The Handmaid's Tale Page #6

Synopsis: Set in a Fascistic future America, The Handmaid's Tale tells the story of Kate, a handmaid. In this America, the religious right has taken over and gone hog-wild. Kate is a criminal, guilty of the crime of trying to escape from the US, and is sentenced to become a Handmaid. The job of a Handmaid is to bear the children of the man to whom she is assigned. After ruthless group training by Aunt Lydia in the proper way to behave, Kate is assigned as Handmaid to the Commander. Kate is attracted to Nick, the Commander's chauffeur. At the same time, a resistance movement begins to challenge the regime.
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Director(s): Volker Schlöndorff
Production: HBO Video
  2 wins & 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
6.0
Rotten Tomatoes:
31%
R
Year:
1990
108 min
2,035 Views


She gave me hell.

She gave me all kinds of grief.

Boy, it's unfortunate,

the whole thing. It really is.

I'm sorry...

very, very sorry.

You better go to

your room now.

Yeah.

You have a lot of things

on your mind.

Yeah, I have.

You've always meant a lot to me.

You really have.

You kept me going.

Just the thought of you...

coming here at night,

caring for me,

fixing my drink,

being by my side...

I mean, it kept me going.

And I thank you for that.

And I'll never forget it.

[ Gasping ]

[ Struggling ]

[ Gasping ]

[ Panting ]

[ Engine rumbling ]

- What's going on?

- She's under arrest.

I didn't call for you.

Ma'am, the Commander.

Get her out of here.

You f***ing bastard!

[ Slapping ]

You bastard!

You bastard!

[ Grunting ]

Go with it. Trust me.

It's Mayday.

[ Engine starts,

doors closing ]

[ Engine revving ]

[ Wailing ]

[ Crashing ]

- You all right, Kate?

- I guess.

Get rid of that dress.

Take it off.

Take the next right, go to the

railroad site.

Give me your hand.

[ Metallic snipping ]

[ Panting ]

This way.

- Why didn't you tell me?

- It was too dangerous.

Kate, these men are going

to take you to a safe place.

Now, they'll take care of you,

I promise.

You're not coming with me?

I can't.

I have to stay.

But what about my daughter?

I have to find her.

MAN:

Nick. We gotta go, Nick.

Now, Kate,

I can't promise you anything,

but I will send you word

as soon as I know.

Now listen to me.

You gotta go now.

No, I can't.

I want to go with you.

Don't leave me.

Please don't leave me.

Kate, you can't come with me.

You know you can't come with me.

It's not possible.

Our baby.

- MAN:
Nick, come on!

- I'll find you.

[ Explosion ]

Come on, Nick!

Come on!

I'll find you.

[ Explosion ]

REPORTER:

A twenty-four-hour curfew

has been imposed on the city.

Our armed forces are using

heavy rocketing and strafing

to drive the Mayday terrorists

out of their stronghold.

According to government sources,

they are totally isolated

from the overwhelming

majority of our population

and their defeat

will be final within hours.

A state memorial service

will be held to honor the late

Commander's fighting spirit

as it was documented

in a statement just hours

before he was killed

in such a hideous

and cowardly way.

We're gonna win.

We have the force.

We have the faith.

And we will not rest until

we've purified this country,

this nation,

in the name of God.

SOLDIER:

Come on out with your hands up!

REPORTER:
As house-to-house

searches continue,

the acting State Commander

has put all forces on alert

to find the assassin.

He said, "She will not escape,

nor will her accomplices.

"We will search for them.

We will find them.

We will hang them."

KATE:
I don't know if this

is the end for me

or a new beginning

but I'm safe here

in the mountains

held by the rebels.

They bring me food,

and sometimes

a message from Nick.

And so I wait.

I wait for my baby to be

born into a different world.

I still dream about Jill...

about them telling her

I don't exist...

or that I never existed.

But I know

we're going to find her.

She will remember me.

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Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a Nobel Prize-winning British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1971), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Trial (1993), and Sleuth (2007). He also directed or acted in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others' works. Pinter was born and raised in Hackney, east London, and educated at Hackney Downs School. He was a sprinter and a keen cricket player, acting in school plays and writing poetry. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but did not complete the course. He was fined for refusing National service as a conscientious objector. Subsequently, he continued training at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked in repertory theatre in Ireland and England. In 1956 he married actress Vivien Merchant and had a son, Daniel, born in 1958. He left Merchant in 1975 and married author Lady Antonia Fraser in 1980. Pinter's career as a playwright began with a production of The Room in 1957. His second play, The Birthday Party, closed after eight performances, but was enthusiastically reviewed by critic Harold Hobson. His early works were described by critics as "comedy of menace". Later plays such as No Man's Land (1975) and Betrayal (1978) became known as "memory plays". He appeared as an actor in productions of his own work on radio and film. He also undertook a number of roles in works by other writers. He directed nearly 50 productions for stage, theatre and screen. Pinter received over 50 awards, prizes, and other honours, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005 and the French Légion d'honneur in 2007. Despite frail health after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in December 2001, Pinter continued to act on stage and screen, last performing the title role of Samuel Beckett's one-act monologue Krapp's Last Tape, for the 50th anniversary season of the Royal Court Theatre, in October 2006. He died from liver cancer on 24 December 2008. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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