Teza Page #4

Comrades!

The decadent

3,000-year old regime has been toppled!

Ethiopia is free! Let's drink to that!

The throne has been vacated...

What are you waiting for?

Go back and take power.

Can't you ever be serious?

Have you told him yet?

- Told him what?

That you're pregnant.

I don't know,

I hate being in this position.

But you'll have to tell him.

What's wrong with you?

Selassie being dethroned is not the

problem. But what'll come after him?

Now that Selassie has been deposed

and the feudal system's gone,

we need to go back.

We are our country's future!

You were faster.

Say bye-bye.

Is he leaving?

What's the matter with you?

I'm sad.

I'm sad.

No, no!

In Amharic.

Hasn't it constantly been on our minds?

Now the regime's gone,

we need to go in and organize.

What about your son?

- Don't worry.

Who knows what his future will be.

He might become king of Germany.

You can't disrupt

people's lives like that!

You know, our lives are here, too!

I used to think the world of you!

Cassandra was right:

You shouldn't have had a child!

Get off your high horse! I raised

my child! I didn't go for an abortion!

Don't pretend you don't know!

What's going on?

Teodross, come here.

What?

You haven't told him, have you?

I told you not to!

Tesfaye left his family behind

and went back home in the middle

of the raging revolution.

So the host cell's nucleus,

as you'll be able to see...

And Cassandra? She vanished

without giving me a chance.

I went everywhere looking for her,

but she left no trace.

I never had the chance to tell her

that I really loved her.

Young man, take heed,

if you are mine

please return my love

and let me live with you.

Regardless of what happened to me

that made me close up my heart...

What's happened to me

that I now so yearn for you?

Y ears had gone by

and I thought I'd forgotten.

What's happened to me

that I now so yearn for you?

Anberber, my love,

son of Tatie, tell me true,

do you belong to us now,

or still to someone else?

I yearn for you

as I would for pure honey.

Here's some more.

Have you sifted it?

- Yes, I have.

What do you expect me to do?

- I understand.

Forget the rest of us.

After all those years abroad,

what do you have to offer

your poor mother?

We can't make stew

out of the books, can we?

I don't blame you. Forgive me.

Who am I to forgive you?

I'm uneducated, left behind to...

...clean up after other fools.

By the way, did you write all these

books or just buy them wholesale?

Gashe, why did you let me sleep so late?

They'd kill me if they found me at your

bedside. - Who'd dare to touch you?

I'd be putting you in jeopardy, too!

When are you going to

stop calling me Gashe?

Have a nice day, Gashe!

A few years after Tesfaye's

return, I followed.

I was very scared

of returning to my own country.

Every time I think of returning

home, I feel really anxious.

Maybe you're just homesick.

- You've got Tesfaye and a job lined up.

I don't even know

where to look for work.

Forget about that.

You know what I really miss?

My mother's seasoned injera.

- Forget your injera!

I can't wait to get to Addis Ababa

and fall into the arms

of my country's beauty.

And take her to a hotel...

Oh, Abdul!

Nobody knows I'm coming,

so keep it to yourself.

1980s, Addis Ababa

Hey Tesfish!

How did the holy trinity

make it all the way here?

Here you go, don't start now.

How long will I be staying at the hotel?

- It's difficult to find a place.

People who came before me

are still staying in hotels.

I brought you something.

He's grown so much!

Anberber...

Teodross has really grown,

and he looks just like me.

Don't worry, they're fine.

Look over there!

Reminds me of your father-in-law,

threatening to kill himself

the day you married his daughter.

Lots of people here die

from diseases that are easily treatable.

Sometimes I wonder

about your priorities.

Your people in the country

are dropping like flies.

The first thing I'm going to do

is see my poor mother.

The country's not stable.

I thought you already knew that.

The roads aren't safe.

Start your job, and once things

calm down, you can go as you please.

So, how is the political situation?

You can come to a meeting tomorrow.

Please, I've had enough of politics!

Oh no, here we go again.

This isn't Germany.

You don't have a choice here.

It's always, 'You're either with us

or against us', you know.

You'll have to join some group

for your own protection.

They say you'll get shot

by two bullets if you sit on the fence.

FORWARD WITH CHAIRMAN MENGISTU

Can you take over Haematology

and Serology? That's all I need.

Here we have

Entomology and Bacteriology,

and this is

Veterinary Science and Services.

This is the guesthouse. You'll enjoy it,

you can do whatever you like.

That's it!

What are you doing?

- What's the problem, Doctor?

We revolutionaries don't have time

to celebrate the end of the fast.

We're busy with national issues.

Couldn't you do this elsewhere?

Who allowed this anyway?

Who needs permission?

Don't do this again.

We'll see! Will we need permits

to sh*t in our own country?

You don't understand, Comrade.

- No, it's you who doesn't.

No, thank you.

Comrade, can't you tell

a white man when you see one?

Don't worry, I reported him.

We won't be able to work with him

around. - They look really menacing.

This is the moment

I've been waiting for all my life.

I'm back in my country and you gave me

a job that will be very gratifying.

Anyway, now...

You've finally come to me!

- Yes indeed!

Here you are! What are you doing?

You're messing up the vibe!

Are we to starve for the motherland?

Let's go!

What time is it?

- Well past lunchtime.

Alright, let's go.

They're taking my father!

Let my mother go!

They're taking my mother!

They're taking my father!

Father! Mother!

Who have they taken now?

I've never seen him before. - He was

a big official in the old regime.

Be careful they don't pay you a visit.

They know the house. They arrested

the reactionary who used to live here.

You're living in a confiscated house?

- And so are you, as far as I know.

Sense of humor, Comrade Tesfaye!

Come on, that's enough.

We were the new ghosts

in nationalized houses.

We lived in houses unjustly confiscated

from the people

we'd accused of being exploiters.

Yesterday's revolutionaries,

some of us avowed communists -

our generation

put itself in a paradoxical position.

It's amazing how a single rooster

can terrorize an entire country.

Maybe we should create another one.

- Listen to her.

What do you mean? - One rooster alone

couldn't cause such mayhem.

Think back.

All those students and intellectuals...

If we didn't have the chairman,

we'd have created him in a lab.

This is our way

of avoiding collective responsibility

and of transferring our sins to others.

Is this pure sophistry,

or do you have a point to make?

We can't blame the junta alone.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes