The Hurricane Page #5

Why don't you take a shower, get you

a decent cell with a bed and some food?

You'll feel

a lot better.

At what price do I, uh,

take this shower?

What do you mean?

What do I put on after I take this

shower that's gonna make me feel so good?

What everyone else puts on.

That's the rules.

Yeah, well, you can just take me

on back down to the hole.

You could die down there.

I could die up here too.

Look, what if I got you a pair of

pajamas from the prison hospital?

Far as I'm concerned, you'd be

wearing prison-issued clothing.

They got stripes?

No stripes.

What 'bout numbers?

No numbers.

What color are they?

They're white.

Okay. I can live

with those.

Thank you, Mr. Carter.

You're welcome,

Mr. Williams.

Shower's all yours.

Thank you.

It came to me as

kind of a revelation...

that my own freedom

lay in not wanting...

or needing anything of which

they could deprive me.

If punishment consisted

of being locked in your cell,

then by simply choosing

to never leave my cell,

I deprived them

of that weapon.

I would not work in their shops. I would

not eat their food. I began to study.

I dissected my entire case

piece by piece,

beginning with my initial arrest

through the trial itself...

and finally,

to the awful verdict.

I didn't get a trial...

free from constitutional error

and racial prejudice.

He knows that.

You know it!

That's not helpin' me

in here, Myron.

Look. Look!

I'm innocent.

That's why.

Seven years! You're goddamn

right it's seven years!

Just get me outta here.

I want a new trial. Okay?

The people united

will never be defeated.

The people united

will never be defeated.

The people united

will never be defeated.

The people united-

It shows that

there's still hope.

There is hope for change

in America.

I believe in law and order,

and I believe that everybody

have a right to another trial.

Here comes the story

of the Hurricane

The man the authorities

came to blame

For something

that he never done

Miss Ellen Burstyn.

Put in a prison cell

But one time

He could have been

the champion of the world

They ain't givin' up. They said

they're gonna demonstrate again.

Muhammad Ali and Ellen Burstyn

and Bob Dylan, everybody.

That's good, Mae.

Everybody.

Look, Mae, uh,

we've already lost

two trials,

and now they've turned down

my request for an appeal.

I'm sorry, it, uh-

It's over.

It's finished.

And I'm gonna die in here,

Mae, so-

Baby, listen.

There is still a chance.

Now, all we have to do is

hang on. Listen to me, now.

There's nothin'

to hang on to, Mae.

I want you to divorce me.

Understand?

And I don't want you

to come back down here.

No. Now, you listen to me. Mae,

now, baby, don't- Don't make this-

There are still things

that we can do.

I am not gonna be a weight

hangin' around your neck.

You are no weight around my

neck. You're a weight around mine.

Now, I can't do all the years

I gotta do in here...

knowin' they can take your beautiful

face away from me anytime they want to.

You understand?

Rubin.

I ain't walkin'

away from you.

I'm dead.

Rubin.

Just bury me, please.

Rubin?

Rubin?

Rubin, we're...

- we're in this together

now. We just gotta hang on.

Guard.

Rubin.

Rubin.

We just gotta hang on.

We just gotta hang on.

I will bend time

to my own clock.

When the prison is awake,

I will sleep.

When they sleep,

I will wake.

I will live neither

in their cell...

nor in my own heart,

only in my mind...

and my spirit.

"Once I reached my hand out

for help,

"it came down

and then withered...

"as dry grass blown away

into dust leaving nothing.

"Now I wait for nothin'.

I need nothin '.

"Not tomorrow.

Not freedom. Not justice.

"In the end,

the prison will vanish,

"and there'll be no more Rubin,

"no more Carter,

"only the Hurricane.

And after him,

there is no more. "

Man, what we gonna do?

Man, what we gonna do?

- 'Bout what?

- About the Hurricane, that's what.

Well, there's not much

we can do, Lesra.

But the man's innocent, yet he's been

in jail 15, 16 years. That's not right.

I know that's

what his book says.

- Two juries found him guilty, Les.

- Yeah, two white juries.

Hey, hey, not all

white people are racists.

And not all black people

are murderers.

Look, I just wanna write him a letter and

tell him how much his book meant to me.

That's all.

I know you told me

Such a long time ago

Dear...

Mr. Hurricane-

That you want me

No. That's really stupid.

You don't love me no more

I wanna know

- What's that?

- It's ten dollars, U.S.

I thought he might need

some money for stamps,

if you want him

to write you back.

Yeah. Yeah.

Write me back.

That's cool.

Thanks, Lisa.

No problem.

Dear Mr. Rubin Carter,

I read your book,

and I really felt sad...

about what happened to you.

I want you to know

how much your book meant to me.

It's here!

Hey, he wrote us back!

It's here! It's here!

He wrote us back!

Home of the brave. Land of

the free. He wrote us back.

Can you stand it?

Well, open it already. I

don't know. You think I should?

"Dear Lesra, Please forgive

the seemingly tardy reply,

"but he who bemoans

the lack of opportunity...

"forgets that small doors many

times open up into large rooms.

"It was not only thoughtful,

but insightful on your part.

"Stamps, paper and envelopes...

"were exactly what was needed

to complete this transmission.

"Your letter, feelings,

concerns, desires and warmth...

"literally

jumped off the page at me...

"when reading

your heart felt message.

"It is as if

you heard my thoughts...

"and reached out to share yours with

me at a moment when I can hear you.

"So, thank you once again.

"Forever...

"your friend and brother,

Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter. "

Wow.

You got your answer.

Yeah.

Dear Rubin,

I've been thinking about my life

compared to yours.

I come from Bush wick

in Brooklyn.

My parents are alcoholics,

and my brother's in prison.

I was third in my class,

and I couldn't even read.

I couldn't write you

this letter just a year ago,

but then I met these friends from Canada

when I had a summer job at the EPA.

They offered to educate me,

and they got me out.

Sometimes I feel guilty about my

family 'cause I left 'em behind.

Now that I know you,

I know it isn't right.

I shouldn't cry

about my own feelings,

not if you can do

what you've done.

I've been thinkin 'though, I

would like to come and visit you,

if that will be all right.

Palm down. Right hand.

Keep the line moving.

Put your right hand out, please.

Palm down. Keep the line moving.

Keep the line moving,

please.

Okay, now.

Y'all listen up, now.

Visits for Jones, Taylor,

Harris, Ramos,

Sykes, Carter, Tucei,

line up right here.

Uh, you didn't

call my boy's name.

Hemmings.

Eric Hemmings, 65660.

Hemmings?

Yeah.

Ah, no visit for Hemmings

today. He's in lockup.

Okay, Mac, open it up!

Keep outta the way.

Extend your arms.

Palms. Turn around.

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