The Big Blue Page #4

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. ITALIAN VILLAGE STREET - DAY

The image is now in color.

A rocky pink cliff over looks the very bright sea which

fills the screen.

SUPERIMPOSED:
1987 SICILY

ALFREDO runs (skips) up the cobbled street as fast as he

can go, surprisingly fast.

He runs to the large terrace of a restaurant which he

enters. We have time to read the sign carrying the

restaurant's name: "LA MAMMA".

INT. RESTAURANT - DAY

ALFREDO skips in. He is panting, covered in sweat. His

panic is palpable. The whole room watches him approach a

long table where a large family is having a birthday party

for a very old lady.

He has to stop a second and catch his breath before he can

get the words out. Then leans over and whispers in the

ear of a great big man -- around 30 -- built like a bull,

wearing little round glasses.

The man listens, then stiffens.

EXT. HARBOR - CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY

A beat-up FIAT, towing an equally beat-up trailer, stops.

ENZO unfolds out of the driver's seat, like a circus clown

emerging from a toy car.

The construction SUPERVISOR, an American, wearing a three

piece suit, hurries over to him.

ENZO has already started undressing. ROBERTO unloads the

diving gear from the trailer.

SUPERVISOR:

(exhausted)

Signore Molinari?

ROBERTO:

(shaking his hand)

Yes.

ENZO:

(calmly undressing,

expressionless)

How did it happen?

SUPERVISOR:

(upset)

The company asked me to extract

everything I could from the wreck;

so the divers were trying to get

at the engine... and then the boat

turned over... in the current...

and... look, I f***ed up! Can you

help?

ENZO:

How many are, down there?

ENZO goes back to the car.

SUPERVISOR:

Just one... We're feeding him air,

but he's not breathing regularly...

You've got to get him out fast.

ENZO glances at the map, then at the accident site.

ENZO:

(a beat)

Ten thousand.

SUPERVISOR:

Lira?

ENZO:

Dollars.

SUPERVISOR:

You're going to hold me up at a

time like this?

ROBERTO:

You do understand you're talking

to the champion diver of the world?

SUPERVISOR:

Yes, but ten thousand dollars...

ENZO opens the trunk of his FIAT and pulls out the jack.

He slams the trunk shut, and stands looking at the American,

straight in the eyes.

ENZO:

Okay. You tell me. How much would

you say the man's life is worth?

Extremely uncomfortable, the SUPERVISOR doesn't answer.

ENZO:

In my village, we have a saying:

when the wind blows, the flags of

all nations flap in the same

direction.

SUPERVISOR:

(baffled)

What does that mean?

ROBERTO:

That you should get your checkbook.

Damn quick.

EXT. UNFINISHED PIER - ENZO

He's at the end of the pier, his feet dangling in the muddy

water of the port. A few feet away a pump sends air HISSING

through a rubber tube to the diver trapped below.

ENZO inhales steadily, his chest heaving like a bellow.

He carefully puts his spectacles inside his shoes, dons

his flippers, etc., with his usual flair of suspense.

Behind him the SUPERVISOR and other construction workers

watch expectantly. ROBERTO heaves a stone weight into the

bay, a cable attached to it plays out from a drum on the

pier.

ENZO ignoring everyone, grabs the ordinary tire jack, flip-

flops over to the now taut cable, the stone has hit bottom.

He takes a deep breath and dives into the bay.

UNDERWATER - WRECK

ENZO dives down a chimney of muck. Picks his way over and

around every hazard, until he reaches the diver, trapped

under a huge piece of debris.

He pats his shoulder to comfort him, he then inserts the

tire jack under a piece of concrete... And, as if he were

changing a tire, begins to pump the handle...

Slowly, in a swirl of mud and water, the chunk of debris

rises off the diver's leg.

EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY

Everyone is staring at the water silently, suspensefully.

The SUPERVISOR has his checkbook in hand, but has completely

forgotten it, intent upon what's going on underwater.

ROBERTO taps him on the shoulder.

ROBERTO:

Since we have a little time, what

do you say you write that check?

UNDERWATER - WRECK

ENZO cuts the cables tangled around the diver's torso.

Then he takes off his flippers, plants his bare feet on

the concrete, grabs the diver by the shoulders and pulls

him free.

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