127 Hours Page #6

INT. CANYON. ON CHOCKSTONE. DAY.

But it follows him down, somehow he's released its latent

energy.

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19.

INT. CANYON. TIGHTER ON ARON. DAY.

He watches the chockstone follow him - not looking where he's

going.

CUT TO:

INT. CANYON. ARON'S POV. DAY.

The backlit chockstone falling towards him consuming the sky.

CUT TO:

INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY.

His arms rise to protect his head but his eyes remain open

and through his fingers we see the next 3 seconds. The rock's

face and his.

It grabs his left hand and flings it against the left wall.

He pulls it away as the rock ricochets against the canyon and

careers towards his right arm which he raises, to compensate

for withdrawing the left, and to protect his head.

The rock smashes the right hand and wrist against the wall

and drags it down the remaining distance. Like a cheese

grater it tears the skin from the back of the hand and the

forearm, decorating the wall. Aron is powerless to stop its

force and he lands on his feet allowing the rock to jam in

front of him with his hand held against the canyon wall by

the stone.

All this happens too quickly. We can hardly register what's

happened as everything stops.

CUT TO:

INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.

Silence. He's standing behind the rock. Like he's in a line

for a bus. Like he's shaking someone's hand. A hand shake

with the canyon. Silence.

CUT TO:

TITLE:

127HOURS

CUT TO:

20.

INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.

Adrenaline, searing, roaring pain and panic.

ARON:

F***, get your hand out of there!

Pulls and pulls, yanks until his shoulder will dislocate, but

nothing moves. Sweat, anxiety flaring, hot pain.

ARON (CONT'D)

SH*T, SH*T, SH*T, SH*T...

Pushing with his left hand desperate to reverse the action;

so simple to undo the moment, to reverse gravity for a split

second and pull his hand out... nothing. Again and again

thrusting up with knees, thighs, pelvis, left arm, head,

neck... nothing.

CUT TO:

INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.

Then slam upwards, harder than ever as though he's run at it

from a hundred yards and it's a door that will surely burst

open.

ARON:

YEEARKGG... UNNNHHH

Air exploding out of his lungs. And then a quiet hollow

sound of the boulder shifting fractionally. A howl of

phenomenal pain -

ARON (CONT'D)

NO, NO, NO, NO, F***.

He reverses the fraction and collapses in sweat and blood,

knees bleeding, good fingers lacerated. But he remains

upright, attached. Unable to physically collapse.

Grabs his shirt and wipes sweat away and goes to drink. He

hula-hoops out of his backpack to get access to the water,

gulps down 3 full throatfulls - stops mid 4th and backwashes

as much as he can into the bottle -

ARON (CONT'D)

No, no... more water.

He caps the lid tightly and drops it into his pack.

ARON (CONT'D)

Relax. Stop. Come on.

He breathes and breathes, taking stock for the 1st time.

CUT TO:

21.

C/U:
WRISTWATCH

Time Check. 3.14pm. Stares at it until it changes to 3.15pm

- the watch is working.

CUT TO:

INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.

He examines the boulder at each point he can reach,

stretching and contorting to see into his crushed and

wretched hand where his thumb is visible above and his little

finger below. No matter how much he touches them, there is

no feeling. He prods up and down to see what feeling is left

and where it stops. Comparing left hand to where the right

hand is trapped to measure the width of his right wrist - now

smaller than the width of his little finger on his right

hand. He can barely get the little finger of his left hand in

the gap. We reverse back on him at each contortion. He

REALIZES -

ARON:

F***! What the f***? How the f***

did you get your hand trapped by a

f***ing boulder? Its crushed, it's

f***ing dying man!

He reaches up and touches the trail of blood, hair and skin

left on the canyon wall as the rock pushed him to where he

is. Looks under boulder, no blood - check.

[He hears the crowd cheering on his headphones. It's been

playing throughout. He switches it off]

He looks above for the first time.

ARON (CONT'D)

HELP! HELLO!

CUT TO:

INT/EXT. PULL OUT OF CANYON. DAY.

... to see the slot canyon, back and back and back, nothing

more than a dry crack in the surface of this massive land.

Gradually his cries for help become inaudible.

CUT TO:

INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.

He unpacks everything with great energy, like a stocktake,

and lays it all out on the surface of the rock;

22.

chocolate bar wrappers and bakery bag with crumbs of

chocolate muffin inside that he volunteered to take away on

behalf of the girls, 2 small bean burritos, cd player, cds ,

extra AA batteries, mini digital video camcorder, small multi-

use tool and 3 LED headlamp.

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