Jonathan Demme and the Making of 'The Manchurian Candidate' Page #5

Go to the fire escape

and tilt your head up,

you can almost see a tree.

- Can I get you something to drink?

- No, I'm fine.

I've got some dieter's tea.

It's great for your metabolism,

if you're into that.

Or some tomato juice. No? All right.

Or...

...some water?

- No, thank you.

- I'm sorry.

I'm nervous.

I yak when I get nervous.

Where is she, your cousin?

She's on tour with Dreamgirls.

Hey, are you okay?

Yeah.

Look, I'm sorry about

what happened earlier.

You don't have to apologize to me.

I'll make you some tea.

Jesus. Where's the lemon? Okay.

- You okay in there?

- Yeah, I'm fine.

You know, I left you some towels

in there, did you see them?

MARCO:

Uh-huh.

ROSIE:
What was that?

- Dropped my bag.

Ben?

Are you okay in there?

Earth to Ben.

Yeah.

- You sure everything's all right?

- Yes.

Ben?

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

Ah!

Ben?

Ben?

Ben.

Ben?

[METAL CLATTERING IN SINK]

What are you doing?

Did you see that?

What I had in my hand.

MARCO:
I wasn't hallucinating, Delp.

I held it in my hand.

MAN:

That's what they all say, Marco.

Some wicked sh*t got sprayed

on you guys during Desert Storm.

Besides all the depleted uranium,

I mean.

I personally know of

a couple of Rangers

who swear that they see only

in tertiary colors now,

- Delp.

- And can pick up sports talk radio

in their cortical block if they get

too close to a Con-Ed transformer.

It's not Gulf War Syndrome.

The Army did try this

tiny, implantable ID thing.

You could imbed it under the skin,

then scan it like a bar code

for medical emergency information:

Blood type, DNA.

Well, the Army never put one in me.

That you know of, man.

That you know of.

RADIO NEWSCASTER 1:

U.S. Planes bombed selected sites

in Guinea today,

acting on intelligence

that the African nation's military

regime had secretly resumed

its chemical weapons program.

The secretary of defense declined

to comment on the attack,

saying only that the mission

was successful,

targets acquired, that all American

personnel involved here

were home safe and sound.

RADIO NEWSCASTER 2:

Striking transportation workers...

My dreams seem more real to me

than what I actually remember

happening over there. It's like...

It's like somewhere along the line

I got brainwashed or something and...

I'm just, like, all scrambled up.

We have all been

brainwashed, Marco.

As for somebody

imbedding electric probes

and computer chips in your brain

to make you do things,

it's horseshit, man.

A little electroshock...

...and sleep deprivation will do

the trick for a fraction of the price.

Ask the Uzbeks.

What about my dreams?

What if all this is your dream...

...and you are really

still back in Kuwait?

[SIRENS WAILING]

[CROWD CHEERING]

- Thanks for coming out. Thank you.

MAN:
Congressman!

- Congressman!

WOMAN:
Congressman!

Congressman! Congressman!

Why do you and Governor Arthur

oppose deploying troops

into Indonesia?

Well, Governor Arthur and I believe

we can't clean up the world

with dirty hands.

MARCO:

Sergeant Shaw!

Do you ever dream about Kuwait?

Captain Marco.

It's okay. It's okay.

Nice to see you, sir.

Good evening.

It's good to see you too.

Why did you ask me about Kuwait?

I didn't.

I asked you about your dreams.

- Thank you, Lily.

- Congressman Shaw, I'm sorry.

They wanna know if you can do

an interview with Larry King at 6?

- No, no.

- No to the interview or no to 6?

No. He wants to talk

about my mother. No.

- Everything under control, P. J?

- Hello, sir.

RAYMOND:

Good to see you.

So, captain, what can I do for you?

I just need a few minutes

of your time.

Congressman Shaw,

a moment, please?

Private time.

Unfortunately, this is as private

as it gets for me now.

- I understand.

- He's all right, Will.

- Come on in.

MARCO:
Thank you, thank you.

RAYMOND:
Hey, George.

- There are these dreams

that some of the men

from our unit have been having.

Including you?

Well...

...it's more of a question

of what actually happened

the night that our patrol

got attacked.

That's easy. We're on a routine recon

inside Iraqi-controlled terrain.

The patrol is ambushed.

RPG incoming, mortar fire.

- You're knocked...

- Unconscious. Exactly the way...

Not to cut you off, but I mean,

exactly the way that I remember it.

But I dreamed something else.

Am I in your dreams, captain?

Yes, you are, congressman.

Saving everybody?

It's a whole lot more complicated

than that. Now, Corporal Melvin,

he's been drawing these pictures

and he wrote down what he dreams.

- Maybe if you just...

- I don't have dreams, captain.

At all? You don't dream at all?

Everybody dreams, right? I mean...

Look, captain, I'd like to help you,

I would, I really would,

but I think you ought to

see somebody.

- Somebody who specializes in...

- I've been to doctors.

Well, good, that's very good,

because they can probably

help you out a lot more than I can.

- I don't know, but...

- Take care, captain.

- Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

- Thanks for coming by.

I'm not crazy, Shaw.

Major.

- Ben. Are you hungry?

- Starving.

Well, it depends on the demographic.

WOMAN:

Excuse me.

- I killed Baker?

MARCO:
Well, it's a dream.

I mean, it could mean

something else.

It could mean I'm supposed

to think you did.

No, I killed the enemy.

I didn't know them either, so...

...it was okay.

And anyway, I remember what we did

in Kuwait. I remember it perfectly.

I just...

...don't remember actually doing it.

Maybe you didn't do it.

No.

What a thought.

What?

Life is so bizarre, isn't it?

Which part?

I don't know.

What you saw downstairs.

This campaign. Politics.

My whole public life and persona.

I mean, posing and grinning

like a goddamn sock puppet,

shaking hands with total strangers

who must be completely blind

if they can't see

what I am at the core.

What my mother has made me.

A Prentiss.

Ferociously a Prentiss.

- But not a Shaw. No, sir.

- I see.

No, you don't.

You can't.

I was 20 years old

before I had a friend.

Worse, a girlfriend. Well, you know,

from my point of view, anyway.

A friend outside of my mother's circle

of approved encounters

and she...

...my mother...

[CLEARS THROAT]

God only knows what she told

Jocelyn to chase her away.

Precipitating my sole act

of rebellion:

Storming off...

...and enlisting in the Army.

But after the war...

...I came back to her.

Why did you come back?

What happened?

Weren't you listening?

Mother happened.

You know, the truth is I hate it.

I've always despised the Medal.

The cloying adulation

of the little people.

It's certainly...

...nothing for you

to be jealous of, major.

I'm not jealous.

I don't have the dreams, Ben.

How could you not remember

saving our unit?

I do. I said I did.

No, no, you didn't. You said

that you didn't remember doing it.

That's what you just said

a couple minutes ago.

When I think about that night...

...it's as if I know what will happen.

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