Indignation

1

[slow piano music playing]

Mrs. Anderson?

Olivia?

(Marcus, off) It is important

to understand about dying

that even though in general you do not

have a personal choice in the matter,

it is going to happen to you

when it happens to you.

There are reasons you die.

There are causes,

a chain of events

linked by causality,

and those events include decisions

that you have personally made.

How did you end up here,

on this exact day,

at this exact time,

with this specific event

happening to you?

[gunshot]

[gunfire]

[soldier shouts]

Hey!

[gunshot]

[thud on floor]

[singing in Hebrew]

(rabbi)

May our mourners rise.

Today, we mourn the loss

of young Jonah Greenberg,

fallen in Korea,

fighting for his country,

at 19 years of age.

Moses Greenberg, please,

to recite the Kaddish.

[reciting in Hebrew]

(all)

Amen.

(all)

Amen.

[light chatter]

[whispering]

Yeah, sure.

Marcus.

Hi, Mrs. Greenberg.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Yes, Marcus.

You're such a clever boy.

Jonah, he always looked

up to you.

Maybe not such close friends.

But he respected.

We were teammates. He

was a really good guy.

Baseball.

He enjoyed.

Marcus.

Don't go into this war.

For your parents' sake.

You should be

a baseball star.

Don't go into this draft.

(Max) He's going to

college, Miriam.

They keep the ones in

college from the draft.

Such a clever boy,

Marcus.

A scholarship,

is that right?

Yes. In Ohio,

this college is.

Ohio...

how will you keep kosher?

(David) Only one thing worse than dyin'

by gettin' stabbed with a bayonet,

and that's dyin' by gettin' stabbed with

a bayonet when you're still a virgin.

And Greenberg

was definitely a virgin.

Yeah? I thought maybe you and Greenberg

had taken care of each other

before he shipped out.

Shut up, a**hole.

So, when do you report?

Two weeks.

Ah, you'll be okay.

You're smarter than Greenberg.

Not as smart

as you.

[bell on door rings]

Mrs. Davidovich.

Two chickens?

Let me see. (Max) Of course.

Markie! Flick two chickens

for Mrs. Davidovich, will ya?

Turn them around.

Yeah. I'll wrap them for you.

So what will you do when this

one goes off next month?

(Max) The Mrs. will help.

Like the old days.

(Max) I can't keep him here

chopping meat like me.

I have to go see Gurevich.

You can close up early.

And bring home some

brisket for your mother.

I told you, Dad. I'm going out

with Davey and Sam tonight.

You didn't tell me.

I told you! We're going

to the pictures.

To the pictures.

[scoffs]

I know what you boys are doing.

I heard from Mrs. Pearlgreen, about

that Eddie, going to pool halls.

Dad, I'm going to the pictures.

I told you.

I'm not Eddie Pearlgreen!

For Chrissake, I don't even

know how to play pool!

He took his father's car,

drove all the way to Scranton

to some special pool hall

they have there.

He bets, he gambles...

his father says he'll

be stealing cars next.

What does Eddie Pearlgreen

have to do with me?

Dad, I'm leaving

in less than a month.

You think I'm tempted

to steal cars?

[car horn honks]

Markie?

Mom?

Everything okay?

What's going on?

Your father.

What happened?

He went out.

Looking for you.

He was worried.

He's been talking to Artie Pearlgreen

again, it got him all riled up.

I think he smoked three packs of

cigarettes. Then he went. [sigh]

What's happening to him, Mom?

What's the matter with him?

He's crazy... he's driving me

crazy, he's driving you crazy.

It's your leaving.

It's all the boys dying,

Bennie and Abe in the last war,

now this new war, I don't know.

He's worried about you. He's

worried about Ohio... [door opens]

So, there you are.

Yeah, strange, here I am,

in my own house.

I've been everywhere

looking for you.

Why? Why? Why?

Somebody tell me why?

(Max) Because if anything

were to happen to you...

(Marcus) Oh, come on...

(Max) If anything were

to ever happen

to you.

What is this all about?

It's about life, Markie.

It's about the tiniest mistake

that can have consequences.

Christ, you sound

like a fortune cookie.

Do I?

Like a fortune cookie?

Not like the concerned father

that I am

but like

a fortune cookie?

I can't take this anymore-

I can't take this.

You know,

thank God I'm leaving.

Thank God!

So I don't end up...

What? End up what?

I don't know!

I don't know!

[sigh]

[quiet knock

at door]

Maybe I shouldn't go.

No.

Come on.

You go.

You gotta stop worrying.

It's scaring Ma.

You go.

Just... be careful.

(girl) Everything's in the envelope.

You're in Jenkins 211.

That's behind the men's

quad, back towards the gym.

Keys are in there, and check your

class schedule, in there too.

And, looks like you're

doing a campus job.

The job board

is right over there.

Just take a ticket down from

the board for the job you want

and turn it back

in with the form.

I'd go now, otherwise all

that's left is the dining hall.

Hi. Marcus Messner.

Hey. Ron Foxman.

That's Bert Flusser.

Where are you from?

Newark.

Where's that?

New Jersey.

Right.

Cleveland, Ohio.

Flusser's from Chicago.

(Ron) He's...

cultured, you'll see.

Oh, yeah? Does Flusser talk?

Oh, I talk all right.

I even talk in my sleep.

I have so much to say, so

much to share with the world.

Young freshman

Marcus Messner,

from Newark, New Jersey.

What a surprise to find yourself

in a triple with two other Jews.

What a coincidence.

Ronald and I are the only

two Jews at Winesburg

who are not

in the Jewish fraternity.

After all, we are juniors,

we ought to be living in

style over at Zeta Tau Mu,

not bunking

with young freshman

Marcus Messner.

(men singing on record

with Bert)

All of us with one heart

With the torch of freedom

March on! March on!

March on and on!

Chi Lai! Chi Lai! Chi Lai!

Bert. Close the door

at least.

Ronald doesn't like

Negro Communists.

Paul Robeson

in particular.

He doesn't like music at all,

in fact.

If Dean Caudwell ever heard you

playing that commie propaganda,

he'd probably toss you

right out of here.

Dean Caudwell loves me.

Dean Caudwell?

Dean of men.

And a man among deans,

if I do say so myself.

In fact he's addressing

us in 15 minutes.

Sh*t.

Chapel.

Uh... chapel?

Didn't you read

the handbook?

Required.

Every Wednesday at 11.

You have to go to at least 10 of

them a year if you want to graduate.

Might as well

get started today!

(Dean Caudwell) To you who join

us today for the first time,

to you who enter

your final year,

looking out at the prospect

of what may seem to be

an uncertain

and dangerous horizon,

menaced as this country may be

by enemies both foreign and native,

fear not, puzzle not,

hesitate not,

for the spirit of Winesburg

will animate and fortify you.

And now, Dr. Donehower

will lead us in prayer.

(Dr. Donehower)

Righteous God,

who rules the nations,

we pray that you guard all the

strong young men and women

who enter the gates

of Winesburg College

in the service

of greater knowledge

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