WEBVTT 00:00:02.123 --> 00:00:07.527 Then one could hear weapons clank and people knew foray was taking place. 00:00:07.730 --> 00:00:12.626 There was war and ruin would befall them all. 00:00:12.746 --> 00:00:15.892 The women were dragged away and the men killed. 00:00:16.012 --> 00:00:19.387 Children perished somehow too. 00:00:19.708 --> 00:00:25.984 Then wolves and vultures came for the bodies. 00:00:26.498 --> 00:00:28.870 Nature would endure great battles of yore. 00:00:28.990 --> 00:00:31.077 It was full of life thus, full of hope. 00:00:31.197 --> 00:00:34.259 The survivors could run to the forests. 00:00:34.676 --> 00:00:47.436 In thick forests they could take shelter and they knew how to start anew. 00:00:48.546 --> 00:00:51.882 That’s not how it is today. Where would people run? 00:00:52.002 --> 00:00:54.392 There’s nothing today. 00:00:54.512 --> 00:00:56.872 No forests, no castles. 00:00:56.992 --> 00:01:02.210 Everything is full of poison and despair reigns. 00:01:02.766 --> 00:01:05.815 No place to hide. 00:01:06.535 --> 00:01:10.248 Only doom and gloom remains. 00:01:18.445 --> 00:01:23.244 MADAM LE MURIE 00:03:08.101 --> 00:03:12.987 That grave’s not forlorn, forsaken, neglected. 00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:16.450 There’s a flower and such... 00:03:16.570 --> 00:03:20.595 but there’ll be no tombstone. 00:03:21.331 --> 00:03:24.388 When I’m dead, if I die here 00:03:24.508 --> 00:03:27.909 - but that doesn’t matter anyway because I’m last in the line - 00:03:28.327 --> 00:03:32.396 the tomb will be cleared off and sold. 00:03:32.516 --> 00:03:35.090 Nothing, nothing, nothing… 00:03:36.006 --> 00:03:38.079 No name, no marker. 00:03:38.733 --> 00:03:40.119 There’ll be nothing. 00:04:38.583 --> 00:04:44.843 I grew up here the way all the village children I was friends with did. 00:04:44.963 --> 00:04:50.122 I’d visit their cottages, run barefoot, everything just like them. 00:04:51.316 --> 00:04:54.916 Of course, that changed with time... 00:04:55.538 --> 00:04:57.763 my great grief. 00:04:57.883 --> 00:05:00.911 I started to be alone more and more. 00:05:01.031 --> 00:05:04.178 That’s how it’s been my whole life, basically. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:12.956 Every drop of water must be dragged here from the village. 00:06:13.076 --> 00:06:17.810 We used to have a nice water main, but it was destroyed. 00:06:19.991 --> 00:06:22.450 I guess it’s better this way. 00:06:23.498 --> 00:06:31.804 All this clutter, the wood, we brought it in during the war. 00:06:31.924 --> 00:06:39.729 When the Germans came, Father created this "artistic mess"... 00:06:40.042 --> 00:06:43.000 so that it looked less posh. 00:06:45.274 --> 00:06:47.429 And it stayed this way… 00:07:41.003 --> 00:07:44.820 I can’t fathom why they didn’t throw us out from here. 00:07:46.517 --> 00:07:48.720 Must have been providence. 00:07:50.617 --> 00:07:53.017 Our heads are very, very small. 00:07:53.137 --> 00:07:58.051 With our two hands we can enclasp it. 00:07:59.507 --> 00:08:06.378 Thus, our intellect cannot fathom why we were allowed to stay. 00:08:09.536 --> 00:08:14.793 I believe there was a higher purpose in that. 00:08:21.022 --> 00:08:23.879 All that’s hard to explain. 00:08:24.926 --> 00:08:27.609 It’s incommunicable. 00:09:08.220 --> 00:09:11.972 I’ve always loved nature very much. 00:09:13.603 --> 00:09:19.471 I like fish, water. There are plenty of ponds here. 00:09:19.591 --> 00:09:23.659 Every toad, every little fish, that was my thing. 00:09:24.876 --> 00:09:28.191 A strong bond with flora. 00:09:28.311 --> 00:09:30.896 And it was bursting with animals here. 00:09:31.016 --> 00:09:34.328 There were those - something like crakes. 00:09:34.448 --> 00:09:39.222 They were around in June when it was hot, on the meadows. 00:09:39.342 --> 00:09:42.163 You could hear them here and there. 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:46.456 A symbiosis with nature. 00:09:46.576 --> 00:09:48.026 And with people. 00:09:48.146 --> 00:09:49.728 A complete symbiosis. 00:09:57.902 --> 00:09:59.822 We have storks on the roof. 00:09:59.942 --> 00:10:03.508 Their nest dates to last century. 00:10:04.223 --> 00:10:09.807 When it was hot, you could hear all the croaking in the evening. 00:10:10.195 --> 00:10:12.943 Or even during the day. 00:10:13.271 --> 00:10:16.368 The stork would come and all you could hear was 00:10:16.488 --> 00:10:17.934 plonk, plonk, plonk... 00:10:18.392 --> 00:10:22.885 And the toads would rush to water to save their lives. 00:10:24.887 --> 00:10:26.087 But it's quiet now. 00:10:26.828 --> 00:10:29.620 That’s terrible for me. 00:10:30.188 --> 00:10:34.201 It was like a part of me. 00:10:46.183 --> 00:10:48.256 This used to be Father’s salon. 00:10:48.910 --> 00:10:50.917 His escritoire. 00:10:51.283 --> 00:10:55.863 My Father was from the old school. 00:10:57.734 --> 00:11:05.892 And when I was a little older he would find time to teach me Latin. 00:11:06.651 --> 00:11:08.658 I’m very grateful for that. 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:13.042 After every lesson I’d thank him. 00:11:30.301 --> 00:11:32.056 The roof leaks a lot. 00:11:32.410 --> 00:11:38.013 You must save whatever you can. 00:11:38.795 --> 00:11:40.497 Must ventilate the closets too. 00:11:41.125 --> 00:11:45.303 But it’s so damp it’s hard to open. 00:11:49.619 --> 00:11:52.773 Mama was bound to this bed for almost 8 years. 00:11:53.156 --> 00:11:57.668 She was ill, suffering from deformative rheumatism. 00:11:58.719 --> 00:12:00.412 She was immobile. 00:12:02.098 --> 00:12:06.704 I was married off to Switzerland... 00:12:07.372 --> 00:12:10.499 but in 1948 I heard about what was happening here. 00:12:11.911 --> 00:12:14.272 I burst into tears so hard. 00:12:15.259 --> 00:12:19.277 Some time later 00:12:19.522 --> 00:12:22.880 I went back here and stayed with Mama. 00:12:26.368 --> 00:12:27.633 Father was old 00:12:27.865 --> 00:12:29.032 and the communists needed someone 00:12:29.441 --> 00:12:32.720 to accuse of being a kulak 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:35.940 so they jailed him. 00:12:36.410 --> 00:12:39.413 But he was so old 00:12:39.533 --> 00:12:41.025 they knew he’d die soon, 00:12:41.145 --> 00:12:42.856 so they let him go home. 00:12:43.459 --> 00:12:47.851 He loved to walk to his former fields... 00:12:47.971 --> 00:12:50.862 where one day he died. 00:12:54.649 --> 00:12:57.072 This was my brother’s bedroom. 00:12:57.847 --> 00:13:00.902 He was very ascetic. 00:13:01.444 --> 00:13:03.555 We all were brought up tough... 00:13:04.301 --> 00:13:06.502 and we were all frugal. 00:13:08.306 --> 00:13:10.406 My brother loved South Bohemia. 00:13:10.526 --> 00:13:13.927 Nothing could beat the Bohemian Forest for him. 00:13:14.634 --> 00:13:16.053 And its people. 00:13:16.173 --> 00:13:18.559 He never left. 00:13:19.004 --> 00:13:22.359 When the army came 00:13:23.122 --> 00:13:27.381 and made most of it off-limits 00:13:27.501 --> 00:13:29.522 it was a real blow for him. 00:13:30.800 --> 00:13:32.818 Kristián also spent time in jail, 00:13:33.890 --> 00:13:36.145 but the village helped him out. 00:13:36.907 --> 00:13:39.441 Also the damage to the countryside, 00:13:39.561 --> 00:13:40.930 the meadows were ploughed under, 00:13:41.362 --> 00:13:42.962 wildlife annihilated, 00:13:43.304 --> 00:13:44.418 and birds gone… 00:13:44.822 --> 00:13:46.464 He loved birds dearly, 00:13:46.584 --> 00:13:48.455 especially the small ones. 00:13:48.575 --> 00:13:50.779 And they were less and less populous. 00:13:55.381 --> 00:13:57.887 Well, it’s good he died first... 00:13:58.510 --> 00:14:02.544 because I don’t know how well could he have handled it... 00:14:02.664 --> 00:14:04.885 had he stayed on his own. 00:14:05.634 --> 00:14:09.534 I served Mama till the end... 00:14:09.654 --> 00:14:12.883 and Papa, and my brother too. 00:14:20.917 --> 00:14:24.035 We’d often remark, Kristián and I, 00:14:24.995 --> 00:14:27.431 how beautiful it was around here 00:14:28.225 --> 00:14:30.243 and how it was mistreated. 00:14:31.050 --> 00:14:32.832 Butterflies aplenty, 00:14:32.952 --> 00:14:35.755 their number getting thinner year after year… 00:14:37.325 --> 00:14:39.385 They’re gone. Gone. 00:14:40.632 --> 00:14:42.167 And there’s more, 00:14:42.287 --> 00:14:44.307 but people don’t notice. 00:14:44.959 --> 00:14:47.186 They don’t observe nature at all. 00:14:48.186 --> 00:14:50.441 Just to get their livelihood from it, 00:14:50.561 --> 00:14:51.819 to gain more and more, 00:14:51.939 --> 00:14:54.895 but to really contemplate, 00:14:55.015 --> 00:14:59.385 understand and ask questions... 00:15:00.151 --> 00:15:02.754 People don’t care. That’s something awful. 00:15:03.408 --> 00:15:05.607 Especially the country folk. 00:15:05.991 --> 00:15:10.097 They have no taste for all this at all. 00:15:10.835 --> 00:15:13.675 They just go for the immediate gain. 00:15:14.727 --> 00:15:17.497 Just to stuff their faces, pardon my French. 00:15:55.887 --> 00:15:57.396 I had a schoolmate, 00:15:57.516 --> 00:16:00.021 she was a gravedigger‘s daughter. 00:16:00.141 --> 00:16:03.696 She took the job after his death 00:16:03.816 --> 00:16:06.132 and I told her I’d help. 00:16:06.892 --> 00:16:11.207 And so we’d bury the dead, dig graves and such. 00:16:11.327 --> 00:16:13.086 No problem for me. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:16.630 We’d have difficulties with every grave. 00:16:16.750 --> 00:16:20.318 Very rarely would it go easy. 00:16:21.488 --> 00:16:24.592 Never less than 3 hours. Never. 00:16:27.022 --> 00:16:32.167 I’d often stumble upon these white stiff pieces digging. 00:16:32.287 --> 00:16:34.788 I thought it was cast. 00:16:34.908 --> 00:16:36.453 But it seemed curious... 00:16:37.010 --> 00:16:40.023 to have so many people buried with cast. 00:16:40.297 --> 00:16:43.397 But this one time I was burying this neighbour 00:16:43.517 --> 00:16:45.465 and the broad was very fat. 00:16:45.830 --> 00:16:47.502 Then it occurred to me... 00:16:48.164 --> 00:16:49.905 it was lard, 00:16:50.462 --> 00:16:53.074 non-decomposed, 00:16:53.523 --> 00:17:00.070 and that it looked just like cast. 00:17:01.807 --> 00:17:03.740 The fatness, 00:17:03.987 --> 00:17:05.238 the fat, 00:17:05.665 --> 00:17:07.012 the lard, 00:17:07.470 --> 00:17:10.166 it transforms into this… 00:17:10.451 --> 00:17:13.872 I just had to show it to this guy from the village who was passing by, 00:17:13.873 --> 00:17:15.878 I told him to come and have a look, 00:17:15.999 --> 00:17:18.079 this is the fat that remained… 00:17:50.792 --> 00:17:53.268 Why, the swallows left early this year. 00:17:53.582 --> 00:17:54.540 Why? 00:17:54.660 --> 00:17:56.499 There’s a reason! 00:17:56.619 --> 00:17:58.501 Something‘s telling them. 00:17:58.864 --> 00:18:01.551 And all the storks are gone too. 00:18:01.671 --> 00:18:05.255 Usually by the end of August. 00:18:05.520 --> 00:18:08.236 But what drives them? 00:18:08.552 --> 00:18:11.077 This is no laughing matter. 00:18:11.382 --> 00:18:12.383 It isn’t accidental. 00:19:14.104 --> 00:19:18.544 We should also speak of an incommunicable secret. 00:19:19.676 --> 00:19:23.246 It could be light for those born blind. 00:19:23.366 --> 00:19:27.746 And all the sensations that come with sight. 00:19:27.866 --> 00:19:28.943 Yet they live. 00:19:29.063 --> 00:19:30.032 Or the deaf. 00:19:30.152 --> 00:19:34.124 Never getting to know what tone or sound means. 00:19:36.224 --> 00:19:39.968 We discern three dimensions. 00:19:41.274 --> 00:19:45.170 This great human being, Einstein, added a fourth one 00:19:45.290 --> 00:19:47.151 – time. 00:19:48.990 --> 00:19:51.624 But for us common folk 00:19:51.744 --> 00:19:54.693 only the first three apply. 00:20:20.283 --> 00:20:23.482 I like to watch the celestial sphere. 00:20:24.304 --> 00:20:27.613 I see the Milky Way... 00:20:28.657 --> 00:20:34.665 made of innumerable ardent stars. 00:20:36.591 --> 00:20:38.333 When I think about 00:20:38.659 --> 00:20:41.021 how each of the stars 00:20:41.141 --> 00:20:44.689 is millions of light years away 00:20:45.015 --> 00:20:46.887 and this ray travels 00:20:48.150 --> 00:20:51.088 and touches my eye where it expires 00:20:51.404 --> 00:20:53.276 in a fraction of second. 00:20:53.755 --> 00:20:55.866 It‘s awe-inspiring. 00:20:56.236 --> 00:20:57.847 I shiver inside 00:20:58.260 --> 00:21:02.940 and can’t but feel humble. 00:21:05.520 --> 00:21:07.653 Disturbing feelings. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:09.917 Deeply. 00:21:30.818 --> 00:21:32.255 One fears death. 00:21:33.256 --> 00:21:35.128 Of course. And for good reason. 00:21:35.607 --> 00:21:39.073 Because we don’t know what’s there. 00:21:39.193 --> 00:21:41.876 And we must leave here. 00:21:44.075 --> 00:21:49.516 You could say I get a headache from this. 00:21:51.214 --> 00:21:54.545 It makes me dizzy. 00:21:55.807 --> 00:21:59.224 To know all of it is true. 00:22:01.390 --> 00:22:05.178 Your brain can’t analyse it. 00:22:05.298 --> 00:22:08.290 But it’s no nonsense, 00:22:08.922 --> 00:22:10.445 no dream, 00:22:10.565 --> 00:22:12.665 it’s reality. 00:22:24.164 --> 00:22:27.233 The grave doesn’t horrify me, the universe does. 00:22:45.218 --> 00:22:47.765 Our age is drawing to an end. 00:22:48.984 --> 00:22:51.117 The Quaternary Period is done for. 00:22:53.005 --> 00:22:56.205 The omens are numerous. 00:22:57.663 --> 00:22:59.121 Ozone depletion. 00:23:01.429 --> 00:23:02.974 Rain forests destruction. 00:23:03.921 --> 00:23:07.796 All of this accelerates 00:23:08.601 --> 00:23:10.843 the demise of the Quaternary. 00:23:11.235 --> 00:23:13.912 Conifers are dying, 00:23:15.082 --> 00:23:17.172 broad-leaved trees are starting too, 00:23:17.292 --> 00:23:18.586 oaks are dying, 00:23:19.479 --> 00:23:23.219 beech is next and so on, 00:23:23.339 --> 00:23:25.922 everything is dying. 00:23:28.229 --> 00:23:29.682 Stone crumbles. 00:23:30.342 --> 00:23:32.571 With human help. 00:23:36.667 --> 00:23:38.432 When oak is in danger, 00:23:38.925 --> 00:23:40.000 now that’s something, 00:23:41.001 --> 00:23:44.993 Now that’s something, people always said strong as oak, 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:49.999 it was always used as a parable for something strong. 00:23:51.772 --> 00:23:54.836 and all others will follow. 00:24:03.921 --> 00:24:05.122 We will perish. 00:25:18.358 --> 00:25:20.534 When I was at a very tender age, 00:25:22.467 --> 00:25:24.278 15 or so, 00:25:25.249 --> 00:25:27.565 I met a young gentleman 00:25:28.675 --> 00:25:32.036 who impressed me a lot. 00:25:32.989 --> 00:25:37.621 I felt a growing fierce affection for him 00:25:37.741 --> 00:25:43.764 and it developed into a deep love. 00:25:44.683 --> 00:25:49.941 When I realised his feelings were not as strong, 00:25:50.061 --> 00:25:53.720 just a passing fancy, 00:25:54.047 --> 00:25:59.097 definitely not what I’d dreamt for... 00:26:02.888 --> 00:26:05.918 it shattered my life. 00:26:06.798 --> 00:26:08.295 I glimpsed at my watch 00:26:08.415 --> 00:26:09.845 and it was stuck. 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:18.037 To overcome this shock I said my watch was stuck. 00:26:20.859 --> 00:26:25.387 That moment my whole world came to a halt. 00:26:25.818 --> 00:26:29.840 My life was over in an instant. 00:26:31.786 --> 00:26:34.868 I stayed away from great feeling for the rest of my life. 00:26:34.988 --> 00:26:38.839 No one knew anything. 00:26:39.217 --> 00:26:43.205 I fought it out, but the price was terrible. 00:26:44.999 --> 00:26:47.367 It cost me my life. 00:26:50.649 --> 00:26:52.896 I turned into a vegetable. 00:27:55.847 --> 00:27:57.396 Off with you, cat. 00:31:43.865 --> 00:31:45.625 The longcase clock was stolen, 00:31:45.745 --> 00:31:47.469 as were many other things. 00:31:48.629 --> 00:31:53.561 The other clock I stopped 00:31:53.850 --> 00:32:00.412 when I was told of my brother’s death. 00:32:03.807 --> 00:32:05.730 After all, what’s this “time”? 00:32:07.081 --> 00:32:08.976 I gave it a lot of thought. 00:32:09.404 --> 00:32:10.644 We know the past, 00:32:10.764 --> 00:32:12.260 don’t know the future. 00:32:12.380 --> 00:32:13.806 And presence? 00:32:14.248 --> 00:32:15.558 When I say “now”, 00:32:16.017 --> 00:32:17.605 it’s already in the past. 00:32:18.726 --> 00:32:22.892 Time is a human construct 00:32:26.621 --> 00:32:28.126 that can be of help 00:32:29.031 --> 00:32:32.598 and is necessary, 00:32:33.928 --> 00:32:36.909 but I must say I can’t figure it out.