[ people chattering ]
DANIEL: I am a journalist, Robert.
I assure you, I have very little interest
in your flights of fancy.
ROBERT: You, Daniel Defoe, are a writer.
It is your destiny as such
to bring this remarkable man's story,
a story of intense struggle, extraordinary friendship
and undying love, to the world.
Well done, Robert. Well done.
Full of life, death, passion.
You could indeed give up publishing for the stage, sir.
Tell me, though, what relevance has this fine story
to an impoverished scribe like myself?
Because, Daniel, you are my favorite impoverished scribe.
And what is this?
The recently discovered journal of one Robinson Crusoe.
Then this tale you tell me is true.
Every word of it.
"The travelogue of a wayward seaman"?
Read this journal, Daniel.
I am confident, sir, you will find a great interest
in the story he has to tell.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
ROBINSON CRUSOE: And so my story begins,
like so many other stories, with a woman.
For as long as I can remember,
Mary McGregor and I had planned to marry.
However, as the McGregor family grew more prosperous,
so, too, did the fortunes of the Crusoe family dwindle.
As a result, the woman whom I greatly loved
found herself betrothed against her will
to my dear friend Patrick Connor.
[ both grunting ]
Though Patrick knew of our lifelong bond,
he refused to release Mary from their arrangement.
It need not end this way, Patrick.
How, then?
Shall I cease the engagement and disgrace my family?
Unh! Patrick!
We were friends once.
Does not that count for anything?
[ breathing heavily ]
We were friends, Crusoe.
But we are friends no longer.
Then we shall fight.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ both grunting ]
She is to be my wife, Robin.
It is God's will.
You know Mary and I loved each other since childhood.
JAMES: Patrick. This is not your fight, James.
You're not like your brothers, Patrick.
Don't be like your brothers.
You will never be together!
[ groaning ]
JAMES: Patrick.
No. Oh, no. Dear God, forgive me. No.
MAN: He's dead, sir.
Murderer.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
Take to your horse, sir.
I'll not leave. Go, sir, now.
Murderer!
[ horse neighs ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ knocking on door ]
[ breathing heavily ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
He knew I did not love him. I told him as much.
Yet he chose to fight.
You both chose to fight, Robin.
What are you saying, Mary?
Do you believe I would willfully kill my friend?
I walked away. You accepted his challenge.
Would a wiser man have known better than to fight, huh?
His brothers will seek vengeance.
Oh, they have already.
He was my friend, Mary.
I would never have wished such a terrible fate on Patrick.
MARY: You must leave now.
It is not safe for you anymore.
ROBINSON: Will it ever be safe for me, Mary?
MARY: Time will heal this wound, Robin.
I will explain to Patrick's family.
They will come to understand.
Go with the coachman.
You can trust him.
He will take you to Edinburgh
and arrange for your safe passage.
Come back wiser for the experience.
In a year, I'll return.
Then we shall be wed.
If it is 13 months, Robin, then shall I marry another?
I love you.
I will always see your face before me.
[ tender theme playing ]
A year.
No longer.
DRIVER: Walk on. Come on, boy.
[ neighs ]
[ people chattering ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
ROBINSON: And so I took to the seas,
the one place where I knew I would be safe.
For many months, we sailed the great oceans of the world.
We docked at mysterious scented islands
under the Southern Cross.
We swam with mermaids,
and we carried fabulous cargos of silks and spices,
jade and mahogany.
And once even, we carried a human cargo of slaves.
Providence had decreed me a man without a country,
yet I was not without a purpose.
Though I had formally served in His Majesty's army,
it was my academic background
and my intimate knowledge of history
that lead the captain of our ship to call on me
to chronicle our journey through the written word.
[ knock on door ]
Enter.
Captain's compliments, Mr. Crusoe.
Thank you. Shut the door.
Though Patrick's death brought about my exile,
it was the thought of Mary,
of the knowledge that I would have her hand in marriage
upon my return,
that kept my spirits strong as our voyage continued.
Our little ship had met and bested foul weather
and high seas on three oceans.
Sometimes the storms would last a week or more.
But I grew ever more confident
in the skills of our captain and his crew.
[ crew chattering ]
MAN 1: What do you see in the crow's-nest?
MAN 2: Over there.
MAN 3: We'll get back into it, sir.
MAN 4: Haul your weight. Haul your weight.
[ thundering ]
Batten down the hatches.
MAN 5: Aye, aye, sir.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ thundering ]
[ men shouting indistinctly ]
[ shouts indistinctly ]
[ both shouting ]
[ man shouting indistinctly ]
We're going down! We're going down!
Give me your hand!
Don't be foolish, sir. Give me your hand.
Give it to me now. I can't.
Give me your hand.
[ both grunting ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
MAN: Somebody help me!
We've run aground!
[ shouts ]
[ birds calling ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ coughing and groaning ]
As I took my first steps in that unknown land,
a dread came over me.
I began to realize in truth how terrible was my condition.
Hello!
[ grunts ]
As I laid my poor companions to rest,
I confess my thoughts were for my own soul.
I did not know in what land I had been cast,
in what country, among what nation.
Nor whether I might endure a single night here.
Let alone a week... or a month.
I spent that first night not daring to imagine
what dangers might prowl or crawl beneath me,
and sleepless for thinking how I might survive the next day
without food or weapons or human company.
But as the sun rose, so did my spirits.
For then I saw that the hulk of our vessel
had caught fast on the reef where she had foundered.
Onboard, I might find food and drink for my sustenance...
and this gave me fresh hope.
Hello?
Is anyone there?
[ dog whimpering ]
[ barks ]
I found that our ship lay so on the reef
that only half of her was filled with water.
The forward parts were dry,
and there I found powder and weapons and provisions.
I discovered the carpenter's chest
and being a gentleman,
I had little experience with the tools of the trade.
Nevertheless, there and then,
I resolved that I would learn.
[ whimpers ]
The ship's longboat had been dashed to pieces by the storm.
But I found a part of an upper deck torn away.
I used this as a makeshift raft.
Thanks to an incoming tide and a gentle breeze,
my modest craft took me straightaway to shore.
I began to feel not a little proud
of my achievements... so far.
And so I reckoned my fortunes were on the up.
I had provisions for a month or more,
tools and good timber.
Even good company in the captain's old dog, Skipper.
[ barks ]
There you go, Skipper.
That's it. No more.
From now on, you find your own food.
I was now making daily excursions
away from the shoreline,
penetrating further and further into the interior of my domain.
I knew only that we'd been sailing
some miles from the coast of Guinea.
And I had in mind the possibility
that my soil was somehow connected to a mainland
where I may happen upon some human civilization.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
I'm on an island.
[ tender theme playing ]
In order to keep watch daily
for the first ship that would pass at sea,
I resolved to situate myself as near the coast as possible.
The weeks turned to months
and still no sighting of a ship.
But I truly believed it must come to pass.
Some vessel would sail by my shore
sooner rather than later.
[ Skipper barking ]
[ barking ]
Skipper.
Quiet. Quiet, Skipper.
[ Skipper barks ]
Oh, my God.
[ tender theme playing ]
Oh. Oh.
No! Come back!
Come back!
I'm here!
I'm here! Come back!
Fire! Fire, fire!
Come back, please! Please!
Please, come back! No!
Come back, I'm here!
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ Skipper barking ]
[ sobbing ]
It was on that day I came to see
I must no longer rely upon chance
or fate or divine intervention for my survival,
but solely on my own efforts as a man.
[ tender theme playing ]
And I found as time went by,
I began to grow even fond of my island kingdom.
[ dolphins chatter ]
I have not been idle with my time on the island.
Even so, my thoughts continually turn
to the life I left behind.
Skipper, come here. What you're about to hear
is the sweetest sound in the whole world.
The spirit of Scotland.
[ playing melody ]
[ barking ]
[ sobbing ]
MARY'S VOICE: Robin.
[ Mary chuckles ]
[ tender theme playing ]
My thoughts of Mary inspired me,
for I knew that someday I would return.
[ tender theme playing ]
I erected a monument to mark my landing here.
Upon it, I've been scrupulously recording
the days of the week and the months
as they pass since my arrival on the island.
[ tender theme playing ]
[ grunts ]
One year, Skipper.
A whole year.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
How many wild fantasies tormented my mind
as I made for the security of my own castle,
fancying every bush and tree stump to be a man,
afflicted with such terror I could imagine Satan himself
had taken human shape and left his print upon my shore.
[ men shouting in distance ]
From somewhere on my island came sounds
I believed I would never hear again.
Human voices, to be sure.
But voices unlike I'd ever heard before.
[ barking ]
Stay. Stay here.
[ shouting in distance continues ]
[ men whooping and yelling ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ men chanting and yelling ]
[ groans ]
[ man screams ]
[ screams ]
[ men whooping and yelling in distance ]
[ grunts ]
Don't be afraid.
I'm your friend.
[ tender theme playing ]
[ both grunt ]
Give it to me.
Come on.
[ grunts ]
What do you think you're doing?
I saved your life back there.
I wanna be your friend.
How can I make you understand?
Friend.
I am your friend.
Food.
Aye, food. Huh?
Food, food.
Here you go.
A gift, peace.
[ speaking in foreign language ]
Aye, you want the gun?
Oh, no, it's very powerful.
And if you try to take this,
I will use this power to kill you.
And I don't wanna kill you.
You're my friend.
Food.
[ men yelling ]
[ man groans ]
[ yelling ]
[ speaking in foreign language ]
No!
Blasphemy.
How could I ever have imagined being a friend to this savage?
I saw now he was from another world.
One surely ruled by Satan.
I, Robinson Crusoe,
would guide and protect my kingdom against all evil.
Skipper? Skipper, prepare yourself.
Seems we have a very unfriendly heathen on the island with us.
Little did this pagan know,
but his adversary was once trained as a soldier.
So he would be facing one skilled in strategy
in the military arts.
[ ringing ]
[ tense theme playing ]
It is hard to describe my conflict of emotions.
In all these two years,
I'd longed for the company of another human being.
And now we were enemies.
Hunter and prey.
And he was out there, somewhere on my island.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ groaning ]
[ barking ]
[ grunting ]
Stay away from me, you black heathen bastard.
[ grunting ]
Leave it alone.
Leave the bloody thing alone, you hear me?
That's right, blow your bloody brains out.
Go on. Come here. Give me my gun.
That's it.
Give me the gun.
Give me the bloody gun.
Come here, come here. I'll give you this.
Look, look.
Aye.
[ laughs ]
[ speaking in foreign language ]
Up. Up.
Take it easy.
You understand danger?
Death.
Who are you?
Huh?
What are you?
Look. Look.
Aye.
[ tender theme playing ]
Aye.
That he was a savage was indisputable.
And yet he seemed to be a decent fellow at heart.
In time, I might even turn him from his pagan ways.
Perhaps this was my mission.
What's your name?
What about Hamish?
I had a brother called Hamish.
[ rooster crows ]
What day is it, Thursday?
No, it's not. It's Friday.
Friday.
Friday. Master.
Master.
Master. Friday.
Master.
Friday.
[ laughs ]
Aye.
Friday.
You sleep here.
[ sighs ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
Just till the morning.
Food.
[ Skipper barks ]
Stay there.
Food.
Master.
Stay.
Stay, stay.
Come here.
I had wronged this poor honest savage,
and I was truly sorry for it.
It became clear to me
that I could not have found a better creature
to be subject to my benevolent rule.
At least, that was how I saw it then.
[ tender theme playing ]
[ barking ]
Friday became constant and diligent in his work
and proved to know a great deal
about planting and harvesting our crops.
Indeed, to my surprise, he even began to instruct me.
In turn, I made it my mission
to teach Friday the King's English.
And after six months,
I was astonished that he learned the language
with such great proficiency.
Yet other aspects of Friday's education proved more arduous.
Friday, I'd like to talk to you about God.
God?
Your maker and creator.
God.
He made everything.
He made you.
Pakia.
Pakia?
Pakia, God.
Crocodile. Huh.
Before long time, no land, only water.
That's in Genesis.
Pakia live in the water.
He make tingpopo.
He make tangpopo.
He made the sun and moon, aye.
Mm. Sun and moon marry, they make baby. Man.
Make all men. Make me.
No. God made you.
Pakia.
You can't worship a crocodile.
Why not?
Teeth of crocodile.
Does this crocodile, this Pakia,
tell you to eat the flesh of your enemies?
Make strong.
You eat fish, swim good.
You eat lizard, climb good.
You eat heart, make strong.
This is pagan blasphemy, Friday.
The true God is greater and more powerful.
The true God is love.
He teaches us to love our enemies.
Pakia is not God.
Show me God.
I cannot show you God.
I show you Pakia, you show God.
You cannot see God.
He's in the spirit. He's in the soul.
I see spirit in the trees.
I see spirit in trees and animals.
I see everywhere.
Here, here is God.
Here is the living proof of God, his sacred word.
This is the living testament to his love,
his wisdom, his divine plan. Here.
Where? I see no God.
No, you fool, you have to read it.
Now, look what you've done, you heathen savage.
This blasphemy, and your soul
shall be damned to eternal torments.
I no like your God.
I no like you.
Forgive all those who trespass against us,
against you, Lord.
Against you, O Lord.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
I knew I should come to regret my harsh words.
Whether Friday was the better for our meeting,
I do not know.
But I had good cause to thank Providence
for sending him to serve me.
And so I'm alone again.
I manage well enough without him.
I eat well enough, I live tolerably well.
But I find I begin to miss him as a companion.
[ tender theme playing ]
It's been several weeks now.
Our paths cross from time to time,
but we do not speak, we do not communicate.
In my studies of history,
I had chronicled the religious wars
that have plagued mankind since the beginning of time.
And how sad, I thought, that in this universe of two,
religion had now put us at our own war.
Yet something had to be done.
Friday.
We can't carry on like this. It's silly.
The two of us on the same bloody island
not talking to each other, not sharing what we have.
I'm sorry for all the things I said.
Everything I did.
I was angry.
I apologize.
I want you to come back.
Good fish. Eat.
[ tender theme playing ]
ROBINSON: Right, there she goes. Steady, now. That's it.
Come on, now. Straight ahead. That's it, come on.
So now we were three.
And I heard once again the sound of human laughter.
His and mine.
Straight ahead. Come on.
[ Friday laughing ]
[ Skipper barking ]
That's it. FRIDAY: The first one.
I win. I win.
Go, I win. I win.
Go in the water yourself. They'll go with you.
Let's get the big lizards.
I finally win. Winner.
I had not forgotten who it was
that had brought Friday to my island,
nor the likelihood of their return.
The Nimas, it seemed,
were the dominant tribe on Friday's island.
And Friday had been offered by his own people
as a tribute to these savages.
Powerful.
FRIDAY: Sunguna, power.
Gunpowder.
This. Power.
This is what the Nimas come for.
This dust that makes them powerful.
FRIDAY: Oh, make great warriors.
Then they will come back.
And so I determined to be ready for them.
Like hunters setting traps for animals,
we prepared our welcome.
I explained to Friday
that this particular white man's magic
would ensure that our enemies go to meet their god, Pakia,
rather sooner than they anticipated.
[ distant shouting ]
[ men yelling ]
[ drums beating ]
[ barking ]
Skipper!
[ dramatic theme playing ]
O dear Lord,
I thank you for the time I shared
with this faithful creature.
He was my friend.
Does Skipper goes to Crusoe's heaven?
Dogs don't have souls, Friday.
Only people have mortal souls.
Only people go to heaven.
Too bad.
Good dog.
Aye.
Friday ask Pakia to look after dog's spirit.
[ tender theme playing ]
Pakia. Pakia.
[ speaking in foreign language ]
ROBINSON: The lessons of humility
do not come easily to a stubborn soul.
Once I had thought mine was the only true path.
Now I was no longer sure.
FRIDAY: Pakia.
The Nimas will come back.
With new moon, many, many warriors will come.
Want your magic.
Well, we can't fight them all.
We could build a boat. Go away, go to your island.
No.
We cannot go to my island.
Why not?
Cannot go. Can never go.
I am a dead man.
This island of dead people.
Aye, well, we will be if we stay here.
Well, we build boat.
You go to your island.
If only I could.
My island's on the other side of the world.
Many, many moons away.
What name your island?
Britain.
Great Britain.
Britani?
Yes.
Nua Britani.
You know Britain?
Not so long. One moon, maybe.
You mean New Britain?
Nua Britani.
Right name, Uua-ma-tupiit.
White man call it "Nua Britani."
Have you seen white men before me?
My father told me about white men long ago.
Not good.
White man, he take much everything.
Not give back.
Take land, take people. Tanga people.
Make people slaves.
You not white man, Master.
You a good man.
If your island is close to New Britain,
we could build a boat and go there.
I cannot. Do not ask me, Master.
My name is not "Master."
My name is Robinson Crusoe.
Rob--
Robina Crus--
Crusoe, aye.
What name is "master"?
White man.
I am slave to you? No.
It was a mistake.
I'm not your slave. No.
No, you're not my slave.
We are friends, and we can live as friends.
We can build a boat.
We can build a boat and leave this place.
[ speaking in foreign language ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
You gave life.
I cannot kill you.
Better I go kill myself.
Then stay on this island and die.
But I will build a boat.
And I will live!
So my stupid arrogance had lost me my dear companion
for a second time.
And I was alone again.
If what Friday said was true,
I was less than one month's travel from New Britain,
one of His Majesty's colonies off the coast of New Guinea.
But my time was short.
I had to leave before the next full moon,
and the typhoon season would soon be here.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
I knew I would have to leave soon
or miss my chance.
If I had not already done so.
How I regretted my thoughtless words.
The chances were that I would never see my friend again.
[ thunder rumbling ]
I am not slave.
I know, Friday.
You're my friend.
[ thunder crashes ]
I tell you my spirit name.
Only spirit, me and Tanga big men know.
[ speaking in foreign language ]
Why are you telling me this?
Crusoe gave life.
Not say more.
[ speaking in foreign language ]
Give power of bird.
Fly safe to land.
[ tender theme playing ]
[ laughs ]
[ speaking in foreign language ]
Quickly. Quickly.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ thunder crashes ]
Fearing that this might be a tempest
as violent as that which cast me on the island,
we brought our livestock to what shelter we could devise.
We waited together to brave the storm,
which indeed proved more fearsome than any before.
[ thunder crashing ]
[ melancholy theme playing ]
[ insects buzzing ]
No time to build new boat.
Moon nearly big.
Nimas come. Many, many warriors.
Yeah, well, there's no place to hide.
We'll have to fight them.
We may die.
Dying not important. All men die.
What matters is how you die.
Then we'll die like warriors.
[ suspenseful theme playing ]
At the time of the last full moon,
I knew that several of the Nima warriors
had escaped our trap.
So this time, the enemy would know we were there.
Our only ally would be our ingenuity
and what gunpowder remained to us.
[ suspenseful theme playing ]
[ chanting ]
FRIDAY: Pakia.
[ Friday speaking in foreign language ]
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, the glory, forever and ever.
Amen.
[ Friday speaking in foreign language ]
[ bagpipes playing ]
[ men chattering ]
[ suspenseful theme playing ]
[ gags ]
[ speaking in foreign language ]
[ men scream ]
[ speaking in foreign language ]
[ suspenseful theme playing ]
[ men screaming ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ groans ]
[ groaning ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
I do not know how long I had lain there
while Friday ministered to me.
I felt little pain now,
but a coldness spread through every limb.
[ groans then shudders ]
I don't wanna die here.
You stay with me till... Please, huh?
Then go back to your own people.
Cannot go. Can never go.
You must.
Friday's dead man.
Cannot go back from here.
I am dead to my people.
I am tanuang.
This island of dead men.
No one ever leave.
I don't want to die here.
Because he was offered up for sacrifice,
Friday was considered dead to his own people.
In many ways, a fate worse than death,
as he could never again be accepted amongst his own tribe.
Ironically, this dead man was my only chance for life.
[ mysterious theme playing ]
ROBINSON: Fri...
Friday.
Mary.
MARY'S VOICE: Robin.
Mary, Mary, Mary.
Mary, Mary.
[ mumbling ]
No, no, no, no, no, no.
You live.
No.
Friday take care of you. No, no.
No, the...
[ Robinson groaning ]
Friday take you home.
Aye, aye. Home.
[ tender theme playing ]
Having neither the provisions, nor, in my case,
the strength to aim our sails for New Britain,
Friday and I set out for his nearby island.
While Friday believed his people
could cure me of my ills,
his own fate was far less certain.
I could not count the days we were on the sea.
With God's grace, we encountered only fair winds.
And with Friday as our guide,
we sailed safely to his island home.
[ suspenseful theme playing ]
[ people chattering ]
[ crowd clamoring ]
Friday!
FRIDAY: You be better.
She use magic leaves.
Thank you.
Your wife?
[ speaking in foreign language ]
Was my wife.
She think I dead when Nimas take me.
Not come back, she marry a new man.
[ speaking in foreign language ]
[ woman speaking in foreign language ]
Am I an evil spirit?
They think you are a slave trader.
Ohh...
Many times, white man come and take many warriors.
Many young men for slave.
Take my son.
Oh, Friday.
They think I bring you here to make them slaves.
Ohh...
If I'm an evil spirit, why does she help me?
You sick man.
Not good to kill sick man.
Bad manner.
[ dramatic theme playing ]
[ chanting in foreign language ]
FRIDAY: He prays to the gods.
Aye. What are they saying?
We fight. One of us die.
If I kill you, I can stay.
If you kill me, you can go.
I cannot kill you.
I will not kill you.
FRIDAY: I am a dead man.
No wife, no man child.
Is better to die like warrior.
[ chanting in foreign language ]
[ dramatic theme playing ]
I will not fight you.
You must.
Or they kill both of us.
[ men chanting ]
[ yells ]
I can't do this.
Almighty God, welcome me to paradise if I am worthy.
Kill me and live.
Cannot kill friend.
Do it.
[ yells ]
[ crowd yelling ]
Come on. Over here.
This way. Come on.
[ grunting ]
MAN: Don't worry, me hearty.
These savages can't harm you now.
No!
[ tender theme playing ]
And so fate had saved her harshest trick to last.
Just as a duel had caused me to flee my native land,
so, too, did the battle between friends
bring about my return.
I was to owe my freedom
to the men who had killed my friend.
Who had ravaged his people and his family.
The slavers nursed me back to health
and then put me ashore at Lisbon.
There I was taken aboard a merchantman.
Six years after my departure from Scotland,
I came home.
[ tender theme playing ]
It was he who gave you the journal.
Yes.
Robert, I must write this.
[ tender theme playing ]
You miss him, don't you?
He saved my life.
He brought you back to me.
A wiser man?
Mm...
Perhaps.
[ both laugh ]
And so Mary and I settled down to marriage
and a family of our own.
We were blessed with happiness and prosperity.
But for the rest of my days,
I would think often and long of the man
who had given me the greatest gift of all,
my life,
when I'd all but lost it,
and his friendship...
unto death.
[ tender theme playing ]