The Battle of Algiers Page #21

The ju-jus attack the air, invade it, shake it, make it vibrate as if

they were electric charges, or the sound produced by the wind on a

field of dry reeds, or the sound produced by a hundred, a thousand

fingernails that are scratching a window pane ...

101HEADQUARTERS. PARA. OUTSIDE. DAY.

PARA:

One, two, three, four ... Inside! C'mon!

The five Algerians indicated are forced to get up, taken, pushed, and

brought inside a large deserted house which is the paras' headquarters.

The other Algerians, about a hundred of them, are sitting on the

ground, in the clearing in front of the house, and the paras of the

first regiment continue to guard them with pointed machine guns ...

Suddenly from the villa, the music of a French song comes forth at full

blast.

The Algerians look at each other nervously. Even a young para seems to

be upset.

1ST PARA

(turning to other para)

What are they doing?

2ND PARA

(smiling)

Dancing inside ...

102HEADQUARTERS. VILLA. INSIDE. DAY.

A para rushes through a corridor carrying a tape recorder, enters a

room where there are some sergeants and an Algerian.

The adjoining room with white tiled walls and a sink is visible through

an open door. Two paras are sitting on the floor, smoking and chatting

between themselves in whispers.

The para places the tape recorder on the table. The Algerian is naked

to the waist. Signs of torture are visible. His face is swollen and

wet. The sergeant places the chair near him, and helps him to sit down,

then starts the tape recorder. He says to the Algerian who is

trembling:

SERGEANT:

Go ahead! C'mon ... Repeat everything

from the beginning, and then we'll let

you go. Name ...

ALGERIAN:

Sid Ahmed.

SERGEANT:

Second name.

ALGERIAN:

Sail.

SERGEANT:

Which "district" do you belong to?

ALGERIAN:

Second district ...

SERGEANT:

Second district ... Explain better ...

ALGERIAN:

Second district, Casbah, West Algiers.

SERGEANT:

What "group"?

ALGERIAN:

Third group.

SERGEANT:

Third group. What's your assignment?

ALGERIAN:

Uh ... responsible for the sixth section.

103VILLA. HEADQUARTERS. INSIDE. DAY.

In a room on the ground floor, a captain is bent over a large map with

graphs, and is writing the name Sid Ahmed Sail in one of the blocks at

the bottom of the pyramid ...

At the same time, paras are seen through the large window, bringing

other Algerians to the villa, and immediately afterward, the music and

song are heard again very loudly.

104CASBAH ALLEY. OUTSIDE. NIGHT.

Night, darkness, locked doors. The Casbah is silent. The paras tread

noiselessly on their rubber soles. Patrols.

A flashlight searches for the number of a door, then stops. A para

knocks discreetly.

NOISES INSIDE. VOICES.

ALGERIAN VOICE:

Who is it?

PARA:

Sid Ahmed ... Sid Ahmed Sail.

The door is opened, the paras break in.

105ANOTHER ALLEY. CASBAH. OUTSIDE. NIGHT.

Another alley in the Casbah, other paras.

Another door forced open, broken into.

Algerians are crowded together in a courtyard which is illuminated with

electric flares.

They are being interrogated.

106CASBAH STREET. OUTSIDE. DAY. RAIN.

A cloudy day, a light drizzle, a sloping street, Algerian music. A

company of zouaves walk two by two in the Casbah, through the alleys,

stop, play their music, and move on again, alternating Algerian music

and a French song.

Behind them, a line of donkeys with baskets full of packages and bags,

and cheerful paras who are joking, as they distribute the supplies to

the starving women and children, who stand ashamed in front of their

houses, their eyes lowered, their gestures too brusque, and hesitant.

SPEAKER:

"At the General Assembly of the United

Nations, none of the motions presented in

the course of the debate has obtained the

necessary majority. At last an agreement

has been reached on a resolution that

excludes any form of direct intervention

by the UN in the Algerian question. The

Assembly of the United Nations has limited

itself to expressing the hope that in a

spirit of cooperation, a peaceful,

democratic, and just solution will be

found, that conforms to the principles of

the United Nations Charter ..."

The monotony of the last words is drowned out and lost. It is raining

more heavily now. The water has begun to run along the sloping alleys.

The walls are gray, wet; the doors of the cafes and shops are barred

with signs nailed upon them.

THIS SHOP HAS SUPPORTED THE NLF STRIKE.

THE PREFECT HAS ORDERED ITS CLOSING UNTIL

FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.

The band of zouaves has stopped again, and now they are playing "La vie

en rose."

107VILLA HEADQUARTERS. INSIDE. DAWN.

In some parts of the villa a gramophone is playing "La vie en rose."

In the room on the first floor, through the large window, the whiteness

of the dawn is visible. The desk is cluttered with beer cans and

thermos. Mathieu and other officers have their eyes fixed on the graph,

where the captain is marking other small crosses at the bottom of the

pyramid. The scene is motionless; their expressions are dull. Everyone

seems to be incapable of movement, overcome by the dull apathy that

always follows a sleepless night.

Until Mathieu breaks the stillness of the scene.

MATHIEU:

Good ... Good work ... Now we can all go

to sleep.

And moving together with the others, he continues.

MATHIEU:

The end of the strike doesn't change

anything. The directives remain the same.

Give your men the usual shifts. We must

remain in the Casbah: twenty-four hours a

day!

He turns and points to the graph.

MATHIEU:

We must cling to it, and work fast!

Then he turns to the officers and smiling, says in another tone of

voice:

MATHIEU:

Have any of you ever had a tapeworm?

The officers say "no" and laugh.

MATHIEU:

The tapeworm is a worm that can grow to

infinity. There are thousands of segments.

You can destroy all of them; but as long

as the head remains, it reproduces itself

immediately. It is the same thing with the

NLF. The head is the General Staff, four

persons. Until we are able to eliminate

them, we must always start again from the

beginning.

While he is speaking, Mathieu takes his wallet from his back pocket,

opens it, takes out four photos.

MATHIEU:

I found these in the police archives.

They are old shots, but I made some

close-ups. Ramel ... Si Mourad ...

Kader ... Ali la Pointe. We must print a

thousand copies and distribute them to

the men.

Meanwhile, the photos are passed around.

There are photos taken from identification cards, or blown up from some

group shots, figures somewhat blurred, faded, smiling, peaceful ...

108NLF LEADERS' HIDING PLACE. INSIDE. DAY.

In the dim light, the four faces are barely illuminated. The shadows

tone down their expressions: Kader, Ali la Pointe, Ramel, Si Mourad.

They are crowded into the hiding place, sitting on the floor,

motionless, their eyes staring straight ahead, their breathing heavy.

From outside, noises, voices that are fading in the distance. Silence.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes