«ZUGZWANG OF OBER LIEUTENANT BRUNO THEVS» Page #9

Yahya translates Otto's words.

Ismatulla looks guiltily and sadly into Bruno's eyes and putting his right palm to his heart, bows his head.

Ismatullah is shivering with excitement, holding the stump of his left arm with his palm, hidden in the sleeve of a perukhan (Afghan long shirt) tied with a ribbon.

ISMATULLAH:

(with empathy)

I am sincerely sorry. A lot of our Mujahideen and Shuravi died in that battle. You see...

(ostentatiously stretches out the stump of his left arm)

...in that war, I got badly hurt.

Ismatullah is shivering with excitement, showing the stump of his left arm hidden in the sleeve of a perukhan (Afghan long shirt) tied with a ribbon.

Yahya Muhadi translates Ismatullah's speech.

Sonorous children's voices are heard. A gang of children aged from seven to eleven years runs up. Three of them — two boys and a younger girl — are nailed to Ismatulla, take him in a tight embrace in the waist area.

BRUNO:

(surprised)

Are these yours?!

ISMATULLAH:

(proudly)

Al-Hamdu li-Llahi! My younger ones!

Bruno takes out hundreds of euro bills from his pocket, passes one to each of the children.

The children take the money and, looking into Ismatullah's eyes, immediately hand it over to him.

BRUNO:

(with joy)

Good upbringing!

Ismatullah is touched by the offering and puts his hand to his heart.

ISMATULLAH:

Tashakur!

(with gratitude, embarrassed)

It wasn't necessary at all.

Ismatullah gathers his thoughts, and with a wave of his hand invites Bruno, Otto and Yahya Mukhadi to go into the courtyard of his home.

58. INT. ISMATULLAH'S HOUSE — DAY.

Ismatullah, Bruno, Otto and Yahya Muhadi enter the house.

When they see outsiders, the women and girls who are busy in the yard around the house jump up from their seats and hurriedly leave.

Ismatullah and the guests take off their shoes, sit down on a colorful screen. One of the sons – a young man of eleven years old brings tea. Ismatullah pours it into bowls, begins the story.

ISMATULLAH:

It was the middle of June 1986.

DOCUMENTARY SERIES WITH AFGHAN MUJAHIDEEN ATTACKING SOVIET CONVOYS.

ISMATULLA (VO)

The Shuravi were pulling columns from Kunduz to Faizabad. Groups of Mujahideen attacked their columns and mined the highway.

Our detachment was waiting for the order of Commander Kazi Kabir to descend from the mountains and strengthen these groups with weapons and additional manpower.

In the early morning of June 16, 1986, we heard the sound of approaching helicopters and saw the landing troops.

The confrontation was stubborn. There were dead and wounded on both sides. But Shuravi had a lot of them.

The fight lasted all day. It continued at night. Then I was wounded and miraculously survived.

With his remaining hand, Ismatullah moves a fruit dish on the table closer to the guests.

ISMATULLAH:

After two months of treatment in Pakistan, I returned to the squad. This coincided with the time when the Mujahideen were rebuilding the destroyed base. At the place where the Shuravi were storing their dead and wounded, under boulders, I found a notebook that had fallen out of the pocket of one of the Shuravi and two photos enclosed in it — six soldiers standing in an embrace and a Russian girl. The notebook was covered in blood.

(looking at Bruno)

The day your reporter friend came to Yahchan Khurd, promising to write the truth about the Afghan war, I told him about that dramatic battle and handed over these relics.

(pause)

The Russians were brave warriors, not like these cowards from ISAF.

Otto and Bruno exchange glances.

BRUNO:

(resolutely)

Can we get to that place?!

ISMATULLA:

Why not?! It's not far from here.

(lifting a beige pakol - Afghan headdress from his sweating forehead, with a reservation)

Unless, of course, you are ready to spend the night in the mountains?!

BRUNO:

(resolutely)

We are ready!

59. EXT. VILLAGE OF YAHCHAN-KHURD - MORNING FLASHES OF DAWN.

Ismatullah, Bruno and Yahya Mukhadi load blankets, a bag of provisions, leather bales with water on 2 donkeys and set out on their way. Otto sees them off and stays in the village.

60. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION — TWILIGHT.

Ismatulla, Bruno and Yahya Mukhadi move along the bottom of a deep gorge, squeezed by mountain ranges at the mouths of narrow, rapidly flowing river.

61. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DARK.

The expedition stops moving, breaks up a bivouac.

Ismatullah is lighting a bonfire. Bruno, Yahya Mukhadi, Ismatullah are warming themselves by the campfire. Ismatullah skillfully removes the kettle from the fire, pours tea into bowls for everyone, passes pieces of flatbread.

62. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DAY.

The expedition approaches the village of Dekhmiran, which is located at the foot of the mountain with its back pressed against a gentle saddle.

Ismatullah leads Bruno and Yahya Muhadi to a saddle lying between two mountains.

Ismatullah stops, looks around, gets visibly excited. He turns to face one of the peaks.

Covers his eyes with his palm from the blinding edge of the sun from behind the edge of the mountain and begins the narration.

63. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DAY.

TITLE:
KHOST WA FIRING, BAGHLAN PROVINCE. THE MOUNTAIN STAGE OF OPERATION MANEUVER, JUNE 1986.

To the mountain plateau (saddle) a pair of Soviet MI-8MT helicopters flies up and hovers between the mountains.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

Early in the morning, Soviet helicopters arrived and began landing troops here.

Rebels who came out of hiding are hitting helicopters from grenade launchers from the slopes of the mountains.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

The site was under the control of our firing points. We immediately opened targeted fire and burned two of their helicopters in a short time.

Two MI-8MT helicopters are engulfed in flames, burning.

The fire of the rebels is intensified by small arms fire.

KOSTER, MONGOL, SIDOR, STRELA, RUST, KOSTYAN jump out of 2 burning helicopters with heavy weapons, they immediately join the battle. There is a stubborn fire confrontation.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

Our snipers hit several of their commanders, who were giving orders in battle, fighters, and disabled all radio station.

Rebel snipers hit the officer giving orders, fighters, and aiming at portable radio stations.

64. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DAY.

TITLE:
OUR TIME.

Bruno is standing a meter and a half away from Ismatullah, attentively listening to his narrative from Yahya Mukhadi's translation.

Evidence of the battle has been preserved on the ground — rusted fragments of the blades and fuselage of burned Soviet helicopters, devastated rusty machine gun belts, scattered shell casings.

Bruno, breathing in air and closing his eyes, is mentally transported back to June 1986, feels like an eyewitness to the confrontation.

65. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DAY.

TITLE:
YEAR 1986.

There is a stubborn battle, the crackle of bursts, the roar of exploding shells. The number of dead and wounded in “Shuravi” is growing.

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