GBlog

in the early 1980s,
the right-wing reagan u.s. government
was determined to undermine or overthrow
the leftist government of nicaragua.
as part of this campaign,
the central intelligence agency
produced a small illustrated booklet
in both spanish and english
designed to destabilise the nicaraguan government
and economic system.

it instructed dissaffected individuals
on acts of sabotage they could carry out to this end.

mehr sabotage hier; oder hier

Ergänzung 20.11.
Gestern Abend bei einem dieser DVD-Abspielsender: Under Fire
(1982 - R:Roger Spottiswoode; D:Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy; M:Jerry Goldsmith):
Ein amerikanischer Fotojournalist sieht sich während der letzten Wochen der Somoza-Diktatur in Nicaragua 1979 zu einer moralischen Entscheidung zugunsten der Sandinisten gezwungen. Spannende, inszenatorisch brillante Journalistenstory. Zugleich ein packender Diskurs über moralische Verantwortung des Reporters und Manipulation und Machtmißbrauch der Nachrichtenmedien sowie ein Plädoyer für die Befreiungsbewegungen der Dritten Welt.

Das ist doch nicht Nostalgie oder Altersstarrsinn, wenn man behauptet, dass solche Filme heute fehlen! Jean-Louis Trintignant als französischer Agent Jazy gibt den heute dominierenden Typus: - eine tolle Szene, an deren Ende er erschossen wird:

The Muchachos begin arguing rapidly among themselves; and as
they do, Jazy addresses Price and Claire coolly.

JAZY
Well, here we are, eh?

MUCHACHO #1
(in Spanish)
Assassin! Shut up!

JAZY
The boys are confused -- they think
I had their family killed.

PRICE
You murder people.

JAZY
"Murder" is a word for criminals. I
have a job to protect the stability
of a continent.

MUCHACHO #3
Pig! Hijo de puta!

JAZY
Please...

He is not begging for his life as much as for them to calm
down.

CLAIRE
You got caught by some boys?

JAZY
Yes. Poets too, I imagine.
(beat)
Is your recorder on?

CLAIRE
(hesitates)
Yes.

JAZY
Good. I have a speech to make.

The Muchachos don't understand what he's saying, but they
stop to listen to his style. The guns remained trained on
all three.

JAZY
I like you people, but you are
sentimental shits. You fall in love
with the poets, the poets fall in
love with the Marxists, the Marxists
fall in love with themselves. The
country is destroyed with rhetoric,
and in the end we are stuck with
tyrants.

MUCHACHO #1
(in Spanish)
Shut up!

Jazy turns to the boy who jams the gun into his head and
speaks with tired authority.

JAZY
Un minuto, por favor.

MUCHACHO #2
(to Price and Claire,
more calmly)
Who are you?

JAZY
(in Spanish)
They are journalists.

The Muchachos are immediately surprised and delighted, and
one of them speaks in excited, broken English.

MUCHACHO #1
Periodistas! Take this picture! I'm
going to blow his head off.

The Muchachos quickly withdraw their guns from Price and
Claire and aim them all at Jazy's head.

JAZY
Somoza? He is a tyrant too, of course.
A butcher.
(beat)
But finally that is not the point,
you see. If we wish to survive -- we
have a choice of tyrants, and for
all the right reasons, your poets
choose the wrong side.

MUCHACHO #1
(impatiently)
Fotografia!

PRICE
No.

JAZY
Yes.
(beat)
Your picture of Rafael was
brilliant... but I am alive, and
better looking. A good looking
Frenchman with a sympathetic face is
murdered in cold blood while fighting
for the survival of Europe and
America.
(beat)
You will have another magazine cover!
(smiles)
Muy complicado, no?

MUCHACHO #1
(in Spanish)
Ready! Now!

CLAIRE
You picked the wrong side.

JAZY
In fifty years we will know who's
right.
(beat)
Are you going to take the picture as
the bullet enters the skull or as it
comes out? This wall's a nice color,
eh? I can move into the sunlight.

CLAIRE TURNS AND WALKS AWAY, her back to the scene.

JAZY
(to Claire)
It's just a story!

http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html