there.
Mikhail Korisheli has been arrested.
Go away
before you get in trouble, too.
Esteemed Varlam!
Help us,
help us, please!
Sandro is perishing.
Save him!
I beg you, esteemed Varlam!
Help us, esteemed Varlam!
Aunt Nino,
they brought logs to the station.
People say there're the names
and addresses of the exiled on them.
Perhaps Uncle Sandro
has written his name, too.
My mother sent me to you.
Keti, get up!
Hurry up, let's go.
Amiran Abashidze
I've found it.
I've found him, mother! Mother!
Sit down in the chair.
Would you like to smoke?
Thank you, I don't smoke.
Believe me, your sincere confession
will help to alleviate your lot.
The leader of the secret organization,
Mikhail Korisheli himself,
named you as one of
its active members.
It's immoral to slander
an honest man
in order to extract false evidence.
Anything that is useful
for the common cause is moral.
What good can the prosecution of
the innocent do the common cause?
There's irrefutable proof that each
“innocent” is an enemy of the nation.
Like myself.
You don't believe me?
How can I believe you
when I myself was arrested on no
grounds at all, for nothing.
And now you try to resort to any means
to make me sign
a false testimony.
False?
And if we confront you
with Mikhail Korisheli,
what would you say then?
Nobody will ever convince me
that Mikhail Korisheli is an enemy.
If such honest people
are being arrested,
then you have to arrest the whole
country.
Bring in Mikhail Korisheli.
Is it true that you were a Pontoss
spy?
Yes.
What was your mission as an agent?
I was to dig a tunnel
from Bombay to London.
Who helped you?
- The entire group of conspirators.
- Namely?
- How many people?
- 2,700.
You don't remember the names,
of course?
There's a list of the conspirators.
I think you can easily find it.
In what acts of sabotage
were you engaged?
To exterminate the population,
we had poisoned corn sown.
Was Sandro Barateli
a member of your organization?
Yes, he was.
You two can talk.
I'll leave you alone for a while and
be back after I see to my business.
Listen, Sandro.
I thought a lot.
I was thinking all nights through.
We must name as many people as
possible as the nation's enemies.
They can't arrest them all.
And when the number of the accused
reaches an astronomical figure,
those at the top will think twice,
convene an extraordinary assembly
and expose all the criminals
that have misled the government.
Do you understand, Sandro?
This is tactics.
A cunning, crafty tactics.
We'll sign everything, we'll bring it
to absurdity, to absolute nonsense.
We'll make thousands of absurd
statements.
The tunnel from Bombay
to London, and so on.
Eventually, the government
will understand everything.
It will become indignant,
get, with its iron hand,
at the throat of the villains
and destroy them.
I've been suggested all this
by the wisdom of imagination.
Do you understand me, Sandro?
We should trust no one,
no one's deeds or words!
We must be vigilant
and know how to detect an enemy.
That's our paramount task. And not
an easy one, ladies and gentlemen!
Even more complicated, because out of
every three people, four are enemies.
Don't be surprised! Quantitatively,
one enemy is more than one friend.
It's always been so.
And it's so today.
Our Motherland is in danger,
ladies and gentlemen!
Let our people
become like a tight fist,
like the Great Wall of China
the enemy would be powerless
to surmount.
It would also be appropriate
to recall a Chinese wisdom.
Confucius said:
“Lt is hard to catch a black cat
in a dark room.
Especially if there is no cat.”
No doubt, we're confronted
with a most difficult task.
But there're no barriers we can't
overcome.
If we want it very much...
we will catch a cat
in a dark room.
Even if there is no cat.
Nino!
I'm glad you came.
What's the news?
Wait, I'll find out everything.
3-17, please.
Nika, it's me.
Nino