The Peacemaker

The Peacemaker is a 1997 action/thriller film starring Academy Award winners George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. It is notable as being the first film released by DreamWorks. The basis for the film was the 1997 book One Point Safe by Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, about the state of Russia's nuclear arsenal. It follows the detonation of a atomic device in Russia; leading head of the NSC Nuclear Smuggling Group to team up with a Military Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel as her military liaison to stop a bereaved Bosnian from carrying out a nuclear strike in America.

Julia: You will not take action without authorization.

Thomas: What do you think I am? Some gung-ho, stupid son of a bitch?

Julia: No, I don't think you're stupid. I think you're a talented solider with sloppy impulse control. And I don't want you provoking an international incident because of a personal agenda.

Thomas: My personal agenda is my business. Now, you're not in Washington anymore. You are in the real world. And in the real world there are nuclear arms heading for Iran. So whether you agree with me or not, get me authorized!

Ken: Colonel, the guy you bagged is Dr. Amir Teraki, Pakistani. PhD in Astrophysics, educated at Harvard.

Thomas: That's right, people. We educated half the world's terrorists.

Julia: Where the hell is my military liason?

Thomas: Colonel Thomas Devoe reporting as ordered, ma'am. I'm sorry about in there. Sometimes, my enthusiasm gets the better of me.

Julia: No problem. Would you like some coffee?

Thomas: I'd love some.

Julia: It's over there.

Julia: So, do you think he set us up?

Thomas: Who?

Julia: Your friend.

Thomas: No.

Julia: How can you be so sure?

Thomas: Because he's my friend.

Thomas: Doctor, you can run your charts and your theories all you want. In the field, this is how it works: the good guys, that's us. We chase the bad guys. And they don't wear black hats. They are, however, all alike: they demanded power and respect, and they're willing to pay top dollar to get it. And that is our highly motivated buyer.

Julia: [enquiring] What about other motivations?

Thomas: [abrupt] Not important to me.

Julia: [direct] Whether it's important to you or not. There are people out there who don't care about money, who don't give a damn about respect. People who believe the killing of innocent men and women is justified. For them, it is about rage, frustration, hatred... they feel pain and they're determined to share it with the world.

Thomas: [sounding bored] Okay, that does me no good. Now, let's deal with the facts at hand. 23 hours ago, General Alexander Kodoroff stole 10 nuclear warheads.

Julia: [forcefully] He's just a delivery boy. I'm not afraid of the man who wants 10 nuclear weapons, Colonel. I'm terrified of the man who only wants one.

Kodoroff: Tom, you still selling stolen cars on the black market?"

Thomas: Hey, Alec, you watched CNN during Desert Storm. You remember the pictures of the nose cone GBU missiles slamming into those trucks? You remember that picture? How it kept getting closer and bigger on the screen? You just about see the faces of those drivers, and then zap. The picture went dead. We didn't get to see what happened next. Well guess what, Alec? You will, you son of a bitch."

Thomas: [to a mortally wounded Kodoroff] Where are they going Aleksandr?

Kodoroff: [defiant to the end] Fuck You!

Gavrich: [recording a message to the world prior to detonating his nuke] I'm a Serb! I'm a Croat! I'm a Muslim! You will look at what I have done and say, Of course - why not - they are all animals. They have slaughtered each other for centuries. But the truth is, I'm not a monster. I'm a human man - I'm just like you, whether you like it or not. For years, we have tried to live together, until a war was waged on us, on all of us: a war waged by our own leaders. And who supplied the Serb cluster bombs, the Croatian tanks, the Muslim artillery shells that killed our sons and daughters? It was the governments of the West who drew the boundaries of our countries - sometimes in ink, sometimes in blood - the blood of our people. And now you dispatch your peacekeepers to write our destiny again. We can never accept this peace that leaves us with nothing but pain, pain the peacemakers must be made to feel. Their wives, their children, their houses and churches. So now you know, now you must understand.Leave us to find our own destiny. [makes the sign of the cross] May God have mercy on us all.

Gavrich: [wounded in a New York church to Thomas & Julia]Who decided that my wife... MY CHILD! should have to die? And for what? FOR WHAT?Who decides for me? They are gone and I'm all alone

Julia: What is it that you want?

Gavrich: I want it as it was...what it used to be

Thomas: Sir, it's not our war.

Gavrich: [glares at him] It is now! [raises his gun to his head...]

Julia: No-! [...and fires]