Imaginary Latvian Immigrant Family on the Lower East Side of New York
in the Cinemax series “The Knick” (2014), directed by Steven Soderbergh
CLEARY: Jesus, Speight. You’re sure it’s not you with the fucking tuberculosis.
SPEIGHT: Watch your mouth, Cleary. There’s plenty of other stretcher boys I can call for this.
SPEIGHT (cont’d): Health Inspector. Health Inspector. Open the door please.
SPEIGHT (cont’d): Mrs. Krawetz, we’re here to take you to the hospital. Do you understand? Hospital? (turns to Mr. Krawetz) Hospital. She has a disease and she must be taken out of here.
MR. KRAWETZ: Nesaprotu. Jete, kur tu esi?
SPEIGHT (cont’d): Christ alive, it’s like the Tower of Babel in these shitholes. Never the same language twice. Hospital!
GIRL: My father says he doesn’t want you taking my mother.
OFFICER SEARS: Well, I’m Officer Sears of the New York Police Department. And there’s a law that says we have to take her to someplace that will make her well. So she doesn’t get you sick, too.
MR. KRAWETZ: Ko viņš saka?
YETTA: Viņš ir inspektors un viņš ņems mammu kaut kur veseļoties.
MR. KRAWETZ: Tu viņam pasaki, kaimiņu arī viņi aizveda. Un tā viņš arī tur palika.
GIRL: My father says they took our neighbor and he never came back.
OFFICER SEARS: Oh, she’ll be back, and fit as a fiddle, you watch.
SPEIGHT: No windows, no ventilation, no sunlight inside or running water… Breeding ground for disease. That’s why the new laws were passed. I can compel you to make any and all structural changes to your property I deem necessary to protect the public.
BUILDING OWNER: That will cost a fortune. I’m a businessman.
SPEIGHT: Blame Lister’s microscope and Riis’s camera. The New York City Health Department is just doing its job. You own two more buildings on this block, don’t you?
BUILDING OWNER: Perhaps we can come to some other arrangement?
SPEIGHT: Perhaps we can.
BERTIE: It’s not good. The tuberculosis is pretty advanced. Her lungs are completely full of fluid. Fever of 104. Pulse is erratic. Her fingers are clubbing.
CORNELIA: Are you recommending a sanitarium stay?
BERTIE: She’s already on the other side of the hill, I’m afraid. I honestly don’t think she’ll make it through the week.
CORNELIA: Does she know?
BERTIE: She doesn’t speak English. Her daughter’s been interpreting for me.
CORNELIA: I see.
BERTIE: Responsibility is to the patient, but there’s no rule that says we have to…
CORNELIA: Hello. May I ask your name?
GIRL: Yetta.
CORNELIA: Yetta. A beautiful name. Yetta, my name is Miss Robertson. I’m from the Social Welfare Office of the hospital. I need your help right now to explain something to your mother, all right?
CORNELIA (CONT’D): Please tell your mother that the doctor says her disease has made her very sick.
YETTA: Tu esi ļoti slima.
CORNELIA: She will not get better.
YETTA: Tev tikai paliks sliktāk.
CORNELIA: She will only get worse. But the hospital will do all it can to make her as comfortable as possible.
YETTA: Tev tikai paliks sliktāk. Bet slimnīca darīs visu, ko vara, lai Tev ir ērti.
CORNELIA: If there is anything she or your family needs, we are here to help you. Does she understand?
YETTA: Ja mums kaut ko vajag, viņi ir šeit, lai mums izpalīdzētu. Vai Tu saproti?
YETTA (cont’d): She understands.
CORNELIA: I’m so sorry.
MRS. KRAWETZ: Cik ir pulkstens?
YETTA: My mother wants to know what time it is.
BERTIE: It’s four-thirty.
YETTA: Ir puspieci.
MRS. KRAWETZ: Tev ir jāpasteidzas, jo Tu nokavēsi uz darbu.
YETTA: She says I should go, or else I’ll be late for my shift.
