Born of War (2013)

1
- Dad, can I come, too?
- Oh!
Not till you're older.
But then you can sit
at the head of the table, by me.
Go to your nanny.
I'm very proud of Musab.
I don't want him to grow up to be a slave.
A slave like me,
like all of us.
We don't want our children to be slaves.
- No.
- No.
Okay, time for homework.
Can I go and visit my mother first?
Sure.
Musab?
Musab?
Musab!
Musab!
Hide and seek!
One, two...
They call us warlords.
Lords of what?
We are landowners,
leaders of provinces.
But what does that count for
if the government takes its orders
from Soviets or America?
We are pawns and they push us
where they choose to.
Well, I won't be pushed any further.
...14, 15...
Musab, let's go back into the house.
We can play inside, okay?
Musab!
Musab! Somebody help me!
Where is my son?
Where is my son?
Musab!
Saeed! Saeed!
Musab! We have to stop the fire.
Musab! Musab.
Musab!
Musab. Please.
Oh, please!
Who told them we were here?
Who is the traitor?
Habibi... Habibi!
Why are you here?
Why have you come
with that camera around your neck?
I... I was just travelling.
In a war zone?
There was no fighting when I got here.
But there is now.
No, I...
I ran out of money.
Khalid's offered me a job.
In his bed.
That's how you fooled him.
Spy!
Murderer!
Who told the Soviets?
Shit!
Who's running away?
Who?
Blood will have blood.
And then you've got a month
to work on your final papers.
Okay? All right, have a good weekend.
So do you know
who you're going to work with?
I'm working with Tanya.
Right. Okay, cool.
- It's Mina, right?
- Yeah.
Are you American?
Yeah. Well, my parents aren't
but I was born there,
so I guess the accent stuck.
Bad luck.
Mina.
Frederick.
I think these are your
coursework suggestions.
You dumped them in my pidge by mistake.
- Thank you.
- So, um...
Mum, I want to live at college.
We're only eight miles away.
I'm not asking you to pay for it.
I'll get my own job.
Mi, O don't know if we can
keep this going without you.
What about after Oxford?
I can't keep working at the farm forever.
What do you want?
My own life.
I don't know.
- Mina, what's a blowjob?
- What?
What are you reading?
Okay, that's bedtime.
Oh, but I want to stay up.
Did you read J-17 when you were 17?
No, I read it when I was nine, like you.
Are you going to live somewhere else?
What? Who told you that?
I heard Dad tell Mum she was
getting a job at the supermarket
so you could leave and live somewhere else.
Dee,
do you really want to stay up?
Turn off the light, though. Shh.
Shh!
Okay, come on.
Come on.
Up we go. Okay.
Shh.
Shh. Sit, okay?
Leave her alone.
Tie them.
Don't touch her.
Don't touch her.
What have you got in here, huh?
Now get Mina and the girl.
How do they know your name?
Careful. Don't injure them.
- Not until we are filming.
- No!
Don't fucking move.
Mum! Mum!
Come here.
- Get the phone.
- It's dead.
- Run! Now!
- Mum!
Fuck you!
Hey!
I swear to God I'll fucking kill them.
You would have killed them already!
Now, Mina, now!
Run, go, go! Go!
- Go. Go!
- Run!
- Take her.
- Mom!
Ring this number. Ring this number.
Just say the code.
- The phone's dead.
- What?
Right, out of the window.
To the neighbours, go.
No, Mom...
I'll stay here with Mum.
Now, don't worry. She'll be all right.
It's just a surface wound.
I'll be fine. I'll be fine.
Go. Please, for me.
Jesus.
- Go!
- Get Dee out of here now!
- Go, go, go, go!
- Mum! Mum!
Get Dee out of here! Go!
Please, please.
The village shop.
There's... There's a payphone.
Oh my God, they're following us. Dee, run!
Shh.
Shit.
- Help!
- Closed.
Please, no, there's someone after us.
Please, you have to let me use your phone.
- Who?
- I don't know.
Don't you recognise us from the farm?
Help! Someone's
trying to kill us!
Go round the back. Round the back.
- Please, you have to help us.
- Come on, come in quickly.
Someone's trying to kill us
and they already have our parents.
Tell me later. I'll go and get the van.
Hello. Hello. Is that the police?
Hello, yeah, I've got
two girls here that...
How are you feeling?
Where's my sister?
Dee's fine, actually.
She's... She's just a little bruised.
What...
What happened to my parents?
I'm sorry.
Look, I'm sorry, I'm going to
have to ask you a few questions.
My name's Olivia. I'm here to help you.
We received your phone call.
Now, can you describe your attackers?
You haven't caught them?
No.
They were dark-skinned.
How many?
Three.
And one of them had a tattoo on his hand.
Can you draw it? Here.
Excuse me, I just need to take this to fax.
You're not going to tell me who did it?
They knew my name!
Wait!
I'm not answering any more of your
questions until you tell me who did this.
Does the name Khalid Zeerak
mean anything to you?
Were you aware that your mother
travelled before you were born?
She told me Turkey and Yemen.
And the Wakhan Corridor.
Where it was used as a silk route
from Tajikistan all the
way through to China.
Well, she... Your mother took
some of these pictures.
She lived there for almost a year.
She never told me that.
And while she was hiking,
she ran into some bandits
who took everything and left her stranded.
And it was then that she came
to the house of this Khalid.
He employed your mother
as a nanny to his son.
Why are you telling me this?
Because Khalid is a warlord.
Do you understand?
He's a terrorist.
And...
less than a year after your
mother went to work for him,
someone told the Soviets where he lived
and they bombed his house.
And your mother escaped
and the Americans asked us
to find her a new identity
because they knew
that he would hunt her down
and kill her, no matter what.
His son was killed in the bomb.
- Are you saying that my mother was a spy?
- No.
No.
She was in the wrong
place at the wrong time.
But Khalid thought she was.
Your dad knew, too.
He was ex-army.
Why now?
Something must have tipped him off
that your mother was still alive,
perhaps when you moved over
from the States or...
Do you use any social networking sites
like Facebook or Flickr or...
- Are you trying to say that this is my fault?
- No. God, no. No, no, no.
No. I'm sorry, I...
I just...
I just want to go see my parents, okay?
I...
Would you like to come through?
Mina, this is Simon.
He works for me.
I want to see my sister now.
You can't.
You'll be twice as easy to spot together.
Why does Khalid want us, anyway?
We didn't even do anything.
His son died.
It's a vendetta culture there.
I mean, people get killed
for things their grandparents did.
They tried to kill your sister, too.
You saw it yourself.
If you know who he is,
why can't you catch him?
We've been looking for, what, 10 months?
That whole region is a
diplomatic no-go zone.
Officially we're not even there.
That's why I've hired Simon unofficially.
He's not British intelligence. He's a...
An independent contractor.
Just let me talk to her.
She's nine years old.
We can't trust her not to tell...
What?
That you're still alive.
What?
She thinks I'm dead?
Mina, everyone does.
Who's Sue Walker?
You are.
Nice place.
The, uh...
The owners are away
for six months, then we'll move you on.
You'll be used to Sue Walker by then.
Who's Sue Walker?
It's your name.
Simon, please take me to my sister.
No one needs to know.
I'm not paid to make decisions like that,
Mina, I'm sorry.
Come on, I want to show you something.
It's the penthouse, so you, uh,
you get the roof garden.
Thought it might make
you feel more at home.
Sorry about the, uh, view.
I'll be in England till
the end of the week.
My number's in there.
Dee?
Sorry, this number is no longer available.
O'II be fine.
Go. Please, for me. Go!
Mum!
Dee!
Let's talk about that.
There's a new study out
from the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine,
which sounds like a fun school to go to.
They did a study on obesity
and calculated people in America
are 34 billion pounds overweight.
Soon we'll need a Rascal scooter
to help us get round the side.
You see, the average
human body weight is 137 pounds
and in North America it's 189 pounds.
Another terrorist attack
in the Wakhan Corridor last night.
Fanatical anti-western nationalist
Khalid Zeerak
claimed responsibility
as part of his ongoing campaign
to prevent oil company Nasco
drilling in the region.
Chief advisor to Nasco,
Mohammed Ombruhami,
was targeted and killed in the attack.
His son Dagar will continue
his father's work.
Let this be a message
to foreign imperialists
and the traitors who help them.
This is just the beginning.
Mina, it's me, Simon.
Mina.
Mina, I can't go until I've seen you.
All right.
Well...
I don't know that I
should even show you this
but I want you to know that she's okay.
You need to let me talk to her.
I can't do that. You know I can't do that.
- 'Cause you're not paid to do that?
- No, I'm not paid to do this.
I am sticking my neck out as it is,
showing you that video.
Great, thank you so much.
Now, I'm going to tell you something.
I don't know how long it's going to take
to find Khalid but I do know this,
that you have to lead the life
that you have now.
You have to live it.
I'm sticking around here tonight.
I can help you tidy up your apartment.
I don't want you to help me
tidy up my apartment.
You need to put one foot
in front of the other and...
I can't do that right now, okay?
You have to live, now.
- I'm helping you.
- Take this.
- I am helping you.
- You're not helping me.
Stop talking to me
like I'm a fucking kid, okay?
Stop acting like a fucking kid, okay?
You know what? Get out!
Just leave.
She doesn't seem to be here.
Okay.
Please leave a message after the tone.
I'll be back in one minute.
Shit.
Hey!
Bitch, come here!
I didn't show you this one.
Mina, we know that Khalid
raped your mother.
She said it was a one-night stand in Yemen.
She was trying to protect you.
Look, we... We didn't
want to have to tell...
We didn't expect this to...
You're his only heir
and he wants you back.
I think I'm going to be sick.
He's a psychopath and something
about you just makes him crazier.
But that was really unlike him
to take these risks.
I'm sorry, do you want to use my bathroom?
What are you suggesting?
Apparently
we've got a mole in this department.
They found her sister tonight, too.
Jesus. Is she okay?
Yeah, she's fine, but this time
they weren't shooting tranquillisers.
I mean, imagine,
if he did find her,
she'd lead us straight to him.
How's my sister?
She's fine. She...
We're just going to keep moving
from place to place
until you catch him, right?
Or until he catches us.
No, look, we will... We will catch him.
When?
It could take years.
Let him catch me.
What?
You can't tell me you haven't
thought about it before, right?
It's really easy. You just track me
and then I lead you right to him.
No, look, we... We don't do
things like that with civilians.
Absolutely not, and if anyone found out,
this whole department would get shut down.
Then don't let anyone find out!
Let Simon do it.
He's not officially working for you, right?
And I'm legally dead, anyway.
There you are.
Sorry about that.
Had to make it look real.
Do you think Khalid will really believe
that you kidnapped me?
I don't think he'd trace it back to me.
And even if he could...
Somewhere you can breathe.
So I've got a few
that I just want you to just take a look at
so that it's not too crazy
when you're out there.
This is an M16. This is mostly
what our guys are going to be with.
Just so you've got a sense of it...
Don't point that at me.
Don't ever point a gun at someone
when you're not going to use it.
Here, I'll show you how to do the clip.
That's it there
and there's a bit more that goes in there.
Pops back in. That's the safety catch.
And then just line it up.
You want to pull this.
Brace this into your...
- Here, brace this into your shoulder, like that.
- Yeah.
Okay. And then just line up the sight.
- You got it?
- Mmm-hmm.
Okay, um...
We'll move on to those. That AK-47 first.
But I'll just show you a couple of pistols.
That's the Glock.
You want to weigh that up?
You ready? Go.
Want to try it?
Put your hands up. Now!
That's good. That's really good.
So, choose your weapon.
Come on, Mina, think!
This pencil here. Grab it.
Jab it here, under the ear. Deadly.
Uh, this mirror, grab a towel, smash it.
Will they kill him?
Well, uh...
No, no. Olivia wants him
taken alive for information.
But after that. He'll be executed, right?
Well, he'll... He'll stand trial.
Simon, he killed my parents.
I know but there's knowing it
and then there's proving it.
Oh, that's Olivia.
Working very late, as ever.
Does she have any family?
Her department's her family. Literally.
Her dad is probably
the best operative they have.
Is that why she got the job?
No, no, no. He's strictly by the book.
It's, um...
That is why she didn't want to send you in.
In case Dad found out.
Well, he'll be happy when she finds Khalid.
No shit.
What about you?
What are you going to do with the ransom?
I don't know.
I've had my eye on this Bentley.
I meant are you going to
hand it over to the government?
Mina, I work for money.
Well, yeah, but for the
good guys, too, right?
Yeah, of course, I prefer that.
But it's just not always that simple,
you know?
Sometimes it's like now,
they send me in because
some diplomatic issues.
Sometimes they just
don't want to get their hands dirty.
So have you done things
that you thought were wrong?
So whose initials are those?
Oh, these are my wife's.
She's gone. It was a long time ago.
What happened?
That is a long story.
You know, in school they said that
smoking takes five years off your life.
Oh yeah?
In mine, they said 10.
Oh, I'm sorry, um...
- I thought you were...
- Yeah.
Still...
We're on.
- You up for this?
- Yeah.
Okay.
It used to be that you could
just swallow a homing device or, um,
stick it up your arse but...
I think Khalid's men are
too shrewd for that.
I don't think they'll
have seen one of these.
Will it hurt?
A little bit.
Argh! Fucking...
Wow, you're tough.
I've seen 18-stone Marines faint from that.
Now,
let's see if we've got you.
There you are.
Now, that's going to bruise quite badly.
So, camouflage.
Take your pick.
- Simon?
- Yeah?
Um, I was just wondering if you,
uh, if you ever felt...
Holy shit!
- Take his wallet, take his wallet!
- Simon!
- American? English?
- Simon! Wake up!
No!
Please!
Hey.
Rich?
Good pay ransom?
Is he your dad?
What?
My dad's Khalid Zeerak.
Sit on your hands.
Sit on your hands!
Sit on...
So...
We are in big trouble, right?
Lie to me again, bitch,
and I'll kill you! Okay?
We're still in the air.
O can't get someone
to you for two hours, over.
Jesus, okay. Out.
No one will pay for me.
Well...
We're going to use you, then.
No!
No!
No!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop, stop!
Simon? Come in, Simon.
Olivia, do you copy? Yes.
Do the bandits still have her?
Yeah.
Three hostiles down. No sign of Mina.
She's still on the move.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Yeah?
- Huh?
- Jacket?
- You want this?
- Mmm-hmm.
Sorry about that, mate.
Did they hurt you?
You're safe here with me.
Who are you?
Saba Abdali. I work with
your father, Khalid.
That was not supposed to happen to you.
Those boys that took you?
I'm afraid my country's
full of those opportunists.
You work for a terrorist.
First, I need to run some tests on you.
Now, I could force you and call Abu back.
Or you could let me do it. Easier.
Your choice.
It's supposed to mean freedom
from oppression and rules.
Okay.
Get dressed now.
The results are positive.
I've got to go out now.
I've written my cell number on top,
in case you might need me.
Understand your father's need to see you.
He's lost his only son.
Try to respect that.
He's upstairs.
You look
like...
Like me.
How dare you?
You think you can kill my mother
and I'll still be your daughter?
What? Your mother?
Wait!
Let her go! Let her go. Let her go!
I don't understand. Your mother is dead?
Your men killed her.
Your men killed her!
Wait, stop!
I thought...
She was dead.
Twenty years.
Look.
Last week, I find out she's alive
and we have a daughter.
She called you Mina,
my language, Pashto, for "love".
Now you say she's dead.
She was murdered three weeks ago.
Who?
You tell me who
and I will kill them.
Olivia, is that our guys coming in?
Who's this?
I thought you were a terrorist.
Me?
You should see what Dagar would do
without me to protect our people.
I think something's gone horribly wrong
but you can explain it to them, right?
Them?
British Intelligence.
I led them to you.
Olivia, are these our guys?
What the fuck is going on?
Fuck!
Fuck!
Olivia, what the fuck?
Olivia, Dagar must have hacked our signals.
I'm going in.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
All right. Whoa.
Okay, okay.
Go.
Make sure no one is left alive.
In English, please.
For our guest.
I knew she'd make you come
crawling from under your rock.
Your love is your weakness.
Before you die,
you'll watch me kill her.
Like you killed my father.
I did not know your father
was in that factory.
Don't tell me you're sorry.
He was helping you sell
our people to foreigners.
I'm just sorry you weren't
in there with him.
Get down!
No, Oan!
Say it!
Say it!
No!
No, no! No, please! No!
Say goodbye to your daughter.
Leave her.
- Leave her!
- Say it!
- No!
- Say it!
Mina!
Ahmed!
You're not a killer.
Come on.
Mina, come on. We have to go!
Ahmed!
Ahmed! Ahmed!
In here! Ahmed!
Out! Out! Out!
Up! Up! Up!
You're making a big fucking mistake.
That girl is under UK protection.
I thought she was legally dead.
Get down. Now! Get down!
- Shoot them off the road.
- What?
Shoot them off the road.
Now!
It's not working.
I led them to you.
Get out of the car.
We can hide between those rocks.
Get out!
Save yourself.
- For me.
- No!
No!
No, no, no!
No, no, no!
She is dead.
Shall we kill him?
He won't be causing us any more trouble.
He's just a paid idiot.
Go. Get out of here.
A victory in the battle
against terrorism today,
as terrorist Khalid Zeerak was killed
in an attack in the capital city of Bogh,
where he was believed to have been living
for almost a year without detection.
Ot's unclear how intelligence obtained
information as to his whereabouts.
The raid, conducted by
a specialist local armed force,
occurred in the early hours of this morning
and brought about an end
to Khalid's reign of terror
- over the tribe of Dagar Obrahami.
- No!
Nasco Oil is, and will continue
to destroy this region.
My people's homes are being cleared
to make way for the pipeline.
As long as Olive, O will stop at nothing
to expose and end this.
Saba.
Saba?
- Oh...
- Simon?
Mina? Is it you?
Oh, my God.
You're alive.
How?
I... I saw you in Khalid's car. You...
He kidnapped you.
No.
No, he...
You were there?
Yeah, um...
I... I found out where Olivia's holed up.
You're not safe out here.
You follow me, at a distance.
Keep your head down. Okay?
Okay.
You're alive.
You're alive.
And the man who killed
your parents is dead.
No.
It was Dagar. He made
us think it was Khalid.
What?
There's still trouble. Now, I told you
I wanted it to be clear by tonight.
It will be.
There are only
a few villages left to clear.
My men are on their way up there now.
You knew once Khalid was dead
there would be no resistance.
Look. There's to be no mention
of Khalid or village clearances
or your role with Mr Harm Helder, okay?
You're just the local advisor, all right?
You know
there'll be no pay-out without me.
There are plenty more
of your type out there.
It's not your oil to bargain with.
Careful. You're starting
to sound like Khalid.
Come on. We both know
you're motivated by money.
Fine. See you at the compound later.
Mina, I'm on your side.
No, you're not. You work for Dagar.
I didn't know that. I swear!
Intelligence don't, either.
Olivia clearly has her own private agenda.
He murdered my parents.
Don't you get it?
Olivia told them where my family was
so that they could get to Khalid.
She... She let them die.
All right.
You're alive. Your sister is alive.
I have a place in Canada for when I retire.
You'll be safe there.
What about these people?
Dagar's destroying their homes
so that the oil company can drill.
He's taking everything from them.
And he's going to get away with it
because we gave him Khalid.
Didn't you ask where your money
was coming from?
I'm not a politician.
So you're not going to do anything?
I'll tell you what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go to Olivia
and I'm going to ask for my money.
Otherwise she thinks I'm a threat.
And I'm going to get a plane from her
and I'm going to get you out of here alive.
And then we'll testify?
You think they're going to believe you,
Khalid's daughter?
There won't be a shred of evidence
linking Olivia to any of this.
But they'll trust you.
Listen, this is the real world
and people get fucked over.
I'm going to tell you
something that I learned.
You can stand up for a principle
and you can die.
Or you can walk away and you can live.
- I want you to live.
- Don't fucking touch me.
I'll have that plane tomorrow night.
When you can see some sense!
It was getting infected.
You could have died.
We can't let them get away with this.
What can we do?
Khalid gave us hope and leadership.
They're inspecting the
oil compound tonight.
We need to film it.
- You want them to stand trial?
- No, I want proof.
And then I want to kill them.
Oh, you won't be able to use that.
It's too dangerous, too noisy.
You just want to get in and get out.
But you can use this.
Do you think you have it in you
to slit a man's throat?
I am a warlord's daughter, aren't I?
How can you get us in?
My cousin can.
He drives the employees' luggage in every
week from the airport to the oil company.
It's an empty bus.
He can meet us there, on the way.
It's about 15 miles from
here at a checkpoint.
- Will it be safe for you?
- No.
The checkpoint.
Get down and stay down. I'll sort this.
He'll be here in 15 minutes.
Mr Helder, Mr Ibrahami.
I see you've both met.
All the last-minute glitches
have been ironed out,
so we are ready to proceed.
Because if there's any sign of trouble,
we don't want another
Niger Delta on our hands.
I assure you, the resistance
died with Khalid.
I'm sure it's nothing.
Simon!
I was worried about you.
Cut the crap, Olivia.
What?
You gave me no fucking idea
what I was walking into.
And you didn't expect me
to walk out again, did you?
It's all right. I just want my money.
Of course you do.
You leave the talking to me.
Please don't worry. He's a professional.
He's discreet.
If he wasn't, he'd be dead by now.
You didn't tell me
there'd be a third share.
I'll pay him out of my share.
Abdul?
What the fuck is that?
I'm sure it's nothing.
You fucking bitch.
You're the reason my parents are dead!
No, okay? I told him not to hurt anyone.
He was just meant to kidnap you
so we could get to Khalid.
And rape this country.
This country was fucked
before you were born.
People get killed here every day.
Terrorists are trained here.
The oil company would stop all that.
It's better for everyone.
You believe in your own bullshit.
Because if there's any sign of trouble,
we don't want another
Niger Delta on our hands.
O assure you, the resistance died with...
You'll never prove I was ever here.
Did you send that clip to anyone?
You're not just hurting me,
you are compromising
the whole of British Intelligence.
Scared your dad will see it?
You stupid little bitch!
Okay, you are not going to
fuck this up for me.
You're legally dead already.
Who did you send that clip to?
Nothing!
Nothing. It's a false alarm.
Don't let her out of your sight.
A dog hit the fence.
Sometimes I think our security's too good.
Right. Business.
Before I go, I'd like to
see the pump working.
Oh, of course.
As you can see, Mr Helder, this is the
main housing for the pump station.
I hope you're satisfied.
It'll be at full capacity within a week.
Sir, there is no smoking in here.
Help! Help!
Help! Let me out!
- Oh, good.
- Simon?
Go get Olivia. Go!
Stop the fucking plane!
Get up!
You can go see your sister now.
Will you be okay?
Yeah, I'm a hardarse. You know that.
I'll be out in a couple of days.
That's not what I mean.
It's over.
Go get your life back.
Hello. Mina, is that you?
- Yeah.
- You're going to love it here.