Woman Walks Ahead (2017)
Ciarán Hinds: James McLaughlin
Quotes
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Sitting Bull : I would like to speak.
Silas Groves : No, no... he got... No, you won't.
James McLaughlin : [quietly to General Crook] He's not a registered member of any tribal council. We have the power to say no.
General Crook : [quietly in response] Power?
[laughs]
General Crook : You wanna speak, Bull? You go ahead.
James McLaughlin : General...
General Crook : [interrupts] Let the man speak, for Christ's sake. This is a free land.
General Crook : [to Sitting Bull] What do you have to say, my old friend?
[Sitting Bull speaks Lakota]
Susan McLaughlin : [translates Sitting Bull's words] Since the white man came... and broke up the grassland... with his ploughs... the earth has turned to dust.
Susan McLaughlin : In this dust, there is the body of Crazy Horse...
Susan McLaughlin : American Horse...
Susan McLaughlin : Spotted Tail...
Susan McLaughlin : Black Kettle...
Susan McLaughlin : Sword...
Susan McLaughlin : Two Moons...
Susan McLaughlin : Rain in the Face.
Susan McLaughlin : When the wind blows...
Susan McLaughlin : it blows our heroes in our faces.
Susan McLaughlin : our diplomats...
Susan McLaughlin : our doctors...
Susan McLaughlin : our priests...
Susan McLaughlin : our dead children.
Susan McLaughlin : [Sitting Bull pauses] The Great Spirit speaks to us in clouds of dust.
Susan McLaughlin : [Sitting Bull rises] You cannot sell...
Susan McLaughlin : pieces of the earth...
Susan McLaughlin : because the earth belongs to God.
Susan McLaughlin : [Sitting Bull in Lakota and Susan overlap] We must tell these people to go home...
Susan McLaughlin : back to Washington, and not hurt the earth any more.
Susan McLaughlin : [overlapping speech ceases] Enough. Enough.
[Sitting Bull grasps a fistful of soil and allows it to run through his fingers]
Susan McLaughlin : We will give no more of our land away.
Susan McLaughlin : [holds a speck of dust between his thumb and forefinger] Not even this much.
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Silas Groves : [enters and shuts door] Good afternoon. Agent McLaughlin? Colonel Groves. War Department. Special Envoy for General Crook. Where's the rest of it? Yeah, General Crook's ordered a 50% cut in rations of flour, bacon and sugar to take effect immediately. When a new treaty needs to be ratified, it's our experience that hunger concentrates the Indian mind. This is my wife Susan. Susan? Do you find that hunger concentrates your mind?
[SPEAKS LAKOTA]
Silas Groves : We don't encourage the use of the old language on the reservation. Thank you, dear.
James McLaughlin : Where's the rest of it?
Silas Groves : Yeah, General Crook's ordered a 50% cut in rations of flour, bacon and sugar to take effect immediately. When a new treaty needs to be ratified, it's our experience that hunger concentrates the Indian mind.
James McLaughlin : [woman enters carrying tea service] This is my wife Susan. Susan? Do you find that hunger concentrates your mind?
[Groves doffs his hat and speaks Lakota]
Susan McLaughlin : We don't encourage the use of the old language on the reservation.
James McLaughlin : Thank you, dear.