Original subtitles

FIRE CRACKLES

DANTE (VO): You walk away from every day

nothing much to make you stay.

Then bloody hell, you hear a bell

ring across the wishing well.

RIOTERS SHOUT - POLICE SIRENS BLARE

This beautiful thing, flowers and rings.

Funny what the wishing brings...

I love you, baby.

I can't quite say it

but if I had a harp, I'd bloody play it.

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

POLICE DOG BARKS - POLICEMEN SHOUT

DISTANT RIOT SOUNDS

Before I saw you, I didn't know it, but now I discover...

I'm not a bad poet

and this...

is the dawn of the age of love.

MUFFLED SHOUTING - DOG BARKS

EXPLOSION

You!

DOG BARKS

I'm just trying to get home.

Walking home from college.

Trying to get home?

It's a fucking long way back to the jungle, son.

BATON THUDS

MUSIC: "Jamaica Ska" by Byron Lee and The Dragonaires

Shit!

- MAN: Let's go down number 27!

Shit! They followed him.

Run!

POLICEMAN: Over 'ere! After him!

SIREN BLARES

Dante?

Jeannie?

What are you doing here? You're a good kid.

Just trying to get home.

Alright, give me your hand.

SHE GRUNTS

I tried to get the bus but for some reason

the buses to Chelmsley Wood are not running.

Dante, the buses aren't running on account of them being on fire.

Why would you burn your bus home?

DISTANT EXPLOSION

Come with me.

- POLICEMAN SHOUTS

The back way! - DOG BARKS

Right, in here.

Fucking petrol all over me!

Oh... fuck, Dante!

THEY GRUNT

Fuck.

Fuck.

SHE SIGHS

Never.

You're still weird then?

HE SIGHS

Are you OK?

Mm, not really.

Oh, don't worry.

We'll be safe here. We'll just sit it out till it gets light.

I'm not OK, because I just had my heart broken.

And who broke your heart?

I asked this girl at college to come with me for a cup of tea and she said no.

Tea?

I don't drink alcohol.

Well, might have been the tea she was saying no to.

You think?

I remember when you climbed up on the roof of the school.

Yeah. - With the black flag of anarchy.

HE CHUCKLES Is that what it was?

We all thought you were gonna jump off.

DANTE: Mm.

You all thought I was going to jump?

Well, when I walked to the edge

where the decisions are made...

for a bit, so did I.

But then I thought, what would my nan say?

DISTANT SIREN BLARES

I'll have a cup of tea with you, Dante, you weird fucker.

INDISTINCT SHOUTING OVER LOUDHAILER

Sounds like we're losing.

What would we win if we won?

So, Dante, it's obvious you are still the same.

Where's your gorgeous, rock hard brother?

MUSIC: "Is This Love?" by Bob Marley and The Wailers

OFFICER: Out! Move out!

RIOTERS SHOUT

Take that, ya British bastards!

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

Kill!

MAN: Little bastard!

COMMANDER YELLS

MAN: Catch me, ya fat fuck!

MAN YELLS

Fuck! No!

THEY GRUNT

MAN: Get the fuck outta here!

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

GUNSHOT

GUNSHOT

Ya black bastard! Leave us alone!

Fuck off!

I don't mean black as in the colour of your skin, comrade.

I mean black like "Black and Tan".

Half my fucking family are Irish.

IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

MUSIC CONTINUES

How you doing?

MUSIC STOPS - CROWD CHEERS

INDISTINCT CHATTER AND CHEERING

JUDGE: After due deliberation

and after an exceptionally good display by all contenders...

CROWD CHEERS

I can declare the winner

in the Gate Hangs Well

Irish Ceilidh Under-20s Boys Dance Competition is...

Bardon Quinn.

Ha! - CROWD CHEERS

Maith an fear!

Well done, son.

Could you not have waited, Dad?

You didn't have to come in and play the big Provo.

I would've won anyway.

Well done.

Hey, well done, son. Well done.

Well done.

BIRDSONG

HE INHALES DEEPLY

HE SIGHS

What?

Birdsong.

Not arranged or organised.

Just happens.

Do you want a lift back to the estate?

A lift in what?

You can give me a hand.

A hand with what?

BIRDSONG

Listen.

No, no, it's OK.

It's just a bird.

Singing.

BIRDSONG CONTINUES

What are you doing?

Fuck.

INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER

Sarge.

Sarge, we just had comms telling us to pull out.

Our grandmother used to wake us up.

She used to say...

"It's not arranged...

or organised.

It's the best music in the world."

We should get back to the barracks, Sergeant.

Do you sing, soldier?

No, Sergeant.

This whole wall...

this whole thing...

it's about music.

Did you know that?

Sarge, we should get out of here before the day shift wakes up.

Cos...

to the east...

they've got their songs.

But then to the west...

they've got their songs too.

Yeah, and where we are right now, Sarge

we're stuck bang in the middle of them.

GUNSHOT - Fuck!

Why don't you just sing together? - Come on!

GUNSHOT

BICYCLE BELL DINGS

MUSIC: "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Jimmy Cliff

What you doing, staring?

Well, if you're awake, you can come and give me a hand.

I've got college.

I've got a mock exam.

We'll be done and back before college.

Get down here.

MUSIC CLICKS OFF

I was listening to the birds.

Then I heard him call you.

You've got school.

College, In.

He said I'll be back in time.

Just do the red diesel thing. That's OK.

Doing the stolen diesel is OK.

But if he asks you to do anything else...

I don't even know what the red diesel thing is, Nan.

That's what he's calling you to help with.

It's illegal. Well, that's OK.

It's not inhuman.

Nan, I promise I won't do anything inhuman.

Oh...

They can't make you do anything.

Did you see the trophy I won?

No.

I really won it.

Just do the red diesel.

Come back and go to school.

College, Nan.

OK.

CAR HORN BEEPS

ENGINE STARTS

SHE SIGHS

Behold!

Villa Cross bingo hall, revolution headquarters...

miraculously unscathed.

SWEPT GLASS CLATTERS - INDISTINCT CHATTER

I'm official delegate for our estate.

We've been allocated one van load of liberated goods

to go to the Happy Trooper pub for distribution.

By who? - Don't ask.

Looks like we're the first here.

We can take the best stuff.

Dante, help me.

Grab the stereo equipment.

Sound system at the Trooper is shit.

It's dance night tomorrow night.

DANTE: Fuck, it's real.

It says here that his spacesuit has actually been into outer space.

Leave it!

It was taken by mistake from the Moonlight Club

by a bunch of Zulus who forgot that the Moonlight Club is owned

by Robbie Carmen.

I have no idea what any of that means.

It means the spacesuit was looted from a display

in the premises of the worst gangster in South Birmingham.

So leave it the fuck alone.

If you take it back to Robbie Carmen he'll think you're one of the Zulus

who looted his club and he'll shoot your knees off.

What's a Zulu?

Zulus fight, go to Blues matches and clamp cars.

And steal spacesuits.

Are you Christian or something?

Dunno what I am.

I think anarchist is close, but almost everybody pisses me off

so I doubt I'm anything.

You merely think I'm a Zulu because I'm black.

Zulus are black and white. - Oh.

The reason Robbie will think you're a Zulu is cos you got the look, OK?

I know you're just a really weird kid, but...

to people who don't know ya, you got the look about ya.

You look like somebody who could be somebody.

Even on our estate.

I want to be somebody.

I want to be a poet.

Oh! A poet?

I write poems. - You don't look like a poet.

You look like your brother.

What music do you like?

Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan.

I like the words.

Do you write words?

Words come to me.

And you put them into songs?

Tunes don't come to me.

Tunes come to me.

Appear in my head.

I... recorded them cassettes myself for parties.

They play records and I record them cos I can't afford to buy them.

Dante, you say you don't know what you are.

This is what you are.

MUSIC: "Broadway Jungle" by Toots and the Maytals

EAMONN: Alright, that's the lot.

ENGINE REVS

this jungle

Dad, why the fuck do we need 28 traffic cones?

Why the fuck did you count them?

You counted them because you're the smart one.

And we like smart ones.

TYRES SQUEAL

You are not putting any items stolen from Robbie Carmen

into the company lockup.

Right.

Come here.

If he has any complaints about the damp

tell him to call Mission Control or the council.

I'd strongly recommend Mission Control.

OK, first we take the cones out of the van.

Cut off the ends to make the hole in the tip bigger

like this.

And why would we do that?

Try it.

OK, OK.

I'll cut the tips off the traffic cones, you take the ones I've cut

over to those troughs.

And why would I do that?

You do that because the Coventry and Birmingham Battalions

are self-financing

because those sticky bastards in Dublin give us nothing.

So we have to finance ourselves

and 80% of our finance comes from the laundering of red diesel.

Come on, I'll show you.

Look.

Diesel, but it's red.

Dad, I have to be back in college in one hour.

Standard diesel is clear but this is red.

The British government puts red dye into diesel sold to farmers

because it's subsidised and only meant for use on farms.

It's illegal to sell red diesel for use on the public road.

So, today we are gonna be removing the red dye

from this cheap, subsidised diesel...

putting the cleaned-up fuel in the barrels

to sell at the normal retail price.

The profit of 80 pence per gallon will go to buy the necessary tools

and equipment needed to help us continue the war

to liberate the six occupied counties of Northern Ireland.

And why would we do that?

Y'know, there are some in our little health service community

who are saying to me that my boy...

isn't really pulling his weight.

Over there, you'll find some sacks of cat litter.

Cat litter? - I'll cut the cones.

You'll fill them with cat litter, I'll add some sulphuric acid

and you will pour the diesel through the mixture

into the troughs to remove the dye.

And the reason you'll do that is because I'm fucking telling you to do it.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

DANTE (VO): They closed all the curtains

and locked all the doors

on the road that runs from my street to yours.

We meet in the smoke from burning pages.

Slip the bolts, break open the cages.

I'm closer to heaven on floor 27, cos I can see the M6.

And when the lifts are fixed

I'll go down on the ground, spin you around...

and we'll hitchhike to Brighton

where we'll no longer be frightened.

But now...

I'm going to lie to my dad

because he's going to go fucking mad.

Where the hell ha' you been?

I've been seeing two of everything.

Oh, Jesus.

Come, sit down.

You're cut, Dante.

Got hit.

By who?

Can I have water, Dad?

Yeah, sit down.

INDISTINCT CHATTER ON TV

TV REPORTER: The tension was electric.

A number of cars including a police van were overturned.

Other vehicles were deliberately set on...

Went up the Soho Road to your college.

Them tried to arrest me.

DANTE: Mm...

Did the police hit you?

They mistook me for someone I'm not.

How's your head?

I'm OK. - Yeah, you look OK.

OK, I must be not OK.

Think you might be in shock, Dante.

Yeah.

I am in shock.

Well, you don't have concussion. You dizzy?

Dad, I'm OK.

I'm not a vase.

And anyway, it's not my head that's wounded.

It's my heart.

What you talk 'bout?

When my class finished, I asked Fiona

if she wanted to go for a cup of tea or something

and she said she only does dances.

She only does rock steady dances.

I don't even know what rock steady is.

So you stay out all hours of the night

get caught up in a riot

get beaten till you start to see double, and you talk 'bout some girl?

I'm in love with her. - Oh, Lord.

When she said no, I just walked around.

I didn't even smell the smoke until I got to Lozells Road.

Handsworth is always weird, but last night it was really weird.

What happened?

HE SCOFFS

Birmingham exploded.

Just like I predicted it would two years ago.

But Fiona is more important, yes? - Yes.

Mm-hm.

HE SIGHS

You love her?

Yeah.

A medieval kind of love.

I hear you've been listening to Leonard Cohen lately.

He writes poems like me.

You write poems?

A girl at college said people like us don't write poetry.

"People like us." HE CHUCKLES

And I said Joan Armatrading's songs are poetry

and she's from Wolverampton

which is an even worse shithole than here.

HE CHUCKLES

Dante...

You don't have a lot of experience

about anything...

and that is probably my fault.

But when a woman decides that she don't like you...

that is it.

Women don't change their mind.

So you have to move on.

Find somebody else.

How your head now? - Less bruised than my heart.

DOOR SLAMS

Ah, where'd this boy come from?

CURTAIN SWOOSHES

PRIEST: Marie?

It's been a while.

Forgive me, Father...

I've been unwell.

My heart.

What's wrong with your heart?

They say it's clogging up.

But it's also breaking.

It isn't about me that I'm here.

I have sinned in my head, surely...

but I'm not here about myself.

This holy confessional is for no other business than confession.

It's about my grandson, Bardon

and about Bardon's father.

This holy confessional is for no other business.

Bardon's father is trying to call him into the organisation.

Marie!

And, Father...

I know that you yourself have...

conversations and connections.

This is not an appropriate place-- - Connections with the same organisation.

These things are not for conversation, not even in here.

I've said he can do the diesel.

But I heard his father on the phone

talking to people in Birmingham about sacks of fertilizer

and the purchase of detonators. - Marie!

You will stop this right now.

You will not listen into conversations or say any of the words

you are carrying on your back like a great weight.

Nonsense about fertilizer.

That is what's hurting your heart.

Trying to know and daring to say things that are best left unsaid.

Father...

I want you to speak to the Battalion commanders in Coventry and Birmingham

and tell them my little Bardon is not to volunteer.

Volunteer for what, Marie?

He's not to volunteer for the RA.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

And you have no idea what you're talking about.

Now, go home, Marie

and take care of your poor heart.

CURTAIN SWOOSHES

EAMONN SINGS:

waiting in the bay

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

EAMONN:

-

-

-

Bardon, why don't you just get on with your job and shut the fuck up?

And why would I do that?

MUSIC: "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Jimmy Cliff

It's OK.

I can't leave you here.

I'm taking you home.

- Bro! Bro!

Bro! Bro! Bro!

- KIDS SCREAM AND LAUGH

Why don't you all just fucking sing to each other?

- HORNS HONK

MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY

GUITAR STRUMS

Who are you?

What you doing in my house?

It's OK, Marie.

It's OK, I'm a friend of Eamonn.

How'd you get in here?

Eamonn leaves a key with us in case of emergency.

Who is "us"?

Sit down, Marie.

I'll stand.

What do you want?

Someone told us you were having problems with your heart.

I'd like you to leave, now. - I'm a nurse, Marie.

I just wanted to warn you that stress of any kind

will only make your condition worse.

There now.

Bang, bang, bang.

Like a marching song.

Getting involved in stressful situations

speaking about stressful matters

that is what is setting your heart banging.

And it will only serve to put your life at risk, Marie.

Do you understand?

This is good, strong medical advice from a nurse of 25 years standing.

Safest bet is not to listen in to other people's telephone calls.

Please...

get out of my house.

Rest yourself, Marie.

Nothing good ever comes of making a fuss.

SHE SOBS

MUSIC: "Fly Me To the Moon" by Tom Jones

ON THE RADIO:

- DOOR OPENS

- DOOR SLAMS

MUSIC CLICKS OFF

Whoever you are, you've got balls.

If you want to keep 'em, you'd better explain.

They were going to dump it. - Who?

Whoever they are.

I didn't want to see it dumped.

I like stars and space.

You like stars?

You see that stage?

Frankie Laine has performed on that stage.

Remember it's 1981, nobody knows who Frankie Laine is.

I do.

Where did you get it?

Who the fuck are you?

I write poems, sometimes about planets.

Also...

my older brother used to work for you, Mr Carmen.

Though nobody's meant to know and I never tell anybody.

That's why I wasn't afraid to come here.

Who was your brother? - Gregory Williams.

Fuck.

HE CHUCKLES

Yeah, yeah, I can see it in your eyes.

We used to call him Virgil. He was a wildcard.

He had an unusual way with him.

He broke heads for me. - And I write poems.

And you do the decent thing and you bring back stolen property.

Or are you looking for work?

No.

I heard Virgil joined the forces.

He goes up the ranks.

And gets broke back down again.

For being a wildcard.

Last night, my doorman let the fuckers in through the staff door.

Fucking Zulus.

They took everything, but I...

got this.

Now, I don't do this stuff myself anymore

but I was fizzing.

They were going wild.

I had a respectable customer have a heart attack.

So I took a machete from the kitchen

and I took this from one of the fuckers with his hand in the till.

Virgil was the best head of security I ever had

and he would not have let last night happen.

You look a lot like him.

I'm not like him.

My dad keeps me in at night.

I have to go. - Fuck the time, son, you listen to me.

There. There it is, in your eyes...

It's very rare.

Instant.

Last night was an alarm going off.

"Wake fucking up."

Fuck Frankie Laine.

I'm going to change the venue.

And I will need new people.

I just came to return the spacesuit.

Fuck being a doorman.

Just before the fire comes the spark.

HE CHUCKLES

You have to know it when you see it.

If you're one tenth of what your brother was...

you can earn a grand a week just looking like how you look.

DOOR OPENS

DOOR SLAMS

CAR HORNS WAIL

LOUD TRAFFIC NOISE

DANTE (VO): Give me an hour to press like a flower.

Give me a stone to put in my shoe

so when I walk, I will remember you.

Just give me a day, I'll walk you away.

Just give me your time and I'll give you mine

and we can make the junction shine.

CAR HORN BLARES

That's...

fucking...

brilliant!

HE CHUCKLES

MUSIC: "Don't Stay Away" by Phyllis Dillon

MUSIC CONTINUES IN SHOP

Shouldn't have told you where I work.

I'm looking for something.

What are you looking for?

An album called "New Skin For An Old Ceremony" by Leonard Cohen.

Dante, why did you invite me to go for a cup of tea?

Or coffee.

I said it was up to you.

You don't drink alcohol?

My dad used to drink.

Saw what it does to people.

And you don't smoke dope?

And you don't dance?

MUSIC PLAYS FAINTLY

Listen to this.

You don't smoke cigarettes either? - No.

Listen and tell me what you think.

MUSIC: "Take This Longing" by Leonard Cohen

these hands have done

Sounds like it was recorded at 45 and is playing at 33.

You have to listen to the words.

Can't dance to words.

Yes, you can.

If they're the right words.

Fiona, last night I wrote a poem that could also be a song.

It's about you.

You're just using me to try out some emotions

you think are sophisticated.

Things you've read in books.

And just as I was composing

the final verse of the poem, something struck me.

What?

A policeman.

Because of you, I walked all the way to Lozells Road.

Seriously?

Fiona, am I wasting my time completely with you?

Dante, you were in the riot last night?

I can see that if I told you that I was there throwing bricks

you'd be impressed.

But it wouldn't be true.

I was just walking round putting the words in my head into order.

The words come and land in my skull like a flock of pigeons on a tower block.

DOOR OPENS

Do you want to buy that?

I've already got it.

I used Leonard Cohen as an excuse to come and see you.

He, of all people, would understand.

Not completely.

What? - You're not completely wasting your time.

Not completely.

OK.

That'll do until Monday.

MUSIC: "The Tide Is High" by Blondie

See you in history.

You want me to run you to college?

I'm two and a half hours late. The exam's over.

Oh.

What are they doing having exams on a Saturday anyway?

I'm doing extra work.

What is it you want to be, son?

I want to be my own man, Dad. - What?

What, and I'm not? Is that what you're saying?

You little fucker!

Men like us, we have a duty to our country and our people!

You hear me, Bardon?

Bardon!

DOG BARKS IN DISTANCE

DOOR SLAMS

Nan?

WATER RUNS

Nan?

Nan... Nan, I'm coming in.

THEME TUNE TO "DR WHO" PLAYS ON TV

TV CLICKS OFF

I got back specially so I could watch Dr Who.

Yeah, I know, um...

What's wrong?

It's your nan.

Nanny Murray.

I just get off the phone from your cousin Bardon.

Your nan had a heart attack this morning.

Your Nanny Murray dead, Dante.

I know you loved her.

And when I was a drunk, she looked after you.

But she's with the Lord now.

MUSIC: "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" by UB40

in a sky streaked with grey

KNOCK ON DOOR

MUSIC CONTINUES ON RECORD

Nanna's side of the family, they all have a weakness of the heart.

She smoked a lot when she was young. - Dad...

Why don't you go and light a candle and go to church and...

you know, and then pray for forgiveness?

Forgiveness for what?

You better listen to me, son.

There's some merchandise of a particular sort

coming down to us from Birmingham in the next few days.

When it arrives, you're gonna have to make some decisions.

Do you understand?

DOOR SHUTS

OFFICER: Sit.

At ease.

Is there something wrong with you, Sergeant Williams?

I don't think so, sir.

At 0400 hours this morning you got out of an armoured vehicle

on the Lower Falls Road

exposing yourself to the enemy

and putting yourself and your men at risk.

The report says that you did it "to listen to a bird singing".

Yes, sir.

It was very beautiful.

As a consequence of this reckless act, you drew fire onto your unit.

Two live rounds.

At just after 0900 hours, you exposed yourself to danger again

from the chamber of the same armed vehicle

while driving through the Short Strand

telling everyone in a very loud voice that they should sing together.

You joined this regiment with quite an extensive criminal record as a juvenile.

Yes, sir.

Because of your father's distinguished service in this regiment

that criminal record was overlooked.

But I wonder... - Wonder what, sir?

If a leopard ever changes its spots.

In normal circumstances

I would either put you through the system

or I would refer you to psychiatric for an assessment.

But an hour ago...

I received this.

It's your grandmother.

I have decided to recommend you for three days' compassionate leave.

Perhaps you'll get a chance to take stock of your emotions

when you're back in England

and then you will return here fit for duty.

DISTORTED WHIRRING

TRAFFIC NOISE ROARS

SIRENS WAIL

If you give me the words, I will put them in the right order.

JEANNIE: Why don't we go and have that cup of tea, Dante?

Came to see ya.

I want to give you something.

Saw you walking and I followed ya.

You said you're a poet.

I've got lots of tunes in my head.

I, uh...

recorded them on this cassette ages ago and forgot about them cos...

I can never think of any words.

Dante?

I've had this idea...

that I could do the tunes

and you could do the words.

What do you say?

MUSIC: "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Self Esteem

try and try

you got to get your share

though hard it may seem now