Il Buono e Il Male

[boccaderlupo]

I dreamed I was watching some sort of murder mystery movie set in a tropical, French-speaking region. The plot concerned the death under mysterious circumstances of a young woman who was filming a movie. She was part of a well-heeled and well-connected family from France, and her father indeed was the director of the film. The cast and crew, largely French and European, knew that the one American on set, who in this case was played by English actor Christian Bale wearing spectacles and a graying beard, had actually killed the young woman. They lacked evidence, however; they had some video tapes that led them to this conclusion, but needed some physical evidence, by way of DNA on one of the water bottles in Bale's room. The latter had indeed committed the crime for unclear reasons, and knew the others were trying to get the evidence, and was ambivalent about giving it to them. The crucial scene concerned a meeting on a moonlit hotel room veranda between the director (the father of the victim), the killer, and several crew members, prominent among them the Haitian director of photography and a shambolic, melancholy Italian with copious white hair and a salt-and-pepper beard. The director and crew were offering the killer $17M for access to the room. They had constructed a large net with popcorn on the end, almost like a giant chandelier or some kind, that would rotate in the middle of patio. The night sky was blank except for a full moon. The killer was entranced by the slowly spinning "chandelier," and pretended to actually consider their request. There was a slow shot of the spinning tendrils of popcorn reflected in the killer's glasses, and then he suddenly rebuffed them, pushing his way past them, and presumably going on the run. As he did so, he inadvertently (?) upset the stack of videos that were the other piece of evidence in the case, knocking them onto a hot plate where the Haitian had been reheating steak au poivre. The video tapes were partly melted, dashing the hopes of resolving the case. The father, despairing, charged out of the room, followed by most of the other crew members.

Only the Italian and Haitian remained. The Italian picked up the tapes from amid the steak and scattered food and looked at it, sadly.

To the Haitian, he said: "Il Buono e il Male..."

"Oui," said the Haitian in a gruff voice with a heavy accent. "We have all been there..." And it was true; for the crew members were all outcasts and in some cases former petty criminals themselves.

"D'accordo. L'abbiamo fatto, tuttidue. Ma l'abbiamo fatto perche non abbiamo gniente. Quelli altri, con le vostre ricchiezze...non lo sacc'."

FIN