Il Sogno di Campaldino
Illustrated film and theater screenplay
By Giovanni Enrico Arrighini
Associazione Città Infinite - Via delle Conce, 10 - lucca 55100 C.F. / P.IVA 02250360464 - info@ilsognodicampaldino.it
Scena 9
[...]
ELISEO
I joined a band of mercenary soldiers,
It was easy to gain their trust,
I treated their wounds,
and I taught them
to fight like warrior monks.
I hated all mankind...
The flame of the fire casts Eliseo's shadow on the rock.
There's nothing better than being able to experience
medical care on a battlefield,
on the wounded and the captives.
I have understood many things and found remedies.
But at what price!
I tremble now,
at the thought that one day
men may apply in series
what I have done,
experimenting on thousands of people...
Flashback to an asylum dormitory with bars on the windows.
Inside are people with straitjackets tied to their beds.
Over the time
my authority grew
and I was called to cover
the post of medical captain
in the ranks of the Imperial Army.
When the Emperor's troops
rushed to the defence of Siena
I did my utmost to participate
so great was my hatred for Florence.
Eliseo looks at Buonconte.
BUONCONTE
Tell me about the victory
of our insignia
raised to the wind
and the flags of our enemies
dragged by horses through the mud.
Eliseo's account of the battle begins, but stops after a few lines due to Buonconte's delirium as he recalls his own battle at Campaldino through the words of his brother Loccio, who had taken part in the clash with him.
Next to Buonconte appears Loccio in armour, his clothes torn and his face covered in blood.
The images of the charge overlap the story.
ELISEO
When the German knights broke in
And took the Florentines from behind...
LOCCIO
From the visor of the helmet
the sight jumps,
everything disappears and reappears.
My heart bursts in my head
under the weight of the iron.
I have to look at the point of the spear,
the point of the spear must remain high.
The colours of our knights.
The red lion of the 'Pazzo'.
The eagle of the Uberti.
In front of them all the yellow-blue bands of Montefeltro.
Twelve paladins against an entire army.
The enemy knights getting closer and closer.
The tip of the lance.
High the shout 'San Donato'.
I don't feel the recoil,
I don't feel anything anymore.
The Florentines fall like sheep…
BUONCONTE
Loccio brother…
Buonconte deliriously calls Loccio who disappears.
Eliseo's tale continues.
ELISEO
When the German knights broke in
And took the exhausted Florentines from behind
for having fought all day,
there was defeat.
The Florentines and their allies
dispersed
and the hunt began.
Every hillock was stained with blood,
corpses were scattered everywhere.
The small groups of fugitives
were surrounded and slaughtered.
Without any mercy.
Screaming, shouting.
Thousands, thousands.
I was also part of the massacre.
I don't know how many
men I slaughtered…
Close-up of Eliseo's eyes.
First with the bat,
then I began to disembowel them.
A group of Florentine prisoners
were gathered near
by a stream…
The Sienese were circling me,
and like a butcher with an axe
and a stiletto I tore
Their hearts and other things,
and bestially
we all ate them.
Then we threw away their corpses
with their entrails out
into the stream that led to the Arbia…
Flashback of a small clearing in front of a stream. Shot of Eliseo with his once white robe now covered in blood, and his right arm raised.
In his hand he holds a heart.
At his feet the body of a soldier.
The Sienese soldiers are arranged in a circle around them.
Behind them is a large group of Florentine prisoner soldiers on their knees with their hands and feet bound, shouting.
Pause of silence.
Close-up of Buonconte in shock.
BUONCONTE
Maria, what horror…
ELISEO
This went on
until late in the evening,
after the sound
that marked the closing of the hunt.
I still vaguely remember
the light of the torches,
the arrival of the knights of the Uberti
horrified by the slaughter…
Farinata shouting to stop.
I rebelled
by turning my weapons on them.
I was struck by a sword
and fell dead in the stream,
disappearing along with the corpses…
Flashback of the tragic scene with rapid images.
Eliseo shows Buonconte the scar on his head.
The imperial captain
was reported missing
on the battlefield of Montaperti.
Close-up of Eliseo.