"THE DAWN-BREAKERS" Plot and Treatment (c) 1986 James J. Keene, Ph.D. SCENES PLOT and TREATMENT from screenplay WGAw No. 345215. 1- 26 It's 1843. World-wide economic depression, revolutions sweeping Europe, startling astronomical events and forecasts of the "return of a prophet" create an agitated atmosphere. 1 CAPTION OVER: This is the true story of a Youth from Shiraz known as the Bab. 2- 5 Dawn at the Haifa, Israel port below Mt. Carmel. On his way back to his post in Persia (Iran), American missionary WRIGHT, 32, recalls The Great Earthquake of 1755, The Dark Day of 1780 and The Great Starfall of 1833. In the still unexplained Dark Day, we see the mid-day sun and sky darken, star constellations appear and the moon slowly turning blood red. WRIGHT finds out that the Muslim world expects a "prophet" to appear at the same time as the Christians do (the return of Christ) -- in 1844! 6- 8 Inside Persia, black forms move down a dusty narrow street. They are Persian women in full-body veils, with only a few inches of cloth grid over the eyes so they can see ahead of themselves. Opposed by her family, the renowned poetess TAHIRIH, 26, secretly dispatches a letter to KAZIM in the city of Karbila. 9- 23 KAZIM points the way. More mysterious halos appear around the sun, reported in the press around the world. 10 Investigating disorders in Karbila, British diplomat FARRANT, 35, interviews KAZIM, 59. FARRANT and KAZIM are shown to be rational and competent. 11- 15 SHAYKH, early 20s, tells his teenaged friend, EYES, the story of a mysterious youth (THE BAB) whose identity must be kept secret. 16 KAZIM replies to TAHIRIH: You have "stepped beyond poetry." 17 Back at the Christian Mission near the Persian-Russian frontier, WRIGHT fails to communicate his expectations to a British BISHOP. 18 WRIGHT is captivated when he witnesses night-time clouds part over Mt. Ararat to reveal The Great Comet of 1843. West meets East when WRIGHT encounters a weird and wild wandering DERVISH, mid-50s, who could be a con-man or a genuine mystic spiritualist of the Sufi tradition. 19- 20 THE WIFE and MOTHER of THE BAB mourn the death of his only child, "He said he was not destined to leave any children." 21- 23 A SHEPHERD dreams of the exact date of KAZIM'S death. 24- 26 TAHIRIH arrives in Karbila and supports HUSAYN, 31, who leads the search. HUSAYN is handsome, intense, stoic, but not physically large and suffers from a hand tremor. We see the mutual admiration between TAHIRIH and HUSAYN. 27- 60 Now it's 1844 and everyone expects the "prophet" to appear. An unknown and uneducated little shop-keeper declares, "It's me; I am the one," causing an immediate sensation. He adopts the title THE BAB, meaning "Gateway" (to a new era). 27- 30 In Shiraz, HUSAYN and others meet the UNCLE of the young Bab. UNCLE is not yet aware of what is happening in his own house. Then, in a cramped room turned into an ad hoc 1840s copy shop, HUSAYN and a daring group of young men copy writings of THE BAB. They spread the news throughout Persia. With TAHIRIH, they were the initial DAWN-BREAKERS. 31- 32 In Tihran, capital of Persia, HUSAYN leaves a message from THE BAB to MUHAMMAD SHAH with Prime Minister AQASI, an old, vain, ridiculous and rat-faced schemer. 33- 34 At the Tihran British Legation, BISHOP introduces WRIGHT to FARRANT and SHEIL, 40, the British Envoy. SHEIL is interested in the American invention of the Telegraph, but WRIGHT is impressed by the first Telegraph message, "What Hath God Wrought?" 35 Establishing: MUSA, 30, Persian nobleman, sees HUSAYN waiting outside a House in Tihran (which becomes a "Babi headquarters"). 38- 49 The persecution begins. 36- 40 In Karbila (Iraq), MULLA, one of the DAWN-BREAKERS, brings writings of THE BAB to TAHIRIH. MULLA refuses to reveal the identity of THE BAB to friend or foe. Later, TAHIRIH learns that MULLA was arrested and punished for dissemination of "blasphemy." In Tihran, SHEIL and FARRANT follow MULLA'S case through dispatches from Baghdad. 41 QUDDUS, another DAWN-BREAKER, 22, poet and rebel in thought and dress, tells UNCLE, who raised his nephew as a father, that his nephew, THE BAB, has claimed to be a "prophet." 42- 49 QUDDUS and SADIQ, a crusty old reformer, alter a tradition twelve centuries old. We see SADIQ chant a changed form of the traditional Islamic call to prayer from the top of a mosque. At the instigation of the mullas (Islamic priests), KHAN, about 40, the governor of Shiraz, orders that the CONSTABLE punish QUDDUS and SADIQ "Islamic-style" and that THE BAB be arrested. Having received "1,000 lashes," SADIQ's beard is burned off his face before our eyes. The faces of QUDDUS and SADIQ are blackened, their noses pierced and cords are inserted, by which they are led through the streets of Shiraz. 50- 52 THE BAB allows himself to be arrested by KHAN'S horsemen. 53 It's now Winter, 1846, and the world is treated to another stunning "raining of comets" of historic proportions and Biela's comet appears and literally splits into two comets in a "close view" on the screen before us. 54- 55 QUDDUS arrives at that House in Tihran where he shares information on the Babis (sympathizers of THE BAB) with MUSA, the Persian nobleman, and his brother-in-law, MAJID, Secretary to the Russian Legation. 56- 57 SHEIL and the new Russian Envoy, DOLGORUKOV, 49, a suave and relaxed nobleman, step in on a briefing by Prime Minister AQASI on the growing Babi presence throughout Persia. The strange interaction between AQASI and these foreigners is evident when AQASI jokes that DOLGORUKOV could have been Tsar instead of Nicolas I, and probing AQASI, DOLGORUKOV remarks, "Some say the comet and the Bab are one and the same." 58 At the palace reception for DOLGORUKOV, MAJID introduces VAHID to SHEIL and DOLGORUKOV. VAHID is erudite and suave on a par with DOLGORUKOV and has been commissioned by MUHAMMAD SHAH to investigate the episode of THE BAB in Shiraz. 59- 60 HUSAYN and a group of Babis arrive in Isfahan, mid-way between Tihran and Shiraz. WOOL, a crazy and unpredictable bazaar merchant, tells HUSAYN of intrigue in Shiraz. 61- 74 In Shiraz, VAHID keeps KHAN and FERRIER, 38, a French military advisor employed by KHAN, in suspense as he investigates THE BAB. THE BAB'S assistants now include his UNCLE, SHAYKH, EYES and several others. In a mystical sequence of 9 scenes in and outside the residences of KHAN and THE BAB, each scene could be seen as a flashback with respect to other scenes, as the suspicions among the characters are explored. Everyone from Prime Minister AQASI to VAHID himself is caught off guard when a strange event leads VAHID to endorse the claim of the "unbalanced youth," THE BAB. THE BAB had spontaneously answered questions which VAHID had carefully prepared but could not remember to ask. 75- 81 While an AGENT for KHAN reports to KHAN on the Babis, KHAN is unaware that his servant, NOSE, is a Babi. NOSE sees the order from Prime Minister AQASI to KHAN to have THE BAB killed in secret that very night. 82- 88 As CONSTABLE prepares to send soldiers over the walls of THE BAB'S family residence, an eery wailing of grieved and hysterical voices is heard in the distance. But CONSTABLE considers it "a diversion" and his spooked men proceed to sack the residence while the sound of moaning voices grows louder in the night air. As CONSTABLE et al. march their prisoners to the intersection of this narrow Shiraz street, the wailing sound is unbearable. NOSE and his 13 year old son, STREET, bravely prepare to offer resistance, but the situation is hopeless. At the intersection, we see a horrified mob, the source of the hysterical voices, rushing at them carrying caskets and dead wrapped in cloth. That very night a deadly plague of cholera had gripped the city. KHAN and the population flee the city and THE BAB escapes death in Shiraz, which some considered a "miracle." 89-130 The Georgian eunuch MANUCHIHR, about 40, wealthy and powerful governor of Isfahan, provides temporary refuge for THE BAB. 92 Meanwhile in Shiraz, UNCLE and THE BAB'S family are forced by KHAN to literally remove the ink from the paper on which THE BAB had written. We see frightened people discarding pages into the household patio where giant collanders of boiling water remove ink from the paper which is then buried. 93-104 A friend of TAHIRIH is stoned and TAHIRIH is arrested in Karbila in Turkish territory. They had committed a blasphemy. They had proclaimed the emancipation of women and had dressed up in bright happy colors to celebrate the birthday of THE BAB, which was also a traditional day of mourning for Shi'ite Muslims. 94-105 In Tihran, the bumbling Minister of WAR reviews TAHIRIH'S case with Prime Minister AQASI. To avoid her influence, AQASI does not want TAHIRIH deported to Persia. 106 The cholera epidemic is spreading fast into Turkish territory, with 200 dead per day. SHEIL and FARRANT call in DR. CORMICK, 26, physician to the British Legation, to offer the Persians medical assistance. 107-113 THE BAB'S influence in Isfahan is also spreading fast. 107 AQASI fears this "ignorant shopkeeper could take Persia without an army." 108 MUHAMMAH SHAH orders that THE BAB be brought to Tihran to appear before him in person. 109-111 MANUCHIHR seems to anticipate the inevitable hostility of the mullas toward THE BAB. 112-113 NOSE meets WOOL in Isfahan. NOSE distrusts MANUCHIHR and sees events leading down the same road we saw in Shiraz. 114-130 THE BAB "disappears." 114-115 MANUCHIHR sends 500 horsemen escorting THE BAB to Tihran. And just in time. The mullas of Isfahan had just signed a death warrant for THE BAB. SHAYKH and EYES are ecstatic by this narrow escape from danger. 116 Winter, 1847. In his study, WRIGHT arranges scraps of paper with notes, such as the prophesies of the Book of Daniel on the Great Earthquake, the Dark Day and the Starfall, on his desk as pieces of a puzzle. After all, 1844 had come and gone, and Christ had not descended from the clouds. Yet WRIGHT is convinced that 1844 was the time, but that the prophet will come as "a thief in the night." 117 The Turks deport TAHIRIH to Persia, against AQASI'S wishes. 118 NOSE, STREET and KID find WOOL'S shop mysteriously empty. 119 DOLGORUKOV questions MAJID on THE BAB'S disappearance. 120-121 SHEIL and OFFICER, a British Military advisor, show Prime Minister AQASI British uniforms for the Persian soldiers. AQASI'S comic reaction is that these outfits would elicit "no respect" among Persians. AQASI is preoccupied by the failure of his search party to locate THE BAB on the 1,000 kilometer Isfahan-Tihran trail. 122-123 Meeting SHAYKH, EYES, WOOL and others, NOSE speculates that THE BAB was killed by MANUCHIHR'S men on the trail to avoid riots in the city. 124-130 MANUCHIHR reveals his plan to protect THE BAB from AQASI. He had defied MUHAMMAD SHAH'S order and hid THE BAB in Isfahan. However, MANUCHIHR dies, leaving THE BAB at AQASI'S mercy. 131-132 Back on Persian soil, TAHIRIH has an immense following. She declines an offer for 12,000 men to march on the capital. She announces the end of the "age of prophesy" and the beginning of the "age for fulfillment of prophesies." 133 FERRIER meets DOLGORUKOV in Tihran. The diplomats never fully understand what is happening, but FERRIER learns from DOLGORUKOV that MUHAMMAD SHAH has summoned THE BAB, in disquise, to Tihran, as a prisoner. 134 AQASI banishes THE BAB to the remote prison of Mah-Ku, preventing a meeting between THE BAB and MUHAMMAD SHAH. 135 Sparks fly when HUJJAT, brash, out-spoken iconoclast and Babi, risks his life to protest AQASI'S actions. AQASI cites protests from the mullas, who HUJJAT characterizes as pimps who perform "special" marriages for an hour, day or weeks time. 136-141 At Mah-Ku, EYES and his brother HASAN have been confined with THE BAB. The harsh WARDEN of the mountain fortress keeps his prisoners strictly isolated. Outside the Mah-Ku gate, people wait to see THE BAB. Among them are SHAYKH, NOSE and his two children, STREET and KID, SADIQ, the curious DERVISH and others. Then the WARDEN has a mystical experience and they are allowed to visit THE BAB. While riding at sunrise miles from the fort, WARDEN had seen what he thought was THE BAB by a stream. But the figure was actually the silhouette of STREET, tossing a fishing net. With the blinding sunlight reflecting from the water, WARDEN'S surreal experience is that THE BAB had somehow escaped from the mountain prison. 142-164 HUSAYN walks 900 miles from Mashhad to visit THE BAB in Mah-Ku. 146-149 WRIGHT again happens upon the roguish DERVISH, in the midst of a drugged frenzy and blasphemous ritual. In a variation of the classic Persian folktale of how a lone traveller becomes terrorized by a crazed dervish in the wilderness, we see DERVISH, puffing his water-pipe, sticking five small clay figures like gingerbread men into the soil. Seeking a mystic truth, DERVISH addresses each figure in succession, "O Moses," "O Jesus," "O Muhammad," etc. Wielding a massive club, DERVISH smashes each figure mercilessly, crushing its fragments into the dirt, when it refuses to utter a single word in reply. Later, WRIGHT is fascinated by the story of THE BAB because Biblical prophesies point to "Elam = Fars = Shiraz." 150-157 On his way to Mah-Ku through winter snow, HUSAYN arrives in Tihran and learns from MUSA that intrigue surrounds TAHIRIH. Her uncle had been murdered. It's a mess; her uncle was the father of her ex-husband. 151-156 Meanwhile, DOLGORUKOV learns from a young RUSSIAN that the Babi Cause is spreading like wild-fire in Russia north of the Persian border at Mah-Ku. Fearing disorder, DOLGORUKOV protests to AQASI who promises to remove THE BAB from Mah-Ku and the Russian frontier. 158-159 Crown Prince NASIRI'D-DIN, an aimless 16 year old in line for the throne, employs DR. CORMICK as his personal physician while NASIRI'D-DIN serves as governor in Tabriz. FARRANT is British Charge d'Affaires while SHEIL is on leave in London. 160-161 Closer to Mah-Ku, HUSAYN meets TAHIRIH, who has been accused as a conspirator in her uncle's murder. 162 DOLGORUKOV writes a dispatch citing the "sinister" state of affairs in Persia due to the influence of THE BAB. 163-164 HUSAYN arrives in Mah-Ku to find that the WARDEN had dreamed of the exact day of his arrival. AQASI had not moved THE BAB from Mah-Ku as promised to DOLGORUKOV. 166 DOLGORUKOV confronts AQASI: "You lied to me." AQASI then moves THE BAB away from the Persian-Russian border. 165-169 TAHIRIH is confined by the mullas who have agreed to her execution. She issues an ultimatum: "If the Lord does not free me within nine days, then execute me." MUSA and other Babis save TAHIRIH from certain death. 170-171 THE BAB is tranferred to another prison fortress near the Christian Mission of WRIGHT. DERVISH happens upon WRIGHT in the midst of a sermon on the career of Jesus. Having missed the beginning of WRIGHT'S talk, DERVISH mistakenly assumes WRIGHT is speaking of THE BAB. DERVISH blurts out, "The missionary has become a Babi," insulting WRIGHT. The absurdity of it all prompts laughter in his Kurdish students. 172 While MUSA arranges TAHIRIH'S escort to Badasht, VAHID is heard through a curtain by TAHIRIH in the woman's quarters. TAHIRIH confronts VAHID: "Let deeds, not words, be our adorning." The women snicker their approval of TAHIRIH. 173-175 On the other side of Persia in Mashhad, some Babis use force to free a persecuted Babi and HUSAYN reproves them, "If you cannot tolerate persecution, how can you accept my own martyrdom?" 176-198 The Babis converge at Badasht to "break with the past." 181-197 Meanwhile, authorities interrogate THE BAB in Tabriz. 181-183 SHAYKH visits a 17 year old YOUTH and his father in Tabriz. The YOUTH'S father keeps the YOUTH as a prisoner in his own house so the YOUTH will not declare himself a Babi. 184-187 SHAYKH observes. Prince NASIRI'D-DIN orders DR. CORMICK to test whether THE BAB "was of sane mind or merely a madman, to decide whether to put him to death or not." THE BAB tells DR. CORMICK that "he has no doubt that all Europeans would eventually adopt his cause." 188 With THE BAB in government hands and his new teachings for the "New Day" unclear, the Babis at Badasht are swept by excitement. DERVISH and SADIQ clash over DERVISH'S drug habit and QUDDUS and TAHIRIH work on a strategy as news arrives that THE BAB had been taken to Tabriz. 189-195 SHAYKH observes the public trial of THE BAB by Islamic authorities in Tabriz. Prince NASIRI'D-DIN arrives late to see that THE BAB had boldly taken his seat! THE BAB publicly asserts his claim to be "the promised one" and is scolded as a "wretched immature lad" and "perverse follower of Satan." 197 Called by THE BAB to treat his wounds, DR. CORMICK is disgusted by THE BAB'S punishment: a whipping of the soles of his feet and of his face. DR. CORMICK learns that THE BAB had boldly walked out of his own trial. 190-198 At the same time, a drama unfolds at Badasht. Before the assembled Babis, QUDDUS refuses to meet with TAHIRIH. Chaos breaks out when TAHIRIH seems to defy everybody by appearing unveiled before them. Though some flee the scene and WOOL slits his own throat in dismay, TAHIRIH declares, "I shall put to flight the chiefs and notables of the earth! This day the fetters of the past have been burst asunder." 199-207 Still confined by his father in Tabriz, YOUTH dreams that he will eventually be martyred with THE BAB. He finds himself hanging by ropes from the wall of a large drill field at the army barracks. Shot by a firing squad, chest bloodied, YOUTH looks around confused ... and rises. We see the barracks, then the city of Tabriz receding below. YOUTH is literally shot from the earth, bursting into flames as he bullets above the cloud cover, reaching and passing the surface of the moon in a matter of seconds. 208-225 HUSAYN leads a march of over 200 Babis toward Tihran. 210 On the success of the Badasht conference, QUDDUS to TAHIRIH: "Who could doubt that we are no longer Muslims!" 211-212 Mullas prompt villagers to attack the Babis leaving the Badasht conference calling them "heretics" and "misfits". The 13 year old STREET attempts to protect TAHIRIH but is shot in the head at her feet. She bursts into tears over STREET as the villagers exclaim, "There's the whore of the lawless Babis!" 209-215 People from the towns along the way join HUSAYN'S group of Babis. 213-214 Now confined under house arrest, QUDDUS writes to HUSAYN, "We shall meet but once more before our martyrdom." 216 August, 1848. AQASI learns that THE BAB was not put to death in Tabriz when HUJJAT delivers a protest to AQASI. 217-219 HUJJAT meets VAHID outside the Tihran "Babi headquarters," the house where MUSA lives. The Babis now have new names. 218-220 Inside, the ex-Minister of WAR tells MUSA and MAJID that the government, namely AQASI and MUHAMMAD SHAH, has decided to execute MUSA'S brother, a leading Babi. MUSA tells MAJID to make sure that DOLGORUKOV learns of this at the Russian Legation, with the hope that DOLGORUKOV might intercede. 221-222 At the threshold of the verdant region of Mazindaran, not far from the capital of Tihran, the Babis lead by HUSAYN have camped for the night in a howling wind storm. They have been joined by many, such as DERVISH, NOSE, STREET and KID from the Badasht conference. We see STREET survived his grazing head wound. On HUSAYN'S order, BAQIR has organized the Babis into functional units. The wind rips loose a giant branch above HUSAYN. It crashes into the fire in front of him and he proclaims, "The sovereignty of MUHAMMAD SHAH has been hurled to the ground." 223-224 Fearing what Prime Minister AQASI might do, elite Persians in a commotion crowd into the British Legation grounds. FARRANT, DOLGORUKOV and WAR are conferring when OFFICER arrives with the news, "It is confirmed by our own physician. The Shah is dead." 225 Foresaking their possessions, HUSAYN leads hundreds of Babis through four days of rain in the green mountains of Mazindaran on "the way that leads to our martyrdom." Suffering opium withdrawal, DERVISH nevertheless discards his drugs and pipes. 226-231 Meanwhile, in Shiraz where it all started, THE BAB'S family, his UNCLE, WIFE and MOTHER, still suffer severe harrassment. UNCLE is leaving Shiraz to visit THE BAB. The Shiraz Governor KHAN and his employee FERRIER are held as prisoners by their own soldiers because KHAN had sent all available funds to Tihran to win favor from the new Shah. 232-240 October, 1848. SA'IDU'L-ULAMA, the leading Islamic mulla of the region, incites the town's people against HUSAYN and the Babis. In an unprovoked and unexpected attack, STREET and others are shot dead. HUSAYN leads the Babi defense and with one blow, he severs into six pieces a tree, a rifle and a man. Everyone is mute with wonder at this feat. All fighting halts ... temporarily. 241-248 The Babis led by HUSAYN take refuge in an inn surrounded by a wall. SA'IDU'L-ULAMA reorganizes the town's people and brings a local GENERAL to observe. DERVISH keeps a diary. Three teen Babis mount the walls to issue the Islamic call to prayer and are shot to death. GENERAL is mystified by the resolve on each side: that the teen Babis would expose themselves knowing death was certain, and that the people would kill anyone while praying. 249-251 GENERAL offers to escort the Babis to safety. But the Babis are again attacked and left defenseless near a small shrine in the dense forests. HUSAYN announces, "This is our ultimate destination." 252-253 At this place, known as Tabarsi, the Babis put together a make-shift fort as rain pours on them. 254 November, 1848. DOLGORUKOV congratulates TAQI, the new Prime Minister, on the "successful transfer of power." 255 Back in Tihran with the new boy-Shah, NASIRI'D-DIN, DR. CORMICK learns from FARRANT of AQASI'S efforts to cling to power by occupying the palace with 500 men. However, FARRANT relates, "The Missions of England and Russia alone upheld the authority of the Shah." 256 For his part, NASIRI'D-DIN Shah orders the Mazindaran chiefs to "organize an offense against the Babis." GENERAL is confident, "They are nothing but a handful of untrained and frail students and old men." 257 Meanwhile, VAHID plans HUJJAT'S escape from Tihran. 258-262 At Tabarsi, the fort is complete and DERVISH mounts the heads of some erstwhile attackers on the fort gate, "When they see this, they're going to run like hell." HUSAYN leads a night candle-light procession into the forest to greet the arrival of QUDDUS, who assumes command. 263-265 December, 1848. Night. Campfires dot the hills around them. The Tabarsi Fort is surrounded by over 12,000 troops of the Mazindaran chiefs. Under siege for over a month, 300 Babis led by QUDDUS are without food or water. Constant gunfire bombards the little fort day and night. Having shed the bizarre clothes and ways of a young rebel, QUDDUS, still only 26, has become an inspired and effective leader. He declares, "A downpour of rain and then a heavy snowfall will refeshen us and desolate the camps of our opponents." At that moment, lightning strikes. A torrent of rain ruins amunition of surrounding troops and pours water into the mouths of the thirsty Babis. As lightning flashes illuminate the vast spread of troop encampments on the surrounding hills, the rain extinguishes countless campfires around the fort and flows into a trench within the fort. 266-271 Next morning, the trench is covered with ice. Six inches of snow had fallen after the rain. QUDDUS and HUSAYN lead a sortie against the besieging troops. KID wants to go, but NOSE forbids it. In a wooden hovel in the fort, KID sees DERVISH is ill. NOSE offers DERVISH a hot drink. DERVISH, "This is water! I'm starving, damn it!" NOSE, "We're all starving, friend." KID grins meekly, "Maybe they'll bring back some food." And bring food they did. DERVISH records the successful Babi raid in his diary. Not one Babi lost his life, but QUDDUS warns, "Next time, we will receive the army of the Shah." 272 KID sees BAQIR, third in command after QUDDUS and HUSAYN, supervise the construction of a huge new wall around the fort in the shape of a giant octagon. More forest around the fort is cleared to obtain the wood. 273 By now, UNCLE has arrived in Tihran, on his way to the fortress imprisoning THE BAB. UNCLE and VAHID observe a spectacle in the central square of Tihran before the palace. FARRANT and WRIGHT also witness the arrival of a Mazindaran chief with his brother, the commander of the forces sent against the Babis. The commander, alas, arrives in a shroud, dead. TAQI is furious. 274-275 At the Tabarsi Fort, construction of the new wall is almost finished. These "helpless students and old men" lined up two rows of heavy timber, ten meters high and two meters apart. Then, they filled the space between with dirt and rock, at the same time creating a deep trench outside the wall. 276 Meanwhile, NASIRI'D-DIN Shah appoints PRINCE as the new governor of Mazindaran and sends him with 3,000 more troops to reinforce the besiegers of the Tabarsi Fort. TAQI greets news of HUSAYN'S exploits with a disparaging chuckle, "So Husayn is a legend," prompting NASIRI'D-DIN to sneer to PRINCE, "You shall erase them from the pages of history." 277-281 January, 1849. From a watch tower on the new wall at the Tabarsi Fort, NOSE and DERVISH see the arrival of the Shah's troops with PRINCE and the Mazindaran chiefs. Alone, HUSAYN boldly meets one of these chiefs outside the fort to deliver a message from QUDDUS to the PRINCE, "We have no intention of subverting NASIRI'D-DIN Shah." Confused, the chief reflects, "Then, what are we doing here? You people are innocent." 282 Back in Tihran, MUSA and VAHID have disguised UNCLE as a wandering Sufi dervish, for his departure with SAYYAH to the remote prison fortress holding THE BAB. SAYYAH is a young, rugged courier carrying correspondence between THE BAB and the Babis. 283 Meanwhile, DOLGORUKOV hosts a dinner for WAR, FARRANT and WRIGHT. WAR explains, "The basis of the present government of the Shah is the absence of an heir of Muhammad who was martyred 1,000 years ago. But the people believe he will 'return' and claim all authority again. The Babis say this 'return' has occurred." DOLGORUKOV adds, "Thus, military force against them is inevitable." WAR remarks, "Oh, they know that." Clearly, WRIGHT was not prepared for this. 284-287 Dusk at the Tabarsi Fort; snow falls. In their wooden hovel, KID watches DERVISH write in his diary. A cannon blast from the Shah's forces collapses the hovel on them. 288-298 The darkness before dawn; continuing snow fall. 200 Babis quietly move from the fort marching six miles over two hours to the stronghold of the PRINCE, his base of operations. Their swords are not drawn. The government troops are asleep. Well, not all of them. DERVISH grins and waves at two soldiers crouched over a campfire near the trail. Apparently, these soldiers and the posted guards at the PRINCE'S headquarters think the Babis are fresh reinforcements. Who would think that a few Babis would position themselves in the midst of thousands of hostile government troops? But there they are. It is a daring commando-type raid. Horses are untethered and scattered. Suddenly, hundreds of munitions boxes detonate across the hills; the PRINCE'S headquarters is blown open and his key commanders perish. The PRINCE flees through the snow in his underwear. Though QUDDUS and HUSAYN had planned and directed a perfect surprise attack, some of the Babis were far from perfect. The unpredictable WOOL delays the Babi retreat to the Tabarsi Fort for just a few moments. But it is enough time for the Shah's troops to open fire. QUDDUS is shot in the mouth. 299 Back in the fort, QUDDUS is unable to speak and writes out his instructions. The Babis are again starving. DERVISH writes, "Many of us had already drunk from the cup of martyrdom." 300-302 In Tihran, TAQI fumes, "The PRINCE has allowed a handful of students to defeat the army of the Shah ... again!?" DOLGORUKOV and RUSSIAN worry about the concentration of Persian troops and Babis near Russian territory. What if the "cunning and efficient" HUSAYN were to escape Tabarsi? A royal soldier delivers to Prime Minister TAQI the actual rifle that HUSAYN had severed as "evidence of the strength of a man who cut into six pieces a tree, this musket, and its holder, with a single stroke of his sword." (Actually, HUSAYN is a scholar of slight build, not your typical muscle- bound hero-type.) 303-304 February, 1849. GENERAL joins PRINCE at Tabarsi. The starving Babis bury bones of wounded horses which they ate to stay alive. HUSAYN prepares to lead a sortie to "scatter the foe who blocks our path." To his companions, "Die now, before death comes. Do not harbor vague hopes of defeating them. Whoever desires martyrdom, let them come with me tonight." 305-309 HUSAYN leads the defensive sortie but his horse becomes tangled in ropes by GENERAL'S tent. Babis detonate powder boxes by nearby barricades and a blazing fire races through the dry grass illuminating HUSAYN'S position. GENERAL had climbed a tree above HUSAYN and shoots HUSAYN in the back. 310 Nevertheless, a DOLGORUKOV dispatch from Tihran to Russia states, "The news from Mazindaran is even more fearful than before. The Babis have routed the GENERAL." 311-313 March, 1849. Unaware that the man he killed was the famous and feared HUSAYN, GENERAL decides to cut his losses and pull out. But to SA'IDU'L-ULAMA, this is a "holy war." When a Babi traitor tells GENERAL that HUSAYN is dead and the Babis are starving in the fort, GENERAL sees the chance for an easy victory over the Babis. 314-316 GENERAL renews the siege with fresh vigor. Sensations of hunger leave the Babis. DERVISH tells hilarious tales to the overwhelmed Babis, seemingly intoxicated with mirth, ignoring cannon balls crashing through roofs around them. BAQIR leads only 18 men against the besiegers, and GENERAL flees falling from his horse leaving a boot in a stirrup. The situation is out of control, as a DOLGORUKOV dispatch records, "The Prime Minister estimates over 100,000 Babis as news of their exploits reaches every province ... In spite of their numerical inferiority, those fanatics continue to repulse their attackers." 317-321 April, 1849. At night, NOSE and KID venture outside the fort to gather grass for the horses...and the Babis to eat. To stay alive, they prepare soup from grass, bits of leather from saddles and boots and fragments of horse bones which they had previously buried in the fort. 322-323 PRINCE'S men erect towers around the fort from which incendiary mortar fire causes raging fire to rise from within the fort. PRINCE is satisfied with the report he receives: "No need to fire into the fort anymore. We can see in from the towers. There's nothing in there." 323 A view of the fort interior confirms this: nothing but potholes, ash and smoking timber. The place is empty. But another view shows KID dashing behind what looks like (and are) huge mounds of freshly excavated dirt. 324-325 Yes, with hardly any strength left, the starving Babis had dug a network of tunnels under the fort and were bravely resisting, though half-dead and ankle deep in seeping water and mud. KID had spied PRINCE by the edge of the forest and QUDDUS orders an attack to destroy PRINCE'S towers around the fort. Needless to say, PRINCE is taken by surprise; he had already planned to "go over the walls tommorrow" and "find some skulls to show the Shah." 326 May, 1849. NOSE and KID are again gathering grass outside the fort at night. NOSE sees a gap in the campfires in the woods leading up the hills. NOSE to KID, "Go through that gap and go to that big house in Tihran." Blinking back tears, KID doesn't want to leave. Pressing KID to his chest, NOSE insists, "Do what your daddy says." 327 PRINCE offers a truce to the Babis: their lives and liberty if the Babis leave the fort, sworn on the Qur'an. Though skeptical, QUDDUS accepts. 328 In Tihran, the akward teen NASIRI'D-DIN Shah offers marriage and high position to his prisoner, the beauty and poetess Babi, TAHIRIH. She refuses, "You are exterminating my friends." Now indignant, NASIRI'D-DIN asserts, "The surface of this earth will be purified of their presence." 329 Loud explosions awaken KID who had slept under a bush near the forest outside the fort. KID sees the fort is being demolished by government troops. He stands to watch by some long poles stuck in the ground. A pole falls with a thud before him and he sees his father's head (NOSE) mounted on it. Whining like a scared puppy, KID looks up and to the side, only to see that the other poles all hold Babi heads. 330 Not far away, PRINCE and SA'IDU'L-ULAMA bargain for QUDDUS. The price will be high; he is a valuable prisoner. "He lead a few Babis to resist an army for over six months." 331 In a clearing in the forest, KID walks in shock among the bodies of the Babis from the fort. They had been massacred. KID retrieves the diary of DERVISH from the scene. 332 Weeks later, KID listens to MUSA read to MAJID from this diary of DERVISH. A final entry: "This affliction is the jewel of our treasures; we do not bestow jewels on everyone." MAJID reports that QUDDUS was torn into a hundred pieces. 333-338 Summer, 1849. UNCLE and SAYYAH have now arrived near the fortress confining THE BAB. They are at SHAYKH'S house in the village and WRIGHT is outside observing the entrance. EYES appears and goes into SHAYKH'S house, confirming for WRIGHT that Babis dwell there. When WRIGHT knocks on the door to SHAYKH'S rear room, panic breaks out. The Babis rush to hide all documents related to THE BAB, while SHAYKH greets WRIGHT in the front room. Though WRIGHT probes for information on the Babis, SHAYKH is evasive, sends WRIGHT on his way, and SAYYAH to follow him. UNCLE comments, "Sounded like an American ... Their minds are more open." SHAYKH is defensive, "What would that man be doing way out here?" After all, he could have been a spy for the Shah. In fact, WRIGHT sympathizes with the plight of the Babis and UNCLE'S comment sums up the irony, "Maybe he is a seeker." But SHAYKH is firm, "We could not take the risk." 339-341 December, 1849. SHEIL has returned from London with his new wife, LEONORA, and hosts a Christmas party at the British Legation for diplomats DOLGORUKOV, FARRANT and FERRIER. But the news he hears is bleak. The persecution of the Babis "has excited a new and even more dangerous resistance." "...thousands of Babis in the capital alone." 342-343 On departing Tihran, VAHID to MUSA, "This is my last journey. You will see me no more." UNCLE has also returned to Tihran, but the city is no longer safe for Babis. MUSA urges UNCLE and others to leave Tihran, but UNCLE is not worried, "Why fear for my safety?" However, others, such as KARIM, take refuge in a sanctuary mosque. 344 January, 1850. SHEIL protests to TAQI, "The revolting practice of executing criminals in the presence of the Shah should be abandoned ... We prefer a public execution." 345 SAYYAH mourns the loss of Babi friends at Tabarsi. 346-349 February, 1850. Seven Babis including UNCLE are beheaded under TAQI'S supervision in the central square of Tihran. OFFICER reports to SHEIL and SHEIL is satisfied that the Shah himself was not present and that "public executions are feasible here." When FARRANT arrives he almost attacks SHEIL, "Did you know those people were murdered for their beliefs? ... Who wanted to see public executions?" They are struck by the bravery of Babis. OFFICER relates to LEONORA, "One man said that he was so happy, that he would not know if he was throwing his hat or his head at the feet of his beloved." 350-351 Spring, 1850. By now, the fervor of the Babi movement has turned all of Persia on its ear. TAQI consults GENERAL. HUJJAT heads thousands of Babis in the city of Zanjan. Provincial governors threaten to flee their posts. TAQI sends the army to crush the Babis. 352-357 HUJJAT organizes an amazing defense of Zanjan which is put under siege. In SHEIL'S words, "Contrary to all rational expectation, the Shah's troops cannot expell them from this nearly defenseless city." Regiments with cannon are sent against Babis lead by VAHID in southern Persia. 356 Summer, 1850. At a briefing by TAQI, SHEIL asks, "Has His Majesty's government made effort to negociate an accord with the Babis, so they might live as Christians and Jews now do in Persia?" But TAQI skillfully manipulates the outlook of the foreign diplomats, "You can't be serious, at a time when revolution and the threat of rebellion sweeps Europe." 358-359 Isolated at the remote Christian Mission, WRIGHT ponders, "The Babi Faith passed through the historic phases of all the great religions. ... yet Christendom remains ignorant of this great event, as if it had taken place on the moon, or among the inhabitants of another planet." 360 THE BAB sends his personal effects to KARIM in the sanctuary mosque as "The Prime Minister plans to reduce Zanjan to dust and authorize a general massacre." 361-362 THE BAB is taken to Tabriz, where the order for his execution arrives from Tihran. YOUTH'S father is dismayed to find that YOUTH has left his house to approach THE BAB and his two companions, EYES and HASAN. THE BAB assures the YOUTH, "You will always be with me." 363 Arriving in Tabriz, RUSSIAN reports to the Russian Consul ANITCHKOV that THE BAB is detained in the barracks. ANITCHKOV is pensive, "The governor has disassociated himself from this act. He fears a miracle." 364 That night in the barracks detention cell, THE BAB declares to EYES, HASAN and YOUTH, "Tomorrow will be the day of my martyrdom. If one of you would now end my life, I would prefer to be slain by the hand of a friend than by a stranger." The young men are aghast at the thought, but YOUTH arises to obey. Though they are interrupted by a disturbance outside, THE BAB states, "This youth who has risen to comply with my wish will, with me, suffer martyrdom," thus fulfilling YOUTH'S dream-vision two years earlier! THE BAB tells EYES and HASAN to deny their belief "so you may live to tell the truth." 365 The disturbance outside in the barracks passageway is YOUTH'S father. Holding YOUTH'S baby child in one arm to convince YOUTH to change his mind, the father offers gold coins to the guards as a bribe for his release. 366 Also that night, in Tihran, MUSA secretly receives the trunk containing THE BAB'S personal effects, for safe-keeping. 367 Next morning, EYES is writing down THE BAB'S last message when FARRASH, the official in charge of the execution, interrupts yanking EYES from the cell, while we hear THE BAB, "Until I have completed my last message, no earthly power can silence me. All the world is powerless to deter me from fulfilling, to the last word, my intention." 368 At the Russian Consular office in Tabriz, EYES manages to pull from his shirt a manuscript of THE BAB and place it on the desk before the Russian Consul, ANITCHKOV. In a tense moment, the ugly, one-eyed mulla who signed THE BAB'S death warrant lurches forward to grab the document, but not before ANITCHKOV snatches it into his hand and RUSSIAN jumps forward, asserting, "That document is now in the possession of the Russian Consul!" (Note: and was sent to and preserved to this day in Russia.) 369 In the mid-day sun, Armenian soldiers are loading their rifles in the football field size barracks drill field surrounded by a two-story high barracks. 10,000 spectators gather on the roofs. A soldier on a ladder drives large stakes 12 feet above the ground into a structural beam with walls of windows on either side. 370 Meanwhile, in Tihran, KID watches as MAJID reports to MUSA and his wife that VAHID was martyred in southern Persia, "They're taking Babi heads on bayonets to Shiraz." 371 Back in Tabriz, at an isolated spot on a back street, SHAYKH gives a new hat and a horse to EYES, "Put this on and get going." 372 In the detention cell, as FARRASH removes YOUTH for the execution, COLONEL, an Armenian Christian commanding the firing squad, is painfully trapped. To THE BAB, "I am a Christian ... I have nothing against you. I do not want to shed your blood ... but I have been ordered." THE BAB'S reply, "Follow your instructions. God is able to remove your fears." (Note: the Shi'ites believed that the "true" expected prophet could not die at the hands of non-believers. Thus, the Christian Armenian regiment was selected to show the population that THE BAB was a false prophet.) 373 Outside, RUSSIAN is in the crowd on the barracks roof taking copious mental notes of the event, "My God ... 750 men in the firing squad." As YOUTH is brought to the ladder by the beam, spectators move back realizing they might be right above the line of fire. RUSSIAN sees the Armenians below grouping in three long curved lines in arcs around the beam when panic above the beam breaks out and the crowd pushes RUSSIAN over. Meanwhile, the YOUTH has been suspended by short ropes from his wrists to the stakes in the beam. Amid louder crowd sounds, COLONEL and THE BAB emerge into the field. Back on his feet, RUSSIAN sees the front line of Armenians on their stomachs, positioning their rifles; the second row kneeling and the third row standing to fire over them. We are surprized to see EYES enter the drill field gates. As THE BAB is suspended with YOUTH, COLONEL plants his feet and looks. The spectators are hysterical, "Now he will rise to heaven." Looking down, raising his fist, COLONEL screams, "Ready!" Rifles are cocked; the crowd hushes. A child grips the nearby hand of an adult among the spectators as COLONEL screams, "Aim!" COLONEL grimaces. A mother puts her hand over the eyes of a two year old. COLONEL thrusts his fist down, "Fire!" and flashes and smoke burst from the rifles with a very loud sound. 374 Interior. Room behind the beam. About 8 feet above the floor centered around the beam (and THE BAB and YOUTH), a 10 foot wide circular area of the small rectangular window panes on both sides of the beam suddenly bursts inward, shattered, wooden frames and all, by 750 large musket bullets. The gunfire sound echos and... 375 Back outside. Very close, we see the ropes looped over the iron stakes holding the prisoners, reduced to threads and the plaster blowing off the beam at the bullet's impact, leaving the stakes stuck in bare mud-bricks. 376 Back to low angle in the room behind the beam. A tremendous uproar of the spectators is heard as we see and hear dense smoke from the rifles suddenly gust inward through the gaping semi-circular holes on each side of the beam. (This was before the invention of smokeless powder.) 377 Back outside, it's chaos, hysteria and near darkness at noon. A huge cloud of powder smoke fills the drill field; spectators push forward to see. A female voice, "He has disappeared!" As smoke clears, YOUTH is seen lying on the ground at the base of the beam, a few inches of torn rope dangling from his wrists. FARRASH grabs YOUTH'S forearm. YOUTH, "Am I dead?" 378 In the dark detention cell, EYES breathes heavily as he frantically gathers up papers that had been left behind, and the uproar outside is heard. He hears a closer sound and looks up at the doorway startled. 379 Back outside, the visibility has increased and the crowd has turned ugly jeering the authorities, "Where is he?" "A miracle," and the like. COLONEL examines YOUTH'S wrists as FARRASH surveys the hostile spectators. THE BAB is nowhere to be seen and YOUTH is not even scratched, standing dazed and grinning. FARRASH barks orders, "Close the gates! Find him!" FARRASH jerks YOUTH out into plain view, thrusting YOUTH'S arm in the air, shouting, "Look! The bullets cut the ropes! Look! They just cut the ropes! That's all. No more! This is no miracle!" 380 Back to the detention cell, we see that EYES now sits calmly writing down the chanted words we hear of THE BAB'S last message (exactly as THE BAB had promised would be done). When FARRASH enters and looks at THE BAB, he gasps, "Unhurt!" Unruffled calm, THE BAB, "I have finished my conversation. Now you may proceed to fulfil your intention." 381-389 Postscript. A narrated sequence establishes several key points. That the Christian commander, COLONEL, who had begged THE BAB himself to be relieved of his duty to execute him, refused to make another attempt on his life. He took his regiment from the scene, praising THE BAB to his dying day. That another (Muslim) regiment was brought in and THE BAB and the YOUTH were suspended on the same beam and shot to death. THE BAB had already said that his time had come. ANITCHKOV ordered that a sketch be made of their remains; their bodies were mashed together by the impact of the bullets ... literally joined into one mass. They were physically inseparable, recalling THE BAB'S promise to the YOUTH, "You will always be with me." But their faces were strangely free of marks from the bullets. The Muslims also believed that the body of a true prophet could not be consumed by animals, so they threw the corpses into a dry moat outside Tabriz, to be eaten by dogs. But some Babis risked their lives to recover the remains, which 60 years later were interred at a shrine in Haifa, Israel, where they remain today, at the Baha['i[ World Center. Though there were over 10,000 martyrs at the hands of religious fanatics in Persia, the Babi message was not suppressed. They were THE DAWN-BREAKERS. THE END Writer's commentary: Historians have called these the most stunning and miraculous events surrounding the execution of a public personage in all recorded history. That an unknown and unlettered shopkeeper would pronounce that he was the "Gateway" to a new era of history is itself a fascinating premise. But that events would lend support to his fantastic claim would seem to be fiction, if they were not well recorded facts. Faithful to those facts, this motion picture shows the most astounding execution sequence ever filmed in a true story. Copyright (c) 1986-2009 James J Keene