"Welcome to the Maidstone-Rist foundation dinner." " Which way to the hors d'oeuvres?" " I'm sorry, sir." "There are none." "And... bingo!" "I win $10,000 at the craps table." "And remember, I am only 11 years old." "That Kinda thing can have a lasting impression on a pubescent boy, believe me." "I still don't understand how you were allowed to play craps 11 years old." "Bill, I always felt that my father was slightly more intimate with princess grace of Monaco than he should have been, believe me." "So what is this foundation dinner about?" "Haiti." "You ever been, Bill?" "Don't think you'd like it much." "Longest lines I've ever seen." "And they sure as hell ain't for the new Harry Potter movie, either." "No." "They're for food." "And not the seven-course tasting menu at le Bernardin." "What they're waiting for is much simpler..." "Specifically, rice." "In the poorest district of the poorest city of the poorest country in the western hemisphere, there lives an 11-year-old girl by the name of Clelia." "Now, Clelia has to stand in line for two or three hours every afternoon for just a small portion of rice." "And it's not as if she can say, you know to hell with this, i'm gonna go home, because without that quart of rice, she will go home to a beating st because Clelia is a slave." "Now, I'm not talking about a slave for art or a slave for love or fashion." "No, I'm talking... slave, you know?" "As in she works for her owners." "She cooks, she cleans, she washes, she runs the errands, and she stands in that bloody line for the rice." "There are estimated to be in Haiti over 300,000 of these children, mainly girls, all over the island." "And they are owned by strangers." "And they are know as..." "Restaveks." "Clelia was having as good a day as Clelia does" "until I came along." "I'm sorry." "I have done some lousy things in my time, but I have never, ever done anything as awful as what I did to that little girl that day." "What the hell happened to her?" "Well, she went home with no food, for her or her owners." "They were not best pleased." "Luckily..." "I never forget a face." "= 108 FINAL =- "Haiti"" "VO by:" "¤Aka¤, Gaillots, olaola" "Team Subs-Addicts"" "Nurture versus nature." "Do we become the adults that we are by accident or by design?" "Morris, come on." "You're a shrink." "What do you think?" "I say office hours are over." "But some studies report that our personalities are set in the first 12 months of life." "Right." "So then we spend the next 40 to 50 years trying to unlearn the things that we were taught up to the age of one." " Exactly." " Right." "Do you know where Philip was born?" " No." " Haiti." " Really?" " Yeah." "I left when I was six." "So do you get back much?" "Not as much as I'd like to, but last week, me, Olivia, and Teddy went because the shortage went from critical to catastrophe." "Shortage?" "Sorry, I missed the first part." "Shortage of what?" "Rice." "There's no rice." "Most of Haiti's rice is imported." "Last month's shipments from a key supplier just" " stopped." " Who were these suppliers?" "That would be the united states government, specifically a division called ameraid." "They sell products like rice to third-world countries for reduced rates." "When the rice shipments stopped, food prices in haiti tripled." "Families were starving, there were riots all over the island." "A tanker containg 30,000 tons of rice is on its way to your harbor..." "Enough to feed the people of haiti for a month." "Meanwhile, our company will act as mediator between your government and ameraid so that you may settle your differences." "Mr. Maidstone, as minister of finance, and on behalf of all the citizens of Haiti, thank you." "I think I speak for all of us when I say we appreciate..." "Your interest in Haiti and your desire to help, but with all due respect, Haiti can solve its own problems." "Our country was self-sufficient in the past and will be again one day." "We're trying to offer a real solution here." "30 years ago, Haiti produced enough rice to feed its people." "Then the US." "Intervened, forcing us to lower our tariffs, demolishing our rice production." "Now Haiti endures hunger riots while the US. enjoys a multibillion dollar business exporting rice to US." " My people..." " Your people?" "Jean, if we were to just listen..." "This is a very generous offer." "Why don't you go outside and explain to that hungry mob how you sat here after a fat state lunch and rejected an offer th might help them feed their kids." "This meeting is at a end." "Jean..." "The good senator, he got right under your skin, didn't he?" "You think he'd be a lot nicer to his younger brother." "Wait..." "Brother?" "The senator's your brother?" "And you are gonna be so happy that I'm around right here, right now, do you know what I am?" " Annoying?" " No." "I am the non-brother." "The non-in-law." "I get to be the reasonable one." "The reasonable one!" "I thlorovepid stit!" "And because of my dispassionate perspective," "I was finally able to employ, well, my most favorite and lethal weapon..." "Raucous indulgence." "Raucous indulgence is a way to loosen things up a little, get people to shake off the tension, the flexing, the posturing." "Get so fabulously drunk that they would forget they were enemies and they'd start making ridiculous promises to each other." "Some members of the government are concerned that, in the mediation," "Maidstone-Rist control the import of rice." "No, no, no, Mr. Ducat, you would have control." "It's your country, your people, you know?" "Here, let me just top that up for you." "Monsieur Rist, it is essential that imports are controlled by local businesses." "Absolutely." "Here's to swimming with bow-legged women?" "Let me just get you some ice." "I've known you and Philip for how long?" "And I never heard he was from Haiti." "How did he end up in Aamerica?" "My father died." "My mother couldn't afford to take both of us, so for whatever reason, she chose me, and Jean stayed back in haiti with family." "My mother recuperated and she married Samuel Maidstone, and we finally had enough money to emigrate Jean." "But by then, he was a grown man." "He was living on his own." "He'd moved on." "I'm sorry about yesterday." "I lost my temper." " But?" " But haiti's starving." " Doesn't make you angry?" " I live with the hunger every day." "Getting angry doesn't feed people." "Okay, so what willj, Jean?" "Tell me." "We'll do it together." "And you're scheduled to leave when?" "What does that have to do with anything?" "Do you rember when we were young and man would have each of us tell her a bedtime story?" "I told myself lots of stories while waiting for you andmanto return." "Jean, you can't keep blaming me for that." "I was six years old." "I didn't know." "But you're gonna let your anger at me keep a tanker full of rice from landing in Port-au-prince?" "Do not distort Haiti's quest to become self-reliant with what's between us." "It's time for we haitians to take our country back, to restore our national pride, our self-worth." "Stop treating us as if we were babies in a cradle." "Your intentions are good, your actions disastrous." "You are an American." "Hey, can I have a blended on the rocks?" "Thank you." "I'm Martine." "I know." "You work for the government, Martine?" " What do you do?" " Whatever I want." "That's a cool job." "Depends." "On?" "What I want at the moment." "And what is it you want at the moment?" "This was weird." "It was scary, it was confusing, and... it was kind of a turn-on." "I need money." "Well, that's good." " 'cause I've got lots." " Get me what I want, you live." "Don't, I kill you." "I will kill us both." "The concept of family as we think of it is a pretty modern one." "Even amongst the wealthy, playtime for children, for example, was pretty much unheard of well up until the late 1800s." "Enough with the history, now, Teddy." "What did the girl with the gun want?" "In the words of jack benny, my money or my life." "Are there even any bullets in that gun?" "Do you want to find out?" "If this is an elaborate intervention into my... slight sex addiction, then" "I just want you to know the lesson has been learned." "Why do you only have $40 in here?" "No, there's a 100 euro note kicking around in there somewhere." "I need $12,500 U.S." "How fast can you get that much money?" " 12,500, huh?" " That's what I need." "Not 12,000." "Not 13,000." " Not 10 million..." " How fast?" "Okay, I've got service here." "Look, you could have just asked me for the money instead of pulling the gun." "I've been fostering quite the reputation for philanthropy, you know." "No, you wouldn't want to help me." " Get me the money now." " Okay." "We've got reception here." "Speakerphone." "It's the boss." "He's not on the boat?" "Where the hell is he?" "Teddy." "Where the hell are you?" "A friend of mine needs $12,500." "Okay, when?" "Immediately." "Give it to dax." "I'll tell him where to make the drop." " Are you sure you don't want..." " Just do it now, AJ." "I'm not just a pretty wallet, you know?" "Tell me why you need $12,500." "And then tell me how else I can be of service." "Keep walking." "Yes, ma'am." "While I was trying to connect with the stranger that is my brother, Teddy had disappeared." "I didn't think much of that, because Teddy's always disappearing." "I was still obsessed with settling my differences with my brother." "My brother's got that quiet, righteous," " angry jackass thing down pat." " He's been through a lot." "In America, I am a mogul." "I am a feared and respected man." "Here in Haiti, to him, I'm still that lost, six-year-old terrified boy desperate for my big brother's approval." "You don't need your brother's approval." "You need to feed your people." "Okay, I see you now." "Just keep coming down that incline." "And on my mark, going to drop it out the window." "3... 2... 1." "Now." "Okay, take that left." "Keep driving." "Don't look back." "And that is an order, not a request." "Okay, let's go." "Okay." "You have the money now, so" "I hope this can be the beginning of a new era of trust between us." "In my somewhat limited experience of these things, a person commits an extreme act for one of two reasons..." "They're either a raving lunatic or they... are trying to help someone they love." "Now, you don't strike me as a lunatic." "So who are you trying to help?" "My boy." "Your boy." "My little boy." "He was sold." "And I need this money to buy back my son." "Stop, stop... sold." "What do you... what... he was sold?" "Sold to who?" "He was sold by his father." "Sold by his father." "What can you say when you hear something like that?" "If there are words," "I don't know them." "So why did the husband sell their son?" "All in good time, Morris." "Dinner is served." "Thank you all for coming to the Maidstone-Rist Foundation dinner tonight." "Let's dig in." "All right, as you can see, this isn't our standard fare, but, well, here's the deal." "Tonight we will be eating what 2/3 of the Haitian population have for dinner every night, and that is four ounces of rice." "Bon appetit, everyone." "Not exactly a subtle point." "Step off park avenue, Maurice." "It's not exactly a subtle world." "So tell us, Teddy." "This woman..." " Martine?" " Martine." "Why did she allow her husband to sell her child?" "Last year, I join a protest group." "A peaceful demonstration turned into a riot." "I was arrested." "There was no evidence against me, but I had no money, no lawyer." "I was sentenced to a year in jail, and my name was added to a blacklist of political terrorists." "That's why I had to leave Charlie with my husband." "That's him." "What's his name?" "Lucques." " How long has he been doing drugs for?" " Few years." "He always liked to party." "Then he love it." "Then he need it." "Soon he was selling to buy, buying to sell." "Have you ever lived with an addict?" "I'm pretty sure I live with one every day." "Lucques owe money, drug debts, thousands." "He got a good price for our son Charlie." "So what's that money for?" "$2,500 for the family that bought him." "10,000 for Lucques." "10,00 for Lucques." "He knows I'll do anything to get Charlie back." "Money is all Lucques cares about." "He tells me, go get money." "Do whatever it takes." "You have something men want, so use it to go get money." "Bring it here, then I tell who has our boy." "Let's go make a deal." "$10,000!" "U. S.!" " where is he?" " 10,000, that gets me even." "But if I'd known $10,000 was going to be this fast, then maybe 20,000?" "Where is our son?" "Why not 100,000?" "Why not 500,000, huh?" "Why not?" "Don't you do that!" "Don't you ever do that." "You wanted 10,000." "I got it." "Now tell me where... where Charlie is." "All right, now let's just all just take a deep breath." "You're going to pull a gun on me?" "Come on, man, you know her." "You were married to her, for god's sake." "She is an ex-wife." "She will shoot you and die satisfied." "Why don't you just tell her where the kid is before you're too dead to spend what you got." "We finally got to the district of Delmas and to the house where the family lived that had... bought Martine's little boy." "I had called dax for backup." "But when we arrived there at down, the house was completely empty." "Anything?" "No." "What?" "I gave Charlie this." "No, no, that's good." "This is good." "This means that he was here?" "He was here, and look, I just found this letter, and the, and the mecours, the family that lucques said was here... it's just dated just last week, right?" "All we gotta do is find out where they moved to." "It's probably right around here somewhere." "I'll go search." "You stay put just in case they come back." "We'll find him." "Okay, let's go." "Let's just split up a block and see if we can find someone who can give us Mecours' new address." "Wanna start over there?" "Get Philip to ask his brother to call the chief of police." "I want those people found today." "Hold on, I just gotta... find a... pen that works." "OK, go." "M-e-c-o-u-r." " M-e-c-o-u-r." " Want me to repeat it?" "No." "Yeah." "I got it." "OK." "I appreciate this favor." "Finding a family, hardly a favor." "So what do you want in return?" "I demand nothing in return." "You're a politician." "You will." "Unlike Alain Ducat, I do as my conscious decides." "He owes his loyalties to the import business." "He is an impediment to Haiti's future." "Look, I don't want to be an impediment." "I want to be part of the solution." "I can't do that if you keep holding me at arm's length." "I keep looking at these kids, , and all I can see is us." "I want the same thing you want." "I want Haiti to be able to feed its people." "So I'm gonna use my capital, my influence, and my friends to help, whether you want me to or not." "I see." "Quite impressive." "What kind of cookies is he selling?" "Dirt mixed with salt and oil." "Really?" " When's the next senate meeting?" " Tomorrow." "Add Maidstone-Rist to the agenda." "I have an idea." "Do you speak english?" "What's your name?" "Clelia, look, I'm looking for this little boy." "I think he worked for a family just over here." "You..." "what do you want?" "I'm looking for this little boy, sir." "I think he lived with a family just over there." "We do not want strangers here." "What do you want?" " I'm looking for a little boy..." " They are gone." " Do you know where?" " Go!" "You can go now." "Thank you for meeting me, Mr. Maidstone." "I know you are busy." "But I felt a need to reach out after yesterday's unsuccessful meeting." "We're not finished yet." "We're going back to the senate again tomorrow." "Excellent." "Did Jean come to his senses about the shipment?" "There's another plan I'll explain the details in the next session." "Very well." "Philip, the reason I asked to meet with you... it's very difficult to discuss, but it's about your brother." "About Jean?" "Frankly, no one in the senate trusts him." "I don't know if you can be of any help, but the man is on a path to ruin." "His decisions don't appear to be in the best interests of Haiti." "And his loyalties are questioned in every office throughout the senate." "Mr. Ducat, all the things you're saying about my brother may be true." "But in my experience, the man who accuses someone of a crime... is oftentimes more guilty." "Mr. Maidstone, why do you think I came to you with this information?" " I came to you in..." " Give me one second." "I called you 3 times." "Are you still hanging out with Martine Joix?" "I will be in about three seconds." "Why?" "I had my brother check into that list you gave AG." "Your girl Martine was serving a one-year prison sentence." "Yeah, I know." "You know?" "Of course you know." "Did you know that she jumped the fence a month before her term was over?" "Actually, that I didn't know." "You're rolling with an escaped convict." "Be careful." "Did you hear what I said?" "She's an escaped convict." "Be careful." "Yeah, it's good advice, Phil." "It's just a tad too late." "I gotta go." "Tell me, any of you ever shot someone?" "Have you ever been shot at?" "Only metaphorically." "I don't know if I believe in karma or not, you know." "Lately... a lot of people have been pointing guns at me." "I can tell you, I don't like it that much." "$500,000." "You get the cash, we go away." "$500,000?" " This is not negotiable!" " Piss off!" "I am not an ATM." "You are Teddy Rist, the famous billionaire, here to help the poor." "I am poor!" "You help me!" " Or should I kill her?" " No, no, no, no, no." "I don't care." "Maybe I'll just make her face good and ugly." "All right..." "I'll get you the money, but she has to come with me." "You go get the money, and she will stay here." "No, no, that's not acceptable." "I will get you the money, but..." "OK, we all go together, all right?" "OK-doke." "Guys." "Get up." "You go ahead." "I'm sorry." "Just stay close to me." "Do exactly as I say." "Run." "Maidstone-Rist wants to invest in Haiti." "We will provide private subsidies for your farmers." "You wish to invest in rice production in Haiti?" "And what are the terms of this investment?" "A 50/50 partnership." "Maidstone-Rist provides the capital." "You provide the workforce." "Why do you wish to push Haiti back into the past?" "You are a capitalist." "You should appreciate the fact that we cannot compete in the market." "It is imperative that we develop other industries." "No, minister Ducat, your farmers can compete, they just need a leg up." "As you know, the U.S. Government subsidizes its farmers so that they can sell their wares for less." "Your farmers need the same subsidies." "The artibonite valley is just as fertile as America's great plains." "As an outsider, it is difficult for you to understand the reality of the situation." "The reality of the situation is children are eating dirt to stay alive." "Citizens of Haiti understand that import/export is the future of this country." "We need to feed ourselves." "What will we export if we do not grow anything, t-shirts and women's underwear?" "So this is your doing, beauvais." "Well, I can assure you, this subsidy scheme will never pass the legislature." "Never." "Never." "Dax, we're going to a place called," " Is that Gonaives?" " It's about an hour away." "Up the coast, right?" "That'll give us plenty of time to talk about the best way to bust you out of prison." "The blacklist follow me everywhere I go." "I told you, you wouldn't want to know." "You wouldn't help if you did." "Clearly you think I'm a lot less discerning than I am." "We finally found the house where the family who bought charlie had moved to." "He's so..." "My little boy." "He won't understand." "He won't understand why I left him alone." "He will hate me." "Martine, Martine, look at me." "Anything, anyone could ever want is standing right there right now waiting for you." "Go to him." "You go to your boy." "Ducat has called in all of his political favors." "I cannot secure enough votes to pass your subsidy program." "This is what we do." "The tanker with the rice has landed in the harbor." "So take the food." "Let your constituents know about our plan to boost rice production." "Get the public on your side." "The country sees you, Jean Beauvais, feeding those in need, the senate can't deny press like that." "Then we can start a partnership." "No, madame." " I've got a business prop..." " Who the hell are you?" "She's the kid's mother." "It's a difficult sit" "Teddy, we got trouble." "Martine, Martine, Martine." "Where is Martine Joix?" " Are you Martine Joix?" " Yes." "Shut up!" "You are under arrest for political crimes." "We're coming back for him." "We're coming back for him." "Once again, no good deed goes unpunished." "The police used me to find Martine." "As you know, I don't like be used." "Despite my best efforts," "Martine was re-arrested." "Martine went back to jail." "I have hired a battalion of lawyers, but like everything else here, the justice system moves glacially." "You know, reuniting Martine and Charlie could take months or maybe even years at this rate unless by some bizarre miracle we should happen to know someone high up in the government." " My brother." " Right." "Look, Phil, I know how hard it is for you to ask Jean for a favor, but do it for me." "No, in fact, don't." "Don't do it for me." "Do it for Charlie." "It's fine." "I'll ask Jean to help Charlie." "There's a "but"." "What is that but?" "Do you have any idea what happened while you were rescuing that little boy?" "Things just got much worse." "The Maidstone-Rist tanker was attacked." "The entire shipment of rice was destroyed." "Sounds like the Boston tea party." "Do you know who organized it?" "Ducat?" " No, not Ducat." " Well, then who?" "You remember that Albert Camus quote you were obsessed with?" ""The rebel will never find peace." "He knows what is good."" ""But despite himself, does evil," yeah." "What, you think you know who the rebel is?" "Yep, my brother." "People deserve a full investigation." "Whoever did this should be found and criminally prosecuted." "Well, I'm sure there will be an inquiry." "But it is not in my best interest as a senator to speculate who is responsible." "You're an elected official." "You're supposed to be a leader." "You're still working for your own goals." "Not for what's best for people." "I do not need a lecture on my mandate, little brother." "Haiti must become truly independent." "There are times when certain unpleasant things must happen in order to advance national security and interest." "If a shipment of rice must be destroyed for Haiti to feed itself, then so be it." "Before I left for America with mom, I idolized you." "And then from afar, I still... admired you because after all you'd been through," "you pulled yourself together." "You rose through government." "You were strong, self-sufficient." "And I worked my ass off to be just like you." "Now I can see it." "Your strength is just ego." "And your self-sufficiency is just another form of greed." "You should be ashamed of yourself." "Then I am fortunate, your opinion of me does not matter." "Regardless of all that," "I'm willing to be that you're not quite as cruel as you pretend to be." "What will you bet?" "You know, there's a little boy and a little girl over in the city being, both of them, denied a childhood and having to grow up way too fast." "That sound familiar to you?" "Why don't you help us give them something that you never had?" "What?" "Just their innocence, for heaven's sake." "Technically, slavery is illegal in haiti." "So Jean was able to argue in court that Clelia's owners had abused her." "From that day forward, she began a new chapter in her life." "Philip's brother was also able to argue in court for the release of Charlie's mother, Martine." "I know it's only two children out of 300,000, but at least we made a start." "At Maidstone-Rist, we deal in resources." "But our most precious, our most sacred resource" "Is children." "And now not..." "Not every child gets the chance to grow up." "So those of us who do, we have an obligation" "to prepare the world for the next generation, not just in Haiti, not just in America, but all over the world." "What we are asking of you this evening is..." "Where do we start?" "Now look, you, you're smart." "You are rich, you are powerful." "My god, you're lucky." "We're lucky." "So now what can we do?" "Does anybody have any ideas?" "Anybody?" "Team Subs-Addicts""