Author: G.I. Joe

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Devils’ Division

Film Treatment: Devils’ Division
Written by: Joseph C. Jukic
Starring: Mike Jukic, Joe Jukic, Bruno Jukic, Marko Boskovic
Genre: War Drama / Historical Tragedy
Runtime: Approx. 120 minutes

Logline:

Four Croatian brothers join the Devils’ Division—a notorious volunteer unit fighting alongside Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front. As they march into the Russian inferno of Stalingrad, each man confronts his loyalty, morality, and mortality in a war that devours everything.

TITLE MEANING:

“Devils’ Division” refers to the 369th Reinforced Croatian Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the “Devil’s Division” by the Germans. Formed in 1941, it was the only non-German unit to serve under the Wehrmacht’s direct command at Stalingrad.

ACT I: THE PLEDGE

Zagreb, 1941 – The newly formed puppet state of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) allies with Nazi Germany. Four brothers—Ivan (Mike Jukic), a loyal nationalist; Stipe (Joe Jukic), a quiet poet-turned-soldier; Zvonko (Bruno Jukic), a brutal realist; and Petar (Marko Boskovic), an idealistic Catholic—enlist in the 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, eager to fight communism and prove Croatia’s strength.

They are sent to boot camp under harsh German officers and Croatian Ustaše loyalists. There, they meet Captain Schulz, a cold, calculating Wehrmacht officer who sees them as expendable tools.

In a powerful church scene, the brothers swear loyalty to God, Croatia, and the Axis—each with different motivations.

ACT II: INTO THE ABYSS

Summer 1942 – Russia

The Devils’ Division advances through Ukraine, witnessing scorched villages and mass graves. Petar begins to question the morality of their campaign. Stipe writes poems in secret, hiding them in his rifle stock. Ivan remains steadfast, even as Zvonko loots and kills with no remorse.

They cross the Don River into hellfire: the Battle of Stalingrad.

Fighting alongside the German 6th Army, the Croatian unit is sent to Pavlov’s House, Red October factory, and the Volga riverbanks. They are constantly shelled, starved, and surrounded. Frostbite and madness creep in.

ACT III: CRACKS IN THE BROTHERHOOD

As Soviet resistance stiffens, the brothers begin to unravel:

  • Petar saves a Russian child and hides him, violating orders.
  • Zvonko executes a captured partisan woman, fracturing his relationship with Stipe.
  • Ivan receives a letter from home saying the NDH is executing Serbs and Jews in camps like Jasenovac. His patriotic certainty begins to crack.
  • Stipe deserts his post briefly to find a safe place to write. He’s caught and flogged but spared execution when Petar pleads with Captain Schulz.

During a Soviet counterattack, their bunker is overrun. Zvonko sacrifices himself by holding a grenade against an incoming tank. His last words: “We’re not devils—we’re meat.”

ACT IV: FROZEN GRAVES

Winter 1942–1943 – The Encirclement

The German lines collapse. Hitler refuses to let the 6th Army retreat. The Devils’ Division is abandoned—no resupply, no escape.

Petar and Ivan debate desertion. Stipe wants to surrender. Ivan insists they hold the line to the death. A final firefight sees Ivan gunned down, defending a wounded Schulz, still believing in honor.

Petar and Stipe are captured by the Soviets. During a forced march, Petar dies from exhaustion, reciting a prayer as he collapses into the snow.

Stipe, frostbitten and skeletal, survives the gulag. He writes the story of the Devils’ Division on scraps of bark.

EPILOGUE:

Zagreb, 1990s – An old man (Stipe) watches Yugoslavia fall apart again. He sits in a church, holding his lost brothers’ dog tags, now tarnished relics. A young Croatian soldier asks if the story of the Devils’ Division is true.

Stipe replies: “We were devils, yes… but not by nature. By command.”

THEMES:

  • Brotherhood vs ideology: What happens when family loyalty collides with political extremism?
  • Blind patriotism: The cost of following orders under false flags.
  • The dehumanizing nature of war: How men lose their souls in the machinery of history.
  • Faith, guilt, and redemption: Especially for Petar and Stipe, torn between Catholic values and Nazi allegiance.

STYLE & TONE:

A bleak, brutal war film in the spirit of Come and See, Das Boot, and Stalingrad (1993). Realistic handheld combat sequences are contrasted with haunting, quiet moments—frozen prayers, whispered regrets, the sound of wind over snowy corpses. The score blends Croatian folk laments with dirges of distant artillery.

Tagline:

“They marched to Russia with fire in their hearts. Stalingrad turned them to ash.”

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Janissary

Film Treatment: Janissary
Written by: Joseph C. Jukic
Starring: Mike Jukic, Joe Jukic, Bruno Jukic, Marko Boskovic
Genre: Historical Epic / War Drama
Running Time: Approx. 120 minutes
Title: Janissary

Logline:

In the final days of the Byzantine Empire, four brothers bound by blood and the oath of the Janissary corps rise through the Ottoman military ranks to lead the decisive siege of Constantinople. Torn between loyalty, destiny, and faith, they must overcome treachery, doubt, and their own haunted pasts to fulfill a prophecy centuries in the making.

ACT I: THE BLOOD OATH

1451 A.D. – Rumelia (European Ottoman Territory)

In a bleak Balkan winter, four boys are taken from their Christian village as part of the Ottoman Devshirme system. The villagers scream, the priest protests, but the boys—Milos (Mike Jukic), Jusuf (Joe Jukic), Branislav (Bruno Jukic), and Markan (Marko Boskovic)—are forced into the ranks of the Sultan’s elite: the Janissaries.

Under brutal training in Edirne, they are stripped of names, of pasts, of faith—and reborn as warriors. Jusuf, the most spiritually conflicted, clings to Christian prayers in secret. Branislav embraces Ottoman culture, becoming a fanatical believer in Sultan Mehmed II’s divine right to rule. Markan excels tactically, and Milos proves himself in hand-to-hand combat.

A Sufi mystic named Sheikh Rumi prophesies that the city of Constantine shall fall not to brute force, but to four brothers of two worlds. Mehmed II hears of the prophecy.

ACT II: THE SIEGE BEGINS

1453 A.D. – Outside the Walls of Constantinople

The brothers, now fully grown and elite commanders, ride at the head of Mehmed II’s vast army—80,000 strong—marching on the heart of Christendom: Constantinople.

Inside the city, Emperor Constantine XI prays as the Greek Orthodox Church fractures between desperation and pride. A Venetian mercenary offers help, but it is too little, too late.

The Janissaries begin building a massive cannon—Basilica—capable of shattering the Theodosian Walls. Jusuf questions the siege, disturbed by dreams of the Virgin Mary and visions of his mother begging him to spare the city. Branislav mocks him: “You pray to a god that lost.”

A secret mission into the city leads to a rooftop meeting between Jusuf and a nun-turned-rebel courier, Sister Theodora, who pleads for peace. He falls in love with her courage.

ACT III: BROTHERHOOD AND BETRAYAL

As the siege intensifies, the cannon fires. The brothers lead charges against the gates, facing Greek fire, arrows, starvation, and doubt. Morale begins to crack.

Markan learns of a betrayal within the Janissary ranks—some Balkan-born converts plan to turn on the Sultan and aid the Christians. The brothers are forced to hunt down their own kin. A brutal night of betrayal ends in bloodshed. Jusuf is torn—he lets some defectors escape.

Branislav reports this to the Sultan, who orders Jusuf’s execution. Milos and Markan intervene. They confront Branislav and accuse him of losing his soul. A violent fight breaks out between the four brothers in the shadow of Hagia Sophia.

Branislav walks away, convinced he is the true “son of Islam.”

ACT IV: THE FINAL ASSAULT

May 29, 1453 – Dawn

Mehmed gives the final order: an all-out assault. The Janissaries march as drums thunder. The brothers fight side by side again, storming the breached walls. Branislav dies holding the Ottoman banner atop a tower, struck down by a Christian knight.

Jusuf finds Theodora dying in the rubble of a church. She begs him to save the children. He leads civilians to safety, even as his comrades pillage the city.

Milos faces a Greek champion in single combat within the Forum. It is a brutal, emotional climax—Milos kills him, but not without wounds.

As the red banner of the Ottomans rises over Constantinople, Mehmed enters Hagia Sophia and declares it a mosque. The prophecy is fulfilled.

EPILOGUE

Years later, Jusuf—now living in seclusion on Mount Athos—writes in a journal. “I was a sword of the Sultan, but my soul belonged to two worlds.”

Milos becomes a general. Markan reforms the Janissary corps from within. The scars remain—but so does the bond of brotherhood.

Themes:

  • Identity and faith: Caught between East and West, Christianity and Islam, duty and conscience.
  • Brotherhood vs ideology: Family ties versus loyalty to empire and belief.
  • The tragedy of conquest: Even righteous warriors leave ruin in their wake.
  • Prophecy and free will: Are we pawns of destiny, or do we choose who we become?

Style and Tone:

A gritty historical epic in the vein of Kingdom of Heaven, Braveheart, and The Last Duel. Visceral battle sequences blend with poetic dream visions and moral introspection. Music mixes Byzantine chants and Ottoman percussion. The camera lingers on weathered faces, smoke rising over domes, and the clash of civilizations.

Tagline: “Brothers by blood. Warriors by oath. Torn by conquest.”
Production Note: Potential for franchise or series: Janissary II – The Balkan Rebellions or The Fall of Vienna.

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Cell Phones in the Congo

MOVIE TREATMENT
Title: Cell Phones in the Congo
Genre: Political Action Drama / Humanitarian Thriller
Tagline: “The war behind your screen is about to go global.”
Starring: Joe Jukic, Nelly Furtado, Angelina Jolie, Kanye West
Based on true events—twisted by courage.

LOGLINE

Three rogue UN Peacekeepers—Joe Jukic, Nelly Furtado, and Angelina Jolie—defy orders and race against time to rally an African-led peacekeeping army, with Kanye West as their unpredictable commander, to stop the blood-mineral trade exploiting Congolese children and fueling the world’s cell phone addiction.

ACT ONE: THE FALLEN SIGNAL

Eastern Congo, near Bukavu – UN Peacekeepers Joe Jukic, Nelly Furtado, and Angelina Jolie operate a small, underfunded detachment meant to observe only. But when a drone captures footage of armed rebels forcing children into mineral mines, the team breaks protocol and intervenes, saving a small group of boys.

Instead of medals, they’re reprimanded. The UN command warns: “We’re peacekeepers, not saviors.”

Joe, a Croatian-Canadian ex-journalist turned peacekeeper, is furious. Nelly, who left her music career to fight for justice after visiting Congo with UNICEF, is emotionally devastated by the children’s trauma. Angelina, hardened from years of diplomatic failure, coldly declares:
“If the system won’t save them, we’ll build one that can.”

ACT TWO: A GENERAL WITH A BEAT

The trio sets off on a rogue mission to expose the dirty pipeline of coltan and cobalt—from the mines to the smartphone factories in Asia, to tech giants in Silicon Valley.

But to stop the flow, they need an army. Not mercenaries. Not more Western soldiers. Africa must protect Africa.

They turn to a controversial figure: Kanye West, recently gone dark after a political breakdown and spiritual retreat in Ghana. Joe finds him preaching to a crowd of youth in Dakar, dressed in a cloak, calling himself “Yēsū X”.

Kanye agrees—but only if the army is African-owned, tech-powered, and uncorrupted by the UN or IMF. He wants to livestream justice. “We don’t need donors. We need a revolution… and a signal.”

ACT THREE: OPERATION BLOODLINE

Kanye assembles a legion of Congolese volunteers, ex-child soldiers, Pan-African veterans, and hackers. Nelly composes a haunting anthem—“Echoes from the Mine”—that becomes the soundtrack of resistance. Angelina uses her old contacts to smuggle in medical aid and solar-powered comms. Joe gathers whistleblowers inside tech companies willing to go public.

The enemy is powerful:

  • Multinational companies
  • Corrupt militia generals
  • A private Western PMC guarding the biggest mine, Operation Vulcan, where thousands of children dig in darkness.

The climactic battle takes place deep in the jungle, where Kanye’s legion, backed by grassroots activists, drone swarms, and guerrilla comms, storms the compound. Children are freed. Data is dumped to the world in real time.

As bullets fly and signals rise, a voice echoes over speakers:
“You wanted cheap phones. This is the real cost.”

EPILOGUE: A NEW PROTOCOL

The UN is forced to act. The Congo Child Labor Ban Treaty is signed. African Peacekeeping Forces are permanently established with full autonomy.

Joe returns to writing, penning a memoir: “Blood in the Circuit.”
Nelly opens schools throughout Central Africa, funded by her comeback world tour.
Angelina trains new peacekeepers for the African Union.
Kanye disappears—rumored to be building a solar-powered city-state in Senegal.

TONE & STYLE

Cell Phones in the Congo is a gritty, cinematic exposé with raw realism and mythic rebellion. Inspired by Black Hawk Down, Beasts of No Nation, and The Battle of Algiers, with a modern digital war overlay—where live feeds, viral music, and hacked satellites shape global conscience.

DIRECTED BY

Denis Villeneuve or Kathryn Bigelow

SCORE BY
Hans Zimmer x Burna Boy x Kanye West remixing Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire”.

PRODUCED BY
Participant Media, Plan B, and Netflix Africa

RATING: R (intense thematic content, war violence, child endangerment)

“Cell Phones in the Congo”
You hold the war in your hand. Now watch them fight to stop it.