Treatment for a screenplay,

based on the novel Caesar's Druid by Claude Cueni,

published in Germany by Heyne, Munich.

CELTIC WISDOM VERSUS ROMAN POWER

The story of a little big man in the Roman empire.

58 BC: Without permission of the Roman Senate, the completely indebted proconsul, Gaius Julius Caesar, unleashes a brutal predatory war against Gaul. In these dangerous times of radical change, the young Celt, Korisios, an apprentice druid, escapes his war-stricken home to the far-off west together with his pretty but capricious Germanic slave, Wanda.

In the land of the Helvetii, Korisios meets Caesar and enters his service as a scribe. The fates and lives of Korisios and Caesar are bound together in a strange way on Caesar's march to triumphant victories since both of them are favored by fortune. But fortune one day makes them bitter rivals, and Korisios finds himself willing to sacrifice his life for the welfare of his people and the freedom of his beloved Wanda.

Caesar's Druid is a powerful and lively painting of the Roman era, full of passion and adventure, Celtic rituals, and quarrelling gods - brilliantly explored and as thrilling as any mystery.

The author, Claude Cueni, has written over 40 novels and scripts. Caesar's Druid is the product of many years of research.

CAESAR'S DRUID

Treatment for a monumental historical film

by Claude Cueni

Act 1

It is midnight in a holy forest grove. Celtic Druids are making sacrifices to the immortal gods, and as the rest of the tribe looks on, they beg the Gods for help. In the next couple of days they plan to burn down their villages and join the great Celtic exodus westward to the Atlantic. (Floods and famine have uprooted huge masses of people. Now those people are encroaching on Celtic territory from all sides. That is why the Celts decided three years before to migrate.) In holy ecstasy the druid Santonix reveals a prophecy according to which one of them will kill the man who is approaching from the south (Rome) to exterminate the Celtic culture. But in the middle of the ceremony, the wild hordes of the Germanic chief Ariovist attack the Celts, brutally slaughtering them as they flee. Only the crippled apprentice druid, Korisios (18), and his slave, Wanda (18, known as his "left leg"), are not able to escape. And that saves their lives. Thinking they are hidden in safety, they find themselves suddenly cornered by a Germanic horseman. The druid apprentice's dog spooks the rider's horse, and he is flung over the horse's neck onto the knife Korisios is brandishing. The Celtic warrior Basilus sees the young man struggle out from under the dead body of the heavy German. He carries the tidings of the young druid's heroic fight throughout the land, sparking the legend of the "Little Big Man".

Cyclones and roving Germans make Korisios's and Wanda's journey south into a living hell. Finally they reach the Celtic village of the aged chief Divico, who was chosen to lead the Celts to the Atlantic in a few weeks.

Korisios is welcomed as a hero. Basilus apparently arrived there first and has "expanded" the story a little. Only Korisios's slave knows the truth but is silent.

There are a lot of merchants staying in Divico's village. They are all on their way south because they have heard that a huge war will be waged there. The Roman province that borders on the free land of the Celts is now being run by the new proconsul Gaius Julius Caesar who is deep in debt, and it is rumored that he needs a war to straighten out his finances. The merchants want to do some business with the Roman soldiers.

When the great Divico gives the druid apprentice gifts upon their parting, he expects a gift in return from Korisios. Old Divico wants the slave Wanda... Wanda is enraged. Only with great cleverness and some sly words is Korisios able to convince Divico that Wanda would be an unworthy present, indeed a punishment, for him. She supposedly has a miserable character.

Korisios continues to ride south with Wanda. Their destination is the river Rhoadanus where all the migrating Celtic tribes are meeting. One of Divico's druids accompanies them. Wanda is happy that she did not become old man Divico's property and at the same time insulted that Korisios described her so negatively. In the woods, the apprentice druid learns more about plants, their preparation, and their effects from Divico's old druid. The druid warns his apprentice, however, that in the forest of the Carnutes there are many druids wasting away, victims of their own intoxicating herbs. He also tells young Korisios that the gods have not yet decided for or against him. The desire that women and wine awaken in him is still too strong. Indeed, the bodily charms of his slave seem to fascinate him of late much more than the divine verses he has to memorize. Wanda notes this with silent satisfaction.

Korisios and Wanda reach the banks of the Rhodanus at Genava. This river separates the free lands of the Celts from the Roman province. A single wooden bridge over the Rhodanus is all that connects the two worlds. On the northern bank of the Rhodanus, all of the Celtic tribes are coming together to journey to the Atlantic. On the southern bank, there is already one Roman legion stationed..

Young Korisios is curious. He cannot resist the temptation to go over the bridge. Together with his slave (his left leg), he crosses the bridge, entering a formerly Celtic city that is now a Roman city. The customs sentries let him through without difficulty when he passes himself off as a merchant and bribes them. There are hundreds of merchants from all over the world camped outside the city, waiting in their huge tents for the war to break out. Among them is Kretos, a wine merchant from Massilia. A new, multifaceted world opens up for the knowledge-hungry Korisios, a dazzling array of strange cultures, manners, animals, and goods. He enjoys the respect that the druids have among the Romans, for the Romans fear these "magicians" and "seers". And for the first time, Korisios notices that he finds Wanda's physical charms more attractive than the heavenly constellations.

When he tries to go back to the other bank with his slave, he finds that the wooden bridge has been torn down. Thousands of legionaries are securing the bank, erecting walls and towers. In the merchants' camp there is jubilation. Everyone is hoping the Celts will try to cross the river by force thus setting off the war. But the Celts want to negotiate with Caesar.

When the Romans search the merchants' encampment for an interpreter, Korisios offers his services. He hopes that this way he can go back later with the Celtic delegation to the other shore.

Korisios translates the negotiations between Proconsul Caesar and the Celtic delegation. Divico informs Caesar that the migrating Celts are giving way to the Germans in the north and for that reason are headed west to the Atlantic where they have already purchased land. He promises that they only wish to pass through the Roman province and have no intention to settle. Caesar asks for time to think it over. Korisios wants to join the Celtic delegation, but they refuse to take him along because he can be of more use to them as Caesar's interpreter. Distressed and feeling abandoned by everyone, Korisios stays behind with his slave on the Roman bank. It was really not the way he imagined his little jaunt over the wooden bridge would turn out.

Act 2

Caesar is secretly organizing new legions. Because the Senate does not authorize them, he is paying them himself, getting even further into debt. In the camp it is no secret that the totally indebted Caesar badly needs this war. The Celts are considered the People of Gold ("gallia aurifera"). These Celts are migrating and not at war, easy prey for any army. Caesar has nothing against the Celts. He just has enormous debts. He generously distributes gold among his soldiers that he supposedly found in the holy rivers of the Celts, thus unleashing the first "ancient gold rush".

Korisios borrows money from Kretos the Greek wine merchant to bribe the Roman sentries so that he can cross the river at night and warn the Celts on the other side. With two slaves borrowed from Kretos, he slips across the river and alerts the Celt military leader Divico. There are already tens of thousands of Roman legionaries on their way there, and they are all in the thrall of gold fever. But Korisios meets only with laughter. Caesar's plans and delaying tactics are already well known, but a Celt would rather die in a fight than in flight. Thus, Korisios's actions were completely pointless. Returning to the Roman shore, he even manages to lose the two slaves in a hail of Roman sentries' arrows.

Now he is deeply in debt to the Greek wine merchant Kretos. To make up for the damages, Kretos demands the attractive slave Wanda. Once again Kretos has to fight for his slave – and lose face. After all, a slave is only a good, and Korisios is a "master". Korisios doesn't know what he should do. He rides into the holy woods to ask the gods for advice. He prepares the potion of enlightenment just as the druid master had taught him. But the gods deny the young apprentice an audience. Korisios experiences a horrible drug trip and awakens in his vomit. He can barely move at all and stammers unintelligible nonsense. One of Caesar's auxiliary riders finds him. He is called "Vercingetorix", some fallen Celtic prince who now rides with his retinue for Caesar. He sees Korisios's gibberish as a prophecy. Out of thanks, Vercingetorix gives Korisios an amulet.

Three days later, Korisios wakes up in the tent of the Arab merchant, Niger Fabius, and realizes that he can expect neither advice nor help from the gods.

When Niger Fabius is found strangled to death soon afterwards, the indebted Korisios is suspected of it. Kretos the wine merchant gives him an alibi with the condition that he enter Caesar's service as an interpreter and inform him from then on about troop movements. Begrudgingly Korisios accepts.

Caesar's time to think is over. At a second meeting, Caesar tells the Celts that Rome cannot allow them to pass through the Roman province. The Celts are angered because they have lost a lot of time due to Caesar's delaying tactics. In the Celtic camp disease is already rampant because of the miserable hygiene conditions. The Celts, however, respect the Roman decision and decide to take the difficult detour through the Celtic gorges. This way also leads to the Atlantic but not through the Roman province.

Caesar is enraged that the Celts are avoiding confrontation. Even though the Senate in Rome specifically forbade it, he leaves the Roman province with his legions and pursues the Celts through free Gaul.

Together with Wanda and his dog, Korisios accompanies the Roman legions through the Celtic wilderness. There are no maps, only the merchants' exaggerated horror stories. For the somewhat intimidated Romans, the intimidating Celts, who even hold the much-feared Germans as slaves, are a nightmare. In the woods, they come across blood-smeared oaks with naked bodies hanging in their branches, sacrifices to the gods.

Caesar's march-hardened legions, however, proceed much faster than the ponderous wagon train of the Celts. But Caesar takes his time, in order integrate his newly recruited legions with the already existing one. And to justify his invasion of free Gaul in Rome, he needs a written petition for help from a Celtic tribe. For this he sends Korisios with a few scouts to the Celtic tribe of the Aeduans. They are supposed to ask Rome for help in order to legitimize Caesar's illegal attack on free Gaul.

Along the way, the attractive Wanda awakens the desires of the Roman scouts. To protect Wanda from a mass-rape, Korisios promises the men a divine drink that is better than any woman in Gaul. After he has prepared the drink, Korisios brings Wanda into safety. When the potion has cooled off, the men drink it and are immediately given huge erections and high blood pressure. Like wild animals they go at each other. During this, one slave rapes a young tribune. All the men die of heart attacks, strokes and epileptic fits. Except the black slave. He robs the corpses and flees. Wanda upbraids Korisios for this, too. For his part, Korisios is upset that his slave is getting more and more uppity and rebukes him every time he saves her. In anger he announces that at the next market they come to he will sell her.

As Caesar demanded, Korisios visits the Haduans with his slave Wanda and rides back to Caesar with the "made-to-order" help petition. Along the way he spends the night with the Celtic rear guard that has lost track of the main group a little. In the middle of the night, they are surrounded by Caesar's advancing army and slaughtered. Korisios and Wanda flee and are pursued by Celtic auxiliary horsemen in Caesar's service. Korisios is only able to save himself by humiliatingly shouting "Ave Caesar" over and over. The leader of the auxiliaries is Vercingetorix. He recognizes the amulet on Korisios's chest and escorts him to Caesar's camp. Korisios's appearance amazes Caesar's officers who suspect him of murdering the scouts he left with. But Caesar decides that Korisios's return is the best proof that he is loyal and had nothing to do with the massacre of the scouts. Because of that, Caesar grants Korisios a wish. Korisios asks for the life of the black slave who is hanging on a cross in front of the tent. It is the slave who had violated the young tribune but had also not betrayed Korisios. The Romans decided to crucify him because he was going in the "wrong direction", and that with the Tribune's dagger. Caesar reacts angrily to Korisios's request and has the slave executed immediately.

Caesar carries his private war farther into free Gaul (Land of the Celts) and begins dictating his justifying text "De Bello Gallico" ("The Gallic War") to the Roman Senate. During this time, the two men, Caesar and Korisios, become closer and closer. They both command a huge amount of knowledge and believe themselves to be favored by the gods. Korisios enjoys his rise in the hierarchy of Caesar's army. In Celtic society, this ascent would not have been possible for him because of his low birth.

With his well-organized armies, Caesar crushes all of Gaul. The eternal feuding of the Celtic tribes makes victory easy. One group of Celtic nobles is elevated by Caesar to kings and allies, another is turned into slaves and beggars. Caesar's fate becomes more and more Korisios's fate. Caesar's survival ensures Korisios's survival. Frequently neither knows if he will survive the next day. On the eve of an apparently hopeless battle, Korisios and Wanda – with death in sight – sleep together for the first time. But once again, the gods stand by Caesar.

Korisios and Wanda are engulfed in mad passion that sexually, too, bursts the bonds of common experience.

Wherever the Roman legions camp for more than a few days, trade blossoms. Korisios prepares the economic reports Kretos the wine merchant required of him and pays off his debts. For Caesar he now prepares the periodical justifications to the Roman Senate. Caesar's staunchest adversaries remain the druids. For the Romans bring with them writing as well, the book and knowledge for everyone. The druids, the Celts' "living books", fear for their power and survival. Because of that they try to talk Korisios into an attempt on Caesar's life. They remind him of the prophecy.

One night, Korisios is called into the Proconsul's tent. Caesar is lying weak in mud after an epileptic fit. Korisios believes that the prophecies are now being fulfilled and that he must kill the tyrant. He mixes a holy tincture to kill Caesar. But Caesar recovers and believes it to be the deed of the young druid. Yet it was once again Korisios's inability that caused him to fail. Caesar makes Korisios his closest confidant, and to a MEDICUS. He becomes CAESAR'S DRUID. For Korisios this is yet another sign from the gods. They guided his hands as he prepared the tincture and decided for Caesar. In Korisios's mind there is now no question that Caesar is indeed favored by the gods. But Korisios is as well. Caesar and Korisios, it is essentially the struggle of the Roman gods against the Celtic gods.

Together they witness the further calamities of the war.

When Kretos the Greek wine merchant comes to the Roman camp one day because of a tooth ache, Korisios finds himself in tight spot. He has secretly been trading Kretos's goods on his own. According to the debt contract, this is expressly forbidden. The conventional penalty he would have to pay is his slavery. But Roman camp magistrates help Korisios out of his fix and chase Kretos off in disgrace. Once again, Korisios has Roman society to thank for his survival. However, he has now made a powerful enemy out of Kretos!

Caesar has subdued Gaul. He showers his legionaries and officers with gifts, sends enormous quantities of gold and slaves to Rome, and takes the sons of political opponents into his staff. By now every one says that being in Caesar's army is the key to quick riches. At last the resistance in Rome crumbles. When Caesar, swelled with victory, has a bridge built over the Rhine into wild Germania and shortly thereafter lands in Britannia, his popularity in Rome knows no boundaries. For the people of his time, his daring achievements are comparable with the first steps on the moon. Caesar in the meantime has the wealth of a billionaire. He sees the once free land of the Celts as his private province. In Rome, people are beginning to fear him. They consider him god-like, forgive him for breaking the law, extend his proconsulate, and finance retroactively all the legions that he had paid out of his own pocket without the Senate's permission.

However, when Caesar egregiously disobeys the ancient laws on human rights and slaughters and exterminates the Germanic Usipetans, Korisios's Germanic slave Wanda makes an attempt on the life of the proconsul. For Wanda is – and Korisios never knew this – the daughter of a Usipetan prince. For Korisios's sake, Wanda is not executed but sold at the nearest slave market instead. Korisios secretly sends his Greek slave Kretix after her to follow her trail, all the way to Rome if necessary. He should by Wanda's freedom and wait until Korisios has finished his service as Caesar's secretary. But Kretix never returns.

ACT 3

Because of Wanda's action, the handicapped Korisios loses not only "his left leg" but also his great love and his acceptance in the Roman camp. Korisios is transferred by Caesar to Cenabum where he is to work from then on in the office of Caesar's private grain procurer, Fufius Cita. Instead of holy verses, Korisios dedicates himself more and more to Roman wine and tries to contact the immortal gods in his state of intoxication. But even the Celtic gods seem to have forgotten Korisios. He seeks succor in the arms of a prostitute.

But Caesar, too, is at odds with the gods. In Rome, Cato decries the genocide of the Germanic Usipetans and demands Caesar be delivered to the Barbarians. Although he has made all of his spoiled enemies into wealthy men, they show little thanks. Cato's public accusation gives them new fuel. Caesar finds him self more and more isolated, like a god among humans. Roman Senators even encourage Celtic princes to rebel, promising them whole kingdoms for Caesar's head. Caesar is disappointed with Rome. He knows that after his proconsulate has expired, the others will descend upon him like a pack of wolves. And there is no other office around that would further guarantee him immunity.

On the holy celebration of Samhain, Korisios looks once last desperate time to the Gods for help. It is nighttime when the world of the dead and the living become one. But again the Gods are silent. The next morning, the Celtic city of Cenabum is in flames. All the Romans are being killed. Gaul is in uproar. It is the year 52 B.C. A young Arverni whom Caesar had once promised a king's crown, is calling the Celtic tribes under his command to rebellion. His name is Vercingetorix, and as a former auxiliary horseman in Caesar's service he knows the Roman art of war perfectly. Korisios leaves Cenabum and joins the troops of Vercingetorix. The Arverni king recognizes again the amulet that he had given the druid. Korisios draws a map of Gaul with all the supply depots and supply lines. Like every druid, Korisios has an exceptional memory. Vercingetorix uses Korisios's map to lead a scorched earth campaign. He wants to starve Caesar out of Gaul. And he almost succeeds. But when Vercingetorix retreats into the cliff city of Alesia, Caesar brings his troops together again and installs them in a double fortification ring around the city. Now it is Vercingetorix who is being starved. He sends all the children, old people, and women out of the city. Among them is also Korisios. Most die in the first nights between the city walls and Caesar's inner fortification ring. Though a quarter of a million Celts arrive to aid Vercingetorix, Caesar is able hold them off with his outer fortification ring. After a few days, the Celtic reinforcements – facing a catastrophic supply problem, contaminated nourishment, and epidemics – are forced to retreat. Once again Caesar is victorious, not with the sword but with the spade. Once again, hunger defeats iron.

It is Kretix, Korisios's vanished slave, who bribes the roman sentries in order to slip through the inner perimeter and care for his master Korisios. But one morning, Kretix is brought down with a stray arrow. In his dying words, he confesses to Korisios that he did find his beloved Wanda. In Massilia (Marseilles). He says she is the slave of a Greek wine merchant. She is the slave of Kretos!

A few days later, Vercingetorix surrenders. As Caesar rides over the battlefield on his steed, he comes across his old companion Korisios. Next to him lies his dead dog. Instead of punishing Korisios like a solder and having him killed, Caesar grants him his life. For a Celt, that is the most humiliating punishment imaginable!

Korisios then gives himself up completely to wine. He wastes away in the muddy gullies between the grooming parlors and the brothels that are shooting out of the ground like mushrooms. Everywhere there are imprisoned Celts being sold into slavery. One day, Korisios recognizes an old familiar face on the slave platform: his friend Basilus, who escaped the massacre at the beginning of the film. Korisios orders the two children who have been refilling his wineskin for weeks to buy the slave.

Together with Basilus, Korisios heads toward Massilia to buy back Wanda. Kretos the wine merchant has become even more wealthy in the meantime. He would not dream of giving back Korisios his slave. He is out for revenge. He demands the price of Korisios's life! Korisios sells himself to Kretos as his slave to be able to buy Wanda's freedom with the proceeds. Kretos allows them a last night together. The next morning, Korisios dons the brown Tunic of a slave while Wanda goes with Basilus off to Rome. To freedom.

Kretos's hate seems to be limitless. He puts Korisios to work as an accountant down at the harbor. At night Korisios sleeps in a moldy barracks in which no slave lives longer than three years. Years pass.

In the meantime, Caesar has sparked a civil war to get around the repealing of his immunity. Korisios is finished. But one day Kretos calls Korisios to him and orders him to brew him a tincture against toothache. Just as before in Gaul. Skillfully, Korisios uses the intoxicating tincture to stop the toothache. Kretos becomes dependent on it. Thus he also becomes dependent on Korisios. Korisios cleverly uses this to his advantage. He becomes the foreman of Kretos's vineyard. But Kretos demands the narcotic potion more and more often. It is now no longer the toothache that makes him need it but rather the desire for the divine haze that has turned many a druid into its slave. Korisios forces Kretos to name him as his sole heir. Trembling from involuntary withdrawal, he finally agrees. One day when Korisios discovers a silken vexilum in Kretos's cellar that reveals Kretos to have been the murderer of the merchant Niger Fabius back in Genava, he concocts an overdose for his master. Kretos dies. After years of slavery, Korisios inherits Kretos' fortune and receives Roman citizenship.

Korisios has but one wish: to ride to Rome, to Wanda, and to return with her to Massilia. Caesar in the meantime has become dictator for life.

In Rome he is able to find Wanda again. In the house of his friend Basilus, who is now a famous chariot racer. They all want to return to Massilia together.

When they leave the city they run across the dictator Gaius Julius Caesar one last time. It is the Ides of March. Caesar recognizes Korisios and stops his sedan. He mocks Korisios for having constantly prophesized his death on the Ides of March. "They're here, druid, but I am still alive!"

"Yes," answers Korisios, "they're here, the Ides of March, but they are not over yet."

As Caesar ascends the stairs to the Senate, Korisios, Wanda, and Basilus leave the city. A few minutes later Caesar is murdered, fanatical people set buildings on fire, and Rome is once again threatened with chaos and anarchy.

From the ship that sails from Ostia to Massilia, one can see the clouds of smoke rising up over Rome. On the ship are Kretos, Wanda, and Basilus.