- Agu: I saw terrible things... and I did terrible things. So if I'm talking to you, it will make me sad and it will make you too sad. In this life... I just want to be happy in this life. If I'm telling this to you... you will think that... I am some sort of beast... or devil. I am all of these things... but I also having mother... father... brother and sister once. They loved me.
- Agu: Bullet is just eating everything, leaves, trees, ground, person. Eating them. Just making person to bleed everywhere. We are just like wild animals now, with no place to be going. Sun, why are you shining at this world? I am wanting to catch you in my hands, to squeeze you until you can not shine no more. That way, everything is always dark and nobody's ever having to see all the terrible things that are happening here.
- Commandant: All of you that have never been listened to before and have seen your family killed, huh, you now have something that stands for you. You now have something that stands for you!
- Commandant: What is this thing doing in here?... Who is responsible for bringing this thing? Strika, is it you that is bringing this thing?... Strika, untie him. So all of you grown men, it is Strika, the small boy, that is finding this prisoner. Where is 2 I-C?
- [Soldiers scream 2IC]
- 2nd I-C: Commandant, Sir!
- Commandant: 2 I-C, What are we to be doing with this thing?
- 2nd I-C: This thing? It is just a boy
- Commandant: A boy? A boy is nothing. A Boy is harmless?
- [Young soldiers -Harmless no, Sir!]
- Commandant: Does a boy have two eyes to see?
- [Young soldiers -Two eyes, Sir!]
- Commandant: A boy has hands to strangle and fingers to pull fingers. Why you saying a boy is nothing? huh? A boy is very, very dangerous. You understand me? Very dangerous, you understand?
- 2nd I-C: Yes, Sir.
- Commandant: Strika, are you hungry? Are you wanting to be eating this thing?
- [Strika shakes head]
- Commandant: Let me see your hands... Oh, you have hands like a baby. What are you doing here?... You should be telling me. If you are telling me, I will be helping you. You see, Strika is hungry. He will eat you. Huh? What are you doing here?
- Agu: The Government army killed my father... And my big brother and my father told me to run into the bush.
- Commandant: Everybody here is calling me Commandant.
- [Young soldiers -how is the Commandant look?]
- Commandant: [all Right, Sir!] Now, what are they calling you?
- Agu: [softly] Agu
- Commandant: Oh, you must say like you are prouder!
- Agu: Agu
- Commandant: Uh-huh. Well, Agu that is what I be calling you then, eh? Leave this one under my charge. I will be training him to be a Warrior. So you can be fighting the army that is killing your father. Is that what you want ?
- [Agu shakes head confirming]
- Commandant: You must be saying yes! Say yes!
- Agu: Yes
- Commandant: YES, SIR!
- Agu: Yes, Sir
- Commandant: [Saluting] YES, SIR!
- Agu: [Stand up and Salute] YES, SIR!
- Agu: [after receiving a bundle of clothes from Strika] You got this stuff from where?
- [Strika points]
- Agu: From dead bodies?
- [Strika nods]
- Agu: Everybody is calling you "Strika." Why?
- [Strika extends his right arm forcefully]
- Agu: Are you liking war?
- [Strika shakes his head]
- Agu: Hey, I'm asking you a question and you are not talking. Are you having family?
- [Strika shakes his head again]
- Agu: I am thinking about my mom... and brother... and my little sister.
- Commandant: -You wanna take that brige?
- Young Soldiers: -Yes sir!
- Commandant: -We're gonna take that fucking bridge?
- Young Soldiers: -Yes sir!
- Preacher: Come and tell him how much we are suffering in here. Come! Everybody come.
- Commandant: So, you... You are the big man now, huh? Where will you be going? Huh? Will you surrender to the other NDF camp? No. they will eat you. And what of ECOMOD? Huh? That might be better, but what next? Jail? War crimes? Huh? You think you can just go and do what you want in peace? You will go back to your village and your family will not associate themselves with you. Huh? You will be nothing. You and your uneducated, poor mind, you'll be NOTHING. Nobody will care for you. Huh? Look at you. And you will wake up and you will rise and see the sun rise and see the sun set, and you can just wait all day ALL DAY with thousands of men just like you, waiting for somebody to give you a job. Huh? that's what you want to go and do? You are stupid! You have Nothing! No future! I am your future.
- Preacher: [Points gun to Commandant] You fucking die here, sir.
- Commandant: What?
- [Points Gun to Preacher]
- Commandant: How are you going to shoot me if you don't have bullets?
- [Agu points gun to Commandant]
- Commandant: And you, Agu? You wanna kill Commandant? Hey, Agu, I want you to kill Commandant. Come. Push it.
- Preacher: [Whispers] Do It.
- Commandant: Come, Agu, come. Put It here. Here! A-ha! Aha! Wanna Kill Commandant?
- Preacher: Do It, Agu. Do It
- Commandant: Kill Commandant! You wanna surrender? Huh? You wanna surrender? You wanna surrender?
- Agu: Yes.
- Commandant: Hey, Agu. Just get out. Just Remember, when you are all poor and hungry, you'll remember me! You'll remember your commandant. Just go! Just go!
- Preacher: Come on. Everybody, let's move!
- Commandant: And know that I will be calling for you one day. Go and drink gunpowder tea and playing draughts. No, no, no. You remember me. You remember your Commandant. You're gonna say, Yeah.
- [Points to Agu]
- Commandant: Remember, I will call for you again... and you'll come. Remember.
- [first lines]
- Agu: It is starting like this.
- [watching other children playing]
- Agu: Let's keep looking. They aren't good enough.
- Dike: Hey, let's take that girl.
- Agu: Which one?
- Dike: That girl. Zoey. Let's take her.
- Agu: Ah... No. What about that one?
- Dike: Him?
- Agu: Yes.
- Agu: [narrating] Our country is at war and we are having no more school, so we are having to be finding ways to be keeping busy.
- Agu: I am now know the smell of the dead, they are sweet like sugar cane and rotten like palm wine. And when they stay in the sun, they are growing plump like brown mangoes.
- Commandant: There is no learning how to be leading. Some people are born to be leaders, others are born to be followers, and other are just waiting to be dying.
- Agu: God, when I'm closing my eyes, I am seeing the rainy season in my village. You can be finding the ground is washing away beneath your feet. Nothing is ever sure... . and everything is always changing.
- Agu: God... I have killed a man. It is the worst sin... but I am knowing too, it is the right thing to be doing.
- Commandant: Young men! Wealth? We will not wait to inherit any wealth, huh? We will not wait for them to come and give it to us. We are going to take it. We're going to take it from them. Seize it! All of you that have never been listened to before and seen your family killed, huh, you now have something that stands for you. You now have something that stands for you. That is your defence. That is your familys blood. Victory! Victory!
- Agu: Sun, why are you shining on this world? I am wanting to catch you in my hands, to squeeze you until you cannot shine no more. That way, everything is always dark and nobodys ever having to see all the terrible things that are happening here.
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