Triage Quotes

Mark Walsh: Two more days man.

David: Two more days, man, but no more.

Mark Walsh: Then we go, no questions asked.

Elena Morales: Do you think you can help him?

Joaquín Morales: Yes. Of course I can help him. I can help anyone.

Dr. Talzani: [Examines Mark's injuries] You took quite a jolt, but you're not paralysed. And it seems there are no broken bones. Legs will be the biggest problem. That's always the case.

[sighs]

Dr. Talzani: Legs, legs legs... for every arm I've amputated up here I've probably taken ten legs. Strange, isn't it? Human legs are just not designed for modern war.

[Long pause: Talzani gives Mark a yellow tag]

Dr. Talzani: Take it easy. Get some rest.

David: Why do war zones always have such miserable food?

Mark Walsh: And you being a Scotsman, you'd know about cuisine would you?

David: Oh here we go...

Mark Walsh: Your entire menu looks like it was made in a fucking war zone!

Dr. Talzani: You were lucky, Mr. Walsh. Very lucky. If there'd been any complications...

Mark Walsh: What? You would have shot me?

Dr. Talzani: Yeah. For your own good. To stop you from suffering.

Dr. Talzani: Beautiful place isn't it? This place is beautiful. You know, in my lifetime alone we had eight wars. Two with the Turks, three with the Iranians, and three with the Iraqis. And if I go back to when my father was alive, or my father's father, each time we've been beaten. That's what we Kurds do best, get beaten.

Mark Walsh: So why do you stay?

Dr. Talzani: Where am I to go, Mr. Walsh?

Joaquín Morales: [Mark has just talked of an early experience as a war photographer involving a young boy's murder] Why do you think this incident affected you?

Mark Walsh: I dunno. Maybe I felt responsible.

Joaquín Morales: Well perhaps if you hadn't been there, he wouldn't have run. The soldiers would not have fired, hmm?

Mark Walsh: [after a pause] I suppose so...

Joaquín Morales: Well that makes perfect sense. You feel that you're responsible because to a great degree, you are. You think I'm too harsh? How many people have you told this story to, Mark? Four? Three? Two? Twenty? And what do they say? "Oh you mustn't blame yourself." "Oh no, it was not your fault." "Oh no, there was nothing you could do." Am I correct? You have looked to others for forgiveness but, as you have discovered, this is something they cannot give you. We cannot let go of the pain, we have to carry it with us forever. That is what it means to live. Now, I can help you to live with this pain. Look at me!

[Mark turns his eyes to look at him]

Joaquín Morales: I am eighty-six years old. I lost my entire family, I lost my parents, I lost my brothers and sisters and I lost my wife. And yet, I am still here, I can still smile, and the world is still, a wonderful place.

Mark Walsh: You must have a lot of regrets.

Dr. Talzani: Regret what, Mr. Walsh? That I spared them a few days of terrible suffering 'cause I have no way of saving them or easing the unbearable pain? You think I kill those poor men because I enjoy it?

Joaquín Morales: You know you sleep very peacefully, theres not a movement, not a wrinkle in your face, just like a baby.

Mark Walsh: Thats a good thing isn't it?

Joaquín Morales: No. If you were thrashing about and muttering to yourself it would mean a problem is close by. But peacefullness, in a grown man, that is not a good sign.

Dr. Talzani: Do you know what Pesh Merga means? It means, "those who face death."

Mark Walsh: Romantic.

Dr. Talzani: Poetic, even. Personally, I've never seen one face death. They all turn away at the end.