In this, our 20th century,
almost every nation in the world has at some time
been in conflict.
The oppressors and the oppressed,
the victors and the vanquished.
The people of war, a tragic indictment of our civilization.
A time when much of the world
was looking for ways to increase their influence,
power, and riches.
Full of dreams for the restoration
of the glory that was Rome,
in 1911, Italy joins the hunt for territory.
Libya on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea
is the target.
Landings were made at Tripoli...
...Benghazi, Zuwara, Sirte, Derna and Tobruk.
The local population fighting on many fronts
made fierce and resolute resistance to the invaders,
thus bringing the war to a stalemate.
1922 saw a dramatic change in Italy.
The beginning of Mussolini's era of dictatorship.
The conflict in Libya escalated,
as more and more fascist might
was thrown against the stiffening resistance of the local population.
We will overrun the Earth!
And then we will take the flag of fascism to the stars!
More and more. I don't understand.
If we defeated the Bedouin,
why are we still hanging them?
Why do I have to pour troops into a victory I have already won?
Ha!
Oh, I wish my generals would write two different dispatches.
One telling themselves of their glorious victories,
and one telling me of their defeats.
It can't go on.
I will not let it go on!
Here!
This green, this fertile green.
There's your prize.
The rest is brown paper.
Just need someone bold enough to roll it up.
Graziani.
Come with me.
20 years.
20 fruitless years we've wasted on this war.
Heh.
I sent five governors to Libya in five years.
No!
Now the military logic of fascism will not be compromised!
After all, what are we? We are the bayonets of a new dawn.
What are we fighting in reality?
Desert tribesmen? Ghosts?
I want their leader brought here.
I want him brought to me, I want the revolution crushed.
What's his name?
Omar Mukhtar.
What?
Omar Mukhtar.
You know, General...
Those colonists that we sent over,
peasants from the south,
they cost us lira for lira
almost as if we put them up at the Grand Hotel.
Now something must be wrong!
No.
I will not have a handful of Bedouins
stop the progress of forty million Italians.
I give you Libya, General.
At least you have a name that will frighten them.
May I say, my Duce, that when I crush rebellion,
I do so with a clear conscience for soldiers.
What did Mukhtar do before the rebellion?
He was a teacher, Duce.
A teacher?
Yes.
I was a teacher.
Be careful you don't end up as the five who went before you,
taught by him.
Well, I'm a man who likes action.
Go to Libya.
And General...
Bring me back Mukhtar!
Bribe him or break his neck!
"In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful."
It is the God of mercy who has made known the Quran.
He created man and taught him speech.
He set the sun and the moon in their courses.
"He raised the sky up and set the balance of all things."
Stop right there.
Why do you think we begin every chapter of the Quran
with "God, the merciful", huh?
Yes?
Because one of the names of God is mercy.
That's right, yes.
And how, how does God show his mercy?
He taught... he taught people how to speak.
How to speak. That's right, yes.
And then there was something else in what we read. Uh...
Can any... anybody...
Can you tell me what that was?
It was, uh, was...
Now, here, let me give you a hint.
- It was what? - It was the balance.
That's right, that's right.
The balance. And why... why did God set that balance?
Hm? Boys!
Boys, why did God set the balance?
Huh?
Because without the balance, everything would fall.
Um, let me see what you've written.
Yes.
Huh.
Everything did fall apart, huh?
Take it to your father.
Where's Siddiq Omar?
Yes, Bu-Matari,
what is the news?
A new governor.
Again, huh?
They always come in like lions.
Mm, and go home like worn-out goats.
Well, who is it this time?
Graziani.
The Butcher of Fezzan.
Graziani.
It was only a question of time before they let him loose on us.
It will mean a new offensive.
My father used to say...
"Blows that don't break your back strengthen it."
We will show Graziani some spine.
They tell me Graziani loves blood.
I don't like to believe those stories.
And yet I do.
When is he expected?
They decorate in Benghazi for him.
Signore, signori, His Excellency, General Graziani,
Governor of Cyrenaica.
His Royal Highness, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta.
Hail Benito Mussolini!
Gentlemen, thank you.
But the ladies are present, we should be at our ease.
Let the dancing continue.
General.
Colonel Sarsani.
Signore Tomelli.
Colonel Diodiece, sir.
Ah, yes.
Diodiece.
I read reports on you.
They say that you could make friends
with Bedouin with a handshake.
I'm not so sure that I like that it implies
that the rest of us must strangle them in order to make peace with them.
Sir, there are 5,000 displaced Bedouin outside my force.
I have no food for them.
I've difficulty in controlling them and I need...
What you need, Colonel...
What you need...
is a little bit more of that.
Who is that man?
Sharif El Gariani.
He's quite useful to us.
Old friend of Omar Mukhtar.
Useful, you say?
Yes.
Bring him here.
I think you'll find that you can rely on him.
General Graziani, may I present.
His Excellency, Sharif El Gariani.
I understand that you know Omar Mukhtar.
I did.
What would it take to get him to surrender?
I don't know.
Even as a boy, he was terribly stubborn.
But if I could be of help in any way,
I should be very willing to agree.
You'll find that we can be terribly generous.
Lieutenant Genieri. Urgent message, sir.
Can't it wait?
You see you're disturbing my guests.
Excuse me, gentlemen. They said the Tramanis lost Trasimeno
whilst sleeping on his dispatches.
What is this?
Another wasted maneuver?
Hmm?
How many dead Italians?
20 dead, 50 wounded sir.
- And they let him go again? - Yes.
But this time he was seen.
He was seen?
How do they know he was seen? Nobody knows him.
How do they know he was seen?
It was only for a moment, sir.
But they're sure. It was Mukhtar.
I suppose I should decorate them
just for the bravery of seeing Mukhtar.
...there, could be there, could be...
Could be anywhere!
Hmm?
Tomelli, I want you to use a fast, hard hitting force,
and you forget what Omar Mukhtar looks like.
We're all obsessed by never having seen him.
Go for his blood.
Go for his circulation.
Go for the revolution that's inside every Bedouin.
Mukhtar's men fight in turns.
Three months they run with him.
The next three months they're peaceful at home.
Tomelli, no peace.
Ismail!
Help your brother!
The women must hide!
Round up the men.
Those three at the end there.
Hmm?
And...
and, and...
the two at the back.
And, and, and...
Yes!
That young girl. Definitely.
Some of you have conscripted.
Instead of going three months with Mukhtar,
you go one year to useful labor,
where you'll be out of trouble.
Hmm?
Burn their half they give to Mukhtar.
Burn half of everything.
It's a bullet wound, sir.
You were shot running with Mukhtar, weren't you?
What have you to say?
Hmm?
What have you to say?
Ah.
You do.
Well, you brought it on yourself.
Execute him.
Not... not over there.
Here!
Let them see it.
In the name of God, give him time to pray!
You are warned, be careful.
Salem!
Killers! Murderers! Killers!
Murderers!
Get him!
Aisha! Aisha!
Aisha!
Take her to the camp!
Mother, I must do something.
Poor Aisha.
She forgot her veil.
Oh God!
I must do something!
They burned his tree.
I saw what happened!
My brother, and Aisha.
And look, my father!
I'm going to Siddiq Omar.
You're too young.
It's not your turn yet.
I became old enough today, mother.
Please, God.
I need you.
They must pass through here.
That is our ground.
Out there.
That is it.
But you can't hide a lizard out there.
Siddiq Omar.
FadeeL.
It's all clear, sir.
Check the other side.
Biadi.
Sir, at last we've got them where we want them.
Let's crack at some of them in the open.
Sir.
Let's.
It worked!
Mount.
They're running!
Get your foot down!
We are in a trap!
We must warn Tomelli!
Do you hear that?
Could be Lieutenant Sandrini, sir.
What the hell is he doing?
Maybe warning shots, sir.
No! Stop!
Stop!
Do you see anything?
No, nothing sir.
Nothing.
They're getting away.
We have them in our hands!
Full pursuit!
Look at those machines.
Siddiq Omar.
We do not kill prisoners!
They do it to us!
They are not our teachers.
He's a boy.
Here.
Tell your general it does not belong here.
My husband?
'III
I brought his Book home.
Never turned his back on me.
Come here.
What is your name?
Ali.
Oh, yes, Ali.
This is his.
This is your Book now.
You tell your mother to keep it for you.
Do not let him see you crying too much.
One day they will carry on the fight.
The children should remember us strong and confident.
Never broken.
Go inside.
Hey.
Let us go and see the camp, huh, Ali?
Ah, there he is.
This is my friend, Ali.
This is Bu-Matari.
He has a little boy just like you.
He is in Kufra, that's far away, in the desert.
He misses him.
Now, we have some work to do.
To...
Be careful.
Oh! Is this supposed to be me?
Huh? How do I look?
Come on, you have to give them back to me.
Otherwise, I cannot read.
You go.
You go and see that the people work, huh? Go on!
Wiped out.
One lieutenant and one scout car.
That is all that's left of a fighting force.
I did not come to Libya to be stung by bandits.
Signore Tomelli was one of our finest officers.
This young boy has... has saved our honor,
he brought back the flag.
But sir, they gave us the flag.
Yes, yes, yes, you will be decorated
with the Medal of Honor.
I never in my career lost a flag.
Gentlemen, I will repeat one simple fact to you.
We're not merely fighting Mukhtar and 200 of his men here,
or 50 of his men there.
We are fighting a population.
We have Rome to answer to.
Lam therefore taking the first of three final steps,
strides to eliminate rebellion in this colony.
It's really quite simple,
and should have been thought of before.
I propose to concentrate the Bedouin.
Concentrate them?
Yes, put them behind wire, in camps,
and keep them there until we find it prudent
or safe to release them.
No, I don't want any pity for them.
They brought it upon themselves.
We will fill their wells,
we will burn their fields,
we will destroy their trees,
we will turn their land brown!
Now, if they cannot live in it, they will leave it.
And if we meet a resistance?
You answer it promptly with the old Roman punishment for rebellion.
Decimation.
Turn around!
As mutineers and rebels, you will be decimated.
One, two...
three...
five, six, seven...
nine, 10.
They've taken everybody.
Who can fight such a war?
Not against armies, but against innocent people.
Old people will be dying in those camps and come out.
People will be dying without fault, without choice.
Or is it our fault and our choice?
Look what they did.
"You raise the sky up,"
"and set the balance of all things."
It's Siddiq Omar!
Oh, it's good to see you!
No!
They will be massacred.
You have a chance to get away. Take it!
Go with Ismail!
Don't think of me!
Go! Go.
Ali!
Hurry! Come on!
Up behind me, Ismail. Up behind me!
Ismail!
Go back! Go back for that boy!
The horse won't take two.
Ismail knows that.
Hurry up, Siddiq Omar!
So, you're the brave young man.
The brave young man who saved Mukhtar from me.
Why did you do it?
You're young.
You've got your whole life ahead of you.
Tell me, don't you want to live?
Come on.
I want him to live more.
You'd make a fine soldier.
Would you think of joining us?
You are more ruthless than I am, Prince.
You'd corrupt him.
Get him out of here.
Give him what he asks for. Fruit, honey, whatever.
And don't harm him.
Hang him, in the morning.
Does it ever worry you, General...
that in our most casual acts, we make history here?
Even if it's just a small paragraph in a newspaper in Rome?
You touched my strength, Prince.
You see, I don't care.
A day in the mind of Rome is more important to me than...
than a generation in the memory of Libya.
And what happens, I wonder,
if we are forgotten in Rome and...
only remembered in Libya?
Oh, don't you worry your royal head about that.
You see, we'll write the history.
Libya is our crown of thorns.
Nonsense.
Libya is a career.
Just look at it.
Look at it.
It's always the same.
We can never pursue them in the desert.
I must conquer the desert to march on Kufra.
From here to here.
Simple, isn't it?
No, it's not.
But it's only empty desert.
There's nothing there, just wind and sand.
Not even much opposition.
What can you get from it?
Glory for Rome.
An extension of the empire,
confining a revolution to that mountain.
My name, and a new page of military history.
So you see, it's quite full that desert of yours, isn't it, Prince?
I have a surprise for you.
Come in!
Diodiece, now it's your time.
Please, sit down.
Thank you.
The man who can make peace with a hand-shake.
Do it now.
Hands across the desert.
I wish you to instigate peace talks with His Excellency.
Hm.
Omar Mukhtar.
That will not be so easy now.
No, but you will do it, won't you?
And what are the
for talks with Omar Mukhtar?
Um.
No pre-conditions.
The whole of Libya is open to discussion.
Look at it.
We go to the conference table with an open mind, do we not?
He fought us for 20 years.
We are an enemy he knows.
He has heard all our promises.
20 years is too long.
I mean, can you imagine escaping hanging for 20 years
knowing you can't win just...
hoping to keep on?
It's the war. Let's hope the man would be mad
to get on high horse about past promises.
When may I, in Your Excellency's name, sit down with him?
You're too eager.
When you talk to Omar Mukhtar,
it must be with the speed of dictation.
- But... - First, whether he wants talk or not.
You test him, you try him.
Yes, I will try him.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for coming at such short notice.
It was very kind of you.
Thank you.
Well, that's settled, isn't it?
Diodiece is not the right man.
He'll offer, but Mukhtar can't take.
And Mukhtar will ask what he can't give.
Which makes me think...
you want things go wrong.
No.
No, that's unfair, of course, I want peace, of course.
I want to win that peace.
But sometimes, Prince, when you're strong,
peace takes on the nature of conquest, does it not?
He won't give me peace.
But he'll give me his time.
And what I need is time.
So, that's what he looks like.
After all these years, we are the first to see him.
The Old Lion!
As-salamu alaykum.
Colonel Diodiece?
Yes, sir.
Please.
This side.
Colonel Barillo, military governor of Merch.
This is Commissioner Lobito,
who has come directly from Rome
to advise and assist us.
Look, you invited us here to talk.
We are here.
Your Excellency, it is my one wish
to see the Italian and the Arab
together in a similar interest.
I foresee a future of common cause,
a give and take of character and skill.
Our civilization and your culture in marriage of virtues.
I want observers from the governments of Tunisia and Egypt
to witness any agreements between us.
As far as I'm concerned...
Out of the question!
He is seeking international recognition,
as if the Bedouin were an independent nation,
which they are not.
They are subjects within our province.
Our arguments are not between nations, but between Italians.
We cannot permit outside interference
in our internal affairs.
Why misrepresent us?
We are not Italians, so do not tell us that we are.
We were born where we were born, only by the will of God,
and only by our own mothers, we are not you.
But we will come to foreign observers later, huh?
As yet, there is nothing written, nothing to witness.
But we have written.
We must have our Muslim schools.
Oh, yes. No question.
Freedom of education, no question.
The schools will be re-opened.
We must have some form of national protection.
We must have a national parliament.
Your parliament is a matter for Rome.
This tent is not the place.
Why not? You pitched it, "No conditions," you said.
No limits, no exclusions, everything open on this table,
in this tent.
Let us say that at present,
we will note your demand for a parliament.
Mark it well.
The confiscated lands must be given back.
Well...
Now, I wouldn't say "confiscated lands".
I would say lands reserved for settlement and cultivation.
Lands to be developed.
To be developed by Italians?
I tell you, there is no escape.
20 years, 40 years, the land will be back to its people.
Why do you think we fight you?
But, the new settlements will provide employment.
As long as you take our lands,
for as long we're able...
- we must fight you. - Must?
Yes, we must.
But, I have it on religious authority
that your Quran does not permit you
to fight a war you cannot win.
Now you are going to interpret our religion for us.
The Book leaves no doubt.
It is our duty to God to defend ourselves
against those who have driven us out of our homes!
I think this might be a good time to adjourn.
We're in no hurry.
Why are you delaying?
Your Excellency, we are obliged to refer
your demands to Rome.
At our next meeting, we will give you their answer
and make our proposals.
At least...
At least we know that we all want
the bloodshed between us to end.
An Italian innovation.
The first to use aircraft in combat,
the first to put tanks in the desert.
History will mark that, gentlemen.
What we needed was time.
Now we have achieved that time,
we'll talk peace with eloquence.
One. Omar Mukhtar's men will come under the command
of Italian Officers.
Go on.
Two.
The Italian Government will pay monthly salaries
to these men.
Go on.
Go on!
The government reserves the right
to punish any persons who committed a crime
before this agreement.
Omar Mukhtar will have no right to protect such persons.
- Four... - These terms mean dishonor.
Absolute surrender.
Not even subjects for discussion.
The Italian government undertakes to pay
Omar Mukhtar a pension of 50,000 lira a month.
And to provide him with a comfortable house.
Do I deserve so much?
Have I been so successful for someone to offer me
50,000 lira a month?
You know, by offering me bribes, you are insulting me.
Your Excellency, I made that proposal.
Believe me.
It was not an attempt to bribe you.
Only to make your retirement comfortable.
How can I be comfortable
when my people are in concentration camps?
And where is this General
who bombs and burns and hangs?
Why has he never come here?
When terms are agreed between us,
General Graziani will be happy to see you.
I do not want to see him.
I want to see the last of him.
And why is he landing troops?
Where is he going, to the last oasis?
6,000 drums of water!
He is going to... Kufra.
You never wanted peace.
All you wanted was time.
You will be with Graziani.
If you will not come to terms,
I promise you immediate and terrible war!
Oh, I know the power of your government.
The power you threaten us with.
We've stood against you for 20 years.
And with the help of God,
we will stay with you till your end.
I knew this conclusion.
Poor fools!
They think they can ride against a modern army.
As-salamu alaykum.
It is Kufra, no question.
Thousands of soldiers and machines, all going to Kufra.
Graziani is doing what no one has ever done.
He's putting tanks in the desert.
The time is on our side.
Graziani is marching south to Kufra.
We attack the north, we draw him back.
But we must fight him for Kufra.
Sometimes it is braver not to die.
What is lost count as lost.
We know your family is there.
But to defend Kufra is to die there.
I must go.
Yes.
Yes, you must.
Are you ready to pepper them?
Yes, sir.
Good. Then give them hell.
Lieutenant Sandrini, open fire!
Fire!
Go now.
Commanders.
Go on, go on.
Allahu Akbar.
- Allahu Akbar. - Allahu Akbar.
Fire everything on them!
Bomber to the front.
Murderers!
What are you doing?
Counselor Sarsani's orders.
No retreat.
We fight and die here.
Fire!
Gentlemen, this is Kufra.
Attenti!
The seizure of Kufra has hurt us deeply.
It has closed the south.
The only road for military supplies
is across the Egyptian border.
We are in desperate need of supplies, food...
Three Italian cars coming up the Merch Road!
- How many? - Three.
They are flying white flags.
Let them in.
We will finish later.
Sharif El Gariani.
To come through, we had to use the Italian cars.
And you found them comfortable?
We want to talk to you alone.
What we have to say cannot be said in public.
Then it is not to be said to me.
Omar, why do you not surrender?
Obtain the best terms you can from the Italians.
Mohammad agreed he can arrange a safe conduct
for you out of the country.
Safe conduct? Where to?
Egypt.
Ah, to Egypt-
To hide with his brother.
You are the only Sanusi left in this country.
And look at you.
Just...
Just look at him.
But my people have fought.
To defend your own privileges!
Where are you now?
Omar Mukhtar.
The Italians assured us.
You'd better get back to them.
My friend, they are the government of this country.
No, they take this land by day,
but by God, we take it back by night.
Omar Mukhtar, you are alone.
Cut off from the rest of this country,
isolated from the rest of the world.
In the League of Nations, they will not speak.
And if they should, they will not listen.
No one will care.
This battle is not being fought
in the League of Nations.
This battle is being fought here on this land.
Omar, you cannot win this war.
Your blood against their metal?
Every man has two days.
His own day, and his children's day.
Your children are starving,
dying in the concentration camps.
Dying because you persist in fighting.
Yes, yes, they are hostages of war.
But not one of them betrays me.
Not one has asked me to surrender.
Because they know and I know
that if I surrender, I betray them.
Omar, we grew up together.
Don't you remember 70 years ago, we were boys together.
Yes, yes I remember.
Look how far apart we have grown.
This may be the last chance you have
for seeking an honorable peace.
They steal our land, they destroy our homes,
they kill innocent people,
and you call it peace?
I will not be corrupted by that man's peace.
Perhaps we should go.
Yes, I think you should.
Yes, you should.
Mabrouka?
Here.
You're alive.
Yes, with Siddiq Omar.
I prayed for you.
When you see Ismail, show him the bag.
He gave it to me.
My boy.
My baby.
Was he a brave boy?
Will you be back?
Yes.
But not for some time.
Go.
Go now.
Attenzione!
UP YOU get! Come on, out!
The child is sick, sir.
I don't want him. I don't care.
Go!
You are accused of giving aid,
comfort, and sustenance to the rebels in the mountains.
Do you admit these capital crimes?
So, you are admitting your guilt?
You will all hang by your necks
until you are dead.
As the holder of a Silver Medal of Honor, Lieutenant,
you will have the privilege of giving the order for the execution.
No!
What did you say?
You will do your duty, Lieutenant.
I did not join the army to hang women, sir.
Very well.
Corporal Mandipolo!
Lieutenant Sandrini, you will consider yourself
under arrest.
Thank you God for the lives you have given us.
What am I to do?
You refused your duty.
Insubordination is a very serious offense.
When your officers start to cry conscience,
you don't know where it'll end, do you?
I'm prepared to answer to the court martial, sir.
Indeed.
And I'm not prepared to lose one of my colony's new heroes.
A hero I created.
I will not give you the pleasure
nor the publicity of a court martial, Sandrini.
As an officer, you were taught to obey
and not to question orders.
- Yes, sir, but... - Do not dispute with me!
The state has needs that outweigh
the conscious of the individual.
Demands that go beyond individual intelligence,
don't you agree?
Yes, sir.
You will report to Sarsani for duty in the mountains.
I will give you the honor of dying on active status.
Get this stuff loaded!
Salem, take care of the tanks.
I'll blow up the benzine.
Gentlemen, this time he won't get away.
First, we take the bridge,
get our armor behind him,
artillery in front of him,
then we pound him into submission.
About the bridge, sir.
I'm surprised that Mukhtar hasn't tried to cut it.
That's because he's a natural fighter,
not an educated one.
He didn't go to military academy like you gentlemen.
Now is the time.
We dangle the bait.
Check the bridge.
Sergeant, check the bridge.
All clear!
Right, check the next bridge, I'll hold this one here.
He is careful.
He is showing us nothing.
That is bait.
We should have blown up the bridge.
No.
The scout cars, we must stop them.
Give the signal.
Attenti!
You see?
Look.
The mice...
they could never resist the cheese, could they?
Never.
Prepare the artillery to open fire.
Blast them!
Now, send in the army.
Well, he's made his move.
Let's go.
Look, over there.
Ambush!
Now.
He's good.
He is good.
This old man is good.
My dear General.
My dear, dear General.
I hope you don't mind that I share some of your credit,
but after all, I chose you.
I hope, Duce, that I can...
You can have anything you want.
You're the most fortunate man in this room.
I have physically moved the war
from the desert into the mountains.
The last remnant of the enemy has now run into holes,
we find ourselves into a position whereby
we are... are forced to pull them out
by their necks one by one.
Duce, I don't know...
I know.
You are having difficulties.
You're having problems with them being in the mountains.
I don't seem to have an enemy to fight,
yet there are attacks and assassins.
I mean, they had no form. If they had form, I could meet them with form,
but they have no continuity of movement,
no fixed points of position.
I haven't, however, come to my Duce empty minded.
I have a radical solution.
A new Hadrian's Wall.
Eh.
Except...
That Hadrian used his walls to shut the barbarian out.
I shall use mine to shut him in.
I propose, my Duce, to fence in Libya.
To run a wall of impassable wire across the desert.
From the Mediterranean
to the shores of this sea of moving sand.
It will cut the enemy off from his supplies out of Egypt,
and cut him off from his retreat into Egypt.
Duce, my Duce!
Hundreds of miles of barbed wire?
But is it possible to know the cost?
Why do you question Hadrian's Wall?
Remember, it was Hadrian's Wall
that kept the Romans in Britain 100 years longer.
How many bullets have you?
Twelve.
At this rate, we will be soon down
to fighting them with stones.
How long can we last?
Till doomsday.
Nothing has got through for a month.
We are fighting barbed wire.
The wire will win when it tears our spirit.
Only then.
Yes, yes, the wire is hurting us.
Yes, it is.
It is around our neck.
But it is God, not Graziani,
who decides what becomes of us.
What is the will of wire
compared to the will of God?
They have eight million bayonets,
we have one that matters.
Graziani!
Attenti!
We are coming up to.
They were trying to get through
with wire cutters and 5,000 rounds of ammunition.
Well.
That is that.
Now, all he has is the trickle
from the concentration camps.
And we'll dry that up, gentlemen.
We will dry it up.
Pull back! Get back!
Find shelter!
Go, go! We will hold them off!
It's suicide, sir.
They tied their legs so they cannot run.
Disperse!
No!
Don't beg, boy.
Don't beg!
You are taken in arms.
You, shoot him!
Lamoyne there, follow them up.
Go on.
You took him, shoot him.
You idiot.
I said shoot him!
Where is he?
Well?
Yes.
I confirm the identification.
He's Omar Mukhtar.
I'm distressed to see him like this.
How can you say that?
He's led the rebellion against us for 20 years.
As a gallant enemy,
Omar Mukhtar should be treated by us with dignity
and with respect.
With respect?
He should have been whipped all the way here.
You forget yourself, sir.
Sir?
Is there anything I can do for you?
Well, if you will allow me a little water,
I could make myself ready for prayers.
Of course.
And the chains while I pray?
Out of the question!
He only wants to pray.
I am too old to climb walls or to fight bare-handed.
Remove his chains for an hour.
On your own personal responsibility, sir?
Yes.
Bring the water.
Thank you.
No.
No need.
Omar Mukhtar.
I have come a long way to meet you.
Now, you must wait.
I want to ask you one question.
Why did you keep going for so long?
I am sure you didn't hope to drive us out
of Libya with so little, did you?
We fought you.
That was enough.
But you care nothing about the ruination of your country?
You are the ruination of my country.
What would you do if someone occupied your land?
Did you ever think how your attacks
might have seemed to us?
Ambush, murder by night, deception by day.
Threats against the farmers.
Farming our land.
Libya is not your country, you have no right in it.
Not to the pasture of one cow, not one minute of right.
Italy has as much right here as anybody else.
England has a right to Egypt,
France to Tunisia, Algeria.
Spain to Morocco.
But none of them have our pedigree.
We have hundreds of years of right here.
So, you will take everything from me,
and you want me to justify your thefts?
No nation has the right to occupy another.
We are back here, that's all.
- Hm. - No one can deny us.
Read the date on this coin.
It's a coin of the Caesars, dated, minted in Libya.
You will also find Greek, Turkish, Venetian coins.
All over Libya you find them, buried in our sand.
Yes, I had forgotten.
You are short sighted, aren't you?
Your spectacles, I believe.
The day they brought them to me,
I knew you wouldn't be too far behind.
My spectacles.
We're both your prisoners.
I will not be trivial.
Take them back.
Here.
Yes, it does have an interesting past,
but don't try to buy too much with it today.
Your money, like your glory, is not permanent.
But I respect your past, as you must respect ours.
We too have a history in science,
mathematics, and medicine.
Through your dark ages, we lead the world in learning.
How many days will it take you to arrange the surrender of your men?
We will never surrender.
We win or we die.
And don't think it stops there.
You will have the next generation to fight,
and after the next, the next.
As for me, I will live longer than my hangman.
What makes you think I'm gonna hang you?
Hmm?
I mean, it might suit my papers better to pension you.
If I hang you, I run the risk of leaving an open grave.
But on the other hand, you are a prime example.
You can only do to me what God decides for me.
Those chains are uncomfortable?
They are uncomfortable effects.
Sit down.
Thank you.
Do you know...
I had always hoped that you and I,
implacable enemies,
might sit down on the day of your capture,
and discuss like Caesar...
General...
Omar Mukhtar cannot give you the conquest of Caesar.
I've hunted you for so long.
I mean, knowing each other as we do, an idea...
Can't we work together for peace?
And today is the day I work for you?
Why don't you ask me for your life?
I might give it to you.
Like that.
What do I give you?
My collaboration?
No.
No!
You are too late for bargains, Mukhtar!
You are far too late!
I have not asked you for my life.
Do not tell the world that in the privacy of this room
I asked you for my life.
No, no, I will not do that.
I will not lie about you.
You are a man of courage.
Let us hope that you can keep that courage tomorrow.
The rope of your justice
has always hung in front of me, General.
Have him photographed.
I wish my enemies to be recorded.
Instruct the president of the court
that he must be hanged in front of his people.
They must be there.
Omar Mukhtar.
You are accused of open rebellion against
the lawful government of your country.
What age are you?
73.
Are you the head of the forces
in Libya fighting against Italy?
Yes, I am.
Have you taken part in attacks on Italian soldiers?
Yes, I have.
For how long have you taken part
in attacks on Italian soldiers?
20 years.
How many attacks?
You know, I couldn't remember the number.
You ordered the torturing and murdering
of Italian prisoners.
I did not.
Never.
You were captured with arms in your hands!
Yes, I was.
I am an Italian soldier.
In the field, I would be his enemy.
But here...
I am obliged to...
I'm appointed to defend him.
You are an old man.
Older than all of us here.
And I will not abuse you with too many questions.
Did you ever submit to the Italian authority?
I did not.
Did you ever receive money or other subsidy
from the Italian government
as a condition of good behavior?
I did not.
Never.
I declare that Omar Mukhtar
never submitted to us,
never took subsidy from us,
never recognized our right
to rule in this colony.
He cannot therefore, in logic or justice,
be tried by us as a rebel.
When we captured Omar Mukhtar
after 20 years of battles,
we are morally obliged to deal with him
as a prisoner of war.
Silence!
Silence in court!
Captain Lontano, you were ordered
to defend this rebel against the charge of treason.
You have overstepped your orders.
The sentence on you, Omar Mukhtar,
is death by hanging, in public,
in the town of Suluq at 11 o'clock tomorrow,
the 16th of September, 1931,
year nine of the fascist era.
From God we come and unto God we shall return.
Attenti!
In the name of the government
of the Tripolitania e Cyrenaica,
we execute this sentence as decreed
by the military tribunal of Benghazi,
on the 15th day of September 1931,
year nine of the fascist era.
Omar Mukhtar, you have been found guilty of high treason,
both morally and materially,
of a sustained rebellion against the Italian government
of this colony.
The sentence passed by the court,
death by hanging in a public place,
will now be carried out.
Proceed!
Thank you, God,
for letting me die at the hands of our enemies.
We will never surrender.
We win or we die.
You will have the next generation to fight,
and after the next, the next.
As for me, I will live longer than my hangman.
Resynced for Media Player by SourGrass :-))