Jonathan Demme and the Making of 'The Manchurian Candidate' Page #7

In the ensuing firefight, Eddie Ingram

gets himself separated to the left.

Baker goes after him.

Hello, captain.

ALL:
Before Sergeant Shaw

is able to locate...

Eddie Ingram gets himself

separated to the left.

[PANTING]

[SOLDIERS SPEAKING

INDISTINCTLY]

[GASPS]

[SEAGULLS CAWING]

[MARCO GRUNTS]

[NO AUDIBLE DIALOGUE]

Did you go blank on me again?

He said this would happen.

Who?

Your German friend.

Your friend.

Ben.

He said it'd be like

a computer system crash.

That your brain would shut down,

but it would reboot again

and you'd forget all your RAM.

Or most of your RAM.

[GRUNTS]

Do you remember me?

Do you remember me?

Ben?

Eugenie.

MARCO:

How did I get here?

ROSIE:

You called me.

MARCO:

Where am I?

RADIO REPORTER:

- Planning a suicide bombing.

The Mile High City has suffered

a series of brutal attacks

during the past several months.

Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw,

does it bother you at all

that your son repudiates

so many of your more

- controversial policies?

- No. He's his own person.

Raymond and I may disagree

on certain issues,

but I think we share

the same fundamental vision

of what this country can be.

- Which is?

- Better.

Better and better.

Safer, braver, stronger.

A beacon of freedom

in a world troubled by shadows.

America must prevail.

The future and survival

of modern civilization,

democracy, freedom,

all depend upon it.

REPORTER:

So your son, Congressman Shaw...

MARCO:

Rosie.

[REPORTER AND ELLIE

SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY ON TV]

Hm?

I was in the park on Friday?

We were in the park on Monday.

Monday?

- Yep.

- Monday.

We were flying low.

It's, like, over the ocean, and just...

A field hospital.

And they took us up to this place.

- Where? Military?

- I don't know. I don't know.

Just state-of-the-art stuff everywhere.

Stainless steel and wires

and tubes and monitors.

- Were you tortured?

- No. Yeah.

I mean, there was pain.

You know, it was like...

I don't know what they call it.

Invasive procedure.

For example?

Like what? What do you mean?

Invasive.

See, they were in my head...

...and they made me...

Well, Raymond Shaw,

they made him kill somebody.

Like it was nothing.

Private Robert Baker.

That's who it was, it was a private.

One of my soldiers.

I think they made me

kill somebody too.

A kid named Eddie Ingram.

NOYLE:

Private Ingram, stand up.

Walk a few steps, please.

And if you could secure the door,

please, Chris.

Captain Marco.

Stand up.

- Raymond.

- Yes, sir.

There's a gun on the cupboard.

Would you please take it

and give it to Captain Marco.

RAYMOND:

Yes, sir.

NOYLE:

Here.

RAYMOND:

Captain.

Sir!

Captain Marco,

please shoot Private Ingram.

Now, Raymond,

suffocate Private Baker.

Kill him.

[FAN BLADES WHIRRING]

[GRUNTS]

Keep going, Raymond.

[CHOKING]

I knew the...

A soldier knows the enemy.

I'm in command.

That's primary, I know.

I thought I knew...

...who the enemy was.

My men, they trusted me

with their lives, you know?

Don't.

Don't touch me.

ROSIE:
Ben, the person that did this,

what was his name?

Can you remember?

Did he have a name?

Ben?

[MAN ON TV

SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

[AUDIENCE ON TV LAUGHING]

[REPORTER ON TV

SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

[SIRENS WAILING]

[CAR HORN HONKS]

Smile if you like.

This will just take a minute.

ROSIE [ON TAPE]:

I see you there all the time.

Bennett Marco.

Checks from First National Bank.

Romance novels, instant noodles,

NoDoz and tomatoes.

[TAPE FAST-FORWARDS]

MARCO:
Old friend

up there, an old Army friend that...

Well, he's in politics now...

[TAPE FAST-FORWARDS]

MARCO:

What else did we talk about?

ROSIE:
What happened to you

after you were captured?

Black helicopters,

secret laboratories...

... mad scientist, mind drugs...

... shock torture

and Raymond Shaw.

MARCO:

You don't believe any of it, do you?

ROSIE:
It's crazy.

MARCO:
It sounds crazy, doesn't it?

ROSIE:
It sounds crazy.

MARCO:
That's what they wanted me

to think too. It's exactly what

they want you to think.

[TAPE FAST-FORWARDS]

ROSIE:
What about the other guys

from your unit?

Where are they?

MARCO:
They're all gone.

So-called natural causes.

Owens died of cancer in '97.

Villalobos' car crashed.

Atkins committed suicide.

Jameson died 9/11, Pentagon.

[TAPE FAST-FORWARDS]

ROSIE:
Ben?

MARCO:
Yeah?

ROSIE:
Did he have a name?

MARCO:
Who?

ROSIE:

The person that did this, Ben.

What was his name?

Can you remember?

Ben.

MARCO:
Yeah?

ROSIE:
Did he have a name?

[NO AUDIBLE DIALOGUE]

You only have to look

at the enormous strides made

in the last decade

with the genetic reconfiguration

of the noble tomato.

What was happening was the tomato

was over-ripening in the process

and it was losing its flavor.

It's actually a very simple procedure

to deactivate the gene concerned.

And the same thing

can be applied to ourselves.

At a flick of a switch,

we can adjust character,

change personality.

And of course, more importantly...

... we can offset

the ravages of dementia

by implanting memory or adjusting

the synaptic connections.

We can free people

from the terrible burden

of an emotionally

compromised past.

MARCO:
Watch where you're going!

MAN 1:
Sorry.

Watch where you're going!

Just back up! Just back up.

Watch it. Watch it. Shut up.

MAN 2:

Take it easy, sir.

I called the Pentagon and they told me

he's on medical leave.

Secret Service, they got him on a

couple of their watch and observe lists.

I guess there's been some trouble with

this guy involving Congressman Shaw.

Oh?

JORDAN:
Among the shareholders

in Manchurian Global,

were they to ever publish a list,

which they won't,

you would find former presidents,

deposed kings,

trust fund terrorists,

fallen Communist dictators,

ayatollahs, African warlords

and retired prime ministers.

- See what I mean?

- I get it. They're big. They're huge.

They're... They're...

They're gigantic.

I can't touch them. I get it.

I don't want to.

And you bring me rumors

and conjecture.

I started with nightmares.

Rumors, conjectures,

that's a giant leap forward.

Nightmares that you've interpreted

using as primary resources

A, your spotty memory,

B, the Internet,

sacred sanctuary of idiots and nutters.

That's how they're gonna look at this.

And C, a crazy man's notebook,

along with evidence you chewed

out of a man's back.

All neatly stitched together

with a common thread

of a supremely powerful,

well-connected private equity fund,

who, if you ever get

anywhere near them,

will plead ignorance

and be shocked.

Shocked to learn

what some of their subsidiary

partners are engaged in.

I could give a rat's ass

about Manchurian Global, sir.

I could give a rat's ass about them.

That is not why I'm here.

I looked you up too, senator.

Oh?

You were in the Army.

JORDAN:

I was drafted.

Didn't make much of a soldier,

I'm afraid. Let me see this.

That's not what I saw in the record.

That's not what the record says, sir.

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