Robert E. Yahnke
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1. (time 1.00)
Graphic. ¡°With a shriek birds flee
across the black sky, people are silent, my blood aches from waiting.¡± First shot is a close-up of a man¡¯s hand
picking tomatoes from a bush. Wide
shot of a young seminarian in Macedonia. Wide shot of the hillside garden.
Chapel in the distance. An
old priest comes upon the young man. Sound of thunder in the distance.
The seminarian does not speak. His name is Kiril. They
return to the monastery. The old
man is fearful that the nearby war is getting close to
them.
2. (time 4:20) A scene of small children playing with
turtles (pretending the turtles are tanks) They set up t he turtles in a ring of branches.
As the priest and Kiril walk past them,
the old man says, ¡°Time never
dies. The circle is not
round.¡± The two approach the
monastery. The old priest refers to
Kiril¡¯s vow of silence.
3. (time 5:00) Part I. The World.
Inside the monastery. Time for prayers. Kiril devoutly gazes at the various
icons inside. Intercut are shots of
the children playing in the circle of branches. They throw rifle bullets into the fire,
and the bullets fire off. The
priests in the chapel respond fearfully. A night scene at the
monastery. The priests file back to
the dormitory.
4. (time 7.20) Kiril
inside his room. Suddenly he
discovers a young woman is hiding in his room. Parallel cutting between the
two. Of course, Kiril does not
speak. She is Albanian, a
Muslim. He notices her bare foot,
and she draws a cover over it. She
hides in the corner. He leaves the
room and goes to the old priest¡¯s door. But when the old man answers the door, Kiril does not turn her in.
The priest thinks Kiril wants a midnight
stroll. Off they go. When Kiril returns, he has brought her
tomatoes. He lies in his bed, she
lies on the floor. She eats what he
brought. He smiles. She tells him her name is Zamira.
5. (time 12.00) A funeral
service. The mourners are Eastern
Orthodox. Some of the men hold
assault rifles. A mother
mourns. Music up. The men carry nationalistic battle
flags. Camera right. A lone woman, English, stands and
watches from the distance. Who is
she? ¡°Oh, my God,¡± she says. Quick shot of a young photographer
snapping a photograph of a tombstone. ¡°Oh, my God,¡± we hear the woman say again.
Suddenly we see Kiril running in the
distance. He runs back to the
chapel. The others notice he is
late. He seems frightened, probably
because he noticed the men with the guns.
6. (time 15.00) The
Macedonians come into the chapel and stop the prayers. The priests ignore them.
Finally, they listen to the men, who
want an Albanian girl they traced to this monastery. Of course, the priests know nothing of
the girl and deny she is there. The
men appeal to the head priest: ¡°You are one of us. Remember five centuries of Muslim
rule. An eye for an eye.¡± When they leave, the priest asks
everyone if he has seen the girl. He asks Kiril¡ªwho denies he saw her.
7. (time 18.30) The men
remain at the compound. They wish
to search the compound. The go up
to Kiril¡¯s floor, and he watches them, fearful. He closes his eyes.
But they come down without her. She must have hidden somewhere
else. He goes up to his room. It is torn apart. She is not there.
The men keep searching other rooms. Kiril comes upon them in the priest¡¯s
room, and he sees a man with a gun at the window. He pushes the man aside.
The man with the gun then finishes what
he started. He saw a cat on the
roof, and he shoots it more than 50 times. The leader of the group cuffs him for his stupidity.
Kiril runs off and
vomits.
8.(time 22.16) The men
keep searching. That night they
remain on the grounds of the compound. That night, Kiril thinks he sees Zamara standing in his room.
But when he wipes his eyes and looks
again, she is not there. He sleeps
again. He wakes up, and now she
stands before him. He smiles. She comes closer to him. He reaches out to take her hand.
But she lies on the floor across from
him.
9. (time 26.30) The next
morning the priest comes in and finds the two together. ¡°Shame on you,¡± he says.
The young man packs and brings his bag
down to meet with the other priests. The old priest embraces him.
The head priest brings the gill down. Then he slaps Kiril and then embraces
him. It is clear now. ¡°Good luck to you both.¡± They are to go away together.
10. (time 29.20) The two
sneak away past the men with guns.
11. (time 31.15) The next
day they are still walking through the mountains. Suddenly a group of men find them.
It is her grandfather and her
family. They all have guns. He beats her, and when she tells him the
young man loves her, he says, ¡°We¡¯ll see¡± and tells the boy to run off.
Kiril hesitates, but then he leaves.
(35.00) But then she runs after Kiril. Suddenly one of her cousins
shoots her in the back with a burst of automatic weapons fire. She drops to the ground and dies in a
few seconds. Kiril stays with
her. He sits on the luggage and
stays with her. During this scene
several small children (ones we saw earlier) watch from a
distance.
Part Two. Faces.
12. (time 36.50) A woman taking a shower.
She is crying. This is the same woman we saw
earlier--watching the funeral from a distance. She works in a photo studio in
London. She examines some of the
photographs that show concentration camp victims in Bosnia. She gets a phone call from her
doctor. She is pregnant. She looks through more photographs of
victims of the war in the former Yugoslavia. Then she vomits in the bathroom¡ªmorning
sickness. Suddenly a bearded man
energetically enters the studio.
13 (40.30) The young
woman walks the busy streets of the city. She meets her mother, and the two seem estranged.
Her mother talks about her husband. They stop at a church and listen to a
children¡¯s choir practicing. Suddenly we hear thunder. Then the two women come upon Alex, the bearded man we saw entering the
studio . Is this the young woman¡¯s husband? Nope. After introductions, Mother leaves.
The young woman is
Anne.
13. (time 43.30) The two take a cab back to the photo
agency. He tells her he quit his
job. He is Macedonian. He wants to go back home. ¡°It¡¯s important to take sides,¡± she
says. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be on the
same side with any of them.¡± He
recites the litany of all of the war-torn places he has visited to take
photographs. ¡°I want a baby,¡± Anne
says. ¡°Look at your face. What happened to you?¡± ¡°I aged.¡±
¡°In two weeks?¡± ¡°I fucked up,¡± he says. ¡°I killed.¡±
They embrace. He kisses her breasts. They embrace for
a long time. He buries his head in
her breasts, then on her shoulder. Suddenly an old woman is knocking at their window.
¡°Is this cab free?¡± They get out.
14. (time 48.00) He shows her his plane tickets to
Macedonia. She tells him she can¡¯t
come with him. Where does she have
to be? ¡°Be patient with me,¡± Anne
says. ¡°Have a good life.¡± He¡¯s gone. He hands her something.
¡°Take sides,¡± he says.
15. (time 49.15) Anne is
back in her studio. While she talks
on the phone, she examines photographs taken of Kiril and Zamara. Suddenly she gets a phone call for
Alex. She takes the call. It¡¯s Kiril. But she has no idea who it is.
He asks for his uncle, Alex. He tells her he is calling from
Macedonia. He hangs up. Cut to Alex waiting for a cab.
He sees writing on a brick wall: ¡°Time
never dies. The circle is not
round.¡± He¡¯s gone in the
cab.
16. (time 51.10) The young woman walks to a restaurant to
meet her husband. She tells him she
is pregnant. ¡°Is it mine?¡± She says it is. Apparently they are estranged.
He apologizes for past behavior. A curious bearded man sitting nearby
seems to take an interest in them. Nick is her husband. He
orders some champagne. Meanwhile,
behind them, the curious bearded man is berating their waiter for
something. What? Apparently both are immigrants, and
their ethnicity is not evident. Suddenly the curious bearded man becomes more aggressive toward the
waiter. Somehow he has felt
slighted. He begins to throw money
at him. The manager comes out and
asks the waiter to leave, ¡°and take your friend with you.¡± Suddenly the waiter strikes the curious
bearded man, but then the latter turns on him and beats him relentlessly. It takes several people to pull him off
the waiter. Finally the curious
bearded man leaves the restaurant.
17. (time 56.55) The
manager tries to settle everyone down. Finally, the young woman gets out what she wants to say. ¡°I want a
divorce!¡± He refers to her
relationship with Alex (¡°that photographer). She says, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to forgive
me about that!¡± He jumps up and
begins to throw money down on the table. But she makes him stay. She
takes his face in her hands. ¡°I
still love you.¡± He begins to
cry. ¡°Just give us some
time,¡± he pleads. Suddenly the
crazed bearded man reenters the restaurant and begins firing a handgun. He shoots indiscriminately, and people
fall to the floor and hide from the hail of bullets. Finally she finds Nick.
His face has been blown away by a direct
hit. ¡°Your face,¡± she sobs.
Part 3. Pictures.
18. (time 1.01.15) Shots of the mountains of
Macedonia. Then city scenes. Alex¡¯s plane lands, and we see urban
scenes, then Alex on a bus heading into the country.
19. (time 1.07.07) Alex arrives at his hometown.
An adolescent, one of the guys we saw at
the monastery, draws his automatic weapon and threatens Alex. So Alex takes his gun away.
The kid follows him. He warns him that "¡°Uncle Mitre¡± will be
angry. Alex doesn¡¯t care. Alex walks through the village. People evade him at every turn. He
smiles.
20. (time 10.55) Alex
stands before his old house, his childhood home, and the one he left 24 years
ago. The building is shot up and
has been bombed out.
21. (time 12.43) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid¡ªAlex¡ªas he rides his bike. A
three-year-old boy holds the automatic weapon and points it at Alex, but
fortunately does not fire it. Suddenly a cousin finds him, and they embrace.
But here comes Mitre, the bearded leader
of the pack that went hunting for the young woman, Zamara.
22. (time 14.50) Outdoor
meal, a kind of reunion for Alex. Several old relatives have shown up.
Alex mentions Hana, an old flame of
his. But the cousin says, don¡¯t
bother with her. She¡¯s
Albanian. Another relatives say she
is a widow now. The hatred of
Albanians is palpable at this table. Alex takes a picture of everyone using his time
delay.
23. (time 17.10) Alex in bed.
A young woman comes in and crawls in bed
with him. But she realizes he
is still dreaming of Hana. They lie
side by side. They chat amiably.
24. (time 19.00) A UN
vehicle pulls up in the countryside. Alex walks a narrow street in a Muslim
area. He is the stranger here. Some men stop him from walking up a
narrow street. They don¡¯t want him
to pass. He tells them he has come
to see Hana and has brought gifts. Hana¡¯s father comes down. They talk.
Alex goes into
the house.
25. (time 22.28) This is the same man we saw earlier¡ªthe
grandfather of Zamara. They sit in
the house. Alex is waiting to see Hana. Here she comes. She wears traditional Muslim
covering. Her face is plain but
attractive. In another room Zamara
slips past, and we can see her cousin next to her. Bu this is the same cousin we saw
earlier¡ªand he shot Zamara in that early scene. Then the grandson comes into the room,
but he speaks ill of Alex. ¡°He
doesn¡¯t belong here. I¡¯ll slit his
throat.¡± His grandfather tells him
to stop, but he won¡¯t yield. Alex
leaves.
26. (time 26.10) Mitre and
others at a tombstone in a cemetery high above the town. Who are they grieving? One of the men in
their family. Meanwhile, the young
woman from London tries to call Alex, but the operator in Macedonia does not
understand her.
27. (time 28.35) Alex
walking on the hillsides where sheep are grazing. He meets an old friend, a doctor, and
they talk about the old days and old conflicts.
28. (time 31.42) Alex lies
in bed. He writes a letter to Ann on his laptop computer. He tells her in the letter that he was
talking to a Serbian militiaman, and complained that he didn¡¯t have much
action. So the militiaman took a
prisoner out of the line and shot him right in front of Alex. ¡°Did you get that?¡± he asked.
¡°I took sides. My camera killed a man,¡± Alex
admits. Cut to the paper rolling up
out of a FAX machine. Ann has the
message back in London. (By the
way, I¡¯m writing this on a laptop computer.) Suddenly we hear a woman¡¯s
moan/scream. Cut to Alex waking up
in the middle of the night. Cut to
the hands of an old woman holding her cane. More close-ups of townspeople.
Sounds of
mourning.
29. (time 33.38). Alex arrives at his cousins¡¯ house.
The man has been stabbed. Who did it? Zamara. Why?
Note how Alex is so drawn to the scene
that he mimics taking a photograph of it. The man dies. The doctor and
Alex leave together.
30. (time 35.20) The men set out and find each
other. Everyone has his
weapon. What¡¯s going on. They refer to the Albanian whore who
killed the cousin with a pitchfork. Let¡¯s see. Why would she do
that? Rape? The men swear revenge. Mitre hands Alex an automatic weapon and
says, ¡°Let¡¯s collect five centuries of blood.¡± Alex pushes the weapon
away.
31. (time 37.30) Alex and
doctor have a chat. ¡°Where is
the UN now?¡± Alex asks. ¡°Back next
week, to bury the dead. Have a nice
war. Take pictures.¡± Alex bemoans the old man¡¯s
cynicism.
32. (time 38.08) Alex asleep.
He dreams that Hana has come to
him. Later, he realizes she is
there. Hana really is in the
room. She is dressed in a man¡¯s
coat and wears a head covering. She
tells him the missing girl is her daughter. This must be the young woman we saw
earlier¡ªthe same young woman we saw at the monastery earlier. She pleads with him to help the girl,
¡°as if she were your own.¡±
33. (time 41.10) Alex
throws up in the bathroom. Then he
packs his bags. He looks at the
photographs he took of the man killed by the militiaman, and then he rips up the
pictures.
34. (time 43.28) Alex
walks across the hills. He passes a
wedding ceremony on the way to the sheepfold. When he arrives at the sheepfold, he
finds one of his cousins with the young girl. Alex takes her away with him.
He tells the cousin, ¡°Shame on you. She¡¯s only a girl.¡±
He tells his cousin to wait for the
police and the law to decide what happened. But the cousin refers to a new way of
life here where they decide on justice by their own reckoning. ¡°Live your own life,¡± he tells
Alex. But Alex pushes him away
with, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here. I
couldn¡¯t live with myself if I let you do this.¡± He takes the girl with him. ¡°Alex, I¡¯ll
shoot,¡¯ the cousin says. Mitre, Mr. Bigshot, stands next to the cousin and clearly urges him on.
But Alex keeps walking. ¡°Shoot, cousin, shoot!¡± Alex says
calmly. He does. Then he shoots
again, and this time he hits Alex several times. Alex tells the girl to run.
The cousin shoots at her, but he
missies. Alex finally drops. The cousin runs up the hill toward
him. Alex¡¯s eyes are open. The men kneel over him. They turn him over.
¡°Look, it¡¯s going to rain,¡± Alex
says. We hear thunder. Alex dies.
The girl escapes.
35. (time 48.40) The girl reaches the monastery.
It begins to rain. Later, cut to Kiril and the old priest
at the tomato patch. ¡°It¡¯s going to
rain. Time doesn¡¯t wait, because
the circle is not round.¡± They walk away. In the background the young girl runs toward them.
Cut to close shot of Alex¡¯s body. It rains. Cut to clouds in the sky, and
then a sunset image as credits begin.
From www.gen.umn.edu
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