Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Hey Creative People! Is it the right time for a remake of "The Prisoners of Quai Dong" by Victor Kolpacoff?

My local public library regularly removes books from its shelves for a variety of reasons. I purchased about 15 boxes of books through the Friends of the Library, a volunteer organization which sells these books to fund efforts to support the public libraries in my city. I've sold, exchanged and given away most of the books in those 15 boxes. Recently, I received an order through my Amazon store for The Prisoners of Quai Dong by Victor Kolpacoff. Before fulfilling the order, I read the book. I can't do a proper review of it, but I wanted to give you creative people out there a heads up that this book may be a productive basis for a play or movie or a graphic novel.


Its absurd, existentialist vibe is like Albert Camus's The Stranger. While it doesn't directly address ideology like Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon, the setting, a military prison camp and interrogation shack, and the characters, convicts, a suspected Viet Cong fighter and military personnel, are certainly reminiscent.

In this blog, I've reviewed at least two non-fiction books which might inform a remake of this story: Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad by Marnia Lazreg and The trials of Abu Ghraib: an expert witness account of shame and honor by Stjepan Gabriel Meštrović. I've also reviewed the film The Stanford Prison Experiment (Kyle Patrick Alvarez, 2015).

A remake might be set in the United States's military base Bagram in Afghanistan. Other settings might be one of the southern Yemen's torture facilities operated by the United Arab Emirates with the participation of United States military and intelligence personnel or similar facilities in Cameroun. Even the real life, broader consequences of the "intelligence" from torture on tactical and strategic decisions tragically continue in Iraq and Somalia. The global battlefield of the United States's War on Terror and the combination of USA special forces and USA client dictatorships allow for a wide variety of settings.

Prisoners, a movie based on the book, was made in 1975, but it does not seem to have any distribution at all. I've not seen it. (If anybody can help me find a copy, please do so!)

A good remake in any of the formats I've suggested would have to figure out how to express the characters' emotions and inner thoughts and motivations without monologues and thought bubbles. Might a movie today make use of social media postings by the characters?

A play or movie would have to preserve somehow the tension of the interrogation room. In the book, hours pass while the interrogator repeats questions in Vietnamese and the suspected insurgent repeats his replies in Vietnamese. Later, more hours pass while the interrogator skillfully cuts the torture victim's body with a small knife. Characters remain in the room, but are in corners covered in shadows. Occasionally, when somebody opens the door, sunlight floods in. A successful play or movie or graphic novel would preserve and/or enhance these sound and lighting effects.

Here's two quotes from the book which stood out:

Nguyen is the South Vietnam Army officer leading the interrogation. Krueger is the American backup translator/interrogator and protagonist.

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"Could he not have something to confess," Nguyen asked [Krueger] slowly, "and still be innocent?"
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Krueger's narration: I sat now in the real world, where the Army thought and made decisions--not where men died, and went mad. I let myself go. The well-painted room was as close to escape as I was going to get.

Updated February 19, 2019: Harold Willis had written a screenplay (also here), which, according to his 2008 obituary, "was also very successful off Broadway." On May 15, 1979, the New York Times published a review. Here's the casting call for the 2018 Prism Stage production, which was performed at The Tank in New York City, November 18, 2018.

I've been listening to a performance of Fyodor Doestoevsky's The Idiot, and this comedic passage made me think about Victor Kolpacoff again:
“My father was just about to be tried when he died,” said the prince, “although I never knew of what he was accused. He died in hospital.”
“Oh! it was the Kolpakoff business, and of course he would have been acquitted.”
“Yes? Do you know that for a fact?” asked the prince, whose curiosity was aroused by the general’s words.
“I should think so indeed!” cried the latter. “The court-martial came to no decision. It was a mysterious, an impossible business, one might say! Captain Larionoff, commander of the company, had died; his command was handed over to the prince for the moment. Very well. This soldier, Kolpakoff, stole some leather from one of his comrades, intending to sell it, and spent the money on drink. Well! The prince—you understand that what follows took place in the presence of the sergeant-major, and a corporal—the prince rated Kolpakoff soundly, and threatened to have him flogged. Well, Kolpakoff went back to the barracks, lay down on a camp bedstead, and in a quarter of an hour was dead: you quite understand? It was, as I said, a strange, almost impossible, affair. In due course Kolpakoff was buried; the prince wrote his report, the deceased’s name was removed from the roll. All as it should be, is it not? But exactly three months later at the inspection of the brigade, the man Kolpakoff was found in the third company of the second battalion of infantry, Novozemlianski division, just as if nothing had happened!”
“What?” said the prince, much astonished.
“It did not occur—it’s a mistake!” said Nina Alexandrovna quickly, looking, at the prince rather anxiously. “Mon mari se trompe,” she added, speaking in French.
“My dear, ‘se trompe’ is easily said. Do you remember any case at all like it? Everybody was at their wits’ end. I should be the first to say ‘qu’on se trompe,’ but unfortunately I was an eye-witness, and was also on the commission of inquiry. Everything proved that it was really he, the very same soldier Kolpakoff who had been given the usual military funeral to the sound of the drum. It is of course a most curious case—nearly an impossible one. I recognize that... but—”

Updated March 9, 2019 - Photos promoting the Prism Stage Company Production

OUR FINAL PERFORMANCE IS TONIGHT. Which means it’s time for our FINAL ACTOR FEATURE. Meet Tadesh Inagaki! Tadesh plays Dr. Mason, a medical officer stationed on the base at Quai Dong. Tadesh embodies Dr. Mason so convincingly you just may find yourself asking him for his professional medical opinion offstage! And Tadesh is an excellent actor, so even if he can’t answer your medical question, he can definitely make something up that sounds relatively reassuring. He also speaks in calm soothing tones that serve him well in emergencies, such as intervening at the end of a days long violent interrogation, or removing a splinter. Come see Tadesh tonight! Bring medical concerns and your friends! • LAST CHANCE: 7 pm. Tickets in the link or at the door of @thetanknyc . Come out and support our wonderful actors. See you all there! • • • • • • • • • • • • • • #theatre #actors #newyorkcity #nyctheatre #doctors #nycdoctors #nurses #medicine #experimentaltheatre #thetank #actors #nycactors #prisonersofquaidong #prismstage #vietnam #photography #filmphotography #film #doubleexposure #35mmphotography #prismstagecompany

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the penultimate actor intro: Joe Gallagher playing our Lt. Buckley. Audience members have expressed being ~scared~ of Joe after seeing him play the Lieutenant, but we promise that Joe is the kindest of humans in real life! He just also happens to be a wildly talented actor who plays a complex, demanding, and sometimes terrifying role with boldness and nuance. Come see his work and experience Lt. Buckley for yourselves! Last two chances, tonight and tomorrow at 7 pm. Tickets in bio or at the door! • • • • • • • • • • • • • • #theatre #actors #newyorkcity #nyctheatre #experimentaltheatre #thetank #actors #nycactors #prisonersofquaidong #vietnam #soldiers #prismstage #fordham #gorams #photography #filmphotography #film #doubleexposure #35mmphotography #prismstagecompany

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on the eve of our first performance post Thanksgiving, we give you Justin Armstrong! Justin adeptly plays the demanding role of Lt. Krueger, whose moral grappling with the interrogation slowly becomes the focal point of the play. Justin’s Krueger pushes us to ask ourselves: Does silence keep us innocent in the face of injustice? What exactly does complicity look like? At what point do we all become dehumanized in the face of violence against another? • Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7pm @thetanknyc Tickets in bio or at the door. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • #theatre #actors #newyorkcity #nyctheatre #experimentaltheatre #thetank #actors #nycactors #prisonerso#vietnam g #prismstage #vietnam #photography #filmphotography #film #doubleexposure #35mmphotography #prismstagecompany

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Prism Stage Company is happy to announce our full production of Harold Willis The Prisoners of Quai Dong opening November 17th. Written in 1971, this play tells the story of an American prisoner of war who is ordered to participate in the interrogation and torture of a young Vietnamese man. A critical examination of the structures and systems of power in war, Willis play dramatically portrays how complicity in the destruction of a human being destroys the humanity in all of us. Starring: Justin P. Armstrong, Joe Gallagher, Tadesh Inagaki, Reed Lancaster, Ral Martin, Gregory Warren, Cody LeRoy Wilson* Directed by Jane Skapek Lighting Design by Emily Clarkson Sound Design by Margaret Montagna Assistant Directed by MaryKate Glenn *Actor Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. Equity Approved Showcase • • • • • • • #theatre #nyc #thetank #prisonersofquaidong #prismstage #prisonersofquaidong

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