A Town Like Alice Page #5

"And there I'd be willing to die.

"And there I'd be willing to die."

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

[ADMONISHES HIM]

- "Oh, dinkie darlin, dinkie dar---"

- Look out.

All right.

Captain Sugaya's got some

chickens, hasn't he?

No Joe, don't try anything.

Not with Sugaya.

[SINGS] "Dinkie die, Dinkie die..."

[CHICKEN CLUCKS]

[TANGO MUSIC PLAYS]

[CHICKEN CLUCKS]

[COUGHING]

[CHICKEN GRUMBLES]

[CHICKEN CLUCKS IN ALARM]

[CHILDREN SHOUTING

IN MALAY]

[LAUGHTER]

More wood?

I doubt my stomach will

stand up to all this rich food.

Perhaps you'd better

give it away.

Oh, no!

How many's that now, Timothy?

Three hundred and thirty-three.

[LAUGHTER]

Three hundred and thirty-four.

[LAUGHTER]

Don't suck your fingers, Timothy.

[LAUGHTER]

[ENGINE NOISE]

The Sergeant's coming.

[WHISPERED] Be careful.

For you, Gunso.

Thank you.

I know one of you men

stole my chicken.

- Who was it?

- We haven't seen your chickens.

You searched our camp,

didn't you?

- How many men away?

- None.

- You.

- One.

When did he go?

Yesterday, but he couldn't have

taken your chickens.

[TALKS IN JAPANESE]

[ANSWERS IN JAPANESE.]

- Oh, I've enjoyed it so much.

- Here we come, second helpings!

[MORE EXCLAMATIONS OF JOY]

Oh, nearly full!

Your stomach seems to be standing

up to it all right, Mrs Frith.

I got the wish bone!

Hold that. There.

Pull it. Pull, pull, pull, pull!

Oh!

Which one?

Oh!

Wish?

What did you wish for?

I couldn't think of a single thing.

[SHOUTS IN JAPANESE]

[GENERAL CHATTER]

[TALKS IN JAPANESE]

[TALKS IN JAPANESE]

Where you get chicken?

We buy.

Where you get money?

We sell ring.

You don't speak truth.

Australian solider stole.

Give you.

We haven't seen Australian

soldiers for three days.

We buy.

You lying.

Australian solider steal,

give you.

Look at that.

We buy. We steal wedding ring

off dead woman.

You come here.

[CRYING WITH FEAR]

TELL THE TRUTH!

[SHOUTS IN JAPANESE]

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

[THANKS HIM IN JAPANESE]

Hm.

[WITHIN]

Come on! Tell me. Tell me.

[ENGINE NOISE, HORN BEEPING]

[TALKS IN JAPANESE]

You get in.

Tell the truth!

[CRYING]

[HE SHOUTS]

JOE:
Jean!

- JOE:
Jean.

- You stole chicken, give her one.

YOU DID, YOU DID.

- We bought it for--- Argh!

- [HE SHOUTS]

Leave her alone. I stole your bloody

chickens and I gave them to her.

- No, Joe! No, Joe!

- [SHOUTS]

JOE:
You bastard!

DON'T KILL HIM!

Don't kill him. Don't kill him.

Don't kill him!

Please don't kill him.

Not yet.

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

- Hup, hup.

- Oh, Joe.

Joe!

Joe.

Joe.

Joe.

[SOBBING] Joe.

[HAMMERING]

[GIVES ORDER IN JAPANESE]

[REPEATS ORDER

IN JAPANESE]

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

[KNOCKING]

[KNOCKING]

[ORDERS IN JAPANESE]

[ORDERS IN JAPANESE]

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

[MUTED, OMINOUS DRUMBEAT]

No. Please, God, no.

Please, God.

[DRUMS POUNDING]

[MRS FRITH PRAYS SOFTLY]

Our Father, which art in Heaven...

...Hallowed be thy name.

Thy will be done, on

Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our

daily bread....

...and forgive us our trespasses...

...as we forgive those who

trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation...

...but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the Kingdom...

...the power and the glory...

...for ever and ever. Amen.

[DOGS YELPING AND HOWLING]

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

[GIVES ORDERS IN JAPANESE]

You very bad people.

You do bad things.

Australian man die.

You be very sorry.

Your Japanese sergeant.

You make disgrace for him.

Now I punish sergeant, too.

I take other solider away.

Your sergeant feel bad shame...

...alone, with women prisoners.

[GIVE ORDERS IN JAPANESE]

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

No prison camp here for you.

I send you to Kota Bharu.

You walk now.

Go!

Go.

PRISONERS, ATTENTION!

This prisoner executed.

Not for stealing, but for

striking Japanese guard.

But Japanese chivalry

permit honour to solider.

Japanese bushido is like

European law of chivalry.

[ORDERS IN JAPANESE]

You now die.

I offer you last wish.

What you want?

To die on my feet,

throttling the life out ofyou.

You little ba---

All right.

You can have him.

[GENTLE FLUTE MUSIC]

Robin?

Robin.

Don't touch him! Don't dare touch

him! Don't touch him!

DON'T YOU DARE, KEEP YOUR

HANDS OFF HIM. DON'T TOUCH HIM.

- Don't touch him, don't touch him.

- Jean...

- ...don't, the man's done no harm.

- He's a Jap, isn't that enough?

I hate him, I hate him,

I hate him.

[CRYING] I hate him,

I hate him.

[BABY TALKS]

- I hate him.

[DARK MUSIC]

[CHILDREN SHOUTING]

[SPEAKS IN MALAY]

[HE MURMURS]

[SHALLOW BREATHING]

[HE MURMURS]

[HE MURMURS]

[HE MURMURS]

Your children, Gunso.

[HE CRIES QUIETLY]

Poor Sergeant.

You can't really hate people,

can you?

That's a wonderful thing

to find out.

You're thinking of Joe.

I was thinking of the

first time I saw him.

When he crawled out

from under the truck.

His face when he heard

me speak English.

The times when

we talked together...

...and shared a cigarette.

And the time when he talked

about a town called Alice.

Mat Amin bin Taib.

As there is no man

to speak for us...

...forgive me if I ask you to talk

business with a woman.

To do.

What do you want?

We have walked for many

hundreds of miles.

And no Japanese

officer will take us in...

...or feed us, or look after

us when we're sick.

So for months we've marched

from town to town.

And in that time more than

half of us have died.

Now our guard is dead.

Ifwe go on till we find another

Japanese officer...

...he won't want us either.

He'll send us on again.

And we shall grow ill

and we shall all die.

It is written that the Angels said;

"Every soul shall taste of death."

Is it not also written...

"If you be kind towards women, God is

well aquainted with what you do."

Where is that written?

In the Fourth Surah.

Are you of the faith?

No.

But wise words are

well in any faith.

Tell me what you want.

To stay here in your village.

To work in the rice fields

as your women do.

To workjust for our food

and somewhere to sleep.

White women have never

worked in the rice field.

White women have never

marched till they died.

We have little food.

Little water.

Our young men have been

taken to work for the Japanese.

We will grow more

food, for everyone.

If I let you stay here, the

Japanese might be angry.

But they might punish

us, kill us.

If you say we must go,

we must go.

We are in your hands.

[TENSE MUSIC]

[BRISK, PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

Oh, this'll be bad

for my rheumatism.

I won't last long like this.

You're the toughest

of us all, Mrs Frith.

You've lasted this far,

you'll last forever.

- Too much? Too heavy?

- I've told you before.

If the Malay can do it, I can do it.

Come on, load me up.

It isn't the first time

I've been called horsey.

[COUNTS IN MALAY]

[CHILDREN SING]

"London bridge is falling down

"Falling down, falling down.

"London bridge is falling down

"My fair lady."

"Let us build it up again

"Up again, up again.

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