at two in the morning
to tell you this:
"My darling Mama is no more.
"The Lord has claimed her.
"He was waiting for her.
"I accept this,
"and submit
to the will of the Lord.
"He has given
and he has taken away.
"But what grief,
what anguish
"what terrible strain
"I have experienced
over the last two weeks!
"She died without knowing it -
"out like a candle.
"Three days before she died,
"she confessed and received
Communion,
"she received
the Blessed Sacrament.
"She was delirious
all through the last three days,
"but today,
at twenty-one minutes past five,
"it became clear
that she was close to death.
"She was completely unaware
of her surroundings.
"I pressed her hand
and she started to talk,
"neither seeing nor hearing me,
not conscious of anything.
"Exactly five hours
went by in the same way
"until, at twenty-one minutes
past eleven in the evening,
"she passed away."
Mozart's 19th Piano Concerto,
Second Movement.
You are now going to hear
part of Beethoven's 7th Symphony,
Second Movement.
Mozart and Beethoven
are beings
from the same civilisation.
Both are extraordinarily,
immensely gifted.
They have many more similarities
than differences.
The more remarkable and outstanding
a person is,
the more difficult and contradictory
their relationship with life -
this life on earth.
These beings stand little chance
of being reconciled to life.
Little chance.
This is the Second Movement
of Mozart's 23rd Piano Concerto.
Let us listen to it again,
so as to remember it,
to keep it in our souls.
Let us gratefully remember
the eternal Mozart,
the martyr.
Always on the move,
with his fleshy nose
and pock-marked skin,
he was not attractive to look at.
He had pale blue eyes
and blond hair.
His vague, distracted expression
was due to short-sightedness.
Subtitles: Alexei Jankowsky
Subtitling by TVS - TITRA FILMIn Russia,
the snow and cold
seem endless.
Not a sound...
and not a soul.
Flicking through my journal,
this is what I read:
"At the beginning of June,
"with a light heart,
yet also with sadness,
"I quickly collected my things
and left Russia."
In June,
Tadjikistan is already very hot.
Against all odds,
I have arrived here.
A small military airfield.
Now I know that in a few hours,
I'll be at the border.
Before us,
a flight by helicopter -
just a short flight.
Once we have landed,
we will have a long
and possibly dangerous journey
through the mountains.
God help us all.
On my left,
there is a precipice,
the River Panjsher
and Afghanistan.
I keep a sharp eye out
on all sides:
There is a risk of ambush.
This is the only route
to the frontier post.
Helicopters will not fly over
this region.
They've been waiting for us.
They're discussing
whether we should move forward
all in one group
or separately?
No point taking risks -
let's keep together.
On the mountainside
there are abandoned gardens
and fields sown with crops.
No-one is going to come back here.
The wind is hot.
This young man
is in command of one
of the Russian frontier posts.
How old is he?
22...
23?
It's very hot.
Give me the parcel.
Well,
we've arrived.
This is frontier post No.11.
We've arrived.
Everything seems dreamlike -
I put it down to exhaustion
or excitement.
I look around me.
I am thirsty.
Subtitles: Alexei Jankowsky
Subtitling by TVS - TITRA FILMThis is what I wrote in my diary:
"It was very hot last night.
"I slept a dreamless sleep."
Use your gun.
Hold the wire up with the butt.
At that time,
we often used to leave
the little valley
where the company was stationed
and climb,
keeping strictly to the paths,
up and up.
I found the going tough.
I often had to ask for a rest.
We sat and rested in silence,
looking down at the frontier post.
What sort of cigarettes are they?
De luxe?
I don't know - with filters.
Go on, then.
Reach out.
Has someone taken a grenade?
- Today is June 17th.
- There were 4 out of 5.
-