Aquarium
Inside Russian Military Intelligence
by
Charles Proser
From the book
by
Victor Suvorov
CLOSE UP - MAN WITH GREY HAIR
A forgettable face fills the frame.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
We have a very simple rule: it's a
ruble to get in, but two to get out.
It's difficult to join the
organization, but a lot more difficult
to leave. There's only one way out...
through the chimney. For some it is
an honorable exit. For others it's a
shameful, terrible way to go...
The man points towards a window. Below, a labyrinth of
pathways, a wall, a network of barbed wire.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR (CONT'D)
That's it. Have a good look.
He points to a chimney on a flat roof which floats among the
greenery like a raft. A thin wisp of smoke rises.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Is someone leaving the organization?
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
No.
(HE LAUGHS)
They are burning secret papers. When
somebody leaves, the smoke is dense,
oily. If you join, you too will one
day rise into the sky. You have one
last chance to change your mind. Sit
down.
He presses a button. Shutters cover the windows. A picture
appears on a screen without any title or explanation...a
black and white film, old and scratched. It has no sound
track, and the regular clicking noise of the projector can
be heard.
THE FILM.
A furnace with fire-doors. Rails run into the furnace. Men
in protective gowns stand nearby. A coffin. The men lift the
coffin and place it on the guide rails. The doors open
smoothly, the coffin is given a gentle push and it slides
into the flames.
CLOSE UP - A FACE SWIMMING IN PERSPIRATION
Pull back. He wears an expensive suit, terribly crumpled.
His tie is tightly screwed round his neck. He's bound with
wire to a stretcher which is propped so the man can see the
furnace.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
The attendants turn to the bound man. A scream! A terrible
scream. There is no sound, but it is a scream that would
make the windows rattle. They pick up the stretcher. The man
makes an incredible effort to prevent this. The strain shows
on his face. A vein on his forehead stands out, about to
burst. He tries to bite an attendant's hand. His teeth only
bite his own lip. A trickle of blood runs down his chin. He
wriggles, beats his head against the stretcher.
The guide rails shake. He strains to the point of breaking
his own bones, tearing his own muscles. But the wire does
not give. The stretcher slides along the rails.
The furnace doors move aside, the fire casts a white light
on the the man's shoes. He tries to bend his knees to keep
his feet from the roaring fire. But he can't.
Suddenly the stretcher halts. A new figure appears, signals.
The men remove the stretcher from the rails and stand it
against the wall. Another coffin is wheeled in. It's very
elegant, with a decorative fringe, the coffin of some highly
esteemed person. The men lift it onto the rails and and send
it into the flames. Then it's the bound man's turn. He's
again placed on the rails. Again, that silent scream! The
man's face, signs of madness? It's easier for madmen in this
world. But there are no such signs. His face is not distorted
by madness. It's simply that he doesn't want to go into the
furnace and is trying somehow to make that clear. But what
can he do except scream? So he screams. Then his shoes go
into the fire. The fire flares up. The men give the stretcher
a push into the depths. The furnace doors close and the sound
of the projector dies out.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Who was he?
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
He was a colonel. But he deceived
us. We don't force anybody. If you
don't want to join, you can simply
refuse. But once you've joined you
belong to us. I give you a last chance
to change your mind. A minute to
reflect.
CU VIKTOR SUVOROV
A young, powerful, intelligent slavic face.
SUVOROV
I don't need a minute.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
That's the rule. So sit down and
keep quiet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
He presses a switch. A hand moves around the face of a clock.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
If they admit me into the organization
I am ready to serve it loyally. It's
a serious, powerful organization,
and I like their ways. But I know
damned well that, if I am to depart
through the chimney, it will never
be in a coffin with fancy frills.
That is not in my character. I am
not the sort to get fancy treatment.
Not me.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
Time's up. Want more time to think?
SUVOROV
No.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
All right, then. I have the honor to
congratulate you on joining our secret
brotherhood...The Chief Directorate
of Intelligence of the General Staff;
the GRU. Don't try to be too clever.
I wish you well, captain.
PROVINCIAL RUSSIAN TOWN THE SQUARE STATUE OF LENIN
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Should you ever think of making your
career in the KGB, Just ask anybody.
POV APPROACHING CITIZEN...CITIZEN LISTENS, RESPONDS MOS
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Yes, that building there, the one
Lenin points at. That's KGB
headquarters.
MONTAGE
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Or, you can just apply to the special
department. There's one in every
railway station, every factory.
There's one in every regiment,
college, prison...in every Party
committee, in the Communist youth,
the trade unions. Just go up to
them and say: I want to join the
KGB! The KGB is open to everybody.
POV POLICE IN FRONT OF STATION. WE APPROACH...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
It's not so easy to get into the
GRU. Who do you apply to? At which
door do you knock? At the police
station, maybe?
The police glare suspiciously, shrug, 'never heard of it.'
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
For the citizen, for the police,
those letters mean nothing. The GRU
is secret. Since nobody knows about
it, nobody can join on his own
initiative. Volunteers are not needed.
In fact, a volunteer would be...
MAN HUSTLED THROUGH DARK CORRIDORS BY POLICE
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
...arrested at once and subjected to
a long and painful interrogation.
He would have a lot of questions
to answer.
DISEMBODIED INTERROGATORS FACE HE SPEAKS MOS
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Where have you heard these letters?
How did you find us?. Who helped
you?
POV INTERROGATORS SHAKE US DOWN.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
'Who? Who? Answer, you bastard!'.
The GRU knows how to get
answers...from anybody. I can
guarantee that.
POV ANOTHER MAN IS HAULED IN TO SEE THE INTERROGATOR
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Sooner or later they would get back
to the source...someone whose tongue
had overstepped the mark. Oh, the
GRU knows how to rip such tongues
out! You can talk about the GRU
only inside the GRU. And only inside
inside the transparent walls of the
building on the Khodinka.
THE AQUARIUM MODERN GLASSFRONTED BUILDING
Like an enormous fish tank.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
The law of the Aquarium! Everything
talked about inside stays inside.
Thus, few people know of it. Anyone
who does keeps his mouth shut, so I
had never heard of the GRU.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. DAWN HQ 318th MOTORIZED INF. DIV.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
My life seemed cut out for me. After
commanding the company I might command
a battalion, then a regiment, maybe
higher. This was the course I had
chosen. But fate decided otherwise.
BATCHELOR OFFICER'S QUARTERS PREDAWN
An ORDERLY with torch shakes Suvorov awake.
ORDERLY
Get up, Lieutenant, great deeds await
you!!!
SUVOROV rolls over and glares at him. He changes tone.
ORDERLY (CONT'D)
Action stations!'
Action stations! S is up. Off with blanket. On with trousers,
boots. Slip into tunic, strap shoulder-belt, cap on head.
Off at the run. Grab pistol. Leap down stairs. The truck is
full of young officers.
EXT. TANK PARK DEAFENING ROAR OF ENGINES STOCK
Tanks growl. The grey-green monsters trundle along, then
APC'S, Armored Personnel Carriers, artillery, antiaircraft
batteries.
An officer shouts. Everyone runs. There ahead, his company.
Suverov leaps onto the sloping front armor and runs up to
the turret. He drops in the open hatch, grabs his helmet. He
puts it on. Headphones crackle:
RADIO/GUNNER
All ammunition in tanks. All fuel.
SUVOROV
(cutting him off)
Is it training...or war?
R/G replies with a shrug. S. looks ahead. Tanks don't move.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
What's the problem?
RADIO/GUNNER
We are ready.
SUVOROV
Move out! Immediately!
RADIO/GUNNER
This is a target enemies dream of.
Suvorov jumps up onto the turret to get a better view. A
stalled tank blocks the way. He looks at his watch.
SUVOROV
Stalled. No sign of a tractor.
RADIO/GUNNER
Eight minutes left.
The road between garages is jammed with tanks; No way through.
Engines roar impatiently. Suvorov jumps into the turret and
screams...
SUVOROV
Left wheel and ahead!
(into headset)
COMPANY: FOLLOW ME!
There is no gateway, only a brick wall. He kicks the driver.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I chose you, you rat! Don't disgrace
me! Or I'll flatten you and let you
rot!
EXT. TANK
The dinosaur roars away. Gears clang, the body shakes, the
engine SCREAMS. WHANNNNGGGG! A Terrifying shock as the
tank hits the brick wall. Bricks avalanche onto the armour
plate, wrecking headlights and aerials, ripping off boxes,
denting the fuel tanks. The tank roars. Wrapped in a web of
barbed wire, it bursts out of a cloud of brick dust into the
sleepy side street of a peaceful Ukrainian town.
INT. TANK
It shudders, rattles. Suvorov looks through rear slit.
SUVOROV'S POV
Tanks shoot through the gap. An officer runs up, shouting,
cursing. Ahead, TRAFFIC CONTROL appears, waving at them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.
SUVOROV
Come on, boys, let us through!
We've got to be out in front.
The tanks advance at top speed. Suvorov looks back. Close
on the tail of the last tank, an APC appears, making sparks
fly off the concrete. The APC sports a little white flag.
Suvorov is greatly relieved.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Boys, there are umpires!
DRIVER
It's maneuvers, not war.
SUVOROV
We'll live another day.
The tank blasts through. Branches and undergrowth explode.
INT. TANK
The ROAR is hellish. The machine rears, bucks, prancing about
like a demon. Suvorov tries to read a map on his knees.
2ND TANK (V.O.)
Where is the enemy?
SUVOROV
Not clear. Map's no use. Where's the
weak spot?
The tanks race. The APC with the white flag roars alongside.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Avoid resistance. Avoid towns. Don't
get involved in clashes. If you meet
the enemy, radio in, dodge round,
move ahead. Forward, boys...Westwards!
POV 2nd TANK CO.
2ND TANK CO (V.O.)
There's a crane ahead...
SUVOROV
SUVOROV
A crane? A lifting crane?
SUVOROV'S POV
2ND TANK CO (V.O.)
Yes! A crane! A beautiful crane.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.
SUVOROV
SUVOROV
Missile battery! Company, a missile
battery! Advance! Full speed ahead!
The driver floors it. Engines scream, clouds of smoke belch.
The platoon spreads in battle formation. Second tank
accelerates, swings off, tracks spraying mud. Third tank
turns in a wide sweep.
RADIOMAN
Recon completed. Going into action!
SUVOROV
Missile units must be attacked
immediately, whatever the cost.
The loader slams a shell into the breech, the block slams
closed. The turret swings. The gunner grips the firing
console. The stabilizers control the gun in short movements,
isolating it from the wild dance of the tank gone mad as it
flies over tree trunks. The gunner fires. The forty ton hulk
shudders. The gun barrel springs back, a smoking shell case
clangs off the baffle plate. Shellfire whips the Asians crews
into a fury, into wild beasts. The gunner gnaws the strap on
the sight. The CO howls like a wolf.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Smash them, drive on through!
The drivers yank the levers, and drive straight into the
heat of battle. S looks back. Far in the rear is the APC
with the white flag.
SUVOROV VO
I was sorry for them. They had no
gun, no deafening noise. They got no
pleasure from life. Their driver was
cowardly, dodging rocks and trees.
You have to grab the machine, throw
it about. A tank is a gentle thing.
But if it feels that it is being
ridden by a strong man it will go
wild too. It will gallop over
boulders, through craters and ditches.
It will sweep you along. A tank revels
in battle: that's what it's made
for!
RADIO (V.O.)
Take your company out of battle line.
Sparks fly from the tracks. They rush down on the missile
battery.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.
RADIO (CONT'D)
Take your company out of line...
THE TANKS CHARGE ON, GROWLING LIKE WOLVES. THEY SMASH HEAD
on into the missile mock ups, transporters and cranes. They
push the missile artillery into the sticky black earth.
SUVOROV
Company! Full speed. Attack!
Then he slams his fist on the armourplate and curses.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Goddamn Staff officers. Goddamn!
...Company ! Break away! Left wheel!
The tank nearly turns over, destroys a birch, gnashes gears
and crashes into the meadow. He locks a track, swings the
tank around, drops the engine to idle. It stands blurping
quietly. A ROAR! Tanks burst out of the forest, brake
convulsively, and form up in line.
INT. TANK
SUVOROV
Disarm! Guns open for inspection!'
Suvorov rips the headphone plug out of its socket.
EXT. MEADOW LINE OF TANKS
Suvorov checks equipment. The men assemble before the tanks.
RADIO/GUNNER
Command tank, broken aerial, damaged
tanks. 140 liters of fuel remaining.
17 shots fired, 43 rounds remaining...
SUVOROV (V.O.)
We left the park eight minutes early.
In a war seconds count. Tanks must
move out at top speed, so the enemy's
first blow falls on deserted camps.
Eight minutes! Definitely a plus.
All my tanks were in good shape.
That was a plus for my technical
deputy. It was a pity that, due to
the shortage of officers, I had no
technical deputy. We had avoided
the strongholds and had reported on
them precisely. That was a plus for
the commander of the first platoon.
It was a pity that we didn't have
one. We had sniffed out the missile
battery, and flattened it. For such
(MORE)
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10.
SUVOROV (V.O.) (CONT'D)
action they pin a big medal on your
chest and refer to it at lectures
for a long time after.
THE APC pulls up. CO hops out, followed by umpires, officers.
The CO's face is burnt with exposure to the sun and winds of
training ranges. A Colonel appears, hands white, spotless,
boots glistening. With distaste he picks his way carefully,
round the puddles.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Straighten up! Easy! Dress right!
COLONEL
(cutting him off)
Fun, Lieutenant. In action! Like a
little boy!
Suvorov grins. The officers are grimly silent. His smile
makes the colonel even fiercer.
COLONEL (CONT'D)
It is quite disgraceful, Lieutenant,
not to hear orders, not to carry
them out.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
(to himself)
My dear idiot Colonel, I would hang
people who do not enjoy themselves
in action, who are not intoxicated
by the smell of blood. In a real
battle my Asians would have become
even more excited. That is their
strength. Nobody in the world would
be able to stop them.
COLONEL
And then there's the wall! You
knocked down the wall! That's a
serious offense!
SUVOROV (V.O.)
The wall. Big deal!
S. smiles. Behind him, the company grins. The Colonel is
furious.
COLONEL
You're not fit to command. I remove
you. Hand your company over to your
deputy. He'll take them back to
barracks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11.
SUVOROV
I don't have a deputy.
COLONEL
Then hand over command to the
commander of the first platoon!
SUVOROV
There isn't one. I'm the only officer
in the company.
The Colonel... the fire goes out of him.. Behind him, the
umpires and his officers hide grins and look at the dust.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Plenty of people want to be officers,
but they all want to be colonels.
Very few want to be lieutenants.
People forget this in headquarters.
The umpire, also a Colonel, mutters to the CO.
UMPIRE
They have to be returned to barracks.
CO
That's impossible without an officer.
UMPIRE
It is an offence! It could be
regarded as an attempt at a coup
d'etat.
SUVOROV / THE COLONEL
SUVOROV (V.O.)
You have taken personal responsibility
for the company and do not have the
right to entrust them to anyone else.
If such a right were granted, then
every commander could replace
officers. You have the right to
dismiss me. Everyone has that right.
It's easy as killing a man. But you
can't put me in charge again. I am
not worthy. Everybody heard you say
that. What if your superiors get to
know that you removed a properly
appointed commander and put an
unworthy one in his place?
The colonel turns to the CO.
COLONEL
Radio the battalion commander. Ask
him to take over the company.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.
CO
The exercises are over. We can't use
wartime communications now.
UMPIRE
Officers who took such liberties in
1937 were shot.
The Colonel looks at Suvorov. Suvorov looks back.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Go on, take command! But the men are
not Russians. What if they
misunderstand a command. A tank can
run over a man, run off a bridge,
sink in a bog. The commander's fate
is always the same.
SUVOROV has his fun, looks at the CO, then stops smiling.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Permit me, comrade colonel.
(salutes smartly)
Allow me to lead the company for the
last time. A farewell.
COLONEL
Yes. You lead the company. Consider
my order not having come into force.
Take the company to barracks. Hand
it over there.
SUVOROV
Very good!
He turns about sharply. There are smiles on the faces of the
officers and men. The CO mutters to the Umpire.
CO (ASIDE)
What on earth is 'taking command for
the time being?'
UMPIRE
There is no such order. An officer
is either worthy of commanding his
unit, or he is not.
Suvorov casts his eye over his men. A tremor runs through
the ranks. He holds two flags.. He raises the white flag.
The formation freezes in expectation, each man straining.
He raises the red flag. They bolt. Engines roar. Suvorov
climbs into the hatch, flag held high. The tanks roar away.
EXT. CAMP ENTRANCE A BAND BLARES FORTH.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13.
The CO stands on a tank, welcoming his columns back. S
salutes. The CO directs a ferocious look at him, then brings
his hand up in salute. Suvorov is shocked.
His tank has gone past, but he swings round and looks at the
CO. Suddenly the CO smiles at him.
INT. HQ
Marble stairs. Carpeted corridors. Suvorov salutes the
regimental standard, an orderly salutes him, knocks on a
door.
INT. CO'S OFFICE
Suvorov enters. The Umpire, A Lieutenant Colonel sits at the
CO's desk. Suvorov seems comfused.
LT. COLONEL
Sit down, senior lieutenant.
(he sits)
Tell me, senior lieutenant, why did
you smile when Colonel Yermolayev
relieved you of command?
The Lt. Colonel's eyes drill into him.
SUVOROV
I don't know, comrade Colonel.
LT. COLONEL
Your company performed with great
skill. It was better to knock down
that wall than to expose the regiment
to attack. It is not difficult to
rebuild a wall...
SUVOROV
It's already been rebuilt.
LT. COLONEL
I am Lieutenant Colonel Kravtsov,
Chief of Intelligence of the 13th
Army. Colonel Yermolayev thinks he
is Chief of Intelligence. He's been
relieved of his post. He doesn't
know it yet. He thinks he's carrying
out an inspection, but in fact I am
handling things. None of his orders
has any force. He issues them but
they are annulled. He is a zero, a
failure expelled without a pension.
So his order relieving you of your
company has no force.
SUVOROV
Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14.
KRAVTSOV
He does not have the right to remove
you from command. Therefore I am
removing you. I order you to hand
over your company.
Suvorov jumps up, salutes.
SUVOROV
Very good! I hand over the company.
KRAVTSOV
Sit down.
He sits.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
Colonel Yermolayev removed you because
he considered a company was too much
for you. I am removing you because
it is too little. I have a job for
you: chief of staff of the division's
recon battalion.
SUVOROV
But I am only a senior lieutenant.
KRAVTSOV
I am only a Lieutenant Colonel. But
I have been selected to take over
intelligence work for the Army. I am
now forming my team. I need
intelligent men. At 21.30 our bus
leaves. You have a seat on it.
EXT. HEADQUARTERS 13TH ARMY
Suvorov shows his pass to a guard. The guard studies it,
salutes. A path between barbed wire ends at a mansion hidden
among the trees.
INT. HQ
He climbs marble staircase, shows his pass and enters a dark,
GUARDED CORRIDOR. OFFICERS TURN TO LOOK. A DOOR OF ARMOR
plate. He presses a bell, an eye peers through the viewing
slit and clicks the lock.
OFFICE
Three desks, three safes, bookshelves and a map of Europe cover a wall.
Opposite the entrance hangs a portrait of a general. Two
lieutenant colonels eye him with suspicion and acknowledge
his greetings with only slight nods of the head. A table is
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15.
piled with messages. He sits and is stumped by the very first
one.
ECU MESSAGE 'An echelon of twenty British Chieftain tanks
has been observed on a railway bridge across the Rhine near
Cologne.'
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Idiots! Which direction was it going?
Reinforcement or a reduction in force?
He looks up. Both Colonels have copies of the same message.
They look at him but are in no hurry to hint at the answer.
He gets up, goes to picture of the general on the wall. He
speaks to it.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
If I read the preceding messages the
answer would probably be very simple.
He smiles at this Colonel General and gives him a wink. The
expression on the officer's face is severe, his eyes, cruel
and commanding. There is no inscription beneath the portrait.
He turns it over. Instead of a name there is only a stamp:
"Military unit 44388" and a warning: "To be kept only in the
secure premises of the Aquarium and its subordinate organs."
He goes to the safe and pulls out a heavy volume. He drops
it on his desk with a crash. The Lieutenant colonels jump.
MATCH DISSOLVE
OFFICE 1700 HOURS The Colonels spit on their seals and stamp
the document cases which then go into the safe. They
disappear. Suverov sits alone in the gathering gloom,
engrossed. Books are piled nearby.
KRAVTSOV
Do you ever get any sleep?
He looks up. Kravtsov has appeared.
SUVOROV
Sometimes, and what about you?
KRAVTSOV
Sometimes. Shall I test you?
SUVOROV
Yes please, comrade Lieutenant
Colonel.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.
KRAVTSOV
Where is the 406th Tactical Fighter
Wing of the U. S. Air Force?
SUVOROV
In Zaragossa, Spain.
KRAVTSOV
What does the U.S. Fifth Army Corps
consist of?
SUVOROV
The 3rd Armoured Division, 8th
Mechanized Division and 11th Cavalry
Regiment.
KRAVTSOV
(studies him)
Do you know what the second group
does?
SUVOROV
Yes.
KRAVTSOV
But how could you know?
SUVOROV
I guessed. Espionage by secret agents.
KRAVTSOV
Do you know what the third group
does?
SUVOROV
Yes, I do.
He strides around the room, trying to grasp it.
KRAVTSOV
Sit down.
(he sits)
Suvorov, you have been receiving
scraps of information from the second
group... You could guess about them.
But you haven't been getting anything
at all from the third group.
SUVOROV
From which I concluded that the third
group is brought into action only in
wartime. The officers in the third
are very tough, every one of them.
KRAVTSOV
So what do you think they do?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17.
SUVOROV
In wartime they extract information
by force. They are saboteurs,
terrorists.
KRAVTSOV
Do you know what we call the group?
SUVOROV
No, I couldn't know that.
KRAVTSOV
Spetsnaz. Special Recon Units. Do
you know how many such troops there
are in the third group?
SUVOROV
A battalion.
He jumps up out of his chair.
KRAVTSOV
Who told you that?
SUVOROV
I guessed it.
KRAVTSOV
But how?
SUVOROV
In every division there is one company
doing recon. An Army is a stage higher
than a division, which means that
you should have at your disposal not
a company but a battalion.
KRAVTSOV
(studies him...)
Turn up this evening at this address.
INT. SPORTS CENTER SUVOROV AND KRAVTSOV
KRAVTSOV has a broad grin on his face. He is barefooted, in
a green track suit. Two ordinary chairs stand in a vast space.
KRAVTSOV
Sit down.
They sit face to face in the middle of the area.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
Put your hands on your knees and
relax them completely. In all
circumstances you must be utterly
relaxed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.
Holding on to the chair, he starts rocking back on the back
legs, and then suddenly tipped right over backwards. Slams
to the floor smiling. He jumps up, lifts the chair and sits
down.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
Nothing can happen to you. But human
nature makes us resist falling
backwards. Its only our mind that
holds us back....Now hold on to the
chair with your hands.... Rock back
on the chair....Stop, stop: are you
afraid?
SUVOROV
Of course I'm afraid.
KRAVTSOV
Good, that's normal.
He rocks back on the chair, carefully balancing, then gently
upsets the balance, rocking a bit further. The chair falls
slowly back, then crashes to the floor. He bursts out
laughing: nothing had happened. Kratzsov offers a hand.
SUVOROV
I'll have another go!
POV GROUND FLITTING BY FROM A MOVING TRAIN
KRAVTSOV (V.O.)
The Academy of Science has worked
out the technique for jumping off
trains. You jump backwards in the
opposite direction. As you hit, you
run, gradually slowing down.
We can jump from a train at 70
kilometres an hour. Don't touch the
ground with your hands, or you'll
upset the rhythm of the legs. You'll
fall and die a painful death. Okay?
Suvorov, just looks at him, then jumps off the train.
EXT. OPEN RAILWAY BRIDGE ABOVE A CHASM
They stand looking down.
KRAVTSOV
It's psychological...Fools say you
mustn't look down. But there's great
pleasure in looking down. Think of
death, don't be afraid of it. You
can derive pleasure not only from
another person's death but from your
own. Only people who do not fear
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
death can perform miracles along
with the gods.
He looks down to the depths, teeters on the edge, smiling.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
Well, then, its time to try you out
on the real thing. I'll send you off
with a Spetsnaz group. As an
inspector.
SUVOROV
I'm ready, comrade Lieutenant Colonel.
KRAVTSOV
Are you sure?
He back flips and lands on the beam on one foot, grinning.
A TRAIN RUSHES THROUGH THE RUSSIAN COUNTRYSIDE
INT. DINING CAR
Suvorov sits at table alone, staring out the window. A
boundless expanse speeds by. Fir trees, ruined churches,
factories. He turns, the waiter stands over him.
WAITER
Excuse me, Comrade. We have only
this one seat left. Would you mind...
He looks up, a very pretty girl stands looking at him. He
almost spills his drink in his haste to make room for her.
She smiles at him and sits. The waiter hands her a menu. She
glances at it briefly, then looks up over it at him.
TANYA
So...What looks good to you?
She smiles...He just looks at her.
EXT. THE TRAIN SPEEDS ACROSS THE STEPPES
INT. DINING CAR LATER
Dishes are cleared...A bottle, nearly empty.
TANYA
So, Viktor...
SUVOROV
Vitya.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20.
TANYA
...Vitya... So Vitya... what is
your destination?
SUVOROV
Destination...Oh...let's say...
Moscow.
TANYA
Oh, and what is your profession?
SUVOROV
We can say...scientific research...
And what's yours...your occupation?
TANYA
(she smiles)
...Let's say...scientific research.
SUVOROV
And your destination?
TANYA
We can say... Moscow.
SUVOROV
Can I meet you?
TANYA
I'm sorry...It is not possible.
SUVOROV
No?
TANYA
No. I'm sorry. But we cannot meet.
Sadly, he toasts her with his Vodka. She toasts him back.
MORNING.
The trainman wakes him. He checks his watch, grabs his bag,
starts up the aisle. He stops.
Tanya is up ahead. She is turned away. She glances his way,
but apparently doesn't see him, she turns back and walks
away toward the rear. Quickly, he reverses course, goes up
the aisle toward the front. The train slows.
EXT. TRAIN MOVING
He swings down on the step. It pulls up, doesn't fully stop,
just slows enough for him to jump off. He is the only one.
He looks up. A small, totally isolated station in the middle
of barren fields.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.
He turns...and watches the train slide by, windows closed
against this secret place. The last car sweeps by, revealing
the other side of the barren station.
And a figure standing there. Tanya. She looks across at him
in equal surprise. Two soldiers wait with a car. One of them
comes up, Salutes her, takes her bag. She salutes back,
follows him to the car. The other soldier comes up to Suvorov,
salutes.
SOLDIER
Welcome to Spetsnaz Training Center,
comrade Captain.
INT. CAR
Door opens. She waits in the back. He gets in beside her.
She smiles, and jokingly salutes him. He smiles, puts his
hand on hers.
SUVOROV
Well, this ought to be fun!
EXT. AERIAL NIGHT DROP ROAR OF AIRCRAFT ENGINES
WIND HOWLS. Suverov looks out the open drop door. The ground
whizzes by. He looks down the row of seated paratroopers...
animal fear in their eyes. Animal fear in his eyes!
They stare back at him; the big, high cheek-boned radio
operator, BALD TARZAN, GENGHIS KHAN, the cipher clerk;
SERGEANT DROZDOV, the biggest man in the group. the commander:
also very big; and the paratroopers, broad shouldered and
powerful: VAMPIRE, NICKOLAS III, NEGATIVE, CHOPIN. Bald Tarzan
smiles at him.
BALD TARZAN
One hundred meters.
SUVOROV
Only one parachute?
VAMPIRE
At this height a second chute is...
(grins evilly) ...not necessary.
BALD TARZAN
Don't worry, it opens explosively
with the help of this. ...'Boom!'
He holds up a gas canister.
SUVOROV
Oh. Good.
The SERGEANT shows him a map.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.
SERGEANT
Twenty eight Spetsnaz groups. We
attack the radar stations of the 8th
Tank Army.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I jump last. I am the jumpmaster.
They stare at him wild eyes, all of them, except the
Commander. He dozes quietly, completely relaxed. But all the
other eyes have a glint of craziness about them.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
It's fine to jump from three thousand
metres.
The plane suddenly dives. Tops of trees flash past. They
hook lines to the central rail. S alone has it loose on his
chest.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
But this was only a hundred! I had
to let them all go past and at the
last moment, hook my line. But what
if I missed? It would be too late to
open the chute. I imagined myself
falling. I could just imagine howling
in the face of death. (He laughs)
The parachutists look at him curiously; the umpire's having
hysterics. The blue light above the hatch flickers.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Stand! Get down!'
The doors move aside. Icy wind whips in. The snow below is
dazzlingly bright. Bushes rush past in a wild gallop. Bald
Tarzan, crouches down, right leg forward to steady himself.
Ghenghis leans his whole body heavily on him. Third man on
the back of the second man, the group forms a single unit,
waiting.
ALARM BELL FLASHING LIGHT
SUVOROV
Go. Go. Go!
Wild eyes flash past. A SIREN HOWLS driving fear deep inside.
Faces are distorted. We're off!' There is no getting out of
it, no way of resisting the pressure from behind. The whole
lot rushes out the hatch as one, disappears..
The plane lurches and bucks. Swaying at the door, frozen
hand trying to hook on. Miss. Miss. The floor drops. Sliding
out the door, a last grab. The hook catches wire, snaps on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23.
Out the door, float into freezing fog. Whack! The chord
snaps tight popping the chute out. Head down, frost whipping
face, legs in the air, slam into the ground and roll. He
sweeps along in a swirl of snow. Bury chute, scatter stuff
to keep dogs off. They lope through snow. CO explains...
COMMANDER
The police, the KGB, the MVD are all
after us. But we have our hands tied.
If it was war we could seize a few
cars and skirt the area. But it isn't
real war, we are not allowed to
commandeer transport, we have just
our feet, The pace is cruel,
killing...
RAVINE MORNING
The lie exhausted, tunics wet through, faces red, sweat
running, hearts thumping, tongues hanging out. The CO grins.
COMMANDER
Don't worry. It is always like this
at first. By the 4th or 5th day you'll
be used to it. You'll be walking
like a machine.
SERGEANT
Commander, dogs barking in the
village.
COMMANDER
Bad sign. Strangers there. We'll go
around. To the left.
CHOPIN
To the left there's a KGB ambush. In
that wood. Look, birds circling.
COMMANDER
Right.
SERGEANT
Through the gully and the trees.
That way is only for wolves. And Spetsnaz.
COMMANDER
Ready? On your way then.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE EVENING
MOVING SILENTLY, AND FAST...
BALD TARZAN
Sixty seven kilometers in a day!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24.
CHOPIN
Time to lie down in the snow.
COMMANDER
No, girls! You should've slept
yesterday.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
He was in a bad temper. The group
wasn't keeping up. It was getting
dark. That was bad too. In the daytime
you could take cover and rest. At
night that never happened. Night was
for work.
Genghis Khan scoops snow, stuffs it in his mouth.
COMMANDER
Don't eat snow! Or I'll flatten you!
SERGEANT
Look down at your skis. If you look
ahead, you pass out. Look down, you're
hypnotized, you carry on mechanically,
the horizon doesn't drive you mad.
COMMANDER
(shouts savagely)
Look out! We're running into an
ambush! Negative didn't notice the
light on the left. Watch yourself,
Negative, or I'll knock your teeth
out! Keep going, girls!
EXT. COUNTRY MORNING SUNRISE
Ragged rays skip across the trees through a freezing mist.
THEY rest in a woods, faces white, corpse-like. Two guard,
the rest sleep. Chopin lies with his head thrown back and
steam rising from his tunic. The CO looks grim. So does the
Sergeant.
SERGEANT
Five groups approach the target.
Whoever reaches it attacks at 3.40.
Those who do not arrive in time do
not go into battle. They go on to
the next objective. We will not arrive
on time.
EXPLOSIONS and bursts of automatic fire in the distance.
BALD TARZAN
They are close, a head-on attack.
Three groups. And we missed it!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25.
CHOPIN
Damn! Nice warm cabins, overweight
signal troops, dissolute telephone
operators. What we could do to them!
DARK WOODS NIGHT
SUVOROV
The Sergeant is killed, the commander,
wounded. Can't take him with us. If
we leave him, the enemy will make
him talk. So, you're in command...what
do you do?
Chopin takes a syringe from the pocket of his tunic.
CHOPIN
Blissful death!
SUVOROV
Right. In war the only way to survive
is to kill our wounded ourselves.
Suverov enters another good mark in the umpire's register.
SOUND OF A PLANE. Things burst through the trees above. They
dive out of the way. Containers crash all around. Then they
are out, crawling through the snow. Frantically, they grab
them and pull them back under cover. They break open the
packages and wolf down the food and drink, toss around the
ammunition and explosives. Chopin finds a bottle. He holds
it up in wonder.
CHOPIN
Liquor!
BALD TARZAN
Such concern!
SERGEANT
It means there are only a few of us
left.
ANOTHER RAVINE - DAWN
The CO, the Sergeant watch the Radio operator. He hunches
over the directional receiver, slowly turning the antenna.
He plots triangulation on a map and points toward the west.
The CO crawls up on a ridge and sweeps his binoculars in
that direction.
POV A STAND OF TALL FIRS, AND HIDDEN, BARELY VISIBLE,
antenna spokes, the curve of a microwave dish.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
26.
EXT. COMMUNICATIONS CENTER A MOBILE CONTAINER
INT. MOBILE CONTAINER
Signal troops, some women, sleep drunkenly, soft music plays.
A corporal wakes, stumbles outside.
EXT. CLEARING
The corporal weaves around to the back, unzips. An arm
flattens him. His startled ice-covered face, looks up at
Tarzan. He tries to scream, but Tarzan stuffs a big clump of
snow in his mouth. He points at the Corporal's cock in his
hand and whispers.
BALD TARZAN
Just hold onto that! Until I tell
you!
Two other sentries disappear.
INT. MOBILE CONTAINER WOMAN TECH MOANS SOFTLY, GIGGLES.
WOMAN TECH
Yuri, where are you? Come Yuri, again!
Another holds up a Vodka bottle, waves it at the door.
2ND WOMAN TECH
Come on, Yuri, you missed your turn.
WHAM! The door bursts open. White figures fly through, firing
Kalashnikov's full auto above their heads. The metal container
warps with the roars! They scream and cover their heads.
A woman jumps up naked, throwing a private off her privates.
Suvorov steps through the door writing in his notebook. He
glances around at the half-naked, drunk, terrified
technicians.
SUVOROV
Comrades...You are all dead.
One drunk lurches to his feet, salutes with Vodka bottle.
DRUNK
I serve the Soviet Union!
His pants drop and he collapses onto the floor, dead drunk.
THE PATROL
They move through woods.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
27.
SERGEANT
We are doing our job: the Eighth
Tank Army is almost completely
paralyzed. Instead of engaging in
battle it's trying to catch us behind
the lines.
WOODS LATER
They run. They are being chased. HEAR DOGS, HELICOPTERS.
Surrounded, they're driven into a ravine. One by one, they
are captured. Suvorov ducks around a tree, comes face to
face with a gun. Chopin, tough and resilient, slips out of
the trap. He's driven toward the ice-choked river. They
surround him on the river bank. He throws off his tunic and
his Kalashnikov, jumps in, swims between the chunks of ice.
The dogs won't take to the water, they are too smart. An MVD
Captain rushes up, gun drawn. He glares, then smiles.
CAPTAIN
Congratulations. You're last to be
captured.
BARRACKS
Torn and tattered, they stand proudly in formation. A KGB
van pulls up, men with guns pull a prisoner out. The patrol
cheers.
It is Chopin, dressed in a policeman's greatcoat, thinner
than ever. He hugged by the men. The CO hands him sergeant
stripes. One by one, men appear, tunics torn. One tattered
straggler grins at Suvorov through dirt and blood...Tanya.
The MVD troops eye them with admiration. They are exhausted
skeletons.
SOLDIER
You've hit on a pretty tough service,
my friends.
They nod and grin proudly.
INT. HQ QUIET WELL FED, CLEANLY SHAVED OFFICERS
Suvorov's face is tanned from frost and sun. His lips are
cracked. His nose has peeled. Other officers greet him with
jokes.
OFFICER 1
Viktor, how did you manage to lose
so much weight?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
28.
INT. OFFICE SUVOROV AT DESK;
Bulging folders; intelligence summaries and ciphered messages.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
In 23 days, the world had changed
out of all recognition.
MONTAGE REPORTS
SECRET...strengthening of the guard on Pershing missiles.
SECRET...new coding system; com channels; Denmark. Agents
have discovered...nuclear mines...
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Twenty three days ago no one had
heard of nuclear mines. The Soviet
Army was also looking different:
SPETSNAZ OFFICERS ONLY Inquiry into the circumstances in
which foreign trainees died in training exercises with
puppets... increase supervision. Give special attention to..
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I read that order three times. It
was clear how one had to deal with a
puppet. But it was not clear what a
puppet was.
EXT. TROOPS MOVE BY.
Suvorov watches. Kravtsov comes up behind him.
KRAVTSOV
Guess what kind of camouflage we
have for this platoon. Try.
SUVOROV
They must have an accurate idea of
the territory in which they will
operate, therefore they must travel
abroad. They must be in first class
training. I would...attach them to a
sports team... like Dynamo. That
would provide camouflage and travel.
KRAVTSOV
(laughs)
Yes. They form an Army sports team;
parachutists, shooters, runners.
Every army has such a team. But where
would you hide your training centre?
SUVOROV
In Dubrovice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
29.
Veins in Kravtsov's cheeks twitch a little.
KRAVTSOV
Why in Dubrovice?
SUVOROV
The penal battalion's in Dubrovice,
in the military prison. The fences
are high, the dogs fierce, there's
barbed wire. You can put any secret
body you like inside the camp. People
can be taken in prison vans, nobody
would know ...you could even hide a
puppet...
Kravtsov gives him a long, searching look, but says nothing.
He, in turn, studies Kravtsov closely.
KRAVTSOV'S FACE ANOTHER TIME SWEATING, TENSE, MOVING.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
There are different kinds of beasts:
thinking, civilized ones and those
that do not think. The thinkers try
to camouflage their animal nature.
But the moment we're faced with the
question, who survives, we plunge
our fangs into the throat of our
brother. We are all animals. I
certainly am. I make no effort to
conceal it. Colonel Kravtsov's also
an animal. He's a wild beast such as
you rarely come across.
EXT TRAINING FACILITY DAY
Krasnov circles an opponent, a desperate looking man...
KRAVTSOV
A puppet is a man. A man used for
training. A puppet may even kill
you.
Krasnov makes sharp, vicious attacks as he talks.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
That's the point. Imagine that in
war a Spetsnaz hesitates because
he's not used to killing. It might
cost the lives of thousands. To
prevent this, they invented puppets
...a condemned criminal. Those who
are weak, old, dangerous or who know
too much are executed. But others
have their life extended and are
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
used for a variety of purposes. Our
nuclear industry has been built by
such prisoners. They're also used as
training material. It suits everybody.
They prolong their lives and we have
real-life training.
THE PUPPET'S crazed, desperate face shows barely contained
rage. He attacks swiftly and viciously. He nails Kravtsov,
but Kravtzov counters and moves away. The puppet stalks...
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
We have to share them with the nuclear
industry, with the Fleet for replacing
reactors in submarines; with the
KGB, the MVD, the GRU.
Kravtzov attacks, lands vicious blows, the puppet rolls away,
eyes glaring hatred, looking for an opening. Kravtsov is
taunting him...
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
We have only a few puppets. A fight
with one is a serious business. You
can hit him but you mustn't break
any bones. You must also be careful.
He doesn't stick to our rules. A
rage burns within him. Sometimes he
hides it to prolong his wretched
life, sometimes he loses control of
himself. Make the most of it!
The puppet attacks, just what Kravtsov has been waiting for!
EXT. CAMPFIRE IN RAVINE NIGHT
Suvorov studies Kravtsov who sits stirring the embers. Trim,
handsome, disdainful. His look is penetrating, forcing Suvorov
to blink and turn away.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
For me he is a puzzle. I know little
about him, while he knows everything
about me. He's blood thirsty and
deadly dangerous. His guiding star
is power. If I made a mistake he
would crush me. If I deceived him he
would tell by my eyes.
His eyes lock on.
KRAVTSOV
Suvorov, did you want to ask
something?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
31.
SUVOROV
Yes, comrade colonel. You have
hundreds of officers with refined
manners. I'm a peasant. So why did
you choose me?
He cooks up a murderous drink. He studies Suvorov.
KRAVTSOV
Our world is cruel. You survive by
scrambling upwards. If you stop,
you'll be trampled by those below.
It's a bloody battle between two
political systems, but it's also a
struggle between individuals. In
that struggle everyone needs help. I
need men who won't betray me. I choose
them from the lowest level. You owe
me everything. If I'm out you'll be
out too. I picked you out of the
crowd, not because of your ability
but because you are one of the crowd.
Nobody needs you. If you betray me
you'll lose everything. That's how I
was picked. My protector is on the
way up.He drags me along, counts on
my support. If he falls, who'll need
me? But that's not the question that
bothers you. What is?
SUVOROV
Tell me about the Aquarium.
KRAVTSOV
You know about that too? You couldn't
have heard that word used, which
means that you have seen it somewhere.
SUVOROV
On the back of the portrait.
KRAVTSOV
Never speak of it. You'll find
yourself hanging on a hook. If I
told you, you might tell someone
else. He might do the same. The time
might come when he is arrested. He
names you, you name me.
SUVOROV
Do you believe I'd give you away?
KRAVTSOV
I have no doubt you would. There
aren't weak and strong men. There
are good and bad interrogators. In
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
32.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
the Aquarium the interrogators are
good. You'd confess everything,
including things that never happened.
But I'll tell you a little. In 1918,
the Red Army was a powerful force,
but it was blind...deaf. Information
was provided by the Cheka. The secret
police had its own priorities. And
however much information the general
staff received, it would never be
enough. In case of failure, the Army
could always say that information
was insufficient. They would always
be right. However much was collected
they could always ask another million
questions. Military intelligence was
handed to the Army so that in case
of failure, it would be their own
fault.
SUVOROV
And the KGB never tried to take
control?
KRAVTSOV
Always! As long as there are two
secret organizations fighting each
other, there's no need to fear one
of them. The day one organization
swallows the other will mark the end
of the Politburo...
SOUND of gravel being trodden. A shadow creeps down the
ravine. In the darkness the trooper looks closely, recognizing
Kravtsov.
SERGEANT
Comrade colonel, 29th group of the
2nd Spetsnaz. Sgt. Polchuk in command.
KRAVTSOV
Carry on. Pay no attention to us.
SERGEANT
Very good. Rhino, keep an eye open!
Blevantin!
The sergeant turns and whistles. Troopers slide down the
hillside. Two of them take up position on a ridge.
BLEVANTIN
Here, Sergeant.
SERGEANT
Contact HQ.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
33.
BLEVANTIN
Very good.
The troopers have a chicken. They chop off the head and claws,
clean it, but leave the feathers. They cover it with wet
clay and put it into the fire. The radioman puts up aerials.
Others spread a ground sheet. The cipher clerk crawls
underneath. Ordinary mortals are not allowed to know how he
prepares his cipher. The message is ready; photographic film
with a row of punched holes. The message is put into the
transmitter.
The R/O checks his watch, then presses a knob. The radio
switches on, tunes automatically, draws the film in and spits
it out the other side. Lamps go out. The transmission lasts
less than a second. The cipher clerk puts a match to the
film. It disappears, hissing fiercely. The bird is ready.
They crack off the clay and with it the feathers, leaving
the chicken in its own fat.
UGLY DUCKLING
Comrade colonel, be our guest.
KRAVTSOV
Thank you. And where did you get the
chicken?
RHINOCEROS
It's a wild one, comrade colonel.
A stray.
SUVOROV
Where did you get that saucepan?
RHINOCEROS
It was lying at the roadside. We
didn't want to waste it. Try it! Its
very good.
Kravtsov laughs. Suvorov moves to the Sergeant. He watches
Kravtsov's easy way with the troops. He squats.
SUVOROV
The men like the Commander. A good
man.
SERGEANT
(snorts derisively)
It's better to have nothing to do
with good people. Better to deal
with the bad. You know what to expect.
A person who appears good is
dangerous. The most dangerous are
those who believe they are good. The
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
34.
SERGEANT (CONT'D)
worst criminal might kill a man, ten
men...a hundred. But a criminal will
never kill millions. The most
monstrous crimes are committed by
people who do not drink, do not smoke,
and who feed the squirrels. Kravtsov
is vicious, incorrigible. They respect
him for it.
He throws down the chicken bone, looks about, checks his
watch.
SERGEANT (CONT'D)
Ready? Jump about. Time to be off!
The dawn is coming. The Spetsnaz are gone and once again, he
is alone with Kravtsov. He pours, sips silently.
KRAVTSOV
I've been studying you. You're a
born criminal. Drink up.
His expression's grim. He's had a lot of vodka.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
One thing I can't understand; you
don't seem to find any pleasure in
tormenting others. We get pleasure
out of our own strength. You can
torment a "puppet" to your hearts
content. But you don't. Why?
SUVOROV
Because it doesn't give me pleasure.
KRAVTSOV
Pity. You can only survive if you
get other people by the throat. Our
system enables us to do this. You
can hang on to power by scrambling
upwards, but only in a group. Soon
you'll get your own group together,
but remain in mine.
(Suddenly grabs him)
If you betray me...!
SUVOROV
I won't betray you.
KRAVTSOV
I know.
INT. BARRACKS SUVOROV NIGHT.
He wakes and stares at the ceiling.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
35.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Something was wrong.
He lapses into into a restless sleep. He dreams of flying.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I was flying. Away from Kravtsov.
Away from Spetsnaz. If they were to
send me somewhere to die for some
cause I would not mind giving up my
life. I was ready to fight. But what
was the point? Fighting for power
is not fighting for one's country. I
flew higher in my dream. I looked
down on my country. It was very sick,
but what was it was suffering from?
Madness perhaps, or schizophrenia. I
didn't know how I could help. Somebody
had to be killed, but I didn't know
who. Where was I flying to? To God,
perhaps? But there is no god.
EXT. TRAINING GROUNDS DAY
The enemy's ears stand up. It bares its fangs, hackles up,
its ears flat just before it leaps. It doesn't growl, it
just wheezes. It strikes! Saliva flies as it's jaws snap.
Shouts!
A VOICE
Excellent viciousness!
VOICE 2
Get him, Mars!
VOICE 3
Viktor, give it to him! Show him how
Spetsnaz fight.
Suvorov holds a knife in his left hand, a tunic in his right.
The dog doesn't like that. He doesn't like the knife in the
left hand. The dog shifts his eyes from knife to throat. He
eyes the tunic. Why had the man not wrapped it round his
hand? The animal knows that the man has one key hand and
that the other is only to divert. He must attack the dangerous
hand. But maybe he should go for the throat? The dog shifts
his eyes, trying to choose. Once he makes his decision, his
eyes will freeze and he'll attack. Suvorov waits. Mars springs
suddenly, not as other dogs do. He pounces silently, without
freezing his eyes, without straining back before the leap.
His body is suddenly suspended in air. The dog flies at
Suvorov's throat. But his tunic whips across the dogs eyes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
36.
Whoomph! A flash... of his boot. The dog howls, lands in a
corner. They roar with delight.
TARZAN
Cut him, Viktor! Finish him!
But Suvorov does not attack. He hops over the barrier, lurches
into the arms of Tanya and the other delighted Spetsnaz
spectators.
TANYA
Vitya! You got him breathing out,
and in midair! What a move!
In the arena a little soldier weeps beside the panting dog.
INT. OFFICE A MEDICAL OFFICER STARES AT SUVOROV EARNESTLY.
MARCHUK
So, Suvorov, we've been studying
you. Your brain works like a machine.
An untuned one, but you can be tuned.
You have a good memory, a capacity
for analyzing. You have good taste.
That's a nice girl. She's never let
anyone near her before. Sorry, we
have to know such things. We have to
know everything about you. That's
our job.
They enter a small room. Suvorov is surprised to find Tanya
waiting. She snaps to attention. He looks at Marchuk, but he
just goes on.
MARCHUK (CONT'D)
We've watched you. What pleases us
is your progress. You've rid yourself
of your fear of heights and closed
spaces. You're no longer afraid of
blood. That's important in our line
of work. Death does not scare you.
But you've really got a problem with
frogs and snakes. Are you scared of
them?
He looks at Suvorov. He is defensive in front of Tanya.
SUVOROV
Yes. How did you find out?
MARCHUK
None of your business. Your business
is not to be afraid. What's there to
be afraid of? Some people eat frogs.
SUVOROV
The Chinese?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
37.
MARCHUK
Not only the Chinese. The French,
too.
SUVOROV
In a famine, comrade colonel, I would
sooner eat people....
Tanya stifles a giggle.
MARCHUK
Not in a famine. Frogs are a delicacy.
Don't you believe me?
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Of course I didn't. Propaganda! Life
wasn't as bad as that in France. If
he insisted, I would agree that the
proletariat didn't live well, but
only out loud. But I knew life was
good in France and the proletariat
didn't eat frogs. But there was no
deceiving Marchuk. He read the doubt
in my eyes.
Marchuk presses a button, a projector whirrs. On screen a
kitchen, a chef, frogs, saucepans, a dining room, waiters
and customers. The customers eat frogs legs. Incredible!
MARCHUK
Well?
SUVOROV (V.O.)
What could I say? If I accepted it
he'd say 'How could an intelligence
officer fall for such crap.' No, I
can't believe it. The woman had a
poodle. I saw it. No normal person
is going to eat frogs if there is a
poodle going begging. It wouldn't be
logical.
Tanya chokes back a laugh, then stiffens under Marchuk's
glare. S. glances at her. He is serious, which makes her
start to laugh again.
MARCHUK
Frogs cost a lot of money.
SUVOROV
Bourgeois decadence!
CU SUVOROV AND TANYA
They stare straight ahead, every muscle tensed.
INT. SMALL ROOM THEY SIT CROSS-LEGGED ON FLOOR.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
38.
The floor crawls with frogs. Tanya giggles again,
hysterically. He puts his hand on her to comfort her. She
covers his hand with hers. He pulls her close, kisses her.
The movements set the frogs jumping.
Outside the room, a soldier stands guard. A knock, he goes
to a peep hole, looks inside, opens door. S and Tanya step
through, calm and smiling. S starts to walk away. "Ribbit!"
He stops, absently reaches into his pocket, comes out with a
frog. He hands it to the soldier.
EXT. FIR WOOD NEAR A STREAM A LITTLE PICNIC
Blankets spread with tins of fish, onions, cucumbers. S.
offers Kravtsov the seat of honor. He refuses and offers him
the place instead. Kravtsov pours vodka, takes out a small
silver star and drops it into the glass. A faint tinkling as
the star glitters. S drinks the fiery liquid, raising the
bottom of the glass. The little star slides towards his lips.
He holds the star in his lips until the Vodka has run down
his throat. He takes the star and hurls the glass against a
stone. He hands Kravtsov the star. He measures out the place
on Suvorov's epaulet.
KRAVTSOV
There's a new force in our regiment!
Everybody laughs. Suvorov moves off to Tanya. She hugs him,
happy and proud and shines his star. He hands her a Vodka.
Just before she drinks, he plops something into it. She drains
the glass and finds a simple gold band in her lips. She looks
at it in surprise. He slips it on. The glass hits a rock and
shatters into a glittering shower.
LATER
KRAVTSOV
...is drunk and sentimental. He Collars Suvorov, makes excuses
and pulls him away from Tanya.
KRAVTSOV
Turn in your chutes and kit.
SUVOROV
I'm not jumping today?
KRAVTSOV
You're never going to jump again.
SUVOROV
I see....(he understands nothing)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
39.
KRAVTSOV
Viktor, you are entering into serious
business. You are joining the Tenth
Directorate, but I believe that's a
cover; that you'll go higher. Maybe
even the Aquarium. We can't talk
about it. You'll have exams.
CLOSE ON KRAVTSOV
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
To pass them you must always be
yourself. There is something crooked
about you. Don't try to conceal it.
And be good and kind. Promise me?
SUVOROV
I promise.
KRAVTSOV
If you have to kill a man, be kind!
Smile at him before you kill him.
SUVOROV
I'll try.
KRAVTSOV
But if you are going to be killed,
smile. Smile at the executioner.
Everyone has to die. Die like a man,
Viktor. With pride. Promise?
SUVOROV
I promise.
He turns and notices Tanya staring at him. She smiles.
MOSCOW SKYLINE ONION DOMES
VOICE
What is 262 multiplied by 16?
(a beat)
Quickly, in your head.
INT. DARK ROOM THE PIERCING EYES OF THE EXAMINER
Suvorov wipes his forehead, raises eyes to the ceiling, then
lowers them.
SUVOROV'S POV THE TABLE
Right in front on a table, a predecessor had solved this
very sum. It would be invisible to the examiner.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
40.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I was going to make use of this answer
when it occurred to me to wonder how
my predecessor could have got hold
of a pencil and how he could have
used it under the gaze of the
examiner. It was put there to tempt
me. I looked up, then thought again
and gave my own answer.
The examiner starts his stopwatch.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I glanced at the answer written on
the table. It was wrong. It was a
trick.
EXAMINER
What is the weight of an M60 tank?
SUVOROV
Forty-five tons.
EXAMINER
Why do spiral staircases in castles
go clockwise, not the other way round?
SUVOROV
Defenders will have their sword hand
free. Attackers will be blocked.
EXAMINER
How much does a bucket of mercury
weigh?
There is no time to think; at the slightest hesitation another
question is asked, then more and more.
EXAMINER (CONT'D)
What is the price of gold on the
international market?...Which firm
produces the Phantom fighter?
SUVOROV
McDonnell Douglas.
EXAMINER/SUVOROV
Which are the better antitank shells,
American or French? French. What
design faults are there in the rotary
engine? Poor lubrication. When was
the first Sputnik launched? 1957.
EXAMINER
What do you know about Chekhov?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
41.
SUVOROV
He was a well-known sniper in the
138th rifle division of the 62nd
Army.
EXAMINER
Do you know Dostoievsky?
SUVOROV
What an odd question. Who doesn't?
General Dostoievsky is chief of staff
of the 3rd Shock Army.
The examiners give a long laugh. But they accept the answer:
EXAMINER
Never mind, captain, your answers
are not quite what we wanted, but
they give us a good idea of your
character. If we laugh occasionally,
pay no attention.
MONTAGE OF EXAMINERS SOMETIMES ONLY ONE, SOMETIMES MANY.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
5000 questions...fifty questions an
hour, seventeen hours a day, for six
days. You reveal exactly what you
know and think. You had to avoid
being too clever. If you tried to
skate around some tricky questions
they would catch you later
contradicting yourself.
Food is brought in. He gobbles as he answers.
EXAMINER
What do you know about Johann Straus?
If you had t modernize o the American
B58 strategic bomber, what would you
do and why? How many columns on the
facade of the Bolshoi? What type of
woman attracts you? What is 4416
divided by 8? How many vodkas can
you drink at a sitting?
DISTRACTING NOISE strong radio interference.
EXAMINER 2
Here are photographs of people you
have seen in the last few days. You
have three minutes to sort them into
ones you have not seen, ones you
have seen once and ones you have
seen twice or more.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
42.
EXAMINER 3
You have one minute to cross out all
letters "B", underline all letters
"T" and put a ring around the letters
"R".
A tape recorder bellows something different,
TAPE RECORDER
"R" cross out, "A" underline, "U"
encircle with a red ring.
CU PAPER COVERED WITH RANDOM NUMBERS
EXAMINER
You have three minutes to add up all
the 3s. Pay no attention to what my
colleague is doing. Begin.
The second examiner shakes the table, shouts obscenities,
slaps him, strikes his legs and shakes the chair.
SUVEROV LATER
In a state of collapse. They rush in, shake him awake.
EXAMINER
262 by 16! It's simple. Don't you
remember? It's so simple.
SUVOROV
(mumbles sleepily)
4192,
The light goes out.
CU GREY-HAIRED MAN IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES
GREY HAIRED MAN
You suit us, young man. But there is
only one way out of our organization.
Through the chimney. So think again.
And so you'll have something to think
about, we'll show you a film.
FLASHBACK THE MAN ON THE CONVEYOR.
Screaming, struggling, being cranked into the crematorium.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I often thought about him. There was
something I couldn't understand.
They said that he sold himself for
sex and money. But if it was women
why didn't he defect?
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
43.
SUVOROV (V.O.) (CONT'D)
In the West, he'd have had money and
women to last a lifetime. He could
have defected, but he didn't. He
went on working in Moscow, where he
couldn't even spend the money. It
wasn't money or women. So what was
it? He could have escaped, but he
didn't. He wound up in the
crematorium. But why?
SUVEROV
Twisting and turning on the hot
pillow. Awake. He looks up at the
walls. Mounted high in each corner;
a TV camera.
SUVOROV
Oh, to hell with it!
Gets out of bed and makes a rude gesture to each corner of
the room. He exposes to the camera. Gets back into bed, to
sleep.
INT. CLOSED VAN OPAQUE WINDOWS CITY SOUNDS SUVOROV
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Where was I off to, the Central
Committee or Siberia?
Van drives into a yard. Clang of metal doors behind. Door
opens, he gets out in a dark courtyard with ancient walls.
A door opens. The Grey-haired man produces papers. A guard
salutes.
GREY HAIRED MAN
This way.
INT. ENDLESS CORRIDORS RED CARPETS. VAULTED CEILINGS.
LIFT RISES SILENTLY. AN ELDERLY WOMAN AT A DESK. GREY
hair gives him gentle push from behind, closes door.
INT. OFFICE
High ceiling, windows above eye level. Oak desk, at which
sits a very thin man wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, a brown
suit.
THIN MAN
Today is the day on which you are
being received into the Nomenklatura
of the Central Committee. From today
you are no longer subject to control
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
44.
THIN MAN (CONT'D)
by the KGB. From today the KGB has
no right to put questions to you or
to take any action against you. If
you make any mistake, report it to
the person in charge and he will
report to us. If you fail to report
it we shall know about your mistake
all the same. But any inquiry into
your behaviour will be carried out
only by the GRU. You are obliged to
report any contact with the KGB to
your chief. The well-being of the
Central Committee depends on
preserving our independence. The
well-being of the Central Committee
is also your own personal well-being,
captain. I wish you well.
FILMY OUTLINE OF A FACE
ELEPHANT
You may call me Elephant. The Military
Diplomatic Academy is sometimes called
The Elephant's Graveyard.
LECTURE HALL
The lecturer stands behind a thin semitransparent curtain.
He cannot see the students clearly and they cannot see him,
just an outline.
ELEPHANT
This is what a spy looks like.
A picture appears: a man in a raincoat and hat, wearing dark
glasses, with his coat collar turned up and his hands in his
coat pockets.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
That is a what a spy looks like. But
you are not spies! You are intrepid
Soviet intelligence officers. So it
doesn't become you to look like spies.
So you are forbidden to wear dark
glasses, to pull your hat down, put
your hands in your pockets or turn
up your collar. In the way you walk,
the way you look, the way you breathe,
there must be no tension. The furtive
look is our enemy, and we shall punish
you severely for that. You must not
look like spies. We need people the
police pay no attention to. Take a
look at yourselves. Pleasant, looking
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
45.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
faces of working-class lads. No
intellectuals, nobody looks like
James Bond. Good! We are not going
to teach you to shoot or split bricks
with your hand. Guns and Japanese
tricks are a safety belt. Those who
depend on them fall. You've reached
the highest level of intelligence
work, where all you need is your
head. If your head lets you down
and you expose yourself, you'll have
police on your tail with cars,
'copters, dogs. A gun won't help, so
we don't give you one. We deprive
you of all illusion. One mental error,
and you're done.
EXT. MOSCOW MONTAGE SEARCHING FOR DEAD DROPS
Hunt in woods, in parks, in abandoned buildings.
ELEPHANT
A spy needs hundreds of sites, places
where you can hide secret things and
be certain that no children or passers
by will find them. Where there's no
building going on, no rats or
squirrels, no snow or water to damage
what has been hidden. A spy has to
have many dead drops and must never
use the same place twice. The sites
must be away from prisons, rail
stations, military bases, factories,
and not in government districts. In
those places there is heightened
activity by the police and it is
easy to be trapped.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
But where, in Moscow, can you find a
place with no government
installations?
THOUSANDS OF FACES FLASH ON A SCREEN
His finger on a button. The same face! He presses the button.
Mistake. ZZZZTTT!, a slight but quite unpleasant electric
shock. Fail to press the button when he should, ZZZZT! a
shock.
LECTURE HALL
ELEPHANT
Remembering faces has to be reflexive
not analytical.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
46.
The FLASH SPEED INCREASES. More and more faces, then the
same people in wigs, in makeup, in different clothes and in
different attitudes. ZZZTT! ZZZZTT! ZZZZTT! Mistakes always
punished with the nasty little shock.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
License numbers can be changed.
Recognize cars. Our brains hold
millions of details. The Aquarium
will teach you.
INT. APARTMENT FILLED WITH FLOWERS, A TABLE OF FOOD.
Tanya happily greets him at the door. He stumbles in
exhausted.
TANYA
Sit, Vitya, sit. For this special
occasion, our only ...first
anniversary, here...Stolka Vodka!
He slumps into a chair, She pours Vodka and darts into the
kitchen... fusses busily, straightens her new dress, grabs
an elaborate dish.
TANYA (CONT'D)
Homemade borscht...and your favorite..
She comes back into the dining room. He is passed out with
his head in the cold-cuts...
TANYA (CONT'D)
...Blinis.....?
IMAGES..
Vast attacking operations. Deep penetration by tanks.
Parachute descents. Spetsnaz brigades. Gunfire and battle.
He wakes, it's a dream. He sits rubbing temples. Tanya wakes,
she wants to fool around, but he doesn't have time.
EXT. MOSCOW SUVOROV MONTAGE
Twisting and turning. Switch taxis, buses. Leave dense crowds
and reach the deserted parts, then again into the crowds.
ELEPHANT (V.O.)
The KGB also trains by following
people. Learn to detect a tail. You
must be certain whether you are being
followed or not. Nobody can help
you, or share responsibility for
mistakes.
SUVOROV STARES AT HIMSELF IN A MIRROR
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
47.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
If you are trying to recruit someone
you must withstand his stare, without
blinking or shifting your gaze.
Friendship begins with a smile. If
you can't withstand the first earnest
stare of your man there's no use
trying to recruit him, because he is
mentally your superior. He won't
fall for you.
THE ZOO TANYA WATCHES SUVOROV
He stares the tiger in the eyes. The yellow eyes of the beast
hold his gaze. He narrows his eyes, then opens them wide
very slowly. He doesn't blink. Another moment and he blinks.
The huge cat yawns contemptuously, turns away. Tanya giggles.
He glowers.
MOSCOW EMPTY, COLD AND DARK. S. AND ANOTHER STUDENT, GENKA
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
...breakaway forbidden! If you
discover people following you, don't
give a sign, don't act nervous. You're
a diplomat. Wander around the city.
We'll repeat your operation tomorrow,
or in a week. But don't break away.
You'll tell them you are a spy, that
you know how to detect a tail and
that you have a reason for evading
them. If show them that, they'll
never let you out of sight.
Dark shadows behind them.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
...But today, to hell with your
diplomatic careers. The Aquarium
orders you to carry through an
operation at any price. So break
away!
PETROVSKI ARCADE CROWDS
Dive into the crowd, push people aside, rush up stairs into
the crowd again, out the back door, shadows still on their
tails. The train reaches the Lenin Hills Station. Just before
the doors close, they hop off. But the shadows follow.
GENKA
I know a place. Raskova Square. How
many of them?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
48.
SUVOROV
Too many, Damn!
GENKA
Separate.
SUVOROV
Not allowed. It's a 2 man operation.
...Should we separate anyway, Genka?
GENKA
No, that would exceed our rights.
SUVOROV
What if we fail, is that better?
Genka leads down a side street. No good. Three big youths
are close behind. Genka grabs him. They fly down, then up
stairs, along dark corridors. Down another stairway. Another
oor, more stairs, through rubble. They pop out onto the
street. Genka pulls him into an alley. Snow falls. Their
tracks are clear.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
We'll never get away, Genka!
Genka drags him along. Empty Moscow. Genka, out of breath
again.
GENKA
Are you scared to jump off a train,
Vitya?
SUVOROV
No, Genka, I am not scared.
GENKA
Then you go ahead. I'll cover you.
They jump, tumble, get up, hop a fence.
TRAIN PLATFORM SCREECH OF BRAKES
Genka is puffing. Behind are three big thugs, also puffing.
Genka pulls him into the train. They run down the carriage,
pursuers close behind. Rush through one carriage and then
another. Genka pushes him ahead. He turns, crashes into them.
They fight. Suvorov hits the doors, one flies open. He shoots
out into the air, lands hard. He jumps up. The end carriage
brakes, screeching.
IZMAILOVO PARK STATION
Slip quickly past the camera into the underground passage, a
narrow gap out. A dozen footpaths into a dense wood.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
49.
Snow squeaks. Nobody about. Stop and listen. No footsteps.
Look round. Nobody. A dark corner, garages built against a
wall.
Between buildings and the wall, a narrow gap. Suvorov looks
around, then squeezes in. It is very narrow. He works his
way to where two garages meet...pushes his fingers in.
Feels...for a packet. Breathe out, press forward a few
centimetres. A little further. Stretch out around the corner.
Spread fingers, feel.
SUVOROV
YEAOOOOOW!
SOMETHING CLAMPS ON HANDS. BLINDING LIGHT
Hands grab his legs and pull. They drag him out, nose in the
snow. A car screeches up. Arms twisted behind back. Handcuffs
onto wrists. A door thrown open. He refuses!
A sharp kick knocks his legs from under him. He's in the car
between two thugs.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Call my consul!
KGB MAN 2
And what are you up to here?
SUVOROV
Call my consul!
KGB MAN
Your every move has been photographed!
SUVOROV
A provocation. I can produce a film
of you screwing Bridget Bardot! Call
my consul!
KGB MAN 2
You had secret documents in your
hands!
SUVOROV
You forced them into my hands!
KGB MAN 2
You have a secret hiding place!
SUVOROV
Pure fabrication. You seized me in
the centre of the city and forced me
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
50.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
into this stinking hole! Call my
consul!
Tires screech on the turns, the car rushes off somewhere
dark.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Call my consul!
KGB MAN 2
(softer)
That's enough training. Stop shouting.
SUVOROV
SUVOROV
The consul, you bastards, call my
consul. I am an innocent diplomat!
INT. DETENTION CELL
They sit him on a chair. Two arc lamps shine into his face,
bringing tears to his eyes. A big thug takes up position
behind.
SUVOROV
Call the consul!
He stands up. The man presses him down. He tries to stand.
The man knocks his feet from under, he falls into the chair.
A kick on the shin. From beyond the lights, a voice:
KGB MAN 2 (V.O.)
You'