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Tenet · written by Christopher Nolan · 2020
Scene 193 of 275 · ≈ 3 min on screen · Act two
An unnamed intelligence operative, recruited into a shadow war fought through time-inverted weapons and objects, teams with an enigmatic ally to stop a dying Russian oligarch from using technology gifted by a dying future to erase the present.
The Protagonist in his zone of comfort — a skilled, anonymous field operative, competent and confident inside the Kiev operation.
Broken by torture and 'killed,' he needs a new purpose; Fay offers one that transcends the nation-state loyalties that just got his team killed.
He enters the wholly unfamiliar situation of Tenet — the wind turbine, the password test, and Barbara's proof that time itself can run backward.
Mumbai, London, Oslo, and Amalfi — he adapts to the world of inverted physics and Sator's inner circle, paying costs (Kat's trust, his own safety) to get close to the target.
The Tallinn ambush succeeds — he gets what the mission wanted, extracting the plutonium '241' from the armored convoy.
He pays a heavy price for it — Kat is shot, the material is lost to Sator anyway, and he is left not knowing whether any of it mattered.
He commandeers an ambulance to retrieve Neil and Kat from the breach.
Fleeing the scene, Neil explains why he stayed silent about recognizing the Protagonist earlier.
Kat wakes safely; the Protagonist resolves to summon Priya to try to change what's coming.
This scene
The Protagonist makes his way through the crowd, following an elegantly dressed lady... Priya. He takes her by the arm, away from the crowd...
PROTAGONIST
Hello, Priya.
PRIYA
What’s going on? Where’s Neil?
PROTAGONIST
Nursing Katherine Barton. Who
almost died because of you.
PRIYA
What did I do?
PROTAGONIST
It’s what you’re going to do. In
two days you’re going to have me
dangle plutonium 241 in front of
the world’s most dangerous arms
dealer... I want to know why.
PRIYA
You let him get hold of 241?
PROTAGONIST
No. I let him get hold of the
algorithm.
Priya looks at the Protagonist, surprised he knows the term.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Tell me about it, Priya.
PRIYA
It’s unique. The scientist who
built it took her own life so she
couldn’t be forced to make another.
PROTAGONIST
A scientist in the future?
PRIYA
Generations from now.
PROTAGONIST
Why did she have to kill herself?
PRIYA
You’re familiar with the Manhattan
Project? As they approached the
first atomic test, Oppenheimer
became concerned the detonation
might produce a chain reaction,
engulfing the world.
PROTAGONIST
They went ahead anyway, and got
lucky.
PRIYA
Think of our scientist as her
generation’s Oppenheimer – she
devises a method for inverting the
by destroying us, they destroy
themselves.
PROTAGONIST
The grandfather paradox.
PRIYA
Unlike Oppenheimer, she rebels,
splitting the algorithm into nine
sections and hiding them the best
place she can think of...
PROTAGONIST
The past. Here. Now.
PRIYA
There are nine nuclear powers. Nine
bombs. Nine sets of the most
closely guarded materials in the
history of the world. The best
hiding places possible.
PROTAGONIST
Nuclear containment facilities.
PRIYA
Sator’s lifelong mission, financed
and guided by the future, has been
to find and reassemble the
algorithm.
PROTAGONIST
Why did they choose him?
PRIYA
The necessary combination of greed
and ambition. But mostly, he was in
the right place at the right time.
PROTAGONIST
The collapse of the Soviet Union.
PRIYA
The most insecure moment in the
history of nuclear weapons.
PROTAGONIST
And there he was. How many of the
sections does he have?
PRIYA
After the 241? All nine.
PROTAGONIST
Christ. And that’s why you’re going
to do it differently this time.
PRIYA
To change things? So Katherine
won’t get hurt?
PROTAGONIST
So Sator won’t get the algorithm.
PRIYA
If that universe can exist, we
don’t live in it.
PROTAGONIST
Let’s try. You’re going to warn me.
PRIYA
No. I’m not. Ignorance is our
ammunition. If you’d known what the
algorithm was, would you have let
it fall into Sator’s hands?
PROTAGONIST
You want him to get the last
section?
PRIYA
It’s the only way he’ll bring
together the other eight.
PROTAGONIST
I was supposed to steal it, then
lose it?
PRIYA
(smiles)
Mission accomplished.
PROTAGONIST
You used me.
PRIYA
As you used Katherine. Standard
operating procedure. You’ve done
your part.
PROTAGONIST
My part? I’m the protagonist of
this operation –
PRIYA
You’re a protagonist.
(off look)
What? You thought you were the only
person capable of saving the world?
PROTAGONIST
No. But I am. Because I haven’t
told you where he’s assembling the
algorithm, or when.
PRIYA
You’re about to.
PROTAGONIST
No, I’m not. So deal us in.
PRIYA
Why would you involve her again?
PROTAGONIST
She can get close to him.
PRIYA
Does he still trust her?
PROTAGONIST
He thinks she’s dead. But he used
to.
PRIYA
You have started looking at the
world in a new way.
PROTAGONIST
And now it’s your turn. Assuming
she makes it out alive, whether or
not you feel she knows too much...
PRIYA
I can’t.
PROTAGONIST
If you don’t have the authority,
talk to whoever’s in charge of
loose ends. I need your word that
she and her son will be safe.
PRIYA
(frustrated)
What good is someone’s word in our
line of business?
The Protagonist just looks at her. She NODS.
PRIYA (CONT'D)
They’ll be safe. There’s a rally
point offshore at Trondheim. Get
yourselves up there...