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GRIFFONS
Original Screenplay by Tiziano Cella
SCENE 1
INT. CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, NIRVANA. DAY.
The chamber is circular, and there is a ‘pulpit’ at its centre. The President is sitting at the highest desk, and just below him the leaders of the two opposing parties are seated. An indistinct chattering of deputies can be heard. The president uses his small wooden hammer to gain their attention.
PRESIDENT Silence please. Now David
Ginzburg, of the progressive movement will speak. As his conservative colleague had, he will have three minutes.
On the left of the President, a small gaunt man wearing thick-lensed glasses stands up.
DAVID GINZBURG Thank you President. Kind colleagues, I could bore you for hours talking about the scope of a movement like ours. Nirvana, born from the ashes of the War of Two Worlds, its only proposition that of maintaining peace. It would be very easy for me to demonstrate how the conservation of weapons of mass destruction is in fact a contradiction in terms. And it would be just as easy to refute my colleagues theory, who clutching at straws, sustains that these weapons ‘help in the objective’ of maintaining peace… It would be easy, as I said, but just as boring. I would therefore like to spend my time talking about the story of a man, a story not everybody is aware of: Colonel Piotr Blagoev. You
all know that at the beginning of the War, the president of the progressive party fought with the Russian-Asian troops.
A puzzled rumbling comes from both sides of the chamber.
DAVID GINZBURG (CONT’D)
If Colonel Blagoev decided to abandon his side and join the Euro-American forces, it was only to put an end to the most destructive war that the human race has ever fought. And it is thanks to his help and the information he voluntarily supplied that on the 7th of November 2039 the ‘Defeat of Peking’ took place, finally bringing an end to the War of Two Worlds. Well, if a man like this, a great military strategist was willing to turn his back on his party for an ideal, then that ideal must be extremely great and one from which we should all take example. The arms stockpiled in the deposits, as a consequence, must be destroyed. In the name of Peace.
A chorus of voices from the progressive movement reply: “IN THE NAME OF PEACE!” A wide round of applause covers the few comments of dissent in the chamber.
GENERAL DAKAN is sitting in the highest seats of the parliament, and watches the scene without applauding. He is wearing a military uniform and we can that he is a four-star General. At the end of the Ginzburg’s speech he turns and indicates to a young party member, who approaches him.
ANGEL DAKAN
What’s the situation? Do we have
the majority?
YOUNG PARTY MEMBER
We are on the razor’s edge,
General Dakan.
ANGEL DAKAN
Well let’s make sure we don’t slit our wrists, with this razor. Make sure the voting goes in our favour. Using all the tools we have to make sure it does.
The young man nods in silence and walks off, dialling a number on his mobile phone. The President of the Chamber once more bangs his hammer on the desk to get the attention of the deputies.
PRESIDENT Silence please. Voting will commence in 30 minutes.
Black.
SCENE 2
EXT. FOREST. DAY.
On the black screen following the title credits we can hear the sound of a Jeep’s engine, and the voices of two men.
OTTO (V.O)
You create too many problems Hans. You have to get used to the situation, otherwise you’ll go mad.
HANS (V.O)
What do you mean?
OTTO (V.O)
Try to forget your life as a
civilian, the blonde you met, the sex you used to have… The war is the same as it always has been… it never ended and we are always on the same side.
HANS (V.O)
The wrong side, you mean!
They laugh.
OTTO (V.O)
Stop here.
The Jeeps stops, and the engine is turned off. A figure walks to the trunk of the Jeep and opens it.
We discover that the black screen was the POV of JULIA DELGADO, gagged, dressed in rags and closed in the trunk of the car. As the trunk is opened, we can see the two soldiers silhouetted by the bright sunlight. They grab the woman and drag her out of the trunk. It is a wooded area and the road they are following continues as a dirt track.
OTTO
Move. And don’t even think about trying to escape.
The woman’s hands and feet are tied, but loose enough for her to move and walk. A rope is also tied around her waist and Hans pulls on it to make her move faster, while Otto, who follows them a few steps behind, is carrying a crossbow. As they begin walking, Otto bumps into the woman, and pushing her hard, she falls face down onto the floor. As she gets back up again, the two soldiers laugh at her.
OTTO
And this is one of Nirvana’s top officers? Get up Colonel, there’s still a long way to go.
HANS (pulling on the rope)
How far is the factory?
OTTO
Five kilometres.
HANS Couldn’t we have parked any closer?
OTTO Colonel Gray’s orders. He
doesn’t want us to leave any traces…
HANS
(pulling on the rope tied to Julia again)
Traces no, but a few bruises yes!
The two soldiers laugh and Julia groans through her gag, but the old oak forest absorbs all sounds.
SCENE 3
INT. FACTORY. TORTURE ROOM. DAY.
The woman is dragged into what seems to be an old abandoned factory. The room is lit from shards of light coming through the large windows. The hangar seems to be immense and is completely Spartan apart from a large metal chair next to a small medical table full of scalpels, syringes, various small bottles and other medical utensils. Julia is thrown into the chair, her hands and feet tied to it, and then the gag is removed from her mouth. Hans takes two steps backwards while Otto caresses the woman’s face, slides his hands down to her breasts, and then between her thighs. Julia is visibly afraid, trembling, but she makes no noise.
OTTO
Do you know what I have always liked about this place Hans?
HANS
What?
OTTO
The silence. A silence that is almost frightening.
Otto leans forward, and face to face with Julia he screams loudly. She closes her eyes tightly, terrorised, as the echo rumbles around the hangar. Then he speaks to her.
OTTO
Do you understand? Here you can scream as much as you want, but nobody is interested your screams. Imagine that Nirvana has forgotten you. You no longer exist. Hans, the anaesthetic.
Hans, in the meantime, has prepared a syringe from the table, and hands it to Otto, who without turning puts the needle into Julia’s neck. Julia’s POV becomes confused. She seems to see two men laughing, imitating the action of fucking her, and the last thing she hears is Otto’s deformed voice.
OTTO
We’re gonna fuck you, you know? Both of us, as soon as you fall asleep…
SCENE 4
INT. BABEL OUTPOST. EVENING.
The Babel outpost has been created using a long military tarpaulin. Twenty or so soldiers are inside. With a slow dolly shot we gradually see the activities of the soldiers during their rest period: a group of 4 corporals are playing cards and drinking from a camouflaged water bottle. A man, with his back to the camera, throws down his cards and reaches out for a pile of banknotes in the centre of the table. The man in front of him throws his cards into the air and swears. Another two soldiers are in an arm wrestle, their colleagues betting on the outcome of the match. A third group has immobilized a simple soldier and are playing darts with his cap as a target. As the camera follows them, a dart brushes his head and hits his cap. The camera moves towards the entrance of the outpost.
CUT TO:
SCENE 5
EXT. BABEL OUTPOST. EVENING.
Just outside the outpost, lying down on the ground, behind two dunes of mud and earth are two soldiers performing guard duty. Bogdan Romanoff and Liuba Andreevna. Behind them, during his rest period, Ricardo Sanchez is reading a book: Dante’s Inferno. Ricardo breaks the silence, making Bogdan, who is visibly tense, jump in alarm.
RICARDO
How incredible! Listen to this poetry… it seems like it was written yesterday: “Thou art nor double now, nor only one”
Bogdan, without moving his gaze from the woods, interrupts him.
BOGDAN Ricardo, I don’t know how to
tell you without offending you… but you’ve really pissed me off. You’ve been going on for two weeks about that book. Are you a soldier or a professor?
LIUBA
Leave him alone Bogdan. It seems to me that Ricardo the only coherent one of all of us.
Babel is a pacifist movement, yet we seem to be a group of mercenary assassins. Look at those animals in the outpost, acting like they were in some sleazy tavern… At least Ricardo has other interests…. He’s not like them… or you.
BOGDAN
And you want to give me lessons on coherence? So tell me… what has his book got to do with this war?
Liuba doesn’t reply, but Ricardo answers.
RICARDO
More than you think Bogdan.
Above all its title: L’inferno.
Hell.
Ricardo and Liuba laugh.
BOGDAN
You know Ricardo, your book reading culture will be more than useless when the knife of a Nirvana soldier slides through your ribcage… Then your words will be…
The noise of someone moving through the forest can be heard. Bogdan re-concentrates and aims his crossbow towards the forest.
BOGDAN
Who’s there?
JODIE Lieutenant Jodie Jennison bringing news from the factory in Plzen.
BOGDAN
Password?
Jodie continues to advance, not intimidated by the crossbow pointed towards her.
LIUBA
Lower your fucking crossbow,
Bogdan. Can’t you see it’s the
Lieutenant?
Bogdan obeys reluctantly.
RICARDO
News Lieutenant?
JODIE
The fish has taken the bait. Colonel Julia Delgado is our prisoner, tied to a chair and awaiting interrogation.
The soldiers exchange surprised glances.
JODIE
Before dawn we will finally discover the location of the Nirvana arms deposits.
Ricardo, gets up, salutes his superior and approaches her.
RICARDO
Lieutenant, you mean this damned war is going to end?
JODIE
Yes, in the name of peace. And we are about to win it!
SCENE 6
EXT. ABANDONED HOUSE. DAY. (FLASHBACK)
Julia Delgrado is sunbathing on a bleached towel. She is next to an empty and lime-scaled swimming pool. Behind her some ruins that must have once been a luxurious villa. A shadow leans over her and covers her face. Julia opens her eyes and screams.
ANGEL
Julia, it’s me.
JULIA
You scared the life out of me.
Angel, her husband, sits in front of her, and looks at her with a worried expression.
ANGEL
It’s been two weeks that you are nervous, stressed out… do you want to talk to me about it?
JULIA
It’s nothing. Just memories of the war resurfacing. The fear of losing you… of losing everything…
ANGEL
You are always afraid. Of the past, the future, of this and that. If it was up to me I’d abolish fear. Now Nirvana exists, there is no need to be afraid. There’s no need for fear in a world without weapons. And you are in a privileged position, as you share your bed with General Dakan…
Julia smiles without emotion.
JULIA
Perhaps you are right.
She stands and goes to the border of the swimming pool. It seems that she wants to dive in, but she bends down and scratches away some lime scale, which falls into the empty pool. Then she laughs, hysterically. Angel watches her, more worried than before.
JULIA
I remember when The Times reported the estimated number of deaths caused by the war. It seemed like a joke… a war practically without soldiers, a war using chemical weapons that decimated humanity. I felt empty. You were the one who proposed the confiscation of all firearms to Nirvana, and that was when I fell in love with you.
ANGEL
It wasn’t difficult… not one of the governments put up resistance, as we expected. The War of Two Worlds was the holocaust of the whole human race… and perhaps we finally realised that we had exaggerated.
JULIA
But do you really think we learned our lesson?
Angel doesn’t reply.
JULIA (CONT’D)
I mean… what was the real problem? The bombs or those who dropped them?
ANGEL
Don’t start with your usual ‘man was born to kill’ routine, our child is evidence that man can also create, not just destroy…
Julia touches her belly. She smiles bitterly.
JULIA
I often wish she’ll never be born. After everything I have seen, I wish I hadn’t been born myself. The only safe world is one without humans, and both of us know that is impossible.
ANGEL
Well… think what you like. If you need me I’ll be in the council meeting.
Angel walks off, and Julia remains next to the pool. At a certain point she pinches her nose and jumps in. We see her plummet under water, and realise that she is diving into her imagination. She opens her eyes and swims, slowed down by the waves of the water.
SCENE 7
INT. FACTORY. TORTURE ROOM.
A bucket of water wakes Julia from her dreams, her memories. She is still tied to the chair, where the two soldiers had left her, and looking round she seems to make out that she is alone.
Then she hears footsteps approaching her. Someone is coming towards her, but the rays of light illuminate the face too
infrequently for her to see the person’s face.
DOUGLAS
Do you remember me?
He comes closer and finally he stops at a few paces from Julia, in an illuminated area. It is Colonel Douglas Gray, dressed in military uniform. He resembles a pirate thanks to a black bandage covering his right eye, the borders of an irregular scar visible at the edges of the cloth.
DOUGLAS
The last time we met, we were both just Captains and we were fighting on the same side…
JULIA
Douglas…
DOUGLAS
Yes it’s me, Julia. Even if, given the circumstances, it would be more appropriate to call me Colonel Gray. Julia, Julia… I would never have imagined finding myself in a situation like this with you. I mean, I have already seen you handcuffed, but back then it was to a bed and we had a great time, if I remember rightly...
JULIA
Douglas, please… this is one big mistake… I don’t know anything.
DOUGLAS
My little Julia, the helpless creature who always makes the wrong decisions… always on the wrong side. If it was up to me I’d believe you, but it won’t be so easy to convince my men. You will have to be very persuasive, seeing as what we want from you is more important than the both of us… and even more important
than Colonel Blagoev.
JULIA
The GPS co-ordinates for the deposits… that’s what you want isn’t it?
DOUGLAS
I see you are beginning to come round to my way of thinking.
JULIA
I swear I don’t know Douglas. Tell your men. You know better than I do… Only the generals know the locations… Angel would never have told me… It is a military secret. Please… in the name of our friendship, believe me.
With his good eye he eyes her up and down seriously, and seems to smile. Then his expression changes, he grabs her by the neck and shouts in her face.
DOUGLAS
Our friendship? You know what you meant to me, you know how I felt for you… friendship?!
Suddenly he releases his grip, sorry for losing control, and takes a deep breath to calm himself down. Julia gets her breath back and coughs.
DOUGLAS No. There’s no point
recriminating about the past. It’s not… professional. Look at this abandoned factory Julia. The war has reduced this place to a bunch of ruins without hope, like half of the buildings in this country. You chose to follow him, Julia. By staying with Angel you chose which side you were on. You made your choice and I respect that
choice, but our friendship is worth less than this place we are in.
JULIA
If you only knew how things are between me and Angel…
DOUGLAS
I don’t know and I’m not interested. Now the only thing that counts are the coordinates. It is the only solution. Also for you.
Julia doesn’t reply. She stares at Douglas silently, and her eyes fill with tears.
DOUGLAS
I understand. You don’t want to talk. You’ve always been a fighter… that’s what I liked about you… but here your fighting spirit won’t help you.
As he speaks, he walks towards a wall and presses a button on a type of intercom. At the end of the room, behind Julia, a door opens and four men enter. They lift her from the chair and tie her to a table connected to some electrodes. Douglas approaches her.
DOUGLAS
You were never a good liar… and I know you too well to understand when you are lying to me. You leave me no choice. The orders come from above, and I am still a soldier, even though I am fighting for peace. I hope you understand. Hans…
The soldier who had prepared the syringe pulls a lever and the table begins to crackle with electricity. After a few seconds Hans cuts off the electric current and Gray questions her again. Julia seems destroyed and scared.
DOUGLAS
The coordinates, Julia. Give us the coordinates and you could save your own life.
JULIA
Douglas, I don’t know anything. Believe me… at least this time you have to believe me…
SCENE 8
EXT. STREET IN THE SUBURBS OF ISTANBUL. DAY. (FLASHBACK)
DOUGLAS
I believe you Julia, but I don’t understand you.
Douglas and Julia are walking along a street in the suburbs of Istanbul. Douglas still has both his eyes and Julia has a different hairstyle. They are surrounded by many local people: A doner kebab vendor is cutting the meat from a skewer for a customer, and further on, a man is preparing three ice cream cones.
JULIA
Try to understand Douglas. He’s my husband and Aurora’s father. How could I not give him my support on such a delicate question?
DOUGLAS
All I’m asking is that you come to one of Babel’s meetings. You need to hear Blagoev talk Julia… he doesn’t seem like a soldier… he’s different… He formed this cultural group to help us understand the errors made during the war. So that we can change.
JULIA
Why do you call yourselves
Babel?
DOUGLAS
Don’t you know the story of the
Tower of Babel? When all those on earth spoke the same language, Man decided to challenge God by building a tower that reached up into the heavens. The Lord punished Man’s arrogance by scattering the peoples and confusing their languages, so that they couldn’t understand each other any more. According to Blagoev, even though most of the world speaks English, never before have we been so incapable of communicating.
JULIA (thoughtfully)
Perhaps you are right.
DOUGLAS
Why don’t you join us? Just come once, to see what we are about
JULIA
I really would like to Douglas… but I can’t. You know that. Aurora is one year old… It would be selfish of me to not think of her future without a father.
DOUGLAS
So tell me Julia, what future do you imagine for her? What safety can a political force that has stockpiled all the world’s weapons give you? If a General decides one day, in a moment of madness, to blow up Italy or France, what would happen to your future?
JULIA
Don’t make things difficult for me Douglas. You know that I agree with you in principle, but you are exaggerating… you are
just nervous about the Council putting the motion to a vote. Nobody in our party intends to blow up half of Europe. We just need to decide whether to conserve the weapons or not. That’s all.
DOUGLAS
Perhaps you are right, but I have a bad feeling about the whole issue. Nirvana was created just over two years ago, and we already have the first great internal bloodletting, and it’s not because of Blagoev who expressed his legitimate fears. Your husband, as usual, wants to show he is in control of the situation. The dead bodies still haven’t decomposed in their graves, and yet new conflicts are already on the horizon.
Julia remains silent, in thought. In her heart of hearts Julia has the same fears, but she doesn’t share them with Douglas, afraid of betraying her principles: a luxury she cannot afford.
JULIA
If it makes you feel better, Angel promised me he would look for an agreement with Blagoev immediately after the vote.
DOUGLAS
And you trust him?
JULIA
Of course I trust him. He’s got hundreds of defects, but he has always maintained his word.
Suddenly Gray pushes her into an alley and begins kissing her. She seems to resist his advances and tries to push him away.
JULIA
Stop it Doug… not now…
He stops his advances.
DOUGLAS
What’s wrong?
JULIA
Someone could see us.
DOUGLAS
You’re right, come with me.
SCENE 9
To be continued next week....