Mudbound Page #3

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get a fire on before it gets dark.

-Okay?

-[Hap] Yes, sir.

Evenin'.

Then tell him to walk.

It's too far, and we don't have time.

It's getting late in the day.

I ain't movin' for no n*gger.

[Henry] He can't ride with Laura

and the girls alone so...

There's no room in the back of truck.

Pappy, please.

[Hap] Mr. McAllan was from Memphis,

and my guess was

he ain't know the eating end of a mule

from the crappin' end.

Told me he intended to bring in

one of them infernal tractors.

Imagine that.

Using a machine to work his land

instead of the hands the Lord gave 'em.

-[Isabelle chuckles]

-[Henry] Huh? Gonna do some fishin'.

-You all right, Mrs. McAllan?

-[thunder rumbling]

[Laura] Fine. Thank you.

You better get him to fix them shutters

or we're gonna freeze to death.

[Henry] We gotta get that truck unloaded

before that rain comes down.

Just leave it right here.

[pants]

You relax yourself there, Pappy.

We'll take it.

Girls are done in. I need their blankets.

[Henry] All right.

There has to be some in here somewhere.

All right, girls, come on.

-[Laura] Just stack 'em in the corner.

-Yes, ma'am.

[chuckles]

"A Tale of Two Cities.

Wuthering..."

You can read?

My son Ronsel taught me.

He gonna be fightin' under General Patton.

You mean diggin' ditches

and peelin' potatoes?

No, sir, he a tank commander.

Oh, there's no way the army's gonna

turn a tank worth thousands of dollars

over to a n*gger.

Now my son Jamie,

now there's a fighting man.

-He's flying bombers.

-[chuckles softly]

Uh, my son's a sergeant. 761st Battalion.

Calls 'em the Black Panthers.

Hey. [chuckles]

Boy.

You know what they call a n*gger

with stripes?

A raccoon. [laughing]

[Henry]

Honey, where you wanna put this piano?

[sighs] Let me get the girls to bed first.

Ain't no room for that piano.

Where am I gonna sleep?

We'll have to put you in the lean-to.

[Pappy] I ain't sleepin' out there.

-It don't even have a floor.

-[sighs] Henry, please.

-There's no room.

-[Pappy] Get rid of that piano,

we can put a bed right there.

Put a curtain around it.

It's true, we could.

I don't want a bedroom

in the living room.

She puttin' me out.

-We're not puttin' you out.

-Henry, may I speak to you in private?

-Honey! Not puttin' you out.

-Henry.

When you told me that you were bringin' me

to this godforsaken place,

I barely said a word.

When you informed me he was comin'

to live with us, I went along.

And when Orris Stokes told you

you'd been fleeced by that man you rented

the house from, I kept my mouth shut.

But I am tellin' you now,

we are not gettin' rid of that piano.

It's the one civilized thing

in this place.

So your father can either sleep

in the lean-to or in the bed with you,

because I'm not stayin' here

without my piano.

You know what? You're overtired.

No, I'm not.

-God damn it!

-[rain falling]

[sighs]

[Henry] My great-great-granddaddy

and his slaves built the farm

that I grew up on.

One time, my granddaddy told me to go out,

grab a handful of dirt from the yard

and bring it in.

He said, "What are you holdin', son?"

And I said, "Dirt."

"That's right. Now give it to me."

So I did, and he says,

"Now what's this I've got in my hand?"

"Dirt," I says.

"No, boy, this is land that I've gotten.

Do you know why?

Because I own it. Because it's mine.

And one day, it'll be yours."

Except that land never became mine.

No, Pappy sold it after the flood.

He told people

that the river wiped him out.

But that was just a lie.

He walked away from that land gladly.

The army made Jamie a bomber pilot.

It was my fault that he's up there.

I made him promise

if he ever had to be a soldier,

he would get up to the sky.

They say battle is cleaner up there.

-[plane engine roaring]

-[Jamie] It all looks clear.

[Roger] Adam's on the left.

[Jamie] He sure is.

[Roger] All right.

Missed my daughter's birthday.

She's not too happy about that.

We'll get back soon.

I'll get you back safe, Rog.

All right, I'll hold you to that.

You got your pinup girl. I got mine.

Yeah, but mine's from a magazine.

[both laughing]

[soldiers chattering]

[Ronsel] Dear family...

I'm writing you

from a village in Belgium called Tillet.

Belgium is a country just north of France,

and it's beautiful.

Daddy would like it around here.

There's lots of farms.

-What's this?

-[laughing]

-[Cleve] "Come out fighting"?

-[Weeks] Yeah, man.

[Ronsel] Of course,

by the time you get this,

I'll probably be long gone from here.

We always seem to be on the move.

-[sergeant] Man all guns!

-On me!

[officer] Move out! Let's go!

[sergeant] Come on! Roll out! Roll out!

-[officer] These people ready to go?

-[sergeant] Let's move!

[Henry] Did you shoot your horse?

-What kind of man shoots his horse, Carl?

-Someone--

-Can't even get his feeding on time.

-My horse ate my tobacco!

-It's my property!

-Carl, I've heard enough, okay?

I don't wanna hear no more!

Okay? If you can't do your job,

I can't keep you on!

-Henry, no.

-Now, you know that!

Henry. Henry, I got--

Please. I got Vera and the girls

and I got one on the way!

-I mean--

-Man, I got--

I got a wife. I got kids, Carl.

-[Carl] I don't got anyplace else to go.

-I got a wife. I got kids, okay?

I'm runnin' a farm, not a charity.

-You got till the end of the week!

-Please!

[Henry] The end of the week.

Then I want you gone!

[horse grunting]

[gunshot]

[Laura] Violence is part and parcel

of country life.

You're forever being assailed

by dead things.

Dead mice, dead rabbits, dead possums.

You find them in the yard.

You smell them rottin' under the house.

And then there are the creatures

you kill for food.

Chickens, hogs, deer, frogs, squirrels.

Pluck, skin, disembowel, debone, fry.

Eat, start again, kill.

I learned how to stitch up

a bleeding wound...

load and fire a shotgun...

reach into the womb of a heavin' sow

to deliver a breeched piglet.

My hands did these things...

but I was never easy in my mind.

Howdy, Mrs. McAllan.

Hello, Miss...

Vera. You can call me Vera.

Hello, Vera.

This here's one of my daughters, Alma.

We need to talk to you.

You can't put us off.

Excuse me?

We ain't got nowhere to go

if you put us out.

Ain't nobody gonna hire us this late

in the season.

It's not up to me, Vera.

It's up to my husband.

I'm asking you to keep us on.

I'm tellin' you it's not my decision.

And if it was?

[object clatters]

[Vera] Alma.

-[church bell tolling]

-[indistinct chatter]

[Ronsel] Dear family...

The locals treat us real nice.

They ain't like the white folks back home.

I get homesick.

And they do all they can

to make us feel right at home.

I'm mighty grateful for that.

Ronsel.

[giggles]

-[Henry hammering]

-[Pappy] Henry!

Henry!

-What?

-Henry, your wife wants you.

Isabelle's sick and the other one's

comin' down with it, too.

-[Isabelle coughing]

-[Henry] I'm comin'!

It's whooping cough. Go get the doctor.

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