600 - Carlos, Part 2, France, 2010. Dir. Olivier Assayas.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

600 - Carlos, Part 2, France, 2010.  Dir. Olivier Assayas.

Vienna, December 21, 1975.

The red and white tram turns the corner and comes to a stop.  Sonderzug.

Carlos and his men get off.  He smokes.  He walks.  He looks around.  He wears the black jacket, the sunglasses, the beret, of his uniform.

Is the conference still on?

Yes.

They go upstairs.  They unpack their bags.  There are six of them.  Including Nana.

They enter the conference room and shoot up the ceilings.  As well as the first couple men who try to stop them.  Carlos shoots one, a Libyan delegate.  Nana shoots another.

The world's oil ambassadors lie on the ground below the tables.

Nana shoots a third one.

Youssef straps explosives to the table legs.

Khalid: find Yamani?
Not yet.

Khalid does find Jamshid Amouzegar, the oil minister of Iran.

Carlos finds Dr. Hernandez Acosta of Venezuela.  He appreciates the position of his government.  "We are on the same side."

Then Carlos finds him:  Ahmed Zaki Yamani, oil minister of Saudi Arabia.

Search them all.  And confiscate any weapons.

The police get into a firefight in the hallway with a couple of Carlos' men.  One of his men gets shot in the abdomen.

"I'm wounded.  The situation's under control.  One of the cops was hit.  The others ran.  Joseph is still in position."
"You have nothing to fear.  Just sit hear; keep an eye on the hostages, okay?"

The neutral countries in the back to the left:
Gabon, Nigeria, Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia.

The friendly countries in the back to the right:
Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Algeria.

The others are the enemies of our cause.  In the center, quick:
Saudi Arabia, The Emirates, Qatar, Iran.

Carlos dictates a letter to a secretary.
To the Austrian authorities,
We have taken the OPEC Conference delegates hostage.  We demand that the enclosed communique be read on Austrian state radio and television within two hours, and then at regular intervals every two hours.  A bus with curtains at its windows will be provided to take us to Vienna Airport tomorrow morning at seven o'clock.

Carlos' wounded colleague falls to the ground.  He has lost plenty of blood.

Belaid Abdessalam, oil minister of Algeria, is a doctor.

There a DC-9 and a three-man crew will be ready to take off to carry us and our hostages to our final destination.  Any delay, provocation, or unauthorized attempts to approach us will endanger the lives of our hostages.
Signed,
The Armed Wing of the Arab Revolution,
Vienna, December 21st, 1975.

The secretary goes out to deliver the communique and the letter to the police.  Along the way, she lifts the wounded policeman and helps him make it outside to get help.

Dr. Abdessalam says the wounded colleague's wound is serious.  He needs to be operated on immediately.

Otto Roesch, Minister of the Interior, Home Secretary, arrives by helicopter.

It seems Qaddafi is furious.

Carlos lets it being

President Carlos Andres Perez.
who nationalized the oil industry as well as the mines.

He redistributed wealth to the needy.  Considered education the third world's main weapon.



*                              *                              *                              *


"Sit down.  I'm going to kill you.  Not yet.  You're a smart man, and you know the ins and outs of politics the same way I do.  You know that at the end of the day we're just pawns in the game of history.  Aren't we?  Me, I'm a soldier.  I don't have a home, not even a tent.  My only mission is to lead my men to victory.  Today, I have 40 commando groups around the world, ready to act as soon as I give the order.  They are men with determination, and they're ready to sacrifice themselves for the cause and for the final victory.  That's who I am.

"As for you, you are a strategist.  And the chessboard you played on is as big as the planet.  And I totally respect that, because actually you and I have found ourselves many times on the same side.  The side of the anti-imperialist struggle and the Palestinian cause.  But unfortunately, today, we are not on that same side, because by lifting the oil embargo you betrayed our cause.  You sided with Washington.

"There always comes a time for a man to take responsibility for his acts.  And that time, Sheikh Yamani, has come for you today.  You are going to have to pay for Saudi Arabia's political decisions.  And you know what's the treatment reserved for traitors--death.  Now you pray.  You know what?  I'm going to be straight to you, because you and I are men of the same caliber.    You and I know that if the Austrian Government doesn't respect our ultimatum, I will have no choice.  And with no hesitation, I will execute you personally and throw your body out the window.

"But I also know that a man of your intelligence won't hold that against me, because you know, after all, our struggle very well.  You are aware of its greatness and nobility."


"Relax.  Only Amouzegar for Iran and Yamani for Saudi Arabia will have to pay.  The others will be spared."

"It is now clear for everyone that the crucial Arab cause concerning he Palestinian question and subjected to its consequences is the object of a major plot aiming to legitimize Zionist existence on our land and to consolidate division, weakness, and dissension in the Arab world, and particularly in the region neighboring the occupied Palestinian territory in order to allow the aggressive Zionist state to execute its expansionist projects.  In addition to these maneuvers aimed at forcing Arab and Palestinian recognition regarding its legality, the Zionist state . . . "

The doctor who examined your colleague said he cannot be moved. . . . He will die during the journey.
Dead or alive, I don't care.

"Don't you think what the revolution needs is money and not corpses? . . . Your hostages are more valuable alive than dead."

"I am very well paid.  I have nothing to gain by sparing these dogs."