Passchendaele Page #4

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There's a difference.

If I could kill him, I would.

He can only be killed once.

Well, I'm not

just going to sit here.

- Where are you going?

- What does it matter?

- Sarah?

- I'm in here.

Where's your brother?

I don't know.

He may have gone to Cassie's.

Or maybe our mother's grave.

He does that quite often.

I'll take that horse and go find him.

I don't think you should stay here.

I want you to go to my place.

Why are you doing this?

'Cause I fought on the same ridge

your father died on.

It might have been me

that killed him.

I know it probably wasn't,

but it might have been.

Use that door.

It's 213 Stephen Avenue.

I'll come find you.

Thank you.

You mind

if I have a word with you?

My nose...

Schmidt!

Dead German!

Wutz! Dead German!

"Mutti...

Ich liebe dich. "

Will you stop that now?

Ah, come on, kid.

Don't make me chase you.

Goddamnit!

Yah! Yah!

Sh*t!

Idiot! The hell's wrong with you?!

Why don't you just kill me?

I don't want to kill you,

just want to talk to you.

- You should have signed me up!

- You want to go to war that badly?

Where do you think

I already am?

Jesus! Look around you!

Everything you can see,

everything you can imagine,

...the entire goddamned

universe is at war!

And if that ever stopped,

...oh boy, that would be

the end of history!

I don't know

what you're talking about.

All I know is that you got

to draw a line somewhere.

And I draw the line at my father.

You think it's that simple?

- You don't?

- No.

No, I don't.

Lines are tricky...

There's so goddamned

many of them.

There's front line,

sap line, behind the line,

...lines you don't even know about,

lines you can't see

'til you cross them...

...but once you do, you're not fit.

You understand?

You're not fit for this world.

You live over there.

You got men underneath you.

What the hell am I doing?

Christ didn't die for our sins.

He just laid down the template.

I don't understand you.

If I have my way, you never will.

You're looking for romance, kid.

You're not going to find it

in a trench.

Get up.

I'm going to go find that horse.

Sergeant.

- Hi.

- Hi.

I found your brother,

and he's gonna stay...

...with a friend of mine,

I'm just on the corner.

Uh, you can have the bed.

It hasn't been slept in.

This could get a little rocky.

You saw the morphine.

When I was 23,

I robbed a bank in Fort Macleod.

- I don't do it every day.

- I don't rob banks every day.

After my father left, um,

I had trouble sleeping.

And there was this ready supply

at the hospital.

- I can't explain it.

- You don't have to.

I've tried everything I can

to do my part but.

But you were frustrated.

No, I understand that.

And I commend you, son.

I commend your selflessness.

It would seem

my daughter has indeed...

...picked herself a fine young man.

Present this letter

to the recruiting officer...

...and your way should be clear.

And with that, you have

my blessing on your union.

Oh, Daddy!

It tore my father in half, this war.

It just made our lives...

...impossible.

So I forced him

to make a decision.

It was them or us.

I really didn't think

he'd leave or...

...that I was sending

him to be killed...

...which seems to be

killing my brother...

All this. For what?

I killed a kid.

I killed a lot of men,

but I killed this one kid.

He had these blue eyes.

They were like water.

And I didn't have to kill him.

I wasn't scared or...

I just killed him.

I'm going to have

to answer for that.

One way or another.

Congratulations, son!

You've proven yourself

a true patriot.

Excuse me, sir.

But I can't imagine Sergeant Dunne...

...rejecting a candidate

without cause.

And this form identifies

the cause as asthma.

- Do you have asthma, son?

- Not me, sir.

There you go. Fit as a fiddle.

- But sir...

- Shut up, Carmichael!

In your encounters

with Sergeant Dunne...

...he bore no signs

of ill health, did he?

And yet he is not in the field.

Why is that, do you imagine?

He told me

he had neurasthenia.

The military is a curious

and beautiful beast.

Neurasthenia is our way

of saying that Sergeant Dunne...

...is a coward.

I've always thought that,

...way down, somewhere,

it was all about sacrifice.

Why? I don't know.

And now there's you.

If I asked you,

would you kiss me?

Ask me.

There's only one rule:

...don't die.

- What are you doing?

- I'm going.

Where?

- Where do you think?

- Oh God, David!

Please don't.

No. No.

- I won't have this. You're a boy.

- I'm not a boy!

- You have asthma!

- I'm not a cripple!

God, they can't let you...

David, talk to Sergeant Dunne.

He'll tell you not to go.

Really?

He would explain to them,

they would let you out.

What makes you think

they'd listen to him?

You think he's some kind of hero?

Is he missing an arm?

A leg? Is he blind?

Why isn't he still over there?

- I don't know.

- He's got neurasthenia!

You know what that means

in the army? The man's a coward.

- No. No, he's not!

- No, he's not?

Who do you think signed me up?

He's the reason

I'm going to war.

Oh, my God...

Gentlemen, I'm honored

to have you in my home...

...to observe this solemn

and hopeful occasion.

- I turn it over to you, Major.

- Gentlemen...

The eastbound train carries

our valiant youth...

...on the long road to glory.

May God go with them.

To the boys.

- To the boys!

- To the men.

- To the men!

- Hear hear.

This is how you raise an army?

You rake the very bottom

and find the weak,

...the young, the sick

and you send them?

My brother is just a boy!

He's not well; he's not fit!

Why do you want him?

Oh, you have nothing to say?

Nothing at all?

This isn't out of the blue,

Sergeant.

I'm not out of the blue.

I'm right here, right now

and I'm asking you:

...who will be there

to watch over my brother?

You know you can take

anyone of them.

Artillery, gas, wire, rain,

rats, the f***ing bayonet...

Not one of these can you control.

The matches you can control.

You can have some effect upon them.

If you're in the middle of a barrage

...and you think a smoke

might steady you up...

...and you reach for those

matches and they're wet...

...well sir,

your whole world buckles.

It feels like

it's coming apart at the seams.

And that's not farce.

That is not farce.

I need you to sign this.

McRea?

It's my mother's maiden name.

I'm going back and you're gonna

assign me to the Fighting 10th.

You're going to try

and protect that boy?

You really are neurasthenic,

aren't you?

Cut from the same cloth,

you and I.

You know I'll track you down.

Be my guest.

Miss Mann?

Come in.

Oh, hello, Cassie.

How could anyone do this?

I don't know.

Why are you packing?

I can't find a job,

so I can't afford the upkeep.

I could talk to my father.

I mean, you're almost family.

How is that, do you imagine?

- You haven't heard from David?

- No.

I haven't heard from him either,

...which is strange

considering we're engaged.

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