♪ ♪
- [panting] - [shackles rattling]
[horse sputtering]
[slow hoofbeats]
♪ ♪
[man singing quietly nearby]
I'm gonna mash that cunt like a bull.
- [insects chirping] - [man continues singing]
Help me with the wagon, Homer.
- [singing stops] - Cut that shit out.
He ain't eating.
[Ridgeway] It doesn't eat, it doesn't eat.
This used to be Cherokee land.
The Trail of Tears and Death.
[smacks lips]
[Boseman] You know, my daddy came through here once.
He said it was a forest back then.
And when he came back through,
it was all cleared by the settlers.
Well...
doubly cleared now.
How'd it start?
[Ridgeway] My guess?
Lightning strike.
Huh, Homer?
[Homer] Yes, sir.
[Boseman] Must've done something make God angry.
No.
Just a spark got away is all.
Just a spark.
[Jasper] ♪ I listened to the grave ♪
♪ And the grave was howling ♪
♪ There was nobody there ♪
♪ For to answer for me ♪
♪ Lord, I had to answer ♪
♪ For myself ♪♪
[night birds calling]
[insects chirping]
[making gunshot noises quietly]
[night birds continue calling]
[clicking and squeaking softly]
Jasper.
Hey.
Jasper.
I know you can hear me.
There you are.
Why you always singing like you just gobbled down
some Christmas feast?
You need to eat.
You know, the sun has been rising up behind us,
which means we've been heading west this whole time.
Jasper. Jasper, please talk to me.
Please?
♪ I'm going down to the ♪
♪ River Jordan ♪
♪ I'm going down to the ♪
♪ River Jordan ♪
♪ Hallelujah, I said I'm ♪
♪ Going down to the ♪
♪ River Jordan ♪
♪ I'm going down ♪
♪ To the River Jordan ♪
♪ One of these days ♪♪
[Cora breathes shakily]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[Boseman] Homer.
Make way.
[horse snorts]
[Ridgeway] I figure you're itching to find out
how I really caught up with you in North Carolina, hmm?
- [Cora] No. - [Ridgeway] No? Hmm?
[Cora] But it seem like you're itching to tell me.
[Ridgeway] The truth is you were a surprise.
Law apprehended an abolitionist in southern Virginia
who made mention of a station somewhere here,
up in the foothills.
So I decided to pay the region a visit
to get better understanding of the greater conspiracy.
No sooner had I arrived than I found you.
[chuckles]
So it was luck.
And all over this land, they talk about Arnold Ridgeway,
"The Great Slave Catcher,"
having some kind of divine gift.
You rest assured that I would have scooped you up...
[sighs] ...sooner or later,
before the trail got cold.
The same way you scoop up my mama?
[insects chirping]
Homer.
[sighs] What was its name?
The one outside the Randall place?
Lovey?
Was it Lovey?
- [Homer] Yes, Lovey, sir. - [Ridgeway] Lovey.
One thing about Terrance Randall...
...he's an animal, but he is possessed
of one ornate imagination.
Three freshly-constructed gallows,
one for each of you.
And as we turned onto the main road,
we saw Lovey, dangling,
hooked through the ribcage with a spike.
Mmm.
Few hours later, when we took leave,
I heard a noise, sound,
which I assumed came from the house, but no.
No.
Came from the thing on the gallows.
She was still alive.
Lovey.
Say she'd been there for two days.
Legs twitching.
Body moving.
Two days.
Two whole days.
[match strikes]
♪ ♪
[Homer] Get in there, y'all.
Come on!
- Hold! - [Homer] Whoa!
[horse neighing]
[horse snorting]
[insects chirping]
No. No! No!
- Come on! - No, no, no, no!
No!
No! No! No!
All right!
All right, all right, wait!
[panting]
All right. All right.
- [keys jingle] - [Boseman pants]
Attagirl.
[gunshot in distance]
[Jasper] ♪ Gonna lay down ♪
♪ My burden ♪
♪ Down by the riverside ♪
[horse neighs in distance]
♪ Down by the riverside ♪
- Weapons down! - ♪ Gonna lay down my burden ♪
♪ Down by the riverside ♪
[Boseman] What'd you get?
[Jasper] ♪ Study war no more ♪
♪ I ain't gon' study war no more ♪
- Load up. - ♪ Study war no more ♪
♪ Ain't gon' study war ♪
♪ No more ♪
♪ Ain't gon' study war no more ♪
♪ Study war no more ♪
♪ Study war no more ♪♪
♪ ♪
[horses panting]
[Ridgeway] Move on!
[metal clanking]
[horse sputtering]
[insects chirping]
[keys clink]
♪ ♪
[insects chirping faster]
♪ ♪
Attagirl.
[whistles]
Oh, shit.
[Ridgeway] Mm-hmm.
[panting]
[sighs]
[screams]
[grunting]
- [Cora screams] - [Boseman grunts]
No. No.
[grunting]
[keys jingle]
[grunting]
[whimpers]
[keys jingle]
No.
[groaning]
[crying] No!
[whimpering]
- [keys jingling] - [Cora crying]
[grunts]
[panting]
- [Ridgeway grunts] - [Cora gasps]
[Jasper] ♪ I listen to the road ♪
♪ And the road's calling ♪
♪ There was nobody there ♪
♪ For to answer for me ♪
♪ Lord, I had to answer ♪
- Okra! - ♪ For myself ♪
♪ I listened to the...
Ol' Annie used to...
♪ In the grave ♪♪
My Ol' Annie used to raise okra.
For my daddy.
He couldn't get enough of it.
Didn't care for it much myself.
Just too slimy.
Still, it's a tough little plant.
Always there.
No matter how wet or dry the year,
always there.
Okra.
It figures.
[Boseman] Tennessee is cursed!
Trail of Tears and Death.
That's us if we don't change course.
Keep going, we're gonna starve.
And for what?
Your tortured soul?
A loose tongue don't befit you, Boseman.
Get some food in you.
That old man whistles,
[chuckles] you just come running.
Eat. I said eat.
Get that shit away from me.
[tin can rattling]
Homer.
Sit down. Sit down!
[Homer] It was he who undid her chains today.
With an eye toward indecency, sir.
[sighs] Little imp.
Now, I've a right to comfort myself!
I got needs!
Yeah, I'm the last one left.
Only Homer to beat on when I'm gone.
I bet he'll like it.
All that talk about not believing in the Great Spirit.
The Great Spirit didn't believe in you!
- [gun cocks] - No.
No, please.
[Jasper] ♪ And the road was calling ♪
♪ There was nobody there ♪
♪ For to answer for me ♪
♪ Lord, I had to answer ♪
♪ For myself ♪
♪ I listened to the grave ♪
♪ And the grave was howling ♪
♪ There was nobody there ♪
♪ For to answer for me ♪
♪ Lord, I had to answer ♪
♪ For myself ♪
♪ I listened to the road ♪
♪ And the road was calling ♪
♪ There was nobody there ♪
♪ For to answer for me ♪
♪ Lord, I had to answer ♪
♪ For myself ♪
♪ I listened to the road ♪
♪ And the road was calling ♪
♪ There was nobody there ♪
♪ For to answer for me ♪
♪ Lord, I had to answer ♪
♪ For myself ♪♪
[insects chirping]
♪ ♪
Jasper?
I know you won't talk to me, but I'm gon' talk to you.
And you just gonna have to listen.
Or not.
Sing one of your hymns for all I care.
The white folk of Tennessee got what's coming to 'em.
But if there's such a thing as justice,
what I ever do?
You know, Mama's the one should be punished.
For taking off. Worse for leaving me to him.
That's all she left me.
Weren't no plot of land.
Plot's gone, but he still here.
♪ ♪
Mama, you there?
I know you are.
You up north having a grand old time.
If we ever meet,
I'm-a kick you square in the teeth. That's a promise.
Hey, Lovey.
What you doing, girl? [chuckles]
I'm sorry over what happened.
I know you alive somewhere.
I know you looking down.
I miss you.
Caesar.
If I could go back,
I'd do things different.
But I think you know that.
One day, I'm gonna see you again,
and I'm gon' make it right.
Grace,
you strong.
You stronger than me.
You ain't chained to no wagon.
You're free.
[Jasper] Happy...
shall he be who taketh and...
dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Praise the Lord you ran out of words.
- [laughing loudly] - [shushing]
- [sobbing] - [shushing]
[sniffles]
[crying]
[sniffles]
Where are you from?
I'm from Florida.
What you do down there?
Oh, what you think? I was a picker.
A picker?
With them skinny arms?
Jasper... you got family?
How they catch you?
I made it as far as Tennessee.
Man caught me looking for food in his pantry.
Jasper, we could've been talking this whole time.
Here I was thinking you funny in the head.
[shushing]
You the one funny in the head, Cora.
Every time you run, it's the same result.
So you either funny in the head or stupid.
Why don't you eat?
What's the point?
You've eaten yourself back to health. For what?
A bloody homecoming?
We're crawling in a bowl of ashes.
And what's left when it's all gone?
Just dark powder for the wind to take.
♪ ♪
You're dark.
- You given up. - I ain't given up.
I'm free.
Can't nobody touch me.
♪ ♪
[carriage rattling]
- [Ridgeway] Whoa. - [Homer] Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
[footsteps]
[horse snorts]
[metal jingling]
[keys jingling]
[Ridgeway grunts]
[breathes deeply]
[horse sputtering]
[flies buzzing]
[strings plucking]
- [Homer] Boss, look. - Homer!
Don't you go touching anything.
Put it down.
How long he been with you?
[Ridgeway] I bought him.
Down in Atlanta from a butcher
who was trying to settle a debt.
Paid five dollars for him.
Something about the disposition in the boy appealed to me.
Don't know why. [chuckles]
I'd never owned a slave before in my life.
Thought of that did not appeal to me.
So...
I drew up emancipation papers the very next day.
Tried to shoo him away,
[laughing] and he followed me.
Time and time again, always came back.
Well, I guess, with me,
he gets to learn something about the world,
find purpose.
You make him lock himself up at night?
Oh, that. Mm.
He says it's the only way he can get hisself to sleep.
[grunts]
[flies buzzing]
Yellow fever.
[groans]
[Homer] The lightning started all this?
[Ridgeway] Ah, these fires were started by no lightning strike.
That was just me telling you a tall tale.
No, Tennessee is burning...
because sapheaded homesteaders
set it on fire to clear it.
And you the expert, huh?
I'd say so.
I'm from here.
[sighs]
Come along.
[keys jingling]
♪ ♪
Jasper.
Homer, where's Jasper?
Jasper!
Go, look in the wood. Run!
Jasper!
[Homer] Jasper!
[Ridgeway] Jasper!
Jasper!
[Ridgeway] Jasper!
Don't you dare run!
Jasper!
[whispering]
- [blow strikes] - No time for that!
He gon' look at you...
...see what you've done.
He's gon' look at you
and see what you've done.
He gon' look at you
and see what you've done.
He gon' look at you...
...and see what you've done.
[birds chirping]
[footsteps approaching]
[Ridgeway] What happened back there was my fault.
I don't want you to worry none.
Mm-hmm?
[sighs]
Don't have Boseman no more.
Now, Homer...
...it's just you and me.
And you have more responsibility.
I need you to be strong like me.
Watchful like me.
Take pride in your work.
A person should find joy
in managing and handling one's responsibilities.
Well...
We trust each other.
We share the same spirit.
I need you to be a man, hmm?
Yes, sir.
Well...
Very good.
We understand each other.
[keys jingling]
That's good.
[sighs]
Go on. For you.
Very good.
♪ ♪
[carriage creaking]
♪ ♪
[fire crackling]
Eat.
[sniffs]
Go on.
Don't be ungrateful.
[bird squawking]
[grunting]
Ungrateful!
Don't want to eat, huh?!
- [muttering] - [muffled groaning]
[Cora coughing]
[sniffs]
[sighs]
- [Ridgeway] You! - [Jasper grunts]
Hey, you want to...
You want to live?!
- Keys! - [keys jingling]
Homer!
[Ridgeway muttering]
Look at me like that.
[grunts] Look at me...
like that.
[sighs] Let's see.
[strains]
Look! You want to live?!
Well... [grunts]
I'm gonna watch!
Cold... catch ahold of you.
Life freezes in your veins!
Kindling for the fire.
[groaning]
I'm just gonna watch.
[panting]
Just gonna watch.
Gonna watch.
[Ridgeway panting, muttering]
Sit and watch you.
Damn it.
Sit and watch you.
[match strikes]
[Ridgeway muttering]
- [match strikes] - Goddamn it.
[Ridgeway muttering]
[chuckles]
- [match strikes] - Goddamn it, you...
[chuckles]
[match strikes]
Come on! Come on!
[match strikes]
[chuckling]
[birds clicking, chirping]
[Ridgeway] There you are.
[horses neighing]
Keep an eye on her, Homer.
- [leaves rustling] - [animal chittering]
[water babbling]
[chittering]
[gun cocks]
[laughs] Homer!
- [Homer laughs] - Ah, I got him!
[Ridgeway laughing]
- [Homer whoops] - [Ridgeway shouts]
[Homer laughs]
[Cora panting]
♪ ♪
[laughs]
Well done, boss.
[Homer] Boss!
- [grunts] - Cora!
Homer, watch Jasper!
[Homer] Yes, sir.
[Ridgeway] Cora!
[panting]
[labored breathing]
♪ ♪
[breathing shakily]
[whimpering softly]
[breathing shakily]
[exhaling slowly]
[grunting]
[panting]
[grunting]
[panting]
[grunting]
- [slapping] - [coughing]
[coughing continues]
No!
Dying's not easy! [shouts]
You...
Huh? Is this what you want?!
It ain't that easy!
- It ain't. It ain't. - [whimpering]
Goddamn it.
[whimpering]
[coughing]
[moaning, coughing]
[footsteps approaching]
- [Ridgeway] Homer? - Boss.
Homer?
- Boss. - [grunts]
Jasper. He's...
[sighs]
- [Cora groans] - [Ridgeway grunts]
[Cora coughing]
Chain them together.
But, sir, Jasper's dead.
And this one...
thinks that she is ready to die, so...
we'll join them.
- No. [crying] - [Ridgeway grunts]
No.
No! No!
[wailing] No!
- No, no, no! - [Ridgeway] Keys!
[Cora wailing]
[Ridgeway grunting]
[wailing continues]
[Cora] I'm sorry!
[crying] I'm sorry!
I'll never run again.
I-I'll never run. I'll never run.
I give you my word.
[sniffling, crying]
Unchain me.
Unchain me!
[Ridgeway] Unchain me!
[Cora] Unchain me!
[Ridgeway laughing]
[Ridgeway] Mammy!
[Cora] Unchain me!
[Ridgeway] Oh, Mammy, unchain me!
[crying] Please, please.
[Ridgeway] Where is she?!
Mama?!
- [sniffling] - Huh?
- [Cora] I'm sorry! - [Ridgeway] Unchain you?
Mammy says no!
- No! - [crying continues]
[Ridgeway muttering]
[Cora sniffling]
[crying continues]
[wood clanking]
[grunts]
[body thuds on ground]
[sighs, sniffs]
[sighs]
♪ ♪
[sighs]
[sniffs]
[sighs]
♪ ♪
- [Homer] Hyah! - [carriage rolling]
♪ ♪
[horse sputtering]
♪ ♪
[Jasper] ♪ I'm gonna put on ♪
♪ My long white robe ♪
♪ Down by the riverside ♪
♪ Gon' put on my long white robe ♪
♪ Down by the riverside ♪
♪ Study war ♪
♪ No more ♪
♪ I ain't gon' study war no more ♪
♪ Study war no more ♪
♪ Ain't gon' study war no more ♪
♪ I ain't gon' study war no more ♪
♪ Study war no more ♪
♪ Study war no more ♪♪
♪ ♪
[music fades]