Being Human

Synopsis: Five bittersweet vignettes that span the entire human history about five different men, all called Hector and played by the same actor (Robin Williams), who find themselves at a critical juncture in their lives. In prehistoric times, Hector lives in peace with his wife and their little son and daughter in a cave on a quite uninhabited island somewhere in the north. His world is shattered when a group of foreign pagan raiders led by a young chieftain and a somewhat pacifistic priest arrive there. In Ancient Rome, Hector is a loyal well-treated slave of Lucinnius, a somewhat naive big trader with political connections. When his latest shipment fails to arrive and the local corrupt governor Cyprion refuses to lend him money for his further endeavors due to bad omen that a professional soothsayer saw while reading the future from a chicken liver, he is ruined. To make things worse, just as Hector plans to ask his master for freedom and elope with his master's female African slave Thalia, L

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director(s): Bill Forsyth

Actors: Robin Williams, Kelly Hunter, Maudie Johnson, Max Johnson

Production: Warner Bros. Pictures


IMDB:: 5.4
Metacritic:: 33
Rotten Tomatoes:: 50%

Collection Edit Watch PDF Buy

: PG-13
Year:: 1994
: 122 min
: 53 Views

1
[female voice]
This...is the story of a story.
Once upon a time,
there was this...
story,
and the story
said to itself,
"How shall I begin?"
[male voice]
Try the usual way.
What, in the dark?
With a man and a woman
and a story that's
still to tell itself?
Well, you've got
to start somewhere.
Say, "Long, long ago"
or "Far, far away"
or just "Once".
That's good.
"Far away"
so you know the place
is close
to your own heart.
"Once" is nice,
so we know
it always happens.
Hmm.
Once there was this...
hero.
Some hero.
Some man, then.
Any man.
Say, a man, a woman,
and some children.
Don't forget the children.
What's he doing now?
Still building the fire.
Hiding, you mean.
He's scared of us?
Some dad, huh?
Ha ha...
Well, it's been four years.
He's getting fat.
[giggling]
So what's in the story?
A man on a beach
all washed up.
A shipwreck.
A heartbreak.
Freedom?
Betrayal, regrets,
old shoes,
a crust of bread,
a bunch of roses.
Could be my story.
Anybody's story.
A journey.
A long, long journey.
Yeah. That's the story.
A long, long journey to...
where, exactly?
[giggling]
Go home!
Go on.
[female voice]
Once upon another time...
so long ago, nobody
had got around to caring
whether the world
was round or flat...
there lived--in a cave--
a man, a woman,
and some children.
Grr...
Grarr!
Dada, look.
Oww, ow!
[sniffling]
Inside the cave,
it was as safe as...
houses.
And every day, they awoke
into the only world
they would ever know.
[children laughing]
Stay home.
Dada's hunting.
Go.
Dada.
No.
Go home.
Go.
Maybe if the man knew
the whole story,
this very well
might have been different.
But this seemed
a morning...
like any other.
[distant voices]
[laughter]
[shouting]
[speaking barbarian language]
[shouting]
Go!
We go!
Move!
Arrows.
Up the hill.
Beach.
No. They're down there.
I saw them.
No. Other beach.
No. Up the hill.
Can't.
Up hill!
You're wrong.
Oh, you're wrong,
you're wrong.
Shut up!
[shouting]
Go!
Ma-mama!
Leave me!
Go on!
Don't lose the children!
Come, dada.
I get food.
Now, stay here.
No noise.
Don't move.
Dada...
Don't cry.
Shh.
Dada...
Dada, come.
Don't leave.
[voices]
[speaking barbarian language]
[laughter]
[voices]
Of course the man
had heard the stories
of the wandering men,
the ones who came
and took everything.
A story to frighten
his children with.
But up till now,
that's all it was to him--
a story.
[moaning softly]
Yaaa!
Mine!
Mine!
Yaaa!
Yaa!
Yaaa!
Yaaa!
[laughter]
Mine!
Mi--
And they all turned--
at a loss--
to the priest for guidance.
He said,
"Look up there.
The stones.
We should surely pay tribute."
With these men,
suddenly everything
was out of kilter.
As they led their captive
by the rope,
even the priest was hoping...
when they got there,
he'd somehow know...
what to do.
[speaking barbarian language]
And the poet was already
making up the story
of this strange day.
Not mine.
Not my stones.
The leader stared hard
at these stones,
thinking
till his brain hurt.
Was it to make the sun work?
Was it supposed to be
one man over,
one stone on top, or what?
[shouting]
Huh?
Oss.
Oss.
Oss.
Oss?
Uh...
Oss!
Oss.
Oss.
Schtorek...
garre.
Dada.
Dada?
[speaking barbarian language]
Dada...
Dada...
Dada.
If the world is round...
you could still fall off the edge.
No. It's not round like that.
It's round like...
this.
You believe everything
that Greek tells you?
Where are we, then?
Rome must be in the middle...
here.
So we must be out here...
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Bill Forsyth

William David "Bill" Forsyth (born 29 July 1946) is a Scottish film director and writer known for his films Gregory's Girl (1981), Local Hero (1983), and Comfort and Joy (1984). more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018