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25. EXT: [THIRD FLASHBACK: JULY 7] MIDDAY: The WOMEN cast no shadows. UNA and BIANCA sit at UMBRELLA'D POOLSIDE TABLE. UNA Help me. Help me go to the Mountains. To the Territorios Libres. BIANCA
Of course. Of course.
UNA No. BIANCA Ah! So you prefer Saturday to Sunday. UNA What? BIANCA Saturday the revolutionaries are still fighting. Sunday means they've won. UNA I'm not ready for Sunday. BIANCA
Neither are they. On Saturdays the sky is blue. On Sundays, grey. I don't
think you'd take either well.
UNA Then you'll let me go? BIANCA
I can do better. If Mohammed can't go to the Mountain, the Mountain can...
I've decided to trust you. I just arranged for a secret Summit meeting between my democratic
government and the Insurgency Command. That's an alliance of revolutionary leaders from San Federal
and several neighboring nations. As of now, they are still in the Mountains. Perhaps even camped
atop that bald one! But this Saturday, they'll be in the Capitol for the Summit.
BIANCA laughs at image. UNA Talk about "Sunday"! I don't want to go to a meeting. I want to go — BIANCA raises her hand, silencing UNA. BIANCA All right. I know. Our little Summit would be too — boring for you. You're dead set on the Mountains. UNA Yes. UNA is determined. FREEZE FRAME. Then, FLASH of WHITE LIGHT seizes Image. HOLD. HARD CUT TO: DUSK: Once white-hot, now poolside realm is shrouded in growing SHADOW. UNA and BIANCA stand face to face, beside POOL. UNA I knew we couldn't just meet half-way. BIANCA Here we divide. UNA No. If we both get through the night, we'll meet on Sunday. BIANCA smiles a terrible sfumato smile. High above them, atop the WALL, SOLDIERS are at their posts. Something buzzes in the silence. BIANCA and UNA embrace. BIANCA
Someday... In PALACE COMPOUND, shadows herald the night. FREEZE FRAME. Then, FLASH of WHITE LIGHT seizes Image. HOLD. HORSE NEIGHS (OFF), OVER — HARD CUT TO: 26. INT: [FLASHBACK: JULY 7] UNA, still BLINDFOLDED, shoos away buzzing FLY. AMILCAR, MAGDALENA and UNA sit together on the STRAW. HORSES NEIGH, STAMP ABOUT. Grim, AMILCAR looks at his WATCH. Speaks rapidly. AMILCAR Miss Horn? All our lives depend upon whether you tell me the truth. Quickly, and with utmost precision. Agreed? UNA nods. AMILCAR When you came back from the rally in the Plaza, did they search you? Did they look in your van? UNA No, I went directly to the Palace with Bianca Peralta. We — talked. At her swimpool. I told her I wanted to come here. I mean, to the Liberated Territories. So she spoke with some tall, red-headed guy in camouflage. I guess he arranged it. Then her people drove me back to the Hotel Hilton Libertad. My van was waiting for me where I left it. AMILCAR In the hotel parking lot? UNA Yes. AMILCAR Did you keep an eye on your van while you were packing? UNA I checked on it a few times. People had warned me about thieves. But I had to pack, and make up, so — AMILCAR So they had all the time they needed. To take something out of your van — or to put something in.... UNA
I was looking at myself in both sides of the mirror... AMILCAR stands; pulls UNA to her feet. MAGDALENA joins them. AMILCAR
They've been keeping the van in motion, right? MAGDALENA Yes. UNA
What do you mean? Is something wrong with my van? AMILCAR We must go. SUB-MACHINE GUNS had been hidden under the STRAW. AMILCAR and MAGDALENA arm themselves. With blind-folded UNA, they exit STABLE in a hurry. CUT TO: 27. EXT: [FLASHBACK: JULY 7] UNA, AMILCAR, and MAGDALENA emerge from STABLE. RED VAN arrives, driven by eleven year-old BOY. He jumps out. AMILCAR gets in, then pulls UNA up onto seat beside him. RED VAN drives off, dust in its wake. MAGDALENA and BOY mount HORSES and follow. FADE TO BLACK; HOLD TO: 28. EXT/INT: [FLASHBACK: JULY 7]
UNA'S BLINDFOLDED "POV" — TOTAL BLACKNESS. SOUNDS of jungle
night are piercing, proximate, as if UNA is more keen in her blindness. SOUNDS are muted when we
abruptly leave UNA'S sightless world.
UNA
Are we going to the Free Zone, now? To Santa Magdalena de la Epiphania? AMILCAR No. The Free Zone has come over us. You see, this is a no-man's land. At night, the revolution ebbs in from the mountains like a tide. Those who don't join it are flooded over, sooner or later.
EXT: VARIOUS ANGLES: VAN drives through JUNGLE. TIME PASSES.
AMILCAR So Bianca took you — swimming? UNA Yes... AMILCAR shakes head, laughs with some personal rue. UNA is alerted; she's not sure to what. UNA What's your name? AMILCAR Amilcar. Today. UNA Amilcar Today? AMILCAR No. Today: Amilcar. UNA "looks" toward AMILCAR, as if she were not BLINDFOLDED and could see his FACE. Quizzical smile plays over her lips as she imagines what AMILCAR might look like. UNA'S BLINDFOLDED POV — Her North American, whitegirl,
dusk-of-Twentieth Century imagination. We see what she sees, A MONTAGE OF MEN IN VARIOUS DRIVER'S
SEATS: From Hollywood, American folklore, European intrigue, ancient mythology, and UNA'S personal
history. Billy the Kid, Andreas Baader, Jesus Christ, THE PEREGRINE, Clint Eastwood-as-Western Hero,
Robin Hood, Gaunt Frenchman in Beret, Marx, Humphrey Bogart in Trenchcoat, Naked Blond Guy with Good
Bod, Suave Black Pimp, BIANCA-as-a-Man, James Bond, A Shadow, Warren Beatty-as-Clyde, Armed,
Blue-Eyed Arab, Samurai, Lenin, Homeless Black Man, Half-Naked Spartacus, etc. They all look
invitingly at UNA. None of them resembles AMILCAR. EXT: VAN has exited JUNGLE. Now it scales rocky, FOOTHILL TERRAIN. A MOUNTAIN, bald and stark, rises ahead: The "Bald Mountain." AMILCAR stops VAN half-way up slope. He jumps out, goes around to UNA'S door, opens it, and abruptly yanks her out, pulls her away from VAN. UNA screams. AMILCAR sets off at a run; BLINDFOLDED UNA cannot keep apace. She stumbles over BOULDERS as AMILCAR pulls her mercilessly around mountain-side. CUT TO: |
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