«ZUGZWANG OF OBER LIEUTENANT BRUNO THEVS» Page #24

SEREDA:

What are your future plans?

BRUNO:

(embarrassed)

Hasn't decided yet.

KODIROV:

(jokingly)

Or maybe... to us?!

SEREDA:

Leave the guy alone!

(smiles)

Sereda changed his smile to severity, gets up with a glass. After him, everyone stand up in silence.

SEREDA:

The third toast!

(with a glass, grandiloquently)

Dear combat friends and children of our fallen comrades! The feeling of guilt that we are alive, and your fathers are not with us, will always oppress us. We firmly believed in what we were doing, that the sacrifices are not in vain!

Draining glasses, sitting down. Pause.

RUST:

(interrupting the silence)

Well! I have at random, two tickets to the Bolshoi for "Giselle"!

(looks at Masha)

Masha, will you support Bruno in his intention to take you to the theater? It's time to get out, my driver will take you to the place.

Masha is confused, Bruno stands up resolutely, looks at Masha, certifying the offer. Bruno and Masha are leaving the table. Sereda, Abdullo, Rust stays seated, follow the young with their eyes.

142. EXT. BOLSHOI THEATER — EVENING. ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING.

TITLE:
MOSCOW. THE BOLSHOI THEATER.

Bruno and Masha enter the Bolshoi Theatre.

143. INT. HALL OF THE BOLSHOI THEATER — EVENING. ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING.

The last minutes of the play "Giselle", the performance is over, the artists come out to bow, standing ovation from the audience.

Bruno and Masha get up from their seats and go to the exit.

144. EXT. BOLSHOI THEATER — EVENING. ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING.

Bruno, Masha and the audience leave the Bolshoi Theater.

145. EXT. MOSCOW, RED SQUARE — DAWN.

Moscow, Red Square, deserted. Bruno and Masha pass by Lenin's Mausoleum.

BRUNO:

(with a smile)

Again, I am not destined to visit the Mausoleum.

MASHA:

(smiles)

You'll have time yet.

Bruno and Masha leave against the background of Vasilievsky Descent.

146. INT. SV-COMPARTMENT — DAY.

TITLE:
MOSCOW. BELORUSSKY RAILWAY STATION, MOSCOW — ARKHANGELSK TRAIN.

Rust and Bruno enter and sit down in the compartment. The train starts, picks up speed. The conductor serves tea. Rust and Bruno are sitting opposite each other at the table, Bruno is staring intently at Rust.

BRUNO:

What happened to Sidor that he was sentenced for so long?

RUST:

After recovering from the injury received at the House of Soviets, Sidor began to build a diamond business. He has a commercial streak, flair, and adventurism. He was the first in the country to open a Russian-American–Belgian–Dutch joint venture. He imported precious stones — diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires. Even in the Army, Sidor was not indifferent to them.

(smiling)

And here is a global scale, huge sums. He mastered gemology, became an expert in cutting, cabochon. He spent a lot of time on business trips to Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Madagascar, London, Antwerp, Amsterdam, and other places. In general, over time, Sidor began to be surrounded by specific types. The apogee was the case when Sidor shipped a substantial cargo of diamonds from the Cullinan mine in South Africa to his partners in Antwerp. They were engaged in cutting them for Sidor's company. In return, Sidor's company was to receive a certain number of cut diamonds worth $100 million. But in a short period of time, three misadventures occurred.

147. INT. OFFICE SPACE — DAY.

TITLE:
ANTWERP, BELGIUM. "DIAMOND QUARTER" MAY 1997.

The workshop of a large diamond cutting company. The owner, a Soviet emigrant of the early 1970s, Shmuel Brandwein, with a black pile on his head, wanting to get home in time for the lighting of Saturday candles by the beginning of Shabbat, hurriedly removes the precious stones in the safe room that are being processed by the craftsmen.

Before going home, Brandwein goes around all the workshops, sets the office alarm, closes the thick armored door with a code.

148. EXT. ANTWERP, PELIKAN STRAAT — DAY.

TITLE:
ANTWERP, BELGIUM. PELIKAANSTRAAT STREET.

Brandwein walks briskly down a crowded street.

RUST (V.O.)

It is known for sure that the raw materials were received in Antwerp.

A tall man in his thirties follows behind, trying not to lose sight of him, in a beige raincoat with long brown hair.

RUST (V.O.)

However, the owner of the cutting company, Shmuel Brandwein, who was transporting Sidor's diamonds to Russia, was shot dead while returning home from work in front of an astonished audience on the square of the four diamond exchanges in the very center of Antwerp.

The man catches up with Brandwein, pulls out a pistol with a silencer and, calling out to Brandwein — "Shmuel!", shoots him at point-blank range. Brandwein falls to the cobblestones. The man takes a control shot to the head and disappears into the crowd.

149. INT. SV-COMPARTMENT — DAY.

Rust and Bruno are sitting at a table. Rust pours tea from the kettle into a glass, then pours it back into the kettle. He looks at Bruno.

RUST:

(sadly)

Further - more. Sidor had already settled down. That evening, he and his wife were returning home from the theater. Nina was pregnant in the last month.

150. INT. SIDOR'S APARTMENT ENTRANCE - THE EVENING. ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING.

TITLE:
MOSCOW. BRYUSOV LANE.

Sidor and Nina go up to their floor. Sidor starts to open the door to the apartment.

From the upper floor, you can hear a man's footsteps descending the stairs and approaching a married couple — a killer.

Nina arbitrarily obscures Sidor, turns to the noise, sees a pistol with a silencer in the killer's outstretched hand. Nina and the killer's eyes converge, Nina gets a good look at the killer's face.

The killer stands at the ready, fires the first shot at Nina.

Sidor turns abruptly, picks up Nina, who is falling backwards, and slowly lowers her to the floor.

The killer coolly points the gun at Sidor's forehead, Sidor is inactive, the killer pulls the trigger. The gun misfires.

Sidor, without hesitation, rushes to the killer, clings to his neck; unclenches his fingers, the killer is already dead.

Sidor returns to Nina; Nina is no longer breathing.

151. SV-COMPARTMENT — DAY.

Rust and Bruno are sitting at a table opposite each other, having a conversation.

RUST:

Sidor was arrested. The investigation was persistently looking for evidence of Sidor's involvement in the murder of Brandwein in Antwerp. During a search of Sidor's office, millions of dollars’ worth of gems undeclared during the passage of Russian customs were seized. Sidor was convicted under the article "for the illegal trafficking of precious stones on a particularly large scale", having appointed an extremely long term.

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