The Dead Heart of Africa - Part II

Some supplies are needed at the movie set; Erhan drives to the capital to get them. He and Charlotte manage to sneak out one more time to be with each other.

The movie is finally done, at least the part that is in Chad. Everyone is invited to the celebration.

In the meanwhile, Charlotte becomes pregnant. The husband is very happy since they have been trying to conceive for such a long time. The couple attends the celebration, and the husband is eager to tell everyone of the conception. The wife wants him to keep hush, she does not want Erhan to know. When Erhan hears this, he thinks the baby might be his. He is indeed correct.

Erhan and Charlotte get a chance to talk alone in the party. He tells her that she should leave Africa and come to New York with him. She says she can’t; she is a married woman after all, and there is a possibility that baby is her husband's. Erhan asks her why she remembered she was married all of a sudden. She slaps him in the face.

The husband looks for her a little bit, then finds her standing nearby some obscure cabin near the dinner hall. He suspects a betrayal from several clues (From the way Erhan looks at her, her sudden disappearance at the celebration, etc), but he is still not 100% sure.

The couple returns to the capital, and the movie crew starts packing. Then there is the revolution. A wannabe dictator taps into the army officers’ frustrations. Even the movie has a negative effect on the political scene since there are rumors that it is an “anti-Chad movie.” The dictator is your favorite thug with a machete on hand behind a jeep, smiling with his sunglasses on. He gives Western “colonialists” 48 hours to leave the country with his heavy accent or “face the consequences.” But his soldiers are not waiting for 48 hours to abuse the foreigners. And in the news, it sounds like the French token force in the capital is not likely to hold off the Chadian soldiers for long. The rescue attempts by helicopter are met with fierce RPG fire, and the EU is still trying to flesh out the appropriate response to the situation.

The crew is situated very close to the border with Niger, a relatively stable country. Dave and others are able to flee to Niger easily. On the other hand, Erhan feels compelled to go back to the capital and take his lover with him. He props himself up to look like a Chadian soldier (after all he works in a movie set) and grabs a pistol – the movie uses real ones. He drives to the capital.

When he reaches the house, Erhan sees the husband. “We need to leave,” he says. The husband knows why Erhan shows up there. He jumps Erhan. “You bastard!” he shouts. Erhan is totally overpowered; he cannot reach his hand gun. His arm starts bleeding again. The husband grabs the revolver, just when he was about to pull the trigger, a shot is heard. A Chadian sniper kills the husband, thinking that he was battling a Chadian soldier. Erhan goes to the window, there are Chadian soldiers everywhere. He fires his gun into the air, thinking that maybe that is what Chadian soldiers do! He goes to the other room where Charlotte is, takes her and leaves the house with her. He pretends to mistreat her while he is taking her, not to look suspicious to the machete wielding thugs. When some of them try to grab her, he says in French, “For the general.” They buy it.

On their way to Niger, Charlotte gets a miscarriage. Her life is shattered, she emotionally shuts down. “Chad has that effect on people, it deadens the heart,” she says. Erhan tries to convince her to stay with him, but she wants to go to England to live with her mother. “My mother is sick, she needs me.” She tells him that he and his stupid movie ruined her life. He asks her if she really means it.

One year later, we see Erhan at his office in New York, busy with another movie. And suddenly Charlotte shows up. She starts to talk, “My mother is dead. Some things I told you that day, I am very sorry….” Erhan says, “Don’t talk.” They hug and cry. The end!

The title and the tagline of the movie are: “The Dead Heart of Africa – But a loving heart never dies.” Get it? (I know the reader is getting tired of my endless discussions on dialectics, but does anyone think it is easy to be a Post-Marxist intellectual? It is an everyday battle).

When I told a friend of mine about this movie idea, he said this was exactly like “The Last King of Scotland.” I am yet to see the movie and/or read its plot. I will be mad if it is that similar indeed. I am pretty sure mine is better, though. I envision Johnny Depp and Julianne Moore for the lead roles.

Disclaimer: This movie and the characters herein are purely fictional. It is by no means an effort to misrepresent the great people of Chad in any way.