Gandhi Page #35

Featuring Dyer. Meticulously, he taps a corporal on the

shoulder with his swagger stick and indicates the well. The

corporal signals his line of men.

At the well. The gathering crowd -- men, women -- and laced

with rifle fire.

From behind the sepoys we see the whole Bagh, littered with

dead and dying, a thick ruck around the well, the walls

hanging with wounded and dying, the firing continuing, loud,

loud, louder... until --

CUT TO:

THE ARMORY HALL - THE FORT OF LAHORE - INTERIOR - DAY

Silence. The camera is close as it crosses a table with legal

documents. Gradually we hear a muffled cough, whispers,

shuffled papers, and it at last comes to a large close shot

of General Dyer.

Another angle. A Commission of Inquiry sits in the large

Armory Hall of the Old Fort. Dyer faces a panel of

Commissioners:
Lord Hunter, presiding, Mr. Justice Rankin,

General Barrow, a British civil servant, and an Indian

barrister.

The Commission functions like a public parliamentary committee --

little ceremony, no judicial robes, a small group of public

and press, who sit on wooden chairs behind a barrier that

isolates the Commission's business.

Much of that public is English -- fellow officers and

civilians.

A Government Advocate (English) turns to face Dyer.

ADVOCATE:

General Dyer, is it correct that you

ordered your troops to fire at the

thickest part of the crowd?

Dyer glances woodenly at the panel -- a man in some shock at

the consequences of what he assumed was an act worthy of

praise.

DYER:

(righteously)

That is so.

The Advocate looks at him with a degree of disbelief -- more

at his attitude than his statement.

ADVOCATE:

One thousand five hundred and sixteen

casualties with one thousand six

hundred and fifty bullets.

A slight reaction from the public section. Dyer's jaw

tightens.

DYER:

My intention was to inflict a lesson

that would have an impact throughout

all India.

He stares at the panel like a reasonable man making a

reasonable point. The evasiveness, the only half-buried

embarrassment of their response only deepens his own

withdrawal into himself.

INDIAN BARRISTER

General, had you been able to take

in the armored car, would you have

opened fire with the machine gun?

Dyer thinks about it. Then unashamedly --

DYER:

I think, probably -- yes.

A muted reaction from the public section. The Indian barrister

stares at him a moment, then simply lowers his eyes to his

notes.

HUNTER:

General, did you realize there were

children -- and women -- in the crowd?

DYER:

(a beat)

I did.

For the first time there is the hint of uncertainty in his

manner.

ADVOCATE:

But that was irrelevant to the point

you were making?

DYER:

That is correct.

There is just a tremor of distaste quickly suppressed among

the panel. Not so quickly in the public section.

ADVOCATE:

Could I ask you what provision you

made for the wounded?

Dyer looks at him quickly. The question is unexpected, even

a little "clever." The officers listening clearly resent it.

DYER:

(a moment, then firmly)

I was ready to help any who applied.

And that answer stops the Advocate. He smiles dryly.

ADVOCATE:

General... how does a child shot

with a 3-0-3 Enfield "apply" for

help?

Dyer faces him stonily, a seed of panic taking root deep in

his gut.

JALLIANWALLAH BAGH - EXTERIOR - DAY

Quiet:
the same silence as at the Court of Inquiry. The camera

is panning slowly along a section of the wall. We are close

and see the bullet holes, the patches of splashed blood, the

scratches where fingers have dug at the surface of the wall

to claw a path to safety... And finally the camera comes to

a close shot of Gandhi, matching that of Dyer, whom we have

just left. He is surveying the wall in the now empty park

numbly, desolately.

Nehru stands a few feet away from him, his mood the same,

the same benumbed grief and incredulity.

Resume the wall -- Gandhi's point of view. The camera

continues its pan -- bits of human hair matted in the dried

blood, and the bullet-ripped foliage, the well, trampled

ground around it, little pieces of clothing. Flies buzz around

the debris. Abstractedly, Gandhi touches the bucket rope

that lies across the surround. Nehru has moved to the other

side of the well. Gandhi lifts his eyes to him...

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

THE VICE-REGAL PALACE - NEW DELHI - EXTERIOR - DAY

The imposing capitol building of the British Raj in India.

We establish then cut into

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