A Dry White Season Page #11

BEN:

Anything I can do to help?

STANLEY:

He's got brothers.

BEN:

(surprised)

Brothers?

STANLEY:

I'm his brother, man, we all are!

We'll take care of everything.

(with pride)

That's the African way.

BEN:

Stanley, I'd like to see Gordon.

STANLEY:

Don't look for trouble, man. You

know there are riots all over

Soweto. You're out of it. Why

don't you stay out?

BEN:

Don't you understand? I've got to go.

STANLEY:

(with a mischievous

smile)

You got to go? Of course, Lanie... the

last farewell. But we have to be careful.

INT. STANLEY'S CAR -DAY

Stanley drives sportingly as he talks to Ben, seated in

the back.

(CONTINUED)

58.

CONTINUED:

STANLEY:

We expected it.

BEN:

How can you talk like that!?

STANLEY:

A guy gets picked up by the S.B...

he's part of history, man.

BEN:

You mean you had no hope, you

didn't believe he'd be released?

STANLEY:

Hope's a white word, Lanie... It's

not hope we need.

There's silence for a moment.

BEN:

Well, thank God Emily has you to

lean on, Stanley.

STANLEY:

Emily is like my sister... We go

back many years.

BEN:

Do you belong to the xhosa tribe too?

STANLEY:

I am an African. That's all!

(looking through the

rear mirror)

Comprende?

BEN:

I am an African too!

Stanley turns abruptly.

STANLEY:

What?

BEN:

I was fourteen before I wore shoes

--except for church... I grew up

on a plaas miles from any town...

watching sheep and...

STANLEY:

(interrupts)

Bullshit! Next you'll have me

believing we grew up in the same

country, same laws, same freedom,

same everything!

(CONTINUED)

59.

CONTINUED:

He laughs.

EXT. SOWETO BORDER -DAY

STANLEY:

(like a tour guide)

We are now about to leave the

white jungle and entering the land

of love and glory.

The car approaches a huge perimeter notice:

"YOU ARE NOW ENTERING SOWETO TOWNSHIP. NO PERSON WITHOUT

THE NECESSARY PERMIT IS ALLOWED..."

Ben is driven into a different world; children playing in

dirty streets, in wrecks of cars, open spaces devoid of

vegetables, smoke from large rubbish dumps, burnt-out

skeletons of buses, beer halls and buildings. Clusters

of policemen in battle dress patrolling in the distance.

BEN:

So this is Soweto.

STANLEY:

(like an actor, with

big expansive gesture)

Land of love and glory, Lanie!

(turning suddenly

to Ben)

But watch out for the police and

army. They're patrolling all the

time.

The car follows an isolated broken stretch of tarred road

hill cluttered with rusty tins, cardboard containers,

bottles.

EXT. FUNERAL PARLOR -DAY

A group of young children playing under the blinding sun

in a muddy ditch, notice the big painted butterfly on the

hood of Stanley's car.

They wave and scream at Stanley in their language and he

screams back at them.

Two little girls start running, heading toward the car.

Stanley notices the red VW parked in a corner. He maneuvers

and parks his car nearby.

STANLEY:

(opening door)

Hurry up, Lanie.

60.

BEN'S POV

A modern funeral parlor with its name painted on the side:

"MOROKA FUNERAL DIRECTOR (PTY) LTD."

BACK TO SCENE:

Stanley notices the two little girls with dusty smiling

faces, standing there waiting for him.

STANLEY:

(checking his pants'

pockets)

No sweets today. I'm sorry,

babies.

The children give Stanley a coy disbelieving look as they

watch him go with the "white man."

CHILDREN'S POV

On the doorstep of the funeral parlor: Stanley and Ben

run into a young woman coming out with a shoulder bag

and a camera.

The young woman and Stanley exchange a quick, friendly

greeting --it's MELANIE BRUWER, the Rand Daily reporter

--and keep moving.

BACK TO SCENE:

Ben turns back for a moment. Her face seems familiar to

him. He would like to talk to her, but there is no time.

Stanley is already inside.

INT. FUNERAL PARLOR -DAY

Ben and Stanley follow the proprietor who is expensively-

dressed in a dark suit. Gordon's coffin stands as one of

many in the room.

Inside the casket, brass fittings, white satin, lies

Gordon, incongruous, ludicrous in a black Sunday suit.

His hands are crossed on his chest like the claws of a

bird and his face, barely recognizable, is gray, the left

side distorted, blackish purple.

There are rough stitches of the postmortem across his

skull and a scar on his lips.

Stanley speaks in an African language to the undertaker.

The man opens Gordon's shirt and reveals the bruised and

battered chest.

(CONTINUED)

61.

CONTINUED:

Stanley observes Ben who looks at the wounds with horror.

Then another command from Stanley and the undertaker

opens the shirt to the waist. Ben's ashen. Stanley

thanks the man and turns to leave. Ben remains a minute.

He shuts his eyes tightly. Now he saw it. Now he must

believe it. He must accept that this battered corpse is

Gordon.

As he follows Stanley, he thanks the undertaker.

EXT. FUNERAL PARLOR -DAY

Outside the "sunlight," the children's laughter and

Stanley, hands in pockets, waiting for Ben by the car.

The same two little girls approach Stanley who gives them

some coins --they run off happily.

Ben is coming outside blinking in the glaring sunlight.

Stanley glares at Ben, who is pale, shaken and silent.

They get into the car in silence.

STANLEY:

(turning to Ben)

'The living close the eyes of the

dead. The dead open the eyes of

the living.'

Stanley starts the car.

BEN:

Please, take me to Emily.

Stanley looks at him.

STANLEY:

Look, we'd took one hell of a

chance to get here, let's not push

it.

BEN:

I really have to see her, Stanley.

Stanley drives off.

STANLEY:

(determined; looking

through rearview

mirror)

I said don't push it. I have to

keep you alive. What's more the

house is full of mourners.

(CONTINUED)

62.

CONTINUED:

They drive in silence... then:

STANLEY:

What are your thoughts now?

BEN:

What do you mean?

STANLEY:

(aggressively)

Come on. I know you came to see

the body. What do you think now?

BEN:

(exposed)

I... I cannot think. I'm

confused.

STANLEY:

You either believe what you saw

or maybe you still prefer the

government version.

BEN:

For Christ sake, just get off my

back, Stanley.

STANLEY:

Okay. It was a simple question.

Stanley turns his RADIO ON and BANTU MUSIC invades the

car as it speeds away in a cloud of dust.

EXT. WHITE SUBURB STREET -LATE AFTERNOON

The big brassy Dodge is threading its way through the

leafy calm of the white suburb.

The "Bantu" MUSIC is STILL PLAYING on the radio under

Stanley's animated conversation with Ben.

STANLEY:

You know, Lanie, when you run a

taxi, especially a pirate taxi

like me, you have eyes and ears

everywhere. Even when a policeman

farts in his bed you know. People

want a reference book, a permit to

stay in Soweto, a house, anything,

we taxi drivers know the routes.

I'll tell you something...

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