Out of the Wings

Los malditos (1993-2009), Raúl Hernández Garrido

The Damned : SCENE THREE , SCENE SIX , SCENES TEN AND ELEVEN , SCENE SIXTEEN , SCENE TWENTY-ONE

The Damned, translated by Gwynneth Dowling

SCENE THREE

Context:

The Boy and the Sergeant are in the forest. The Boy is obsessed with meeting the Commandant. He builds up a picture of the Commandant as a godlike figure.

Sample text

BOY:

I can do it, sir. Take up a weapon and point it at a man. I’m not worried about pulling the trigger, just give me the order and I’ll kill. My hand wouldn’t shake.

SERGEANT:

Kill?

BOY:

You’ll teach me.

Please.

I’ve walked for days on end. From far, far away to come here. To where he is. I can’t believe I’m so close to him now. So close I’ve seen him. I want to be there, to be by his side, right now!

The Commandant. Even when I was very young I’d heard of him. Like an ancient legend, passed down from generation to generation. My grandparents told me he’s been known for years here on the island. Some believe he was here before anyone else. My grandparents’ parents, their grandparents, all knew of him. And their parents and grandparents before them. They’d all heard of him and his men.

Is it true that he’s so tall he can touch the sky? And he’s so strong he can move mountains? Sir, you know him. You’re one of his. Will you take me to him?

SERGEANT:

Son, go home.

BOY:

You haven’t understood. You don’t want to understand.

The BOY starts to shake with such nervous unhealthy laughter that he begins to lose his mind. The SERGEANT cuffs him to put an end to the nervous fit.

I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again. I swear. Will you give me a rifle?

SERGEANT:

You’ll not survive two more days out here.

BOY:

I’m just the right size to carry a rifle. I’m 17, 20 even. I’m a grown man. A soldier. I’ll make the forest shake with fear.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation The Damned by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE SIX

Context:

Tanit and Denit are lazing in the sun. Tanit is growing increasingly disillusioned with the Commandant’s regime. In this scene he poetically articulates his dissatisfaction.

Sample text

TANIT:: What a lovely day.
DENIT:: Sometimes I get tired of one day going by, then another and another. I wish it will all just kick off, once and for all. There’s times I just want to take this uniform off and head to a village. Meet some women, have some fun, you know.
TANIT:: You’re going soft. You’ve gotta live in the moment.
DENIT:: I wish I was like you. Everything’s so clear-cut. You’d keep going even if the earth fell in under us.
TANIT:: It’s a lovely day. The sun is shining. It’s not too hot. There’s a refreshing breeze. Savour it. Enjoy it. Like it’s the first day of your life. Like it’s the last. Today’s the day it starts.
DENIT:: Where are we off to now?
TANIT:: The Commandant’s waiting for us.
DENIT:: We’re going back?
TANIT:: What’s stopping us?
DENIT:: Your boots are covered in mud.
TANIT:: By the time we get to camp they’ll be clean and shiny.
DENIT:: I’m getting the shakes just thinking about going in front of the old guy.
TANIT:: To be or not to be.
DENIT:: Is this another of your sermons?
TANIT:: To be or not to be.
Is that the idea?
But, what’s the point?
Perhaps it’s nobler to endure beatings and humiliations,
than to take up arms against the tyrant,
confront him and do away with him?
If we think we die. Let’s forget it,
stop going over things.
The time has come to act.
To wake up. To kill and not slumber on.
Carve out the tombs of others,
and build our empire on them.
If we doubt ourselves, even for one moment,
our fate will be sealed.
Why, then, should we keep quiet?
Why should we allow our bodies to suffer
all this endless discipline,
the insulting orders,
the abuses of authority,
the humiliating loyalty?
Why do we settle for such a poorly-paid cause, absent
of any joy and so full of pain and misery? And why
have we endured so long
this tyrant’s violence and his arrogant disdain?
What for? Why? All this ends
with the seize of a well-sharpened
knife and stabbing the air,
and the bodies filling it,
in one swift move. That’s all.
And we don’t have to tolerate,
not for one second more,
so much oppression,
so much disdain, so much effort,
so much fear … because if we have Death
as our mistress we’ll open ourselves up to joy.
Let not my failings and my virtues
be forgotten in the sermons
of the monks and the sisters. Ring the bells out
to commend our spirits to our mistress
Death, my friend. Let us go,
our days await us,
we have much to do.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation The Damned by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENES TEN AND ELEVEN

Context:

These short scenes dramatise the capture of the Boy and the Sergeant by the Commandant and his men. The Commandant’s troops have been noisily destroying the forest vegetation.

Sample text

The SERGEANT holds the BOY back as the thunderous noise made by the destruction reaches them. The BOY whimpers in fear.

BOY:

The sky’s moving, it’s turning above us. The pillars of heaven are gone. The sky’s falling on the forest. There’ll be nowhere to take shelter. There’ll be nowhere to hide and no escape. It’s the sky falling on our heads! (He grabs the rifle off the SERGEANT and fires at the sky.)

SCENE ELEVEN

The COMMANDANT quickly lowers his hand. The NATIVES stop their destruction. A closely-woven net falls over the BOY and the SERGEANT. The COMMANDANT’s forces surround the captives. The men pull on some chords that tighten over the bodies of the prisoners. The COMMANDANT addresses the SERGEANT.

COMMANDANT:

We thought you more of a man than this. We thought the hunt would be hard, but you’ve let yourself be caught far too easily. We thought you a worthy adversary. We were misled by what you did. Now that indeed was the act of a brave man, although far too foolish, far too heroic. You needed a lot of courage to attempt that much. But we were wrong. If you were really brave you’d have made it harder for us to find you. But we didn’t need to chop down the entire forest. Just a few trees and we brought you down. Like a little deer caught in a trap.

Now it’s clear what you are. A base traitor. A brute without courage or honour. You hide your hand while you raise your knife. You flee rather than stand your ground. Your first strike was a surprise, but then you couldn’t even finish what you started and fight. All those years at our side and you still haven’t learnt how to do a job well.

Three crimes are punishable by death. Insubordination, desertion and apathy. You’ve earned yourself death three times over. Your punishment will, therefore, be three times worse than death.

With a gesture he holds back the NATIVES, who are already moving in on the SERGEANT.

Your death will be hard. You don’t deserve a quick end. You’ll suffer more than any man has ever suffered.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation The Damned by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE SIXTEEN

Context:

The Commandant is alone. He stands in the river and contemplates his presence on the island, the past, the present and the future. He speaks like a Biblical figure.

Sample text

The COMMANDANT, at the river, takes off his boots. He makes a satisfied noise on going barefoot. He carefully puts his feet in the water, his face showing great pleasure. But something is not right: he grabs his boots and throws them far away.

Between the four rivers:

Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, Perath [1], holy land, fertile land, a garden for the first man … a tomb for the last. Paradise. A sleeping valley hidden within a maze of vegetation. Eden. An impossible place. A place to lose yourself. The forest towers over our heads, like the earth’s breath reaching to the sky. The blanket of trees hides our faces from heaven. The earth mingles with our flesh, penetrates it. Deeply. Faces almost indistinguishable from the undergrowth. Faces covered in mud, consumed by the earth and returned to its surface like plants made of clay. And the earth takes seed in me. Between my toes, joining with my beaten and broken flesh. Watered by this muddy stream, this is how the earth’s seed will grow in me. It can’t be stopped, it keeps on growing, on and on. Intertwines with my flesh. Grows bigger. Too much for me. Earth. Poison. Death. Rebirth. Life, blood, sap. So much that my boots can no longer contain it. My feet, my toes … this earth that rots between my toes, that grows here … in this rotting earth … within, between my toes, my feet. I’ll put down roots. Out there, I’ll have to tell them – keep going, I’ll reach you. No, I won’t reach them. Not now. Because my journey will already have ended. And I’ll sink deeper into the earth, filling it with myself, reaching its fiery core, feeding off it. My arms will be branches and my fingers will end in leaves, leaves that will see all, that will watch over all. Tree of Knowledge, Tree of Good and Evil. Will I then be at peace?

He picks up a mound of earth and brings it to his mouth.

[…]

I once had a family, a wife, children. When? Ten, fifteen years ago. A hundred … Now, not one memory of them remains.

[1] Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel and Perath are the four rivers flowing from the river of Eden (see Genesis 2: 10-14).

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation The Damned by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE TWENTY-ONE

Context:

Carnit, who has remained loyal to the Commandant, has been ordered to kill the Sergeant.

Sample text

SERGEANT:: You’re going to kill me? But why?
CARNIT:: I’ve an order and I’m going to carry it out.
SERGEANT:: He’s abandoning all he’s fought for over the years. He’s covering his tracks before he flees. How easily his empire crumbles.
CARNIT:: I’ve no idea what you’re going on about. Don’t waste any more of my time.
SERGEANT:: So where’s his army now? Before, he could command crowds of armed men, just with the power of his words. Now, he can’t even control half a dozen rebels, not even with all the means he has at his disposal. And you’re still doing your best to obey him. Stupid.
CARNIT:: Let’s not waste any more time. Ready your neck.
SERGEANT:: And he’ll say he’ll rise from the ashes. That he’ll gather a new army. But even now he’ll not find anyone who cares.
CARNIT:: Quiet!
SERGEANT:: I demand to see him.
CARNIT:: Ready your neck.
SERGEANT:: I need to speak to him.
CARNIT:: He doesn’t talk to traitors.
SERGEANT:: Well then, do what you have to do.; CARNIT unties the rope and lowers the SERGEANT down. When he is on the ground, CARNIT readies the machete. But the SERGEANT surprises him and beats him into submission in the net.
CARNIT:: I’m beat!
SERGEANT:: Ha! The tables have turned. I’m the one with the knife in my hand, and your neck is ready.
CARNIT:: I haven’t done my duty. Kill me.
SERGEANT:: I’m not going to do that.
CARNIT:: You have to kill me. It’s your duty, it’s my right.
SERGEANT:: I’ve no reason to kill you. I won’t do you that favour. Kill yourself. Do it by your own hand, if that’s what you really want. But don’t involve me in it. I ain’t getting my hands dirty with your death. You’re all nothing to me now. Your codes of honour are meaningless and I couldn’t care less about your rites and rituals. And I don’t want to get mixed up in your games and manoeuvres. I’ve finished with you all and everything you stand for. That’s why I left, with no other wish than to leave behind a world that already held little meaning for me. I didn’t want to ruin anything, or cause any of you more harm. I just couldn’t be a part of it anymore. I left without doing any damage, but you couldn’t just leave me in peace. Oh no. You caught me, like I was an animal. Guilty of nothing, he condemned me to death – with your full support – to an age of suffering before dying of exhaustion and hunger. That’s what really set me free from the rest of you.

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