"THE 4 SOLDIERS" "War started again when just a few rich people remained and the rest were poor." "The army backed the rich." "Having lost everything, the poor formed militias." "I lived with my parents when the fighting began." "They were killed early on trying to protect me." "I stayed alone at home, in my room," "with them..." "All alone, for several days... before joining a battalion." "We fought a lot, won and lost, without knowing what for." "Come on!" "Get a move on!" "We'll miss the fucking party!" "Move it!" "Get going!" "War had become routine." "It didn't seem like it would ever change." "Until..." "Until I met Matt." "We'll take that house." "Check this out." "He's well fucked." "Matt was everything I'm not." "And at that precise moment," "I wondered if that was why I had followed him." "Hey." "You coming?" "I still wonder, now." "It's cool, you'll see." "It's not difficult." "The house alone must..." "Hello." "Hey, hello!" "Nice place you found." "That smells good..." " That looks good..." " Hey!" "Soup's on!" "Got any smoke?" "Fuck!" "Take this." " What's your name?" " Big Max." ""Big Max"..." "Not like the burgers." "As in Maxim, except Big Max is better than Maxim." "Because Maxim's a bit..." "A bit what?" "A bit gay." "Good night." "Good night." "The room wasn't at all like mine at home and yet, I felt like I was back there." "Bad memories started to come out of the darkness, multiply." "Luckily, there was another bedroom." "Night, guys." "Forcing me to sleep here," "Max made me revisit my parents' death once and for all and picture them again before the war, alive and happy." "Not eating?" "D'you fancy staying with us?" "The fear was back suddenly." "But different this time." "For the first time since..." "For the first time, I was scared not just for myself." "In midwinter, we started to lose more often." "We had to retreat to the country." "The battalion's morale was very low." "But we kept ours up:" "easier for a 3-man team." "What's this about?" "Hi, everybody." "Headquarters has decided that it's time to do some recruitment." "Our orders are to stick around." "That's all." "Your unit commanders will keep you updated." "See you later." "Don't get slack, eh!" "Idiot!" "Do we look like we're slacking?" "It'd be so cool if we stayed here." "Yeah?" "Definitely." "With all the stuff here, we could build a proper hut." "What's up?" "Build a hut with a truck as the lounge..." "Eh?" "And the kitchen could be a car..." "And then, we'll make a bedroom out of... out of..." "What car for the bedroom?" "Eh, Big Max?" "The bedroom..." "OK, everyone!" "We'll set up camp here!" "Where's that lazy, fat bastard?" "We won't finish before dark, just the 2 of us." "We need help or we're up shit creek." "Yeah?" "Yes." "They've all formed their own gangs." "The guy with the dreads?" "Kevin, yeah?" "D'you know him?" "Yes." "He's a really good shot." "I've never heard of him annoying anyone." " No news of Max?" " No." "Look." "It ain't a car, but we could use it as a bedroom." "Yep." "Not bad, Maxy boy." "D'you think there's enough room for him too?" "For 2 like him." "When the hut was finished, all we thought about was Kevin." "But we weren't worried." "At all." "There needed to be 4 of us." "And he was the fourth." "Hello, my love." "Happy birthday." "I've a little present for you." "Not bad, eh?" " D'you want it?" " I do." "Me too." "I'm keeping it." " Fuck..." " I found it." "When all 4 of us went to bed that night," "I thought:" ""That's it." "I'm no longer alone."" "I told myself..." "Or rather, I told my parents:" ""Don't worry about me." ""I've got friends now."" "Winter was long and cold, but our hut held up." "And so did we." "We were together all the time." "Not once did we get on each other's nerves." "Not once did we get bored." "Wouldn't it be better to keep the fuel for something else?" "What's up?" "There's a smell." "Of what?" "Water." "The pool was like a gift to us from the war." "We accepted it without feeling bad." "We were due it." "I'd never felt time fly like it did that day." "So, I thanked the pool for appearing before us." "This is no good." "That pool's ours." "No one must find it." "We've left a massive trail." "Let's split up." "OK?" "Max, you go that way." "Dominique there, Kevin there." "I'll go this way." "Whose turn is it?" "Mine." " It's mine, eh?" " Wait." "Let Kevin have it." " Want it, Kevin?" " No." " He don't want it." "My turn." " Why don't you want it?" "Got a problem with girls?" "Eh, Kev boy?" "Maybe he doesn't like girls." "Maybe he hasn't yet..." "Good night." "Night, guys." "You like it, eh, big man?" "Not like Kev." "Come with me." "Where're you going?" "Go back to sleep." "I had a dream..." "What kind of dream?" "About Kevin." "I dreamt he cut my throat." "Cut your throat?" " What..." " He cut my throat with a knife." "It's pretty simple." "Want me to draw it?" "He cut my throat." "Where did it happen?" "In the hut." "He did it twice." "From behind." "Kevin isn't..." "He couldn't do that." "Well he did, in my dream." "If he'd stayed longer, I'd have known what to say." "But then, maybe not." "OK, my little friends!" "Requisition day." "It's your turn." "Hurry up if you want any lunch." "Get your pants on." "Hurry up." "I'll wait outside." "Move it!" "OK, OK..." "Hey, Big Max." "Wake up." "He'd been afraid last night." "But it didn't show." "Maybe it was better that way, that the others didn't know." "In some ways, I was proud to be the only one who knew." " What is it?" " Nothing." "Yes, yes, fat lump!" "That's right..." "That's it..." "Yes, yes!" "Eh, Big Max?" "Hey!" "This way, fat lump." "I'm here!" "Keep going, you big cuddly lump!" "Eh, fatso!" "Where are you?" "Dominique!" "Over here!" "You OK?" "I'll just give you the feeling of swimming." "It's safe." " OK?" " Yes." " You alive?" " Eh?" "Great, eh?" " OK, another go." " No, no..." "Move your arms." "All by itself, the pool naturally became like another big room added on to our cabin." "The main room, in fact, where the war no longer existed and where we could go to admire our growing bond." "Matt... we'll say it's my turn, OK?" " OK?" " You want this?" "Have fun." "Hello, my love." "Happy birthday." "I've a little present for you." "She'd stop if she saw what you're doing, Big Max." "I'll swap it for a joint." "Two." "One." "OK." "Hey, Max, don't you owe me a joint?" "Thanks." "Whose turn will it be tomorrow?" "Mine again, if Kevin doesn't want it." "Shite..." "We did well to wash them." "Yes, we'd done well." "In everything." "Making a family, especially." "Here." "That just cost me a joint." "Thanks." "I felt relieved for a moment." "I was his friend, and a useful one, too." "A friend he can still wake up at night." "And then, all of a sudden," "I had this thought:" ""What if I took Kevin's place in his dream?"" "Up you get, my little friends!" "Up you get." "We did our fatigue!" "No, no..." "Get up." "It's not for that, it's something else." " What?" " Teamwork." "Special assignment for you, my friends." "Take him with you." "Show him the ropes." "Gabriel..." "Tardif, right?" "Gabriel Tardif." "No." "Find him another group." "Take him back to his mum, where he should be." " I don't want your opinion." "It's an order." "You'll be glad to have him on your side when things start kicking off again." "And it'll happen sooner than you think." " You show him..." " We'll show him nothing." "We don't want him." "There's no room." "We're breaking camp soon:" "show him the ropes quickly." "Hey!" "Go and get the breakfast." "Do we show him the pool?" "If we're off soon, we won't be going back there." "We went to the pool, the idea being to lose Gabriel on the way." "He didn't know the camp, and we were sure he'd stop somewhere." "It nearly worked." "After, we took him way away from the pool." "Get the dice out." "Want to lose, fatso?" "You'll get thrashed." "I'll win your joint back, Kev." "Where's the boy gone?" "Wait, I haven't started yet." "He's writing." "What?" "Hey!" "Write this down: "Big Max is nothing but a fat lump!"" "No." "Don't write that!" "Write:" ""He wasted Matt at dice."" "And then..." "Yes..." "It's my turn." "No." "I'm playing until I beat him!" " Write: "Big Max is a cheat!"" " No!" "Don't!" "What'll I get?" "What am I gonna get?" "!" " Eh?" " Whack him in the ribs." "Yes!" "You can write it now:" "I am a cheat, it's true!" "Your turn." "Rubbish..." "Your turn." "Did you write what I told you to?" "I'm talking to you!" "Did you write what I told you to?" "Rather than write about Max being a cheat," "I wished that" "Gabriel had written about the rain on the pool." "Hello, Steve." "D'you read me, over?" "Even if it meant me getting soaked." "D'you read me, over?" "Write that Fatso's making a racket, too." "Eh?" "You talking about me, guys?" "No." "Cut the bullshit." "What did you say about me?" "Watch the road while you're driving." "Copy that. 10-4." "Hello, Steve." "D'you read me?" "Rock Band calling Big Max." "D'you read me?" "I prayed to my parents to help, on the way back." "To help Matt solve the problem of Gabriel and the pool." "I prayed to them like never before." "After the pool, Gabriel moved into our room without any problem." "But it was too soon for the iPod." "Matt..." "What?" "Nothing." "It's stupid." "I'd be glad to hear something stupid." "Go on." "It's too stupid." "Even better." "Is it still Kevin, in your dream..." "Cutting..." "Yes." "What if it were me... instead of Kevin?" "In your dream, I mean..." "What would you and I do after?" "After what we'd been through," "I wish he'd shouted at me for daring to think about taking Kevin's place." "But..." "I don't know." "I don't know what we'd do." "For the first time since we'd been together," "I woke up alone." "I couldn't help myself," "I started thinking:" ""Something serious has happened."" "But it was calm." "Nothing unusual going on." "But I was sure that something serious had happened," "or would happen." "Are we going?" "You'll love it, boy." " He don't care, Max." " He'll write to his ma about it!" "Come on, Kev." "You can do it." "I'm sure you can!" "OK." "Alright, alright..." "OK!" " Ready?" " Yes." "OK, go!" "I knew it, lad!" "Eyes blindfolded as well!" "It's nice." "Nice?" "!" "Eh, Dom, it's nice?" "!" "Did you see him do that?" "Eyes blindfolded as well!" "Make the most of it." "We're leaving..." "Tomorrow night." "News of the departure hit us hard." "We walked aimlessly for hours." "We all thought about the pool, but no one wanted to see it as sad as us." "Do you write to your mum?" "Who d'you write to?" "No one." "You didn't hit a single bird." "We were unlucky." " Happy?" " Yep." "You look like a cowboy." "I told you." "Who's the Indian?" "Your go, Kevin." " No." "A bit more." " Everyone gets a go." "Stop, horse." "You want to ride?" "Yes." " Am I leading him well, Matt?" " Just fine, Big Max." " He likes you." " He's right beside me." "Kevin's smile, the horse walking happily behind Max," "Matt and Gabriel walking side by side..." "Everyone had his place." "My friend." "It was as if the horse was taking us away from war." "For ever." "OK." "Change." " Right." "Dominique, your turn." " Yep." "Here, I'll help you." " OK, lift her." " 1, 2, 3, go!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "I don't think you'll get your turn." "Nobody's fault." "The short time we had the horse had made us forget the war." "We returned to the pool without feeling bad." "Pigs are hard to slaughter." "Even harder to bear." " "To bear"?" " To put up with..." "Especially when they play dice." "I bet fish like this." "Oh!" "I reckon you have to be writing to someone." "Who is it?" "Me." "You..." "What're you writing?" "He just wrote that I won at dice." "Focus on your fish, fatso." "What do you write?" "About things I see." "And what do you see?" "Give me an example." "I got one, guys!" "I got one!" "I knew it!" "I knew I would!" "It was time..." "Oh, he's a beauty!" "Come and see this." "Yes..." " Yep, not bad, Big Max." " Not bad, for sure." "The pool effect wore off once we were back at camp, and all we could think about was our departure next day." "I've eaten pig and fish in the same day, which means I've got... a pig with fins in my tummy, and it tickles!" "It tickles!" "We were lucky to have Max." "Here." "Why don't I ever get it?" "OK." "A little kiss before bedtime." "What is that?" " Hey." " No." " Give me it." " Wait." "Give me it!" "You'll get your go." "What did you write today?" "That you shot at birds, but didn't hit a single one." "True." "Did you mention we stole a horse?" "Yes." "Good." "You mustn't tell lies." "And that it ran off before we all got a go." "Yes." "Did you write how fast Kevin reassembles his rifle, even blindfolded?" "No." "You should have." "Would you have liked that, Kevin?" "Yeah..." "I dunno." " You wouldn't like him to write it?" " Yes." "I'd have liked it." "See, he'd have liked you to write that." "So you'll write it?" "OK?" "At the end, I wrote that we'd had a good day." "And it was true." "Good Lord, it was true." "The next day, we got up and went off early, without eating, so eager to have one last peaceful day away from war." "Let's get him out." "After 3:" "1, 2, 3, go!" "Pull, Max!" "What're you doing?" "You got a problem?" "Afraid of a dead horse?" "Eh?" "Is that it?" "You're afraid?" "Afraid of a dead horse." "Talk!" "He's scared of dead horses!" "It's not hard to say that, I don't think." "Eh?" "Scared because you never saw it before." "He's never seen it." "He's never seen it." "Neither have you." "Have you?" "You haven't..." "Neither have I." "Do we often see horses?" "Eh?" "Do we see horses?" "They're always alive." "Where do you bury dead fucking horses?" "Where?" "!" "Fuck!" "Where?" "We don't know where, Matt..." "No one knows." "Yet again, I wasn't able to say anything to help him." "I let the pool say it for me." "I thought:" ""Yes." "The pool will make him forget tonight."" "Never had it been so calm, so beautiful." "That's how Gabriel would describe it." "I was sure of that." "I looked over to where the horse had died." "That would also be in his notebook, whether we liked it or not." "We'll stay here." "What do you think?" "They can go and eat shit." "They can find other suckers to march on a cold night." " Yeah?" " Yes." "Tonight and every night." "We're happy here." "Eh, Max?" "Yeah, that's true." "We should stay here and eat fish instead." "Your fish aren't very big." " The fish will grow." " Yes." "Yes, yes, yes..." "If there are small ones... there are big ones." "We have corn all around." "We've got all we need here." "What do you think?" "What do I think?" "We have a motorhome if it rains." "We have our weapons." "We can requisition stuff if we want." "We don't need them." "We don't need anyone." "They don't know we're here." "Not one of them knows we're here." "They'll have to find us before they shoot us." "Guys, I've got one!" "I've got one!" "Come and see this!" "Not bad, eh?" "!" "Not bad, eh?" "Let's cook it before we go back." "OK?" "Yeah, Max." "You do that." "Don't forget to add it to your book." "OK?" "What's up?" "You think it's too small?" "Yes." "It's too small..." "Making a big fire, washing our coats, finding out we're so different from one other, yet, at the same time, perfect for each other..." "Each step I took," "I wanted 1 more day for us at the pool." "Then, I wanted to hug each of them in turn, we were so scared... we were so lost... we were so sad." "But I held back so that we weren't laughed at." "Now I regret that I didn't do it." "That makes me sadder still." " Guys, we're stopping!" " Halt!" "OK!" "Stop!" "Guys!" "Guys!" "Shit!" "Dominique!" "We're here, Max." "Hiya!" "Hi." "Hey, guys..." "Gabriel." "Let's make a fire." "OK, young fella?" "Let it out." "Where's the iPod?" "Hello, my love." "Happy birthday." "I've a little present for you." "Good lad..." "Kiss her." "Go on, you too." "Go on." "Take another." "Let's go!" "Wake up!" "On your feet!" "On your feet!" "Move your arses!" "We move out in 5 minutes!" "Come on!" "Come on!" " Over there." " Take cover." " I can't see 'em." " Retreat!" "They're waiting for us to move." "Fall back!" " Watch out!" "Watch out!" " Where?" "Watch out!" "He killed him!" "He killed him!" "You'll be alright." "It'll all be fine." "Max, take the lad and hide behind the trailer." "Go!" "It'll be OK, Kevin." "It'll be OK..." "It'll be OK." "Close your eyes." "Close your eyes, Kevin." "Calm down." "It'll be OK." "Don't move!" " They're behind!" " Not there!" "Stop it, Max." "Stop, Max!" "Shut it, you fat fuck!" "I realised" "Gabriel only pretended to write." "At first, I felt angry, that he'd betrayed us." "But when I thought it was so we'd keep him with us..." "I thought he was right to want to stay with us... that we were worth it." "And I told myself I had to write our story before it was forgotten." "Now I've written all I could about us, everything Gabriel should've." "Now, it's impossible to continue, it's impossible to know whether another smile like Kevin's exists." "Or know what's left of Gabriel." "Or what Matt and Max are doing today." "There is no ending." "But I must stop... because I'm tired." " Who's got the iPod?" " It's here." "Come and get it." "Subtitles:" "Eclair Media"