Land of the Blind (2006)

Donald Sutherland: Thorne

Quotes 

• Joe : You could be Prime Minister in a year, sir.

  Thorne : [laughs]  Do you really think that Junior would ever allow that?

  Joe : Well, he can't stop the people from voting, sir.

  Thorne : If voting could ever really change anything, it'd be illegal.

• Thorne : You're a soldier, Joe. I assume you believe there are things worth dying for? Killing for?

  Joe : Yes sir, I do. But we don't kill innocent bystanders.

  Thorne : Nobody standing by is innocent. I didn't come to violence casually, you know. But you get to a point when you have no choice but to take up arms against your oppressors. It'd be very hard for a thinking man to deny that. Well, actually, I should ask you: Joe, is it hard?

  Joe : Sir, are you calling me stupid or are you calling me a coward?

• Joe : Don't do this to yourself.

  Thorne : I didn't know it was self-inflicted.

• Thorne : [is holding a trial of Maximilian, and is interrogating the First Lady, who has been gagged]  Madame, can you think of any positive contributions your husband has made to this country during his time as president?

  [First Lady attempts to speak past the gag] 

  Thorne : Madame can you think of any reason why your husband should not be put to death for what he has done to this country?

  [the First Lady struggles, but cannot speak] 

  Thorne : Let the record show that the witness was silent. No further questions.

• Thorne : Every day I sit here, the revolution creeps closer and closer to victory. Sacrifice of one man's life is a small price to pay.

  Joe : And you think that one man can make that much difference?

  Thorne : The name "Rudolf Hess" ring a bell?

  Joe : German figure skater?

  Thorne : He was Adolf Hitler's right-hand man in until the Second World War...

  Joe : Yes, I know he was.

  Thorne : ...When the war was over, he was put on trial at Nuremburg with the other Nazi bigwigs. Sentenced to life. And in the city of Berlin, there was a penitentiary. Spandau Prison. That's where they put them. Forty years, he was there. Twenty one of them on his own. Twenty one years, all alone in Spandau Prison. So powerful was the spectre of this one man, that after he was dead, they tore down Spandau. They wanted no trace of him left behind!

  Joe : Nice role model. A Nazi...

  Thorne : I'm just saying 'one man'! One man in his cell, one man in power, one man in the right place at the right time...

• Joe : [Watches Thorne writing a paragraph on his prison wall]  Long slogan today.

  Thorne : I had a big meal last night.

  Joe : Who said it?

  Thorne : Carl Morales. "Second Critique of Oligarchy." You should read it.

  Joe : I'm waiting for the movie. So, he was a friend of yours, the famous Professor Morales?

  Thorne : My mentor

  Joe : I heard he fled. Self-imposed exile, they say.

  Thorne : Well, some say he was dumped into the sea from a helicopter in one of those mid-air interrogations.

  Joe : And what do you think?

  Thorne : Doesn't matter.

  Joe : Doesn't matter what you think, or doesn't matter what happened to him?

  Thorne : Doesn't matter!

• Maximilian II : They'll remember you as a murderer.

  Thorne : They'll remember me as a surgeon! A surgeon who cut a cancer from the body of the State!

• First Sergeant : You going to wear a uniform today Prisoner 7?

  Thorne : You ask me that every morning.

  First Sergeant : I ask you that every morning, and every morning you say no. So, you going to wear a uniform?

  Thorne : No.

  First Sergeant : [Looks at the walls, smeared with Thorne's messages]  You really are a pig. You know that, Thorne? A filthy fucking pig. Give me the regular criminal any day. I've been thinking about it. When you going to give this silly shit up? Hm?

• Joe : This wasn't my first choice.

  Thorne : You wanna go fight terrorists?

  Joe : Yes, sir.

  Thorne : You don't approve of what we do?

  Joe : Officially, sir, I have no opinion.

  Thorne : Then you should look into getting one.

• Joe : I thought you said you'd never live in this gingerbread monstrosity.

  Thorne : Tell me about it. But I'm working all the time, it was easier for me to live here.

  Joe : Running a revolution keeps you busy huh?

  Thorne : You know it's nearly a full-time job. Give me just a minute will you?

  [Goes onto the computer at the desk] 

  Thorne : You know I don't know how anybody wrote anything before there were computers. Can you imagine the struggle that Dickens or Tolstoy must have gone through writing those nine hundred-page novels with a pen?

  Joe : As far as I recall, you once wrote with even less. Doesn't seem like something the revolution would embrace, what with the uh, vegetarian laws and the book burnings... but you didn't bring me here to talk to me about word processors.

  Thorne : No, I didn't bring you here to talk to you about word processors. You refused to sign the loyalty oath.

  Joe : It's an insult.

  Thorne : It's a piece of paper!

  Joe : Exactly.

• Negotiator : Now about your son, you'll be glad to know that after a lengthy search of many years, we've finally succeeded in locating him. I assume you want to see him? Alive? It's a very simple proposition we're offering. We will guarantee the safety of your son, and will arrange regular visits, for you, with him.

  Thorne : In exchange for what?

  Negotiator : Just a few kind words on our behalf.

  Thorne : [after a pause]  Go fuck yourself.

• Thorne : We all gave up something for a better world.

  Joe : You gave up your son.

• Thorne : D'you ever hear about the Oracle that warned Papa Max that one day his wife was gonna give birth to a son who was gonna kill him and destroy the empire?

  Joe : Yeah. I heard that.

  Thorne : And they wonder why Junior is a psychopath! You would be too if your father tried to stick a coat-hanger through your head when you were a fetus.

• Thorne : Ah, you're having second thoughts about the revolution... We are content to let history be the judge!

  Joe : We? Is that the royal we or you and the frog in your pocket?

• Thorne : You want to kill a snake? Cut off its head.

• Thorne : This prison used to be a hospital.

• Joe : How do you remember it all like that, word for word?

  Thorne : My entertainment options are kind of limited.

  Joe : Have you memorized anything else?

  Thorne : Shakespeare, books of the Bible...

• Thorne : Hello Joe.

  Joe : I didn't think you'd remember me, sir.

  Thorne : Look at you, they made you an officer.

  Joe : Yes sir. And I got married too.

  Thorne : Congratulations.

• Thorne : You know, Joe, when our forefathers came to this country, they burned their ships on the shore. There was no turning back.

• Thorne : Study hard, citizen, and soon you will rejoin the general public.

• Thorne : Ladies and gentlemen of the court, look upon the face of evil.

• Thorne : Come. Anoint yourselves.