The Battle of Algiers Page #24

118FOUR WOMEN. STREET. OUTSIDE. DAY.

Four women, their faces veiled, meet a patrol of paras in a small

street.

Two of the paras stop the last woman, and lift her dress, uncovering

her feet and ankles -- those of a man. The tear away her veil.

The man is Ali. At the same time, there is ...

MACHINE-GUN FIRE.

The two paras fall to the ground. Ali grasps his weapon, visible

through the opening of his cloak. The other paras fling themselves to

the ground.

The other three women flee, while Ali continues to shoot, then runs

away.

The four flee through the narrow streets and alleys, climb a stairway,

and leap from one terrace to another. Behind them, shouts, whistles,

and machine-gun fire are heard. And moving nearer ...

BARKING OF DOGS.

119 COURTYARD WITH WELL. OUTSIDE. DAY.

The four enter a courtyard. Ali's three companions have also lifted

their veils. They are Kader, Mourad, and Ramel.

A woman rushes to shut the door while a man leads the four toward an

opening hidden by some boxes.

The others who are in the courtyard, women and children, are also busy

helping, silently, hurriedly, in a tense atmosphere of solidarity with

the four fugitives.

Very near are heard ...

BARKING OF DOGS AND PARAS' HURRIED FOOTSTEPS.

A woman runs toward the door and throws some large handfuls of pepper

under the cracks.

120 STREET COURTYARD WITH WELL. OUTSIDE. DAY.

The group of pursuers -- paras who are holding police dogs by leashes

-- slow down in front of the door.

BARKING DOGS.

The animals sniff the ground, then move on together with the paras.

121ARAB BATH. INSIDE. DAY.

Petit Omar enters the large steamy room. He moves near the manager and

hands him an envelope. The manager slips it quickly under the counter.

SPEAKER:

"To all NLF militants! Reorganize! Replace

your fallen and arrested brothers. Make

new contacts! This is a grave moment.

Resist brothers! The General Staff leaves

you free to take any and all necessary

offensives ...

122 CASBAH HOUSE. INSIDE. DAY.

All the inhabitants of a house. The men are in a row on the balcony of

the first floor, their hands crossed behind their heads, their backs to

the wall, while paras guard them with pointed machine guns.

Two paratroopers lead an Algerian girl forward: she seems to be

exhausted, and can barely walk, her eyes half-closed.

They stop in front of the first man and ask her:

PARAS:

Is this one?

SPEAKER:

"Our hearts are breaking before such

outrages, our houses invaded, our

families massacred. Brothers, rebel!

Bring terror to the European city!"

123ALGERIAN STREETS. OUTSIDE. EVENING.

The European city, evening, houses are being lit. People have finished

working. They are going to the bars, cinemas, or for walks, or crowding

the bus stops ...

The wail of a siren at full blast, an ambulance, driven at frightening

speed.

The people move aside, jump to the sidewalks. The cars squeeze to the

right, stop.

The ambulance door is opened, a corpse is thrown out, falls, rolls into

the street.

The people rush to it. It is a hospital attendant's in white uniform

with a knife stuck in his throat.

The sound of the siren decreases in intensity; the ambulance is by now

far away.

124 AMBULANCE. OUTSIDE/INSIDE. EVENING.

In the driver's cab, there are two Algerian boys. Their hair is curly,

their shirts old and torn. They are sweating; their eyes wide open,

staring.

The one who is driving barely reaches the height of the steering wheel.

He clutches it desperately. The other has a machine gun. He makes a

remark in Arabic shouting to be heard above the siren.

The driver takes a hand off the steering wheel, places it on the

dashboard, and tries all the switches until he finds the one for the

headlights. The high beams.

The other, meanwhile, is now on his knees on the seat. He is leaning

out the open window to his waist, and he begins to shoot.

125ROUTE OF AMBULANCE. OUTSIDE. EVENING.

The pictures succeed one another in a dizzy rhythm; surprise, terror,

someone falls.

SHOTS. SIREN.

126AMBULANCE. OUTSIDE/INSIDE. EVENING.

There is no more ammunition. The machine gun is thrown in the back of

the ambulance. The siren is still at full blast. The auto races ahead

at terrifying speed. The two boys don't know any more what to do, where

to go, and the one who is driving has his eyes almost closed, as if he

were dizzy.

They reach a square.

SIREN.

The other points ahead to the left.

127BUS SHELTER. OUTSIDE. EVENING.

The people are crowded in a bus shelter. The one who is driving doesn't

understand or doesn't want to.

The other shouts to him again and again, the same phrase, then flings

himself on the steering wheel, and turns it in that direction.

The bus shelter is nearer and nearer.

The people are paralyzed. They have no time to move. They are run down,

rammed into. The ambulance crashes into a pillar.

On the ground, all about, the bodies of dead and wounded. The boys'

bodies remain motionless, their foreheads resting on the smashed

windshield.

But the sound of the siren does not stop, and is heard, mournful and

full of anguish.

128RAMEL'S HOUSE. IMPASSE ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

OUTSIDE/INSIDE. DAY. AUGUST 26.

Impasse St. Vincent-de-Paul, noon. There are helicopters in the sky,

and paras fill the alley.

Their faces are pale and tense, their eyes wide open, their hands

clutch their machine guns. There is a strange silence. Then a movement

at the back of the alley, a voice, a brief greeting. Mathieu has

arrived and he is saying to an officer:

MATHIEU:

Now is not the time for heroes. Give me

the megaphone.

Mathieu takes the megaphone in his hands and approaches an open door.

Through the doorway the inner courtyard of the house is visible where

the corpses of four paras are strewn about.

Ramel and Si Mourad are on the first-floor balcony, lying in wait

behind the railings, so they are able to watch the door, courtyard, and

the stairway that leads from the balcony to the terrace.

On the terrace there are other paras who are facing the balcony. From

time to time they release a burst of machine gun fire.

The voice of Mathieu is heard over the loudspeaker.

MATHIEU:

Ramel ... Si Mourad ... use your heads.

If you go on like this, I wouldn't want to

be in your place when you are captured ...

Because you will be captured in the end,

and you know it too. Surrender! If you do

it immediately, I promise that you will

not be harmed and you will have a fair

trial. Can you hear me?

Ramel and Si Mourad look at each other.

MOURAD:

Who is speaking?

MATHIEU:

Mathieu. Colonel Mathieu.

MOURAD:

We don't trust you, colonel. Come

forward, show yourself.

A moment of silence.

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