Mudbound

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1

-[shovel scraping]

-[Jamie breathing heavily and grunting]

[thunder rumbling]

[Henry] You better get a hurry along.

We ain't gonna make it.

Oh, we will. We have to.

[thunder rumbling]

-[sighs]

-Take a break. Come on.

My turn.

[thunder rumbling]

[Jamie] "We will. We have to."

That was my brother, Henry.

Absolutely certain

whatever he wanted to happen would.

The weather would dry out in time

to resow the cotton.

[thunder cracking]

We would get this hole dug

before the storm hit.

[Henry grunts] God damn it!

-Jesus Christ!

-What is it?

It's a slave's grave.

[Jamie] How do you know that?

[Henry pants] Shot in the head.

Must've been a runaway.

[sighs]

Well, that settles it. [sighs]

Settles what?

I ain't burying my father

in no slave's grave.

Nothing he would've hated more.

Help me up. [panting]

[thunder rumbling]

We ain't got a choice.

[thunder cracking]

[Jamie grunting]

[Henry] That's it, brother! Come on!

-[Jamie] Huh?

-[Henry] That's it!

Get you out of there!

[thunder cracking]

-Come on!

-[Jamie grunts]

-[Henry] Come on.

-[both grunting]

[Jamie] God damn it!

-[Henry] Come on, Jamie. Hang on!

-No.

[Henry] I'm gonna fetch a ladder!

-Huh?

-[thunder rumbling]

Henry!

[pants]

[grunting]

[gags] Henry!

Henry!

Henry!

[panting and grunting]

-Henry, where are you?

-Right here! I'm here!

[Jamie] That was my brother Henry.

Absolutely certain

whatever he wanted to happen would.

And his little brother...

[Henry] Jamie.

[Jamie] ...would never betray him.

Come on. Come here. Come on.

What's the matter with you? Huh?

I thought you were...

gonna leave me down there!

Come on. Why would I do that?

Why would I do that?

[panting]

[thunder cracking]

[Laura]

When I think of the farm, I think of mud.

Encrusting knees and hair.

Marching in boot-shaped patches

across the floor.

I dreamed in brown.

[Jamie] All right. Come on, lift it up.

-[Henry] Come on.

-You know, just get... Come on! [grunts]

-Hang on. Just let it... Hang on.

-[Henry] Hold on.

-Lift it, Jamie. Lift it.

-Just get a little more...

Just stop, okay? Let's set it down.

Why don't we just run the ropes

lengthwise? We stand at either end.

No, the coffin's too narrow.

If it falls again, it might break.

-Well, we can try.

-No!

-Hap!

-Henry.

-[Henry] Hap!

-[Laura] Henry, don't.

-It ain't my fault what happened.

-[Hap] Whoa.

-I warned that boy. Warned both of 'em.

-[Laura] Just let 'em go.

[Henry] Hap!

Hap, can you hold on?

Can you lend us a hand, Hap?

Need to get that coffin in the ground.

Hap?

[Laura] I was a 31-year-old virgin

when I met Henry McAllan

in the spring of 1939.

[indistinct chatter]

I lived with my parents

in the house I grew up in.

My world was small,

and he was my rescuer

from a life in the margins.

[Laura's mother] Oh, really? He tells me

that, uh, you are actually a college man.

[Henry] Engineering.

-An engineering degree from Ole Miss.

-[Henry] Yes.

Did you hear that, Laura?

An engineering degree from Ole Miss.

My, my, my.

You know, Laura is a college graduate.

She got her teaching certificate from

West Tennessee State. We're very proud.

Mm-hmm. My dear sister's

the smartest one in the family.

Made better grades than I ever did.

Never heard the end of it.

[Laura's mother] She is smart.

Laura, you should, uh,

play the piano for us after dinner.

Hmm?

You should hear her sing.

She sings like an angel.

Yeah, you should play something

for Mr. McAllan later.

-Mama. Mama.

-"Ave Maria." That's my favorite.

-You will love that. It's so beautiful.

-Mama.

What?

I'm quite sure that Teddy did not bring

his new boss, Mr. McAllan,

over to hear hymns.

Well, why don't we just ask him.

-Mr. McAllan?

-[Henry] Mm-hmm?

Would you like to hear some music

after dinner?

I like hymns.

[Teddy] He likes hymns.

[Laura] I was unused to male admiration

and knew only that I wanted more.

It was at least a reprieve

from the sincere pity

and insincere kindness

directed at old maids.

-[Henry] Right.

-[Laura] So...

He didn't feel the need

to fill the air with words like I did.

He had the self-confidence I lacked.

-[Henry] That's it?

-Uh-huh.

[Henry] Well...

I can't say

I was truly in love with him then...

but I was so grateful to him,

it dwarfed everything else.

My brother Jamie's coming up

from Oxford next weekend.

I'd like for him to meet you.

[indistinct announcement on PA]

[Henry] There he is, right there.

Brother! Brother!

[laughing]

-[sighs] You look good, brother.

-Likewise.

The air up here in Memphis

agrees with you.

Or is it something else?

Miss Chappell,

this here is my brother, Jamie.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Pleasure's all mine.

Oh, he thinks he's one of them characters

in his plays.

Yes, but which play is it, dear brother?

Hamlet? Faust? Prince Hal?

One of them fellas that could earn you

a decent wage someday.

What do you think, Miss Chappell?

[chuckles]

I think you're more of a Puck.

-[stammers] Who's Puck?

-"Lord, what fools these mortals be."

Puck's a kind of mischievous sprite.

He's a hobgoblin.

Forgive me, brother.

I'm only trying to impress her.

Oh, you'll find Miss Laura is not

the impressionable type.

-Shall we?

-[Jamie] We shall.

[Henry] I went ahead and told Pappy

you were here today.

[swing music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

[Laura] Uh-huh.

I wanna hear. I wanna hear.

[Jamie] Next thing I knew,

I was sucked under,

concussed and bleeding,

and I was as good as gone,

another victim of the Great Flood of '27.

-I can't believe you never told me this.

-There's more.

Then what happened?

Well, I saw a shimmering light,

-like a falling star.

-[Henry] "Shimmering."

And a great big hand reached out of it

and I thought it was God himself

come to take me.

But it wasn't.

It was my dear big brother, Henry.

-You saved his life. You're a hero.

-Indeed, he is.

Well, what was I supposed to do, huh?

Let him drown?

Here's to the future,

whatever it may hold.

May you be blessed

with happiness, health, prosperity,

and if she'll have you,

a house full of children.

My love to you both.

-[music stops playing]

-[crowd applauding]

[Laura chuckles] Bubbly.

[slow music playing]

Would you mind terribly

if I had a dance with your girl?

[sighs]

Miss Chappell, care to take a spin?

I'd be delighted.

[Laura] Jamie saw in a different way.

And when his eyes were on me,

I felt like I was no longer invisible.

[laughs]

[chuckles softly]

-[music stops playing]

-[crowd applauding]

[band member] Thanks a lot, guys.

-I'll be back.

-[Henry] Absolutely.

[swing music playing]

You look especially pretty tonight.

[chuckles] Thank you.

Jamie has that effect on girls.

They sparkle for him.

He likes you. I can tell.

I'm sure he doesn't dislike anyone.

Well, at least not anyone in a skirt,

anyways. [chuckles]

[Laura] Henry's marriage proposal

didn't play out like I pictured it would.

He wasn't kneeling and the question

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