Connor Paolo

For half a century, Raymond Devos, that master of words, never ceased to imagine and perform absurd monologues that have become classics. He made generations of audiences laugh with sketches that are still taught in schools today. We propose to evoke his professional career, but also the life of the man beyond the juggler of words. We tell the story using archive footage, personal documents and the testimonies of those who were his friends or became his disciples.

On September 11, 2001, Port Authority Police officers John McLoughlin (Nicholas Cage) got up from a night's sleep at his usual time and got ready for a day of duty. John's wife Donna (Maria Bello) is still sleeping as he heads into work. People use various modes of transport to come into Mahattan. At the station, McLoughlin is in charge of assigning the daily duties to his officers. McLoughlin and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), who are patrolling the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, see a plane fly dangerously low overhead. As all of the police officers return to the station, they see on TV and that the North Tower of the World Trade Center has been hit by a plane. When the plane hit the tower, a shudder was felt even inside the station. Sergeant McLoughlin assigns many of the officers (including Colovito (Nicholas Turturro), Polnicki (Ned Eisenberg), Washington, O'Reilly, Jimeno, Hogart, Bavli, Rodrigues, Giraldi (Danny Nucci), Pezzulo, Stolman, and others) to assist in an evacuation attempt of the still undamaged South Tower and they board a commandeered Metropolitan Transit Authority bus. On the bus, they hear reports that the South Tower has also been hit. McLoughlin informs Lieutenant John Kassimatis (Nick Damici) that while the NYPD is prepared for many kinds of attacks such as car bombs, chemical, biological and so on, but they are not prepared for an attack of this size and scale. They never planned for it and as such there is no equipment with the force to deal with it. There are expected to be 50/60,000 people inside the 2 towers. Jimeno tries to call his wife Allison (Maggie Gyllenhaal), but the phones are not working. When they arrive at the World Trade Center, they realize the extent of the disaster and see one of the first victims to jump out of the towers to a certain death. Paper from the offices inside the 2 towers is flying everywhere and the towers are spewing smoke. Sergeant John McLoughlin, veteran of the 1993 bombing, assembles a group of volunteers to evacuate the towers. Not everyone was keen to go. The group consists of McLoughlin, Jimeno, Dominick Pezzulo (Jay Hernandez) and Antonio Rodrigues (Armando Riesco). They enter the complex through Building # 5, to grab their safety equipment (mainly oxygen tanks and cutters) from the police desk. The men enter the concourse between the towers. An officer named Chris Amoroso (Jon Bernthal) appears to inform them of other events, such as the attack on the Pentagon and the second plane's hit on the South Tower, though the group does not accept this. The group meets Officer Reynolds (Tom Wright) who was also helping with the evacuations. McLoughlin grabs more tanks as spare to help people that they find trapped. As the men prepare to enter the North Tower, the buildings begin to rumble. McLoughlin realizes that the South Tower is collapsing onto them and that their only chance of survival is to run into the service elevator shaft. Chris trips and does not have time to get up. Rodrigues is unable to get to the shaft in time. McLoughlin, Jimeno and Pezzulo manage to escape the huge amounts of dust and rubble flying down from the South Tower. However, as the rubble continues to crush the elevator shaft, the three are trapped. McLoughlin knew that the elevator shaft is the strongest part of the building and hence was their best chance of survival. As the cascade of debris subsides, Pezzulo realizes he can free himself and manages to move nearer to Jimeno who, along with McLoughlin, is pinned under rubble and cannot move. Pezzulo tries but fails to shift the debris covering Jimeno's legs. Pezzulo wanted to go out and find help but is told by McLoughlin not to leave. As Pezzulo becomes optimistic that they will live, the rumbling begins again as the North Tower starts to collapse. Although Jimeno and McLoughlin are not further harmed, Pezzulo is fatally injured when a concrete slab crushes his torso. Pezzulo manages to fire his sidearm once into the air, in an attempt to alert rescuers to their whereabouts just before dying. Jimeno and McLoughlin spend hours under the rubble, in pain but exchanging personal information. McLoughlin continues to communicate on his wireless device but gets no response. Both are thirsty, but there is no water. McLoughlin's knees are crushed together. The duo are buried under several feet of rubble and topside there is absolute mayhem as the 2 towers are completely demolished. The news of the attacks on America reverberates around the world. Several hundred police and fire rescue officers are reported missing and unaccounted for. Allison and Donna have no clue if their husbands are alive or not. Donna is glued to the TV hoping to see McLoughlin. When Building 7 collapses, both men scream and accept their demise, but they survive without further harm. They survive burning gas flares and raining debris, which was also on fire. McLoughlin is particularly anxious to keep Jimeno from falling asleep. Jimeno is bleeding inside, and McLoughlin knows that if he goes to sleep, he may not be revived later. Jimeno also realizes that by straining to grab a metal bar above his body, he can make a noise that rescuers might hear. Two United States Marines, Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon) and Jason Thomas (William Mapother), who are searching for survivors, do hear it and find the men, calling for help to dig them out. Jimeno is rescued first, and then hours later McLoughlin is lifted out of the debris, barely alive. Both men are reunited with their families at the hospital and undergo medical treatment, including extensive surgeries, and McLoughlin is placed in a medically induced coma. In 2003, Jimeno and McLoughlin, both medically retired from duty, attend a celebratory barbecue with their families. The epilogue reveals that both men were two of twenty people found alive at Ground Zero, and they were numbers eighteen and nineteen, respectively. David Karnes reenlisted in the Marines and served two tours in the Iraq War.

The story begins around 285 BC, with Ptolemy I Soter (Anthony Hopkins), who narrates throughout the film. Ptolemy narrates that history made Alexander better than he was. The Persians ruled to the East. Greece was in decline and the Persians bribed Greek kings to fight as mercenaries in their army. King Phillip changed this by uniting Greece under a single King. He built a professional army. The Persians assassinated Phillip, and Alexander came to power. Alexander wanted revenge and conquered all cities of Western Asia and Egypt, where he crowned as Pharaoh. Finally, Alexander took on the Persian empire with the battle at Babylon. In 334 BC, 45,000 Greeks against 100,000 Persians led by King Darius. Hephaestion is Alexander's lover. The Persians have cavalry and chariots, which Alexander counters with legions of phalanxes. Alexander is a skill-full commander in battle. He opens up a hole in the Darius lines by luring one part of his army by offering himself as the bait. The Greek army attacks into the hole, and Alexander almost kills Darius, forcing him to withdraw from the battlefield. Persian empire was destroyed and at the age of 25, Alexander was the King of all. Alexander (Colin Farrell) grows up with his mother Olympias (Angelina Jolie) and his tutor Aristotle (Christopher Plummer), where he finds interest in love, honor, music, exploration, poetry and military combat. Olympias was a sorcerers and Alexander was considered by some to be a son of Zeus. Philip hated Olympias, who never let Philip touch her. Hephaestion & Alexander trained together. Aristotle teaches Alexander that a gay relationship is not natural. Men can be friends. A Man cannot love a woman as she is purely driven by passion. These ideas were taught to him in childhood. Aristotle showed him the way to India and back to Greece. But he also warns that the East has a way of swallowing men's dreams and lives. Which is why Greece has never conquered the East yet. His relationship with his father, Philip II (Val Kilmer) of Macedon, is destroyed when Philip marries Attalus's (Nick Dunning) niece, Eurydice (Marie Meyer). Olympia tells Alexander that the son of Philip and Eurydice will be a pure Macedonian, unlike Alexander, and hence will have first right to the throne. Olympia wants Alexander to marry a Macedonian, or declare civil war against Philip. Alexander calls her mad. She tries to convince Alexander that Zeus is his real father and Philip never wanted him. Alexander insults Philip after disowning Attalus as his kinsman (Attalus had toasted Eurydice as the legit queen and her future sons as the legit Macedonian sons at Philip's wedding), which results in Alexander's banishment from Philip's palace. After Philip is assassinated in 336 BC, Alexander is proclaimed the King of Macedonia in the ensuing chaos. His supporters move quickly, take advantage of the public mood and crown him King, even though Eurydice had a son. Alexander suspects Olympia of being behind the assassination. That was the last time Alexander saw Olympia. He had Attlus, Eurydice and her son killed. Ptolemy mentions Alexander's punitive campaign in which he razes Thebes, also referring to the later burning of Persepolis, then gives an overview of Alexander's west-Persian campaign, including his declaration as the son of Zeus by the Oracle of Amun at Siwa Oasis, his great battle against the Persian Emperor Darius III (Raz Degan) in the Battle of Gaugamela, and his eight-year campaign across Asia. Back in the present, Alexander enters the rich city of Babylon. Alexander meets Bagoas in Babylon and is attracted to him. He treats Darius's queen with respect and grants her the status of his own family. Olympia wants to be brought to Babylon as Queen, but Alexander is not too keen on it. Alexander continues to chase Darius across Persia in 329 BC, and finds his dead body at a riverbed where Darius had been betrayed by his own commanders. Alexander then chased the commanders until he killed them all. All cities that stood in his way were burnt down and destroyed. He marries a commoner from Bactria, a woman of no political significance. The woman was Roxana. After 7 long yrs away from Macedonia, Alexander's commanders don't understand what they are doing so far away from home, building roads and cities for barbarians. Alexander seeks an Asian empire with him as king. They are upset with Alexander marrying Roxana and want a Macedonian heir. The commanders can see that Alexander lusts for war. Also seen are Alexander's private relationships with his childhood friend Hephaestion (Jared Leto), Bagoas (Francisco Bosch), and later his wife, Roxana (Rosario Dawson). Hephaestion compares Alexander to Achilles, to which Alexander replies that Hephaestion must be his Patroclus (Achilles' lover). When Hephaestion mentions that Patroclus died first, Alexander pledges that, if Hephaestion should die first, he will follow him into the afterlife (as Achilles had done for Patroclus). Hephaestion shows extensive jealousy when he sees Alexander with Roxana, and deep sadness when he marries her. Roxana sees Alexander embracing Hephaestion and does not trust him. Olympia warns Alexander not to chase his dreams further east and asks him to return to Babylon or Macedonia to strengthen the empire. Philotas (Joseph Morgan) is found guilty to be leading a conspiracy against Alexander and is executed after trial. Alexander orders his loyal father Parmenion (John Kavanagh) to be executed as well, as Parmenion was in charge of guarding his supply lines to the East. Alexander is shown to sleep with Bagoas. Alexander marches his army of 150,000 soldiers through the passes of Hindu Kush into the promised lands of India. Roxana bore no sons even after 2 yrs of marriage. He reaches India in 327 BC. He finds monkeys, sadhus, rain and forests. He found no gold. The army became restless as even conquered lands were returned to their kings to make them allies. Hephaestion attempts to keep Roxana away from him after Alexander murders Cleitus the Black (Gary Stretch) in India. Cleitus got drunk and started by saying that he wanted to be back in Macedonia. He then insulted Alexander by calling him a lesser King to previous Greeks. He then insults his love for Asia and the barbarians, a woman who cant bear sons. He calls him the son of Zeus, and thus a bastard of Philip and thus his mother a whore. At this point an enraged Alexander kills Cleitus. Cleitus was a trusted general of Philip. After initial objection from his soldiers (40,000 had died in the quest to the East), Alexander convinces them (Alexander killed the commanders of the mutiny and this divided his army) to join him in his final and bloodiest battle, the Battle of Hydaspes against Porus. Porus deploys an army of elephants that trample the core of Alexander's army. Alexander personally leads a charge to rally his troops against the enemy. He is severely injured with an arrow but survives and is celebrated. Alexander orders a return back to Macedonia. Alexander chose the shortest route back through the Arabian desert. This was the worst blunder of his life and many more thousands died on the way back. Back home, he took 2 more wives. Alexander's army was made of Persians and Macedonians. His generals questioned his every decision. While his regional Satraps had dubious loyalties. He orders the construction of Alexandria. Later on, Hephaestion succumbs to an unknown illness either by chance or perhaps poison, speculated in the film to be typhus carried with him from India. Alexander, full of grief and anger, distances himself from his wife, despite her pregnancy, believing that she has killed Hephaestion. He dies less than three months after Hephaestion, in the same manner, keeping his promise that he would follow him. On his deathbed, Bagoas grieves as Alexander's generals begin to split up his kingdom and fight over the ownership of his body. He died on 10th June, 323 BC in Babylon. He was 33 yrs old. Within 40 yrs, the empire was split into 4 parts. Cassander (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) kills Olympias 7 yrs after his death. He then executes Roxana and her 13 yr old son, 6 yrs after that.. Alexander's bloodline was finished. The story then returns to 285 BC, where Ptolemy admits to his scribe that he, along with all the other officers, had indeed poisoned Alexander just to spare themselves from any future conquests or consequences (mixed races with the Asians). However, he has it recorded that Alexander died due to illness compounding his overall weakened condition. He then goes on to end his memoirs with praise to Alexander. The movie then ends with the note that Ptolemy's memoirs of Alexander were eventually burned, lost forever with the Library of Alexandria.