When our weeping's over
He will bid us welcome
We shall come rejoicing
Bringing in the sheaves
Bringing
in the sheaves
Bringing in the sheaves
We shall come rejoicing
Bringing in the sheaves
Bringing in the sheaves
Bringing in the sheaves
We shall come rejoicing
Bringing in the sheaves
Now you've got drought here.
You've got drought
right here in Gatlin, Nebraska.
And there's not gonna be
no harvest this year--
not in this Lord's year
of 1963, there ain't.
- And say why.
- All: Sin.
Say that louder.
Sin!
Oh, we drown in sin here,
and there's no rain for our corn.
And why is that?
Preacher: Because of
all of the adults in this world.
God has spoken to me
in a dream.
And in that dream
He said that
all adults are sinners!
He said there's
not a soul here in Gatlin
over the age of 19
who isn't wallowing in sin,
loving it, even as they drown
like pigs in a mire.
It says in the Good Book,
"Suffer the children
to come unto me."
And if this town has any hope,
it's in you young people.
And so I want you to shout it out!
All: Sin!
But, brothers and sisters,
we know the old ways of God,
isn't it so?
We know there's
a God of the Old Testament,
as well as the New--
the God of sacrifice,
the God who walked
on the face of the earth,
He Who Walks
Behind The Rows.
All:
He Who Walks Behind The Rows.
He Who Walks
Behind The Rows.
God does speak to me
in my dreams,
and God has told me
that it is now our time--
time to make sacrifice,
time to kill!
Now the Good Book does say
that a child shall lead them.
So do what God tells me
in my dreams to tell to you,
and never go without water
or be hungry again!
All: Praise God.
Praise the Lord.
Praise God. Praise the Lord.
Praise God!
Man:
Hail Mary, full of grace,
help me win this stock car race.
All right. Boogie.
Riding on the road
to nowhere
- Trying to keep love alive...
- Woman: Turn it down!
Do you want to break
my eardrums?
Yes, Vicky.
Whatever you say.
Man on radio:...who was
cited for reckless driving.
Be happy
if you'll just stay with me
I know everything
will be all right
We'll laugh and we'll sing
all through the night...
- Vicky: Too loud, Burt!
- What's that?
You play it like that
- just to get under my skin.
- Oh, come on.
Your paranoia is
showing again, Vicky.
Sometimes, I wonder
how I ended up married to you.
By saying two little words.
Shut up.
Nebraska.
I'm hungry. Where are we?
Nebraska.
Yes, I know that.
But where in the hell are we?
Where's the lunch stop?
You've got the road atlas.
You should look it up.
You still remember
how to read, don't you?
Such a comedian.
Is that why we got off the interstate,
to look at 60 miles of corn and listen
to the wit and wisdom of Burt?
Just get off it, Vicky!
Will you just get off it?!
Oh, well, they call me
Sergeant Evil...
But I just played a part
They think
my eyes are tearing
But they don't know me
at all, yeah!
I'm sorry.
It's all right. It's fine.
It's just that I've driven so far
on the interstate-- 1500 miles--
- and since you won't drive, l--
- You know I get migraines
- when I drive for a long time.
- I know you do. I know, okay?
That's why I asked you to navigate
for me on these secondary roads,
and you said you would.
- Well?
- Where did we get off the interstate?
Back in Grand lsland.
The next town is...
Gatlin.
It's about 10 miles.
A wide space in the road.
Do you suppose we can go there
and get something to eat?
Or does the almighty schedule say
we have to go on until 2:00
like we did yesterday?
All right. You know what?
I have about had it with you.
As far as I am concerned,
we can call it quits right now.
We can just turn around and see
that lawyer you wanted to see
- because I have had it--
- Watch out!
No!
Burt!
A dog-- tell me it was a dog.
It was a boy.
It was a little boy.
He ran out of the corn.
He's dead.
He's dead, isn't he?
Oh, yeah.
Congratulations, tiger.
It's manslaughter!
That's what they call it!
You took your eyes off the road!
Well, don't you
wanna come see
so you can tell
all your NRA buddies
what you bagged
in Nebraska, huh?!
Don't you wanna come
and see?
What are you gonna do?!
What are you going to do?
Answer me!
Answer me, you--
Answer me when I talk to you!
Look at me!
Look at me!
How'd you handle it
over in Nam, huh?
How'd you handle it in the hooches?
What do you use?
Grease guns, right?
Grease guns and Zippos!
Settle down.
You're hysterical.
Oh, tell me. You crapped out.
Big Vietnam War hero, huh?
Purple Heart
and all that, huh?
Come on, John Wayne!
What are you gonna do?!
It's no time to go Section 8!
You ran that little boy down.
He was just a little boy,
you ran him down
and you can't--
You're going to jail.
- You're going to jail.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- You're rabid.
Okay. It's taken me
all this time to figure it out.
You've got a terminal case
of rabies.
Shut up.
- What are you doing?
- Turning him over.
- No. You're not supposed to touch--
- I wanna see what I did.
- I'm sorry about this, fella.
- I don't wanna look.
His carotid artery and jugular vein
have been severed.
His throat's been cut.
Somebody scragged this kid--
bayonet, maybe a kitchen knife,
a cleaver-- I don't know.
It sure wasn't
a two-dollar buck.
You don't go to any more Kiwanis
meetings after your throat's been cut.
I sure learned that
in the jungle.
You get 20, maybe 30 seconds,
before you--
- That little boy is dead.
- Yeah.
- You ran him down.
- Yeah.
- And you killed him!
- Sure, I ran him down,
but I didn't kill him.
Look. Go on, look at him.
I haven't gone crazy.
His throat's been cut.
Why would anybody cut
a little boy's throat? Huh, why?
You like the idea that I killed him
too much to let it go?
- No. Of course not.
- Just look!
Please look.
- Hey hey hey.
- Oh!
- Don't faint. Look at me.
- Okay.
Don't look around.
Don't look around.
- There's so much blood.
- His throat's been cut,
and that corn over there
is all bent and twisted.
- Where?
- Don't look around.
Ow!
Don't act suspicious.
Okay.
- Okay?
- Yeah.
Now we're gonna cover
this boy up
and we're gonna put him in the trunk.
- I'm sorry about this, Vicky...
- Okay.
- ...but we've gotta do this.
- Okay.
Sure. Yeah.
That didn't cut his throat--
not all ragged
and jagged like this.
No army sergeant ever showed
the finer points of hand-to-hand combat
to this poor boy's murderer.
No, he was as good as dead
when I hit him.
Okay.
Get in.
No. Driver's side.
- You want me to drive?
- No. I want you to start the car
and wait for me.
I'm gonna go take a look.
I can see blood on the corn
where the boy came out.
I think I saw something else.
It's hard to tell from the road,
but you can hide an army in there.
The Vietcong sure did.
In the paddies of course,
not the corn-- like jungles.
Scragged, right?
- Someone scragged him?
- Yeah.
Sometimes, I think you'd sell your soul
to the devil for it never to have ended.
That way you could go on
doing sweeps and smoking dope
for the rest of your life 'cause
that was the high point of your life,
wasn't it, Burt?
Good old Vietnam, right?
This isn't one of your damn
consciousness-raising groups, Vicky.
Now get in the car.
That's an order.
Screw your orders.
Vicky, would you just do it?!
What's up with the gun?
His throat was cut, right?
They're probably gone,
but I don't wanna take any chances.
Now get in the car,
keep the engine running
and you'd better bug out
should anyone come out of there,
no matter how innocent he,
she or they may look, okay?
Do you understand?
I don't wanna sit in the car
all by myself.
At this point,
I don't really care what you want.
How did I end up married
to a son of a bitch like you
in the first place, huh?
I wonder about that.
I wonder about that a lot.
So do l, babe.
I'm scared.
Is that all right, sir?
Is it all right for me
to be scared, sir?
That's fine by me.
Oh, God.
Hey! Mr. Comedian!
Where are you?
It's not funny!
Burt!
I told you to stay in the car.
I thought somebody was watching me.
I looked behind me
- and I couldn't see you.
- Get in.
I should've tied a string
around the antenna.
I got lost in there for awhile.
It's a good thing you called
when you did. Push over.
Here, grab this.
What is it?
Is that-- is that blood?
Is that his blood?
- Yeah, I guess so. Grab it.
- No!
I was scared.
Uh-huh.
Afraid-- I was afraid.
You went into the corn and it felt
like somebody was watching me.
Well, maybe someone was.
You know what I'm talking about.
Someone was there, all right?
I could feel it too.
I remember that feeling
from Do Luc.
You don't forget that.
What did you say the next town is?
Gatlin.
Does it look big enough
to have a police station?
No, it's just a dot.
That little boy was on foot, right?
Gatlin is the only town for 80 miles.
- He must have come from there.
- If you say so.
Why? Why would anybody
wanna do that to a little kid?
I don't know.
We might get a better idea
- if we look inside that.
- Hmm?
Do you really think so?
Probably not.
It's worth a shot.
Do you wanna open it?
Okay.
Hey...
thanks.
Didn't we cross a barn
or something back there?
No. It was deserted--
no power feeds
from the road...
no good.
- I think you see everything.
- Huh.
It freaks me out sometimes.
It really does.
I just feel as if
this is my responsibility, Vicky.
I hit him, even if he was
bleeding to death when I did.
You see, I don't see everything.
I sure didn't see him.
I took my eyes off the road.
We haven't seen a car
or a truck in like an hour.
It's weird.
Maybe Nebraska's playing
a home game.
Why don't you tell that
to your American Studies class
when we get back home?
"ln Nebraska,
radio hasn't been invented yet."
- There's nothing at all?
- Zilch.
The other knot is coming now.
Atonement!
Only by the blood
of the lamb are we saved!
"Atonement" is the word,
brothers and sisters.
There are some that think...
No wonder
we're coming in five-by.
We're right on top
of the radio tower.
Boy preacher: "...wilt thou be
besmirched by the world."
Now is that what
the word of God teaches us?
Holy Jesus!
When are they gonna know
- that way is dead?
- Hmm.
When are they gonna know
that the wages of the world
are paid on the other side, that there's
no room for the fornicator?!
- Children: No!
- No room for the defiler of the corn!
- No vacancy!
- Vicky: Wha--
No room for the homosexual!
No vacancy.
This drivel makes me sick.
What did he say about the corn?
- I wasn't paying attention.
- He said something about the corn.
I know he did--
something weird.
Hey hey!
There is life in Nebraska.
Are you sure anyone is here?
It doesn't matter.
I just wanna use the pay phone.
I have to report this... murder.
Are you all right?
Yeah. Yeah, I will be...
as soon as we're 1,000 miles
away from here.
Sunny and sinful California.
The Rocky Mountains
between us and Nebraska.
You got any change?
Nope.
I'll just dial the emergency operator.
We'll be in town
in a few minutes.
Looks like folks
in Gatlin got religion.
I thought all folks
in Nebraska had religion.
It sure sounds
that way from the radio.
Mm-hmm. Have you been
reading the signs?
"A cloud by day,
a pillar of fire by night."
When they called it the Bible Belt,
they sure weren't kidding.
"Take this...
and eat...
saith the Lord,
God of hosts."
It's what they say
when they give you communion.
Yeah? I bet they use cornbread
for holy wafer around these parts.
- Got it.
- Attagirl.
A shirt...
a belt...
What is this?
That's a real golden oldie.
Huh.
Anything strikes you as funny
about that radio sermon?
You were obviously never
the son of a preacher--
dragged from tent to tent,
going to meetings,
hearing every kind of evangelist
preying on the uneducated,
the lonely and the weak
instead of praying for them.
I had enough of that religious crap
to last me forever.
I told you about it.
Yeah, but didn't this preacher
sound young?
A teenager, maybe, but that's what's
so monstrous about their whole trip.
They like to get them
while their minds are still rubber,
and all the emotional checks
and balances to put in.
You should've seen
some of the ones I got saved by.
Let's see, there was...
Baby Hortense,
the singing marvel.
She was eight.
She'd come on singing
"Leaning on the Everlasting Arms"
while her daddy passed the plate,
telling everybody to
"Dig deep now, brothers and sisters.
Let's not let
this blessed child down.
She does the work of our Lord,
the son of God."
Jesus.
Oh my God!
It's just--
Wow. It's a fantastic piece
of workmanship.
Real American primitive.
It's hideous.
- It's a blasphemy. Throw it out.
- No, the police will want to see this.
- Why?
- I don't know. Evidence, maybe.
Just throw it out!
Will you do that for me?
Just throw it out.
I don't want it in the car.
All right. I'll tell you what--
we'll put it all in the back for now.
As soon as we see the cops,
we give 'em everything--
the body, the whole works.
And we'll be done with it, all right?
Do what you want, okay?
You will, anyway.
Boy preacher:
Behold...
a dream that come to me
in the night.
And in my dream
the Lord was a shadow
that walked behind the rows.
And God spoke to me as he has
spoken to our older brothers
since we children started
making sacrifice.
Praise God.
Praise the Lord.
And God told me all
that has happened since.
God said to me,
"Joseph will take his things
and flee this happy place
because the fear of me
is no more upon him.
So take of his life
in punishment, not sacrifice.
Let not his flesh pollute the corn,
but cast his body upon the road.
So thus evermore will Joseph,
the betrayer of the corn,
be known as Ahaz, cursed of God."
Yea, so it is, Joseph, the unbeliever.
Yea, Ahaz be cursed.
And the Lord did say,
"l will send outlanders among you--
a man and a woman--
and these unbelievers will be
profaners and defilers of the corn.
Then shall your faith be tested
as it was in the days of the blue man."
All: The blue man.
Yea, the blue man.
He Who Walks Behind The Rows
has protected us from the outside world
and provided for us since
the oldest amongst us were little.
But a time of tribulation has come.
A test is at hand!
We welcome the test.
You should not show pride,
Malachai.
For does not the Bible say that the Lord
will not lift up his countenance
upon the prideful man?
What did God say we must do?
God told me, "Be not like
Ahaz's fate to desert him,
for My name is strong here,
My power is great.
I'm the Lord of lords,
so now you must make
sacrifices to me
and behold the unbelievers
who've come to fulfill this purpose."
Make sacrifice.
Yea!
Thus shall it be with the outlanders.
This is the word
of He Who Walks Behind The Rows.
We do his work
from shine to shadow.
It is well we do this.
- Yea, verily.
- Amen.
- Vicky: Do you smell that?
- Yeah.
What stinks?
You were obviously never
a farmer's daughter.
It's fertilizer. It's the stuff
that makes corn grow green.
Vicky: Just stop right here.
Stop.
Let's turn around, Burt. Let's just take
the body back to Grand lsland.
No. Grand lsland is 70 miles away
in the wrong direction.
It would look funny
if we brought him there.
I don't care.
- What's wrong?
- What do you mean, "What's wrong?"
This town is empty.
There's nobody here but us.
Yeah, it sure seems that way.
It's a one-stoplight town, I agree
with you, but everybody's probably down
at the town square
having a bake sale or something.
There's no one here.
- Do you remember that gas station?
- Yeah, what about it?
When was the last time you paid
The '60s, maybe.
We're in the middle of town
and I haven't seen one car moving--
not one car!
Where are you--
where are you going?
I'm gonna go pull
that hair out of your ass.
I'm gonna go see where everybody is.
The sign says "Open." I'm going in.
And you're just gonna leave me
alone in the car again, huh?
You said you wanted
an early lunch stop. Congratulations.
You've got it. And no talking about
what happened to the boy, all right?
Huh. If you think so.
I do. So...
join me?
You've got
a busted headlight, mister.
Blood on it, too. Maybe you hit
a dog or something.
Hmm?
Look,
- do you hear it?
- Hear what?
The nothing. There are no cars.
There are no people.
There are no fertilizer spreaders.
There's nothing here.
I hear kids, don't you?
Pardon me, sir. Can I try some
of your 25 sweet potato pie?
I've been at that
bake sale or football game
for 12 years now.
I can't make sense of this.
I'm sure there's people here.
You know what?
That's what's wrong with you.
You're always sure.
You spent your whole life being sure.
Why do you have to be so stubborn?
Why can't you just admit
that there's something wrong here?
The whole place stinks of it.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Um--
Why don't we just go find
some local authorities
and report this accident?
Okay?
No.
- What?
- No.
There, I said it. No!
And in a nutshell, why our entire
marriage is falling apart, Burt.
I said, "No!" No, sir!
- Just give it a rest.
- I'll give it a rest
when we're going
the other way, okay?
Now turn this car around.
Turn it around right now.
- Let's go and see that lawyer.
- We have a dead child
in the trunk of our car.
If you wanna go back to l-80
and walk, that's fine.
I'll pick you up later.
But do not tell me to drive
and act like we have nothing
but a bag of garbage in our trunk.
This kid was
some mother's son, Vicky!
So, I'm gonna find whatever
local justice they have around here
and report it before whoever killed him
is over the hills and far away!
- Is that fine by you?
- Yes, sir. Yes, captain, sir.
I forgot we were back
at Lon Dong or Dung Ho,
wherever it was
that you won the war.
It must have been
the Cong, sir.
Why don't we go back in there,
burn a few hooches
- and rape a few grandmothers, huh?
- Why don't you stop talking for awhile?
And put that down.
- Put it down!
- Tsk.
You play your games,
and I'll play mine, huh?
Oh, of course.
That's always the way you play it.
Let's remember we've got
a prom queen to take care of here.
David.
Get Mark and meet me
at the church.
Do not let
the outlanders escape.
I'll get us some
bailing wire then.
Ben: People gotta come
to Gatlin all the time.
There must be people who have
friends and relatives here
and delivery trucks
that come from the outside.
Not to mention the people just
passing through, like you and me.
I mean, some of them have to
have noticed something.
Certain things can't happen--
not in the '70s.
Whole towns don't just shut down.
What about the state patrol?
They must cruise through
from time to time.
The power company, huh?
Don't you think the power company
would've noticed
the electricity had been shut off
for 12 long years?
The stoplight is dead.
You see that sermon board?
That's last Sunday.
Something's happened in this town...
something wrong.
In a crisis,
they all collect at the church.
- "He Who Walks Behind The Rows"?
- Yeah.
Just one of 9,000 different names
for God in Nebraska, I guess.
I'm gonna go take a look.
Join me?
I'm not going in there with you.
Fine. Do whatever you want.
I haven't been in a church
since I was a kid.
I don't wanna be in this church,
I don't wanna be in this town
and can we just go?!
I'm just gonna go in
for 10 minutes tops.
I'll be right back out.
Okay. That's the deal--
I've got my keys.
If you're not back out here,
I'm gonna drive away.
All right.
No more games.
I'm gonna tell you that once--
no more games.
No games.
and then little old Vicky Jean is
gonna put on her boogie shoes.
I don't think so.
What are you gonna do? Hmm?
- Are you gonna assault me? Hmm?
- No.
Is that what you're gonna do?
Just mug me, take my keys?
- No, but you think that I would.
- Yeah.
I think you're
just about capable of that.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Give me the bag. Give me the bag!
- Give it to me, you son of a bitch!
Give me my purse!
Give it to--
- my-- give me my purse!
- Give me-- give me the bag!
Oh, look who has
all the coins in Nebraska.
You did not have to do that.
Is that what your sarge
taught you out in the jungle...
along with how to cut gook tits off
and make moccasins out of them
in 20 seconds?
- Just give them back to me.
- No.
No.
You'd wait two minutes and decide that
that's long enough. No.
- No, I wouldn't.
- Yeah! Yeah, you would.
Then, you'd drive off
laughing, saying,
"That'll teach that SOB Burt
to mess with the ex-prom queen
when she wants something."
That's been your whole thesis as a wife,
hasn't it, Vicky?
"That'll teach Burt to mess with me."
It's a second honeymoon, huh?
That's a laugh.
That I still feel something for you--
if it means anything-- I think.
It's okay. You can say it--
that you hate my guts.
You hate my guts, and you've--
you've hated them for years.
No. There's no hate.
I don't hate. I--
I feel responsibility.
I don't even know
what you're talking about.
No. I don't think that you do.
I'm gonna go in now.
Lock all the doors
and roll up the windows.
Look, let's just get out of town
and find a phone booth, okay?
- I've got change.
- I'm sick and tired of your tantrums.
This is not a tantrum.
There is something wrong here.
I can feel it.
Please.
Please. Please.
- No, not this time.
- Please.
I'm not letting you push
my buttons anymore.
Please.
Burt, don't leave me in here.
Burt!
Burt, come back here!
Burt, please!
Son of a bitch!
Burt, please!
We've gotta get out of here!
We've gotta
get out of here!
Burt!
Come on, we've gotta get outta here.
We've gotta get outta here.
Please!
Hello?
Anyone here?
Why are the adults sinners,
Malachai?
'Cause God said so.
Does God speak to you
and tell you this, Malachai?
No. He only speaks to lsaac.
But on this matter
he has spoken.
We must sacrifice
the adult sinners
to protect ourselves from
the outside world. This is our test.
All: The will of God
be done. Amen.
Tsk. Damn you, Burt.
Who's there?
I know there's--
I know there's somebody there.
I can hear you.
Stop playing games.
Stop playing games!
Who are you?
We are your destiny.
Malachai,
what about the man?
God has provided
the woman first.
Burt. Burt!
Burt!
Burt!
"Then the Lord answered Job
out of the whirlwind, and said,
'Who is this that darkeneth counsel
by words without knowledge?"'
And please pass the corn.
What do you want?
Do you want the body
so you can cover it up?
It's in the trunk, okay?
Just take it. Take it!
We don't want his body, sister.
I'm not your sister!
We've come to give you peace.
No. No.
Burt! Burt!
Burt!
Burt!
Help me!
Help me!
Help me. Help me.
Help me. Help me.
Burt. Ah-hh.
Burt!
Burt!
Ah! Look at me!
Would you like to pray?
Pray?
The time for forgiveness has come
to an end for you, woman.
The time of judgment
is now at hand.
Hell yawns beneath you!
Say your own prayers, brother!
Help me, Burt.
Help me, help me.
Hey! Stop!
Vicky!
Don't. My wife's in there.
No more, brother.
No!
Where is she?
Where have you taken her?
So you've killed her?
The time of sacrifice is at hand.
Sacrifice? Sacrifice?
Kill kill kill
- kill kill kill kill.
- Kill him!
Kill kill kill kill kill!
Kill kill.
No!
My name is lsaac, chosen by
He Who Walks Behinds The Rows,
seer and prophet,
guardian of the corn!
Let my aim be true
if it is thy will!
You little bastard.
You little bastard!
You are a sinner.
You are a defiler of the corn.
It will do you no good
to curse me.
Bow to God's will.
What have you done with my wife?
Is she dead?
So it was that
the will of God be done.
Oh, so you enjoyed it.
The Lord loveth
a cheerful heart and a glad countenance.
Watch, all of you!
You better have more than kitchen knives
and screwdrivers, kiddies.
You'd better find a flamethrower.
This is my game.
I've played it before
on better courts than yours.
The Lord is not mocked.
Neither am l, sonny.
Neither am l.
I'm leaving now.
I'm gonna go find some people
and tell them about
what's happening here in Gatlin.
I don't think
they'll believe me at first--
I don't think I believe it myself--
but they will, eventually.
You guys all belong in an asylum
somewhere-- a loony bin.
Where are your parents?
I asked you a question!
Where are your parents?!
In the corn.
What does that even mean?
What have you done?
What's happened here?
Remand your soul to God,
for you will stand before
His throne momentarily.
I can take you, boy.
Don't make me prove it.
God is my strength.
That's what they told us
in the Marines.
Kill him! Kill him!
How do you like it?
It's unwise to mess with a guy
who spent three years
on jungle patrol.
Why don't you put that
in your god and smoke it?
I'm gonna blow the whistle
so hard when I get back.
Malachai: Kill the outlander!
Kill him!
- Kill the outlander!
- Kill him!
Kill kill kill kill kill!
All: Ah!
Whoa.
- What do we do now?
- I'm not going in there.
- Not without Malachai and lsaac.
- Me neither.
I can't...
- The Lord is displeased with us.
- Why?
First Ahaz,
his blood was spilled in the corn.
Then the man and the woman came.
They both killed.
- The man still runs free.
- They will catch him.
It doesn't matter if they do or not.
The Lord guided my aim--
and not into his heart,
only into his arm.
And he took the knife and broke it--
broken in two.
It was a sign.
A sign from a sinner?
The clay knows not
the potter's work.
All things do the work of God--
even the sinners,
though they not know it.
The outlander broke our knives.
We broke our covenant with God
when you spilled
Ahaz's blood in the corn.
But he-- Joseph was--
Ahaz was running away.
Your faith weakened.
You've led the biggest boys
for three years now.
Perhaps you've gotten prideful...
and this is your punishment.
He Who Walks Behind The Rows
is a jealous God.
He was old
when Jesus was unborn.
He is a god of favor,
but he's a god of sacrifice as well.
- But, lsaac--
- But he's a god of sacrifice as well!
For what other reason has he allowed
us to survive unseen and unnoticed
all these years while the world outside
grows more wicked?
You are old enough to remember
the time of the drought
before He Who Walks
Behind The Rows.
But now there's rain and corn,
and everything is good.
When God speaks to me, Malachai,
will you accept his will?
Yes, lsaac.
Praise God!
Praise the Lord!
Then let us pray.
The outlander is in God's hands.
You must give chase
until his time.
Like the blue man?
Yes, like the blue man.
There's an outlander in the corn--
an unbeliever, like the blue man.
Children:
The blue man, yea.
The outlander must be chased
to the clearing of the blue man.
There he'll be taken in sacrifice.
Only then will the covenant
be restored.
This is the word of God.
First, we'll sing our praise
to the Lord.
- Will you lead us in hymn?
- Yes, lsaac.
- Hallelujah!
- Children: Hallelujah!
Sowing in the morning
Sowing seeds of kindness
Sowing in the noontide
and the dewy eve
Waiting for the harvest
and the time of reaping
We shall come rejoicing,
bringing in the sheaves
Bringing in the sheaves,
bringing in the sheaves...
- Sing on, you little bastards.
- We shall come rejoicing
- Bringing in the sheaves.
- There he is! Over there!
Boys: What?
Go get him!
Boy: I hear him!
Boy #2:
Go go go go!
- Go go!
- Run run run run run!
Boy:
I want to be the one who...
Boy: Let me do it.
Let me do it. Let me do it!
Boy #2: No.
Naham.
- Naham!
- I saw his shadow. I saw it.
The man? Where?
Not him, He Who Walks
Behind The Rows.
- That's blasphemy.
- But, Malachai, I did.
I saw His shadow.
I was back there,
walking up the row,
Iooking for the sinner
or more of his footprints.
Only I didn't see any footprints because
the ground was all hard and powdery.
- I know.
- And all of a sudden it got darker
on my one side
and I looked over
and it was like the sun
was out on that side.
I could hear something
walking, breathing,
and the shadow
came up on the corn.
I couldn't catch my breath.
I thought he was coming for me
because Joseph--
I mean, Ahaz-- was my friend.
It was He Who Walks
Behind the Rows.
He passed right by me.
You had a vision, Naham.
You're very lucky, if it's true.
I swear it. I swear it is.
You may be the next prophet
once lsaac reaches
the age of favor.
- I don't wanna be a prophet.
- Do not blaspheme, Naham!
by the sun.
Yes, it is.
We won't stay in the corn after dark
if we don't find the man,
- will we?
- We will find him.
- But if we don't?
- We never stay in the corn after dark.
You know it's not wise.
Because of... him?
- Yes, because of him.
- He's very old, isn't he?
Yes, very old,
and the night is his time.
- You go that way. I'll go that way.
- Wait, I hear him.
Hey, this is my row.
No, Peter and I were here first.
He's right, Amos.
I see him! I see him!
It's the sinner!
- He's here! He's here! He's here!
- Shh.
Okay.
Come on!
Come on!
They're back!
Take these to the others.
It's Amos.
Let us pray.
Shut up.
lsaac: "Be fruitful and multiply
as the corn multiplies, that my favor
be shewn you and be upon you.
Dear God, we beg
thy blessing on the crop.
In the name of He Who Walks
Behind The Rows."
All: Amen.
The time of fertilization has come.
Oh shit.
Dead!
Ah! God!
God! Ah!
He's here! It's the sinner!
It's the sinner!
God is my strength.
It was He Who Walks
Behind The Rows.
Children:
The blue man. Yea, the blue man.
It's due west
back to the highway, right?
Right.
I'll hitch a ride.
I'll make
some phone calls.
Which way is it
back to the road?
Okay, I can go west by the stars.
I went on 61 patrols.
I came back from every one of them.
'Cause I've got
a compass in my head.
I'm gonna get out.
I'm gonna get out of here.
Stop talking to yourself.
Stop talking to yourself.
Oh my God.
Oh my God!
Oh my God.
Vicky. Vicky.
Who's there?
Who's there?!
Come out where I can see you,
you black pajama'd bastards!
Come out here!
Come out here and look at me!
Hey, Burt.
Come on, it's not so bad.
Being sacrificed by devil
pagan children in the corn--
it's not so bad.
Having your eyes ripped
out of your skull,
according to the laws of Moses--
it's not so bad.
It's all right.
Join me?
Last night, He Who Walks Behind
The Rows spoke to me in a dream,
and I did fall down
upon my knees in fright
and hide my eyes lest the terror
of his face strike me dead.
He is much displeased
with this sacrifice.
And the Lord did say, "Have I not
given you this place of killing
so that you might make
sacrifice here?
Have I not shewn you favor?
But I did give you a test.
Two outlanders did come--
a man and a woman.
But this man has made
a blasphemy within me
and did cause confusion
among you.
This man was strong
in his evil.
And so then I've completed
this sacrifice myself
Iike the blue man who tried
to escape many years ago."
The blue man.
Yea, the blue man.
"And so now
the age of favor is lowered
from 19 planting harvests to 18.
Each and every one of you will walk
into the corn at dusk
upon your 18th birthday
and He Who Walks Behind
The Rows will find you,
and you will walk with him."
So the Lord told me.
I obey the word of God.
- Praise God!
- All: Praise God.
May the favor of He Who Walks
Behind The Rows be shewn
- and be upon you.
- Amen.
Scarecrow!
Never mind.
If it is God's will,
the children will continue on
as always, Ruth.
If it's God's will, yes.
Then why do you fear?
- I fear nothing.
- Please, Malachai.
I obey the will of God.
My birthday will come
in October after the harvest.
I barely lose one month.
Amos is losing almost
his entire 18th year.
If this is the will of God,
I wish there were no God!
Do not blaspheme!
Have a fine son, Ruth,
and raise him to love religion
and to hate the world.
Promise me.
I-- I can't.
Amos:
It's night now.
His time.
I know, Amos.
Goodbye, Malachai.