Synopsis
Paul Witt asked me to write a screenplay about a revolution in Bolivia. I asked him what else he had. “Nothing,” he said. “A revolution in Bolivia—that’s all I’ve got.”
I thought that was a sketchy idea and said so. But after the meeting, my ego began to talk to me: who else in Hollywood, my ego said to me, could write a better movie about a revolution in Bolivia?
This script is owned by Disney Pictures.
Hertzog
RECONNAISSANCE
FADE IN:
EXT. CAPITAL STREET - DAY
A backwater street in this capital city of an Andean country.
At the street's end, snowy peaks rise.
A man in his 40s paces off, heel to toe, the distance between
the streetcar tracks embedded in the pavement. He has a
beard, a moustache--outside of his intense eyes, he looks
like a shabby academic. His name is ANEAS HERTZOG.
CUT TO:
EXT. ANDES AND AEROBATIC BIPLANE - AERIAL SHOT - DAY
The jagged, snow-capped mountains--and now, into shot, a
shiny sport biplane, looping and rolling.
ANGLE - PLANE - HERTZOG AND MAN
In the front, Hertzog holds on for dear life. The pilot in
the back is a wealthy industrialist. They yell back and
forth on the intercom.
MAN
To answer your question, look at
those mountains. What's in them?
Tin. No more gold, no more copper.
What's tin worth in the world?
Five percent less every year!
HERTZOG
Develop other industries.
MAN
The banks won't loan us money until
we pay off the debt we've got.
We'd love to modernize. Where do
we get the cash? You sure you're
okay?
Hertzog holds on upside down at the top of the loop, smiles
through clenched teeth.
CUT TO:
EXT. MOUNTAIN PASS - FREIGHT TRAIN - DAY
The train struggles up a grade. The caboose rumbles past.
2.
INT. CABOOSE
Hertzog at a table, taking notes and drinking coffee--an old
CONDUCTOR sits with him.
HERTZOG
You have a union.
CONDUCTOR
We haven't had a raise in ten
years. Some union.
HERTZOG
Go on strike.
CONDUCTOR
Carrasco won't let us. Vital
national industry--they never shut
down the railroads. What kind of
union-- answer me this, because
it's a good question--what kind of
union is it that can't go on
strike?
CUT TO:
EXT. MANSION LAWN - DAY
Hertzog follows HECTOR CARRASCO, head of the Railway Workers
Union, as he walks between wickets on his croquet court on
the lawn of his hacienda outside the capital.
CARRASCO
People have asked me. Surprise
you?
HERTZOG
A little.
CARRASCO
I tell them the same thing. Why
should I? Hatch your little plot,
kick out Ovando, then come to me.
Until then, I don't want to
see you. You can't
run this country without
the railroads, and I, Hector
Carrasco, am the Railway Workers
Union.
CUT TO:
3.
INT. HOTEL - HERTZOG - NIGHT
A modest downtown room. Three men sit to one side, watching
Hertzog as he looks through a stack of notes on index cards.
One is PACHANGA, the country's Chief of Staff--beside him is
REYES, Minister of Education, a nervous man, and ROJO DANTE,
the burly head of the Mine Workers.
They watch as Hertzog stands, crosses to a window, turns back
to them.
HERTZOG
I don't see how. At least not your
way.
The faces of the three men sag.
REYES
Where else can we go?
HERTZOG
Besides, I'm not that well.
ROJO DANTE
Have you seen a doctor?
PACHANGA
(nudging him)
He is a doctor.
Hertzog regards their crestfallen faces, finally sighs.
HERTZOG
Let me keep looking.
CUT TO:
INT. CAR - CAPITAL CITY STREET - HERTZOG AND DETECTIVE - DAY
It's pouring. Hertzog sits with a city DETECTIVE--through
the wipers, they watch two more cops staked out in a doorway
across the street.
DETECTIVE
The Army's supposed to handle this.
HERTZOG
Internal security.
DETECTIVE
They don't want to get their
uniforms dirty. I should have
joined the Army. My face is wrong.
HERTZOG
What's wrong with it?
4.
DETECTIVE
Flat nose. Indian. Look at the
officers--pure Castilian. Ovando
gives them raises every year. We
work overtime for straight pay and
we use our own cars. Does that
answer your question?
HERTZOG
I'm not sure.
DETECTIVE
You were asking, say there's an
uprising--what would the cops do?
I know what I'd do--stay home and
watch it on television. Excuse me.
He hurries out. Hertzog sees two men exiting a building.
The two detectives have jumped them, beat them brutally with
saps. The third detective runs up, pulls a sap, joins in.
CUT TO:
EXT. CITY STREET - MILITARY PARADE - DAY
Crowds wave national flags. Tanks and trucks of soldiers
roll past. Overhead, fighters roar past--now comes a
deafening line of Army helicopters; the square trembles.
On a viewing stand, GENERAL HUGO OVANDO, the country's
dictator, handsome, trim in a suit, virile for his seventy
five years, salutes his troops. Besides him, Pachanga, the
man Hertzog met with in the hotel room; REYNOSO, the cruel
looking Minister of the Interior; and two cronies, SISA,
Chief Justice, and ARRANGO, Minister of Finance.
EXT. SIDEWALK CAFE - HERTZOG AND JORGE ORTIZ
ORTIZ is a local journalist. His heart's not in the event-
his cameras sit beside his beer. The back of the crowd
obscures their view.
ORTIZ
Look at them. See any hope?
Hertzog shrugs. Ortiz has to shout over the roar of the
choppers.
ORTIZ (CONT'D)
There isn't any. They put up with
it. They think it's the way it's
supposed to be.
5.
HERTZOG
What if somebody showed up who told
them otherwise?
ORTIZ
A liberator? A guy on a white
horse?
Hertzog nods.
ORTIZ (CONT'D)
First of all, no Marxist; they're
afraid of Marxists-- they'd rather
have the General. Secondly, he'd
have to stay alive, and none of
them do. You find them in ditches
outside of town. So if he wasn't a
Marxist and he could somehow stay
alive, sure, maybe. One chance in
a million.
CUT TO:
EXT. HILLSIDE - HERTZOG - DAY
He's shaved his beard--he lies in tall grass with binoculars.
Down the hill, beyond a wire fence, jets take off from the
air base at Desaquederio.
SECURITY GUARD
He's spotted Hertzog by the glint of his glasses. He's left
his jeep, crept within a few feet of him.
HERTZOG AND GUARD
Hertzog senses him, turns--but the GUARD lowers his rifle.
GUARD
On your feet.
Hertzog puts his finger to his lips.
GUARD (CONT'D)
What do you mean, quiet? Get up.
HERTZOG
(motioning him down)
A Darwin's Curlew.
GUARD
I don't know what you're talking
about...
6.
HERTZOG
A Darwin's Curlew. You know what a
bird is.
GUARD
I know what a bird is...
HERTZOG
And if I say bird sanctuary, does
that mean anything?
GUARD
This is a restricted military area.
Hertzog stands, takes out a wallet.
HERTZOG
If I show you my permit, will you
go away and not bother me?
Hertzog fumbles his wallet--his papers fly everywhere.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
Now you're making me nervous.
He kneels to pick up his papers. The guard is confused. In
one move, Hertzog sweeps his feet from under him--as he
falls, a blow to his throat makes him gasp, a curled knuckle,
driven into his temple, kills him.
Hertzog stands, brushes the dirt off. He looks around.
CUT TO:
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - ARMY CONVOY - DAY
Overcast. A convoy of four trucks has pulled off the road.
One has broken down--two drivers curse in the mud beneath it.
Hertzog is clean-shaven--he stands among the waiting
soldiers. They're all conscripts, Indians just off the farm.
Hertzog passes around a pack of cigarettes.
HERTZOG
You were saying...
SOLDIER
So I hid in the attic. My mom told
them I'd moved to town.
SOLDIER TWO
But they came back.
SOLDIER
And there he was, knee-deep in
corn.
7.
HERTZOG
How do you like the Army?
The kid looks at his pals. They share a chuckle.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
You're learning something.
SOLDIER TWO
Name it.
HERTZOG
To shoot a gun.
SOLDIER
I shot a gun once in training. One
bullet. One.
SOLDIER TWO
They don't want us to know about
guns too much.
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET - POTOSI - DAY
The peaks ice-white beyond the shabby mining town. A shift
lets out--exhausted workers trudge among rows of company
housing.
Hertzog pushes through the crowd after DORA CALDERON, a
public health nurse. She won't stop.
8.
DORA
Fuck you and fuck your story. What
are you going to say--the miners
are poor? The miners have no
health care--their lungs rot, they
die when they're forty? There's
been millions of stories--the whole
world knows about the miners--they
know about the miners in Fiji, they
know about the miners in
Madagascar, and what the hell good
has it done? Has one child eaten
one more bite off one rotten potato
because some journalist came here
and spent his day and talked to
three people and flew back to
wherever he came from in his air
conditioned airplane and wrote his
story and collected his check and
went to bed thinking, my, what a
great liberal I am? I sure haven't
seen it, so if you don't mind me
saying so, go fuck yourself and let
me do my work and go bother
somebody else.
She leaves Hertzog standing there, speechless. He's smiling-
he likes her.
CUT TO:
INT. POTOSI HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
The one hotel in this shabby mining town. Hertzog finishes
one last index card. Tacked to the wall, circling the room,
are a hundred others.
He pins the last one in a hole he's left for it. He sits
back down, looks them over, studying each intensely, from
beginning to end.
CUT TO:
EXT. HOTEL - DAY
Dawn spreads over the mountain peaks behind the hotel. Smoke
drifts from the chimney of an upper room.
INT. LOBBY - HERTZOG
On the phone.
9.
HERTZOG
I can do it. I found a way. I'll
be in touch.
He hangs up, heads up the stairs.
INT. ROOM
As he enters. The walls are bare. He crosses to the
fireplace, pokes with the tip of his shoe the pile of index
cards burning there, a hundred of them, edges curling,
turning to ash.
FADE OUT.
THE STATES
FADE IN:
EXT. BERKELEY CAMPUS AND HILLSIDE - DAY
A winter storm lashes the bay. Students scurry to classes
under ponchos and umbrellas.
Camera closes on a Victorian shingle house, set among
redwoods. Rain pelts the upstairs bedroom window. Behind
lace curtains, a man and a woman make love.
INT. BEDROOM - HERTZOG AND MAIA
They're passionate, like people drinking before they cross a
desert. Maia's beautiful--Hertzog, naked, is manly.
CUT TO:
INT. SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT - NIGHT
Hertzog and Maia have stopped in front of a security gate.
Maia starts to speak--she fights back tears. Hertzog touches
her.
HERTZOG
If you don't stop, you'll get me
going.
But she can't, and now his eyes fill as well.
MAIA
Smart money says I never see you
again.
10.
HERTZOG
You're the best single thing that's
ever happened to me in my life.
He lifts her chin.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
I'm going to kiss you and I'm going
to turn, and I won't look back.
MAIA
Can you do that?
HERTZOG
We'll soon see.
He kisses her long, deeply. Now he turns, sets his bag on
the conveyor, and walks through the security station.
ANGLE - MAIA
Watching him walk away. She suddenly calls out.
MAIA
I love you.
ANGLE - HERTZOG
Turning. He chuckles--he's broken his vow. He blows her a
kiss.
ANGLE - MAIA
Blowing a kiss back. She watches as he disappears.
HERTZOG AND STUDENT - TRACKING
As Hertzog heads for his gate, a young STUDENT with a daypack
falls in alongside.
STUDENT
Professor Urribe.
HERTZOG
Hi.
STUDENT
Kevin Foster--"The Military in
Latin America."
11.
HERTZOG
Sure.
STUDENT
It was a big class. You taking
off?
HERTZOG
For a while. You?
STUDENT
South to see my folks.
HERTZOG
South as well.
The student waves, peels off--Hertzog keeps going.
FADE OUT.
BERNAL
FADE IN:
EXT. BORDER MILITARY POST - NIGHT
High in an Andean pass, flanking a major road. Floodlights
shine on its perimeters--soldiers patrol the gates.
EXT. MOUNTAIN CLEARING - GUERILLAS
Thirty motley men, breath misting, their dress a combination
of Indian and guerilla; knit hats, rebozos over bandoliers.
They carry new AK-47s. Among them, their commander, OSWALDO
BERNAL, in his forties, a bundle of nerves.
A man addresses them, a classic Cuban: leather coat, aviator
glasses, a trim beard. Only when he speaks do we realize
it's Hertzog.
HERTZOG
On October 15, 1958, Fidel Castro
and ninety followers landed on a
beach at Oriente Province. Five
days later, sixty had been
captured, ten were dead.
The men shift their feet.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
Three months later, Castro took
Havana City at the head of a
People's Army.
They stiffen with pride.
12.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
You are the vanguard. Greatness is
your goal. Greatness is not
difficult when it's greatness in
the service of liberty, and men of
the February Tenth, greatness will
be your reward.
They shout their approval. Bernal comes forward--Hertzog
takes him by the shoulders.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
Commander Bernal.
BERNAL
Commander Hertzog. God bless you.
HERTZOG
You kept the flame alive.
BERNAL
It burned in me like a torch.
HERTZOG
In ten days, the balcony of the
Palace.
BERNAL
God willing. Victory or death.
HERTZOG
Victory or death.
They embrace. Bernal turns to his troops--"Victory or
death," they shout in unison. Bernal leads them off, into
the trees. Hertzog waves as they go.
HERTZOG AND DORA
The clearing empty, Hertzog walks towards a car. A woman
waits-- it's Dora, the nurse from the mines. From the trunk,
the two of them spread objects around the clearing--Red
stars, Cuban propaganda, a copy of Mao's Red Book.
Done, he motions her to the car. They get in.
INT. CAR
They take a moment to regard each other.
HERTZOG
Did you like doing that?
DORA
Not especially.
13.
HERTZOG
You're not supposed to.
Dora starts the car--Hertzog peels off his beard.
EXT. HIGHWAY - CAR
Hertzog's car speeds down the road. Something flies from it,
lands in the bushes--the jacket, the beard, the glasses.
Up the valley, near the border post, blinding flashes reflect
off the mountainside. A second later, the booms of
explosions, the distant rattle of gunfire.
FADE OUT.
FIERRO'S DAY
FADE IN:
EXT. POWER PYLONS - DAWN
Marching across a mountain valley in morning light. An
explosion at the base of one--men run away as it topples to
the ground. The cables snap, sing as they whip about.
CUT TO:
EXT. GOVERNMENT ARSENAL - DAY
Three guards tremble, hands high. Masked men load crates of
dynamite onto a truck bed. The leader shouts--one man
empties a clip over the guards' head. They fall flat as the
truck grinds away.
CUT TO:
EXT. VILLAGE SQUARE AND CHURCH - DAY
Peasants crowd around the cathedral door. A sheaf of papers
has been nailed to it. An elderly National Police cop pushes
through the crowd, rips the papers off, looks them over,
hurries off.
CUT TO:
EXT. CAPITAL CITY - DAY
Hunkering in its Andean valley. The early mist burns off.
On the arterials, bumper to bumper morning traffic into the
city.
14.
EXT. HIGHWAY BRIDGE
Below a freeway bridge where cars inch, a shantytown, the
homeless among their cardboard shacks.
INT. BMW - CARLOS AND FIERRO
MARTIN FIERRO is in his thirties. His suit is like his car,
tailored, the latest fashion; he rides the bumper of the car
in front of him. Beside him, his eight-year-old son CARLOS,
wearing a baseball jacket, a glove on his left hand. Fierro
speaks into a car phone.
FIERRO
This is Martin Fierro, Carlos
Fierro's father. Carlos won't be
coming to school today.
Carlos and Fierro swap grins.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
He's spending the day with me.
Yes, he'll be back tomorrow.
You're welcome.
Fierro hangs up. Carlos happily pounds his glove.
EXT. PLAZA MAYOR AND GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
The baroque Presidential Palace confronts the Ministry of the
Interior across the formal square. Army trucks honk through
the traffic--soldiers spill out, humping machine guns to
sandbagged emplacements.
Fierro's BMW cuts through traffic and dives into the
Ministry's underground parking past two saluting guards.
INT. MINISTRY - GARAGE
Fierro exits his BMW, leads Carlos past attendants giving
Mercedes and Porches their daily polish. Carlos is
impressed.
INT. MINISTRY - BASEMENT CORRIDOR - TRACKING
Fierro leads Carlos down the hall. Suspects are dragged past
them by uniformed cops and shoved through doorways--Carlos
stares. They pass through a door at the hall's end marked
"Census and Cartography."
15.
INT. OUTER OFFICE
Secretaries at desks, men working on maps at drafting tables.
They greet Fierro--some know the boy is his son, some ask.
They reach a door at the rear, guarded by a man at a desk.
There's a security combination pad by the door.
FIERRO
Open it.
CARLOS
I don't know the number.
FIERRO
What's your birthday?
Carlos gets it, punches in the code. The door buzzes open.
He likes that.
INT. INNER OFFICE
A different look--computers, racks of files. Two
secretaries, two file clerks, two sub-analysts, LARA, a
quechua Indian, and SOTO, a young city kid.
SECRETARY
Carlos!
FIERRO
You remember Roberta?
CARLOS
Sort of.
SECRETARY
You going to work with your dad?
FIERRO
Time he sees what I do for a
living.
SOTO
A state of siege, as of nine this
morning.
FIERRO
I heard.
Lara waits with a handful of papers by Fierro's office door.
16.
LARA
Flash reports. Dead dog on a
lamppost at Ixiamas. Sign around
his neck--"Ovando--son of a bitch."
The manifesto from the church at
Bom Destino.
FIERRO
Bernal's file?
Lara hands it over, follows Soto into the office.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Carlos, you remember Mr. Lara.
LARA
It's been a while.
INT. FIERRO'S OFFICE
Stylish, modern. Fierro sits at his desk, turns to Carlos.
FIERRO
I have to read these.
Fierro glances over the flash reports, the manifesto. Lara
and Soto wait. Carlos begins to fidget.
CARLOS
Can I see your gun?
FIERRO
I don't keep it here.
CARLOS
Where is it?
FIERRO
Never mind where.
Carlos drifts to a cabinet, looks at framed photographs: one
is of the General, signed, the next has Fierro at a banquet,
wearing a tux. His father has finished the file, looks up.
LARA
What do you think?
Fierro leans back, regards them.
FIERRO
It's not Bernal.
LARA
It can't be.
SOTO
We know him.
17.
FIERRO
Bernal can't write his own name.
He used to get that woman to do all
his pamphlets. Whatshername--the
one he blew up.
LARA
Frieda something.
SOTO
Do we tell the General?
FIERRO
Where is he now?
SOTO
Staff meeting.
LARA
He's alerted El Jaguar.
Fierro scowls. A beat--then he calls through the door.
FIERRO
Roberta, get me in with the
General.
ROBERTA
He's in a staff meeting.
FIERRO
He'll see me.
(to Carlos)
Want to come?
Carlos gets up as his father does. Lara looks surprised.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
The General knows him. Remember
the General--he sent you a present.
CARLOS
A truck.
Fierro takes the files and leads Carlos out the door.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - PRESIDENTIAL PALACE - DAY
Carlos waits on a bench in the ornamental hallway. He
regards his father--Fierro looks like he's preparing for a
fight.
A door opens--Minister of the Interior REYNOSO motions them
inside.
18.
INT. CHAMBER
Ovando and General Pachanga look up as Fierro and Carlos
enter behind Reynoso.
OVANDO
What is it, Martin? Is this your
boy?
FIERRO
You came to his christening.
OVANDO
I remember. Do you want to shake
my hand?
Carlos looks over at his father. Fierro nods--Carlos takes
the General's extended hand.
OVANDO (CONT'D)
A nice-looking young man. Make it
fast.
FIERRO
It's not Bernal.
Reynoso and Pachanga exchange glances.
OVANDO
Prove it.
FIERRO
Oswaldo Bernal's a failure. He
blew up his appliance shop and most
of his cell when he lived here-
he's been in the mountains three
years, he's lost most of his men to
sickness and desertion; the locals
turn them in because they're more
afraid of them than the police.
Nobody in their right mind would
back Bernal to lead a popular
insurrection.
PACHANGA
Somebody gave him AK-47s.
FIERRO
I'm not saying that didn't happen.
I'm saying whoever did it is using
your well-known hate of Communists
to distract you while he does
something else behind your back.
OVANDO
Who is he?
19.
FIERRO
I don't know yet.
PACHANGA
The Americans?
FIERRO
Not the Americans, not Cubans.
Nobody in your government, it's not
students, it's not unions or miners-
I'd know if it was.
REYNOSO
What do you know, Fierro?
FIERRO
General, I keep track of your
enemies. I do a good job; I know
Bernal better than his mother does.
The only reason somebody would give
him guns would be to bait you into
a trap.
PACHANGA
Elements of El Jaguar are moving
north.
FIERRO
That's a big mistake.
The room goes silent--even Fierro suspects he's gone too far.
Ovando walks up behind him, puts his hands on his shoulders.
While he speaks, he jams his thumbs into Fierro's neck enough
to make him wince.
OVANDO
Your father is a bright man,
Carlos. Bright men, however,
sometimes come up with complicated
answers when simple ones will do.
Bernal has guns--he's attacked me.
I will crush him.
PACHANGA
I must admit, Fierro, I agree with
the General.
REYNOSO
The General has always been right.
FIERRO
So have I, Minister...
20.
REYNOSO
Right for the government and right
for the country. You look silly
trying to be righter than he is. I
could just as easily say it is
Bernal, and he's planting rumors
it's somebody else through his
agent, the Director of Internal
Security.
FIERRO
I'd be insulted if you did.
REYNOSO
You'd have every right to be. I
don't know what I'm talking about-
I'm making it up.
OVANDO
Gentlemen...
FIERRO
General, I know what I risk by
telling you this. I didn't think
about it when I stepped in front of
you-- I'm not thinking about it
now. Your greatest danger is that
you do exactly what you're doing,
and it's my duty to tell you you're
wrong.
Ovando puts his hands on Fierro's shoulders again. Carlos
gets worried.
OVANDO
Martin, go back to your office and
prepare an abstract on Bernal--
background, tactics, your best
predictions what he'll do. Update
it daily...
Fierro starts to speak--Ovando puts his fingers to his lips.
OVANDO (CONT'D)
Have the first one on my desk by
noon, although I may not read it.
Bernal's on foot--he can't make
more than twenty miles in the
mountains. I should have his head
on a stick by tomorrow morning.
Fierro says nothing.
OVANDO (CONT'D)
Go on, Martin. I want to see you
leave.
A beat--then Fierro stands, motions to Carlos, and they exit.
Reynoso can't resist a smirk for Fierro as he passes.
21.
CUT TO:
EXT. PLAZA - MAYOR - DAY
A sound truck with loudspeakers circles the plaza, announcing
the state of siege--the curfew, the suspension of political
activities, no gathering of more than three people.
INT. FIERRO'S OFFICE
He's writing the General's report. The sound truck outside
passes--he gets up, slams the window hard. It makes Carlos
jump--he's never seen his father like this.
Lara knocks, enters, reads over Fierro's shoulder.
LARA
Intensify intelligence gathering...
FIERRO
Expand government propaganda,
increase televised public
appearances for the General.
LARA
The obvious.
FIERRO
The obvious.
He pulls the report out of the typewriter, signs it, hands it
to Lara, turns to Carlos.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Where do you want to have lunch?
CARLOS
Anywhere?
FIERRO
Your choice.
CUT TO:
EXT. CITY ZOO - DAY
Fierro has just bought empanadas from a vendor--he hands one
to Carlos as they stroll along the animal enclosures.
CARLOS
Does it still hurt?
22.
FIERRO
It never did.
CARLOS
Aren't you mad at him?
FIERRO
The General?
CARLOS
He hurt you.
FIERRO
I didn't feel it. You let things
like that bounce off you.
CARLOS
How?
FIERRO
By being in control. By knowing
yourself. That's Aristotle; you'll
read him in a few years. Know
exactly who you are, and things
like that hit you and bounce off.
You work on yourself until you're
tough as steel. You know how they
make steel?
Carlos shakes his head. Fierro hesitates--his attention has
been drawn across the street.
POV - FIERRO
Two students are spray-painting "Viva Bernal" on the wall of
a building.
BACK TO SHOT
FIERRO (CONT'D)
They take iron and boil it--the
impurities come to the surface and
they skim them off. You figure
out your own impurities,
you bring them to the surface, and
you skim them off. You make
yourself steel.
Carlos isn't sure what he means. Fierro glances back across
the street.
POV FIERRO
The kids are running off with two cops on their heels.
23.
BACK TO SHOT
He turns back to Carlos.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
The General didn't hurt me because
I know who I am, and I know I'm
right.
CUT TO:
NIGHT AT THE COUNTRY CLUB
EXT. COUNTRY CLUB - NIGHT
Silent tennis courts. In the stable, grooms curry horses.
On the drive in front of the clubhouse, teenaged boys and
girls lean against cars, talking, the radios playing. Guards
with submachine guns patrol the electrified fence.
INT. DINING ROOM - FIERRO AND ELENA
Dressed for dinner, Fierro and his wife ELENA eat in the
clubhouse dining room. Elena has a shy, quiet look. Fierro
smiles at something across the room--she can't figure out
what.
POV FIERRO
A blustery waitress serves a table--two old couples, the
women in jewels, the men with medals on their tuxes. The
waitress is loud, pushy--we realize it's a man in drag.
FIERRO'S TABLE
On either side of Fierro, other guests watch, smother their
laughter.
FIERRO
It's Bobby Tedesco
ELENA
Why is he doing that?
FIERRO
Don't you get it?
Elena shakes her head. Fierro exchanges smiles with others
around him.
24.
ELENA
You took Carlos to work.
FIERRO
I called the school.
ELENA
You didn't call me.
FIERRO
I'm sorry--I forgot.
ELENA
I waited an hour outside. Finally
I went in--they said he'd been with
you.
FIERRO
Elena, I've had a hard day.
ELENA
I wish we could see somebody
FIERRO
A priest?
ELENA
A counselor.
Fierro laughs out loud--so do others around him.
ANGLE - WAITRESS AND TABLE
The drag waitress has just spilled a drink into an elderly
man's lap; he fumes and sputters while his wife tries to
clean him up. The waitress blames the man, flounces away,
rolling his mascara'd eyes to his friends in the room.
FIERRO AND ELENA
His laughter fading when he regards Elena.
FIERRO
I remember when we used to laugh at
the same things.
ELENA
I disappoint you.
FIERRO
A man or a woman?
ELENA
A man.
25.
FIERRO
I'll try anything at this point.
CUT TO:
INT. CARD ROOM - POKER GAME - NIGHT
BOBBY TEDESCO deals, his wig off, still wearing his waitress
uniform, a cigarette dangling. Three other young men, Fierro
among them, at the table in the smoky room.
TEDESCO
A low pair for the Minister of
Recreation and Group Perversion.
Garbage appropriately for the
Deputy Minister of Trash and
Tourism, and a ten for the Director
of Gossip and Scandal, my former
best friend. Pair of sixes bets.
FIERRO
Why do you say that?
TEDESCO
You never call anymore.
FIERRO
I'm busy.
TEDESCO
Hidden in the basement. The
Phantom of the Opera.
FIERRO
It was a mistake.
TOURISM
Why?
FIERRO
I boxed myself in. It's a dead
end.
TEDESCO
No scope for his vast abilities.
You know Fierro could run the
country better than anyone else.
He tells us often enough.
RECREATION
Is that why you said what you said
to Ovando?
FIERRO
You heard.
26.
RECREATION
My dear boy...
TEDESCO
You see what happens when you step
in the path of an assassin's bullet
and save the General's life? You
get a taste for it--you want it to
happen on a regular basis.
TOURISM
I've always wanted to ask you,
Martin--you see the gun come out,
you feel yourself moving, you see
the smoke from the barrel, hear the
shot--were you thinking, this could
be a very good career move?
FIERRO
Are we playing cards or not?
Recreation bets. Tedesco and Tourism fold. Fierro calls and
raises.
TEDESCO
He's holding tens.
RECREATION
Are you?
Fierro only smiles.
CUT TO:
INT. CLUB TELEVISION ROOM - FIERRO AND GENERAL - NIGHT
ALFONSO BUNSTER, commander of the Los Liones division, and
Fierro sit in overstuffed chairs, smoking cigars. At the
other end of the empty room, a soundless television--on it, a
government propaganda documentary, extolling the General, his
benefits to the country, his virility.
BUNSTER
We had a constitutional government
some years back but it didn't
function well--the parties never
got along, things went from bad to
worse, into the gap stepped the
General, who stopped the anarchy,
but in doing so created his own
abuses. So we've gone from a
government everybody wanted but
didn't work to a government that
works but nobody wants. What would
happen if somebody tried to change
it?
Fierro nods.
27.
BUNSTER (CONT'D)
By peaceful means, the General
wouldn't allow it--he has the Army.
By violent means--difficult to
raise a popular army, training,
weapons, secrecy, difficult to
defeat our army in the field.
FIERRO
Say that happened.
BUNSTER
Speaking hypothetically.
FIERRO
Of course.
BUNSTER
In a country like this, people
aren't loyal to the government
because they had no hand in
choosing it. They're loyal only to
their jobs, their way of life, so
if a new government threatens to
take over, their first thought is
not to defend the old government,
or even to run out and join the
insurrection. Their first thought
is, how do I keep my job? If the
government changes, will I still
get paid Friday? So if there was
an insurrection, I think you'd find
most people sitting on their hands,
waiting to see who was on top when
the dust cleared and hoping they
could make a deal with them.
FIERRO
But the Army.
BUNSTER
No, the Army will fight, and for
that reason, the General is secure.
Fierro nods. They both watch televisions.
CUT TO:
INT. FIERRO'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Elena, in her robe, has just looked in on sleeping Carlos.
She heads down the hallway to her bedroom. Entering, she
expects to see Fierro--she finally spots him, out on the
bedroom balcony.
28.
EXT. BALCONY - FIERRO
His is the penthouse balcony--surrounding his high-rise,
shantytowns in vacant lots, swaddled in the smoke of hundreds
of fires.
Fierro stands in his robe, staring out at the smoky city. He
clutches his hands. Abruptly, he turns and exits.
INT. STUDY
Fierro turns on the lights, takes a chart from a rack on a
wall, lays it out on this desk and weights it down. It's a
map of the central city, with the prominent buildings clearly
marked. His finger traces the Palace, the Ministry of the
Interior--over to the La Mura barracks.
He takes a compass, puts the point on the Palace, and draws a
ten block radius around it.
CUT TO:
EXT. LORETO RAVINE - NIGHT
A scrubby wash bordering the city's railyard. Squatters live
there--their fires dot the darkness.
ANGLE - FIRE - HERTZOG
At the ravine's bottom, among a circle of men warming their
hands, sits Hertzog. He's talking with them, wrapped in an
old blanket for warmth--they share some of their meager stew.
Almost idly, he reaches down and takes a handful of dirt. He
squeezes it between his fingers.
FADE OUT.
FIERRO BEGINS
FADE IN:
EXT. BARRACKS - LA MURA - DAY
The dome of the Palace is visible ten blocks beyond the
barracks of the elite Presidential Guard regiment. Tough
troops and men, in a constant state of training--squads strip
weapons, hoist logs, clean their tanks.
29.
INT. OFFICE - COLONEL GORITTI
His moustache tips waxed upward. He sits under the
regimental seal, the subscript "Fey al muerte." He's pissed.
GORITTI
I'm not in the habit of defending
the reputation of the Presidential
Guard to a civil servant.
(indicating seal)
"Loyalty unto death." Every man in
the regiment swears it, a sword in
one hand, a Bible in the other. A
traitor wouldn't last ten seconds-
I probably wouldn't even know about
it. The rest of the Army is
another matter.
FIERRO
Tell me.
GORITTI
I don't know about the Fast
Reactive Force. It's a new outfit-
I hear they're good. Then there's
El Jaguar and Los Liones.
Fierro nods.
GORITTI (CONT'D)
First, the officers. Old,
incompetent, passed over for
promotion; they drink. The troops-
conscripts, farm boys. Half of
them sick or deserting--their
equipment never works. Their
strength on paper is 10,000 each.
FIERRO
Say you needed help.
GORITTI
La Mura has never needed help.
FIERRO
If you did.
GORITTI
That's my point. On paper, 10,000
each division, but they never meet
their quotas, so say 12,000 actives
between them. Half sick or over
the hill, so we're down to 6,000.
Trucks for 2,000, half of them in
the shop. If I needed help, I'd be
lucky to get 1,000 men.
CUT TO:
30.
EXT. SECURITY BARRACKS - DESAQUEDERIO AIRFIELD - DAY
The airfield Hertzog scouted from the hill. Fierro walks
with a nervous captain along a line of nervous troops at
attention.
CAPTAIN
Start with the runway. You blow
one hole in it--it doesn't even
have to be a big hole, if it's in
the right place. Or you drive a
truck onto it and shoot out the
tires. Then there's the control
tower.
FIERRO
What about it?
CAPTAIN
It gives permission to land and
take off. No permission, that's a
major violation.
FIERRO
So one man in the control tower
could theoretically ground the
whole air force.
CAPTAIN
For a few minutes. Until we got
him out of there.
CUT TO:
INT. MINISTRY OF INTERIOR - BASEMENT CORRIDOR - MORNING
The chart from his study under his arm, Fierro hurries down
the hallway. A rotund Army general named ZANUDIO, holding a
teletype message, falls in step alongside.
ZANUDIO
You heard about El Jaguar.
FIERRO
What?
ZANUDIO
Two brigades moving north near
Irupana. Land mines in the road--
blew away the first truck, rocketed
the last one, trapped the whole
column.
FIERRO
They knew they were coming.
31.
ZANUDIO
Somebody told them?
Fierro nods--Zanudio hurries to keep up with him.
ZANUDIO (CONT'D)
Fierro, I have a way out.
FIERRO
You think you'll need one?
ZANUDIO
You can never tell. Me, the wife,
the children. All I need is an
hour's warning.
FIERRO
I'll keep it in mind.
ZANUDIO
You're a friend.
(as Fierro heads off)
My way out. There's room for a few
more.
Fierro smiles, shakes his head, enters Census and
Cartography.
INT. FIERRO'S OUTER OFFICE
Roberta and Soto jump up and follow Fierro towards his
office.
ROBERTA
Stoffer's been calling--they want
today's Form 5.
Soto's burdened with messages.
SOTO
Bernal has declared Francisco
Province a liberated area.
Declaration of support from a
student group in Santiago calling
for a popular front. El Jaguar's
being reinforced with two regiments
of Los Liones--the General's on his
way north to take command
personally.
INT. FIERRO'S INNER OFFICE
Lara leaps up from Fierro's chair--he's been watching a tape
on the office VCR.
32.
LARA
DIC intercepted these. A PamAm
pilot was taking then to the
States.
INSERT - TV SCREEN
Ortiz, the journalist, is on camera, reporting the fighting
up north. Behind him, lines of straggling refugees.
ORTIZ
Potatoes are the main crop of the
region, but the winter has been
unusually severe, and the roots
planted last fall have not grown.
The babies no longer cry when they
go to sleep at night with empty
bellies.
On screen, Bernal's troops trudge past.
ORTIZ (CONT'D)
Now to unemployment and starvation,
add the horror of war.
This is Bernal's constituency-
these are the people he is trying
to rally to his side, and although
all he can offer them is
insurrection, for many, choosing
between fighting and hunger,
fighting is the lesser of two
evils.
BACK TO SHOT
Fierro turns off the TV, sits back in his chair, thinking.
ROBERTA
Today's Form 5?
FIERRO
You write it.
ROBERTA
Me...?
33.
FIERRO
Make something up--I'll sign it.
(to Soto)
Get all of Ortiz's tapes--make
transcripts of them, run them
through a word frequency and
habitual sentence program. Compare
them to the church manifesto, the
declaration of liberated area, and
the call for a popular front.
SOTO
What am I looking for?
FIERRO
Didn't Ortiz sound familiar?
LARA
Not especially.
FIERRO
"Fighting is the lesser of two
evils." The same phrase is in the
church manifesto, also at the end.
Everything's being written by the
same man.
He motions Soto and Roberta out.
FIERRO AND LARA
When the door shuts, Fierro stands. He folds his hands
behind his back, begins to pace, now turns to Lara.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Say I wanted to overthrow the
government.
Lara reacts.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Say I decided one day this country
was ready for a change. How would
I do it?
LARA
I don't know.
FIERRO
Use your imagination.
LARA
It's hard to think. Kill
everybody.
34.
FIERRO
Inefficient, and it takes too long.
Say I wanted to do it quickly, in a
matter of hours.
LARA
A coup.
FIERRO
A coup. Who would be in place to
stop me?
LARA
The Army. The police...
FIERRO
And the various security
departments. Start with them--they
don't know I exist, and once I'm in
the Palace, they're not a military
force--they can't get me out. The
police. Weak and lightly armed.
They solve crimes and give tickets-
they don't defend the country and
they don't want to.
LARA
What about the Army?
FIERRO
I'll come back to that. I'd have
to capture certain people and
certain buildings.
LARA
The General.
FIERRO
Keep going.
LARA
We could go to jail for this.
FIERRO
Who else?
LARA
Reynoso. Sisa.
FIERRO
Reynoso because he's blindly loyal-
Chief Justice Sisa because he's the
brother-in-law. Who else? C'mon,
Lara--Chief of Police Osorio. The
rest don't count and we can assume
some of them will go along with us.
Generals?
35.
LARA
Pachanga.
FIERRO
Rudolph of the Air Force, and
that's it--nobody else with any
clout or any brains. So I'd need
to capture what--five men.
Lara shrugs as Fierro spreads out his chart. He points to
the main buildings.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Physical targets. The Palace...
LARA
This building. The Central Police
station.
FIERRO
What else?
LARA
This is hard for me.
FIERRO
The television station. The five
radio stations. The telephone
exchange. The airport at
Desaquiderio. The railroad
station? Maybe, maybe not. So I'd
need to capture twelve places, plus
I'd have to control the streets
around the Palace in case of a
counterattack.
LARA
What about the Army?
FIERRO
The Army. I could never beat it
face to face.
LARA
Never.
FIERRO
Say I didn't want to. Say I staged
a phony guerilla attack on the
northern border, as far away from
the capital as I could. I wouldn't
care if those guerillas never won,
as long as they didn't lose. The
General would commit his least
effective forces first...
LARA
El Jaguar.
36.
FIERRO
But if they couldn't catch them,
the General would be under more and
more pressure to commit better
troops. I'd make him send as much
of the Army north as I could--at a
certain point, I'd let him find my
guerillas. Frustrated, hungry for
blood, he'd send in his best
unit...
LARA
The Fast Reactive Force.
FIERRO
And all that would be left to
defend the capital would be La Mura
and the Security of the President
cops. Six hundred men. Meaning
what?
LARA
I don't know...
FIERRO
Think!
LARA
I can't...
FIERRO
Meaning I could take over the
country with 601.
Lara is struck by the possibility.
LARA
Is that what's happening?
FIERRO
That's what's happening. He's
brilliant.
LARA
Whoever he is.
FIERRO
That's what we find out next.
Lara's never seen Fierro this excited. Fierro grabs his coat
as he heads for the door. Lara follows.
CUT TO:
INT. NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY HEADQUARTERS - DAY
AGUIRRE, the portly chairman of the National Party, shows
Fierro and Lara around his headquarters.
37.
AGUIRRE
The General knows I can deliver
bodies. If there was a hostile
move against the government, I
could have 300,000 men and women in
the Plaza Mayor within four hours.
You're familiar with the concept of
the telephone tree...
Aguirre leads them through a door.
INT. TELEPHONE ROOM
Filled with desks, on each several phones.
AGUIRRE
Each of these is connected to
regional party headquarters. In
each regional headquarters, a
similar room, with phones to each
ward; in each ward, phones to block
leaders. Figure it out
mathematically--with 42 phones,
each call five seconds long--"a
demonstration in the Plaza Mayor at
such and such a time"--I can call
out more than a quarter of a
million workers in four hours, and
that is the service I perform for
the General.
CUT TO:
INT. CENTRAL TELEPHONE EXCHANGE RELAY ROOM - DAY
A senior ENGINEER leads Fierro and Lara through a rats nest
of patched wires, sparking equipment.
ENGINEER
The French equipment was metric-
the English equipment was in
inches. The solution's not very
attractive, but what else could we
do?
FIERRO
How often does it break down?
The man's reluctant to admit it.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
We appreciate your problem.
38.
ENGINEER
Mr. Fierro, one wire--twelve
strands of braided copper wrapped
in plastic--breaks, and the capital
is without telephone service, and
that, to my shame and
mortification, is the absolute
truth.
CUT TO:
EXT. TRAFFIC INTERSECTION - DAY
Rush hour--the intersection jammed with honking cars. Fierro
and Lara talk with an ENGINEER in a hard hat.
ENGINEER
I've begged for a traffic circle.
The merchants don't want to lose
their footage, the police are
afraid of accidents.
FIERRO
Say you wanted to stop traffic
going to the Palace.
ENGINEER
Not another parade?
FIERRO
I'm thinking out loud.
ENGINEER
You barricade this, you barricade
the Plaza 5th of July, you
barricade Garribaldi. It happens
every day--try to get from the
Palace over the river at six
o'clock.
FIERRO
Is this common knowledge?
ENGINEER
I'm not sure what you mean...
FIERRO
Have you ever talked to anyone
about this?
ENGINEER
No...
FIERRO
Thanks very much.
They shake hands. Fierro and Lara move off--the engineer
calls after.
39.
ENGINEER
Yes. I spoke too soon. Somebody
did ask me about it a few months
ago. Traffic to the Palace, I
mean.
FIERRO
Who?
ENGINEER
I barely remember. I think he was
a reporter.
CUT TO:
INT. FIERRO'S OFFICE - DAY
Now Lara paces as well as Fierro, both of them behind the
engineer who sits looking at mug shots scroll past in
computer files.
ENGINEER
Maybe a beard. All I really
remember is the reporter part.
FIERRO
They're all the foreign journalists
who applied for permits in the last
year.
WIDER ANGLE
As Soto ushers in the security captain from the airport.
Lara gets him a chair--Fierro sits him down beside the
engineer.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
We're looking for a man, Captain.
You might have seen him at the
airport.
CAPTAIN
Lots of people at the airport.
FIERRO
You're a security officer. You're
trained to look at people.
ENGINEER
I told them I barely remembered.
40.
FIERRO
He may have a beard--he may have
glasses, be bald. Use your
imagination.
The two men stare at the scrawling mug shots. Fierro and
Lara wait.
CUT TO:
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Later. Coffee cups--the captain is chain smoking; his eyes
are red. The engineer studies a face.
ENGINEER
Maybe him. In the eyes.
FIERRO
Captain?
CAPTAIN
I'm just guessing. Maybe a
moustache.
FIERRO
Grease pencil.
Lara looks around the office. Can't find one.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
(bellowing)
Roberta--a grease pencil!
She rushes into the office with one. Fierro takes it, draws
a moustache over the face on the computer screen.
CAPTAIN
Maybe a hat.
Fierro hurriedly draws in a hat.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
More like a cap.
Fierro rubs out the hat with his finger, draws in a cap.
FIERRO
You saw him.
CAPTAIN
He said he was a journalist.
FIERRO
That's right.
41.
CAPTAIN
He was doing an article on the Air
Force.
Fierro bodily lifts the engineer out of the chair and sits in
front of the computer. Lara escorts the two men out of the
room.
ANGLE - FIERRO
Oblivious to everything but the computer. He prints out the
file--while the printer feeds out the picture, he opens
another file. It's marked Condor--its subscript is Interpol.
He scrolls through the menu. A section of mug shots comes
up-- international terrorists, revolutionaries, wanted
criminals. He tears the picture from the printer, punches
through the file, comparing faces.
Then stops.
WIDER ANGLE
Lara re-enters, sees the look on his boss's face. Over his
shoulder, on the screen, a file, a photo, and a name--Aneas
Hertzog.
LARA
Nicaragua.
FIERRO
Aneas Hertzog. Walked into the
Nicaraguan jungle one day in 1978,
six months later walked out at the
head of an army of 50,000 men.
Took the capital in two days.
Fierro claps his hands.
CUT TO:
IT'S HERTZOG
INT. NATIONAL LIBRARY - DAY
Like a cathedral, columns and high vaulted ceilings. Fierro
and Lara at a table--Fierro has been taking notes from a
stack of reference books.
42.
FIERRO
Born Filipo Klein, Sao Paolo 1941,
father a teacher, mother Indian.
Tested IQ 165. Scholarship,
University of Havana, advanced
studies University of Peking, 1964,
dissertation, "Mao Tse Tung and Sun
Tzu; The Tradition of Chinese
Military Strategy."
A LIBRARIAN brings him a book, whispers.
LIBRARIAN
Sorry it took so long.
Fierro shows the book to Lara--it's the "Art of War" by Sun
Tzu.
FIERRO
1966 to '72, medical school,
residency, Peking. 1973 to '76,
private practice, Rio. In Rio,
meets Nicaraguan exiles Ernesto
Civera and Peter Aragon-- they
convince him to lead the military
arm of a popular revolt.
He opens another book, shows Lara a photo of a younger
Hertzog standing with his arms around the shoulders of two
Latin men.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Takes the nom de guerre Aneas
Hertzog, defeats General Zuazo,
sworn in as Minister of Defense,
1979.
He opens another book--there's a photograph of Hertzog in
fatigues, standing on top of a burned-out tank on a jungle
road.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Six months later, a Marxist purge
of centrist leaders: Aragon kills
Civera, tries to kill Hertzog who
barely gets out of the country
alive. Rumored to be teaching in
North America, but we know
otherwise.
Lara looks impressed.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
His people loved him like a god.
He used disguises, trusted only a
handful. He never put anything in
writing--it was all in his head.
He scoops up the books and they move off.
43.
ANGLE - LIBRARY TABLE
Fierro and Lara exit past two people sitting at a table. One
is Hertzog--across from him is Dora. She smiles faintly-
Hertzog smiles back.
Open in front of Hertzog is a government dictionary of
biography. On the page, a photo of Fierro, and a few
paragraphs of description.
CUT TO:
INT. CAFE - NIGHT
It's late--Fierro and Lara are alone in the cafe. The owner
wipes glasses. Lara can barely keep his eyes open. Fierro
reads from Sun Tzu.
FIERRO
"The master strategist conceals his
true dispositions and ultimate
intent. When the enemy attempts to
defend everywhere, he is weak
everywhere, and at selected points,
few will be able to do the work of
many." Wake up, Lara.
He nudges him.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
"The skillful strategist is able to
subdue the enemy's army without
engaging it, to take his cities
without burning them, and to
overthrow his state without bloody
swords."
LARA
He sounds like a pacifist.
FIERRO
He lost 15,000 men in Nicaragua.
LARA
Maybe he's sick of blood.
FIERRO
I'm inside him, Lara--I see it
through his eyes. He's come here,
asked questions, he's looked over the
terrain, he's measured the defenses.
He knows what scares Ovando most--a
Marxist insurrection--and he's given
him one.
44.
LARA
Does he see you?
FIERRO
No, he does not see me.
CUT TO:
EXT. MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR REYNOSO'S VILLA - MORNING
The Minister kisses his wife good-bye--his bodyguard falls in
on either side as he heads towards his waiting limo.
INT. FIERRO'S BMW - FIERRO AND LARA
Parked up the street. Both watch through binoculars.
Fierro's excited.
FIERRO
You do know what we're seeing.
POV
Parked on the street, a van, another car. Five young men
approach from different directions, two from the van, one
from the car, one passing on the street. They pass Reynoso
and his bodyguards close enough to touch, but don't say a
word.
INT. FIERRO'S BMW
Lara gets it.
LARA
A kidnap rehearsal.
Fierro nods.
POV
Three of the men get in the van, two in the car. They drive
off. Reynoso and his bodyguard haven't noticed them.
BACK TO SHOT
Lara is open-mouthed.
45.
LARA (CONT'D)
Jesus, you're right.
Fierro nods.
LARA (CONT'D)
Do we tell the General?
FIERRO
We catch Hertzog.
Lara reacts.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
I bring him in and what happens:
gratitude, medals, Deputy Minister?
Maybe Minister.
LARA
What if Reynoso finds out?
FIERRO
Reynoso who said I looked silly
trying to be more right than
Ovando? The Reynoso who just
walked past his own kidnapping?
We know who he is, we know what
he's doing...
LARA
We're not cops.
FIERRO
Why are you resisting me?
Lara wonders at the bark in his voice.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
I've been bored, Lara--I've been
working at half speed, carrying out
garbage for idiots. I know this
man, I can smell him--he's my key
to everything. Yours too--you
should be thanking God for the
opportunity.
Lara doesn't look convinced.
CUT TO:
INT. FIERRO'S BMW -- MOVING SHOT
The van is a block ahead of them. It turns at a corner.
LARA
What do we do--arrest them?
46.
FIERRO
They've never seen Hertzog. They
wouldn't know him from Adam.
He keeps going straight.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Who do we know who does?
Lara shrugs.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
C'mon, Lara--stay with me; who do
we know that's met Hertzog?
LARA
I don't know.
FIERRO
He got scripts from him.
LARA
Ortiz?
Fierro sighs--finally.
FADE OUT.
FIRST CONTACT
FADE IN:
EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE - LONG SHOT - DAY
A mountain meadow, patched with snow, studded with rocks, the
capital far in the distance. Two men are forcing a third to
stand up on one of the rocks.
THREE SHOT
Fierro and Lara have bound and blindfolded Jorge Ortiz.
FIERRO
Tell me about him, Jorge.
ORTIZ
About who?
FIERRO
We do wonderful things with
computers. We matched your tapes
with his writings. Seventy-two
percent probability--it might as
well be a hundred.
47.
ORTIZ
Fierro, you're in a lot of
trouble...
FIERRO
Jorge, remember Chapala Canyon? We
used to hike up here.
ORTIZ
What about it?
FIERRO
We took a right at the mill house,
we parked at the oaks, now we're
out on the cliff. You're standing
on the edge--feel it with your
toes.
ORTIZ
Fierro, for Christ's sake...
FIERRO
Tell me about him...
ORTIZ
About who...?
FIERRO
Aneas Hertzog.
Ortiz swallows.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Good-bye, Jorge...
Fierro pulls him off balance. Ortiz screams, terrified.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Where did you see him?
ORTIZ
Potosi. At a bar.
FIERRO
What was its name?
ORTIZ
A bar. There's probably only one.
FIERRO
And he gave you scripts.
ORTIZ
He made me memorize them. He said
they had to be in a certain order.
Then he burned them.
48.
FIERRO
You memorized them, made your
tapes...
ORTIZ
He said they were the key to
everything. He had to get the
States to recognize his government
or it wouldn't last. He said if he
didn't have popular support in the
States, he might as well give up.
FIERRO
What was he like?
ORTIZ
Five foot ten. Balding, glasses...
FIERRO
I don't want description. What was
he like?
ORTIZ
Smart. Very calm.
FIERRO
Keep going.
ORTIZ
You felt he knew everything about
you.
FIERRO
What did you get out of it?
ORTIZ
Nothing.
FIERRO
Some wire-haired Commie broad...
ORTIZ
He's not a Marxist.
FIERRO
C'mon...
ORTIZ
He's split with them. He wants the
constitution back. Elections, free
speech. All that scary stuff.
FIERRO
And you believed him.
ORTIZ
He was convincing.
49.
FIERRO
How was he convincing?
ORTIZ
He was--you had to be there.
Fierro, please...
FIERRO
You won't make any more tapes.
ORTIZ
On the head of my children.
FIERRO
Jorge, I believe you.
He takes off Ortiz's blindfold. Ortiz blinks, realizes the
trick that's been played on him. He sputters, beholds Fierro
with a catbird smile.
CUT TO:
INT. MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR - BASEMENT - TRACKING - DAY
Fierro and Lara stride down the hallway. Fierro's in a good
mood.
FIERRO
Potosi. The mines. The stolen
dynamite. Miners' sons in the Army
get passed over for promotion.
We're going to Potosi. Starting
thinking about a code.
LARA
What code?
FIERRO
The one he uses to get in touch
with his cells.
Lara looks dubious--Fierro notices.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Your heart's not in this.
LARA
I don't like what we're doing.
FIERRO
You don't.
LARA
I'm an analyst. I'm not a cop.
50.
FIERRO
Maybe you're not as ambitious as I
thought you were, Lara. Maybe you
should stay here and analyze.
Maybe I should go myself.
LARA
Maybe you should.
Fierro nods as he bangs through the door--so be it.
INT. FIERRO'S OUTER OFFICE
Roberta and Soto are waiting--Roberta has her hand over her
phone.
ROBERTA
For you. He's been trying all
morning.
FIERRO
Hold my calls.
ROBERTA
He says it's urgent. A Mr.
Hertzog.
Fierro stops short--he and Lara react.
FIERRO
Put a trace on it. And tape it.
(to Roberta)
Tell him I'll be right there.
Roberta does so as Fierro hurries into his office, slamming
the door. Lara and Soto bump into each other, trying to set
up the trace and the tape.
INT. INNER OFFICE - FIERRO
The walls are now covered with blow-ups of Hertzog, pictures
from the reference books at the library. Fierro sits, tries
to calm his pounding heart with deep breaths, stares at the
blinking phone light.
FIERRO
Lara!
INT. OUTER OFFICE - LARA
Trying to stick a suction mike on a phone. Soto is pleading
with a telephone operator to set up a trace.
51.
LARA
We're working on it.
INT. INNER OFFICE - FIERRO
He can't wait any longer. He stabs the phone button.
FIERRO
This is Fierro.
HERTZOG (V.O.)
Martin. Aneas Hertzog.
The voice is soft, yet intense.
FIERRO
The Lion of Nicaragua.
HERTZOG (V.O.)
You're fighting me. Why aren't you
helping?
FIERRO
I suppose because I'm not a Marxist
anarchist.
HERTZOG (V.O.)
You know I'm neither, Martin.
FIERRO
We had democracy once. You
couldn't get any mail and the
phones didn't work.
HERTZOG (V.O.)
You're not a bad man, Martin-
you're a good man doing terrible
things, hoping they will keep you
and your family safe. But doesn't
it hurt your heart?
Fierro hesitates to reply.
FIERRO
I know all about you.
HERTZOG (V.O.)
I know you do, and I know about
you, Martin. Hasn't it ever
occurred to you you're on the wrong
side?
FIERRO
You're a failure, Hertzog. You
failed in Nicaragua...
The line goes suddenly dead--Fierro swears. Lara knocks
outside.
52.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
No!
LARA (O.S.)
They couldn't trace it.
FIERRO
I know.
Fierro's visibly shaken.
He stands, wanders around his office. His eyes land on his
computer terminal. He turns it on, paces until it boots up,
then sits in front of it.
ANGLE - FIERRO AND COMPUTER
Fierro opens a file, titles it, "General," writes quickly.
FIERRO (V.O.)
Out of a sense of loyalty and to
document my intentions, I begin
this file. Bernal is a diversion.
The real plot against you is being
led by Aneas Hertzog, a notorious
radical who overthrew the
government of General Zuazo in
Nicaragua in 1978. The goal of the
diversion is to make you commit the
Fast Reactive Force--at that point,
Hertzog will take over the Palace
in a lightening coup. I am
following Hertzog's trail to
Potosi. If I do not return, I am
leaving this on an unclassified
disk where you can find it.
Respectfully, Martin Fierro.
He saves the file. He sits back.
A beat--he heads for the door, stopping at a cabinet,
unlocking it, taking from it a .45 automatic and a spare
clip.
CUT TO:
EXT. RAILROAD STATION - FIERRO'S BMW - DAY
The station is surrounded by shantytowns. Slum kids kick a
ball made of rags in the street next to Fierro's parked car.
53.
INT. BMW - FIERRO
On his car phone. He's changed into worker's clothes.
FIERRO
Carlos--it's your dad.
INT. FIERRO'S APARTMENT
Carlos, in his baseball uniform, on the phone in the hallway,
is out of breath. Behind him, the housekeeper EUPHEMIA takes
off her coat.
CARLOS
Dad, we won. We're in the finals!
FIERRO (V.O.)
That's fine. Let me speak to your
mother.
CARLOS
She's not here.
FIERRO (V.O.)
Tell her I'm going out of town.
I'll probably be back tomorrow. If
you need anything, call Mr. Lara,
all right?
INT. CAR - FIERRO
FIERRO
Kiss kiss.
He hears Carlos kiss through the phone.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
I'm glad about the finals. I love
you.
He hangs up. A beat--then he exits, locks the car, heads
towards the station.
FADE OUT.
TO THE MINES
FADE IN:
54.
EXT. POTOSI STREET - FIERRO - NIGHT
Fierro walks down the mining town street away from the
station-- the train that brought him chugs away. His breath
mists--he tries to fill his lungs; he's 15,000 feet up.
The sound of television from an open doorway down the street,
light spilling. He passes through the doorway.
INT. BAR
Dark, smoky. Militant union banners on the wall, photographs
of Guevera, Lenin, Gandhi. On television, a fashion show
from the capital--ladies in mink parading. The room quiets
as he enters.
Fierro crosses to the bar, nods to the BARTENDER.
FIERRO
A beer.
BARTENDER
Where are you from?
FIERRO
The capital.
BARTENDER
Alcohol will make you sick.
FIERRO
Mineral water, then. And a beer.
Fierro lays down a bill, takes the drinks, looks around.
MINER AT TABLE
Sitting by himself. Fierro sits across, pushes the beer
towards him. The MAN eyes it, drinks.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
I want to find Hertzog.
MAN
Who's that?
FIERRO
I work for the radio. I was
supposed to sabotage the
transmitter. The cops started
asking questions. I threw away my
papers.
MAN
So what?
55.
FIERRO
I need to get over the border.
MAN
You're talking to the wrong person.
Thanks for the beer.
Fierro regards him--it's no use. He looks around.
ANGLE - MAN AT TABLE
Fierro sits across from a second miner.
FIERRO
Viva Hertzog.
SECOND MAN
Hertzog, I don't know. Bernal I've
heard of--maybe viva and maybe not;
remains to be seen.
FIERRO
The cops are after me.
SECOND MAN
That's a problem.
FIERRO
I need to get over the border.
SECOND MAN
First of all, you're from the city,
so who gives a damn? Second of
all, what could anyone do? You see
how you're scaring everybody.
Fierro follows his gaze--men around him are shoving back
their chairs, leaving. The bartender casts Fierro a dirty
look.
EXT. STREET
Fierro emerges into the street. He doesn't like this--it's
not his style, random, arbitrary. He hears music coming from
around the corner. He heads for it.
ANGLE - CORNER
As Fierro rounds the corner, people jump him from either
side. He fights back but they wrestle him to the ground.
CUT TO:
56.
INT. MINE WORKER'S HOUSING - NIGHT
They're giving Fierro back his shoes and his gun. The tiny,
smoky room is packed--the lean man is CAPRIDE, the short
woman his wife DOMITILLA, the stocky man TEOPONTE, the tenant
they take in for extra income. The Caprides' six kids line
the room, the youngest an infant, the oldest seventeen-year
old Jesus--the others are girls and don't count. Capride has
sillicosis--his voice rasps when he talks.
JESUS
This is a mistake.
CAPRIDE
It's my house.
TEOPONTE
That's not technically true.
DOMITILLA
He hasn't been here in weeks.
CAPRIDE
All we know is about the Palace.
JESUS
Father!
CAPRIDE
What?
JESUS
You're telling him everything.
CAPRIDE
He's in trouble.
DOMITILLA
We don't know who he is.
CAPRIDE
That's why we searched you. Even
undercover cops have to carry
papers. They put them in their
shoes.
FIERRO
I'm not a cop.
JESUS
Maybe this one doesn't.
CAPRIDE
What is the movement about?
TEOPONTE
Staying alive long enough to enjoy
it.
57.
CAPRIDE
Helping each other.
FIERRO
Can you help me?
CAPRIDE
I can send you with a letter to my
cousin in Atocha. I don't know
what he can do but at least it's
twenty kilometers closer.
JESUS
I say wire him up and see how long
he sticks to his story.
Capride gestures his son away.
JESUS (CONT'D)
You always make the same mistake.
Just because you're politically
correct, you think you can be
moral.
CAPRIDE
That's the best I can offer.
FIERRO
I'd appreciate it very much.
CAPRIDE
Doris--find the flashlight. Jesus-
paper.
Jesus fetches him paper and Capride slowly starts a note.
Fierro goes to the window and opens it. The others yell-
he's letting in the cold. He apologizes.
FIERRO AND CAPRIDE
Fierro sits beside Capride as he writes.
FIERRO
What is he like?
CAPRIDE
You know what your father's like?
Fierro nods. Jesus groans, slumps in the corner--his own
father's impossible.
58.
CAPRIDE (CONT'D)
Imagine the perfect father. The
way men admire him, the way women
watch him pass, how he seems to
know what you're thinking before
you say it. You know what I mean?
FIERRO
Yes, I do.
CAPRIDE
That's what he's like. The father
you always wanted.
He spins--behind him, the door bangs open.
ANGLE
Uniformed cops flood through the door. The girls scream-
Domitilla throws a pot; Jesus tries to jump out the window
but they haul him back. Yells and curses as the cops roust
them out.
The local police chief pushes through the crowd to Fierro,
salutes.
FIERRO
Search the place.
The chief shouts to his men--they start ransacking the place.
ANGLE - FIERRO
While the cops search, he does as well. He looks in a
dresser-- inside a drawer, a stack of newspapers. What
strikes him is that they're all from the capital.
CUT TO:
INT. POTOSI POLICE STATION - FIRST INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT
Fierro watches from the back of the basement room. Teoponte
the tenant slumps in a corner, bloody, unconscious. Jesus
sits under a light, tied to a chair. Wires run from a
torture box to his nipples. There are two COPS, one skinny,
one huge. The big one works the machine--the other asks the
questions.
JESUS
Pour it on, shithead.
SKINNY COP
What did you call me?
59.
JESUS
Whoreson maggot-faced shithead!
And you're apparently deaf!
He yells, writhes as they shock him.
JESUS (CONT'D)
Pour it on! More--turn it up! Go
on, kill me--big deal! What are
you afraid of?
The two cops look back at Fierro--what should they do?
Fierro doesn't know--he exits.
INT. HALLWAY
A local doctor waits there, dozing. Fierro passes him into
another room.
INT. SECOND INTERROGATION ROOM
Confusion--Domitilla is wired up in a chair, the cops are
pulling away Capride who's begging them to stop, at the same
time wiping blood off her forehead with his handkerchief.
CAPRIDE
She doesn't know anything. I'm the
one that spoke to him.
DOMITILLA
Now he's bragging.
CAPRIDE
She was there--I had the
conversation.
FIERRO
Where, when, and who else was
there?
The cops turn--they didn't realize Fierro was there. Capride
comes forward on his knees, hugs Fierro's legs.
CAPRIDE
The union hall at Salinas General
Mendoza. El Negron, the secretary,
was there--De Pareja, and Rojo
Dante.
FIERRO
What did he tell you?
60.
CAPRIDE
I asked him, "Will it be bloody?"
He said he hoped not--he said the
people who brought him here
expected it to be like Nicaragua...
FIERRO
Who brought him here?
CAPRIDE
He didn't mention names. He said
this was different-- the Army was
strong, there was no jungle to hide
in, it was hard to move troops in
the mountains. Besides, he was
sick of blood; so many had died in
Nicaragua...
DOMITILLA
He looked sick.
CAPRIDE
Not look sick--I said he was sick.
DOMITILLA
His eyes were yellow.
CAPRIDE
I asked him, do we get our laws
back?
He said, "If you help." I said,
"I'm not much good--but my eldest
is in the 3rd division, Los
Liones." He said, "Tell your son
when the time comes, he'll get a
chance to fight."
A thud against the adjoining wall to the next room, a shriek--
it's Jesus. His parents know--his mother screams, his father
clutches Fierro.
FIERRO
(to the cops)
El Negron, De Pareja, Rojo Dante.
They nod as Fierro pries Capride off and exits.
INT. FIRST INTERROGATION ROOM
As Fierro enters, the big cop is hurling Jesus against the
wall like a football. He splats, slumps to the floor.
Fierro crosses to him.
His open head oozes blood and fluid and pieces of skull.
He's dead.
61.
BIG COP
He called us names.
Fierro wheels, backhands the man, hard.
FIERRO
Useless!
A split second, when Fierro fears the cop will turn on him-
but the big cop flinches, and Fierro backhands him again,
harder again, back-pedaling him against the cell wall.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
I did not want this to happen.
BIG COP
He was calling us names.
FIERRO
How will he confess if you kill
him?
BIG COP
If we don't kill them, they never
confess.
SKINNY COP
We can get you another boy.
They're both afraid of Fierro. Fierro turns in frustration-
the doctor appears in the doorway, blinking sleep from his
eyes.
CUT TO:
EXT. CHAPALA CANYON - ORTIZ - DAY (MOS)
Screaming, Ortiz tears at his blindfold as he tumbles head
over heels into the rocky gorge at Chapala Canyon.
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT (MOS)
Fierro's son Carlos is wired to a torture box. A circle of
cops beat him with clubs--he screeches. Now they jolt him
with the juice--he flails about, crying out for his father.
EXT. COUNTRY FARM - FIERRO AND MAN - DAY (MOS)
Idyllic, sunny, birds chirp. Fierro is sponging the back of
a man sitting in a tub of soapy water. The man turns to
Fierro with a loving smile. It's Hertzog.
62.
INT. FIERRO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Shouting, Fierro wakes, sits upright in his bed. Elena rolls
over besides him, half opens her eyes. He calms her down,
catches his own breath. He throws back the covers.
INT. SHOWER
Beautiful tile--three shower heads focus on Fierro's back.
He scrubs himself hard in the scalding steam.
INT. BATHROOM
He's drying himself off when he hears the doorbell buzz. He
stiffens.
INT. HALLWAY
In a robe, Fierro heads for the door. Elena emerges sleepily
from their bedroom--he stops her, guides her back inside,
shuts the door, continues down the hall. The buzzer sounds
again.
INT. FOYER
He takes the .45 from his jacket hanging on a hall tree,
tiptoes to the door. He peers through the fisheye.
POV - FIERRO
Nothing--an empty hallway.
BACK TO SHOT
Fierro chambers a round--with trembling hands, he reaches for
the doorknob, turns it, now flings the door open.
63.
ANGLE - WITH GIRL
A young slum girl is just putting an envelope under his door.
She looks at Fierro, his gun in her face--she blinks.
Fierro scoops up the envelope as he steps into the hall,
looks up and down it. He rips the envelope open. Inside,
two sheets of paper, a Xerox of something.
He reads them. He bellows, pounds the butt of the gun in
fury against the wall. The girl stares at him.
INT. HALLWAY - ELENA AND CARLOS
Peering out their doorways, staring at him as well.
CUT TO:
FIERRO'S PARENTS
INT. FIERRO'S PARENTS' APARTMENT - DAY
Homemade wooden furniture and knickknacks, too much for the
small room. His mother and father are both small, timid.
Fierro bellows at them.
FIERRO
How could you talk to him?
FATHER
He said you hadn't gotten the
recognition you deserved...
FIERRO
And you let him walk in, you showed
him everything, me in diapers, my
room...!
MOTHER
He was interested.
FIERRO
He wasn't a reporter.
MOTHER
Who was he?
FIERRO
He's a criminal. He wants to kill
me.
FATHER
Why would he do that?
MOTHER
You make maps.
64.
FIERRO
I don't make maps!
His parents glance at each other--he doesn't?
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Maybe not kill me. The point is,
I'm secret, my whole life is
secret, and here the first man that
walks through the door, a dangerous
man, an enemy of the state, you
show him everything!
His parents look terrified.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
I'm sorry for yelling. I'm not
mad.
MOTHER
He seemed fond of you.
FATHER
He knew all of your dates, when you
graduated.
MOTHER
I don't see what's so wrong about
showing him this.
She takes the original of the pages Fierro got from a
handmade wooden box with "Martin" carved on the top.
MOTHER (CONT'D)
(reads)
"It is not enough to believe in
freedom. In order to have freedom,
every citizen in a country must
stand up and protect it, and the
best man in the country must lead
them. I can think of no greater
honor than leading my people in a
defense of their rights." That's
wonderful, considering it was the
ninth grade.
FATHER
He liked it so much, he went across
the street and made a copy.
Fierro sighs--there's no blaming them.
FIERRO
What else did he ask about?
MOTHER
He knew more than we did.
65.
FATHER
He knew about Delia Taliaferro.
FIERRO
Who's that?
His mother digs through the box, comes up with a faded
snapshot of a young girl.
MOTHER
You remember--she lived next door
on Via Manaus.
FIERRO
Barely.
MOTHER
You always played knights and
ladies.
FATHER
She was the captured princess.
MOTHER
Remember when you broke your arm?
She fishes out a snapshot of a boy in a cast.
FIERRO
Vaguely.
MOTHER
You were swinging from the roof.
I'll never forget it. You knocked
yourself out, your father ran for
the doctor--I was shaking you.
Your eyes rolled back, and the
first thing you said was, "Did I
get the Evil Paladin?"
CUT TO:
AT THE PSYCHIATRIST
EXT. CITY SQUARE - DAY
Busy daytime traffic. At one end, a monument to General
Ovando, draped in flags. Portraits of him--in its center, a
huge LED TV screen. On it flashes "Victory, Victory,
Victory!", then "Bernal Lieutenant Captured!", then footage
of Army troops interrogating a guerilla, the strobes of
reporters.
INT. PSYCHIATRIST'S OFFICE
Fierro stares out a window at the monument. Elena is
talking, hesitantly--listening, a middle-aged psychiatrist,
66.
DR. ORELLANA.
ELENA
He has me wear things.
ORELLANA
Can you give me examples?
ELENA
A nurse's uniform. White shoes and
a cap. A thermometer.
ORELLANA
And what happens?
ELENA
I come in and take his temperature.
I say, "How do you feel today, Mr.
Fierro?" And he says, "Not good--
I ache all over." And I say, "I
know how to make you feel better,"
and I rub him with alcohol.
Fierro squirms in his chair.
ORELLANA
Does this lead to sex?
ELENA
Yes.
(a beat)
I also dress like a nun.
ORELLANA
In a...?
ELENA
In a habit. With a cross. I say,
"I'm Sister Penetentia, and I've
been watching you come to the
cathedral for months."
Fierro squirms again.
ORELLANA
How does all this make you feel?
ELENA
Like I'm not good enough. That he
wants other women, and he has me
pretend to be them.
ORELLANA
How does he explain this?
ELENA
He says they're all aspects of me.
67.
ORELLANA
Does he have orgasms?
ELENA
Most of the time.
Orellana turns to Fierro. Fierro won't respond.
ORELLANA
What else?
ELENA
He subscribes to women's magazines
for me.
ORELLANA
Yes.
FIERRO
He enrolls me in courses at the
university so I can hold up my end
of a simple conversation. How
terrible. He's given me a
beautiful apartment and a wonderful
child. What an ogre. He begs me
to take money and buy something to
wear so I can go out to lunch for
once with the other wives of the
people he works with. What an
amoral, worthless, unlovable,
reprehensible bastard he is.
ELENA
That's not who I am.
FIERRO
It was once.
ELENA
It never was.
FIERRO
The day I proposed, she said, "What
you want, I want. Where you go, I
go..."
ELENA
He wants me to be perfect. I never
was.
FIERRO
You were once--you were the most
perfectly beautiful woman I had
ever seen. You lost interest.
Orellana considers his response.
68.
ORELLANA
Mrs. Fierro, what I'm hearing from
you is not uncommon. Many men like
your husband, in important
positions, under great pressure,
need their wives to support them in
a very real and specific sense.
Everybody's sexuality is different.
I'd be alarmed if I saw violence
here, but I don't see that. Do
you?
Elena gets his drift. She shakes her head faintly.
ORELLANA (CONT'D)
Your husband seems to want you to
keep up with him as he grows and
changes. Perhaps he hasn't been as
gracious as he could be, but it
seems to me his intentions are
positive. Do you agree?
Elena looks from one to the other. It's no use.
CUT TO:
FIERRO CRACKS THE CODE
INT. FIERRO'S APARTMENT - HALLWAY - DAY
Elena enters, close to tears, Fierro right behind her. She
hurries down the hall to the bedroom and shuts the door in
his face.
Fierro knocks.
FIERRO
Elena, I love you very much. I
always have.
He knocks again.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Elena...
No response. He puts his ear to the door, hears her crying.
INT. KITCHEN
Fierro crosses to the refrigerator, pours himself a glass of
milk. Euphemia, the housekeeper, sits at the kitchen table,
the day's paper in front of her--she's weeping into her
hands. Fierro sits across from her.
FIERRO
These things happen. We'll work it
out.
69.
EUPHEMIA
What do you mean?
FIERRO
Mrs. Fierro and me.
EUPHEMIA
It's not that.
FIERRO
What is it?
EUPHEMIA
Poor Ernesto. Don't you read the
personals? Everybody's afraid he's
going to kill himself.
She indicates the classified section. Fierro reads, grabs
the paper from her, hurries out.
CUT TO:
INT. BMW - DAY
Fierro weaves through traffic--Lara sits with a stack of
newspapers on his lap. The top one's folded to the personals
section.
FIERRO
Chou En Lai used it at Hankow in
1928. It's simple, and everybody
reads the personals.
LARA
(reading)
"Beloved, why do you torture me?
Your parents have gone south. Give
me a hundred of your kisses and I
don't care for life itself. I
sleep with the book of Sevilla's
poetry and my knife. Dying from
passion, I await our day of union.
Ernesto."
FIERRO
Sevilla.
LARA
Sevilla and a hundred something.
Men?
FIERRO
"Your parents have gone south."
Ovando's coming back to the
capital. Parents mean government.
70.
LARA
Day of union?
FIERRO
The day of the coup. I saw a stack
of those at Potosi--I knew they
meant something.
LARA
(reading another)
"Meet me tonight at the usual place-
bring your brother Gonzalvo if you
don't trust me. I die from
passion."
FIERRO
Passion's the trigger word--it
means it's code.
LARA
"Work takes me to Villaroel, but
I'll return in time."
FIERRO
There's no town named Villaroel.
Pair that with Gonzalvo--look for a
Gonzalvo Villaroel--he'll be a
soldier, a cop, somebody in the
government.
LARA
And they're seeing him tonight.
FIERRO
Get three months' back issues.
We'll chart every cell and its
leader.
He's pulled to the curb, now leaps out. Lara looks out the
window--they've stopped in front of the newspaper office.
CUT TO:
INT. NEWSPAPER OFFICES - CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT - DAY
Always a crowd at the counter--Fierro pushes through it,
filling out a form, reaches the CLERK. The clerk reads his
ad while Fierro plunks down money.
CLERK
"Ernesto, my passion. All love is
surrender. Our union has failed.
My parents know everything about
you. Call me at the office."
(looking up)
You haven't signed it.
71.
FIERRO
Fierro.
CLERK
"Love, Fierro"?
FIERRO
Fierro.
CUT TO:
INT. FIERRO'S INNER OFFICE - DAY
Fierro paces, excited.
INT. OUTER OFFICE
Back issues of the newspaper spread all over the office.
Lara and Roberta read government directories--Soto writes on
a blackboard covered with squares, some of the already
filled.
ROBERTA
De Sejas, Alfredo--a Major in Los
Liones, in command of Brigade
Communications. Forty-four years
old.
LARA
The son of a miner...
ROBERTA
Who's missed promotion for nine
years.
LARA
Put him up.
Soto puts his name in a square on the blackboard.
LARA (CONT'D)
Alvarado, Ruben, an assistant
programmer at station BANT.
SOTO
Son of a miner.
LARA
His wife. Magdalena, Pedro--
sergeant in El Jaguar, squad
leader, heavy weapons. Once jailed
for anti-government activity.
Soto puts them up.
72.
ROBERTA
You think he'll call?
SOTO
The paper's been out an hour.
LARA
He has to think it over...
And the phone rings. Roberta hesitates--it rings again. She
answers. The others look--is it him? Roberta nods.
SOTO
I've seen him do it before. Never
this well.
INT. INNER OFFICE - FIERRO
He savors his moment of triumph. He practically hugs
himself. He regards the blinking light--finally takes the
call.
FIERRO
Hertzog. How are you?
His voice is weaker than before.
HERTZOG (V.O.)
I've been better, Martin. I read
your letter.
FIERRO
I know everything.
HERTZOG (V.O.)
I believe you do. We should meet.
FIERRO
Name the place.
HERTZOG (V.O.)
Independence Park--say, around six?
FIERRO
Alone?
HERTZOG (V.O.)
I'll be alone.
FIERRO
So will I.
He hangs up. A beat--then he leaps out of his chair.
73.
INT. OUTER OFFICE
The three hear a whoop of victory, exchange grins.
INT. INNER OFFICE - FIERRO
He's turned on his computer--he drops into the chair, punches
up the "General" file, types an entry.
FIERRO (V.O.)
It's my honor to report I've
cracked the code Hertzog uses to
communicate with his cells. In my
office is a chart naming the
traitors and their function in the
plot. I have contacted Hertzog
directly--I'm now leaving to put
him under arrest. You will pardon
me for pursuing this investigation
without your blessing or the
sanction of the Minister of the
Interior. I expect no rewards,
only the satisfaction of having
done my duty to you and my class.
Respectfully, Martin Fierro.
He saves the file. He takes handcuffs out of a drawer, his
jacket, and hurries out the door.
CUT TO:
INT. MINISTRY BASEMENT - TRACKING - DAY
As Fierro heads through the garage towards his car, General
Zanudio falls in alongside, puffing to stay up.
ZANUDIO
Bernal slipped the trap again.
Ovando's in town for a staff
meeting tonight. Lots of talk
about sending in the FRF, mainly
from Pachanga. Rivera's getting
canned. He's lost half his
command.
FIERRO
Casualties?
ZANUDIO
I mean lost. Three regiments up in
the mountains and nobody's heard
from them in two days.
Fierro stops, puts his hands on Zanudio's shoulders.
74.
FIERRO
It will all be over tonight.
ZANUDIO
You know?
FIERRO
Have I ever been wrong?
ZANUDIO
What a friend you are.
Fierro gets in his car and drives off.
CUT TO:
FIERRO AND HERTZOG
EXT. INDEPENDENCE PARK - TWILIGHT
Barren trees, a few kids playing. Walking through it, Fierro
sees nothing that looks like Hertzog.
There, on a far bench, alone, a man wrapped in a blanket.
Fierro heads towards him.
BENCH - HERTZOG AND FIERRO
Hertzog looks up as Fierro approaches. He looks pale and
ravaged since we last saw him, but his eyes still have their
intensity. He smiles, pats the bench beside him.
Fierro sits, regarding him.
FIERRO
You're not well.
HERTZOG
Disentio parahydolitus. One of
those exotic bugs that gets in you
and multiplies. You can filter the
blood but you can never get rid of
them. I picked it up in Nicaragua.
FIERRO
I'll see you get attention.
HERTZOG
That's good of you. Too late for
that.
Fierro realizes his meaning.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
You didn't know I was dying.
75.
FIERRO
No.
HERTZOG
It was under control in the States-
I figured if I came here, it would
probably flare up.
FIERRO
Why did you come?
HERTZOG
This is what I'm good at. When
they asked me...
FIERRO
El Negron. De Pareja. Rojo
Dante...
HERTZOG
Yes. Also Reyes. Pachanga.
FIERRO
I didn't know.
HERTZOG
You would have soon enough. At
first, I didn't want to--I was
comfortable. I couldn't resist.
The artist in me. The ham. A
chance to try again and make it
perfect.
FIERRO
But it's all in your head--without
you, the plot collapses.
HERTZOG
Unless...
FIERRO
There's no "unless."
HERTZOG
Unless you take over for me.
Fierro doesn't know what to thin. He chuckles--Hertzog does
as well.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
Consider it for a moment. Very few
people know what I look like.
We're about the same size.
FIERRO
You're serious.
76.
HERTZOG
Absolutely. Think it through. The
only other mind the plot is in is
your mind. You're the only one who
found me; what better proof that
you should take over?
You're a natural leader, you'd look
good on television, you'd make a
first-rate president of a
democratic government. You'd have
to stand election, but look at the
platform you'd be running on--the
savior of the country.
Fierro regards him, now slowly smiles.
FIERRO
You are desperate.
HERTZOG
I am.
FIERRO
You're trying to turn me. You're
dying, your plot is in pieces, your
last hope is to get me to take it
over.
HERTZOG
Your country needs you...
FIERRO
You don't know anything about me.
HERTZOG
I know all about you. You hear
your country crying out for
change...
FIERRO
We tried democracy...
HERTZOG
And it failed, so you try again.
The rule of progress is that
monsters flee before angels. Five
hundred years ago, most countries
were like this one--now only some
are. You know the General is
obsolete--you know you hate him...
FIERRO
I don't hate him...
77.
HERTZOG
You do--you have nothing but
contempt for him, but you smother
it with penthouses and cars.
Look at the price you pay for
keeping your hate a secret--you
trust no one, you piss away your
talents, you dominate your wife,
you want to catch me not to protect
Ovando but point up his stupidity
and further your own career.
You're not stopping me.
FIERRO
I want to hear what you'll say.
HERTZOG
As long as it's about you. Martin,
you're such a narcissist. But I'm
inside you--I know how you feel.
You didn't like what you did to
your friend Ortiz. You didn't like
what happened to Jesus Capride.
You don't like death; real fascists
do--it makes them feel healthy.
Inside you are the embers of the
boy who wanted to lead his country
to freedom and kill the Evil
Paladin.
Fierro laughs.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
You wrote that.
FIERRO
Every kid writes that. That's
sentimental crap.
HERTZOG
And every kid is right, but they
grow old, they lose touch with the
best part of themselves. You hated
evil once.
FIERRO
Good and Evil. Capital letters,
like in college.
HERTZOG
Yes...
FIERRO
What if there isn't any?
78.
HERTZOG
The world is shit. I didn't make
it. I can't fix it. There is no
God. Nothing matters-
they're going to drop the bomb
anyway. How I despise those
reductive philosophies...
And he starts to cough. Fierro finds a handkerchief, offers
it-- Hertzog nods his thanks, wipes his face, spits a clot of
blood onto the grass.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
Things always matter. It matters
whether people are happy, proud of
their leaders, or whether it's dog
eat-dog, pure Darwin, where the
smartest and the quickest do fine
and the rest suffer. A government
can't be only for the fortunate,
because that would imply those who
aren't lucky have no right to
happiness.
Fierro stands, takes out his handcuffs--he motions Hertzog to
put out his arms.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
And what about Carlos?
FIERRO
Leave Carlos out of this.
HERTZOG
What happens when he writes his
paper about freedom and democracy?
Will you stick it in a box? He
loves you--will he thank you when
he grows up in a world worse than
this one?
Fierro hesitates.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
You flinched. This is a good area
to work on. Think about Carlos,
Martin. Do it for him, do it for
the other sons of all the other
fathers. They'll love you for it,
you'll be in history--your picture
in every classroom, hospitals and
airports named after you, your
statue in every village. You know
it can work--you've seen it work in
your mind. It's a thing of beauty.
FIERRO
It's clever.
79.
HERTZOG
Be generous, Martin. It's
beautiful. Quick, a minimum of
bloodshed. Yes, there's a risk,
but you're no coward and think of
the moment--you on the balcony of
the Palace, the delirious crowds
jammed in the plaza, shouting,
"Hertzog, Hertzog."
FIERRO
My name's not Hertzog.
HERTZOG
Neither is mine.
Fierro regards him--then smiles.
FIERRO
Five calls. I just thought it
through. Five phone calls, and
every one of you is in jail.
HERTZOG
Is that your decision?
FIERRO
Yes. Can you walk?
HERTZOG
If it's not too fast.
Fierro helps him to his feet, puts the handcuffs on him.
HERTZOG AND FIERRO - TRACKING
They head slowly through the park towards Fierro's car.
FIERRO
Besides, you never got rid of the
Fast Reactive Force.
HERTZOG
That would happen in time.
FIERRO
How do you feel about selling out
Bernal?
80.
HERTZOG
Not good. Bernal's a romantic fool-
he's tried unsuccessfully several
times to go to Marxist heaven; I was
willing to help him along. Don't
press me--I know I'm on shaky ground.
There's a bigger problem. I needed a
mobile reserve, in case the
roadblocks didn't hold and La Mura
got to the Palace.
FIERRO
(realizing)
The miners. The stolen dynamite.
HERTZOG
I couldn't figure out how to get
them there. Then I found out the
gauge of the railroad is the same
as the city streetcar tracks--fifty
years ago, trains used to run
through the Plaza Mayor. If I
built a bridge from the main
terminal across the Loreto Ravine
to the nearest streetcar line, I
could bring a train of 1,000 miners
all the way from Potosi to the
steps of the Palace.
FIERRO
What stopped you? Carrasco?
HERTZOG
He's glued to the fence--nothing I
could do would budge him. I could
bring in the miners on foot--more
time, riskier. Besides, nobody's
ever done it with a train before.
I'd like to see that. You would
too.
FIERRO
Not especially.
HERTZOG
You would, Martin. All this is
vanity. Your life is meaningless-
you've been waiting all your life
for something grand and wonderful
to happen, and here it is, on a
silver platter. If you pass it up,
it will never come again. I know
all about you--I did a file on you.
He gestures ahead--Fierro looks. He reacts to the sight of
Lara, leaning against Fierro's car.
81.
THREE SHOT
The two reach the car--Fierro regards Lara.
FIERRO
The thanks I get.
LARA
I was always loyal.
FIERRO
And I rewarded you for that.
LARA
I found somebody I admired more.
He sticks out his arms for handcuffing. Fierro sighs--he
motions him away.
FIERRO
Run away, Lara. Someplace far.
He puts Hertzog in the front seat. Lara watches while they
drive off.
CUT TO:
INT. CELL - MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR BASEMENT - DAY
Beyond the bars, the hallway with cops and suspects. Fierro
sits across the cell from Hertzog, regarding him.
HERTZOG
I know what you're thinking. Part
of me believes him--part of me
rejects. Do I love the poor? No,
they scare me. What if he's making
a fool of me? What if I'm making a
terrible mistake? I did write that
paper. Countries do change.
Doubts, anger, tension. All right-
look at it this way. Forget
philosophy. Do it for your own
ambition, for fame and personal
power--forget anything that has to
do with morality--and I'll admit
that you're all I have left, and if
I don't convince you, I fail. Can
we be more honest than that?
A beat--Fierro stands, heads for the door.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
Martin, promise me you'll think
about it.
Fierro says nothing, exits, leaving him there.
82.
CUT TO:
FIERRO AT NIGHT
EXT. PUBLIC SCHOOL - DOORWAY - NIGHT
Shabby, in a shabby neighborhood. Fierro waits at the door--
a watchman with a flashlight appears in the glass. He waves
Fierro away.
Fierro takes out a red identity card, shows it through the
window. The watchman fumbles with the lock, opens the door.
INT. HALLWAY
Fierro walks down the dark hall, the watchman following. He
finds the door he's looking for, goes in.
INT. CLASSROOM
Fierro turns on the lights, sits. The watchman waits for
orders--Fierro sends him away.
He looks around the room. On the wall, posters of national
heroes, flags, great documents from the country's history.
He sits, waiting to see what he feels.
CUT TO:
EXT. INTERSECTION - OVANDO MONUMENT - NIGHT
What Fierro saw from the psychiatrist's window. The usual
propaganda on the huge LED screen--rows of loudspeakers blare
martial music, but the sound is drowned out by the horns of
the traffic jam at its base. The cars are not moving.
INT. BMW - FIERRO
Stuck in traffic with the rest. He honks, impatiently.
LONG SHOT - DEMONSTRATION
What's causing the gridlock? A crowd of students blocks the
streets, sings marching songs, waves torches, pro-Bernal
signs, mocks the police who spill from their arriving trucks.
83.
ANGLE - POLICE
With their shields, deploying into lines. They fire teargas
into the student ranks.
STUDENTS
Some run--some stay, handkerchiefs over their faces, throwing
stones at the cops.
FIERRO
Barely aware of what's going on ahead, his mind swirling with
thoughts of Hertzog. He honks again.
DEMONSTRATION
Army reinforcements arrive, unload. Wedges of cops charge
the students, beat them to the ground when they catch them.
More kids throw rocks.
TRAFFIC JAM
The rocks that miss the cops are hitting the cars.
BMW - FIERRO
A dirt clod spatters on his windshield. Angry, Fierro leaps
out.
ANGLE - FIERRO
He brushes the dirt off, looks around to see who threw it.
POV
Three kids throw rocks from the side. Into shot comes two
soldiers, one with a flamethrower. One kid hits a soldier
with a rock. The soldier with the flamethrower wheels,
fires.
The tongue of jellied gas bridges the darkness, engulfs the
three kids. They shriek, writhe inside the flames as they
melt to bone and ash.
84.
ANGLE - FIERRO
Starting forward, shouting.
FIERRO
No...!
He wonders where the shout came from--it's a moment before he
realizes it came from him. Firelight reflects on his face.
He looks at the drivers of the other cars.
POV
Some meet his eyes, some look away, frightened of him. The
ones standing by their cars get inside.
DEMONSTRATION
The police have broken up the demonstration. The lucky ones
flee--the unlucky are dead or in custody.
A policeman whistles, shouts, gets the traffic moving again.
ANGLE - FIERRO
Horns all around him. Trembling, he gets back in his car.
CUT TO:
EXT. BASEBALL STADIUM - PARKING LOT - NIGHT
From the other side of the stands, floodlights, cheering.
The lot jammed with Mercedes, Porsches, Rolls. Parking
attendants watch the game on a portable TV.
A line of limos drives into the lot. It's General Ovando and
his cronies--they exit the cars, head for the stands.
EXT. STADIUM
Filled with the upper class, the parents and friends of the
kids on these two Little League teams. They're making a
night of it-- maids serve from hampers of food, fiascoes of
wine.
Fierro sits with Elena among other parents behind first base.
Carlos plays first--he grabs a moment to wave. Elena waves
back--Fierro is lost in thought.
85.
INT. ANNOUNCER'S BOOTH
An announcer and television cameras flanking him.
ANNOUNCER
The tying run on second, one out,
and the Pirates struggling to hold
their lead as center fielder Osorio
steps up. Magdalena still on the
mound--Manager Maisman must think
his star hurler can pitch his team
out of this jam.
EXT. DIAMOND
Magdalena pitches to Osorio, the young Cardinal batter. He
takes a strike. The Pirate parents cheer.
FIERRO AND ELENA
She's aware something's troubling Fierro.
ELENA
Are you all right?
FIERRO
Fine.
ELENA
You're quiet.
FIERRO
Work.
Everyone stands as Osorio hits a chopper to first. Carlos
scoops up the ball, makes the play single-handedly. Elena
and Fierro clap.
ANGLE - ANNOUNCER
ANNOUNCER
Two outs--the Cardinals' last hopes
ride on the second baseman,
Freitas.
His spotter nudges him--the TV cameras swing around.
86.
ANNOUNCER (CONT'D)
Just a minute. Looks like
Cardinals manager Manriquez is
putting in a pinch hitter.
A heavy hitter, too, ladies and
gentlemen--wearing number one-
Ovando, utility outfield and the
possible winning run, will be
batting for Freitas.
EXT. STADIUM
The crowd breaks into laughter, happy applause as the General
exits the dugout in a Cardinals uniform.
OVANDO
Waving his cap, stepping into the batter's box. He takes a
few cuts, pats the catcher on the head--the crowd and umpires
laugh.
FIERRO AND ELENA
Elena among those laughing. People yell to the General to
get a hit. Fierro only stares.
ANGLE - CARLOS AND TEAM
Unsure what this means. Carlos shouts encouragement to the
pitcher.
PITCHER MAGDALENA
Confused--is this serious or not? He looks to his manager.
OVANDO
Gesturing to the mound--pitch to him. He's up for it.
EXT. STADIUM
Magdalena gets his sign, throws. Way wide--the catcher has
to lunge for it.
87.
INT. NEIGHBORHOOD BAR
Frowsy. Over the meager bar, a TV with the game on. The
patrons watch.
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
One and 0 to Ovando, who's made
quite a few public appearances in
the last few weeks. The outfield
playing him straightaway and very,
very far back.
EXT. STADIUM
Magdalena pitches. It's even wilder but the General chases
it-- the catcher's so scared by his wild swing that he misses
it and the Cardinal runner scampers to third.
The catcher runs out towards the mound--so does the infield.
MOUND
Carlos among the others. Magdalena looks scared.
CATCHER
Pitch to him.
PITCHER
What's he doing here?
SECOND BASE
Who knows?
CARLOS
Throw him strikes. We'll get him
out.
The others nod. Magdalena takes a deep breath--he'll try.
The players return to their bases. Magdalena gets his sign,
winds up, fires.
EXT. STADIUM
The General gets a piece of it, dribbles a grounder towards
short. The shortstop bobbles the ball. Ovando lumbers
toward first. Carlos yells for the throw.
The shortstop finds the handle, fires--Carlos traps it just
as Ovando hits the bag. The umpire yells him out.
88.
ANGLE - FIERRO AND ELENA
Elena leaps up with the other Pirate parents. The kids jump
in the air--they've won the title.
ANGLE - OVANDO AND UMPIRE
Back at the bag, the General gives the umpire a hard look.
The man's no fool--he signals safe.
ANGLE - STANDS
As a cheer goes up from the Cardinal parents.
THE GENERAL AND CARLOS
Ovando clasps his arms in victory. The Pirates are
speechless. Carlos hurls down his gloves, starts arguing
with the umpire.
ANGLE - FIERRO
Suddenly standing
FIERRO
Out! He was out!
He's the only one saying that--everyone around him shouts
"Safe, safe." He yells louder.
THE GENERAL AND CARLOS
The umpire turns his back on Carlos. Carlos, eyes wet, looks
up at the General.
CARLOS
You were out.
As if he were a fly, Ovando brushes Carlos away, playing to
the cheers of the house.
ANGLE - CARLOS
Turning to look at his father in the stands.
89.
ANGLE - FIERRO
Helpless at his son's look. Around him, the crowd chants
"Safe."
CUT TO:
EXT. FIERRO'S PENTHOUSE - BALCONY - NIGHT
Fierro stares unblinking at the lights of the capital below.
Behind him, through half-open curtains, Carlos in his
parents' bed, Elena trying to comfort him.
Fierro turns. His son's eyes meet his through the window.
Why, Carlos' eyes demand of his father--how could something
like this happen?
A hundred glib answers come to Fierro. He looks away.
CUT TO:
INT. FIERRO'S INNER OFFICE - NIGHT
Alone in his office, Fierro stares at his glowing computer
screen. On it, his file to the General. A long beat--he
begins to type.
FIERRO (V.O.)
I've met with Hertzog but I've
chosen not to arrest him. He's
reluctant to name the high
government officials in with him-
in order to find out, I've
pretended to betray you and become
part of his plot. Once again I put
myself at risk for you, but I have
always gained by doing so in the
past. The coup begins at six a.m.
two mornings from now--if I do not
report to you by midnight tomorrow,
my office will be instructed to
send you the contents of this file.
With respect, Martin Fierro.
He saves the file.
CUT TO:
INT. MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR - BASEMENT - NIGHT
Fierro opens the door to Hertzog's cell. He helps him stand--
bored cops watch as he helps Hertzog down the hall and out
the exit.
90.
EXT. MINISTRY
Held up by Fierro, Hertzog breathes deeply the cold night air
of freedom.
CUT TO:
THE DAY BEFORE
INT. RAILWAY WORKERS UNION HEADQUARTERS - DAY
Carrasco's office is glass and steel. He sits behind a big
desk, looking smugly at Fierro and Hertzog.
CARRASCO
No suitcases filled with cash? No
beans, buttons...?
HERTZOG
The gratitude of your country.
Carrasco chuckles.
CARRASCO
It's been amusing, as I thought it
might be. Now, you will excuse me.
He takes some paperwork, looks up--they haven't moved. He
presses his intercom.
CARRASCO (CONT'D)
Thelma, call security. The
gentlemen with me need help finding
the exit.
Fierro spreads an intelligence file open in his lap.
FIERRO
The General's illegal contributions
to your retirement fund--your
estate in Bolsa Chica, and your
hundred thousand shares of national
mining stock.
CARRASCO
Where'd you get that?
FIERRO
From the government files.
Carrasco hits his intercom.
CARRASCO
Thelma, are they coming?
91.
THELMA (V.O.)
On their way, Mr. Carrasco.
He folds his arms, defies them. Fierro turns the page.
FIERRO
False and fraudulent claims for
workers compensation and health
services over thirty years,
totalling over seven million
reales.
Carrasco pounds his intercom.
CARRASCO
Thelma...!
THELMA (V.O.)
I hear the coming, Mr. Carrasco.
CARRASCO
Do they have guns?
THELMA (V.O.)
I don't know. They usually do.
CARRASCO
Because now these two are
threatening me. You better call
the cops as well.
Fierro spreads some photographs on the desk.
FIERRO
Two years ago, a labor convention
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. You
met a Cuban boy on the beach. Your
ninth floor room at the Dock 33
hotel--you carelessly left your
drapes open.
Carrasco grabs the pictures away, tearing them in shreds,
looks up as two GUARDS bang through the door, guns drawn.
GUARD
Mr. Carrasco?
CARRASCO
Go away.
GUARD
They told us...
CARRASCO
Get out of here--and shut the door!
They retreat. Carrasco glares at Hertzog and Fierro.
92.
FIERRO
Nothing fancy. A bridge across the
Loreto Ravine.
HERTZOG
The bottom of the ravine is clay,
by the way. Almost pottery grade.
CARRASCO
I know it is!
CUT TO:
EXT. RAILWAY WORKERS UNION HEADQUARTERS - DAY
Fierro helps Hertzog through the door onto the busy street.
Dora is waiting--she takes Hertzog's other side and they help
him towards Fierro's BMW, at the curb with Lara at the wheel.
HERTZOG
I never would have thought he was
that way. Brilliantly done,
Martin. I feel better about you
all the time.
They get in.
INT. CAR
As Lara drives off into traffic. Hertzog notices Fierro's
tentative look.
HERTZOG
Cheer up.
FIERRO
I don't know what I'm doing here.
HERTZOG
And you're used to knowing exactly
what you're doing every second.
Look upon it as a liberating
experience.
FIERRO
You and your cheap optimism.
DORA
Better than your cheap pessimism.
93.
FIERRO
Martin, you remind me of those
sluttish young girls you see on
street corners. You give them a
baby, and they turn into such
wonderful mothers.
CUT TO:
EXT. ROADSIDE PAYPHONE - DAY
A dusty road outside the city. Two parked cars, Lara's,
Fierro's BMW. Hertzog, resting against Dora, and Lara watch
Fierro place a call from the payphone--his voice is urgent.
FIERRO
It's an emergency. Tell him it's
Fierro.
INT. PALACE - CHIEF OF STAFF'S COMMAND ROOM
Battle maps, the crackle of VHF radio. Reynoso and Pachanga
among others in the crowded room, including COOPER, a
buttoned down civilian from the U.S. Military Aid Group.
Ovando takes a phone from an aide.
REYNOSO
Be careful.
OVANDO
You still suspect him.
REYNOSO
I always suspect him. He's not one
of us.
OVANDO
(into phone)
Martin, we've been looking all over
for you...
ANGLE - FIERRO
He's taken out his .45.
FIERRO
They're after me, General...
OVANDO (V.O.)
Who is--Bernal...?
FIERRO
General, I was completely wrong...
94.
OVANDO (V.O.)
Where are you, Martin...?
FIERRO
Puerto Silas, but don't interrupt
and listen carefully--Bernal's main
force has slipped through your
lines south of Rurrenbaque.
They're in the Parama Valley
they're worn out; he's been pushing
them hard. Take infrared pictures;
you'll see their campfires.
He fires the gun twice near the mouthpiece.
OVANDO (V.O.)
Martin...!
FIERRO
General, I beg your forgiveness for
ever doubting you. If I don't see
you again, smash Bernal. Smash him
hard...
He fires the gun twice more, hangs the phone up.
INT. COMMAND ROOM
Ovando reacts--he barks to an aide.
OVANDO
He's at Puerto Silas. Go help him!
(to Pachanga)
Do we have a plane with an infrared
camera?
PACHANGA
I think so.
OVANDO
Photograph the Parama Valley. He
says Bernal is there.
PACHANGA
Do I alert the FRF?
COOPER
You've got them, General. They're
a hot outfit--if there ever was a
time...
Ovando considers--nods.
OVANDO
Alert the FRF.
95.
REYNOSO
You believe Fierro?
OVANDO
He admitted to me he was wrong.
When has Fierro ever done that?
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - BMW
While the others watch, Fierro lowers his gun at his BMW,
takes a deep breath, fires four shots into the door. Each
hole makes him wince.
DORA
You look like your dog got run
over.
HERTZOG
More, Martin. Put your heart into
it.
Hertzog's holding out another clip. Fierro loads the clip,
aims, hesitates.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
Martin, it's only a car.
Fierro looks over at him--with his fingers, Hertzog is
pushing the sides of his mouth up into a loony smile.
Fierro chuckles, in spite of himself. Hertzog laughs--Fierro
laughs himself, caught up in the absurdity of it. He blasts
away six more shots--windows shatter, tires blow out and the
car settles, side mirrors go flying, the horn starts to
blare. For a finale, Fierro turns, bends over, and fires the
last shot through his legs, and they all laugh at that.
CUT TO:
EXT. CAPITAL RAILYARDS - WORK CREW - NIGHT
A work crew springs open a track running through the yard
near the edge of the Loreto Ravine. Another crew has already
laid a new roadbed leading towards the ravine's edge.
EXT. CAPITAL STREET
On a street on the opposite side of the ravine, a crew
jackhammers up the pavement around the streetcar line.
96.
EXT. LORETO RAVINE - CARRASCO
Heavy equipment has been moved into the ravine. Piledrivers
pound bridge foundations under the glare of work lights. New
workers arrive on flatbed trucks.
Carrasco is everywhere, prodding, yelling through a bullhorn.
He checks his watch--there isn't enough time.
CUT TO:
EXT. APARTMENT - NIGHT
A Mercedes parks in front of this rundown building on this
silent street. Minister of Education Reyes gets out, checks
the address, goes in through the doorway.
INT. STAIRWAY
As he climbs the stairs, Lara is there--he motions him to
wait. A door opens--General Pachanga emerges. Each is
surprised to see the other.
REYES
Pachanga.
PACHANGA
And you, Reyes. I'm very glad.
The two men embrace each other.
REYES
What did you think of him?
PACHANGA
You're in for a surprise.
Lara motions to Reyes from the open door.
INT. APARTMENT ROOM
As Reyes enters, he beholds two men. One is Hertzog, in a
chair with a blanket over his shoulders, a shadow of the man
he met months back. Beside him, Fierro, a man he faintly
recognizes. Dora is shaving Fierro's forehead so he looks
more like Hertzog--she's already clipped his moustache.
Both gesture Reyes to sit.
HERTZOG
Good evening, Minister.
97.
REYES
General Hertzog.
HERTZOG
Mister, not General. This is
Martin Fierro.
REYES
I know you. Director of something-
Internal Security.
HERTZOG
Martin will be Hertzog tomorrow
morning.
Reyes considers that--then nods.
FIERRO
I put down some ideas you might
use.
He hands Reyes notes--he looks them over.
REYES
You wrote these?
FIERRO
Yes.
REYES
They're very good. You're the last
one I would have thought.
FIERRO
We'd like you there at 5:30.
REYES
I'll be there. Is anyone else
afraid?
FIERRO
Terrified.
HERTZOG
Think of all the things that can go
wrong.
Reyes does--and shudders.
REYES
I'll see you sometime tomorrow, God
willing.
HERTZOG
God willing.
Reyes shakes both their hands--Lara walks him to the door.
CUT TO:
98.
EXT. RAILROAD STATION - POTOSI - NIGHT
With a shrill whistle, a freight train pulls out of the
mountain station. Armed guards stand on the caboose, the
boxcars.
Men hide in shadows by the tracks. As the train passes, they
chase it, grab ladders, swing aboard.
TOP OF BOXCARS
The miners jump one guard from behind, then another, throw
them off into the darkness.
CUT TO:
THE NIGHT BEFORE
INT. APARTMENT IN THE CAPITAL - BATHROOM - NIGHT
Fierro holds up Hertzog in the cramped bathroom while he
urinates. He helps Hertzog into the next room.
INT. LIVING ROOM
Dora and Fierro lie Hertzog down on a bed--Fierro makes him
comfortable.
HERTZOG
Have you spoken to Elena?
Fierro shakes his head.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
You might.
FIERRO
She wouldn't understand.
HERTZOG
You underestimate her. She's
bright, attractive--she has a good
heart. You should confide in her,
let her appear in public with you.
This country's never seen a man and
a woman working together.
Fierro takes a towel, wipes the sweat off Hertzog's forehead.
HERTZOG (CONT'D)
You really should call her.
CUT TO:
99.
INT. EL JAGUAR MOTOR POOL - NIGHT
A battalion motor pool, troop trucks bathed in fluorescent
light. The enlisted man Hertzog spoke to on the road in the
first sequence pours a handful of sugar into a truck
carburetor.
CUT TO:
EXT. BARRACKS - LOS LIONES - NIGHT
Troops whisper in the darkness, load onto three trucks, led
by a major named Santesteban. They carry anti-tank missiles.
CUT TO:
INT. PALACE - FIERRO, ELENA AND CARLOS - NIGHT
The ornate rotunda hall is empty, silent. Sleepy guards
acknowledge Fierro as he passes. He's holding Elena's hand--
Carlos runs ahead, sliding for fun on the hallway wax.
Elena wonders at Fierro's altered appearance, his somber
look.
FIERRO
I have a chance to take over the
government.
Elena reacts.
ELENA
When?
FIERRO
Tomorrow morning. There's a coup
planned--they want me to lead it.
(a beat)
Do you think I should?
ELENA
Why do you ask me?
FIERRO
Does that surprise you?
ELENA
A little.
FIERRO
I want your advice.
Elena considers her answer.
100.
ELENA
Do you think you'd be any better
than Ovando?
FIERRO
Probably.
ELENA
Then you should do it.
The firmness in her voice surprises Fierro. He squeezes her
hand.
CUT TO:
INT. FIERRO'S INNER OFFICE - NIGHT
Carlos sits behind Fierro's desk, pretending to be on the
phone. Across the darkened room, Fierro and Elena sit in
front of his computer. He's scrolling through his file to
the General so Elena can read it.
They reach the end of the file. Fierro types in DELETE
GENERAL. The computer responds, DELETE GENERAL (Y/N?).
Fierro takes a deep breath, punches the Y key.
The computer erases the file.
CUT TO:
EXT. PALACE - NIGHT
There's a thundering racket as Fierro, Elena, and Carlos exit
the Palace and head down the stairs. Overhead, they see the
helicopters of the FRF, passing over the city.
AERIAL SHOT - FRF CHOPPERS
Loaded with armed troops, skimming the rooftops, heading
north.
ANGLE - FAVORING FIERRO
Watching the choppers pass overhead. He is committed.
CUT TO:
101.
EXT. MINISTER'S MANSION - NIGHT
In the capital's posh section. A kidnap team slips over the
spiked wall.
CUT TO:
EXT. MANSION - KIDNAP TEAM - NIGHT
The same neighborhood. A team of four creeps through a
manicured garden. They freeze--a light floods a patio. A
nude teenaged girl emerges, a man follows, his pleading tenor
mixing with her complaining soprano; it's Bobby Tedesco, from
the card game. A beat--he coaxes her inside, the light goes
off.
The team moves forward.
CUT TO:
INT. BOXCAR - TRAIN - NIGHT
Dynamite crates are broken open. The sticks are passed
around.
FADE OUT.
THE COUP
FADE IN:
EXT. MOUNTAINS - THE FRF - DAWN
Dawn over the peaks. The FRF choppers drop over a ridge into
a shadowed valley.
INT. CHOPPERS
The troops lock and load. The pilots talk to each other with
hand signals.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMAND ROOM - PRESIDENTIAL PALACE - DAWN
On the walls, color infrared photographs of the Parama Valley-
Bernal's campfires white among the red trees. Ovando excited
among his ministers, generals, aides.
102.
AIDE
Break radio silence in thirty
seconds.
OVANDO
I should be there.
GENERAL
De Panoia knows what to do.
Ovando isn't convinced. A radio operator looks out a window.
Below, a garbage truck is cleared through a security
checkpoint.
PALACE ALLEY
The truck stops by the Palace dumpsters. The chute door
opens. A dozen men emerge, some in Security of the President
uniforms, some in civilian clothes with suitcases.
CUT TO:
EXT. PARAMA VALLEY - BERNAL FORCES - DAY
Bernal's scraggly troops feed their morning fires. One, then
another hears the whomp-whomp of the incoming helicopters.
Somebody shouts.
INT. LEAD CHOPPER - DE PANOIA
Colonel De Panoia leads his charge like a cavalry officer,
shouting into his mike.
BERNAL FORCES
Some panic, some grab their weapons. The choppers descend
all around them.
EXT. CHOPPERS
Some land where there's clear ground, disgorge. Others hover
over the treetops--the troops rappel down on ropes. Non-coms
chivy their men, advancing in skirmish lines on the panicked
Bernal troops.
103.
INT. PALACE COMMAND ROOM - OVANDO
Filled with radio shouts, exultations, gunfire. Ovando
shakes a radioman's shoulder.
OVANDO
Tell him to find Bernal.
He pounds the table in his pleasure.
OVANDO (CONT'D)
How I wish Fierro was here.
CUT TO:
EXT. CITY STREET - ROADBLOCK - DAY
A streetcar tips over with a crash across the intersection.
Uniformed soldiers divert the thin morning traffic.
FIERRO AND MAJOR
Fierro inspects the roadblock with Major SANTESTEBAN, Lara
and Dora on either side. Above their heads, soldiers set up
machine guns and anti-tank weapons in second-story windows.
FIERRO
You're Santesteban.
SANTESTEBAN
You know me.
FIERRO
Very well. You know what to say.
SANTESTEBAN
I have written orders from the
General.
FIERRO
They'll say they have orders.
SANTESTEBAN
I'll say mine are later, and have
priority.
FIERRO
What if they argue?
SANTESTEBAN
I'll say, you check your orders-
I'll check mine.
Fierro nods, takes a small walkie-talkie from Dora.
104.
FIERRO
All the roadblocks are in place.
INT. APARTMENT - HERTZOG AND ELENA
Fierro has brought Elena and Carlos to the apartment. She's
tending Hertzog--now she holds a walkie-talkie for him.
Carlos reads a comic, puzzled, not sure what's going on.
FIERRO (V.O.)
We're heading for the Palace.
HERTZOG
That's where they'll need you,
Martin.
CUT TO:
EXT. MAIN ENTRANCE - PRESIDENTIAL PALACE - DAY
Six Security of the President cops walk up the ornamental
stairway, greet the four cops on duty at the entrance.
In an eyeblink, the guarding cops are disarmed and dragged
off. The uniformed cops step into their places, motion the
civilians with their suitcases up the stairs.
Once inside, they open them--submachine guns, satchel
charges. They fan out.
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM - BOBBY TEDESCO'S HOUSE - DAY
Tedesco throws off his bedcovers, wags a finger at the
teenaged girl as he goes to the door.
TEDESCO
I told you, no interruptions...
The door bursts open--a student kidnap team bursts in.
CUT TO:
EXT. RADIO STATION - DAY
As the charge on the powerline blows and the cables sever.
CUT TO:
105.
EXT. RADIO STATION - DAY
A second station, as the power pylon outside it blows.
CUT TO:
INT. TELEVISION STUDIO - DAY
Students and soldiers hustle Reyes into the studio. They sit
him down--somebody puts on makeup. Technicians line the
walls, their hands being tied.
INT. CONTROL BOOTH
More technicians with their hands up. A director and a
technician sit behind the panel.
DIRECTOR
Okay, we're on in three. Cue
standby card. And...standby.
The technician cuts the feed--Ovando propaganda--and a
standby card shows on all the monitors. The director turns
to the prisoners.
DIRECTOR (CONT'D)
Anybody want to help?
A beat--a young tech sits eagerly at the board.
CUT TO:
INT. MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR - BASEMENT - TRACKING
The quechua city cop Hertzog spoke to months before is
opening cell doors. The conspiracy cops throw captured
loyalist cops into the cells, drive out the prisoners.
Many prisoners, scared, crippled, can't believe they're free.
CUT TO:
INT. PRESIDENTIAL PALACE GARAGE - STAIRWAY - DAY
A fire team of conspiracy cops creeps up the stairs. It
bumps into a group of loyalist cops heading down. There's
gunfire--a loyalist runs upstairs, yelling a warning.
CUT TO:
106.
EXT. PARAMA VALLEY - BERNAL'S CAMP - DAY
The FRF is mopping up. Prisoners are executed where they
kneel. De Panoia yells into the radio of his command
helicopter, Bernal in ropes at his feet.
DE PANOIA
I have him, General. Positive
identification.
INT. PALACE - COMMAND ROOM
Ovando's on the radio. The room hangs on his words. Ovando
signs off, turns to them.
OVANDO
His men have surrendered. Bernal's
in custody. They're bringing him
here.
The room rocks with cheers--men crowd in to congratulate him.
ANGLE - RADIOMAN
Looking out his window again.
RADIOMAN
General?
OVANDO
What?
RADIOMAN
Something strange.
O.S., the rattle of gunfire. Ovando cranes out the window.
POV
A fire team drives Security of the President cops across an
inner courtyard.
BACK TO SHOT
The building shakes from an explosion. Ovando wheels.
OVANDO
Call La Mura!
107.
EXT. PALACE ROOFTOP
The VHF antenna is blown away.
INT. COMMAND ROOM
The radiomen can't transmit--the phones are dead. Somebody
points to the television monitor on the panel. The standby
card is gone--on screen is Minister Reyes.
INSERT - TV
REYES
This is Minister of Education Reyes
with urgent information for all
citizens in the capital district.
This morning at 5:43 a.m., forces
of a freedom loving coalition
launched an attack against the
repressive and illegal government
of General Hugo Ovando.
BACK TO SHOT
A major has gotten through to the Presidential Guard
headquarters on a walkie-talkie, hands it to Ovando.
MAJOR
The Presidential Guard, sir.
OVANDO
Ovando. Who's this?
VOICE (V.O.)
Captain Calderon, duty officer,
sir.
OVANDO
We're under attack. Call out your
command and relieve the Palace.
Relay a message to De Panoia--get
him back here.
VOICE (V.O.)
He's on the border, sir. He'd have
to refuel...
OVANDO
He's got one hour to get back here.
He points to the TV.
108.
OVANDO (CONT'D)
And somebody turn off that idiot!
Guns are being passed out--he grabs one, shoves men to posts,
smashes out a window pane with his gun muzzle, fires.
OVANDO (CONT'D)
Look--they're children. That's all
they are.
CUT TO:
EXT. LOS LIONES BARRACKS - DAY
Miles north of the capital. Bugle calls over the
loudspeakers-- troops muster in battle gear.
INT. MOTOR POOL
The trucks won't start. The enlisted man who sabotaged them
last night pretends frustration. One truck rolls--but stalls
a few feet away.
CUT TO:
INT. NATIONAL PARTY HEADQUARTERS - TELEPHONE ROOM - DAY
Party leader Aguirre and his staff desperately try to call
their regional headquarters. Every line is dead.
INT. CENTRAL TELEPHONE EXCHANGE RELAY ROOM
Rows of electronics throw showers of sparks. The SUPERVISOR
watches nervously--a STUDENT saboteur reassures him.
SUPERVISOR
You're sure we'll get new
equipment.
STUDENT
You're very high on the list.
CUT TO:
EST. DESAQUERDARIO AIR FIELD - DAY
Sirens on rooftops--pilots race from their ready rooms
towards their fighters.
109.
EXT. FIRE TEAM
Three trucks and a road grader with their tires shot out
block the runway. From behind the equipment, soldiers fire
at anything moving.
ANGLE - PILOTS
Bullets strike at their heels. They halt, run back towards
the ready room.
INT. READY ROOM
Windows blow out as the pilots hit the floor. They exchanged
glances. No way.
CUT TO:
EXT. LA MURA BARRACKS - DAY
In the capital--three truckloads of Presidential Guards grind
towards the gates.
INT. CAB LEAD TRUCK
The gates come into view. They're closed--nobody in sight.
EXT. GATES
Soldiers run from the lead truck to the gates, discover
they're chained together. Sudden withering fire cuts them
down.
EXT. FIRE TEAM
Uniformed soldiers, behind cover across the street from the
gates. They maintain a steady fire.
CUT TO:
110.
INT. CORRIDOR - PRESIDENTIAL PALACE - FIERRO - DAY
Soldiers, cops, students, released prisoners, fire behind a
barricade, taking heavy return fire from the command room
down the hallway. Many wounded, many frightened--the advance
has stalled.
Fierro pushes through them with Lara and Dora. "It's
Hertzog" is whispered, makes the rounds of the men. Fierro
turns to the Army captain in charge.
FIERRO
Captain Villaroel.
VILLAROEL
General Hertzog.
FIERRO
Mr. Hertzog.
VILLAROEL
There's a lot of them. I've lost
quite a few.
Fierro glances around--the men look to him for inspiration.
Down the hall, cowering in a doorway, he sees a young soldier-
he's holding a satchel charge, but he's afraid to use it.
Dora whispers in his ear.
DORA
You do it. Everybody's watching.
Carry it off and you can take this
country and shake it by the neck.
FIERRO
What if I get killed?
DORA
We'll find somebody else.
Fierro looks around--they are all looking at him. He
swallows, takes a deep breath, jumps over the barricade,
rushes down the hall, slams into the doorway under a torrent
of gunfire.
FIERRO AND SOLDIER
The SOLDIER knows who he is. Fierro looks over the satchel
charge.
FIERRO
Is this the fuse?
SOLDIER
You just pull it.
Fierro shouts back to the captain for covering fire.
111.
BARRICADE - VILLAROEL
Rallying his men--they lay down a hail of fire.
ANGLE - FIERRO
Racing to the far doorway, bracing behind it, pulling the
fuse on the satchel charge, tossing it in the command room.
He runs back down the hall through the gunfire and dives over
the barricade.
ANGLE - FAR DOORWAY
The charge blows. Smoke, screams of pain.
INT. COMMAND ROOM
Shredded, many wounded. Ovando yells to his men.
OVANDO
Fall back into the kitchen!
FIERRO AND MEN
They congratulate him, slap his back.
CUT TO:
INT. TELEVISION STATION - CONTROL ROOM
The director cues, points to Reyes through the window.
ANGLE - MINISTER REYES
Reading from copy.
112.
REYES
Communique number one. Our country
was in peril. A Marxist-inspired
invasion force threatened our
border, an unloved and impotent
government was unable to defend us.
In this dark hour, a group of our
finest leaders, comprising labor
and centrist elements, under the
command of provisional president
Aneas Hertzog...
INT. APARTMENT - CARLOS
He's watching TV--he shouts to his mother and Hertzog in
amazement, pointing.
CARLOS
Mom, look. It's Daddy--it's my
dad!
On screen, a headshot of Fierro--as Hertzog.
REYES (V.O.)
...an internationally respected
advocate of democratic change, has
assumed control in the name of all
peace-loving citizens.
INT. CITY MILK BAR
People watch Reyes on TV, breathless.
REYES (V.O.)
The fascist Ovando has been removed-
President Hertzog pledges freedom of
the press, free elections, a return
to the constitution, a new dawn of
hope and prosperity for our beloved
country.
EXT. CITY STREET
As people thrown open their windows, cry for joy.
EXT. CITY CHURCH
Bells ringing. In the towers, priests haul mightily on the
bell ropes.
113.
EXT. STREET - ORTIZ
The TV journalist and his crew, grabbing shots--crowds pour
through the streets. He tries to get interviews--nobody
wants to bother. It's a day of jubilee.
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET - FIRE TEAM OPPOSITE LA MURA BARRACKS - DAY
Fierro with Lara and Dora, cowering behind cover with the
officer in command. Heavy return fire from inside the gates
has reduced his strength.
OFFICER
I don't know how much longer we can
hold...
A yell from down the line--they hear a clanking. Tanks are
coming.
LA MURA BARRACKS
A line of armor wheels around the corner facing the main
gate, stops. One cannon shot blows the gates away.
EXT. FIRE TEAM
Fierro and the others pull the men away from their position;
they know what's coming. A cannon shell bursts among them.
EXT. LEAD TANK
COLONEL GORITTI, the tough moustachioed officer Fierro spoke
to, leads the column from his turret.
GORITTI
Scatter them.
EXT. LA MURA BARRACKS - GATE
The fire team is chased by gunfire as the squadron of armor
clanks out the gate and down the street.
ANGLE - FIERRO
With Lara and Dora, cowering in a doorway, on his walkie
talkie.
114.
FIERRO
La Mura just busted out.
INT. APARTMENT - HERTZOG
Speaking into the walkie-talkie Elena holds.
HERTZOG
Fall back on the Palace, Martin-
make your stand there. Where's the
train?
ANGLE - FIERRO
Ducking as gunfire hits around them.
FIERRO (V.O.)
I don't know.
Looking up, he sees Lara has been hit in the arm. Lara waves
him off--he'll be all right. People dart from a storefront
and pull him to safety. Fierro and Dora move out.
CUT TO:
EXT. TRAIN - DAY
Its whistle crying, rumbling through the outskirts towards
the capital. The miners crane for a sight of the city.
EXT. LORETO RAVINE
The rim is surrounded with people from the streets, the poor
from the shantytowns. They know something is up--they also
know the bridge the crews have been working on all night
isn't finished.
TOP OF BRIDGE - FIERRO AND CARRASCO
Carrasco is mud-spattered, exhausted.
CARRASCO
You might explain it's got to carry
200 tons.
Fierro's on his walkie-talkie with Hertzog.
115.
FIERRO
The pilings keep sinking. He
doesn't think it will hold.
INT. APARTMENT - HERTZOG
His voice weak into the walkie-talkie Elena holds.
HERTZOG
Move the miners in on foot, if you
have to.
EXT. BRIDGE - FIERRO
Shaking his head. He's looking around at the crowd lining
the edge of the ravine. He takes Carrasco's bullhorn from
him, speaks to the crowd.
FIERRO
Citizens of the capital, I'm
Aneas Hertzog. You know
what's happening in the
city this morning. A train is on
its way here--on it are miners
joining the fight. This bridge is
to get them to the Palace. We need
help finishing it. You want to
build a new country-- start by
helping us build this bridge.
ANGLE - EDGE OF RAVINE
The people aren't sure. But someone recognizes Fierro from
TV-- he yells to his friends and heads down the slope. More
climb down--then a wave of them.
BASE OF BRIDGE
Carrasco rushes down among them, shoves the newcomers into
work parties.
CUT TO:
INT. PRESIDENTIAL PALACE - KITCHEN - DAY
Ammo is low, but they're holding out. Ovando collars his
radioman.
116.
OVANDO
Where is he now?
RADIOMAN
At a roadblock.
OVANDO
A roadblock?
EXT. TANK COLUMN - GORITTI
His tanks have pulled up half a block from the roadblock.
From behind the barrier, Santesteban speaks through a
bullhorn.
SANTESTEBAN
We have orders to hold this
intersection.
Goritti replies through a speaker on his tank.
GORITTI
Whose orders?
SANTESTEBAN
GHQ Army. General Pachanga.
GORITTI
Your orders are wrong. Move aside.
SANTESTEBAN
If you attack, my orders are to
open fire.
GORITTI
My orders come directly from
General Ovando.
SANTESTEBAN
My orders are in writing.
Goritti knows his aren't.
SANTESTEBAN (CONT'D)
You want to see them? I'll show
them to you.
Goritti looks at his second in command in the next tank.
Muttering, he climbs down, walks towards the roadblock.
EXT. ROADBLOCK
Goritti nods to Santesteban as he comes around the barricade.
117.
GORITTI
I know you. Santesteban.
SANTESTEBAN
We were at Command School together.
GORITTI
Another mess from the politicians.
Let's see them.
Santesteban hands over his written orders.
SANTESTEBAN
General Pachanga's signature.
GORITTI
I better check.
INT. PRESIDENTIAL PALACE - KITCHEN
Taking fire--another satchel charge blows down the hall. The
radioman grabs Ovando.
RADIOMAN
He wants confirmation.
OVANDO
Who?
RADIOMAN
Colonel Goritti says the officer at
the roadblock has written orders.
Ovando seizes the walkie-talkie.
OVANDO
Listen, idiot, does this voice
sound familiar to you?
GORITTI (V.O.)
Yes, General, it does.
OVANDO
Your orders are to relieve the
Palace. Can I make it any clearer?
EXT. TANK COLUMN - GORITTI
In his tank turret--his whole command has heard over VHF.
GORITTI
Yes, sir.
He signals to the other tank commanders. They duck into
their turrets--hatches are locked.
118.
GORITTI'S TANK
As it trains its cannon on the center of the roadblock.
EXT. ROADBLOCK
Santesteban and his troops see the cannon training, hit the
dirt as a shall explodes among them.
INT. SECOND STORY WINDOW
Above the roadblock. A fire team launches a missile at the
tank beside Goritti's.
TANK
Direct hit--it explodes. Gorriti's and the other tanks back
up, laying covering fire.
CUT TO:
EXT. SWITCHYARD
As the miners' train noses through the switchyard, turns onto
the newly laid spur leading to the bridge.
CUT TO:
INT. PRESIDENTIAL PALACE - KITCHEN - DAY
Through a window, Ovando sees the first of Goritti's column
enter a side street leading to the Palace. He shouts into
his walkie-talkie.
OVANDO
I see you! La Mura, you'll be
heroes for life...
EXT. HALLWAY - FIRE TEAM
A student in the fire team has ducked under return fire,
gotten close enough to fire a rocket.
119.
INT. KITCHEN
As the shell explodes. Ovando and others are knocked down-
many are bloody, some dead.
OVANDO
Into the bedroom...!
EXT. PLAZA MAYOR
Pandemonium--the crowds there have heard the clank of the
approaching tanks. Soldiers and cops hurry to clear the
square.
EXT. SQUARE - ORTIZ
Behind him, soldiers and citizens throw up frail barricades.
He whispers into his mike.
ORTIZ
They can't be far away. The
people, only a second ago,
celebrating, laughing, have
vanished. Those remaining wait
without making a noise.
CUT TO:
INT. ENGINE CAB - DAY
The crew stops the train at the ravine's edge, amazed by what
they see.
EXT. LOCOMOTIVE - CREW
They climb down, shaking their heads. The bridge is being
braced by an improvised rats nest of ropes running down from
points all along the track bed, each hauled tight by crowds
of volunteers on the ravine bottom. In addition, cable
slings have been fixed to the track bed--two of the tall
cranes used to build the bridge hoist the slings under
tension, holding the track bed up like a pair of suspenders.
The ENGINEER cups his hands.
ENGINEER
Is this thing going to hold?
ANGLE - CARRASCO
Hauling on a brace rope among a group of men, women and kids.
120.
CARRASCO
Try it. Then we'll all know.
ANGLE - TRAIN
The crew climbs back in the cab. With a chuff of steam, the
train slowly inches out on the bridge.
ANGLE - FIERRO, DORA AND CARRASCO
Among another group on a rope. Overhead, the train moves out
on the bridge. The track bed groans, sags--the rope is
almost torn from their hands.
ANGLE - TRAIN CREW AND MINERS
Feeling the bridge sway, hearing it creak in protest, as it
takes more and more of the train's weight.
EXT. BRIDGE - FIERRO AND CARRASCO
Watching the train inch overhead, he sees the weight of the
train, pulling down on the two cranes, is starting to topple
them over. He hollers.
ANGLE - CRANES
As scores of men clamber onto the cranes, adding their body's
weight to them to keep them from falling over.
EXT. TRAIN
As the locomotive front wheels roll onto solid ground on the
far side. The engineer hoots the whistle in triumph.
CROWD
Bursting into cheers, waving their hats, as they race up the
slope towards the train, now almost all on the far side. The
miners yell back.
121.
EXT. TRAIN
Fierro and Dora among others, racing up the slope, scrambling
into boxcars.
INT. BOXCAR
Miners help them all aboard as the train starts to move.
"It's Hertzog," they whisper, as they spot Fierro--the word
spreads.
EXT. STREET
As the train crosses the connecting track from the ravine
onto the streetcar tracks and turns downtown.
EXT. STREETS
People run clear, stare in amazement as the burdened train
rumbles past them.
INT. APARTMENT WINDOW
Carlos has called his mother to see something unheard of--a
freight train passing below his window. Elena hurries to
look.
ANGLE - HERTZOG
He can't see it, but in his bed, he hears it, and he knows
what's happening.
INT. PALACE BEDROOM - OVANDO - DAY
Dodging gunfire, leaning out a window, shouting in the walkie
talkie.
OVANDO
Fire--what are you waiting for?
EXT. GORITTI'S TANK COLUMN
The lead tanks fire into the barricades in the plaza.
122.
EXT. PLAZA MAYOR - BARRICADES
Blown into flinders. Ortiz among others, running for their
lives.
ANGLE - OVANDO
Directing the fire from his window.
OVANDO
Spread out. Keep line abreast!
EXT. PLAZA MAYOR
The barricades are deserted. Beyond them, the tanks approach
side by side, firing. There's nothing to stop them.
EXT. PLAZA MAYOR - TRAIN - HIGH ANGLE
As the train bursts from a side street and plows into the
plaza, squealing to a stop with brakes sparking. Miners and
townspeople pour off it in a flood, Fierro among them.
ANGLE - FAVORING FIERRO
With Dora, shouting, forming the miners in a thin line across
the plaza. They're all lighting cigarettes or cigars.
ANGLE - OVANDO
He can't see the train--all he knows is the tanks are
suddenly silent.
OVANDO
What are you waiting for?
POV - TANK PERISCOPE
The miners in their line in front of the Palace. They hold
their cigars and cigarettes to their dynamite fuses.
INT. TANK
The tankers are unsure. The commander shouts "Load!" The
gunner hesitates. The commander shouts again--the gunner
rams a shell into his cannon breech.
123.
ANGLE - GORITTI
Glued to his periscope, fingers sweaty on the cannon
triggers.
EXT. SQUARE
Silent. People watch from the doorways.
ANGLE - FIERRO
Everyone's looking at him. He knows what he must do. He
steps forward in front of the miners, waves to the tanks,
walks towards them.
FIERRO - TRACKING
Watching the cannon muzzles follow him. He looks purposeful,
but his heart is pounding.
DORA
Watching Fierro as he reaches the lead tank.
EXT. LEAD TANK
As Goritti bangs open his hatch.
FIERRO
Colonel Goritti.
GORITTI
Do I know you?
FIERRO
Aneas Hertzog. Those forces are
mine. I think we should talk.
GORITTI
You want me to come down?
FIERRO
Yes.
124.
GORITTI
You come up here.
Fierro nods, climbs up on the tank.
EXT. TURRET - FIERRO AND GORITTI
Goritti emerges from his hatch as Fierro reaches the turret
top.
GORITTI
Well?
FIERRO
The General's trapped in the
Palace. We hold the airfield--El
Jaguar and Los Liones can't get
here in time and the FRF is on the
northern border. Those miners will
go against you with dynamite.
GORITTI
We'll fight to the last man.
FIERRO
That would be a waste.
GORITTI
I'm willing to see what happens.
FIERRO
Do you have a family?
GORITTI
I'm married. Why?
FIERRO
You have something to live for.
GORITTI
Everybody has something to live
for.
FIERRO
You wrote a paper at Command School-
"Diplomacy and the Military in the
Atomic Age." It was very
insightful.
Goritti shrugs it off.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
I could use someone like you in my
cabinet.
GORITTI
Doing what?
125.
FIERRO
Minister of Transportation. You
have a talent for it.
Goritti regards him.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
It's the chance of a lifetime. It
may never come again.
GORITTI
What guarantee do I have?
FIERRO
Me shaking your hand, the whole
town watching. You'll be famous.
They're probably put up a statue to
you.
GORITTI
All right--shake my hand.
They do.
FIERRO
We should embrace.
GORITTI
Do we have to?
FIERRO
It would be a good idea.
They embrace.
EXT. STREET
The city goes wild. The tankers throw open their hatches.
People climb onto the tanks--girls hug the soldiers.
ANGLE - FIERRO
Making his way back towards the Palace through a throng
trying to grab him.
ANGLE - AGUIRRE
Aguirre and a small handful of supporters arrive in the
square, holding pro-Ovando signs.
126.
EXT. SQUARE
Singing, circles of dancing--police with students, soldiers,
miners. A mother finds her imprisoned son--they weep in each
other's arms. Somebody grabs Dora and pulls her away.
AGUIRRE AND FOLLOWERS
Quietly ditching their signs as the dancing carries them
away.
INT. PALACE ENTRANCE
Fierro pushes through the throng. Everybody wants to touch
him, congratulate him--Reyes is there, Pachanga; ministers,
bureaucrats fall over each other to proclaim their loyalty.
He bumps into Ortiz, who's filming him.
ORTIZ
Fierro? You?
FIERRO
Come on--I need you.
ORTIZ
How'd you get into this?
Fierro drags Ortiz after, up the stairs.
INT. PALACE HALLWAY
The front line--students and soldiers still trade fire with
those in the bedroom down the hall when Fierro arrives.
Somebody hands him a bullhorn--he motions to Captain
Villaroel to cease fire.
FIERRO
General Ovando, this is Aneas
Hertzog. La Mura has surrendered
and the city is taken.
The answer is gunfire--he ducks.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
Soldiers with the General. You've
defended him bravely. Surrender
now and you have my word of honor
you won't be prosecuted.
Gunfire--but less of it.
127.
FIERRO (CONT'D)
If you don't throw out your guns in
ten seconds, I will burn down the
Palace.
VOICE (O.S.)
You mean that?
FIERRO
I'm very serious.
A beat--then one by one, guns clatter outside the bedroom
door. Soldiers walk forward, collect the guns. One boldly
kicks open the bedroom door.
They see Ovando alone--his men stand apart from him.
INT. BEDROOM
Fierro enters at the head of his troops. The defenders are
bloody, exhausted. Reynoso and other loyalists glare
hatefully at him. Fierro turns to Ovando.
OVANDO
I thought you were dead. You're
with this insurgent?
FIERRO
I am the insurgent.
REYNOSO
I warned you.
OVANDO
Judas. After all I did for you.
He backhands Fierro across the face. It's a hard blow-
Fierro's nose starts to bleed.
Fury, years of repressed anger, rise in Fierro. He starts
toward Ovando, who steps backwards until a wall stops him.
Fierro regards Ovando--but all he does is turn to Villaroel
and motions him to take Ovando away. He touches his nose-
his hand comes away bloody. Dora leads him towards the
bedroom window--he takes the walkie-talkie from her.
EXT. BEDROOM BALCONY
Fierro's stunned at what he sees--the plaza and converging
streets an ocean of shouting, jubilant people, the entire
city at his feet. Ortiz crouches, taping.
Fierro wipes his nose, makes a tentative wave. The crowd
bellows his name--"Hertzog." He speaks into the walkie
talkie.
128.
FIERRO
Elena, I did it. Let me talk to
him.
EXT. SQUARE - HIGH ANGLE
They scream his name louder.
ANGLE - LARA
Among the crowd, arm bandaged, shouting "Hertzog" with the
rest.
ANGLE - FIERRO
A broader wave. And a greater shout in response--"Hertzog!"
He tries the walkie-talkie again.
FIERRO
Elena--I need to talk to him.
INT. APARTMENT
Across the room, Fierro on the TV. Elena's holding Hertzog's
hand. His face is calm, composed. He's dead.
Elena speaks into her walkie-talkie.
ELENA
Martin, he's gone.
ANGLE - BALCONY - FIERRO
Stunned. The overwhelming voice of the crowd breaks on him--
"HERTZOG, HERTZOG, HERTZOG."
INT. APARTMENT - CARLOS
He's craning out the window. The roar from the square
reaches him over the rooftops. He's never heard the people
of his country all shouting the same thing at once before.
LONG SHOT - THE CAPITAL
The shouts rising to mix with the haze over this Andean city.
129.
FADE OUT.