«IN THE CIRCLE OF KUNDUZ» Page #20

KAPUSTA:

(jokingly)

How could I not say goodbye to you?! I wanted to return home in a parade. Not in a hospital gown, and certainly not in zinc!

RUST:

(with a smile)

It's reasonable!

KOSTER:

"Who's lucky — that's for twenty–one months and up to two years" - do you remember your words to us on arrival in Afghanistan?!

KAPUSTA:

(smiling)

I remember how not to remember.

RUST:

(with a smile)

The main thing is that you survived!

KAPUSTA:

Thanks to Mongol, he has enchanted! The doctors at the hospital appreciated it - they say: it's unprecedented.

The bullet passed half an inch from the heart. And where is he?!

SIDOR:

He's coming in now, he's a little behind!

KAPUSTA:

(changing the subject)

Well, how are you here without a foreman?!

KOSTER:

The company was replenished after the losses in Kunar. A lot of new guys have arrived.

STRELA:

(conferring to the incoming Mongol)

And here is the shaman himself!

MONGOL:

(to Kapusta)

I wish you good health, Comrade Foreman!

Welcome back to the company.

(pause)

On the occasion of a successful survival and for the purpose of complete healing, may I, Comrade foreman, make a surzhem?! In other words, let me hold a shamanic rite of asking help from the Ongons, the spirits of our sacred ancestors, in the tent?!

SIDOR:

(with a laugh)

Mongol, are you back for the old?!

KAPUSTA:

(sympathetically)

What should I do?!

MONGOL:

In the prayer service, I will ask the Ongons to take away the evil from my comrades and your complete healing.

This should be accompanied by merging together 3 drinks - milk, tea, vodka, and sprinkling this mixture on the walls of our tent.

Sidor, Rust, Strela, Koster, Kostyan exchanged glances with a grin.

KAPUSTA:

What is required of us?!

MONGOL:

I am obliged to offer the ongons a sacrificial gift — sweets, for example condensed milk, sugar.

The main thing is to find and, by all means, pour milk, vodka and tea into different dishes.

We will hold a session after the evening verification, when the officers retire to rest.

KAPUSTA:

(to friends)

Well, guys, will we find milk and vodka?

SIDOR:

(in a masterly way)

There are no problems with tea!

With condensed milk too!

Milk can be obtained in the division. There is a cow feeding the division's command staff with dairy products.

(pause)

Instead of vodka, will moonshine do?! I saw it at the sappers' yesterday. They just brew.

MONGOL:

(pompously)

The main thing is that the alcohol should be colorless, turbidity is acceptable.

SIDOR:

(assuring)

Clean as a piece of glass — they are notable craftsmen.

83. INT. TENT — NIGHT. ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING, KEROSENE LAMPS SHINE

TITLE:
KUNDUZ. SCOUT TENT

Hot. Soldiers throw wet sheets over the bodies. 5 kerosene lamps are dimly lit in the tent: one lamp on a bedside table covered with a white pillowcase, 5 open cans of condensed milk are lined up in a row there. There are 4 deep aluminum plates in front of them. One plate is empty, 3 others are filled with milk, moonshine, tea. Next to each plate there is a tablespoon intended only for her.

Mongol has inspected everything and is leaving. The fighters are resting, leaning back on the iron backs of the bunks. The hubbub in the tent is interrupted by a loud beating with a mallet in a tambourine, hanging on the chest of Mongol dressed in shamanic attire, and the crackle of a rotating rattle. Mongol rhythmically waddles from one foot to the other and, shaking his head, shouts shamanic incantations.

SIDOR:

(from Matusovsky M.)

"And the voice of this horn,

I recognize it as a friend's voice."

Mongol moves along the aisle of the tent to the end and on the way back passes a tambourine to Sidor and a rattle to Koster, asking them to continue in the same spirit with a circular gesture of the hand forward.

Mongol himself fills the fourth one with rose spoons from 3 plates in turn. The fighters mostly silently watch Mongol plunging into a frenzy, taking the ritual seriously. Some barely contain their laughter. The mixture in the plate remains at the bottom, Mongol threw the remainder on the ceiling and, falling to his knees with his hands thrown up, long-drawn out the spell "Tooreg!"

Mongol takes out a long wooden smoking pipe, stuffed ahead of time, from a bag lying under his bunk and, having lit it, passes it to his comrades. The intoxicating tart smoke of the pipe passing from hand to hand spread across the tent, enveloping it in a blue haze. Mongol, put a harp to his teeth and, rolling his eyes, starts a fight with the tip of his finger on the thin metal tongue of the instrument, making overworld sounds: hey-ya, oh-ya, ai-ya, ai-ya.

The session is over. The hubbub is heard in the tent.

84. INT. TEAHOUSE — DAY

TITLE:
KUNDUZ. YAKUB KHAN'S TEAHOUSE

Zalmay brings Otto on a tray a sizzling lamb rib kebab, just removed from the grill, a hot tandoor tortilla, a pot of green tea. Otto continues to rest, leaning the back of his head against the wall, eyes closed. Otto, through a doze, hears the measured creaking of fan blades, the clink of dishes, the clatter of bones, the shuffling of checkers "shesh-besh", the multilingual hubbub of tea house guests, the soulful song "Khuda Bowad Yarat" by the cult Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir from the sound speakers. Otto's nap is interrupted by the loud noise of a low-flying pair of jet planes.

85. EXT. THE SHORE OF A SMALL RIVER — DAY.

TITLE:
OMAR KHEYL VILLAGE, KUNDUZ PROVINCE.

Two F-15ES fighter-bombers of the ISAF forces appear in the sky, fly over 2 German tankers hijacked by the Taliban and hundreds of civilians of the village of Omar Kheyl, who are waiting in line to fill the tanks with diesel fuel. They are bombing people and tankers. Up to 160 civilians are killed, including women and children.

86. INT. YAKUB KHAN'S TEAHOUSE — DAY.

Otto's nap is interrupted by the loud noise of a low-flying pair of jet planes. The rumble of heavy bombs falling nearby can be heard, shaking the ground.

Sirens can be heard; dozens of ambulances are rushing along the central street past the Yakub Khan teahouse at high speed.

Yakub Khan is alarmed, quickly moves to the exit to the street, looks after the cavalcade of "ambulances". Yakub Khan goes back into the teahouse, deftly adjusts the radio to the news wave, turns up the sound of the radio, listens to the text of the emergency issue. Otto looks at Yakub Khan, YAKUB KHAN is stunned.

OTTO:

(sensing trouble, he asks)

What happened?!

YAKUB KHAN:

ISAF aircraft carried out an air strike in the vicinity of the village of Omar Kheyl.

(mournfully)

They report a large number of civilian casualties.

OTTO:

Where is Omar Kheyl?!

YAKUB KHAN:

Nearby, from Kunduz, two kilometers to the south, then the same amount to the west.

Otto leaves money for food, hurriedly leaves the teahouse.

87. INT. SPINZAR HOTEL. OTTO'S ROOM — DAY.

TITLE:
KUNDUZ. SPINZAR HOTEL.

Otto is sitting in an armchair in his hotel room, watching the news on TV. German TV channels broadcast: "As a result of NATO air strikes in the Chahar-dara district of Kunduz province, more than 100 Afghan civilians were killed."

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