:17:01
I decided on them both
at the same instant.
:17:05
(Dialogue) Then you'll have it.
:17:06
- You're leaving the island?
- Aye.
:17:09
- Short-handed as we are?
- Aye.
:17:11
- Does anybody know?
- Only you two.
:17:15
- When are you going to tell Peter?
- Tomorrow.
:17:18
- The boat parliament?
- Aye.
:17:20
Ah, Robbie, man,
you've gone over to the other side.
:17:23
Before I went away,
I would have said the same as you.
:17:26
But the world's changed,
it's bigger, it's easier to get at.
:17:29
Before, we were no worse off
than anyone else.
:17:32
Now we're living in an old world.
:17:34
I've got a turn for machinery,
I can do things with it.
:17:37
Why should I give it up?
:17:38
What can Polly and I hope for
if I drag her back here?
:17:42
Ah, Robbie, you're too clever for me.
:17:45
You go your way and I'll go mine.
:17:48
- Aye, but can't you see...
- That's final.
:17:50
If you want to run away because
the work's too hard, or your fancy...
:17:55
Leave her out of it!
:17:57
- I'd be glad to.
- I'm as good a man as you are.
:17:59
(Christie) One idea that Powell
wanted to develop in the film
:18:03
was the balance
in the islanders' lives
:18:07
between the hard grind of survival
:18:10
and an almost mystical sense
of oneness with nature.
:18:16
This is a very remote community,
it's steeped in tradition
:18:20
and included in the traditions
is a belief
:18:23
that, for instance, being able
to see the hills of Scotland
:18:27
is a sign of ill omen.
:18:30
Something dangerous, alarming,
threatening is going to happen.
:18:36
So it's warning us
:18:38
and it's setting a different tone
in the film.
:18:40
We know that this life
that we've been introduced to
:18:43
will have a shadow cast over it.
:18:45
Meanwhile, there's
an urgent matter to discuss.
:18:48
And again, another aspect of
the traditional life of the island,
:18:53
which Powell had picked up
from his research,
:18:55
was the idea of the boat parliament,
:18:57
where all the men of the island
get together,