Prophecy (1979)

Talia Shire: Maggie

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Quotes 

• Maggie Verne : Rob, what is it?

  Dr. Robert Verne : It's methylmercury poisoning, that's what it is. This whole place has been contaminated.

  Maggie Verne : How do you know?

  Dr. Robert Verne : The Indians eat the fish, and they behave like they're drunk when they haven't had a drop of liquor. That raccoon convulsing and turning vicious, its brain turned to mush. Even that old man, that Indian, you saw the burns on his fingers.

  Maggie Verne : Is that from mercury?

  Dr. Robert Verne : It's from cigarettes; the reason he didn't feel it is from mercury. You see, it acts on the nervous system; it destroys the brain.

• M' Rai : This camp is as the old people did it. I'm teaching these young people so that someone here will remember. There are underground tunnels beneath the frost line to store perishables. The forest provides more food than a man could possibly need. Here, everything grows big... real big.

  Dr. Robert Verne : Well, I saw a salmon that, uh, took my breath away.

  M' Rai : It is the garden of Eden. I've let no one come here. You are the first to see it.

  Maggie Verne : It's magical.

  John Hawks : We were once a magical people.

  Ramona : It's true. When I was a child, every rock, every tree had a story. The whole forest was filled with legends.

  Maggie Verne : We heard about one of them.

  Ramona : Yes?

  Maggie Verne : Uh, katydah, something.

  Ramona : Katahdin.

  M' Rai : Katahdin is no legend.

  Ramona : My grandfather is the oldest person in our tribe. It's his duty to foster these beliefs.

  M' Rai : I have seen him.

  Maggie Verne : And what does he look like?

  M' Rai : He is part of all things created. And he bears a mark of each of God's creatures.

  Maggie Verne : You say that with great affection.

  M' Rai : He has awakened to protect us.

• Maggie Verne : I believe him.

  Dr. Robert Verne : Why?

  Maggie Verne : Why would he have offered to let you test the water?

  Dr. Robert Verne : Maybe it wasn't in the water.

  Maggie Verne : Huh?

  Dr. Robert Verne : Maybe it's heavier than water. That silvery stuff on your boot, is it dry?

  Maggie Verne : Yes.

  Dr. Robert Verne : They gave us a trick question in medical school. What's the only liquid in the world that isn't wet?

  Maggie Verne : What was the answer?

  Dr. Robert Verne : Mercury.

• Maggie Verne : Jumps the placental barrier. What does that mean?

  Dr. Robert Verne : [referring to methylmercury]  It's a mutagen.

  Maggie Verne : A mutagen. What is that?

  Dr. Robert Verne : Freakism! Freakism! That's what's been going on out there. That's why there's a goddamn salmon five feet long, and a tadpole the size of what a bullfrog should be! And stillbirths.

  Maggie Verne : What?

  Dr. Robert Verne : That's what that Indian woman said. And deformed children. And God knows what else has been going on out there.

  Maggie Verne : So if a pregnant animal ate some fish, it could...

  Dr. Robert Verne : Yes. My God. Is it possible?

  Maggie Verne : Yes.

  Dr. Robert Verne : The size of a dragon.

  Maggie Verne : What?

  Dr. Robert Verne : The size of a dragon. Isn't that what Isley said at the airport? And something about eyes, cat's eyes. And the old man, the Indian. Didn't he describe that creature as being a... part of everything in God's creation? Isn't that what he said?

  Maggie Verne : Yes.