there, swinging your arms ?
Why, unworthy son,
won't you come and hug me ?
Such a foolish idea to have
your kids fighting their own father !
Yeah...and I hear this
coming from a highbrow !
Don't listen to your mother, my son.
She's a woman, and knows nothing.
Who's your family ?
Your future, is these plains,
and a good horse.
That...is your family.
Do you see this sword ?
That...is your mother.
I'm sending you off to
Zaporozhye next week.
That is where knowledge can be found.
There only, spirits are being shaped.
Only there.
I'm afraid, my sons, that the Archimandrite
has not passed the taste for vodka to you.
Why not concede, my sons,
that you have been
whipped with birch sticks, on the back,
and on any other place
that makes you a Cossack ?
It's no use, father, to remember the past.
What is done, is done.
He's only trying to provoke you.
Just let these pagans talk,
they satisfy themselves to know
what a Cossack saber is.
Good, son !
Frankly.
If it is like this, I shall go with you.
Indeed !
What the hell can I expect here ?
Sowing buckwheat,
taking care of the household ?
Keeping the sheep, the pigs ?
Or chatting with my wife ?
Damn !
I am a Cossack !
And I don't want to !
Is there not a war ?
And I shall go with you to Zaporozhye.
and da-da-da-da, have fun !
What kind of enemy can we
confront by staying here ?
What's the use of having a house ?
What's the use of all this ?
Dmitro, I will entrust you to take care
of my properties, you hear me ?
As long as I'll be in Syetch,
fighting with the regiment.
Don't forget to give them
the best oats you can find.
Monaka, Orlika, Buyana.
Bulba was horribly stubborn.
He was one of those characters...
who could only be found in the
depths on the sixteenth century,
and who, being born Cossacks,
were provided with the reckless
and savage mores of the Russian nature.
He was a phenomenal example of Russian force,
driven from the entrails of the people,
as well as from many inequities.
Here.
Let's go !
Let go !
All right, let's go !
My beloved sons, what's waiting for you ?
What are you to become ?
Who will lead you ?
In which battle will you lose
your heads to the Tatars ?
And I won't even know where
to find your mutilated bodies.
Right, sons, all is ready.
Why wait any longer ?
Now, following the Christian tradition,
we have to all sit down.
Mother, bless your children.
Pray God to fight bravely,
to always act honestly,
and to always protect faith in Christ.
Or else,
better disappear,
than think differently.
May the mother of God bless you.
My sons, do not forget your mother.
Children...
Syetch, our mother.
Here is Syetch.
This is the nest where they all come from,
proud and strong as lions !
This is where the Cossacks are
spreading throughout Ukraine.
Anyone who comes here, abandons
behind him what he used to be.
He'll happily spend time in
the company of others like him.
He won't have parents, or family, or home,
only undying insouciance and infinite skies.
This is Syetch.
Hey, musicians, play faster !
Don't be mad, Thomas, vodka
is orthodox for Christians !
Take off your coat.
See how much it weighs !
I can't.
And why ?
I can't, I could even sell it
just to get a means to drink more.
Have fun, Vassil !
I redeemed you.
Now, you don't owe anyone anything.
Hail, Kirdyaga !
And I can see you didn't come alone,
but with your sons.
He killed a comrade...like a dog.
Just like that, dead drunk.
He's a shame for all Cossacks.
And if he hadn't been a Cossack ?
But only a simple man ?
A Polack ?
Wouldn't that be a shame, then ?
If it were so, only the Polacks would mourn.
Nobody's mourning us.
But there are laws.
A court ? Roman law ?
Here prevails the law of our soil.
What if we were born in another country ?
I don't know.
I remember, when we were kids,
we were