Original subtitles

VOICE OVER: In this, our 20th century,

almost every nation in the world has

at some time been in conflict.

The oppressors and the oppressed.

The victors and the vanquished.

The people of war.

A tragic indictment of our civilization.

A time when much of the world

was looking for ways to increase

their influence, power, and riches.

Full of dreams for the restoration

of the glory that was Rome,

in 1911 Italy joins the hunt for territory.

Libya on the other side of

the Mediterranean Sea is the target.

Landings were made at Tripoli,

Benghazi, Zawiya, Sirte, Derna, and Tobruk.

The local population fighting on many fronts

made fierce and resolute resistance to the invaders,

thus bringing the war to a stalemate.

1922 saw dramatic change in Italy.

The beginning of Mussolini's era of dictatorship.

The conflict in Libya escalated as more,

and more fascist might was thrown

against the stiffening resistance

of the local population.

MUSSOLINI: We will overrun the earth,

and then we will take the flag of fascism to the stars.

ITALIAN SOLDIER: Puntate.

Puntate.

Fuoco.

MUSSOLINI: More and more, I don't understand.

If we defeated the Bedouin,

why are we still hanging them?

Why do I have to pour troops

into a victory I have already won?

Oh I wish my generals would write two different dispatches.

One telling themselves of their glorious victories,

and one telling me of their defeats.

Can't go on.

I will not let it go on.

Here...

This green...

This evergreen.

There's your prize.

The rest is brown paper.

Just need someone bold enough to roll it up.

Graziani...

Come with me.

VOICE OVER: Attenzione.

MUSSOLINI: 20 years.

20 fruitless years we have wasted on this war.

I sent five governors to Libya in five years.

No!

No the military logic of fascism

will not be compromised.

After all, what are we?

We are the bayonets of a new dawn.

What are we fighting reality?

Desert tribesman? Ghosts?

I want their leader brought here.

I want him brought to me.

I want the revolution crushed.

What's his name?

GRAZIANI: Omar Mukhtar.

MUSSOLINI: What?

GRAZIANI: Omar Mukhtar.

MUSSOLINI: Omar Mukhtar.

You know general, those colonists that we send over,

peasants from the south,

they cost us Lire for Lire almost as much

as if we put them up at the grand hotel.

Now something must be wrong.

No...

I will not have a handful of Bedouins

stop the progress of 40 million Italian.

I give you Libya general.

At least you have a name that will frighten them.

GRAZIANI: May I say my Duce,

that when I crush the rebellion,

I do so with a clear consciousness sir.

MUSSOLINI: What did Mukhtar do before the rebellion?

GRAZIANI: He was a teacher.

MUSSOLINI: A teacher? GRAZIANI: Yes.

MUSSOLINI: I was a teacher.

Be careful you don't end up

as the five who went before you.

Taught by him.

Well, I am a man who likes action.

Go to Libya.

General...

Bring me back Mukhtar.

Bribe him, or break his neck.

ISMAIL: In the name of god,

the compassionate, the merciful.

It is the god of mercy who has made known the Qur'an.

He created man and told him speech.

He set the sun and the moon in their courses.

He raised the sky up and set the balance of all things.

MUKHTAR: Stop right there.

Why do you think we begin every chapter

of the Qur'an with god, the merciful, huh?

STUDENT: Because one of the names is god is mercy.

MUKHTAR: That's right.

And how, how does god show his mercy?

STUDENT: He taught, taught people how to speak.

MUKHTAR: How to speak, that's right.

Yes.

There was something else in what we read.

Uh, could any...

Anybody, can you tell me what that was?

STUDENT: Was-

MUKHTAR: Here, let me give you a hint.

STUDENT: It was the balance.

MUKHTAR: That's right, that's right.

The balance.

And Why did god set that balance?

Boys!

Boys, why did god set the balance?

Because without the balance,

everything would fall.

Here, let me see what you read.

Everything did fall apart, huh?

What are you waiting for?

Go on.

MABROUKA: Take it to your father.

BU-MATARI: Where's Omar?

MUKHTAR: Yes Bu-Matari?

What is the news?

BU-MATARI: New governor. MUKHTAR: Again?

They always come in like, like lions-

SALEM: And go home like worn out goats.

MUKHTAR: Who is it this time?

BU-MATARI: Graziani, the Butcher of Fezzan.

MUKHTAR: Graziani?

SALEM: It was only a question of time

before they let him loose on us.

BU-MATARI: It will mean a new offensive.

MUKHTAR: My father used to say,

"Blows that don't break your back...

"Strengthen it."

We will show Graziani some spine.

You tell me Graziani loves blood?

I don't like to believe those stories.

And yet I do.

When is he expected?

BU-MATARI: They are decorating Benghazi for him.

ANNOUNCER: Signore e signori,

His Excellency General Graziani, Governor of Cyrenaica.

His royal highness, Prince Amadeo, Duke of Aosta.

TOMELLI: Hail Benito Mussolini!

GRAZIANI: Gentleman thank you,

but the ladies are present.

We should be at our ease.

Let the dancing continue.

SARSANI: General, Colonel Sarsani.

TOMELLI: Signori Tomelli.

AMADEO: Diodiece here in Benghazi?

The sun turns the rest of us black in their desert,

but it seems to be turning you white.

DIODIECE: I came to talk to him.

AMADEO: A drink first.

DIODIECE: If Europe knew what we do here,

if even Italy knew...

AMADEO: But here in Libya we photograph everything.

We're never without a snap you know.

You must not tell me too much.

Not abiding by the Geneva Convention?

AMADEO: Colonel don't, please.

Colonel Diodiece sir.

GRAZIANI: Ah yes, Diodiece.

I read reports on you.

They say that you could make friends

with a Bedouin with a handshake.

I am not so sure that I like that it implies

that the rest of us must strangle them

in order to make peace with them.

DIODIECE: Sir, there are 5,000 displaced

Bedouin outside my forts.

I have no food for them.

I have difficulty in controlling them.

And I need-

GRAZIANI: What you need Colonel...

What you need is a little bit more that, Colonel.

GRAZIANI: Who is that man?

AMADEO: Sharif El Gariani.

He is quite useful to us.

Old friend of Omar Mukhtar.

GRAZIANI: Useful you say? AMADEO: Yes.

GRAZIANI: Bring him here.

AMADEO: I think you'll find that you can rely on him.

General Graziani, may I present

His Excellency, Sharif El Gariani.

GRAZIANI: I understand you know Omar Mukhtar.

GARIANI: I did.

GRAZIANI: What would it take

to get him to surrender?

GARIANI: I don't know.

Even as a boy he was terribly stubborn.

But if I could be of help in any way,

I should be very willing to agree.

GRAZIANI: You'll find that we can be terribly generous.

GENNARI: Lieutenant Gennari.

Urgent message sir.

GRAZIANI: Can't it wait?

You see you're disturbing my guests.

Excuse me gentleman.

They said that Flaminius lost Trasimeno

while sleeping on his dispatches.

What is this?

Another wasted maneuver?

How may dead Italians?

GENNARI: 20 dead, 50 wounded sir.

GRAZIANI: And they let him go again?

GENNARI: Yes, but this time he was seen.

GRAZIANI: He was seen?

How do they know he was seen?

Nobody knows him.

How do they know he was seen?

GENNARI: It was only for a moment sir.

But they are sure it was Mukhtar.

GRAZIANI: I suppose I should decorate them

just for the bravery of seeing Mukhtar.

Could be there, could be there.

Could be anywhere.

Hmm?

Tomelli, I want you to use a fast, hard hitting force,

and you forget what Omar Mukhtar looks like.

We're all obsessed by never having seen him.

Go for his blood.

Go for his circulation.

Go for the revolution that is inside every Bedouin.

Mukhtar has been fighting turns.

Three months we run with him.

The next three months they're peaceful at home.

Tomelli, no peace.

MABROUKA: Ismail, help your brother.

SALEM: The women must hide.

TOMELLI: Round up the men.

Those three at the end there, hmmm.

And, and, and, you two in the back.

And, and, and...

Yes.

That young, definitely.

Some of you are conscripted.

Instead of going three months with Mukhtar,

you go one year to useful labor where

you will be out of trouble.

Burn half they give to Mukhtar.

Burn half of everything.

SOLDIER: It's a bullet wound sir.

TOMELLI: You were shot running with Mukhtar.

Weren't you?

What have you to say, hmm?

What have you to say?

Oh, you do?

Well, you brought it on yourself.

Execute him.

No, not over there.

Here.

SALEM: In the name of god, give him time to pray.

TOMELLI: You are warned.

Be careful.

MABROUKA: Murderer! Killer!

Murderer!

Killer!

Aisha!

VOICE OVER: Take her to the camp.

ISMAIL: Mother, I must do something.

MABROUKA:

ISMAIL: Oh god.

I must do something.

MABROUKA: My Hamid, they burnt his tree.

ISMAIL: I saw what happened.

My brother, and Aisha, and look my father!

I am going to see Omar.

MABROUKA: Too young.

It's not your turn yet.

ISMAIL: I became old enough today mother.

MABROUKA: He's gone.

I need you.

MUKHTAR: They must pass through here.

That is our ground.

Out there.

That is it.

AL FADEEL: But you can't hide a lizard out there.

ISMAIL: Omar.

SANDRINI: It's all clear sir.

TOMELLI: Check the other side.

SOLDIER: Sir, at last we got them where we want them.

TOMELLI: Let's take a crack at some of them in the open.

SOLDIER: Sir.

TOMELLI: Let's go!

AL FADEEL:

MUKHTAR: Mount.

TOMELLI: They are running!

Get your foot down!

SANDRINI: It's a trap.

We must warn Tomelli.

TOMELLI: Do you hear that?

SOLDIER: Could be Lieutenant Sandrini sir.

TOMELLI: What the hell is he doing?

SOLDIER: Maybe warning shots sir.

TOMELLI: No, stop!

Stop!

Do you see anything?

SOLDIER: No, nothing sir.

TOMELLI: Nothing.

They are getting away.

We have them in our hands.

Full pursuit!

MUKHTAR: Look, those machines.

ISMAIL: Omar.

MUKHTAR: We do not kill prisoners.

BEDOUIN: They do it to us.

MUKHTAR: They are not our teachers.

He's a boy.

Here, tell your general it does not belong here.

ALI'S MOTHER: My husband.

MUKHTAR: I brought his book home.

Never turned his back on me.

Come here.

ALI: Ali.

MUKHTAR: AM, this is yours.

This is your book now.

You tell your mother to keep it for you.

Do not let him see you crying too much.

One day they will carry on the fight.

The child should remember strong and confident.

Never broken.

Go inside.

Hey, let us go and see the camp, huh Ali.

Ah, there he is.

This is my friend, Ali.

Ah, this is Bu-Matari.

He has a little boy just like you.

He is in Kouf, that's far away in the desert.

And he misses him.

Now, we have some work to do.

Be careful.

Oh, is this supposed to be me?

How do I look?

You have to give them back to me,

otherwise I cannot read.

You go, you go and see the camp.

GRAZIANI: Wiped out.

One Lieutenant and one scout car.

That is all that is left of the fighting force.

I did not come to Libya to be stung by bandits.

Signori Tomelli was one of our finest officers.

This is the young boy who saved our honor.

He brought back the flag.

SANDRINI: But sir, they gave us the fl-

GRAZIANI: Yes, yes, yes.

You will be decorated the Medal of Honor.

I've never in my career lost a flag.

Gentleman, I will repeat one simple fact to you.

We're not merely fighting Mukhtar

and 200 of his men here or 50 of his men there.

We are fighting a population.

I have Rome to answer to.

I am therefore taking the first of three final steps.

Strides to eliminate rebellion in this colony.

It's really quite simple,

and should have been thought of before.

I propose to concentrate the Bedouin.

AMADEO: Concentrate them?

GRAZIANI: Yes, put them behind wire, camps,

and keep them there until

we find it prudent or safe to release them.

Now I don't want any pity for them.

They brought it upon themselves.

We will fill their wells.

We will burn their fields.

We will destroy their trees.

We will turn their land brown.

Now if they cannot live in it, they'll leave it.

SARSANI: And if we meet resistance?

GRAZIANI: You answer it promptly with

the old Roman punishment for rebellion.

It is ridiculous to think

that we can fight this war kindly.

We cannot.

We can fight it thoroughly.

To place half a million people behind barbed wire

is a formidable and majestic undertaking.

But we will do it.

Are there any questions?

AMADEO: General, Bedouin die in cages.

GRAZIANI: That is an answer highness, not a question.

SANDRINI: But sir won't we...

Won't we be making more rebellion?

The Bedouin to any sense of obedience,

we must first let the lava flow.

SARSANI: Turn around.

As mutineers and rebels, you will be decimated.

AL FADEEL: They have taken everybody.

MUKHTAR: Who can fight such a war.

Not against armies, but against innocent people.

More people will be dying in those camps than come out.

People will by dying without fault, without choice.

Or is it our fault and our choice?

Look what they did.

Raised the sky up and set the balance of all things.

VOICE OVER: Allahu Akbar!

SALEM: It's Omar.

MUKHTAR: No.

They will be massacred.

MABROUKA: You have a chance to get away.

Take it.

Go with Ismail.

Don't think of me.

Go!

Go.

ALI'S MOTHER: Ali!

Ali!

MUKHTAR: Hurry!

Come on.

Up behind me Ismail.

Up behind me.

Ismail!

ISMAIL: Ahh.

MUKHTAR: Go back.

Go back for that boy.

BU-MATARI: The horse won't take two.

Ismail knows that.

Hurry up Omar.

GRAZIANI: So you're the brave young man.

The brave young man who saved Mukhtar from me.

Why did you do it?

You are young, you had your whole life ahead of you.

Tell me, don't you want to live?

Come on.

ISMAIL: I want him to live more.

AMADEO: You would make a fine soldier.

Would you think of joining us?

GRAZIANI: You're more ruthless than I am prince.

You'd corrupt him.

Get him out of here.

Give him what he asks for.

Fruit, honey, whatever.

And don't harm him.

Hang him in the morning.

AMADEO: Does it every worry you general,

that in our most casual acts we make history here?

Even if it is just a small paragraph

on a newspaper in Rome.

GRAZIANI: You touch my strength prince.

You see, I don't care.

A day in the mind of Rome is more important to me

than a generation of the memory of Libya.

And what happens I wonder

if we are forgotten in Rome,

and only remembered in Libya?

GRAZIANI: Oh don't you worry

your royal head about that.

You see, we'll write the history.

AMADEO: Libya is our crown of thorns.

GRAZIANI: Nonsense.

Libya is a career.

Look at it.

Look at it.

It's always the same.

We can never pursue them in the desert.

I must conquer the desert to march on Kouf.

From here to here.

AMADEO: Simple, isn't it?

GRAZIANI: No it's not.

AMADEO: But it's only empty desert.

There's nothing there.

Just wind and sand.

Not even much opposition.

What can you get from it?

GRAZIANI: Glory for Rome,

an extension of the empire,

confining a revolution to that mountain,

my name, and a new page in military history.

So you see, it's quite full that desert of yours, isn't it?

I have a surprise for you.

Come in.

Diodiece, now is your time.

Please, sit down.

The man who can make peace with a handshake.

Do it now.

Hands across the desert.

I wish you to instigate peace talks with His Excellency.

Omar Mukhtar.

DIODIECE: That will not be so easy now.

GRAZIANI: No, but you will do it, won't you?

DIODIECE: And what are the preconditions

for talks with Omar Mukhtar.

No preconditions.

The whole of Libya is open to discussion.

Look at it.

Look at it.

We go to the conference table

with an open mind, do we not?

DIODIECE: He fought us for 20 years.

We are an enemy he knows.

He has heard all our promises.

GRAZIANI: 20 years is too long.

I mean, can you imagine escaping hanging for 20 years

knowing you can't win just hoping to keep on.

It's a war.

Let's hope the man would be mad

to get on his high horse about past promises.

DIODIECE: When may I in your Excellency's name

sit down with him?

GRAZIANI: You're too eager.

When you talk to Omar Mukhtar,

you must be able to speed dictation.

Whether he wants to talk or not

you test him, you try him.

DIODIECE: Yes, I will try.

GRAZIANI: Thank you very much.

Thank you for coming at such short notice.

It was very kind of you.

Thank you.

Phew.

Well that's settled, isn't it?

AMADEO: Diodiece is not the right man.

He'll offer what Mukhtar can't take,

and Mukhtar will ask what he can't give.

Which makes me think you want things to go wrong.

No.

No, that is unfair.

Of course I want peace.

Of course I want to win that peace.

But sometimes prince when you are strong,

a few sticks on the nature of conquest is enough.

He won't give me peace.

What he'll give me is time.

What I need it time.

DIODIECE: So that's what he looks like.

After all these years, we are the first to see him.

The old lion.

MUKHTAR:

DIODIECE: Yes sir.

Please.

This side.

Colonel Barillo, military governor of Marj.

This is commissioner Lobitto.

He has come directly from Rome to advise and assist us.

MUKHTAR: You invited us here to talk.

We are here.

DIODIECE: Your Excellency.

It is my one wish to see

the Italian and the Arab together in a single interest.

I foresee a future of common cause.

A give and take of character and skill.

Our civilization and your culture.

A marriage of virtues.

MUKHTAR: I want observers from

the governments of Tunisia and Egypt

to witness any agreements between us.

DIODIECE: As far as I'm concerned-

LOBITTO: Out of the question.

He is seeking international recognition

as if the Bedouin were an independent nation,

which they are not.

They are subjects within our province.

Our arguments are not between nations but between Italians.

We cannot permit outside interference

in our internal affairs.

MUKHTAR: And why misrepresent us?

We are not Italians, so do not tell us that we are.

We were born where we were born,

only by the will of god and only by our own mothers.

We are not you.

DIODIECE: We will come to foreign observers later.

As yet, there is nothing written.

Nothing to witness.

BU-MATARI: But we have written.

MUKHTAR: We must have our Muslim schools.

DIODIECE: Yes, no question.

Freedom of education, no question.

The schools will be reopened.

MUKHTAR: We must have some form of national protection.

We must have a national parliament.

LOBITTO: The parliament is a matter for Rome.

This tent is not the place.

MUKHTAR: Why not?

You pitched it.

No conditions you said.

No limits, no exclusions.

Everything open on this table in this tent.

DIODIECE: Let us say that at present,

we will note your demand for a cabinet.

MUKHTAR: Mark it well.

The confiscated lands must be given back.

DIODIECE: Well...

Now I wouldn't say confiscated lands.

I would say lands reserved for settlement and cultivation.

Lands to be developed.

MUKHTAR: To be developed by Italians.

I tell you there is no escape 20 years, 40 years.

The land will be packed with people.

Why do you think we fight you?

DIODIECE: But the new settlements will provide employment.

SALEM: As long as you take our lands,

for as long as we are able,

we must fight you.

LOBITTO: Must? MUKHTAR: Yes, we must.

LOBITTO: But I have it on religious authority

that your Qur'an does not permit you

to fight a war you cannot win.

MUKHTAR: Now you are going to interpret our religion for us?

The book leaves no doubt.

It is our duty to god to defend ourselves

against those who have driven us out of our homes.

LOBITTO: I think this might be a good time to adjourn.

MUKHTAR: We are in no hurry.

Why are you delaying?

DIODIECE: Your Excellency, we are obliged

to refer your demands to Rome.

LOBITTO: At our next meeting,

we will give you their answer and make our proposal.

DIODIECE: At least, at least we know that we all want

the bloodshed between us to end.

GRAZIANI: An Italian innovation.

First to use aircraft in combat.

First to put tanks in the desert.

History will mark that gentleman.

What we needed was time.

Now we have achieved that time.

We can talk peace with eloquence.

Will come under the the command of Italian officers.

MUKHTAR: Go on.

LOBITTO: Two, the Italian government

will pay monthly salaries to these men.

MUKHTAR: Go on.

LOBITTO: The government reserves the right

to punish any persons who

committed a crime before this agreement.

Omar Mukhtar will have no right

to protect such persons.

BU-MATARI: These terms?

MUKHTAR: Absolute surrender.

Not even subject for discussion.

LOBITTO: The Italian government undertakes

to pay Omar Mukhtar a pension of 50,000 Lire a month,

and to provide him with a comfortable house.

MUKHTAR: Do I deserve so much?

Have I been so successful for someone

to offer me 50,000 Lire a month?

You know by offering me bribes, you are insulting me.

DIODIECE: Your Excellency, I made that proposal.

Believe me.

It was not an attempt to bribe you.

Only to make your retirement comfortable.

MUKHTAR: How can I be comfortable

when my people are in concentration camps?

And where is this general who bombs, and burns, and hangs?

Why has he never come here?

SARSANI: Once terms are agreed between us,

General Graziani will be happy to see you.

MUKHTAR: I do not wan to see him.

I want to see the last of him.

And why is he landing troops?

Where is he going?

To the last oasis?

6,000 drums of warfare.

He is going to Kouf.

You never wanted peace.

All you wanted was time.

We will be with Graziani.

LOBITTO: If you will not come to terms,

I promise you immediate and terrible war.

MUKHTAR: I know the power of your comment.

The power you threaten us with.

We stood against you for 20 years.

And with the help of god,

we will stay with you 'ti| your end.

DIODIECE: I knew his conclusion.

LOBITTO: Poor fools.

They think they can ride against the modern army.

AL FADEEL:

It is Kouf, no question.

Thousands of soldiers and machines.

All going to Kouf.

MUKHTAR: Graziani is doing what no one has ever done.

He is putting tanks in the desert.

Time is on our side.

For Graziani, he is marching south to Kouf.

We attack north.

We drive him back.

BU-MATARI: But we must fight him for Kouf.

MUKHTAR: Sometimes it is braver not to die.

What is lost counts as lost.

We know your family is there,

but to defend Kouf is to die there.

BU-MATARI: I must go.

MUKHTAR: Yes, yes you must.

GRAZIANI: Are you ready to pepper them?

SARSANI: Yes sir.

GRAZIANI: Good, then give them hell.

SOLDIER: Lieutenant Sandrini, open fire.

SANDRINI: Fire.

BU-MATARI: Go now.

BU-MATARI: Allahu Akbar.

GRAZIANI: Pile everything on them.

Armor to the front.

BU-MATARI: Murderers!

SANDRINI: What are you doing?

SOLDIER: Colonel Sarsani's orders.

VOICE OVER: No retreat.

We fight and die here.

SOLDIER: Fire.

GRAZIANI: Gentleman, this is Kouf.

MUKHTAR: The seizure of Kouf has hurt us deeply.

It has closed the south.

The only road for military supplies

is across the Egyptian border.

We are in desperate need of supplies, food-

SALEM: Three Italian cars coming up the motor road.

MUKHTAR: How many? SALEM: Three.

They are flying white flags.

MUKHTAR: Let them in.

We will finish later.

Sharif El Gariani.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: To come through,

we had to use the Italian cars.

MUKHTAR: You found them comfortable?

MOHAMED: We want to talk to you alone.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: What we have to say cannot be said in public.

MUKHTAR: Then it is not to be said to me.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: Ah, why do you not surrender?

Obtain the best terms you can from the Italians.

Mohamed can arrange a safe contact

for you out of the country.

MUKHTAR: Safe contact?

MOHAMED: Egypt?

MUKHTAR: Ah, to Egypt.

To hide with his brother?

You are the only Sanussi

left in this country, and look at you.

Just look at him.

MOHAMED: But my people have voted.

SALEM: To defend your own privileges.

Where are you now?

MOHAMED: Omar Mukhtar,

the Italians assured us.

SALEM: You'd better get back to them.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: My friend,

they are the government of this country.

MUKHTAR: No, they take this land by day.

But by god we take it back by night.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: Omar Mukhtar you are alone.

Cut off from the rest of this country.

Isolated from the rest of the world.

In the league of nations, they will not speak.

And if they should, they will not listen.

No one will care.

MUKHTAR: This battle is not being fought

in the league of nations.

This battle is being fought here, on this land.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: Omar, you cannot win this war.

Your blood against their metal.

MUKHTAR: Every man has two days.

His own day and his children's day.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: Your children are starving.

Dying in the concentration camps.

Dying because you persist in fighting.

MUKHTAR: Yes, Yes they are hostages of war.

But not one of them betrays me.

Not one has asked me to surrender,

because they know and I know

that if I surrender I betray them.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: Omar, we grew up together.

Don't you remember 70 years ago we were boys together.

MUKHTAR: Yes I remember.

Look how far apart we have grown.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: This may be the last chance you have

of seeking an honorable peace.

MUKHTAR: They steal our land.

They destroy our homes.

They kill innocent people.

And you call it peace.

I will not be corrupted by that man's peace.

SHARIF EL GARIANI: Perhaps we should go.

MUKHTAR: Yes I think you should.

SALEM: Mabrouka.

MABROUKA: Here.

For life.

SALEM: Omar.

MABROUKA: I prayed for you.

When you see Ismail, show him the bag.

He gave it to me.

My boy.

My baby.

Was he the brave boy?

Will you be back?

SALEM: Yes, but not for some time.

MABROUKA: Go.

Go now.

VOICE OVER: Attenzione.

BEDOUIN WOMAN:

SARSANI: Up you get.

Come on, out.

MABROUKA: Her child is sick sir.

SARSANI: I don't want you.

I want her.

JUDGE: You are accused of giving aid, comfort,

and sustenance to the rebels in the mountains.

Do you admit these capital crimes?

So you are admitting your guilt.

You will all hang by your necks...

Until you're dead.

Lieutenant, you will have the privilege of giving

the order for the execution.

SANDRINI: No.

SOLDIER: What did you say?

You will do your duty Lieutenant.

SANDRINI: I did not join Army to hang women sir.

SOLDIER: Very well.

Lieutenant Sandrini,

you will consider yourself under arrest.

ALI'S MOTHER: Thank you god for the lives

you have given us.

GRAZIANI: What am I to do?

You refused your duty.

Insubordination is a very serious offense.

When your officers starts to cry conscious,

you don't know where to land do you?

SANDRINI: I am prepared to answer the court-martial sir.

GRAZIANI: Indeed.

And I'm not prepared to lose one of my colonies heroes.

The hero I created.

I will not give you the pleasure

nor the publicity of a court-martial Sandrini.

As an officer, you were taught to obey

SANDRINI: Yes sir-

GRAZIANI: Do not dispute with me!

The states have needs that outweigh

the conscious of the individual.

Demands that go beyond individual intelligence,

don't you think?

SANDRINI: Yes sir.

GRAZIANI: You will report to Sarsani

for duty in the mountains.

I will give you the honor of dying on active service.

AL FADEEL: Get this stuff loaded.

MUKHTAR: Salem, take care of the tanks.

I'll blow up the benzene.

GRAZIANI: The old man has these mountains and he uses them.

Last night proved that.

Now beyond this mountain range,

there is a plateau on which instinct...

Instinct tells us that tanks can't operate on.

Now that is not true.

It Will be difficult.

Yes it will.

Now we control the approach route here, here, and here.

These are tank now, use them.

SARSANI: Sir- GRAZIANI: Yes.

Intelligence.

If I can think about it, you execute it.

Especially if I can put you on that plateau

without a shot being fired at you.

SOLDIER: Yes sir.

GRAZIANI: I'll direct Mukhtar here using

artillery, gas, aircraft, no armor.

Once he has committed himself

30 kilometers to the west by this road,

I will then push my armors through.

That will leave them with their mouths open.

Let's flush them out.

AL FADEEL: The gas will be up here soon.

MUKHTAR: Yes, we must get to high ground.

Get back to high ground!

Move everybody!

AL FADEEL: We're trapped.

MUKHTAR: Al Fadeel!

SALEM: They have given us five days and nights of it.

MUKHTAR: He is making a big push for the mountains.

He's only using artillery.

SALEM: His tanks and armored cars

are useless in the mountains.

They can only operate on level ground.

MUKHTAR: Yes, but he forced us here.

What does that suggest?

SALEM: He wants control of the mountain roads.

MUKHTAR: And what is there?

SALEM: The bridge at Wadi El-Kouf.

MUKHTAR: That is what he wants.

GRAZIANI: Gentleman, this time he won't get away.

First we take the bridge,

get our armor behind him, artillery in front of him,

and then we pound him into submission.

SARSANI: About the bridge sir.

I'm surprised that Mukhtar hasn't tried to cut it.

GRAZIANI: That's because he's a natural fighter.

Not an educated one.

He didn't go to military academy like you gentleman.

Now's the time.

We dangle the bait.

SOLDIER IN BROWN HAT: Sergeant, check the bridge.

SERGEANT: All clear.

SOLDIER IN BLACK HELMET: Right, check the next bridge.

I'll hold this one here.

MUKHTAR: He is careful.

He is showing us nothing.

SALEM: We should have blown up the bridge.

MUKHTAR: No. SALEM: Scout cars.

We must stop them.

MUKHTAR: Do the signal.

GRAZIANI: You see.

Look.

The mice, they could never resist the cheese could they?

GRAZIANI: Prepare the artillery to open fire.

Blast them.

GRAZIANI: Now, send in the army.

MUKHTAR: Ah, he's made his move.

Let's go.

SOLDIER: Look, over there.

SOLDIER: Ambush!

MUKHTAR: Now.

GRAZIANI: He is good.

He is good.

This old man is good.

MUSSOLINI: My dear general.

My dear, dear general.

I hope you don't mind that I share some of your credit,

but after all I chose you.

GRAZIANI: I hope Duce that I can-

MUSSOLINI: You can have anything you want.

You're the most fortunate man in this room.

GRAZIANI: I have physically moved the war

from the desert into the mountains.

The last remnant of the enemy have now run into holes.

We find ourselves in a position whereby we are

forced to pull them out by their necks one by one.

MUSSOLINI: I know.

You're having difficulties.

You're having problems with them being in the mountains.

GRAZIANI: I don't seem to have an enemy to fight.

Yet their attack is incessant.

I mean they have no form.

If they had form, I could meet them with form.

But they have no continuity of movement.

No fixed points of position.

I haven't, however, come to my Duce empty minded.

I have a radical solution.

A new Hadrian's Wall.

Except, that Hadrian used his walls

to shut the barbarian out.

I shall use mine to shut him in.

I propose my Duce to fence in Libya.

To run a wall of impassible wire across the desert.

From the Mediterranean to the shores

of this sea of moving sand.

It will cut the enemy off

from his supplies out of Egypt,

and cut him off from his retreat into Egypt.

MAN IN SUIT: Duce, my Duce.

Hundreds of miles of barbed wire.

But is it possible to know the cost?

MUSSOLINI: Why do you question Hadrian's Wall?

Remember it was Hadrian's Wall

that kept the Romans in Britain 100 years longer.

GRAZIANI: Thousands of tons of brick.

4,000 men, six months,

and the whole job completed the last barb.

You old fool.

You don't even look at a Roman vision that Tacitus himself

would have been proud of, do you?

SOLDIER: We are coming up to a big sir.

They were trying to get through with wire cutters

and 5,000 rounds of ammunition.

GRAZIANI: Well, that's that.

Now all he has is the trickle

from the concentration camps.

And we'll dry that up gentleman.

We will dry that up.

VOICE OVER: In 10 years' time, all Europe will be fascist.

The enemy in Roman tanks, in Roman ships, in Roman planes.

The new men of fascism are writing the pages of tomorrow.

We have conquered a second Roman empire with our blood.

We will fertilize it with our labor.

We will hold it forever with our arms.

Our 8,000,000 bayonets.

VOICE OVER: How may bullets have you?

BEDOUIN: 12.

SALEM: At this rate, we will soon be down

to fighting them with stones.

VOICE OVER: How long can we last?

SALEM: 'Til doomsday.

Nothing has got through for a month.

Fighting barbed wire.

MUKHTAR: The wire will win, but it tears our spirit.

Only then...

Yes, yes, the wire is hurting us.

Yes it is.

It is around our neck.

But it is god, not Graziani, and not him

who decides what becomes of us.

What is the will of wire compared to the will of god?

They have 8,000,000 bayonets.

We have one that matters.

And we are not alone.

We have many, many fronts.

And others are fighting beside us.

VOICE OVER: Enough!

Enough!

You're entering prime sacred oath.

First we will overrun the earth,

and then we will take the flag of fascism to the stars!

MUKHTAR: Oh, thank you Salem.

It's not the cold.

It's the dust.

SALEM: You've been fighting a war for 22 years.

It's the same dust.

Why don't you sleep?

MUKHTAR: I'll feel better soon enough.

We will sleep at the camp.

MUKHTAR: Go back, get back!

Fight on dirt.

SALEM: Go!

Go, we will hold them off.

VOICE OVER: It's suicide sir.

They tie their legs so they cannot run.

SOLDIER: No, no.

MUKHTAR: Don't beg boy.

Don't beg.

OFFICER: You are taken in arms.

You, shoot him.

There are more in there.

Follow them up.

Go on, you took him.

Shoot him.

You idiot.

I said now shoot him.

DIODIECE: Where is he?

OFFICER: Well?

DIODIECE: Yes.

I confirm the identification.

He is Omar Mukhtar.

I am distressed seeing him like this.

OFFICER: How can you say that?

He has led the rebellion against us for 20 years.

DIODIECE: As a gallant enemy,

Omar Mukhtar should be treated by us

with dignity and with respect.

OFFICER: With respect?

He should have been whipped all the way here.

DIODIECE: You forget yourself sir.

Sir, is there anything I can do for you?

MUKHTAR: Well, if you would allow me a little water.

I can make myself ready for prayers.

DIODIECE: Of course.

MUKHTAR: And my chains while I pray?

OFFICER: Out of the question.

DIODIECE: He only wants to pray.

MUKHTAR: I am too old

to climb walls or to fight bare handed.

DIODIECE: Remove his chains for an hour.

OFFICER: On your own personal responsibility sir?

DIODIECE: Yes.

OFFICER: Bring the water.

MUKHTAR: Thank you. DIODIECE: No, no need.

Omar Mukhtar.

GRAZIANI: I have come a long way to meet you.

And now you must wait.

I want to ask you one question.

Why did you keep going for so long?

I assure you did you?

MUKHTAR: We fought.

That was enough.

GRAZIANI: Did you care nothing about

MUKHTAR: You are the ruination of my country.

What would you do if someone occupied your land?

GRAZIANI: Did you ever think how your attacks

might seem to us ambush?

Murder by night?

Deception by day?

Threats against the farmers?

MUKHTAR: Farming our land.

Libya is not your country.

You have no right in it.

Not to the pasture of one cow.

Not one minute of right.

GRAZIANI: Italy has as much right here as anybody else.

England has a right to Egypt,

France to Tunisia and Algeria,

Spain to Morocco,

but none of them have our pedigree.

We have hundreds of years right here.

MUKHTAR: Soon you will take everything from me.

And you want me to justify your thefts.

No nation has a right to occupy another.

GRAZIANI: We are back here, that's all.

No one can deny us.

Read the date on this coin.

It is a coin of the Caesars.

Dated, minted in Libya.

MUKHTAR: You will also find Greek, Turkish, Tunisian coins.

All over Libya you find them.

Buried in our sand.

GRAZIANI: Yes, I had forgotten.

You are short sighted, aren't you?

Your spectacles I believe.

The day they brought them to me,

I knew you wouldn't be too far behind.

MUKHTAR: My spectacles.

We are both your prisoners.

GRAZIANI: I will not be trivial.

Take them back.

Here.

MUKHTAR: Yes, it does have an interesting past.

Don't try to buy too much with it today.

Your money like your glory is not permanent.

But I respect your past as you must respect ours.

We too have a history in science, mathematics, and medicine.

For your Dark Ages, we led the world in learning.

GRAZIANI: How many days will it take you to arrange

the surrendering of your men?

MUKHTAR: We will never surrender.

We win or we die.

And don't think it stops then.

You will have the next generation to fight,

and after the next, and next.

As for me, I will live longer than my hangman.

GRAZIANI: What makes you think I'm going to hang you?

I mean it might suit my papers better to pension you.

If I hang you, I run the risk of leaving an open grave.

But on the other hand, you are a prime example.

MUKHTAR: You can only do to me what god decides for me.

GRAZIANI: Those chains are uncomfortable.

MUKHTAR: They are uncomfortable effects.

GRAZIANI: Sit down. MUKHTAR: Thank you.

GRAZIANI: Do you know I had always hoped

that you and I, implacable enemies,

might sit down on the day of your capture

MUKHTAR: General,

Omar Mukhtar cannot give you the conquest of Caesar.

I've hunted you so long.

I mean knowing each other as we do.

An idea.

Can't we work together on this?

MUKHTAR: And today's the day I work for you?

GRAZIANI: Why don't you ask me for your life?

I might give it to you.

Like that.

MUKHTAR: What do I give you?

My collaboration?

No.

No!

GRAZIANI: You are too late for bargains Mukhtar.

You are far too late.

MUKHTAR: I have not asked you for my life.

Do not tell the world.

In the privacy of this room I asked you for my life.

GRAZIANI: No, I will not do that.

I will not lie about you.

You are a man of courage.

Let us hope you can keep that courage tomorrow.

MUKHTAR: The rope of your justice

has always hung in front of me general.

GRAZIANI: Have him photographed.

I wish my enemies to be recorded.

Instruct the president of the court

that he must be hanged in front of his people.

They must be there.

JUDGE: Omar Mukhtar, you are accused

of forming rebellion against the lawful government

of your country.

PROSECUTOR: What age are you?

MUKHTAR: 73.

PROSECUTOR: Are you the head of the forces in Libya

fighting against Italy?

MUKHTAR: Yes I am.

PROSECUTOR: Have you taken part in

attacks on Italian Soldiers?

MUKHTAR: Yes, I have.

PROSECUTOR: For how long have you taken part

in attacks against Italian Soldiers?

MUKHTAR: 20 years.

PROSECUTOR: How many attacks?

MUKHTAR: You know,

I couldn't remember the number.

PROSECUTOR: You ordered the torturing and murdering

of Italian prisoners.

MUKHTAR: I did not.

Never.

PROSECUTOR: You were captured with arms in your hands.

MUKHTAR: Yes I was.

LONTANO: I am an Italian soldier.

In the field, I would be his enemy.

But here, I am obliged to him.

I am appointed to defend him.

You are an old man.

Older than all of us here.

And I will not abuse you with too many questions.

Did you ever submit to the Italian authority?

MUKHTAR: I did not.

LONTANO: Did you ever receive money

or other subsidy from the Italian government

as a condition of good behavior?

MUKHTAR: I did not.

Never.

LONTANO: I declare that Omar Mukhtar never

submitted to us, never took subsidy from us,

never recognize our right to rule in this colony.

He cannot therefore in logic or justice

be tried by us as a rebel.

When we captured Omar Mukhtar after 20 years of battle,

we are morally obliged to deal with him

as a prisoner of war.

JUDGE: Silence!

Silence in court.

Captain Lontano, you were ordered to defend

this rebel against the charge of treason.

You have overstepped your orders.

The sentence on you, Omar Mukhtar,

is death by hanging in public.

In the town of Suluq at 11 o'clock tomorrow,

the 16th of September, 1931,

Year nine of the fascist era.

MUKHTAR: From god we come.

And unto god we shall return.

VOICE OVER: Attenzione.

SOLDIER: In the name of the government,

of the Republic of Cyrenaica,

We execute this sentence as decreed by

the military tribunal at Benghazi on

the 15th day of September, 1931,

year nine of the fascist era.

Omar Mukhtar, you have been found guilty

of high treason, both morally and materially,

and sustained a rebellion against

the Italian government of this colony.

The sentence passed by the court,

death by hanging in a public place,

will now be carried out.

, proceed.

MUKHTAR: Thank you god

for letting me die at the hands of my enemies

SOLDIER: Untie him.

MUKHTAR: We will never surrender.

We win or we die.

We will have the next generation to fight,

and after the next, the next.

As for me, I will live longer than my hangman.