America
- NOT RATED
- Year:
- 2009
- 89 min
- 73 Views
Kids, living on the street
Have you ever talked to one?
Most come from homes
where they're abused,
often by their parents who were
supposed to protect them, but couldn't
There's no peace
inside of these children
Pain is the quickest path to pleasure,
and they cope by hurting themselves
just so they can feel
something, anything
We now have whole
generations who are raised in
and then lose their children to
a very broken foster care system
Children who live
confused, betrayed, angry,
home, for a family, for love
This boy is one of them His name
is America and this is his story
I love you I love you
so much You're my baby
I love you
I work at a residential
treatment facility
that's the end of the road
for way too many of these kids
This is their last stop
For me, it's where
the love has to start
Here's the boys' dorm. The
girls' are on the other side.
Don't get any ideas.
Girls' dorms are off-limits.
Only places where everybody mixes
are in the common areas downstairs,
classes, cafeterias,
rec rooms.
During the day when you're in school or
therapy, all of these rooms are locked.
No access or
unsupervised entry.
up here for quiet time.
Quiet time is for homework.
You got dinner at 5:00,
lights out at 10:00.
This is your room.
This is your bed
and your dresser.
- Any questions?
- No.
Get anything to eat yet?
Come down to cafeteria,
we'll get you some food.
I'm not hungry.
You got therapy at
And, America, meet
your new roommate, Fish.
Hi. I'm Fish.
America Vega?
America? Hi.
Come on in.
Sit right here. Either
seat's all right.
I'm Dr. Maureen Brennan.
You can call me Dr. B.
I will be your counselor
while you're here at Ridgeway.
Just so you understand,
everything that you say during
our sessions is confidential,
with a couple of exceptions.
Number one, if you tell
me someone's hurting you.
Number two, if you tell me
you're gonna hurt yourself.
Or number three, if you tell me
you're gonna hurt someone else. Okay?
Do you have any
questions, America?
Did you understand
what I just said?
- Yes?
- Yeah.
Great. Would you sign
this for me, please?
Just says that I told you what
our sessions are going to be about,
and what the rules are,
and all that mumbo jumbo
they make you do nowadays.
Thank you very much.
I cannot believe that I am almost blind
without these glasses. Did you know that?
I turn 42, totally
went downhill.
I can't read without them
So what's on your
mind, America? Anything?
Anything on your
mind you wanna share,
or something that might help me
get to know you a little bit better?
I read in your file that you've
done this a couple of times,
so I'm sure you remember, the
first session's always the toughest.
So, why don't we just
end early for today
a bang, what do you say?
- Is that good for you?
- Fine.
Okay, great. You can go.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Thank you. Nice to meet
you. Have a good day.
- Come on, you're gonna let me go through?
- No.
No? I'll tickle you!
Got a problem, man?
America! America!
What a sweet baby
Where's that boy?
Easy Where's that boy?
Where is my sweet baby?
Where's that boy? America.
I see you, mister. I see you.
You like that ring?
I had it when I
was a little girl.
You know what? One
day it'll be yours.
And if you rub it, it'll
bring you good luck every day.
Good luck every day
Good luck
Yes, we're trying to
work together as a team.
- You're supposed to talk to each other.
- That's right, communicate!
We're gonna get this ball going
as fast as we can around the room.
Hold up. Heads up, heads up. Hold up!
Come on, get it around, get it around.
I like this, I like what I'm
seeing! Come on! Good job! Good job!
Good tossing, good
tossing, good tossing!
Get it around here. Right.
Come on, come on, come on.
Team work! Team work! Come
on. Good job, good job!
Hot potato, hot potato,
hot potato, two. One to you!
- Get the ball over here.
- Right here.
- Yo, man, what's up?
- Yo, you all right?
You just gonna
leave? Just like that?
All right. Well,
don't forget to write.
- All right, hot potato back in!
- Come on, guys.
Let's go! Let's go! Let's
go! Let's go! Let's go!
Shut up!
You know, we've been here a long time.
You think you're ever gonna talk to me?
You got my file. Read it.
I read it. It's full
of facts, not feelings.
I'd much rather talk to
you than read about you.
I'm too tired.
You know, I'm kind
of tired myself.
How about we just end today a little bit
early and start again tomorrow morning?
- Okay.
- Okay.
I'll see you tomorrow.
- Got nowhere to go?
- What?
I don't know. Seem lonely
sitting here by yourself,
so I figured you had nowhere
to go for the weekend.
Fish is one of the lucky ones. He
always has places to go on the weekends.
It's hard at first, you know,
adjusting and everything,
but trust me, it'll be fine.
You know, you kind
of look all mixed up,
like you have a little
bit of everything in you.
Your name fits you, America.
I'm in America, I'm in America
I'm in America and America is me!
And we live in
Michigan, in America.
- I'm America.
- Hot dog! Yes, you are.
we live, and it's also your name.
- I'm in America, and America is me.
- Watch out!
- How about that!
- I'm in America, and America is me.
You know, I think my mom slept
with almost every guy in America.
Now she's started on Mexico.
She's a flake, but...
- You want some?
- No, thanks.
Food here's pretty
good. It's not that bad.
I mean, there's like
vending machines everywhere,
and they always refill
them every Friday, so...
Here.
So, America, I know you
don't want to talk about it,
tried to kill yourself. Why?
Why don't you read my file?
Why don't you read your file?
So interested in what it says?
I don't need to read it. I
already know what's there!
Look at you! Look at you, boy,
look You a man now! You a man now!
- Wanna talk about Mrs. Harper?
- No.
You lived with her and
her brother Reggie, right?
- Why you asking me what you already know?
- I don't know everything.
I know you were
taken from your mom
- when you were just a baby...
- Nobody took me.
Listen, I know this is hard stuff,
this is painful stuff to talk about,
to remember, to feel.
You were taken from your mom by
CPS, Child Protective Services.
They did it to keep you safe, America.
You were placed with a foster family?
They were rich and my skin was too dark,
so they gave me to their housekeeper.
- Mrs. Harper?
- Yeah, Miss Harper.
think about a lot of things.
- Like what?
- Like, you wouldn't understand.
Well, maybe I
would. So try me.
Well, listen. I saw
good work today. Really.
Nice job. I'm gonna
Translation
Translate and read this script in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"America" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/america_2658>.
Discuss this script with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In