Screenplay By writes august

The sound of drums. A barren courtyard. house. The land.

Rhythmic taps. Everything drab and dull. The

A YOUNG BOY, sitting on the dirt floor with legs crossed, ratataps an old drum. He looks directly at us. Pah-bum. Pah-bum. Pah... Plays for us.

...BOOM! An explosion. The house and the courtyard are consumed in a fiery explosion. IN SLOW MOTION the boy disintegrates.

BROWN EYES flutter open... INT. CAR / EXT. ALLEYWAY - DAMASCUS - DAWN ...inside an old disused car. The eyes belong to AGRABAH JAFAR (mid-40s) who wears a stained syrian army uniform. He sits up. Wipes away cold sweat from his brow. Jafar stares out of the alleyway into arid landscape. Squat buildings in silhouette against the red-yellow sky and a far-off column of smoke so straight it resembles an extended middle finger. Jafar sits there, drinks in the gaint FUCK YOU. EXT. BUILDING - DAY SHAKING HANDS holding a cigarette. Jafar leans against a half-crumpled wall watching an SUV pull up. The driver, ALLADIN (mid-50s) wearing a vest, gets out. They acknowledge each other. They know each other.

Jafar heistates. Tosses away his cigarette. Kicks away a pile of rocks and pulls out a large duffel. He unzips it. An mc-1 BOMB. Alladin nods. They head towards the SUV.

2.

EXT. MARKETPLACE - GHOUTA - DAY A bustling marketplace. Vendors set up along the main road. Children play tag as old men on stools watch. Inside an ALLEYWAY is the SUV. INT. SUV Jafar stares straight ahead as Alladin talks: ALLADIN Take the bag. Walk around first with it. Make sure people see you with it. Jafar is unresponsive. ALLADN (CONTD) Jafar? Jafar snaps out of his trance. EXT. MARKETPLACE - GHOUTA - DAY Jafar sweats profusely as he walks through the throng of people carrying the duffel. A YOUNG BOY barrels past him. Jafar nearly loses the grip on the strap... ...the boy turns. Jafars eyes go wide. he sees the boy from his dreams... Nauseous. Dizzy. Jafar closes his eyes. them. The boy is GONE. For a brief moment When he opens Nods.

Desperate, he tiptoes and tries to find him again. INT. SUV Alladin thumbs through Dickens A tale of two cities when suddenly a face appears at the window-- Jafar. Jafar moves around to the passenger side, gets in. hands are caked with dirt and blood. His

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: ALLADIN Your hands... Jafar shakes his head. Alladin grabs him by the collar, JERKS HIM HARD. JAFAR I cant-- we cant. ALLADN What did you do? JAFAR It wont bring back Abu. It wont bring back your Iago, either. Alladin shakes him. ALLADIN Jafar, where did you put it? JAFAR Outside of town-- I buried it-underneath the big trunk we passed earlier-SHLICK. JAFAR

3.

turns to face Alladin, then he dumbly looks down...

...at the knife stabbed into his abdomen. A red flower blossoms there. Jafar opens the door, falls out onto the ground. He gets up. Stumbles away and falls. Crawls towards the vertical sliver of daylight far ahead, smearing a thick trail of blood. A long SHADOW STRETCHES across him. Jafar sees a pair of boots...looks up at Alladin. JAFAR Stop. It wont bring back our sons. We are only doing to others what has been done to us. We are not monsters. We can make the right choice... Alladin crouches down with sympathetic eyes.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

4.

ALLADIN Remember when we were about their age? Those pretend-games we played. Jafar the great... Jafar the meriful... you were always the hero. You remember, my friend? JAFAR Alladin... ALLADIN And I was always stuck. Stuck being the villain. The monster. But I realize now-- I see it-- Gods plan. Being a hero, that is easy. But to save our people... what we need is not a hero, what we need is a monster... like me! That is the true measure of a man. The ability to do make the hard choice... the right choice. Alladin produces his knife. ALLADIN (CONTD) I will dig out the bomb. You have fulfilled your role, Jafar the great and merciful. JAFAR Alladin-Alladin brings down the knife. Its blade disappears into Jafars head with a sickening crunch. ALLADIN Shhhh... Rest. Go to our sons in heaven. Alladin takes off Jafars uniform, strips out of his clothes and puts it on. He puts on his vest and zips it up to hide the blood in the front and strolls out of the alleyway.