you will come from this woman.