BETHLEHEM LIGHTS
Written by MICHAEL ASHTON
©KS PRODUCTIONS LTD all rights reserved CONTACT: KIM ASHTON 00 44 7703 830 573 kim.ashton@ksproductions.co.uk
1. INT A ROOM IN A HOTEL IN KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, MARCH 2007. MID MORNING. SFX: OPENING: AFRICAN MUSIC AND THE SOUNDS OF THE JUNGLE, FADING INTO SFX: SOUNDS OF A FAN BEATING RHYTHMICALLY, TRAFFIC ON A BUSY STREET OUTSIDE. A RADIO IS PLAYING REGGAE MUSIC. The music plays and after a moment. SFX: A TELEPHONE RINGS. The noise of the phone is clangy and jarring, like a 1970’s ring tone. It continues for a moment before Mathieu Ngudjolo answers. NGUDJOLO Yes ... don’t address me as Colonel on the phone. Are you mad!? There are spies everywhere in Kinshasa. (pause) You can call me M. (pause with a short insincere laugh) That’s right idiot, just like in James Bond. (beat) Wait, I will turn it down. SFX: SOUND OF HIM CROSSING THE ROOM TO THE RADIO AND TURNING DOWN THE VOLUME. NGUDJOLO (CONT’D) Better? (beat) No, I don’t like Bob Marley. A progressive rock music and Mozart man myself. (pause) Western? Yes. (beat) True, I don’t suppose Mozart does accompany the roar of a Kalashnikov in quite the same way. (pause and chuckle) But then Captain, what are we Lendu if not a paradox? (beat) Paradox ... a contradiction. (chuckles) Some of us turned to education. How else to escape the poor red soil of Ituri hah ... except the mission school and the great Satan’s culture? And I did not relish the prospect of being enslaved in a damn mine!
2.
SFX: A SIREN SOUNDS OUTSIDE AND RECEDES INTO THE DISTANCE. NGUDJOLO (CONT’D) (abruptly) You have something to tell me? (pause) Brigadier Katanga too? Are you sure? (beat) Damn! What is wrong with these people? They want what we dig out of the land and turn a blind eye to how we get it when it suits them. (beat) Anyway, the filthy Hema rat shits trampled their animals all over our fields. What else does the world expect? These Hema are not Congo! Ugandans! Foreigners! They are invaders! Locusts! They are ... Although we do not hear what the person on the other end of the phone is saying the sudden interruption silences Ngudjolo for half a minute. When he speaks again he is calm. NGUDJOLO (CONT’D) What!? Katanga wants me to return to the barracks? (pause and then he enunciates each word with precision) The Brigadier wants me to come back? (beat) Are you sure of that? If this ... (sneers) International Court does issue an arrest warrant ... (pause) They will not? You are quite certain? (pause) Very well Captain. Tell the Brigadier I will be back at my post tomorrow. (laughs) No, not today ... SFX: ICE CUBES IN A GLASS. NGUDJOLO (CONT’D) I am too drunk. (voice fading down) Too drunk Captain, too drunk for a woman even.
3.
SFX: THE SOUND OF THE RADIO AGAIN. FADE OUT. 2. INT A ROOM IN A HOTEL IN KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, MARCH 2007. LATE AFTERNOON. SAME DAY. SFX: THE SOUND OF THE FAN AND OVER IT THE RADIO. A NEWSREADER CAN BE HEARD. NEWSREADER There is widespread condemnation in the United States following the decision handed down by the federally recognised Cherokee Indian Nation to exclude freed slaves from Cherokee citizenship. This decision has been described by Senator ... Ngudjolo laughs raucously. SFX: A SHARP RAP ON THE DOOR. NEWSREADER (CONT’D) Barack Obama, who last year in December 2006 ... VO NGUDJOLO Who is it? NEWSREADER Sponsored the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, Democracy, and Promotion Act ... SFX: THE DOOR IS AGAIN KNOCKED VO NGUDJOLO (irritated) I haven’t asked for room service. NEWSREADER Whish has been signed into law by President Bush ... DISTORT [voice of a woman outside the door] OFF. VOICE Urgent message for Colonel Ngudjolo.
4.
SFX: SOUND OF NGUDJOLO SIGHING HEAVILY AND RISING AND CROSSING THE ROOM AS THE RADIO, WHICH HE SWITCHES OFF WITH A CLICK AS HE PASSES IT, DRONES ON. NEWSREADER Described the decision as a retrospective step for racial harmony and ... SFX: SOUND OF THE DOOR BEING OPENED AND THEN THE SOUND OF IT BEING PUSHED FORCEFULLY ALL THE WAY OPEN THEN SLAMMING SHUT WITH A LOUD BANG. A young woman, Sofia, has entered with a pistol aimed at Ngudjolo. NGUDJOLO Jesus! Who ... SOFIA Shut up! NGUDJOLO What the fu ... SOFIA I told you to shut up! NGUDJOLO (small chuckle) Fuck. You are dead girl! Whoever you are I swear you are dead! SOFIA Get back you pig! Sit in that chair! SFX: THE RADIO SWITCHED AND LOUD MUSIC. DEAFENING. IT GOES ON FOR A FEW SECONDS THEN WITH A CLICK THE RADIO IS SWITCHED OFF. SOFIA (CONT’D) See pig ... it is that easy ... and no one will hear you scream. (beat) No one will care. (beat) Maybe for starting I put a bullet in your knee, or your elbow. I am good with this. NGUDJOLO Big gun for a little thing like you. Are you sure ...
5.
SOFIA Almost a year practising and planning Colonel. Every day at least five hours on the pistol range. NGUDJOLO Do you know who you are pointing that thing at? Do you? SOFIA (laughs and sneers) Yes, an animal who will be dead on the floor in ten seconds if he does not shut up and sit down. NGUDJOLO Who are you? SOFIA That’s better. You just sit there Ngudjolo. Go back to your drink. It is what you are good at. NGUDJOLO What do you want? SOFIA I want your fucking head is what I want! But first I want to cut off your balls and shove them down your throat! NGUDJOLO (laughs raucously) Oh is that all? (beat) Hey, why don’t you come over here and sit on this first before you do that? SFX: THE SOUND OF RAPID FOOTSTEPS AND A SHARP SAVAGE SLAP ON A FACE. NGUDJOLO (CONT’D) You Hema bitch sow! I will fuc ... SFX: SOUND OF A PISTOL BEING COCKED. SOFIA Sit down! (pause, she is breathing heavy) I warn you ... I am good with this. Too good I am ashamed to say. SFX: PAUSE AS TRAFFIC OUTSIDE IS HEARD AND THE FAN THUMPS.
6.
SOFIA (CONT’D) You think I am Hema? NGUDJOLO What? SOFIA You called me a Hema bitch sow. You think because I come into your hotel room with a gun and aim it at your head I must be Hema? NGUDJOLO What other reason could there be? She laughs. SOFIA I am South African pig ... (chuckles sardonically) Though as a Bantu I guess you would say I share my blood with the Hema. NGUDJOLO (laughs) Or your whore mother opened her fat shiny black legs to some cow herder some time back. She does not rise to this and remains calm. SOFIA I could kill you right now for what you have done. The world would thank me. They would have me in that United Nation building in New York. They would stand and put their hands together, representing all the places of the world, the big and important and the small. The cameras would flash ... and they would pin a medal, right here, on my breast. NGUDJOLO (laughs) I am much too drunk to argue you with you girl ... whatever you are. (beat) Here, why don’t you have a drink with me? SOFIA (sneers) I would not drink with you pig.
7.
NGUDJOLO (laughs mockingly) I bet your mother would, and I bet she would not turn down the chance of ... SFX: FOOTSTEPS AS SHE CROSSES THE ROOM QUICKLY. A CRACK AND HE LETS OUT A ROAR OF PAIN. A KNOCK ON THE DOOR. She crosses to the door and opens it. 3. INT. THE HOTEL ROOM. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW ON. SFX: CREAK AS THE DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES. Andrew, her accomplice and the man she has been waiting for, has entered the room. He is shocked when he sees Ngudjolo and the upset Sofia. ANDREW Sofia. There is blood on his head. SOFIA He got only what he deserves. ANDREW I told you. Did I not tell you? He must not be harmed. SOFIA No Andrew, you told me I was not to kill him. NGUDJOLO The bitch! SOFIA See, he is quite alive. SFX: PAUSE AS THE FAN THRUMS. NGUDJOLO (very drunk and his words) You’ve come to kill do? Hah? Kill baba? everyone? (laughs) Even I could not do said. God knows ...
slurring me. What did I Papa? Slaughter that? What is
SFX: THE SOUND OF A GLASS FALLING ON THE FLOOR. ANDREW How much has he had to drink. He is unconscious.
8.
SFX: SOUND OF A CUPBOARD BEING OPENED AND THEN CLOSED. SOFIA Two days he has been here and the wardrobe is full of bottles. ANDREW We have to wait then. SOFIA Wait here!? With him!? ANDREW Let him sleep it off. There is a pause and then Sofia suggests, half slyly and with a low voice. SOFIA Kill him now. SFX: HEAVY BANG. IT IS A BULKY FILE LANDING ON A TABLE TOP. ANDREW No. We must go through the file with him first. There is a pause. SFX: SOUNDS OF THE FAN AND THE TRAFFIC. SOFIA He even looks like a pig when he is asleep. PITCH: NGUDJOLO SNORING. SOFIA (CONT’D) Look how he slavers Andrew. ANDREW I hate him too Sofia ... and I have more reason ... SOFIA (sneers) If you say so. SFX: SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS. ANDREW You think that way because you carry your pain with you like a cheap handbag. SOFIA Of course I do. I bleed with it.
9.
ANDREW Every woman bleeds Sofia ... and I don’t mean just at their time of month. (sighs heavily) And that is especially true in times of war. There are many ways to bleed in this life. SOFIA (incredulous) In God’s name what are you doing? ANDREW It is in God’s name I do this. SOFIA Why? ANDREW We must be sure. SOFIA Have you gone crazy? Befok! You bandage his head? ANDREW We cannot just execute a man unless we are certain of his guilt. And I will not have him bleed to death in a chair before he answers our charges. SOFIA I didn’t agree to this so we could preside over some fucking silly mock trial? SFX: SHARP BANG OF FURNITURE MOVING AS ANDREW CONFRONTS HER. ANDREW Take the suppressor off that thing! Sofia ... SOFIA We need the silencer on if we are to escape after ... ANDREW Take it off! SOFIA Get your hands off me! ANDREW Sofia!
10.
SOFIA Get away! I’ll shoot you Andrew! I swear to God I will! ANDREW No Sofia, you won’t. That is why we cannot kill him out of hand. It is what separates us from him. SFX: SOUND OF HER SOBBING. CHAIR SCRAPING ON THE FLOOR. ANDREW (CONT’D) (gently) Sit down girl. That’s it. SOFIA (plaintive) No man will touch me again. When the French soldiers came and brought us out I swore it. Never again I told myself. I knelt before the statue of the blessed virgin in the Cathedral in Bunia and I swore it. ANDREW She will have heard you. (pause) Here, drink. SFX: SHE SPLUTTERS AS THE STRONG LIQUID HITS THE BACK OF HER THROAT. ANDREW (CONT’D) It is wrong to hate all men because of what some ... or one ... has made you suffer. SOFIA All men, but not that one. Do you know... ANDREW (gently) I know my dear, I know, but he will sleep for hours and ending his life need not be hastened by vengeance. It is sordid and unworthy of you ... and me. SOFIA Life was happy in my village before he came with his ... (sneers) Soldiers. Most of them were little boys really. (MORE)
11. SOFIA They sold me to with his people Orientale, near
(CONT'D) a war chief living in the jungle in the Uganda border.
ANDREW My dear child ... SOFIA There was a Uganda air force station. The men would drink in their bars then come. I could be bought for forty francs. Not even the price of a half chicken. (sneers again) I was the lucky one. My sisters had the skin stripped from their bones while they still lived ... because he said my father was a Ugandan spy. My father had never been to Uganda. We did not know one single Ugandan. ANDREW I visited your village once. I led a mass in your little church. SOFIA They burned it ... with my mother and father and little brother inside. ANDREW I understand your hatred child. SOFIA Do you? Really? Is that possible? ANDREW Perhaps not yours ... but my own ... and I have come to terms with it. SOFIA Father Lucien said when Christ was crucified, at the exact minute of his death the Sun was obliterated in the sky and darkness seeped across the land. It was a sign of God’s anger. ANDREW I am a Minister Sofia and I too believe this.
12.
SOFIA We remembered in our prayers how afterwards God sent the Sun back to us, but after the FNI came I said to myself ... yes Sofia He did send back the Sun ... but He did not send back the light. ANDREW Bogoro was my village ... SOFIA Yes, where more than two hundred were butchered. I read it Andrew ... women raped to death, babies with heads bashed in against walls, people burned alive or butchered with machetes ... ANDREW Stop it. Sometimes it is better not to know. You understand? There are people in the world who live with plenty. Their lives are comfortable beyond anything we can know. SOFIA (sneers) The civilised world. ANDREW They discard more than we could ever use or ever hope for ... and whenever they do venture into our world it is only to put some coins in a collection box. SOFIA So is it better to face up to what is real Father, or to live in that world of imagination they inhabit? Father Lucien spoke of those places ... America ... Belgium ... England ... ANDREW No Sofia, you are right, it is what is real that is important. (beat) You know what is worse of all for me? (pause) The children. The children they make do the terrible things. As young as seven ... carrying weapons almost as big as them. Robbed of what it means to be a child.
13.
SOFIA Then you know. ANDREW Yes, I know. (beat and deep sigh) I believe he is guilty Sofia ... and I believe he deserves death ... but I refuse to let my beliefs be dictated by my desires. SOFIA Then why don’t we just shoot him in the head now while he sleeps and have done with him? SFX: ICE CLINKS IN A GLASS. THE FAN THROBS AND THE TRAFFIC SOUNDS THOUGH MUTED REMAIN. ANDREW Lagavulin. He knows his whiskey. SOFIA You should come away from the window. Might be seen. ANDREW He was getting ready to run. It was on the radio the International Criminal Court want to take him and Germain Katanga to Holland and put them on trial. SOFIA (sneers) And that is supposed to be a comfort to the countless victims? To them who are dead and gone, them who will never be, and them who are left behind grieving and wailing in the long hours of the endless night. SFX: SOUND OF A CHAIR SCRAPING. ANDREW No my dear, of course not. But we must take comfort in the words of our Lord. It is set down in the good Book ... Romans ... (quotes) ‘be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay.’
14.
SOFIA But isn’t it also written, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink’? ANDREW Clever girl. SOFIA Then finish the quote. ANDREW Yes ... alright. (quotes again) ‘For in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ SOFIA (sneers loudly) I spoke with a woman from Amnesty. She tell me that if he is charge and convicted he will be free in ten years. Ten years Andrew! His prison will have tv, hot food three times every day, clean sheets on his bed, holidays, every privilege for the human rights. Where are the human rights for my sisters and my little brother? Hah? For my mama and my papa. ANDREW It is how things are done in their world Sofia. SOFIA The pigs kill my little brother because he is not old enough to hold a gun. If he is only two years older he would be alive now. ANDREW But if they arrest him it is still justice child. If he is taken to court in Europe ... SOFIA I have not come here to arrest him! I come to kill him ... and you promised. ANDREW Only if there is no reasonable doubt I said. SOFIA (bitterly) You waver Father. (MORE)
15. SOFIA (CONT'D) Because you commune with the Lord you waver. These are not burning coals. (pause, then, urgent) Shoot him now!
ANDREW No Sofia. We will wait. (chuckles) And you have had enough of this very fine malt I am thinking. (chuckles) Not like the Sorghum we are used to eh? After a moment she laughs also. The tension is broken. SOFIA It is not so bad after a while. ANDREW You need to take your eyes from him. (beat) Go downstairs into the lounge and keep watch Sofia. SOFIA I think no one will come. ANDREW All the same ... this hotel is his usual place. His friends may come for him. SOFIA No, he has no friends. I think this one is hiding here. ANDREW Yes, I agree, but still, let us not take chances. (pause) Go on, I will watch him. SFX: THE SOUND OF CHAIRS SCRAPING AND THE DOOR OPENING. SOFIA You have your pistol? ANDREW Yes, I do, but he is in no condition. SOFIA He is drunk now ... but he will soon enough be sober.
16.
ANDREW As you say my dear, he wallows. SOFIA He is dangerous. Take no chances. SFX: THE DOOR CLOSES. ANDREW (pause, then, with a heavy sigh) Ah Colonel Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, look at this gun I am holding? Me? A minister of God. What monsters you people make of us. (pause) SFX: PISTOL IS COCKED. ANDREW (CONT’D) Perhaps she is right. Perhaps we should just shoot you here and now. And yet ... if I do that where will my redemption come from? SFX: THE FAN THROBS, TRAFFIC IS HEARD, HORNS SOUNDING, WHICH FADES TO THE TICKING OF A CLOCK. CUT TO: 4. INT. THE HOTEL ROOM. SAME DAY. LATE NIGHT. SFX: THE TICKING THE CLOCK, WHICH IS REPLACED AS IT RECEDES BY THE FAN. FROM OUTSIDE A HORN SOUNDS LOUD AND CLOSE. SOFIA (urgently) It is not wise Andrew. He will waken having slept and we will be unable to keep our eyes open. He will have us at his mercy. I have seen what he does then. ANDREW Our business with him will not take long. See, I have brought the file. SOFIA We should just kill him. Now! ANDREW We must be sure first Sofia. SOFIA It is not wise to wait.
17.
ANDREW Revenge is not a wise master. SOFIA Look, he wakens. PITCH: A GROAN LONG AND DEEP. NGUDJOLO Give me water. There is a pause. ANDREW Fetch some water please Sofia. SOFIA He has a hangover Father, he is not disabled. He can get it for himself ... from the bathroom ... there. SFX: SOUNDS OF FURNITURE MOVING AND A DOOR OPENING. A TAP RUNNING. FOOTSTEPS. SOFIA (CONT’D) You have had your water pig, now sit back down. SFX: FURNITURE MOVING. SOFIA (CONT’D) (nervous) I told you. Sit! I’m warning you. If you ... NGUDJOLO (amused) I only want a drink girl. ANDREW Sit down Colonel. NGUDJOLO Happy now? SOFIA Give me the silencer. There is a pause. NGUDJOLO I’m glad you are enjoying my Lagavulin. I have a friend in Scotland sends it with the diplomatic pouch. Eight bottles ... every month. (chuckles) (MORE)
18. NGUDJOLO (CONT'D) You would be surprised how a litre of this finest Scots malt whiskey oils wheels within wheels.
ANDREW You seem ... NGUDJOLO (amused) What? ANDREW I am not sure. NGUDJOLO Unconcerned? ANDREW Yes, unconcerned. NGUDJOLO Ask the girl to take the barrel from my head and that will be the truth. (beat) Her finger trembles. ANDREW (wearily) Sofia ... SOFIA (snarls) My finger only trembles with anticipation ... animal. ANDREW (wearily) Sofia, please. SOFIA God Andrew! He is laughing at us. Can’t you see he is laughing at us? NGUDJOLO What do you expect? Fools! (beat) If I am the monster you clearly think me you would have shot me when I was drunk and helpless. Of course I am unconcerned. SOFIA Oh we are going to shoot you. Don’t be too cocky.
19.
NGUDJOLO You maybe Hema sow, but not him. Not the man of God. His body is big but his resolve is small. (laughs) Here ... (contempt) Girl ... fetch me another drink. ANDREW Sofia no! Stay back! SOFIA Bastard! SFX: NOISE, FURNITURE GOING OVER, SOFIA SCREAMS. THERE IS A FRANTIC STRUGGLE. NGUDJOLO I kill you! Bitch! ANDREW Keep the gun away from him Sofia! Don’t let him get it! SOFIA Hold him! Hold him! NGUDJOLO Aargh! You dead! Both of you! SOFIA Sit on him Andrew! Crush the bastard! ANDREW No! Don’t kill him! (beat) Don’t do it child. (plaintive) I beg you. God is watching. SOFIA For all them you have murdered. ANDREW Please! (beat) I implore you. Ngudjolo lets out a sudden cry of pain. SOFIA Least I can give him then is a kick. Ngudjolo cries out a second time.
20.
ANDREW Stop it! Stop it! SOFIA Pain. Look at his ugly face Father. Now look at my face. Whose pain is the greater do you think? ANDREW (panting with exertion) We must tie him up. Find something Sofia. There ... look ... the curtain’s ... the tie backs ... and the belts from the dressing gowns. Go! NGUDJOLO You are a priest? A minister? She called you Father. ANDREW Shut up! Shut up! Or I’ll kill you myself. SFX: THE FAN BEATS. CUT TO: 5. INT. THE HOTEL ROOM. 3 O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING. SFX: THE SOUND OF A CLOCK TICKING LOUDLY. IT CONTINUES FOR SEVERAL SECONDS THEN STOPS ABRUPTLY. SOFIA Too cold with the window open and the fan running, too hot with it closed and no fan. ANDREW If you want the fan ... SOFIA No, I want to hear his lies. NGUDJOLO The Hema sow has broken a rib, cracked it at least ... and the cut on my scalp will need stitches I think. ANDREW You can bear these injuries Colonel. They are minor. NGUDJOLO And my fucking finger!
21.
ANDREW Nothing. NGUDJOLO Yes, but what more will she do to me now I am bound and helpless? SOFIA I said ... I want to hear your lies ... you Lendu pig. NGUDJOLO I am not lying. I told you. It’s true I was a Colonel in the FNI ... and I have served in the Revolutionary Movement ... and the Patriotic Resistance Force. Yes, I was all of those things. ANDREW And now? NGUDJOLO Now? Now I am an ordinary soldier of the army of the Democratic Republic. I am what we all fought for. SOFIA (sneers) And it is such a thing to be proud of being a soldier? NGUDJOLO Idiot bitch! You focus only on what you yourself feel and understand nothing of what this country has done to us ... all of us. I ... yes me ... Colonel Mathieu Ngudjolo ... I often think of the death I have seen in the wars that have torn this country apart ... of what I have witnessed. As a soldier I have never been on the losing side ... yet I know I have won nothing. So, if you now kill me I will have lost ... nothing. ANDREW Then why not admit what you have done? God will forgive you. NGUDJOLO (laughs) Maybe, but will she?
22.
SOFIA I know the truth! I know what you have done pig. NGUDJOLO What you think I have done. ANDREW Look at this photograph Colonel. (beat) That is you isn’t it? (pause) And this statement ... NGUDJOLO A liar! Paid by the Ugandan locusts! Lies! ANDREW There are two more. They say you ordered the massacre at Bogoro. They say you ordered the village wiped out. NGUDJOLO (very calmly) They lie priest. Did you witness me give the order? Did you see me? ANDREW I saw you. NGUDJOLO Yes, okay, you saw me, but did you actually witness me give the order? There is a pause. ANDREW I did not personally ... SOFIA I saw you at my village! Do you deny the little soldiers jumped to your command? NGUDJOLO It is not for me to question who is put into my unit, or any other unit. If they can carry a gun and understand the cause they are old enough. ANDREW And coercion and khat Colonel? You think some seven year old child understands these things? When you have robbed them of their parents.
23.
SOFIA They force them murder their own mama’s and papa’s. Can you imagine such a thing? (beat) After that they become hollow and will commit any atrocity. NGUDJOLO I have never personally done any such thing. A fighter is assigned to my command and I enter his name in the roll book ... and that is all I do. Sofia snorts derision. SOFIA So do you now deny you personally pulled my mother from our house? NGUDJOLO I was there at your village. Yes, I admit it was me, but Brigadier Katanga commanded. (beat) You know that. I know you do. And anything I might have done I did under orders. Where would we all be if we do not follow orders? Chaos ... that would be the result for humanity. Befehl ist Befehl. ANDREW Orders are orders. Is that enough then? NGUDJOLO My head hurts like hell. The bitch pistol whipped me. ANDREW Is it Colonel? NGUDJOLO Damn! Can I have a drink? SOFIA (sneers) You think we stupid? Free your hands? NGUDJOLO Then shoot me! Get it over with. It’s what you want to do. ANDREW It is the last thing we want to do.
24.
SOFIA Not me. I blow the evil bastards head off right now. ANDREW It is not the answer Sofia. SOFIA Will work for me. ANDREW I remember what happened in Rwanda. How terrible it was. Hutu ... Tutsi ... almost a million murdered ... and can you tell the difference between them now? NGUDJOLO (scoffs) Less cockroaches about these days. There’s one difference. ANDREW That is terrible. NGUDJOLO That ... is the harsh truth! There is a pause. ANDREW You are Lendu Colonel ... NGUDJOLO I am, and proud of it. ANDREW So even if Sofia there is Hema ... how could you? Her mama and papa fled here looking for sanctuary from the brutality of the white’s in South Africa ... and they end up being butchered by those with the same skin colour. NGUDJOLO I am not responsible for what happened to her people. ANDREW Is the man who squeezes the trigger less guilty than him who formulates the ideology? SOFIA An eye for an eye? Is that why my family was butchered? Because we lived in a Hema village.
25.
NGUDJOLO An eye for an eye? Yes, I believe that. ANDREW No Colonel, you don’t. I do ... believe? ... what when you innocent
NGUDJOLO but does it matter what I When she has her revenge will you tell your God face him if you murder an man?
SOFIA Innocent? Look at the uniform you wear. Stand before a mirror and tell yourself that if you dare. (scoffs) You? Mathieu Ngudjolo? Innocent? NGUDJOLO I have done things I am not proud of ... committed acts that are morally questionable ... yes ... but that is war. ANDREW War is not an answer, it is a reaction. NGUDJOLO Yes, and this is my reaction: I tell you both with all honesty ... I am innocent of the crimes you charge me with. (pause) I will be able to look God in the face. Kill me and will you? There is a pause. SOFIA God is not your judge this night. (beat) We are. (beat) I saw you drag my mama by her hair! I saw your children swing the machetes and laugh! With ... these ... eyes. I saw it! NGUDJOLO For chrissakes can I have a drink! I need a drink! ANDREW Here ...
26.
SFX: A BOTTLE TOP OPENING AND LIQUID SPLASHING IN A GLASS. FOOTSTEPS. ANDREW (CONT’D) I will hold it for you. SOFIA You see what I am saying Andrew? Even if they take him to the international court, the result will only be them holding the glass to his lips. ANDREW Where are you going? SOFIA The bathroom. (tartly) You don’t mind do you? SFX: SOUND OF A DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING. NGUDJOLO Thank you Father. ANDREW Don’t call me that. I haven’t been Father since the night your soldiers came to Bogoro. NGUDJOLO Andrew ... ANDREW And I haven’t slept. NGUDJOLO How is it you escaped? I have heard it said no one escaped. ANDREW You know it. I saw you there before you got in your truck. NGUDJOLO And drove away. I left my Captain in charge. ANDREW With your orders. NGUDJOLO No. ANDREW Yes. The witnesses ...
27.
NGUDJOLO Lie. There is a short pause. ANDREW Each night after my benediction I would walk alone by the river and listen to the night creatures and enjoy the heavens above my head. It was my time. NGUDJOLO And did He ever come to you with an answer? Was there a Moses moment for you? A burning bush? Andrew ignores him as he speaks from some faraway place. ANDREW I heard the trucks on the road. I remember birds went up from the baobabs in great clouds and from just across the river an old bull elephant roared. Then I was running, and not realising I was. A branch hit my face and cut me. I have the scar to this day ... here. I didn’t notice the blood running down my cheek and I only stopped running when the screaming started. I hid among the trees and watched. He begins to sob. ANDREW (CONT’D) I hid and did nothing. They were my people ... my flock ... I knew each one of them by name ... I even helped bring some of them into the world ... and I did nothing. I could not even manage a prayer. NGUDJOLO (gently) There was nothing you could do. Would your own death have changed anything? ANDREW (distantly) And I have not slept since. Only the innocent sleep. SFX: OFF: A TOILET IS FLUSHED. Ngudjolo speaks quickly and urgently.
28.
NGUDJOLO Even if I am guilty ... as she insists ... who has appointed you my judge and executioner. ANDREW Sofia would say it was the dead has sanctioned her appointment. NGUDJOLO Listen Andrew, for eighty thousand years this land has bled from human veins. I have seen the Semliki harpoon. ANDREW So have I Colonel. It is just a piece of bone. NGUDJOLO There was apartheid here with the Belgians worse than in South Africa ... and disease, forced labour, mutilations. Ituri is rich in gold and uranium. They cannot have their stock markets and their nuclear bombs without us. Do you blame us for defending our land? ANDREW Yes and it is people just like you who have destroyed our wealth and our country in the fifty years since the Belgians left. No, Colonel, when every petty warlord is forcing the ordinary people to work the mines and scrape in the earth under the barrel of a gun there is no principle at stake. SFX: THE SOUND OF THE BATHROOM DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING. SOFIA I thought I would have a quick shower. Feel better for it. NGUDJOLO The robe suits you. You seem less ... SOFIA What is going on? He isn’t using the voodoo on you is he Andrew? ANDREW (laughs) Sorcery? You don’t believe that Sofia?
29.
SOFIA I have heard they drink the blood of their victims and eat ... Ngudjolo laughs. ANDREW I am giving the Colonel here a lesson in Congolese history. NGUDJOLO I know my history. I walked fourteen miles six days a week to make sure I got an education. SOFIA (sneers) Hasn’t done you much good. ANDREW Then you will understand that through all the years of our independence, these so called statesmen and leaders of ours, Lumumba, Kasavubu, Tshombe, Mobutu and Kizenga, and even Kabila who sits on the throne now ... what are they but clan chieftains? Warlords who care nothing for the country and everything for their own fiefdoms. There is a pause. NGUDJOLO A pretty speech ... but give me a choice between my blood and hers and I choose my own. ANDREW (sighs heavily) Then it will never end. The foreign companies, like Britain’s Afrimex and Belgium’s Trademet, will carry on taking the real money out. Do you know that without the cassiterite and coltan dug out in Kivu and Ituri the world would have no computers and mobile phones? NGUDJOLO We trade with the big companies because we must Andrew. We live in the real world.
30.
ANDREW No Colonel, the warlords employ extortion and forced labour in the mining areas and fund themselves and their soldiers by this trade. The link between minerals and violence is inextricable. You are just another bully with a gun. Why should I not let Sofia there kill you? NGUDJOLO So you convict me because I am a part of a system that has been there for hundreds of years? SFX: SHARP BANG AS SOFIA LIFTS THE FILE ON THE TABLE AND LETS IT FALL. SOFIA You are condemned because of what is in this file. Witness statements: pictures: Amnesty International reports: army records. NGUDJOLO How did you come by all of this? ANDREW Not everyone above the rank of corporal is corrupt. There is a pause. NGUDJOLO I lost my family too. Did you know that? (pause) I had a wife and two fine sons. Philip would be sixteen next June ... if he had lived ... and ... His voice trails away and Andrew prods gently after a moment. ANDREW I didn’t know. How did it ... NGUDJOLO My wife was Rwandan. Tutsi. We were visiting ... SOFIA That’s no fucking excuse! ANDREW Sofia ...
31.
NGUDJOLO If you knew what they did to them. SOFIA (sneers) You have a wife pig. I know you have a wife ... and she is very much alive. NGUDJOLO My second wife. She helped me get over ... ANDREW Maybe he is telling the truth. NGUDJOLO I am! I swear to you! SOFIA It is no excuse Andrew! He is playing on our sympathy now. There is nothing about that in the file. There is a pause. NGUDJOLO It’s true. SOFIA I say we kill him and get out of here. Leave his body for the maid. SFX: THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS. ANDREW Nearly dawn. SOFIA Come away from the window. ANDREW It’s starting to rain. NGUDJOLO It’s forecast for the rest of the week. My unit is scheduled for a training exercise up near Mossaka day after tomorrow. Wasn’t looking forward to it. Hate the rain. SOFIA Andrew? There is a pause.
32.
ANDREW I hate to say it child, but there is no real hard evidence in the file. SOFIA No! No! You don’t do this! Not now! ANDREW Nothing that ... SOFIA What about the women Aba’s statement? Eh? What about that? ANDREW She doesn’t name him. SOFIA She identified him for God’s sake Andrew! ANDREW Only after she saw him on a news programme on television. It isn’t evidence Sofia ... not really. SOFIA But there are ... ANDREW It’s true. SOFIA It is not true! ANDREW Sofia? What are you doing? SOFIA Put your pistol on the table Andrew. ANDREW Sofia? Child? SOFIA Do as I say or I’ll fucking kill you as well! SFX: SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS AND THEN A METALLIC CLUNK AS ANDREW TOSSES THE GUN DOWN ON THE TABLE. SOFIA (CONT’D) Now bring that chair and sit over there where I can see you. SFX: SCRAPING SOUND.
33.
SOFIA (CONT’D) Not too close to the pig. NGUDJOLO (snorts in derision) Now you probably killed us both priest. Well done. SOFIA Shut up! ANDREW Are you Sofia? SOFIA What? ANDREW Going to kill me? Sofia begins to sob. SOFIA You don’t understand. You don’t ... understand! When you are alone ... completely alone ... and they chain you to a wall and sell your body ... and sometimes it is twenty ... thirty ... between your legs ... and they feed you what the dogs won’t have ... and ... NGUDJOLO She has to kill you too now Andrew. SOFIA I said shut up! ANDREW Sofia! NGUDJOLO Who first girl!? Who first!? Me or the priest!? SOFIA Shut up! SFX: THE SOUND OF A BANG AND AN ANGRY SCUFFLE AS ANDREW LAUNCHES HIMSELF AT SOFIA. SHE SCREAMS. ANDREW ROARS. NGUDJOLO LAUGHS. Andrew is panting and Sofia is crying. Ngudjolo is laughing. SFX: SOUND OF A SLAP. ANDREW Stop it!
34.
NGUDJOLO Now you have both pistols Andrew. What will you do? ANDREW Get off the floor child ... and cover yourself. NGUDJOLO What will you do Andrew? SOFIA You cut my lip. ANDREW I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. SOFIA He’s right about one thing though. What will you do now? ANDREW I don’t know. I need time to think. (beat) Sit at the table Sofia. Take a drink and calm down. SFX: THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS AND THE WINDOW BEING OPENED. TRAFFIC NOISE IS HEARD. ANDREW (CONT’D) The city is coming to life. SFX: SOUND OF THE BOTTLE OPENING AND LIQUID BEING SPLASHED INTO A GLASS. NGUDJOLO I could use one myself. I feel as if I have been trampled by a rhino. Andrew ignores him. ANDREW Not so much Sofia. NGUDJOLO What time is it? SOFIA I don’t have a watch. NGUDJOLO Andrew? ANDREW Me neither.
35.
NGUDJOLO Look at mine. SFX: FOOTPRINTS AS ANDREW CROSSES THE ROOM. ANDREW Ten to eight. NGUDJOLO The maid will be here in an hour, and I am expected back at the barracks this morning. ANDREW What time? NGUDJOLO The Brigadier will send some of the boy’s if I do not show my face. ANDREW Time!? NGUDJOLO This morning! Any time! SOFIA Hey! I was enjoying that whiskey. ANDREW You have had enough. NGUDJOLO I’ll have it. I hate waste. Andrew ignores him. ANDREW Go into the bathroom Sofia. Get dressed. SFX: SCRAPING AS THE CHAIR IS PUSHED BACK AND SHE CROSSES THE ROOM. THE BATHROOM DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES. THE SOUND OF THE FAN RETURNS. ANDREW (CONT’D) Getting hot in here. NGUDJOLO Still raining? ANDREW Still raining. NGUDJOLO You must be tired. Andrew doesn’t answer him.
36.
SFX: CHAIR SCRAPING AS ANDREW SITS AT THE TABLE. NGUDJOLO (CONT’D) I didn’t think a man like you ... a man of God ... capable of cold blooded murder. Not even if you believe me guilty. SFX: SOUND OF MORE LIQUID GOING IN THE GLASS. THE FAN THRUMS. A CLOCK TICKS. NGUDJOLO (CONT’D) Her now? Well, different pot altogether. She is no different to me. ANDREW You aren’t out of the wood yet. NGUDJOLO So ... you’ll what? Just leave me tied up here? Go to the International Criminal Court with your file? (chuckles lightly) I don’t think you will shoot me. ANDREW (wearily) Be quiet Mathieu. Please. NGUDJOLO It is a very recent phenomenon you see. ANDREW What is? NGUDJOLO Your white man has never accepted there were great and powerful African civilisations when they were still living in caves. (emphasises each word) Savage nigger. Heart of Darkness. Hah Andrew? ANDREW There’s good and bad in all, no matter the skin colour. NGUDJOLO I myself have always been a great admirer of Desmond Tutu. ANDREW A great man, for an Anglican.
37.
NGUDJOLO Do you know what he said about Africa? ANDREW The Archbishop has had a lot to say in his time. NGUDJOLO When the white man came he brought the Bible and we had the land. He taught us to close our eyes and get on our knees and pray from the book. When next we opened our eyes the black man had the bible and the white man the land. ANDREW What is your point? NGUDJOLO Nothing has changed. The white man still has the land and we the bible. Well, maybe one thing has changed, we also have the AK47 and mountains of bullets. ANDREW Which is the tragedy of it. NGUDJOLO (laughs) Even then that’s only because of the white man. SFX: WHEN SOFIA COMES OUT OF THE BATHROOM. THE RADIO COMES ON WITH A NEWSREADER RELATING THE NEWS IN A FLAT MONOTONE. NEWSREADER ... California Supreme Court has issued an interim stay order forbidding San Francisco officials from issuing same sex marriage licences. This stance has been followed by the majority of states throughout the United States and a federal decision is expected soon. NGUDJOLO In Uganda they execute the homosexuals you know.
38.
NEWSREADER Locally, yesterday’s women’s peace march which culminated in a rally outside the Kinshasa offices of the United Nations passed off without incident. Women from all sectors of Congolese society and tribal ... ANDREW Switch it off. NEWSREADER Affiliations met at ... SFX: THE RADIO FALLS ABRUPTLY SILENT WITH A CLICK. ANDREW Come into the bathroom Sofia. SOFIA I have only just come out. ANDREW I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU. SFX: THE SOUND OF SOFIA AND ANDREW CROSSING THE ROOM AND THE BATHROOM DOOR CLOSING BEHIND THEM. FADE IN: 6. INT. THE BATHROOM. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW ON. SFX: SOUNDS OF RUNNING WATER. SOFIA Why have you put the taps on? ANDREW I don’t want him to hear us. SOFIA I would like to be able to hear him if he moves. ANDREW Sit down Sofia. There is a pause. SOFIA I know what you are going to say. ANDREW I know you do.
39.
SOFIA If you don’t give me the gun and let me kill him I will get another and come back another time. ANDREW No child, you won’t. You will go from here. You will go far away ... to another place ... one of those places I told you about where there is so much plenty half of it is waste. SOFIA But that is not what we worked these months for. It is not why we came here. ANDREW Maybe he is a murderer, but we are not. SOFIA No, I am not. I am an executioner. ANDREW No! What you have become is a vengeful spirit child ... and that is the Devil’s child. In such circumstances the executioner is a murderer ... and if I let you kill him like this that is what you will be and your soul will be damned. SOFIA But my heart ... ANDREW Is not that of a killer. There is a pause. SOFIA When I was a little girl we lived in a house on the banks of the Limpopo River. Across the river in Botswana we could see a village. It was in the crook of the Shashwe. (beat) Every night on that far side of the water there would be bangs and terrible crashing. (beat) (MORE)
40. SOFIA (CONT'D) Papa told us the name of that village was Bethlehem and the light we could see shining above it at night was the blessed Christmas Star that signalled the birth of baby Jesus. He told us children we must not be frightened, because with the appearance of the lights each night above the village in the morning Jesus would be with us again, and he would not allow any harm to come to us. I was a child ... I believed.
ANDREW Your papa had a wonderful imagination. SOFIA Of course, now I am grown up, I understand the village was not a village at all. It was a ANC training camp, and the lights were the flares the South African Defence Force put up before they fired their mortars. (chuckles drily) But for that little girl back then they were the Bethlehem lights and so long as they shone I was safe. ANDREW And now? SOFIA Huh, I do not think I will ever see them again. ANDREW You will see them. But first you must leave this place. Here, take this. SOFIA What is it? ANDREW It’s money I was keeping for our escape. In case. SOFIA How much is in the envelope? ANDREW There is five thousand American dollars. Enough to get you safely out of this country. Away from this continent.
41.
SOFIA But you must keep some for yourself. ANDREW No! (beat) No, it is for you. (beat) I would have you see the lights of Bethlehem once more. SOFIA What about him? ANDREW He is already in hell. Killing him will only put you there beside him. Here, take the gun. If you still want your revenge I won’t lift a finger to prevent it. SOFIA You promise you won’t try to stop me? ANDREW No. I told you. SOFIA It’s for my mama and papa you see, and my sisters and little brother ... ANDREW It’s why I want you to do it! Shoot him in the head! Spread his brains on the carpet! SOFIA Don’t shove me father. ANDREW Go on! It’s what you want! SOFIA Give me a moment! ANDREW He’s only there! Go on I say! Do it! SOFIA No! SFX: BANG AS SHE DROPS THE GUN. She begins to sob.
42.
SOFIA (CONT’D) Hold me Father! For God’s sake hold me! ANDREW It is alright. Calm yourself. Shush now. SOFIA Am I evil Father? Has my hatred damned me? Tell me I am not like him and his kind. ANDREW Bless you child. Of course you are not. SOFIA I can’t do it anymore. ANDREW I didn’t think you would be able to ... unless it was from anger. SOFIA What now then? Do we just leave him? ANDREW You must go. Faraway. And you must find love. Love is the panacea for all the worlds ills ... and when you do find love Sofia you will also find your purpose. It is purpose which brings meaning to life. SFX: THE TAPS ARE SWITCHED OFF AND FALL SILENT. SOUND OF THE DOOR OPENING. SOFIA What about you? What will you do? He laughs. ANDREW I am a priest. I will go to the Archbishop here in Kinshasa. He is a kindly soul and will not turn me away. SFX: HER FOOTSTEPS AND THEN THE SOUND OF A KISS. SOFIA Goodbye Father. SFX: THE SOUND OF HER FOOTSTEPS RECEDING AND THE BANG OF A DOOR CLOSING.
43.
ANDREW Goodbye Sofia. SFX: THE SOUND OF THE CLOCK TICKING. FADE TO: 7. INT THE HOTEL ROOM. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW ON. Andrew returns into the room. SFX: SOUND OF HIM CLOSING THE BATHROOM DOOR. FOOTSTEPS. NGUDJOLO (sneers) Chicken out has she? (makes a clucking sound and laughs) Lost her nerve? ANDREW I could tell you that you are a lucky man Mathieu. I could say that, but somehow I do not think you would believe me. NGUDJOLO You called me Mathieu. ANDREW It is your name. NGUDJOLO Yes ... but ... ANDREW Strange is it not how the simple act of calling a person by their first name can impart the essence of his or her humanity. Make that person a human being. NGUDJOLO What do you mean by that? ANDREW It is why prison systems all over the world designate prisoners numbers, not names. (emphasises) Dehumanises them you see. (beat) It is the reason the Germans tattooed numbers on the Jews arms.
44.
NGUDJOLO (sneers) What are you saying? ANDREW Tell me Mathieu, did you ever stop to ask the names of them you butchered or ordered killed? NGUDJOLO I ... am ... not guilty. I am a simple ... ANDREW Simple soldier. Yes, you said. SFX: OFF: SOUND OF A VACUUM CLEANER IN THE HALL OUTSIDE. SOUND OF ANDREW’S FOOTSTEPS AS HE CROSSES TO THE DOOR AND THE DOOR OPENING. ANDREW (CONT’D) You are the maid? OFF: MAID Yes sah ... coming to clean the room. ANDREW Leave it for an hour my dear. OFF: MAID One hour ... yes sah. SFX: THE DOOR IS CLOSED. OFF: SOUND OF THE VACUUMING. TRAFFIC OUTSIDE. THE BEEPING OF CAR HORNS. ANDREW Even the maid would not miss you Mathieu. You have been coming to this very room for six years off and on. More often recently, since your posting to Kinshasa. NGUDJOLO So I like this hotel. So what of it? ANDREW So a stranger appears at the door in the morning and speaks to a maid who has worked here all that time and she does not say a word? (beat) (MORE)
45. ANDREW (CONT'D) The life you have led Mathieu Ngudjolo has bought for you nothing but the loneliness of this existence. Yes, I see it in your eyes, the truth hurts.
NGUDJOLO Hah, your truth! ANDREW Truth is singular. It either is, or it is not. SFX: ANDREW CROSSING THE ROOM TO THE WINDOW. THE NOISE OF THE TICKING OF THE CLOCK BEGINS TO RISE ABOVE THE SOUNDS OF THE FAN AND THE TRAFFIC. ANDREW (CONT’D) I hate it when it rains in this country. Bad roads and poorly constructed buildings and everything turned to a red mud. Sludge. (whimsical) And yet the country is so very rich in its people and what can be brought out from the land. Shame really. NGUDJOLO Give me a drink damn you! If we are to be here for yet another hour. ANDREW (sighs heavily) You can’t admit what you have done and I can’t bring myself to execute you. Look at us Mathieu ... (chuckles) We are cowards both. NGUDJOLO A drink. (beat) Please. SFX: ANDREW CROSSING THE ROOM TO THE DOOR. THE CLOCK BEGINS TO TICK LOUDER AND LOUDER, SLOWLY. ANDREW That which we desire most often leads to our destruction, like Holofernes who lost his head when allowing Judith into his tent. NGUDJOLO You’re going? That’s it? You’re just going to leave me here?
46.
ANDREW This file will go with me to the Amnesty International office. (beat) Otherwise ... yes Mathieu ... that is it. NGUDJOLO But it is lies! All lies I tell you! ANDREW Goodbye Colonel. SFX: SOUND OF THE DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING. THE TICKING OF THE CLOCK RISES INEXORABLY IN VOLUME UNTIL IT DROWNS OUT THE SHOUTS OF PROTEST OF NGUDJOLO. OFF: NGUDJOLO I am innocent! You can’t do that! You condemn an innocent man! Come back! (beat) OFF: Come back! CUT TO: 8. EXT. A MILITARY AIRPORT SOMEWHERE IN THE CONGO. FEBRUARY 2008. A reporter is commenting from the airport where Ngudjolo is being deported to face trial at the Hague for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court. REPORTER And so the former Zairean army corporal, now FARDC Colonel Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, is finally on his way to face war crimes charges at the ICC in the Hague. (beat) I can see him now exiting the car at the centre of the military convoy handcuffed to the two M.P.’s who will accompany him on the flight to Holland. (beat) Ngudjolo is to face charges of mass murder, rape, sexual enslavement, and forcing children to participate in hostilities. SFX: AIRCRAFT SOUNDS ALMOST DROWNING OUT THE VOICE OF THE REPORTER.
47.
REPORTER (CONT’D) Travelling later today on a scheduled Air France flight is his wife Semaki and their two children ... She is believed to be ... FADE OUT. 9. EXT. AUSTRALIA. THE SUBURBS OF A CITY FOUR YEARS LATER. SUMMER 2012. SFX: SOUNDS OF TRAFFIC AND CHILDREN PLAYING. BIRDS IN THE SKY AS THE SUBURB IS NEAR THE SEA. A CAR COMES TO A STOP. SOUND OF A DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING. SOFIA Father? Father! It is you! They laugh at their joyful reunion. ANDREW Hey now. You are going to squeeze the life out of me Sofia. SOFIA What are you doing here? Of all places. ANDREW I came to find you. SOFIA In that case you had better come into the park and tell me why. Let me take your bag for you. ANDREW (chuckles) I can manage. I am old, but not yet dead. SFX: SOUNDS OF FOOTSTEPS ON A GRAVEL PATH AND CHILDREN PLAYING. ANDREW (CONT’D) You look well my dear. Australia suits you. SOFIA Five years. Where have you been? Where are you living? Still ... ANDREW I live in Canada now.
48.
SOFIA I thought they had killed you. I prayed every night they had not. ANDREW I got out not long after you. The diaspora has scattered us wide. SFX: CHILDREN SHRIEK. ANDREW (CONT’D) Yours? SOFIA (laughs) Not all of them. That one there ... on the slide. ANDREW The one waving his hand? He has your looks. SOFIA She. There is a pause. SOFIA (CONT’D) I have thought of you often ... every day in fact. ANDREW And I you my dear. SOFIA (laughs) I think my poor husband hears your name more than any other. ANDREW But? SOFIA Well, you know Andrew, even though I was glad to be away from Africa, for a long time when I first came here I existed in a world of confusion. ANDREW It’s understandable after what we lived through. SOFIA I didn’t know whether I was South African or Congolese, Bantu or Hema. (MORE)
49. SOFIA (CONT'D) Then, I think I saw the Bethlehem lights again, just as you said I would, one night when I was sitting alone in my garden drinking tea.
ANDREW I knew you would see them again. NGUDJOLO And then I understood: I am none of those things. I am me. Sofia. A person. A human being. (beat) You did that for me dear Andrew. ANDREW (abruptly) The Ngudjolo trial in the Hague has ended. He has been found not guilty of all charges. There is a long pause. SFX: THE CHILDREN AND THE BIRDS. SOFIA Then I am glad we did not kill him. ANDREW Are you Sofia? Truly? SOFIA Of course I am. Would God give me this life if I had? ANDREW So am I. Very glad. There is another long pause. SOFIA Where are you staying? ANDREW There is a bed and breakfast. SOFIA You will come to dinner tonight and we will speak of everything. ANDREW Everything? SOFIA My husband Benjamin will come and collect you. You will like Benjamin. He is an accountant.
50.
ANDREW (laughs loudly) I have not had soor for years. SOFIA Or kerala. I have become quite the chef and Ben and Maisie love it. SFX: THE SOUNDS OF THE CHILDREN BEGIN TO DROWN OUT THEIR ORDINARY CONVERSATION UNTIL IT VANISHES COMPLETELY.
- THE END -
NB: I have not included any closing information on the facts of the Congo War and the trial and subsequent acquittal of Colonel Mathieu Ngudjolo, but this can be added at the director’s discretion if so desired.