12 Monkeys Page #9

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CAPTAIN:

(frowning, GERMAN, subtitled)

German! Speak German! What are you

doing here?

VOICE (o.s.)

(pleading in English)

I gotta find 'em. I gotta find 'em.

Please, you gotta help me!

COLE turns, sees...

It's his friend, JOSE, the Puerto Rican kid from the next cell in

the "underground" time. He's being carried past COLE now on a

stretcher, blood all over his torso, horribly wounded.

COLE:

JOSE!

JOSE:

Cole! Oh, God, Cole, where are we?

JOSE reaches out to COLE just as a PHOTOGRAPHER takes a FLASH

PICTURE of the kid being carried off on the stretcher. SUDDENLY,

SHOTS RING OUT. COLE goes down. Hit in the leg!

SOLDIERS in gas masks rush past him like giant insects.

Looking to his left, COLE sees the CAPTAIN lying beside him, dead

from a chest wound, his gas mask half off.

COLE is reaching for the mask when...

A SHELL HITS CLOSE BY WITH AN ENORMOUS EXPLOSION.

EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - NIGHT

Stunningly quiet. We are on a placid campus looking at the

dignified architecture of Breitrose Hall. MOVING IN we FOCUS ON

a large poster advertising "The Alexander Lectures, Spring 1995".

WE SKIM the listings (Jon Else on The Nuclear Agony, Dr. Andrew

Miksztal on Biological Ethics, etc.) until we SETTLE ON...

DR. KATHRYN RAILLY

MADNESS AND APOCALYPTIC VISIONS

MAY 17

INT. AUDITORIUM/BREITROSE HALL - NIGHT

A large screen dominates the auditorium stage. On the screen is

a slide of an engraving from the Middle Ages showing a MADMAN in

apparent agony, his mouth shaped to a scream, as he is restrained

by PEASANTS. The projector ZOOMS slowly in on the agonized FACE

of this MADMAN as we HEAR RAILLY'S VOICE lecturing.

RAILLY'S VOICE (o.s.)

According to the accounts of local

officials at that time, this gentleman,

judged to be about forty years of age,

appeared suddenly in the village of Wyle

near Stonehenge in the West of England in

April of 1162. Using unfamiliar words and

speaking in a strange accent, the man made

dire prognostications about a pestilence

which he predicted would wipe out humanity

in approximately 8OO years. Deranged and

hysterical, the man raped a young woman of the

village, was taken into custody, but then

mysteriously escaped and was not heard of again.

WE DISCOVER RAILLY, six years older now, standing at a lectern

in a pool of light. She's dwarfed by the giant screen where the

engraving is replaced by a series of slides of woodcuts showing

scenes of pestilence in the Middle Ages as she lectures to an

audience of mostly SCHOLARLY TYPES.

RAILLY (cont.)

In 1841, Mackay wrote, "During seasons

of great pestilence, men have often

believed the prophecies of crazed

fanatics, that the end of the world was

come." Obviously, this plague/doomsday

scenario is considerably more compelling

when reality supports it in some form,

whether it's the Bubonic Plague, smallpox,

or AIDS. In addition to these "natural"

contagions, there are now technological

horrors as well:
besides radiation,

consider our lurking fear of germ

warfare and its close approximation,

chemical warfare, which first reared

its ugly head in the deadly mustard

gas attacks during the First World War.

ON THE SCREEN, a SERIES of SLIDES show images of WORLD WAR I

SOLDIERS in gas masks, in death throes, etc..

RAILLY'S VOICE (cont. o.s.)

During such an attack in the French

trenches in October, 1917, we have an

account of this soldier...

ON THE SCREEN, a slide of an old deteriorated photograph shows

JOSE, the Puerto Rican kid, strapped to a stretcher, being carried

by SOLDIERS through the trenches during an attack. JOSE appears

to be ranting madly as the projector ZOOMS CLOSER on his face until

the image approximates Munch's famous painting.

RAILLY'S VOICE (cant. o.s.)

-- who, during an assault, was wounded

by shrapnel and hospitalized behind the

lines where Doctors discovered he had

lost all comprehension of French but

spoke English fluently, albeit in a

regional dialect they didn't recognize.

The man, although physically unaffected

by the gas, was hysterical. He claimed

he had come from the future, that he was

looking for a pure germ that would

ultimately wipe mankind off the face of

the earth in the year... 1995!

The AUDIENCE gives a nervous CHUCKLE.

ON THE SCREEN, a different old photograph of JOSE. This time

he's in a military hospital, gaunt, haunted, very ill.

RAILLY'S VOICE (cont. o.s.)

Although seriously injured, the young

soldier disappeared from the hospital

before more data could be gathered. No

doubt, he was trying to carry on his

mission to warn others, substituting

for the agony of war...a self-inflicted

agony we call the "Cassandra Complex".

As RAILLY continues, we SCAN the AUDIENCE and DISCOVER MARILOU MARTIN,

RAILLY'S friend, and MARILOU'S HUSBAND, WAYNE CHANG, both listening

attentively. Further away, another MAN listens intently. A MAN with

shoulder-length carrot-colored hair. His name is DR. PETERS.

RAILLY (cont.)

Cassandra, in Greek legend you will recall,

was condemned to know the future but to be

disbelieved when she foretold it. Hence,

the agony of foreknowledge combined with

impotence to do anything about it.

INT. RECEPTION ROOM - AN HOUR LATER (NIGHT)

A stack of new books. THE DOOMSDAY SYNDROME, Apocalyptic

Visions of the Mentally Ill by Dr. Kathryn Railly

Surrounded by enthusiastic members of the audience, RAILLY is

seated at the table signing books but DR. PETERS has her ear.

DR. PETERS

I think, Dr. Railly, you have given

your alarmists a bad name. Surely

there is very real and very convincing

data that the planet cannot survive the

excesses of the human race: proliferation

of atomic devices, uncontrolled breeding

habits, the rape of the environment, the

pollution of land, sea, and air. In this

context, isn't it obvious that "Chicken

Little" represents the sane vision and

that Homo Sapiens' motto, "Let's go

shopping!" is the cry of the true lunatic?

DR. PETERS smiles self-importantly at RAILLY as an elderly

disheveled PROFESSOR elbows in front of him.

DISHEVELED PROFESSOR

Doctor Railly -- please! I wonder if

you're aware of my own studies which

indicate that certain cycles of the

moon actually impact on the incidence

of apocalyptic predictions as observed

in urban emergency rooms and...

As the PROFESSOR babbles, MARILOU MARTIN and her husband, WAYNE

CHANG, appear and whisper...

MARILOU:

You were great.

RAILLY:

You're leaving?

MARILOU:

The reservation's at nine thirty --

it's getting late.

DISHEVELED PROFESSOR

Doctor Railly -- please -- this is very

important!

WAYNE CHANG:

(checking the professor)

You sure you're gonna be all right?

RAILLY:

(smiles, checks her watch)

I'll be there in twenty minutes.

DISHEVELED PROFESSOR

Dr. Railly, I simply cannot understand

your exclusion of the moon in relation

to apocalyptic dementia...

EXT. PARKING LOT/BREITROSE HALL - NIGHT

A full moon.

COLLEAGUES in a VOLVO pull out of the parking lot, calling,

"Congratulations" to RAILLY.

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