Terra queimada Page #2

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Now...

the rifle is ready.

Tomorrow, Ingls.

I like it here, it's nice.

Wait until after the festa.

As soon as they realize

those soldiers aren't coming back...

they'll send others.

They won't send them in 10s or 20s.

Be a bloody massacre.

Is that why we stole the gold?

To die up here...

or to be rich...

and live as free men?

What do you say, Jos?

Why did we steal the gold?

Like you said, to be rich and free.

And after that?

Is there any left?

Jos...

you're beginning to like it, aren't you?

No, rum is better.

All right, I'll call the others.

Let's go.

If we go, they will all die.

Yes, probably.

I am sorry.

You will go alone...

I'll stay here.

Gentlemen, let me ask you a question.

Now, my metaphor

might seem a trifle impertinent...

but I think it's very much to the point.

Which do you prefer...

or should I say,

which do you find more convenient?

A wife or one of these mulatto girls?

No, no, please don't misunderstand.

I'm speaking strictly in terms of economics.

What is the cost of the product?

What does the product yield?

The product, in this case, being love.

Purely physical love...

since sentiments, obviously,

play no part in economics.

Quite.

Now, a wife must be provided with a home...

with food, with dresses,

with medical attention, etcetera, etcetera.

You're obliged

to keep her a whole lifetime...

even when she's grown old

and perhaps a trifle unproductive.

Then, of course, if you have the bad luck to

survive her, you have to pay for the funeral.

No, no, it's true.

Gentlemen, I know it seems amusing

but actually those are the facts, aren't they?

Now, with a prostitute, on the other hand...

it's quite a different matter, isn't it?

You see there's no need

to lodge her or to feed her...

certainly not to dress her or to bury her,

thank God.

She's yours only when you need her.

You pay her only for that service...

and you pay her by the hour.

Which, gentlemen, is more important...

and more convenient?

A slave or a paid worker?

Which do you find more convenient?

Foreign domination with its laws,

its vetoes, its taxes...

its commercial monopolies

or independence?

With your own government, your own laws,

your own administration...

and the freedom to trade

with anyone you like...

on terms that are dictated only by the prices

on the international market...

Not only for the freedom of trade,

Mr. Walker.

I believe that for many of us...

there are idealistic motives

which are even more important.

We are now a nation, a small nation.

Born here and forged with toil,

with difficulty...

it took more than three centuries.

A nation, which originated from Portugal...

but now is not a part of Portugal anymore.

And that no longer

wants to be a Portuguese colony.

That's all quite correct, my dear Teddy.

We all agree on the idealistic motives.

But it's the example of the whore...

that doesn't convince me as yet, Mr. Walker.

What will happen if

once the Negro ceases to be a slave...

and instead of wanting to be a worker,

wants to be the boss?

That's exactly what will happen

if we go on arguing about it.

Four months ago, Jos Dolores...

was on the Sierra Madre

with a few dozen men.

Then he reached Sierra Trinidad

with four or five hundred.

Now there are thousands.

Spreading through the lowlands.

It is my view that

if you don't take immediate action...

if you don't weave yourselves

into this revolt...

you'll be swept away.

Then your ex-slaves,

instead of becoming your workers...

will not become your bosses, Mr. Prada...

but your executioners.

Now, what are my interests in the matter?

And who am I?

Very simply,

I represent Her Britannic Majesty.

A British agent, if you prefer.

But actually, you know, England wants

the same thing that you want...

the freedom of trade and therefore an end

to foreign domination in all Latin America.

But what England does not want, however...

and what I think

you yourselves do not want...

are these revolutions

carried to their extreme consequences.

Men like Jos Dolores

and Toussaint L'Ouverture...

are perhaps necessary to ignite a situation...

but then after that, they become

very dangerous as in Haiti, for example.

Yes, you certainly have got a point there.

So, gentlemen, as you can see...

I think our interests coincide,

at least for the moment...

and they also coincide with progress

and civilization.

And for those who believe in it,

it's important.

And you? Do you believe in it, Mr. Walker?

Yes, Mr. Prada, I do.

It's time.

I don't know how

I'll be able to go through with it, Sir William.

Well, it always seems that way

the first time...

but you'll see, it's actually rather simple.

It's only a moment.

Very simple moment, and then it's over.

Come on, men. Forward, follow me!

Hurry!

Go out there, show yourself. Say something.

Long live Queimada.

Long live Queimada!

Freedom!

Freedom!

Ingls!

Ingls, when did you get back?

Me? I never left.

I've been here all the time.

Here? And the boat?

Never existed.

And the gold?

Back in the bank.

Sure, and I'm still a porter.

It's all the same as before, eh?

If I had told you, Jos,

to start a revolution...

you wouldn't have understood me.

To rob a bank, yes, that was possible.

First, you learned to kill

in order to defend yourself.

And later you had to kill to defend others.

And the rest came by itself.

And you?

What do you get?

Nothing.

Salary from the British Admiralty.

A rather modest one.

And England, what is her part in this?

Portugal is England's enemy...

and if the English ships

were not in the port of Queimada...

the Portuguese

would already have returned.

And how many English ships are there?

Don't be too ambitious, Jos.

No, I just asked.

Ramn, Pedro, Andrs,

that's enough now. You dance in town.

It might be better if you camped here, Jos.

It would be better.

But they have fought and suffered,

and they have won, Ingls.

They have a right to go to the city.

Well, they'll have plenty of time for that,

all the time in the world.

Gentlemen, I would like to present

General Jos Dolores.

Mr. Prada.

Augusto Anguilar.

Fernando Gabriella.

Allow me to present Gen. Dolores,

Mr. Teddy Sanchez.

He directed the rebellion here in the capital.

It was he who killed the governor...

and he is now the president

of the new provisional government...

whose first act it was, to abolish slavery.

General, you have our admiration.

Your help has been invaluable. Thank you.

In the name of the provisional government...

I invite you to discuss with us

the proposals for a constitution.

Gentlemen, shall we?

Sim, that was the chair of the governor.

May God bless you, Jos Dolores.

Thank you.

Well, senhores, you wanted to talk with me?

Here I am.

Well, come forward.

Come on, senhores.

We will talk.

But, I warn you, speak plainly.

Your government is provisional.

Well, my encampment is, too.

My people won't be delayed.

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