127 Hours Page #13

CUT TO:

VIDEO:

ARON:

I keep chipping at the rock but

just to generate warmth and give me

something to do. I think it's

making it worse. I know it's

settling more on my arm as I remove

material from it. The area where I

chipped flakes off yesterday has

already rotated down onto my arm.

PAUSE. I can't feel anything.

PAUSE. So I made a great

tourniquet and I tried to cut it

off.

CUT TO:

43.

REALTIME:

We see him pull the elastic neoprene tubing insulation from

the CamelBak. It's stretchy, supple and strong and emerges

like a thin snake. It's perfect. He wraps the black

neoprene around his right forearm 2 inches below his elbow.

Simple overhand knot tightened with his teeth. 2nd knot, 3rd

knot, clips the neoprene with a carabiner and twists 6 times

tight.

ARON:

OWWWWW:

Now real pain in his right arm. Weird smile at the success.

The skin colour separates; fish belly white below the

tourniquet and bright red bunched up crushes of flesh between

the elbow and the tourniquet.

ARON (CONT'D)

Oh yeah. That aches.

He takes out the multi-tool and switches to the long blade.

looks at it. Then he presses the blade and draws it quickly

across his forearm. Nothing. Repeats it harder. Nothing.

No cut, no blood, nothing. He switches to the short knife

and saws viciously at the same point.

ARON (CONT'D)

Sh*t!

He releases the tourniquet and as the blood flow returns a

series of angry red lines establish themselves where he was

sawing. He looks at them.

ARON (CONT'D)

Pathetic, Aron, pathetic.

CUT TO:

VIDEO:

ARON:

The blades are too blunt even to

break the skin. I guess that's the

chipping. It's not even a proper

Leatherman. It's a knock-off one

we got free in a gift pack with a

torch... Mom gave it to me.

LONG PAUSE.

Sis. Sonja, I'm very proud of you.

(MORE)

44.

ARON (CONT'D)

I didn't get to hear firsthand how

your championships went, but I

heard from Mom that you placed very

well at the national competitions,

that you were tenth overall in

speech and debate in the nation.

Hot damn, girl. I'm very proud of

you. Not just for that but for who

you are.

He looks directly in the lens for the first time.

ARON (CONT'D)

I can imagine you in your living

room looking back at me.

CUT TO:

INT. CANYON. DAY.

We see his sister on her living room sofa. The sofa sits in

the open section of the canyon.

CUT TO:

INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.

ARON:

I've been thinking about what my

friend Rob in Aspen says to me

several... frequently.. Several times

that, confusingly,

'It's not what you do but who you

are'.

I kind of got hung up on that a

lot, because I always thought who I

was, was very much wrapped up with

what I did. That I was happy

because of the things that I did

that made me happy. If things you

do make you happy, then they can

also make you unhappy. I think

that's why I found myself being as

ambitious and energetic -

The wind interrupts him and he shivers.

ARON (CONT'D)

(mutters, bitterly)

It's cold... this place is an ice-

box at night... And killing winds.

45.

PAUSE:

ARON (CONT'D)

(he struggles to complete

the sense of the

SENTENCE)

" - to do all the outings that I

did". PAUSE.

As he loses track of what he's saying and then catches up,

the canyon has become noticeably darker. He's oblivious.

ARON (CONT'D)

I did want to say, on the

logistical side of things, I have

some American Express insurance

that should cover costs of the

recovery operation when that does

happen. Bank account balances

should take care of my credit-card

debts. You'll have to sell my

house, Mom and Dad. Possession-

wise, I don't know if Sonja can use

my computer and video camera...

CUT TO:

INT. CANYON. DAY.

He's interrupted by a sudden realization as he looks first

one way up the canyon and then the other. He looks up at the

sky above.

CUT TO:

EXT. SLOT CANYON. DAY. ARON'S POV.

There's an angry looking black motherf***er of a cloud.

CUT TO:

HUGE C/U OF:

A massive crack of noise like the land has split. His eyes

staring up, unblinking, the corridor of light above him

reflected in is contact lenses like mirrors. Suddenly a drop

of water hits his eye like an invisible bomb dropping from

the sky.

CUT TO:

46.

EXT. DESERT. DAY.

We're many miles away, the dust spits as though hit by silent

bullet tracer fire. Raindrops gathering and multiplying,

soaking and bouncing off the desert floor, they skim and slip

into a groove and then another, the slit instantly fills and

water drops crash on the new surface. The spillage spreads

and fills everything near it. We tilt up, the sky is furious

black, and murderous. Lightning arcs across hundreds of

miles.

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