SURVIVING HOPE

Surviving Hope is a film script I am writing. It documents the life of Iraqis in their own country over a period of 35 years and reflects the effect politics have on daily life there. It also shows how the ideas and mentality of human beings can change over a period of time because of hunger, suffering and death. The script below is a first draft which outlines how the story begins.
ZAIN Al-JANABI

Surviving Hope
by Zain Al-Janabi

Wars and political actions in Iraq

Scene 1: Set on 24th of March 1983

FADE IN:

MID SHOT of a TV in a room, dark background.

SADDAM HUSSEIN
(On TV)
In the name of God, most fearful, most merciful. To all great heroes who sacrificed themselves for the safety and security of our beautiful nation and our great historic Eastern Arab gate. Keep sacrificing powerful men and keep fighting till we see the last of those cowards dropping dead on the battlefield. We fought bravely for three years, and we can continue doing the same for 30 more years.

MEDIUM LONG SHOT – ROOM – of two young men and a woman having their breakfast on a table in front of the TV.

SUMMAYA
(Worried look)
Is he serious?! 30 years of war!

ALI
What do you expect from such a coward fighting other cowards?!

JAFFAR
(Smiling)
I think we should start preserving Shias.

SUMMAYA
All I’m hoping for is for the big ones to get involved and stop all this nonsense.

ALI
They are the ones who are making this nonsense. All they are trying to get to is finding a way to control the Middle East and everything in it, for the sake of the almighty Jews.

SUMMAYA
(Worried again)
What shall we do then?

JAFFAR
(Smiling, and shaking head)
Hope the time goes back for 60 years and wish to face the same destiny which Black Africans faced.

SUMMAYA
(Terrified look on her face)
Slaves! Us Iraqis!!!

JAFFAR
Better than dying on the side of this ugly coward, who doesn’t value the name of Iraq.

EXTREME LONG SHOTS of explosions and dead bodies in Basra. Sad Bansuri music on.

MEDIUM SHOT of a TV in a room, dark background.

KHOMEINI
(On TV)
In the name of God, most fearful, most merciful. To all people who sacrificed themselves for the sake of Islam and for the death of every single Israeli. We gave many lives away in the past three years, but the soul of great Muslim warriors will continue living in our minds till we see the last of those cowards waving the white flag and begging for mercy. My sons, all I want from you is to continue in the same way and try to get the mission done, the mission of bringing Islamic glory days back to where they belong. May Allah and his Angels be on your side.

MEDIUM LONG SHOT – ROOM – of two young men and a woman having tea.

ALI
Allah and angels?! The West got you to where you are right now, not Allah and angels.

SUMMAYA
He’s fighting the West, I don’t get you! How can they get him to where he is?!

ALI
He’s there, so the West can be there

SUMMAYA
What about us?

ALI
Us here, so that he can be here, so that they can be here.

EXTREME LONG SHOT of dead bodies in Abadan and different shots of women crying in funerals back in Iranian cities. Sad Oud music played.

MID SHOT of a TV in a room, dark back ground.

DONALD RUMSFELD
(On TV)
Man and the turtle are very much alike. Neither makes any progress without sticking his neck out.

ALI
No progress without sticking the head out. That’s why they are in control of everything, even though they are far, far away from us.

SUMMAYA
Don’t they work for themselves like our leaders do?

ALI
Yes, but the difference is that they put their country’s and people’s success ahead of everything, as a target to get to. Unlike us, all we want is growing bigger and bigger without bothering about how our country and people are getting on.

SUMMAYA
So all we care about is ourselves?!

ALI
Typically Eastern-minded, that’s why they call us the Third World.

SUMMAYA
Don’t you think it might change one day?

JAFFAR
It’s always been like that and will always be the same.

Scenes of aftermath of explosions in Iraq and Iran.

VOICE OVER OF A MIDDLE-AGED MAN
Over 600,000 lives were lost from both sides in the war. Trillions of dollars lost and both countries are still paying their debts. And all they gained was pain after pain of the sad memory, the memory of two neighbours who kept killing each other’s civilians for nearly a decade. What did the big ones lose? You’ll get the answer from looking at the ‘I Love NY’ souvenirs.

Scenes of Kuwaiti civilians being tortured by Iraqi forces (1989). Scenes of Shiite civilians dead bodies in south of Iraq (1991).

VOICEOVER OF A WOMAN
Saddam went into a second war, but this time it was against the whole world. Thousands of Iraqi children died from hunger, a whole generation didn’t know what the term Pepsi stood for, even though they are living in one of the richest countries in the world. Men had to queue for hours to get petrol although their country is one of the world’s biggest petrol producers.And finally we thought that the scenario had a conclusion in 2003, but all we gained was more and more victims being killed for no reason.Who’s responsible? It’s too complicated. But all we hope for is for a bright ending for all the suffering in all those dark days.

Extreme long shot of American forces in different cities in Iraq (2003).

VOICEOVER OF OLD MAN
Just like we hoped when Colonel Abdul Karim Qassim took control of the Kingdom of Iraq by a coup d’etat. Just like we hoped when the Ba’th party took power after violently overthrowing Abd al-Karim Qasim and quashing communist-led resistance.
And just like we hoped in many important periods of our bloody modern Iraqi history.

Zoom out of children playing in swings in Al Zawra’ park in Baghdad. Iraqi new national anthem music played.

VOICE OVER OF GROUP
At the end we hope that the hope will survive. Survive for the sake of our men, our women and most importantly our children.