Wild Hogs and Saffron

(vehicle wipers) (dog breathing softly) - [Andy] What's up, big son?

(rooster crowing) (hog snorting) - [Bubba] Well, he's one to bite.

- [Andy] Yeah, he is.

He's fired up.

- [Bubba] It's hard to believe this time last year I carried him outta the woods in my pocket.

- Really?

- Yeah.

I gave him to the kids.

I figured he'd die.

He was too little.

- Yeah.

- Well then, I had to go back to work.

When I come back, he was up, that big, following 'em around like a dog.

Now look at him.

He's turned into a boar hog now.

Gettin' mean.

Them little, little teeth, like that's the worst on a dog.

- Oh yeah, yeah, that's right.

- They're like knives.

These won't keep a hog's tooth from going through 'em, - Mhmm.

- but they save a rib, and a rib's where you usually get your dogs killed.

It's when they bury that knife up, get an organ, dump their guts.

- Yep.

- [Bubba] It's hard to pull 'em back from that.

That thing has took a lot of lives.

There's been a lot of pork poked with it.

- [Andy] And that's what may be, one of our... - That will be the tool, yeah.

- Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

(dogs barking) - They say in, like, the early 1800s, late 1700s, Arkansas was the largest deciduous forest in the world.

- [Andy] That's crazy, man.

- [Bubba] That's why I like this East Fork wilderness.

I'm sure Bill Clinton made it a wilderness so nobody would ever find the bodies he buried in that son of a bitch.

- [Andy] Bubba, did you ever think of me as Middle Eastern when I was growing up?

When we were in school together?

- [Bubba] I never even wondered like, "Where'd Sarjahani come from?"

Like, it never crossed my mind.

- Yeah, man.

- [Bubba] You know what I mean?

- Yeah.

- [Bubba] You were always the coolest... You're always funny as hell.

I always just considered you, oh, you're a Russellville boy.

- [Andy] And I think that that's how most everybody thought of me.

When I was growing up in Russellville, Everybody treated my family really well.

- Yeah.

- Like, we had good friends and good family, but I remember like, certain instances where like, people from my mom's church would come over with good intentions, and they were good men and good people - That's right.

- trying to lead my dad to Christianity, you know?

- Right.

- When you're a kid, you can't articulate all that.

- [Bubba] No.

- [Andy] You have no idea.

You just feel the emotions, and like, I felt embarrassed, you know?

- [Bubba] Right.

- [Andy] Like, what's wrong with my dad?

What's wrong... - [Bubba] Like, why are these people coming to my house and not somebody else's on Sunday evening?

- Right.

- Like, why?

Are we a special case, you know?

- [Bubba] That's Right.

- [Andy] I think, as I got older, I did everything I could to distance myself from my dad's side.

You know, I played football and I did all those things, and was... and got into duck hunting and deer hunting, squirrel hunting with those guys, and just, you know, drove the four wheel drive, and I did everything that I needed to do to be one of the guys.

- Hell all, you remember me in high school.

I was a... - [Andy] Mmhm.

- I mean... this... - I always thought you had good character, but you had, - I had a lot of issues.

- [Andy] Piss and vinegar.

- Yeah.

And was ignorant.

And I didn't understand how to express my emotions.

It was easier to go straight to mad, you know what I mean?

- [Andy] Mmhm.

- It took me a well up into my early twenties to get over that.

- [Andy] Did you go to counseling, or did you go to anger management or anything?

- I got my ass whooped a lot.

- [Andy] (laughs) I like that.

- [Bubba] How much different is the landscape in Iran than here?

There's hogs in Iran, right?

- [Andy] Yes, sir.

- Hogs thrive in all environments.

- [Andy] Oh yeah, they're burly as hell, man.

- And that's... not every animal can do that.

- [Andy] Absolutely.

(attendants clapping) (attendants cheering) - [Bubba] What were you hoping to gain from going over there?

The initial trip?

- [Andy] At the time, I don't think I could articulate it.

You know... - Right.

- I think that there was a deep hunger for me to just connect with my dad's side of the family.

- [Bubba] Right.

- [Andy] It's such a rich history and a rich culture, and I just kind of blocked myself off from it.

- [Bubba] Right.

♪ What dreams are made of ♪ ♪ There's nothing you can't ♪ (Andy singing in world language) - Woo!

- Woo!

♪ ♪ - [Bubba] What was the most shocking thing, that like, like culture shock, the biggest thing that like... - [Andy] So, when I went there and hung out with Ebrahim, and he kills this hog, and he just starts harvesting it, and bust out a bottle of Johnny Walker black label whiskey, and starts smoking cigs, and then they end up like, processing their hog and cooking it, you know, on the grill.

- Yeah.

- You know, like no big deal, and I was just thinking, like, "There... this would... like this would happen at home."

- At home.

- Yeah.

- [Bubba] Yeah.

(doors clicking shut) I guess this would be a good place to turn loose as any.

- Ready, critters?

- Here, here, here.

Here, here.

- Find that hog.

(dogs barking in distance) What'd they do over in Iran?

- One of them had like, big, big ass palm branches that he would use.

The other one would used rocks, and then we would kinda split up, and they would contact my cousin, and they said, "This one's coming."

- [Bubba] Bust him.

- [Andy] Bust him.

(water sloshing) - Some deer hunter didn't find him.

Coyotes did.

- [Andy] Oh yeah.

- Look here, that's where a boar hog been cutting.

He'd been rubbing here.

- [Andy] Oh yeah.

This right here too, huh?

- Yeah.

Them boars... barrs, them hogs come in here and they'll cut this.

And rub their heads on it.

Get that scent on there.

Getting this.

See that pine sap?

- Yeah.

- They're rubbing that behind their ears and stuff.

Killing bugs out.

But they'll cut that with their teeth.

- Oh yeah.

I can see.

- [Bubba] Kinda like a buck rub.

- [Andy] There's more of their hairs in here too.

- [Bubba] Yeah.

Look how wide that track is.

I mean, that's a big hog.

You can see that's where his body laid.

See how the mud's... What was your biggest fear?

Like getting on the plane, going over there?

- [Andy] When Trump said he was gonna bomb 52 cultural sites in Iran.

You know, my entire family there lives within a five mile radius of six cultural sites.

They lived with the fear of... - Right.

- ...of wondering is this actually... - [Bubba] Is this son of a bitch really gonna do it?

- Yeah.

You know?

- Yeah.

- I never had any clue that there was anyone in Iran that wasn't America, burn that... down, let's bomb these son of a bitches and cut all the Christians' heads off.

- Mm-hmm -Before the conversation we had, that's what the... world pumps out to people here.

- [Andy] Yeah, man.

- And people are ignorant.

- Yeah.

- They're like dogs.

They'll eat whatever you throw in front of 'em.

- Yeah, yeah.

- But you put me in a position where, look, Andy's always been a great... - Mm-hmm - and those are his people.

- Mm-hmm - Now I have some kind of connection to that.

- Ah huh.

- And that'll make you change the way you think about it.

- [Andy] Yeah.

- [Bubba] Because before, it was like, outta sight outta mind, you know?

- Yeah.

- They're in Iran, if they blow that... to hell, I'll never see it.

- Yep.

- [Bubba] So I'm like, whatever, but when I hear about this one, if I run into you and you're in a, you know, a really bad... place because your family just got... bombed.

-Mm-hmm.

- Well then, that's something that I've got to live with.

-Mm-hmm.

- They found one.

- They got 'em.

- Come on, step.

- Got one.

- Watch it.

Oh.

(dog barks) (hog snorting quietly) (somber ambient music) (music continues) (music continues) (dogs whining quietly) (distant birds chirping) - [Bubba] What's the biggest misconception that you've heard people say about, not only Arkansans, but Southerners or... - (sighs) That people here are just dumb.

That we're just dumb.

The second one I would say is probably something to the effect of like, "Oh, oh my God, I've never been through there.

That sounds scary."

You know?

- [Bubba] Yeah.

- That's the same as saying, in Iran, everybody's burning the American flag, you know?

- Celebratory.

- Yes sir.

(chuckles) - We ain't got no cigars.

(chuckles) (chuckle) You don't see doctors getting off work to go load their dogs.

You know what I mean?

- I agree.

Yeah.

- If you see, you know what?

These guys are, guys that work with their hands, and you know, what they call that?

Blue collar, middle class?

Lower class?

And I... that may be, The way we've done that may be too brutal for some people.

I understand.

But if you give a... about quality of life for an animal, and I'm not knocking hog farmers, -Mm-hmm.

- but that son of a bitch right there is a hell of a lot more healthy to eat than a son that's raised in the Cargill hog house.

(level cranking and squeaking) ♪ ♪ Hate begets hate.

- [Andy] Mm-hmm.

- [Bubba] You come at me hateful, and hateful is what you're gonna get back.

- Mmm.

- If I never had that conversation with you, I could have just lived the rest of my life thinking that everyone in Iran was American-Christian-hating.

Watch the table.

People need to set their pride aside and listen.

- [Andy] Yep.

- [Bubba] And a lot of people are scared to be swayed another way.

You gotta reevaluate your whole... life because you've been believing this one certain way your whole life, and now you're like, "Oh man, I'm wrong."

(horse whinnying) - Dad, stop.

(Bubba chuckles) - [Bubba] It makes me feel better about me knowing better.

- [Andy] Yeah.

It's liberating when you're okay being wrong.

- [Bubba] Yeah.

(boy grunts) Hang on tight, gimme your foot.

Who wants to live their whole life being... wrong, man?

(boy babbling) - [Andy] You know, I think that like, in some ways, Bubba, there was this part of me as a kid that like, was afraid of this certain entity that I was go... like, that I needed to be accepted by.

Does that make sense?

- Right.

- And, in some ways, like you represent that entity: the white, American side of me that embodied what I wanted to be.

But I did that at the cost of like denying - Who you were.

- who I am.

- Yeah.

- You know?

- You've dealt with that pull from either side.

There's been times that I was battling internally.

The things that I just took as being depressed or irate, you know, with myself, - Mm-hmm.

- I never thought and broke it down like me and you talked.

But then, talking with you about that kind of stuff, 'cause I'm like, "Oh, I've been there.

I know how you feel."

(level cranking) - In a lot of ways, it's like processing an animal, man.

- Yeah, getting the good out of it.

Cutting out the bad.

When I was younger, I'd sit in a real quiet room, I'd hear screaming in my head, just screaming.

- Mmm.

- And I always thought, "Man, he's... up".

It made me feel good that I wasn't the only...

The struggles.

Sometimes you think the stuff that you think internally is like a secret, even from yourself.

You got fat inside there.

- Beautiful.

- That's a piece you... you fry that whole son of a bitch up for breakfast.

I don't know why, but it's like, if I smash my thumb and it... hurts real bad, and I see another... smash his thumb and it hurts him real bad, it doesn't hurt mine as bad.

It is a lot like, "Look, man.

you're not the only dealing with... Suck it up and deal with it."

- But you can also, like, it also helps, I think, think outside yourself.

Like, if you see somebody else hit their hand on a hammer, you're gonna be like, "Damn, that hurt for that dude."

You know?

- [Bubba] Yeah.

- [Andy] I think that that's like, - [Bubba] Have a little bit of, a... Oh, what's it called?

Empathy?

Is that what you'd say?

- That be... yes sir.

- A little bit of empathy.

- Yes sir.

- I don't get to have conversations with people like this much.

It's nice to be able to have a conversation with somebody from an opposing view of things, and them not be like, "... You, you bigoted, racist piece of..." And I think that's where me and you are pretty strong on things.

- [Andy] These conversations can take place, - Yeah.

- you know?

Like, they can take place.

- [Bubba] Why is there not more people doing this...?

- [Andy] The red stuff is saffron.

It's actually the most expensive thing in the world by weight.

- [Bubba] No... - [Andy] Yeah.

- [Bubba] I don't know that I've ever had anything with saffron in it.

- [Andy] Ghormeh Sabzi's the national dish of Iran, and it's typically served with lamb, but today, we're eating it with your wild boar.

- Hell yeah.

- [Andy] Straight here from the Ozarks.

So we got the Arkansas, Iran, the Ozark-Iran fusion going on.

- Over in Iran, they make sausages.

They just cook a chunk meat.

- They use lamb and goat.

- Do they?

- Yeah.

So they typically won't.

This is a, I mean, that's why one of the things I like about this is that, 'cause most of the population is Muslim, so they don't eat pork.

- Oh yeah.

Well Andy, your Iranian dish speaks for itself.

(both laugh) - Me and you both, man.

That's what's up.

- That's some good stuff.

- Thanks for sharing that with me, man.

- I might have to get some more of that.

- Get you some more, bud!

It is good, isn't it, man?

- I like that.

- That's the... get you some man.

- That's the first Middle Eastern food I believe I've ever ate.

- Really?

I... yeah.

- I would say a hundred percent.

That's the first Middle Eastern food I've ever ate.

- That makes sense, man.

That makes sense.

(soft ambient music) - You think about it, Andy, when we were young.

You had a temper when you was younger.

- [Andy] Mmhm.

- I had a horrible temper, - [Andy] Mmhm.

- and I used to let that sit, and I'd get madder, and madder, and madder about it.

And then I usually, when I blew up on it, I blew up on somebody that didn't deserve it, - [Andy] Mmm.

- and, you know, I wasn't even that mad at them, but they just happened to be there the day that I couldn't cork it anymore, - [Andy] Mmm.

- and that's what's gonna happen to this country.

Death by a thousand cuts.

And when we finally do explode, we're probably gonna explode on the wrong...

But I think that the conversations should come first.

We should have those hard conversations.

These conversations that... any of us can have, you know?

- [Andy] That's a hell of a journey, big son.

- It's gotta start somewhere, bud.

(distant birds cawing) (bird cawing fades)