Body of Lies

Synopsis: Roger Ferris is a CIA operative in the Middle East; Ed Hoffman is his control at Langley. Cynicism is everywhere. In Amman, Roger works with Hani Salaam, Jordan's head of security, whose only dictum is "Don't lie to me." The Americans are in pursuit of a cleric who leads a group placing bombs all over Europe. When Hani rebukes Ed's demand that Jordan allow the Americans to use one of Jordan's double agents, Roger and Ed hatch a plan to bring the cleric to them. The plan is complicated by its being a secret from Hani and by Roger's attraction to a local nurse. Satellites and cell phones, bodies and lies: modern warfare.
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance
Director(s): Ridley Scott
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures
  2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Metacritic:
57
Rotten Tomatoes:
55%
R
Year:
2008
128 min
$39,380,442
Website
2,906 Views


[MAN SPEAKS IN ARABIC]

[IN ARABIC]

AL-SALEEM [ON TV]:

[DOG BARKING]

[TRAIN HORN BLARES]

All clear.

[TRAIN RUMBLING]

[DOGS BARKING]

[BOTTLES CLINKING]

[DRIVER WHISTLING]

[AL-SALEEM SPEAKING IN ARABIC

ON TV]

[WHISTLING]

[BOTTLES CLINKING]

Shh.

Ali.

[ALL SPEAKING IN ARABIC]

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

[SOLDIERS SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY

AND SIRENS WAILING]

[MAN CHANTING IN ARABIC

OVER LOUDSPEAKER]

MAN:
Do we belong there?

Do we not?

It doesn't matter

how you would answer that...

... because we are there.

We're tired, and we can't see the end.

We can't even console ourselves

that our enemy is just as tired as we are.

Because they're not.

[MUFFLED YELLING]

It is a fallacy that prolonged war

will weaken an occupied enemy.

SOLDIER:

He's dead.

It most likely

will make your enemy stronger.

They get used to the deprivation,

and they adapt and respond accordingly.

While here at home...

The explosion occurred in one of

Manchester's heavily Asian neighborhoods.

...with every death reported...

...we have to deal with a public-opinion

trajectory that slides rapidly...

...from supportive to negative

to downright hostile.

People just get sick and tired

of a moment's silence at a ball game.

They just wanna be told that it's over.

REPORTER [ON TV]: Police and emergency

workers in Manchester...

... are still combing through what is left

of this block of flats.

They say this was not the target.

Had the bombs being constructed here

found their eventual intended target...

... the devastation could...

HOFFMAN:

Despite the fact...

...we have markedly increased

our operational intensity...

...we're not seeing any progress.

What we're dealing with here...

...is potentially a global conflagration...

...that requires constant diligence

in order to suppress.

Now, you see...

...because our enemy...

...has realized that they are fighting guys

from the future.

Now, ahem, it is brilliant

as it is infuriating.

If you live like it's the past,

and you behave like it's the past...

...then guys from the future

find it very hard to see you.

If you throw away your cell phone,

shut down your e-mail...

... pass all your instructions face-to-face,

hand-to-hand...

... turn your back on technology

and just disappear into the crowd...

No flags. No uniforms.

You got your basic grunts

on the ground there.

They're looking going,

"Who is it we're fighting?"

In a situation like this,

your friends dress just like your enemies...

... and your enemies dress

like your friends.

What I need you to fully understand is that

these people, they do not wanna negotiate.

Not at all.

They want the universal caliphate

established across the face of the Earth...

... and they want every infidel converted

or dead.

So, what's changed...

...is that our

allegedly unsophisticated enemy...

...has cottoned on

to the factually unsophisticated truth...

...we're an easy target.

We are an easy target...

... and our world as we know it

is a lot simpler...

...to put to an end than you might think.

We take our foot off the throat

of this enemy for one minute...

...and our world changes completely.

MAN:

Thank you, Mr. Hoffman.

[PEOPLE CHATTERING]

[HORN HONKS]

BASSAM [IN ARABIC]:

FERRIS:

I'm coming.

[BOTH SPEAK IN ARABIC]

You're early.

Big boss man, what's happening?

[GROANS]

What's the story?

Rules of the day.

If the car gets immobilized,

start shooting.

Nobody gets traded. Everybody dies.

So same as every day?

- You got it. Want some breakfast?

- Hell, yes.

Thanks.

[HONKS HORN]

All right. Tell me something real.

BASSAM:

Oh, all I got is real, man. You know me.

All right, let's hear it.

All right, a guy named Nizar.

He's from Aquiz up near Tikrit, right?

So he gets all f***ed in his head

after the invasion, you know?

He starts working with the Baathists,

then the jihadists.

But he is scared shitless now, man.

He's supposed

to do a martyrdom operation...

...but he doesn't wanna f***ing die.

So he's coming to us.

- He's coming to us?

- Mm-hm.

[CAR HORNS HONKING]

FERRIS:

For chrissakes, move the donkey.

[SHOUTS IN ARABIC]

SOLDIER:
Move it, let's go.

Get these guys moving. Let's go.

Come on, come on.

BASSAM:
Oh, my God. Just get the...

Buy the f***ing flowers.

[SPEAKS IN ARABIC]

Come on, come on.

FERRIS:
So, what are the chances

your man's playing both sides?

BASSAM:

I don't know. What are they with me?

FERRIS:

Three to one.

All right. Let's slow down.

Is this it?

BASSAM:

Yeah. This is it.

WOMAN:

Nitrate 37 slewing to target ports now.

MAN 1:

MAN 2:

On target, 15:
31 Zulu.

MAN 1:

Cell phone linked to moving vehicle.

FERRIS [OVER RADIO]:

Stop right up here.

Right up here. Let me take a look.

- I don't see anything.

BASSAM:
I'm gonna call him.

FERRIS:

All right, call him.

[LINE RINGING]

MAN [OVER PHONE]:

Bassam.

Yeah, Nizar.

[IN ARABIC]

NIZAR:

Huh?

NIZAR:

WOMAN:

IR 3.9.

- He says he wants one of us to come in.

FERRIS:
He is to meet inside the car.

Inside the car.

If he wants to talk, it's in the car.

You have to come to us, Nizar.

- I'm coming to you.

- Do the f*** what I said. Go.

Hey, hey. Listen to me.

I am not getting my head cut off

on the Internet.

If something happens, shoot me.

- Will you shoot me?

- F*** that sh*t. I will shoot you right now.

- I'm not kidding.

- Quit being a p*ssy.

BASSAM:

Nizar.

WOMAN:

Zooming in.

Visual confirmed.

Long wave 10.7.

[CELL PHONE RINGING]

Sh*t.

- I can't talk right now, Larry.

- She wants the house.

FERRIS:
Give her the house.

It's a piece of sh*t, all right?

- We're getting this, sir.

- We're getting it.

She can ask for whatever she wants,

but I'm not listening.

What the hell are you calling for?

Hang up the phone.

Hang up the phone.

Are you on the line?

I can see you now, all right?

You are attracting attention.

Get the f*** out of here right now.

I will handle this on my own.

Roger that. Off target.

WOMAN:

Copy. Off target, 3-10.

FERRIS [IN ARABIC]:

Yes.

FERRIS:

Good, good, good.

FERRIS:

You want an orange? You hungry?

No.

So, Nizar...

...why'd you come to me, huh?

I know too many things.

They prepared me to go outside Iraq.

What do you mean by "outside Iraq"?

They said they need me

to become shahid...

...for martyrdom.

When a man knows too much,

they say martyrdom.

Who do you mean by "they," Nizar? Hm?

[SNIFFLES]

I don't want to die.

I want to go to America.

I have a Ph.D., you know?

And they want me...

They want me to blow myself up.

- Ph.D. in what, chemistry?

- No.

What do you know

about radiological materials?

Linguistic. I speak five languages.

Five, you know?

Nobody should say "martyr" to me.

Nobody.

- You are a rare and a delicate flower.

- Yes, I am.

- Yes.

- Yes.

So you don't wanna kill the Jews

and the Crusaders, huh?

What do you know about our pain?

Cut the bullshit, all right?

Give me some information.

What do you know?

[NIZAR SIGHS]

You know,

Rate this script:2.0 / 1 vote

William Monahan

William J. Monahan (born November 3, 1960) is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film that earned him a Writers Guild of America Award and Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. more…

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