Braveheart Page #4

WILLIAM:

I don't want to leave.

ARGYLE:

Didn't want your father to die either,

did ya? But it happened.

Argyle pushes his food away; he has no appetite now.

ARGYLE:

Did the priest say anything about

the Resurrection? Or was it all about

Judgment?

WILLIAM:

It was in Latin, sir.

ARGYLE:

Non loquis Latinum? You don't speak

Latin? We have to fix that, won't

we?

(beat)

Did he give the poetic benediction?

The Lord bless thee and keep thee?

Patris Benefactum et --

(beat)

...It was Malcolm's favorite.

INT. WILLIAM'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Argyle knows nothing about tucking a boy in bed; he stands

awkwardly idle as William scrubs his face at the washstand

and crawls into bed.

WILLIAM:

Good night, Uncle.

Argyle grunts and starts out. Then he stops, turns back,

leans down over William... and with great tenderness the

grizzled old uncle kisses his nephew on his hair.

INT. THE KITCHEN - NIGHT

Argyle sits by the hearth, staring at the embers. He holds

the huge broadsword that belonged to his brother. He looks

at the handle, like a cross. He whispers...

ARGYLE:

"The Lord bless thee and keep thee..."

Tears of grief spill down the old man's cheeks.

INT. THE HANGING BARN - IN WILLIAM'S DREAM

Once again the boy stands in the doorway of the barn, looking

at the garish, hanged faces in his nightmare. Then a mangled

hand comes from behind him and grasps his shoulder, William

gasps, but the hand holds him gently. He turns to see his

father, and his brother! They are wounded, bloody, but they

smile at him; they're alive! Weeping in joy, William reaches

to hug them, but his father stretches forth a forbidding

hand.

William keeps reaching out helplessly. His father and brother

move past him to the hanged knights. Two empty nooses are

there. Before the boy's weeping eyes they put their heads

into the nooses, and hoist themselves up.

William's grief explodes; his tears erupt and

HE WAKES IN HIS BEDROOM

tears flooding down his face. A dream! Still upset, still

grieving, he gets up and goes looking for his uncle.

INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

William moves down to the room where his uncle would be

sleeping. He opens the door. The bed has been slept in --

but his uncle is not there. He moves downstairs to

THE KITCHEN:

But his uncle is not there either. Then William hears a

strange, haunting sound-distant, carried by the wind. He

moves to the window and sees only moonlight. He opens the

window and hears it more clearly: bagpipes. William lights a

candle and throws open the door. Wind rushes in, blowing out

his candle. But he hears the pipes, louder in the wind.

EXT. WALLACE HOUSE - NIGHT

William is barefoot and in only his nightshirt; but the sound

of the pipes is growing louder. He moves through the

moonlight, drawn toward -- the graveyard! He stops as he

realizes this, then forces himself on.

EXT. GRAVEYARD - NIGHT

William moves to the top of the hill where his ancestors are

buried, and discovers a haunting scene: two dozen men, the

farmer/warriors of his neighborhood, are gathered in kilts --

and among them, a core of bagpipers. The pipes wail an ancient

Scottish dirge, a tune of grief and redemption, a melody

known to us as "Amazing Grace." Uncle Argyle has heard them

and walked out too; he stands at the fringes of the

torchlight, still holding the massive broadsword. He glances

down, noticing William as the boy moves up beside him. William

whispers...

WILLIAM:

What are they doing?

ARGYLE:

Saying goodbye in their own way --

in outlawed tartans, with outlawed

pipes, playing outlawed tunes.

The farmers file by the graveside, crossing themselves, each

whispering his own private prayer. Argyle whispers, half to

William, and half to himself...

ARGYLE:

Your Daddy and I, we saw our own

father buried like this, dead from

fighting the English.

William takes the sword from his uncle, and tries to lift

it.

Slowly, Argyle takes the sword back.

ARGYLE:

First learn to use this.

He taps William on the temple with the tip of his finger.

ARGYLE:

Then I will teach you to use this.

With an expert's easy fluidity, he lifts the huge sword. It

glistens in the torchlight. The music plays, the notes hanging

in the air, swirling in the Scottish breeze as if rising

towards the stars...

EXT. WALLACE FARM - DAY

William and his uncle ride off in a farm wagon. William has

a bundle of clothes in his lap, and glances at his uncle as

if afraid of his disapproval if he looks back. But he does

glance back just once, to see the deserted farmhouse.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. WESTMINSTER ABBEY - ROYAL WEDDING - DAY

Amid the scarlet and ermine robes of officiating lords, with

gemstones sparkling everywhere, we hear...

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