ROAD TO HEAVEN - Action/War Drama
Screenplay: 117 pages.
Synopsis: 2007, Baghdad. In a crowded mosque, AHMED, 23, is handed a rolled up praying carpet and leaves before the service starts. In the carpet is a route map.
Under the command of Staff Sergeant Trevor Logan, a U.S. Marines unit goes on a new patrol route. The mood is good in the Humvee, finally, after 23 months, the Marines are scheduled to go home. On a secluded road they surprise insurgents, kill two - only Trevor sees the third one in the bushes...
JOHN LOGAN, a Kansas carpenter and Vietnam vet, reenlists to avenge his son. He is assigned to accompany an intelligence officer, REID, to transfer a prisoner from southern Iraq to an undisclosed location. But Reid seems to have different plans for the insurgent - Ahmed. When they run into a Shiite ambush, Reid disappears and their Humvee gets blown up. Logan saves Ahmed from the flames and they end up fighting together for their lives. Nevertheless, Logan is determined to bring Ahmed to justice, and they start on foot along the Tigris river toward Baghdad. Logan learns that Ahmed lost all his family in a massacre while studying in London, and that soccer, football as everyone calls it, is Iraq's favorite sports. Ahmed learns about Trevor -- learns how he died...
Ahmed realizes it first... Consequently at night he overwhelms Logan and now takes him hostage. But when they arrive at the safe house in Baghdad that once accommodated Ahmed's group, there is a new host: Al Qai'da in Iraq (AQI) - known for their cruel webcast beheadings. In a sudden change of heart, Ahmed kills three AQI men, and once again he and Logan fight together for their pure survival. This time, however, AQI, the house, as well as Logan and Ahmed have been watched by an U.S. operational group following them to a war-neglected park. After all that happened, Logan wants to set Ahmed free, while Ahmed wants to surrender. Silenced shots hit Ahmed. Returned, Reid is commanding the operational group whose plans they have foiled. Dying, Ahmed admits that he blew the bomb that killed Trevor's patrol, though it was intended for a Shiite militia leader... In his culture, Ahmed explains -- even if someone gets killed accidentally, his family has the right to avenge. Logan sighs, “Is there no forgiveness in your culture?”
“Yes, there is,” Ahmed answers weakly, “Is there in yours?”
It takes Logan a moment to comprehend the gravity of his answer...
Back in Kansas, Logan's 8-year-old grandson spots a picture at Logan's memory wall, showing Ahmed and his family at a happy occasion. This picture, Logan explains, was all this man had left of his family when he died. -- He wanted me to have it...
Screenplay Synopsis
Road To Heaven