For we shall not rest for one hour,
not one minute until freedom and democracy
have triumphed over the forces of evil!
We will crush our enemies beneath our feet.
Lay waste their farms and towns,
make their children our slaves.
So many fond memories of Maximilian the First
on the 10th anniversary of our glorious leader's death.
To threaten out great nation.
Many of course doubted that his son
and heir Maximilian the Second could live up
to the example of his charismatic father.
But the man affectionately known as Junior has valiantly
continued the fight against the pesky rebellion
led by playwright-turned-terrorist John Thorne.
Once derided as the playboy prince more
interested in the movie business, the president-for-life
today vowed not to rest until he has rid the country of
these criminals whom he called quote "really bad guys."
In a gesture of goodwill to commemorate his father's
passing, the president today also commuted the sentences
of several men condemned to the gallows,
sending them to the guillotine instead.
Papa would have been proud.
Long live the House of Bonaventure!
Long live democracy, long live freedom!
When I think of the lazy afternoons of my childhood,
of the bruised skies and the blank faces of the women
with dirty bare feet by the side of the road,
I wonder if I should have stood by and done nothing.
In some way that's precisely what I did.
I know that I've done questionable things.
But my role in the assassination of the President is one
that even now I cannot say I entirely regret.
They say I'm a war criminal but everything
I've done, I've done for my country.
I met Mister Thorne in the last days of the Empire,
though no one knew then that they were the last days.
In R-28 Prison the dirty protest by terrorists
of the Citizens for Justice and Democracy
has entered its fifth year.
Agitating for political prisoner status,
the terrorists refused the bathe, perform work details
or participate in any other activities.
They registered their protest by using their
own excrement to smear anti-government
slogans on the walls of their cells.
Wow, a mess like that sounds like it needs the heavy
duty scouring action of new, improved Ultra-Gleen.
You're right about that, Jane.
Fresh as a daisy in here.
You're going to wear the uniform today, prisoner seven?
You've asked me that every morning.
I ask you that every morning and every morning you say no.
So, you going to wear the uniform?
No.
You really are a pig, you know that Thorne?
A filthy fucking pig.
Gimme the regular criminal any day.
I've been thinkin' about it.
When you gonna give this silly shit up?
You will answer me when I address you, prisoner.
I said when you gonna give this up?
Not gonna.
Don't fuck with Superman.
How far does a man have to go to be thought
so dangerous that he needs to be locked away,
physically separated from the rest of the world
behind concrete walls and iron bars?
Clearly it's the last resort.
Ladies and gentlemen his excellency,
defender of the constitution, protector of the faith,
guardian of the people, master of all that crawls
upon the earth and swims beneath the sea,
savior of the nation and the House of Bonaventure,
Generalissimo President-For-Life Maximilian the Second.
From the start,
Junior ruled the shadow of his late father.
Papa Max had been a grade-A son of a bitch,
if ever there was one.
Who'd have thought we'd look back on his reign
as the good old days.
This is the hour of our long-awaited victory!
For all his brutality, papa Max was clever enough
to make us believe that his tenure was for our benefit.
Junior on the other hand had been born day-old
stupid and been losing ground ever since.
Aside from indulging his interests in murder,
rape and torture he spent most of his
time running the film industry.
Action Martina, Martina do it again faster.
With Junior in power it was no surprise that Thorne
and his comrades were winning the war for the nation's soul.
Junior had pillaged the treasury and filled
Parliament with movie stars.
As Thorne won over the poor and the middle class
the rich retreated to their villas in the hills,
hidden behind walls fitted with firing ports and razor wire.
They send their children off to private schools
in bulletproof cars to be taught in French.
Many of the third and fourth generation children,
the really inbred ones couldn't even
speak their own native tongue.
Every field a feast.
Yo, how's it hangin'?
How is he this morning?
How is he, you know, the same.
Chow time.
Prison food, almost as good as hospital food.
This used to be a hospital.
What?
This prison.
It used to be a hospital.
I read your plays in school.
You're new, where do you come from?
Upstairs, admin section.
You asked for this detail?
Yes sir.
Why?
I got tired of pushing paper,
wanted to do something that made a difference.
Depends on what's written on the paper.
This wasn't my first choice.
You want to go fight terrorists.
Yes sir.
You don't approve of what we do?
Officially sir I have no opinion.
You should look into getting one.
Good morning Mrs. President, Madame.
Chuck, I thought you were out on the island.
Helen gave me the weekend off, sir.
What a ball-buster.
Really.
How is the movie, sir?
It's coming together.
It's got a certain je ne sais quoi.
It's brilliant, he's just being modest.
Yeah no I'm happy with it.
It's just I have to be on set for
the next one at six tomorrow.
No rest for the wicked, eh sir?
What?
Nothing sir.
Will this be our chance to see Madame's
long-rumored return to the silver screen?
Ooh no no no, my official duties keep me far too busy.
And big congratulations on your triple-double
the other night, sir.
Yeah you know it's the end of the season,
everyone takes it to a higher level.
But to score 50 points in the same game.
Yeah no I was in the zone, what can I say.
You're not a basketball fan, are you Ted?
Only during the playoffs sir.
Because you're a big fag, that's why.
Big fag, no I'm kidding Ted, I'm kidding.
Okay so what's the buzz?
Tell me what's happening, why the emergency?
Another monk immolated himself.
Is it really necessary to bother the president
with the antics of these malcontents?
We don't need to know every time there's a barbecue.
Well having priests killing themselves doesn't help us
in the polls with the dirty protests still going on.
The comfort of criminals is not
of great concern to the state.
It's not a question of comfort, Madame.
Thorne's people are starting to win
the war for hearts and minds.
Lemme tell you something Ted.
When you've got them by the balls,
their hearts and minds will follow.
Come with me.
Come on!
So where are we with the monk thing?
It's all under control, sir.
We're rounding up the usual suspects.
Our element in the press will as ever blame
Thorne's people for the atmosphere of anarchy.
Blase, blase, blase.
But that won't be enough, bottom line we can't
signal weakness when our freedom is at stake.
Hand me soft paper, would you?
Sure.
So what did you have in mind?
Have a good year.
In other news Imperial forces continue
their crackdown on terrorist activity as ordered
by his excellency Maximilian the Second.
Both political parties argued that the heinous crimes of
John Thorne and his followers left the government no choice.
It's clear from these cowardly and barbaric acts
that we need to reestablish law and order in
the face of this threat to our peace and freedom.
It's clear from these cowardly and barbaric acts
that we need to reestablish law and order in
the face of this threat to our peace and freedom.
Congressman Barth is of course familiar from
such films as Landslide One, Two and Four.
Senator Lyme had a distinguished career on
the stage but is best known as Pattie Maloney
from the popular television show,
I'll Tell Y'As When I've Had Too Much to Drink.
Those who dismissed Junior as a mere buffoon
foolishly underestimated our volatile boy king
and often paid with their lives.
Did you ever hear about that oracle that warned
Papa Max that one day his wife was gonna give birth to
a son who was gonna kill him and destroy the Empire?
Yeah, I hear that.
People wonder why Junior's a psychopath.
No!
You would be too if your father tried to stick a coat
hanger through your head when you were a fetus.
I thought that was an urban myth.
He was a student at my wife's school until his father
decided he's be better off with private tutors.
He gave them such shit.
So you believe that Junior killed his father?
You believe that Papa Max's death was an accident?
It wasn't?
Well I didn't see Junior tryin' to
poke his eyes out over it.
Thorne's group is called the Citizens
for Justice and Democracy.
Personally I preferred terrorist groups that sounded
like rock bands, Black September, Action Direct,
Red Army Faction.
I also liked the Weathermen back when
they had their original drummer.
Thorne's movement had started as a flimsy
coffeehouse protest, nobody gave a shit.
But as Junior cracked down Thorne's followers turned
to violence, or maybe it was the other way around.
Monsieur John Thorne.
By the time Junior put him in prison,
Thorne was becoming a folk hero
while being heard with a machine gun.
You're a soldier Joe, I assume you believe
there are things worth dying for, killing for?
Yes sir I do, but we don't kill innocent bystanders.
Nobody standing by is innocent.
I didn't come to violence casually you know.
But you get to a point when you have no choice
but to take up arms against your oppressors.
Be very hard for a thinking man to deny that.
Actually I should ask you Joe, is it hard?
Sir, are you calling me stupid
or are you calling me a coward?
Every day I sit here, the revolution
creeps closer and closer to victory.
The sacrifice of one man's life is a small price to pay.
And you think that one man can make that much difference?
The name Rudolph Hess ring a bell?
German figure skater.
He was Adolf Hitler's right-hand man
until the Second World War.
Yes I know who he was.
When the war was over he was put on trial
at Nuremberg with the other Nazi big wigs.
Sentenced to life and the city of Berlin there was
a penitentiary, Spandau Prison.
That's where they put them.
40 years he was there, 21 of them on his own.
21 years all alone in Spandau Prison.
So powerful was this specter of this one man
that after he was dead, they tore down Spandau.
They wanted no trace of him left behind.
Nice role model, a Nazi.
No no, I'm just sayin' one man.
One man in his cell, one man in power,
one man in the right place at the right time.
There a problem down there?
No First Sergeant.
The prisoner just wanted something.
He wanted something?
What's this, a fuckin' hotel?
If I catch you bullshitting with the prisoners again,
especially that prisoner,
I'll beat you like a red-headed stepchild
and skull-fuck your corse.
* I'm through with you beautiful hat
* I've never let nothin' be easy
* Let it be like the nest of a dream
* As likely as stones are to rise up and sing
* As likely as birds to fly out of this thing *
Recapping our top story tonight,
government official kidnapped from his
country home outside the capitol.
Shown here is the getaway vehicle, the Henley Triton V-Six.
Triton, for comfort and safety the best-selling
full size sedan in the world.
Police today confirmed that the kidnapping
was the work of the Citizens for Justice and Democracy,
which released this video.
I admit that I am guilty of these nasty crimes against
the people and of perpetuating the pig power of rule.
Authorities say the confession appears
to have been coerced.
Now stay tuned for Friends.
Long slogan today.
I had a big meal last night.
Who said it?
Carlos Morales, Second Critique of Oligarchy.
You should read it.
I'm waiting for the movie.
So he was a friend of yours, the famous professor Morales?
My mentor.
I heard he fled, self-imposed exile they say.
Well some say he was dumped into the sea
from a helicopter in one of those midair interrogations.
And what do you think?
Doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter what you think or it
doesn't matter what happened to him?
Doesn't matter.
How do you remember it all like that, word for word?
My entertainment options are kind of limited.
Have you memorized anything else?
Shakespeare, some books of the Bible,
Eliot, Yates.
Bullshit.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre,
the falcon cannot hear the falconer.
Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Blood-dimmed tide is loosed,
everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.
That was my wife's favorite poem.
They came for her in the middle of the night,
the time-honored way.
At least I got a trial.
When was this?
Long time ago.
Junior was still running the secret police for his father.
I heard that he did a lot of the high level
interrogations himself.
Yeah, yeah I heard that too.
And your son?
In hiding.
How long since you've seen him?
Nine years.
Surely some revelation is at hand.
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming, hardly are those words out when
a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi troubles my sight.
Somewhere sent into the desert,
a shape with lion's body and the head of a man.
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun is moving
its slow thighs while all about it reel
shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
that 20 centuries of stony sleep were vexed
to nightmare by a rocking cradle.
And what rough beast, its hour come 'round at last
slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Better go.
What's the name of this latest masterpiece anyway?
Out For Vengeance Four.
Christ.
What can we expect I wonder?
Same as before.
Yippy.
Is this a joke?
Yeah but this time the joke's on you.
You're never gonna get away with this you mother fucker.
Shut the fuck up.
Get your stinkin' paws off of her you damn, dirty ape.
I want to see Trey a little longer.
Well sir that's a problem 'cause
it's really all I have of that take.
Mike moves the gun right after Trey says "hell."
I'll see you in hell.
Fuck.
See one of the hallmarks of my style that
I'm known for is subtext.
All great filmmakers have subtext and mise-en-scène, no?
Lots of mise-en-scène, we have to have that.
Yes sir, absolutely.
So I need that shot to be longer.
Unfortunately sir that is the longest take--
Maybe if I slow it down.
Let's discuss this like rational men.
Sorry we have a strict policy.
We don't negotiate with terrorists.
You're a sad mother fucker aren't you?
What do you think?
It seems a little cheesy.
Really?
Maybe a different speed.
We'll remember you as a murderer.
Face it Johnny, you got greedy.
Didn't you ever learn not to shit where you eat?
I'll see you in hell.
Save me a place in the shade.
Yeah that's better, that's good.
It's really coming together isn't it?
It has a certain je ne sais quoi.
Yes, it has a certain je ne sais quoi doesn't it?
Mister President, Monsieurs Smith
and Jones are still waiting for you up here.
Okay, I'll be right up.
Je ne sais quoi.
Sir, will you have someone come and refill my water dish?
Of course Walter.
I've really never met an actress who is
quite as extraordinary as this one.
The public find her very amusing, sir.
I also think she's extremely intelligent.
Wonderful red hair.
What is this?
Chicken, sir.
So what are you telling me,
we're still losing the hearts and minds thing?
Let's just say the campaign isn't going
quite as well as we'd like.
So where were we?
- Hearts and minds sir. - Right.
The main thing we need right now sir is to
defuse the credibility of the prison protests.
I take it you've got a plan, tell me.
You have a plan?
Well a statement from a high profile political prisoner
would be ideal, something disavowing the protests.
Who do you have in mind?
Well Thorne of course, he's the only one
with that kind of credibility.
You think Thorne's gonna make a statement on our behalf?
He won't even wear fucking clothes on our behalf.
Anybody can be made to talk, sir.
Prisoner number seven formerly
known as Thorne, John M.
Greetings from his royal highness Maximilian the Second.
Now about your son.
You'll be glad to know that after a lengthy search
of many years we've finally succeeded in locating him.
I assume you'd want to see him alive.
It's a very simple proposition we're offering.
We will guarantee the safety of your son and will
arrange regular visits for you with him.
In exchange for what?
Just a few kind words on our behalf.
Go fuck yourself.
Don't do this to yourself.
I didn't realize this was self-inflicted.
You know what I mean.
Hear you got your transfer.
So you still believe in Junior enough
to go risk your life for him?
I'm willing to risk my life for my country.
Good evening, I bring you holiday greetings from
the public detention facility R-28.
As you know the anti-government campaign of
the Citizens for Justice and Democracy has recently
resulted in several violent acts of public disobedience.
Accordingly the officials here have asked me to relate to
you firsthand that we prisoners are being treated very well.
Rumors to the contrary are vile anti-government propaganda.
Conditions inside the detention facility
are humane and generous.
Naturally there has been great public interest
in the first glimpse of the celebrated playwright
and dissident in more than five years.
He appears to have some sort
of facial twitching, Jim.
Let's go to Tom Enfield, our terrorism expert
who is with us by satellite, Tom?
Jim, I'm not sure if that's a tick or
if he's trying to blink something in code.
Morse code, T-O-R-T-E.
Smart guy, huh?
I told you don't fuck with Superman.
Hit the prisoner.
First Sergeant?
Smack the prisoner!
You have a problem with disciplining prisoners
or with that specific prisoner?
No, First Sergeant.
Again.
Again!
Go stand outside.
Close the door.
* Likely as stones are to rise up and sing
* Likely as birds to fly out of this thing *
When I think of the lazy afternoons of my childhood,
of the briny smell of sea air in the cool evenings,
I think also of the blood red moon and the bare
trees the color of rust.
Thorne's performance on television stirred a hornet's nest.
The final straw came when he was elected to
Parliament from inside R-28.
There was a lot of controversy as he was a playwright
with only limited acting experience.
But after that Junior had no choice but to
grant Thorne political prisoner status.
Frank, that fax last night was illegible.
Get them to change that cartridge on the machine, please.
Yes sir.
Thorne wrote me during the three years I spent
in Battalion Six, the elite counter-terrorist unit
the army wouldn't even officially admit existed.
We hunted his terrorist army in a place we call the Haunted
Wood, the place where I would meet my wife Madeleine.
He wrote "When I finally go back to the town where I
"was born, will I find the trees burned down to the ground?
"Everything they taught you in school is wrong."
They inject the chicken when they're young.
That's why it's so juicy.
Do they inject it when it's alive?
What am I, an expert on chicken farming?
I don't know shit like that.
You give me a good steak any day.
Nothin' better than a big, juicy steak.
What kind of woman comes to a strip club?
A lesbian.
Why don't you go over and strike up a casual conversation
with her, you hesitate a lot.
That's very helpful.
You know me, I'll fuck a snake if you hold its head.
Snake, you fucked a sea cow.
Why do you gotta bring that up?
We said we're never gonna speak of it.
Seriously man, we had an agreement.
You can't just go and break it like that.
Okay, so what am I gonna say to her?
Just go on over and say to her, "Hi, my name is Joe."
Hi, my name's Joe.
I'm gonna fuck you into next week.
Don't say that, just say "Hi, my name's Joe."
I gotta do everything for him.
Hi.
- My name is Joe. - Madeleine.
Nice to meet you, Madeleine.
Is that your boyfriend?
Kind of.
How secure would you say his position is
on a scale of one to 10?
Is 10 more secure or less secure?
I'd say 10 is more secure.
One.
Well may I sit down?
Yeah, okay.
No way brother, pot's legal in Sweden.
Would you mind if I gave you a call sometime?
Oh man not only has this chick got no tits,
no ass and she can't dance, she is butt ugly.
That's my wife.
Can we get the check over here?
24 years in the foreign service and this
is where it's got me.
Just relax, we'll see if we can get him
alone without Yoko.
So I went to town to sell the cow,
but all I got was these magic beans.
Magic beans, what do you mean magic beans?
Oh wee, that don't smell to magic to me.
So did you get any milk from the cow?
Nope, it was an udder failure.
You ain't got the sense God gave a turnip.
- God have a turnip what? - Sense.
- Since when? - No, sense.
No sense, nonsense.
That's what I'm saying.
You is confusing me.
Confusing me with what, a turnip?
No you is confusing me with your logics.
And what did you do when you was in Rome?
As the Romans do, of course.
And that voodoo that
they do so well, it was swell.
Hi Chuck, hi Ted.
You seen these guys before, they're hilarious.
No sir.
You want some popcorn?
Better not, sir.
So what's up?
Terrorists hit another village last night.
About half the villagers mutilated,
arms and legs hacked off a couple a dozen people.
Oh Jesus, what did the markets do?
Nothing good sir, Parliament's up in arms of course
and it looks like Thorne's people have locked up
another dozen votes on the amnesty issue
and announced two new candidates for the election.
What's the story of these candidates?
One of them spent four years on a soap,
the other's a Tony winner.
Tony winner, who gives a shit?
What was he in?
Chere en de Lieu, a musical.
I don't know Beauregard, what is the difference
between an Italian mother-in-law and an elephant?
The black dress.
I got to tell you this new wave of
amputations attacks is not helping us.
I've got two pictures opening next weekend,
please tell me you have an idea.
Release Thorne.
What?
Mister President, it's become increasingly hard
to justify keeping Thorne in prison.
It's an embarrassment to have a member
of Parliament locked up.
There's lots of politicians in prison Ted,
all over the world.
Lots more who should be but as long as Thorne's inside,
he can do no wrong but if he were out,
he'd be forced to make some unpopular choices
just like any other politician.
You don't want some of this?
What do you think, Chuck?
Well, it might bring him down to human size.
On the other hand it might look as if
we were caving in to terrorism.
On the contrary, we respond to violence with compassion,
demonstrating our commitment to the forum of democracy.
Then let him wither and die once he becomes
just another mother fucker in a suit.
I don't know Hans, how many Chinamen
does it take to change a light bulb?
Two, one to change it and one to be a slanty-eyed gook.
It's clever, I'll give you that.
Thank you sir.
But I have to ask you, is this gonna be a repeat of
the brilliant idea of having Thorne go on television?
'Cause that was your idea also, no?
Well, there are never any guarantees
but we have to do something.
Now I know that 20 centuries of stony sleep
were vexed in nightmare by a rocking cradle.
And what rough beast, it's hour come 'round at last
slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.
Hello Joe.
I wasn't sure you'd remember me, sir.
Look at you, they've made you an officer.
Yes sir and I got married too.
Congratulations.
How was Battalion Six?
I am not aware of any such unit, sir.
But if you had been in this mythical Battalion Six,
would you tell me?
I can neither confirm nor deny
the existence of such a unit, sir.
It's nothing personal.
Of course.
In was nothing personal in R-28 either, sir.
I know, very proud of you Joe.
From a humble prison guard to an officer
in Junior's elite security corps.
Last time I saw you, you were public enemy number one.
And now?
Well read the graffiti, you're a hero.
You know what they say,
show me a hero and I'll show you a tragedy.
You could be Prime Minister in a year or so I think.
Do you really think Junior would ever allow that?
Well he can't stop the people from voting, sir.
If voting could ever really change anything,
it'd be illegal.
Think of the way he presents himself now.
In the plural, we, the royal we.
He can't even swim, did you know that?
No sir.
He can't swim.
It's not a crime, it's not even a drawback really in a
Head of State but when I think of the number of times I
pulled him out of the swimming pool at my wife's school,
pulled his fat pink ass out of the water with him
blubbering and flailing around like a woman.
I've developed a skin condition.
I'm sorry to hear that sir.
I have to sit in a bath every day.
You know many people are very hopeful
now that you're out, sir.
When I was a young soldier the army
taught me to look for the antenna.
You can either hit the commander or his radio operator.
They still teach you that?
Something like that.
So Joe what do you think is more humane,
to wage a war and kill thousands of people or go
right to the source, sacrifice one man?
It seems a small price to pay, doesn't it?
Sir that question is way above my pay grade.
If you want to kill a snake, you cut off its head.
It is our pleasure to welcome Mister Thorne
and with him a new day in the history of our country.
He will of course be taking his seat in Parliament when
it reconvenes next month and we would like to announce
a new production of his play, Beneath a Marquee Moon.
We are looking forward to working with Mister Thorne
in seeking a solution to the troubles and in shaping
a bright new dawn for our great nation together.
I'm glad to be out of prison.
Mister President, I assure you sir what
happened this morning was an anomaly.
Chuck, could I borrow your pen?
You know what I think Ted,
I think you're a little sweet on Thorne.
I think you'd like to suck his cock, wouldn't you?
His tired old cock, what do you think Charlie?
I always thought Ted was a big fag, didn't you?
Now I wish I didn't have to do this but it's
bad business to let failure go unpunished.
It sends the wrong message to the rest of the staff.
Have you read that book Seven Habits
of Highly Successful People?
Because it helped me a lot.
* Hold my hand
These people you've surrounded yourself with are idiots.
None of them can see how dangerous Thorne is.
Talk about a lean and hungry look.
What happened today was just
personally insulting to you.
Well what can I do?
What if Thorne refuses to take his seat in Parliament?
That would probably mean the end of Parliament
as a governing body with any kind of,
you know oomph.
He knows that.
Thorne's just leading us down the primrose path.
Bonaventure is good, Bonaventure is kind, the people know.
It's just these terrorist vermin
poisoning the people against us.
You know what you're gonna have to do.
Then what?
Sooner or later.
I know, I know you're right but Smith and Johns--
Fuck Smith and Johns, where have their
bright ideas gotten us so far?
What you did today was long overdue,
one less imbecile on the payroll.
You're the Head of State.
You're right, you're so right.
What do the cards say, mommy?
The long knives are out.
Your enemies are gathering strength.
March portends evil.
The future is unclear so long as you
remain the last in your line.
My father groomed me to succeed him even as a child
a dynasty that would last a thousand years.
Do you hate me because I'm not a real woman?
No, no.
Mommy.
I love you.
And someday soon you'll give us a future.
A son,
an heir.
Daddy, you're so good to me.
Mommy.
Please fuck me.
Tell me you want my cock in you.
I want your big fat cock in me.
Tell me again.
I want your big fat donkey dick in me.
A newly freed John Thorne has announced
that he will refuse to take his seat
when Parliament reconvenes this week.
Thorne's announcement earlier today was
a sever blow to the peace process and cast
grave doubt on the government's portrayal of a
reproachment with the Citizens for Justice and Democracy.
Talks between Mister Thorne and the
administration continue with senior government officials
expressing confidence about the chances of an agreement.
I just don't understand the appeal of this guy's word.
Such pretentious crap, don't you think?
Yes sir.
It's all symbolism, I don't know.
Some people like that shit I suppose.
The critics like your work too, sir.
Nobody has better reviews than you.
That's true there is that, when's the opening?
The previews begin this week, sir.
That's when we should do it, opening night.
Pull an Abraham Lincoln on his ass,
see what kind of box office he does after that.
Put Battalion Six on it.
Sir I feel I should restate my original objection.
You were embarrassed awfully but you have
to try to give the original plan some time.
No I don't have to do shit because I am the Head of State.
I'm Maximilian the Second!
I am the savior of the nation!
I am the guardian of the people!
I am the master of all that crawls upon the earth
and swims in the sea and you fuckers have
fucked me in the ass for the last time!
I would like him eliminated!
Terminated with extreme prejudice like,
like Marlon Brando, got it?
Yes sir, got it.
And as you insist quite rightly,
may I suggest a less public place?
A random accident on a deserted stretch of road,
perhaps something discrete?
Discrete, okay yes I like that.
Anything else Mister President?
Okay arrange it, no thank you Captain, that'll be all.
I like discrete!
Captain.
Captain, I'm sure I don't really need to say this but
you will be circumspect about what you heard here.
It's all classified at the highest possible level.
I would never do anything to hurt my country, sir.
Glad to hear it.
Are you married, son?
Yes sir.
Any kids?
One on the way, sir.
Bun in the oven eh, good for you Captain.
Jolly good for you.
The President-For-Life said the bill
represents a major turning point.
What time is it?
It's three.
It's almost 3:30, where have you been?
Working, you know I had to be there.
I'm sorry to wake you.
You all right?
Yeah I'm fine.
You know what they used to teach us in training?
They used to say do something even if it's wrong.
That's good advice.
Well the army's not big on indecision.
You sure you're okay?
Do you know that I love you?
Of course.
And I love our baby and I want a better world for her.
You're scaring me Joe.
Just tell me you know that.
I know that.
In other news the Citizens for Justice and Democracy
claimed responsibility for the daring daylight robbery
of the First International Savings Bank yesterday morning.
First International Savings, now offering low interest
home loans for qualified first time buyers.
First International, where we're banking on you.
* To Bombay a traveling circus came
* They brought an intelligent elephant
* And Nellie was her name
* One dark night she slipped her iron chain
* And off she ran to Hindustan
* And was never seen again
* Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
* And said goodbye to the sand
Are you out of your fucking mind, Captain?
Some gentlemen here to see you, sir.
President-For-Life Maximilian the Second,
patriarch of the House of Bonaventure.
You are hereby placed under arrest for crimes
against the people, crimes against the state
and crimes against humanity.
Thank you, son.
This action is taken under the authority of
the Citizens For Justice and Democracy as it
is the legitimate representative of the people.
The Imperial government is relieved of its powers.
A provisional revolutionary government is announced
pending free elections to be supervised by the CJD.
You are entitled to a speedy trial
with proper representation.
What a fine Republican you are.
All your bullshit about democracy and you
burst in here like common hoodlums.
We would've given you a jury of your peers if
we could've found a dozen dictators to sit here.
But the Shah is dead, Noriega's in jail.
Pinochet is sick and Idi Amin's got a tennis lesson.
Ladies and gentlemen of the court,
when I think of the lazy afternoons under
the bruised skies of my childhood,
of the smoldering trees burned down to the ground.
Of the blank faces of barren women
sitting by the side of the road,
I think what have 20 years of Maximilian's rule brought us?
20 years of an administration that has shown nothing
but contempt for the people it nominally serves.
20 years of a press muffled by the state,
20 years of our once thriving culture turned into
the private plaything of one man with terrible taste.
20 years of a dirty war waged against his own people,
political undesirables forcibly sterilized, tortured,
murdered or just disappeared.
Oh you've finished?
And now perhaps we can discuss this like rational men.
I'm sorry, we have a strict policy.
We don't negotiate with terrorists.
And what of our First Lady, this third-rate actress
who had the palace grounds refrigerated so that
she could wear her fur coat to her inauguration
in the middle of summer?
If you want me to abdicate I'll need a guarantee
of safe passage to the country--
But should we let him just live out the rest
of his days on some riviera,
spending the money he's stolen from the people?
House arrest at my villa in the country.
Any of the villas, you pick.
Face it Junior, you got greedy.
Didn't you ever learn not to shit where you eat?
Ladies and gentlemen of the court,
look at the face of evil.
See how thin its lips are,
how pale and pockmarked it is up close, how ordinary?
The prosecution rests, defense.
The defense calls Mister Thorne.
Mister Thorne, would you tell the court what was the crime
for which you were imprisoned for 13 long years?
Writing a play that was critical of the government.
And is the man who had you imprisoned
present in this courtroom today?
He is.
Would you point him out, please?
That man there.
Let the record show that the witness indicated
the accused, no further questions.
You may step down.
The prosecution calls Madame Josephine Delacroix,
First Lady of the Empire.
Madame, can you think of any positive contribution your
husband has made to this country in his time as President?
Madame can you think of any reason why your husband should
not be put to death for what he has done to this country?
Let the record show that the witness was silent.
No further questions, thank you Madame.
The accused has the right to say
something in his own defense.
Prisoner, you have anything to say for yourself?
We fucked your wife before we killed her, you know.
She loved it, she squealed like the pig that she was.
She dug her nails into my back, she begged me for more.
Yeah she was a pretty good piece of ass
for a dried up old cunt.
She thanked me for raping her.
She said she was glad she'd finally had a real man,
a man who knew how to make her come.
Has the jury reached a verdict?
We have your honor,
we find the defendant guilty as charged.
They'll remember you as a murderer.
They'll remember me as a surgeon,
a surgeon who cut a cancer from the body of the state.
And the sentence? - [Judge] Death.
Prisoner, please stand up.
All right, I'm sorry.
Is that what you want to hear?
Tell me what you want and you can have it, anything.
On your feet, prisoner.
It is the sentence of this court that you shall be
taken hence to a place of execution and there
you will be hanged by your neck until you are dead.
May God almighty have mercy on your soul.
Do you want me to be your slave?
I'll lick your boots, seriously I will.
An alternative form of execution may be substituted
at the discretion of provisional Revolutionary government.
I'll give you money.
Go on, anoint yourselves.
Get on the radio and announce it to the people.
The government has fallen.
The Citizens For Justice and Democracy
have assumed leadership of the country.
When Junior fell it was like the first spring after
a thousand winters but I didn't know then the price
I would pay for the revolution, that we would all pay.
The wife I would lose and the daughter,
Daisy, I would never really know.
Morning, coffee?
Yeah.
Is there any milk?
Condensed.
Do you know what you want?
Are there any eggs?
They cut the ration again, the new quake has hit us hard.
How about butter?
You ask me that every morning.
I ask you that every morning and every morning
you tell me the same thing.
No butter.
How about steak?
There's nothing better than a big, juicy steak.
I'll just have the coffee then.
Wait, I've got it.
I hate this new money, it falls apart in your hand.
I'm sorry.
It's all right, it's all right.
You were in the camps.
Yeah, you?
No you're too young.
My mother.
They said she was sleeping with black marketeers
to get extra bread and milk for me.
I don't really remember her.
What about you, how did you end up in the camps?
From sea to shining sea, all the news that's fit
with your Actions News Team Jim Broadmore and Jane Prufrock.
Hello I'm Jim Broadmore.
And I'm Jane Prufrock and here's what's
news in your world tonight.
Our top story tonight, elections originally
scheduled for the spring and already twice
postponed have been postponed again.
In a prepared statement a spokesman for the
Revolutionary government stated that the threat from
counter-revolutionary forces remains too dangerous
to allow elections at this time.
Quote "The safety of the Republic remains our utmost
"concern and we must do nothing to put that at risk."
Unquote.
When pressed to set a date for the new elections,
a spokesman for Chairman Thorne,
peace be with him, declined comment.
Thorne and his Revolutionary Government
wanted to make me a hero for what I had done.
But what I was seeing didn't make me eager
to sign on as their poster boy.
What is the color of the sky?
Red.
Thorne's people began emptying the
cities the very morning of the coup,
driving the uncooperative into reeducation camps.
And what is the law?
Not to eat meat, are we not men?
And what have we learned?
The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.
I was for 13 years imprisoned in R-28.
Thorne halted the import of medicine,
banned action movies and began systematically
separating children from their parents,
railing against what he called the narcissism of family.
From Year Zero we restart the calendar.
Babylon has fallen,
long live the Republic!
And all the while the Revolution's propaganda
machine worked overtime, rewriting history.
Anyone who was inconvenient to its new vision
was simply erased.
Who would be left to write the secret history
of a past that never really existed?
A final reminder as of tomorrow 14 Thermadore, green
will mean stop and red will mean go at all traffic lights.
Red is the color of the Revolution,
all glory to Chairman Thorne and the Republic.
Now stay tuned for Friends.
Joe, what are you doing?
Well Joe, how are you?
I thought you said you'd never live
in this gingerbread monstrosity.
Tell me about it.
I'm working all the time, it was easier for me to live here.
Running a revolution keeps you busy, huh?
You know it's nearly a full time job.
Here give me just a minute, would you?
Sure.
You know I don't know how anybody wrote
anything before there were computers.
Can you imagine the struggle Dickens or Tolstoy must have
gone through writing those 900 page novels with a pen?
Well as I recall you once wrote with even less.
It doesn't seem like something the Revolution would
embrace what with the vegetarian laws and the book burnings.
But you didn't bring me here to talk
to me about word processes.
No I didn't bring you here to talk to you about
word processes, you refused to sign the loyalty oath.
It's an insult.
It's a piece of paper. - Exactly.
In your debt Joe, what you did for the Republic.
You're a hero of the Revolution.
What did you say once?
Show me a hero and I'll show you a tragedy.
So cynical, when I look out at the plaza of the martyrs
I know that what we did was the right thing to have done.
Let me put you into a position where you
can do some good for the Revolution.
And what's good for the Revolution is
good for the country, yes?
Lemme make you a general, give you a division to command.
I'm retired.
All right, have it your way.
I'm not gonna try to make you feel guilty about
the things you could be doing for your country.
I think I've done enough.
Sit down, please.
Thank you, Tanya.
Oh, you're having second thoughts about the Revolution.
We are content to let history be the judge.
We?
Is that the royal we or you and the frog in your pocket?
You know when I was in the army I watched your men give
out food in the dirt-poor neighborhoods they controlled.
I saw them enforce order in places where
even the police were afraid to go.
I also saw your tax collectors encourage those
who were hesitant to cooperate.
That cordless drill, that was a real leap
forward for you, wasn't it?
I had to save bullets.
Let me ask you a question Joe,
are things better than they were four years ago?
Are the people better off, are you?
Well you know what they say,
under the old government man exploited man.
But since the Revolution it's the other way around.
I am very aware that there are some people out there
who think the Revolution has become a monster.
Is that what you think?
I think the People's Militias are out of control.
A bunch of government-sanctioned religious fanatics--
There have been excesses and we
have been very forthright about that.
Excesses, people are being sent to the
reeducation camps because they wear glasses.
Children are being rewarded for turning
their parents in to the secret police.
No neckties--
Obviously the Revolution is a work in progress,
would you go back to how it used to be?
You're a smart guy Joe.
You saw what was good and bad about the Revolution
and you chose it over the alternative.
Don't come in here playing the betrayed innocent.
How is your um, how is your rash?
I sit in the bath every day.
You should see a doctor, oops,
sent them all to the reeducation camps.
Oh don't be infantile.
We're trying to build a new society,
that requires a certain amount of fuckin' pain.
We all gave up something for a better world.
You gave up your son.
So did God.
You know that the amputations are still going on?
It's a problem but we are doing what we can
to bring the militias in line with the revolutionary
principles of professor Morales.
Jesus Christ.
What was that?
Nothing.
Are you sure?
How could you lionize Morales when
you've closed all the universities,
you've sent all the professors to the camps?
There's no one here who can teach anyone anything.
Morales would have condemned
what our universities had become.
Give me a fucking break sir.
Morales is on a beach somewhere with a mountain
of opium and a harem of teenage whores getting
high every day and fucking 12 year old girls
until his balls drop off!
I have a daughter, what do I tell her?
You tell her that you did something.
You know Joe when our forefathers came to this country,
they burned their ships on the shore.
There was no turning back.
Your ship went up in flames when you
opened the door to this office to us.
We're a nation at war and you're with us
whether you regret it or not.
What's this?
It's a loyalty oath.
Citizen, you have been found guilty of crimes
against the Revolution and our holy God.
As an enemy of the people you are sentenced to
a course of instruction in reeducation camp number nine
until such a time as you have been reeducated
in the proper revolutionary mindset.
We encourage you to look deep within your heart.
Cast out that which has led you down the path of iniquity.
Let all who hear these words take heed.
All praise to Chairman Thorne,
leader and guiding force of our people.
You know why you're here, prisoner?
Because I helped Thorne kill the President
and I've outlived my usefulness.
No I mean the real reason, why are you here?
I wouldn't sign the loyalty oath.
Can't very well have a society where it's acceptable
to be disloyal to one's country now can we?
So you helped Chairman Thorne kill the President
and the First Lady, hmm?
Seems to me it's in your best interest to play ball,
proclaim your support.
Cooperate and graduate, that's our motto around here.
Now you can do that can't you?
The Chief Instructor Doc had been
an ophthalmologist before the Revolution.
Unlike most of his colleagues in the medical profession,
he wound up running a reeducation camp
instead of being imprisoned in one.
Welcome to Caesar's Palace, the best hotel on the Strip.
Where's your room?
They sent me under the cell house.
That's what we call Michigan Avenue.
I'm just around the corner on Broadway.
Jesus Christ, where are they taking him?
Room 12.
What's in Room 12?
You don't wanna know.
Do you know?
Well, no.
A stale piece of bread is better than nothing.
And nothing is better than a big, juicy steak.
Nothing is better than a big, juicy steak.
Therefore a stale piece of bread is better
than a big, juicy steak.
The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from
the tent of meeting, he said speak to the Israelites
and say to them when any of you brings an offering
to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal
from either the herd or the flock.
This is very poor conduct.
Very counter-revolutionary.
All we're asking is that you do your duty as a citizen,
declare your loyalty to the flag.
You are a patriot, aren't you?
Fuck off.
You kiss your mama with that mouth?
You're the one who says you were there
when Mister Thorne killed the President, huh?
It was all in the papers.
That must've been the weekend I was out of town
water skiing with the Pope.
You know this guy, big hero of the Revolution?
Why don't you cool off in there awhile
before you find yourself in Room 12.
I thought this was Room 12.
What do you want from me?
I want you to tell me about the conspiracy.
The conspiracy?
We know that you, some of the others
are plotting a conspiracy.
There's no conspiracy.
Do you still maintain that you were involved
in the assassination of the President?
Yes.
Well that was a conspiracy, wasn't it?
So why wouldn't you be involved in another one?
I'm not.
So you admit that there is a conspiracy.
If I was plotting something do you think
that I'd be stupid enough to attack a guard?
- Maybe you attacked the guard to make us
think you weren't involved in the conspiracy
or you'd never have attacked the guard.
I'm not that smart.
It's tough to believe you Joe when you
won't even declare what side you're on.
So are you gonna do yourself a favor
and sign the loyalty oath?
No.
I'm a man of science, Joe.
All this revolutionary mumbo-jumbo.
I was hired to employ the scientific method
and my job right now is to uncover the root
of this conspiracy based on the evidence.
You have evidence?
No, that's how I know there's a conspiracy.
What?
If there wasn't a conspiracy there'd be evidence.
That's how effective the conspiracy is.
Morning Joe.
What's better than a big, juicy steak?
You ask me that every morning.
I ask you that every morning and every
morning you tell me the same thing.
So what's better than a big, juicy steak?
Nothing, nothing's better than a big, juicy steak.
Now Joe the sooner you admit your involvement in this
the sooner you get outta here, get that eye taken care of.
By who?
The chaplain will pray for it to heal.
Why do you insist on resisting when you
can't even be sure of your own story?
Did you personally witness
the supposed murder of the President?
No.
So you didn't actually see Mister Thorne pull the trigger.
No.
Joe, have you ever heard the story of
the five blind men who came upon an elephant?
One felt the leg and said,
"Ah, an elephant is very much like a tree."
The next felt the trunk and said,
"An elephant is very much like a snake."
The next felt the tusk and said,
"An elephant is very much like a spear."
See what I'm trying to get at?
What happens to the prisoners you
photograph and then take away?
So let's go through this one more time, Joe.
Where'd you go after work detail this morning?
I told you I went back to my cell.
Which is where?
Michigan Avenue.
And where'd you go after that?
To the chapel.
And after that?
I went back to my cell again.
And then where?
The duck say.
The duck say, what's a duck say?
Quack, quack.
As humble servants of the Revolution,
we have long looked forward to this day.
It is out great honor to be the recipients of a visit from
the Chairman of the Citizen's Committee for Justice
and Democracy, the grand hero of the Revolution.
Gentlemen I give you Chairman Thorne, peace be with him.
Good day.
Come back to us.
Good morning citizen.
Good morning citizen, you look well.
Good day citizen, nice to see you.
Chairman.
Don't you remember me?
My eye.
Study hard citizen and soon
you will rejoin the general public.
Good morning citizen, how are you?
And what rough beast, his hour come 'round at last
slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Good morning citizen, beautiful morning.
Nice to see you.
I thought you were my friend, Joe.
I tried to protect you but now I'm afraid
there's nothing left I can do.
It's oom 12 for you.
Sorry buddy, I had to tell 'em about the conspiracy.
It was you or me, you know how it is.
Joe, how are you?
Have a seat.
Coffee?
Joe you were in the army, correct?
What was your last assignment before the Revolution?
Presidential security detail.
And before that?
- Field duty. - Where?
Was it the Plain of Reeds, which unit?
Who are you protecting Joe, that war is long over.
Battalion Six.
And what did you do in this Battalion Six?
You know what we did.
See the problem is I don't have any
record of a unit by that name.
It was a secret unit.
It was a secret unit, ah.
Sloan, Joseph J, Private First Class.
Drafted out of high school, assigned as a clerk
to the Imperial detention facility R-28.
Good conduct medal, unremarkable military record.
Discharged at the end of the normal two-year service,
returned to civilian life.
What?
Worked as a shipping clerk on the northwest coast.
Married, one daughter, Daisy, born in Year One.
What are you talking about?
Subject was arrested in Year Three for misdemeanor
counter-revolutionary activities to wit possession
of softcore pornography, breasts no bush.
Sentenced to six months in reeducation camp number nine.
That's kind of a pathetic thing to get sent
to a reeducation camp for isn't it, Joe?
Possession of some titty magazines.
While being reeducated, wife granted divorce under
Revolutionary Statute Four-Seven-One slash J.
What are you taking about divorce, this isn't true.
Joe you were never assigned to the Haunted Wood.
You were never assigned to this mythical Battalion Six.
You were never a commando,
you were never assigned to the present--
No, no it is not true!
You were never an assassin, Joe.
You were not part of a plot to kill the President.
You were a clerk Joe, an ordinary man like the rest of us.
Fuck you.
How fast can you type, Joe?
How fast can you type?
Wife left with daughter aged five,
daughter adopted by stepfather Daniels, Bernard M.
Visitation right of birth father suspended
for duration of reeducation process.
I had to leave, Joe.
I didn't have any idea how long you
were gonna be in the camp.
And the disgrace of it.
It was hard enough for me but for Daisy.
Why would Mister Thorne, peace be with him,
personally kill the President?
Why wouldn't he simply employ an assassin?
Especially if he had an accomplice in
the presidential security detail.
He had to do it himself.
He couldn't give the order to another man.
Why would he waste time and risk capture to stage
a show trial while in the presidential bedroom?
He knew Junior wouldn't let him rise to power.
If he was so popular why would
he need to mount a coup at all?
What's better than a big, juicy steak Joe, hmm?
What's better than a big, juicy steak?
* I'm through with this beautiful hat
* I've never let nothin' be as easy as that
* I won't let it be like the nest of the dream
* Cradle for stone and all of it seems
* As likely as birds to fly out of this thing
* The water grows quiet or so it pretends
* It stands deep and cloudy and waits to come in
* And take up the place at one time was mine
* When I was beginning to learn how to climb *
Another bomb exploded today only a few
hundred meters from the palace of the Republic.
Counter-revolutionary forces from the Loyalist
Committee for the Restoration again took credit.
Government officials condemned
this cowardly act of terrorism.
Who's in charge of this new government?
Junior's nephew's been returned
from the government-in-exile.
I thought his family had been wiped out.
His mother, the President's sister-in-law escaped.
He was never even separated from his mother.
So where are you gonna go?
Back to the city, they'll always need doctors.
Especially now.
Besides, I've been a neutral observer in all this.
I mean after all I'm a physician.
Take care of yourself Joe.
Hey there he is.
Where the fuck are you going?
I've been offered a new position.
The Ministry of Justice,
we worked out a very comfortable deal.
I got a big desk, got a secretary.
She's got real big tits.
Sadly your insistence that you were involved in
the murder of the President makes it difficult
for the new government, which is to say
the old government to release you.
We're very sympathetic to your case, Joe.
I want you to know that.
We know how you've suffered but the fact that you've
now endured several years of what we have to
assume has been relentless indoctrination,
brainwashing to a cause so to speak.
Perhaps with some additional rehabilitation,
we'll feel comfortable releasing you but that's something
that we're gonna have to take a long, hard look at
and that is an ongoing process.
But hey, buck up buddy.
We're gonna get you out of here just as
soon as the political climate allows it.
Hey, I don't forget my friends.
When I think of the lazy afternoons of my childhood,
of the briny smell of sea air in the cool evenings.
Of the blood red moon and rosy-fingered dawn,
I think also of Madeleine and Daisy
and where they are today.
Hi can't stay long, I'm picking Nicky up for day care.
I'll come back tomorrow though,
I'm working nights this week.
I got you some of those chips you like.
Chow time.
This used to be a hospital you know.
What?
This prison used to be a hospital.
Dad are you okay, are you all right?
You okay dad?
I'll see you tomorrow.
The Empire we brought down rockets
from their unjust genocide and the inhuman
conditions in which we were forced to live.
They wanted us to accept our imposed commitment
and keep our mouths shut and our arms crossed
so that they could keep manipulating their
political and race agenda.
To perpetuate this million dollar business as long
as we accepted that no one would be tortured.
And if we continued to exclaim the truth of this
70 year old genocide, the following punishments
in place are torture, cold-blooded assassination
and disappearing.
Even now the enemies of the people continue
doing all kinds of horrific actions,
unjustly perpetuating this holocaust against many
of the innocent workers with unjust kidnapping--