The Reluctant Revolutionary Storyville

Why have they done this? It looks like a trap.

Who's done this?

The Taliban?

I'd come to Yemen to make a film with Kais,

a tour guide who despite the dangers of Al-Qaeda and possible civil war,

was still determined to take tourists around his country.

Could this be a trap?

How?

Continue!

We should go quickly now.

We shouldn't even be out of the car, it could be an ambush.

Why are they doing this for the tourists?

While the world was focusing on the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt

and Libya, I had come to Yemen, sensing it would be next.

I wondered how revolution would affect this country,

the poorest and most heavily armed in the Arab world.

In a way, any kind of change here would be a bloodbath, wouldn't it?

Because everyone's got a gun.

Meaning what? What's the difference?

CHANTING

In the capital, Sana'a, protestors are calling

for the 33-year corrupt rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end.

Determined to not follow the same fate as other Arab leaders,

he's offering concessions and hoping to cling on to power.

But unrest is breaking out all over the country

and now threatening the only tour Kais has managed to get all year.

He's begging for what?

Is he scared, do you think?

For years, Yemen has been propped up

with millions of dollars of aid from America, in fear of it becoming

a failed state like its neighbour, Somalia.

It has a population of over 20 million with 60 million weapons

and is home to Al-Qaeda.

So what's inside it now?

A spate of killings and kidnappings almost destroyed tourism in Yemen.

Today, Kais barely survives,

running cut-down tours with Eastern Europeans,

the only people brave enough to holiday here these days.

Abdullah! Abdullah!

What happened when you were kidnapped?

Even they put for them tents.

To feel like they were guests, not hostages.

And they were not even that.

Maybe you should advertise luxury kidnapping.

Just those one or two occasions when people get shot and killed.

Those are the ones that people remember.

For years, Yemen suffered from bitter tribal civil war.

But in 1990, President Saleh succeeded in uniting the north

and south by paying backhanders to the sheiks to keep peace.

Kais told me that his President had brought economic stability

and increased tourism to Yemen.

But now all this stood in the balance

as revolution swept the region.

It's a war.

Get your gun out, get your Kalashnikov.

With a revolution closing in on us,

Kais was forced to employ armed guards to protect us,

eating into his dwindling profits.

Are your profits not looking any good any more on this tour?

How much could you make arms dealing, selling landmines?

You never been tempted to do bad?

What if money gets really hard?

-Beautiful, no?

-Yeah.

-See the mountains?

-Mmm.

-Morning.

-Good morning.

I thought it was yesterday.

So what do you think will happen?

They'd be fighting?

I'll just piss and come back.

Wow!

A big demonstration in Sana'a today.

Why?

So we go back to Sana'a today?

Tonight, yes.

Back in Sana'a, a protest camp had taken over the city centre

and secret police were everywhere.

I had to be careful about filming.

Kais had bribed some officials to extend my tourist visa

to keep me here.

There's a roadblock ahead.

-Oh, my God.

-What's that plane doing?

Well, let's just go in. It's really safe. There's no problem.

Well, we should go and have a look, really.

Kais was only willing to go into the camp after dark.

-We have to get searched to get in?

-Yes.

So who am I? Just like a tourist?

It's like a football match. It sounds like football.

Is this whole area out of the hands of the government?

Yeah.

Wow!

I don't see anybody with a beard.

So, you don't agree with them?

The camp felt hopeful and positive.

It even had a comedy stage

where they were daring to mimic the President.

I thought it was a really great atmosphere.

But his days are limited, aren't they, the President here?

Who put the picture up?

-And his son is called Ali.

-Ali, Ali!

Hello.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-How are you?

-Ah, there's your father.

-Yeah.

You look like a little British boy. How come?

Why didn't you, er... like your father's dress?

Even your father?

I thought you didn't go to school.

Ah, your little brother. There's no pictures of your mother in here.

-So it's just for men?

-Yes.

But women can come here?

So this is just a men's room?

Under President Saleh, Kais said he'd enjoyed the high life.

He'd run a 20-room hotel in the old city

but it went bust a year ago, leaving him with many debts.

How beautiful.

When Kais's hotel went under, he took over his father's agency

with his younger brother and has an office

where he spends most of his time waiting for tourists.

-It's what time?

-Drug time.

Kais has two daughters and his wife is now four months pregnant.

-Bye.

-Bye-bye. Can I get one shot?

-That's for you there!

-That could be anybody!

That could be anybody! It could be my mother.

-Isn't she curious to meet your friend Sean?

-No.

Thanks.

Is your father proud of you, then?

-Hi, who are you?

-Hello.

Look at this. What does it say?

I think it's changing, you know.

I think you can't stop this change.

Look at these tents.

If the government want to stop it, they have to come with a bulldozer.

Yeah, and kill people, but they don't want to kill people.

WOMEN CHANT

MEN CHANT

Each day, the protesters extend the camp, taking control of new streets,

with the aim of reaching the palace and forcing President Saleh out.

CHANTING CONTINUES

But with more tribes arriving every day,

the government spread rumours that they were really AlQaeda,

bringing weapons to the camp.

We had been befriended by Khaled, one of the camp organisers,

and one of the beards that Kais feared so much.

He was determined to show us

the peaceful nature of Islam and the camp.

The camp was started by two students, who had pitched a tent

outside the university gates a few weeks earlier.

Soon, thousands joined them.

President Saleh, you are not the President.

You are mistaken if you believe this,

and now this is the new generation revolution.

Go out, go out, the game is over.

It felt like a kind of Arabic Glastonbury.

They even had their own drugs.

It is like a festival here.

-Do you think?

-Yes.

-How soon?

This will be memorable, this place where we stand now... in years to come.

They already called it, what did they call it? This...

Change Square, yes.

Saying, "This was where the revolution happened."

'As we left the camp,

'we came face-to-face with the balatija, government-hired thugs

'who roam the streets waiting for protesters leaving the camp.'

It's a good stick.

-Yeah, it's good stick.

-What's this?

-Can I have?

-Yes.

-Can I hold?

-OK.

If he find someone who's crazy, he make him, one, two...

And crazy...

Wow, that's...

At the sight of the balatija, Kais had disappeared.

Why?

Secret police were there?

And what happened?

But, what's this, there is no danger in going back?

TELEVISION BLARES

I'm serious! Don't laugh.

HE STIFLES LAUGHTER

Has Libya fallen yet?

With Gaddafi looking likely to fall,

President Saleh was stepping up the media campaign,

attracting supporters to his pro-camp

by offering free lunch and free khat.

Kais wouldn't tell me directly,

but I knew he was having problems with his wife.

What's she saying?

11,000.

1,000?

-11...

-11,000? Why?

She's going to leave him, she said. His wife.

You have enough food for a week.

-A week or less?

-Four days.

Four days. Fantastic.

So, what have your children been eating?

These things. Spaghetti.

Noodles? Pot Noodles?

Has she been angry because of that, because of the food?

Do you think she's being fair or unfair?

CAR HORNS BEEP

Do you need a hand?

Oh, Kais, I don't know how to help Kais. I worry so much about Kais.

His situation is so bad.

We need to talk to him.

Maybe you could talk to him. Tell him.

And Kais? Could Kais wake up?

Kais has nothing.

She's not talked about the threat ever since?

Your wife hasn't talked to you about the threat of leaving you again?

Is it all forgotten now?

What's she saying?

Hi, I'm Sean.

Come in.

'There's a moment of hope

'when Kais' assistant stumbles across the only two tourists in town

'and manages to almost get them in the office.'

-OK, OK.

-OK, you are welcome. Thank you.

-OK, good night!

-Good night.

No?

They didn't arrange the trips?

Each night, Kais will escape his problems at home

by coming to my room to chew.

Do you normally feel scared living here?

But before?

Everybody's all the same situation, not just you.

Yeah.

Is no-one going to come here until the revolution's finished?

No?

Why?

What happened?

Who is going to make big problems?

-They're going to attack the camp?

-Yeah.

-Tonight?

-Yes, I think.

CHANTING IN DISTANCE

What did they do to the place?

That's the shot.

-Last night?

-Yes.

SEAN SIGHS

'The attack had happened on the perimeter of the camp

'about a kilometre from Change Square.'

-This is where they attacked last night?

-Yeah.

Would you say this is war?

Freedom fighter?

It's scary.

No, I'm independent, from England,

but hopefully we'll get something on.

Why?

-MOBILE PHONE RINGS

-Who's that?

Shit. Hello?

Hi. Oh, my God, it's my kids. Hi, how are you, Harry?

Tell him to stop swearing.

Oh, please. I asked George to be a good boy while I was away.

-He's been beating up the other one.

-Oh.

Is that still another entrance, or is this the camp still now?

-That's the new camp up there?

-Yeah, further.

See this hole, and that one. In the side.

See? This is the bullet.

-The bullet's still in the phone?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-Oh, my God.

That's one bullet.

Oh, my God.

THEY SHOUT AND CHANT

'On the front line, the youth were trying to take back

'the streets that they'd lost the night before...

'whilst in the centre of the camp,

'women and children had returned, undeterred.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MUSIC: National Anthem Of Yemen

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

CHEERING, APPLAUSE AND GUNFIRE

This is shooting.

SHOUTING

GUNFIRE CRACKLES

MUSIC STARTS

GUNFIRE CRACKLES

They're shooting?

-Yes.

-Huh?

PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM BLARES

Don't let them see the camera. They'll shoot me!

Give it to me.

Is it people or soldiers?

-Police.

-Police?

GUNFIRE RATTLES

-It's very scary.

-Yes.

-For English people, yes.

-Yes.

-THEY BOTH LAUGH

What?

SIREN BLARES

What is?

Can we...? Can we move down there, then?

Why?

Just for safety reasons.

SIREN BLARES

Gas, gas?

This is gas.

Look.

Protecting the protesters.

THEY SPEAK IN ARABIC

Hold on.

SIREN BLARES

-Look.

-Wow.

-Salaam.

-Salaam.

-Salaam.

-Salaam.

We don't know the type of gas, but what we have found...

We have found the signs and symptoms of nervous system problems.

But unless you know what gas it is, you cannot treat it?

Yeah, that's the problem which we are facing now.

We have people dying, not because of the nerve gas, actually

but we have people dying because of gunshot wounds.

You've seen me there before - I met with your conversation there.

I got... I filmed you before?

That... It happened there. It happened.

-Here, one rubber bullet.

-Yeah.

-And another rubber bullet here.

I'm telling them,

"You take money to kill me? I'm giving blood to leave you...

"To give you a life, a good life."

I don't...

I don't afraid about guns or machine guns or Ali Abdullah Saleh himself.

CALL TO PRAYER

Salaam, Ali.

But, before, you were more cynical, more sceptical of the opposition.

I wasn't scared, just...

Not scared, sceptical. Questioning.

-Yes.

-You were not... You didn't believe it completely.

That's what I believe.

They already know, er...your face.

They will come to your hotel.

I come from this way, I come from THIS way. No.

In this hotel?

Two. Shit.

What did you say?

Good.

Do you think that these problems you have now will be any different?

No, with or without the dictatorship.

Yeah, of course.

In other words, do you think democracy makes any of this easier, or do you think it...?

-Of course.

-There's still poor people in democracies.

But when I met you, you never blamed the President for any of this.

Now, when you're coming out of the...

camp.

-Is it not...?

-CAR HORN HONKS

Can you not...? I mean, I...

Can you point the finger at him, or is that to simplistic?

CAR HORN BLARES

I mean...

Why didn't you say that when I first met you?

HE SIGHS HEAVILY

You need to go to which office?

Why?

They got my what?

So?

Yeah.

Who said that?

From the protesters.

I need to get my website down,

tell them to take it down in case they check on the internet.

SEAN LAUGHS

CHEERING AND WHISTLING

'Record crowds had gathered in Change Square

'to celebrate a major development of the revolution -

'the defection of two of President Saleh's most senior generals.'

Was that important? Really important?

CHEERING AND WHISTLING

PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM BLARES

THEY SPEAK IN ARABIC

THE CROWD CHANTS

'This, the most insulting of Arab gestures,

'was the emblem of the end of Saddam Hussein's reign.

'Now it seemed it was Saleh's turn.'

CHEERING AND WHISTLING

'As news broke that Libya was falling,

'the camp was victorious that Yemen would be next.

'But the government, desperate to quell the protest, had encircled us

'and were attacking anybody leaving the camp.'

Some guys, they came from behind her and they smacked her head.

On the back of her head.

And they tried to remove the veil.

Her life, even whatever they do, is for the revolution till the end.

Yeah, hold on. Salah for you.

Salah, hi.

Yeah, I'm good, I'm good.

I'm a bit worried

that things are turning bad.

They... They want us... They're trying to get us to go.

WINDOW WHIRRS

-There's no-one behind us, no?

-No.

Just come to the room.

Journalists, they're kicking out.

HE SIGHS

Oh, my God.

How is the cameraman? Is he OK?

No. He died.

He's dead? He's dead?!

How you doing? It's Sean.

Good. We can talk, right?

Is it definitely true

that four people - four people - were kicked out?

I don't know.

I mean, half of me thinks, "Carry on"...

and the other half of me...

Hmm...

'People are getting shot and they're getting beaten up.

-'And it's not very nice.'

-Yeah.

'And I wouldn't like to be in it, but my dad's going to go...

'and be in it.'

I'm sorry.

'People who are fighting actually for their country should go in it,

'if they want their country to be a better place.

'But other people who are, like, just trying to see the stuff,

'they should just go away, because they're not even doing anything.

'And if they get killed, it's their own fault,

'they shouldn't have went there.

'But you don't want to die.'

Pretty dangerous to film.

Yeah.

-They're about to do a massacre.

-Yeah.

CALL TO PRAYER

CROWD CHANTS

EXPLOSION

GUNFIRE

-What is it?

-Voices.

SIREN BLARES

GUNFIRE

SIREN BLARES

-More live bullets?

-Yeah.

-He's dead already?

-No, he's dying.

-He's dying now?

There's nothing you can do?

-It's in his neck?

-Have you seen, yes?

That is outlet. That is outlet.

-Did you see?

-I can't believe it.

We have now tens of dead people

killed by this, er...

-Murderers.

-By murder, yes.

You see? They have murdered many, many patients now.

All this on top, on the head, on the neck, on the chest,

-killing people.

-Shooting to kill?

Yes, shooting to kill people, not to injure, not to stop them,

to tell them it's injure them in the brain and the neck and the chest.

You see? They are everywhere. Everywhere, look.

All this around - in the head.

So we are calling people over the world, if there is humanity,

they have to help these Yemeni people from this killer man.

This is murder. I think you have to do it now. Please.

They're carrying the bodies out.

They've put some bodies in the mosque?

-To the people?

-Yeah.

Yesterday was so peaceful and quiet in this room, wasn't it?

Can they keep it peaceful after this?

Has he just buried him?

-Yeah.

-How old was he?

Do you think he will go soon?

Well...

Are you helping today? Do you have...a relative?

Really? How old?

-Paying the price?

-Yeah.

-This is the price of freedom?

CALL TO PRAYER

HE BECOMES TEARFUL

Are you nervous and angry, or are you nervous and scared?

-Believe me, not scared.

-Why are you not scared?

The West don't really see things so much like, er...

You will tell them that this is...

CROWD CHANTS

FANFARE ON PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM

ROUSING SONG ON PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM

Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing by Red Bee Media Ltd