Here's Your Life

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HERE'S YOUR LIFE

It'll be worse for you

when autumn comes, Olof.

If things get too difficult,

you can always...

My regards to your family.

Tell them we're well,

and that you could have stayed

if you wanted to.

Give my regards to your family.

If you ever get home...

I mean, if you go that way.

Stay over the summer.

You could keep the rifle.

Or if you want a harmonica,

like the lengthman's son.

You could subscribe to a magazine

with pictures in it.

A correspondence course in English

if you wanted to go to America.

You can't stay at your parents',

what with the illness.

They barely have enough

for themselves.

I had planned on you

staying at least another year.

You've been given

quite a few things over the years.

The odd things that you needed.

Didn't you have it good here

when you were young?

Your father was ill and...

Damn! Goddammit!

I don't want to be well.

I don't want to be well!

-So you're coming home now.

-Yes.

They send their regards.

They say hello...

-And they're fine?

-Yes, they're healthy.

I see. Are you staying?

-Well, I...

-There's always enough for you.

I was thinking...

Dynamite. Blowing things up.

If only I were young...

What kind of shoes do you have?

That's good.

You can't wear those hard shoes.

It's best to be barefoot,

if it's not too cold in the water.

But then it's easy to step on twigs.

I know a fellow

who had a twig pierce his foot.

The sufferings of Jesus

were nothing compared to that.

But every year,

we lose someone.

I knew one fellow.

His face was all black.

Three weeks in the water.

He had been beaten blue.

But when they dragged him up,

he was as black as a negro.

Everyone thought

he had drifted out to sea,

or at least to the city.

But he lay under a log,

just where he fell.

He started to rot

once they got him up.

Even his brother couldn't stand it.

Then it's bad.

His own flesh and blood.

-Are you looking for someone?

-Apparently, I'm going to live here.

You can take that one.

-You're not old.

-Almost 14.

-What's your name?

-Olof.

-Don't you have a surname?

-Persson.

Have some of the coffee over there.

That fellow over there

is from Stockholm.

My name is Olsson.

Let's see if you can do this.

I went to the church

When the need was great

I knocked on the door

Of the church warden

"Open your door

For a suffering soul"

"And tell me something

That will do me good"

"Something

That will do me good"

"Here's no priest

He's gone to baptise"

"Then he'll put a man

In a hole in the ground"

You get comfort when born

Or freezing to death

But never a word

For a suffering soul

It'll be better later on.

In about two weeks' time.

Then you're used to it,

and you'll quit.

That's what they normally do.

Have a cup of coffee, lad.

What does your dad do?

He's a worker.

But he's ill.

Being ill is no fun.

What kind of worker is he?

He worked on the railway.

So he's from the south, isn't he?

They normally are.

I bet he's homesick.

He's ill...

Isn't he homesick for the south,

where it's warm?

Where they grow apples...

Let's go, men.

Don't forget about the two hours

extra I worked.

I'm not here to forget,

but to make notes.

The company keeps track of the time.

Yes, dammit...

Take that, so I don't drop it.

-Well, Gran.

-Yes, I'll take it.

We're drinking

Let's say for eight kronor

We're drinking

Let's say for eight kronor

As long as we have money

As long as we have money

And when the money is gone

And when the money is gone

Then we borrow some for a year

Then we borrow some for a year

And when the money is gone

Then we borrow some...

...for a year

Stop that!

I had a rifle last year.

I knew an old hunter.

He lived on raw meat and booze.

-And knew the Bible backwards.

-You skinny little runt!

If you want to fight,

you have to fight me.

You work too hard

to be able to stand liquor.

Now she's warm.

Let's get started.

They didn't have any kerosene,

so I got some change.

Yes...

Here I've stayed...

I just count in charges.

But you can't ask too much of life.

I've seen some things...

I've seen my children die.

Like butter you drop on the stove.

It just sizzles.

Then they're gone.

First, the twins died.

They were cursed.

By a whirlwind.

He wasn't hard,

but he was nasty.

He just touched them briefly,

but they went in no time.

They got ill in the autumn.

Their bodies went crooked.

Just like they had been wrung

by an invisible hand.

First, August Linus Isak died.

Then Karl Julius Leonard.

A week later,

my wife went across the meadow.

She was getting water.

Keep the change.

You'll need it.

If you're not going to

make your fortune here.

Big charge tonight.

The boss was here.

I could have guessed it.

-Do you chew tobacco?

-No.

-You haven't started yet?

-No.

-Then you don't smoke either?

-No.

But you might start?

Yes, I was planning on it.

Thank you.

I remember him.

I remember him.

You shared the same name.

And that's what they called him.

He never had any nicknames.

They just ran off him.

That's how your father was.

Now he's lying there.

It's good that he's found peace.

We were friends back in 1890.

All the things we built back then...

He sang from time to time.

We all sang.

But he was never drunk, whether

it was because he didn't drink,

or if the schnapps

didn't have any effect on him.

Your father...

We spent a lot of time together.

He was a decent man.

He was good at arithmetic and could

solve the most difficult problems.

And he was fair. That he was.

I'll give you some money.

No, thanks.

-How old are you?

-Have you got a job?

-Yes, at a sawmill.

-How many are you in your family?

-Four, including myself.

But I don't live there.

I haven't been home for a year.

It didn't turn out that way.

You're a foster child.

Yes, I remember now.

-It's good people. They're kind.

-Yes.

If things should turn out

like that...

You could give it

to your younger brother.

Thank you,

but as I said I have a job.

Yes, they're raising the wages now,

so we'll be better off.

Their damn war!

Anyway, how much

do you get per hour?

-20 re.

-20!

I've worked for less.

When we built the railway,

and long before that.

No, we didn't make any great profits.

Now others have to do the work.

You should apply for the railway

when you're old enough.

It's a different life.

It's a completely different tempo.

Your father would smoke a cigar

from time to time.

Like a big boss

with a cigar in his mouth.

It wasn't vanity.

No, he wasn't like that.

I mean, he didn't look vain.

He didn't like snuff.

But he did take it.

Both in the nose and mouth.

But all of a sudden

he would put a cigar in his mouth.

Then he walked around

with a fancy scent.

Your father...

I remember, once...

We had some happy days.

And some not so happy days.

Well...

Take care of yourself.

It looks like there's

more snow coming.

My name is Smlands-Pelle.

You don't have to

leave tonight, do you?

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