The Power of One
- PG-13
- Year:
- 1992
- 127 min
- 1,893 Views
FADE IN:
1 EXT. SOUTH AFRICAN FARM - DAY (1939)
A white car sits in the yard of the farmhouse. On the
door, a decal:
"CAPETOWN SANITORIUM." Two men dressedin the white uniforms of the sanitorium exit the farmhouse;
one gently guiding a rather frail, troubledwoman toward the car; the other totes her suitcase.
The V.O. of a young man narrates:
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
There comes a time in everyone'slife when they discover that theonly person you can truly dependon is yourself. That the onlyreal power anyone has to getanything done is the power of one.
With any luck you can make itthrough a lot of years before youever have to face the reality ofthat fact.
(beat)
It was a luxury I never had. I
discovered it the year my motherhad her nervous breakdown.
One attendant holds the rear door of the car open forthe woman. Before entering, she turns one last timetoward the farmhouse.
1
2 HER POV
A young BOY looking one part scared, one part sad, andone part lost stares back at her, his hand held by alarge, amiable black woman with tears rolling down herround cheeks.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
I was all of six.
2
3.
The woman enters the car. The car drives off down the
road. The Boy watches it disappear behind a plume of
swirling dust.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
My father died before I was born,
and even though I was raised by
my Zulu nanny, with my mother,
depending on her health, in
nominal attendance, it was
decided, with her departure, that
I, too, would depart...
(beat)
... for boarding school.
The dust the Boy has been watching reverses itself.
An unseen vehicle comes up the road.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
But before I could be sent out
into the world one very serious
matter had to be dealt with.
(beat)
I was a chronic bedwetter. Since
my nanny was the one responsible
for my well-being, she did what
any responsible Zulu mother would
do. She called on the greatest
medicine man of her tribe --
Inkosi Inkosikazi.
Out of the dust a large black Buick ROADMASTER ROARS up
the road and into the yard, scattering chickens and
geese, stopping in front of the wide-eyed six-year-old
and his tremulous nanny. A huge Zulu jumps out of the
front passenger seat and opens the rear door. A moment
passes, and then two splayed, cracked feet descend from
the car and settle into the dust. INKOSI INKOSIKAZI,
100 years old, small, black, wizened, hair and beard
whiter than cotton, a leopard skin draped over his
shoulders, a beaded fly switch in one hand, a trussed
chicken in the other, exits the car.
CUT TO:
44
EXT. YARD - NIGHT
A fire burns bright in the black African night. The Boy
sits holding the chicken, close by the fire, while Inkosi
Inkosikazi shuffles around him, drawing a circle in the
dust with a stick.
4.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
Legend had it that Inkosi
Inkosikazi was the last son of
the great Zulu king, Dingaan,
the British to a standstill
nearly 100 years before, and the
night Inkosi Inkosikazi was
conceived stars fell from the
sky until the sun rose.
The circle complete, the old man sits down opposite the
Boy. From a leather pouch he produces several bones. He
throws the bones on the ground and studies them for a
moment. He begins to wave the fly switch back and forth
in front of the Boy's eyes, chanting low, softly. The
Boy's eyes grow heavy; his lids droop.
The Boy and the old man are standing above a great
waterfall. In the swirling pool far below are ten
stepping stones linking one bank to the other.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
The medicine man instructed me to
jump off the falls and climb along
the ten stepping stones, counting
land.
The Boy jumps, cascading down the falls and into the pond
below. He clambers up the first rock. It is slippery.
He falls off and climbs back on, buffeted by the spraying
water. He makes his way stone by stone toward the other
side.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
Even though it was only a dream,
I felt as if my struggle to reach
dry land was terrifyingly real.
The water was like ice, bone-
chilling, cold, and as I made my
way from one stone to the next I
could feel my strength desert me.
The progress from one step to the next gets progressively
harder as the Boy keeps slipping into the swirling water,
coughing and sputtering.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
I was three rocks in when I ran
out of gas. I couldn't pull myself
any further. No matter how hard I
5.
tried, the current tried harder.
I felt myself going under for thelast time.
The Boy's grip slips off the rock.
under.
He starts to go
CUT TO:
The fire has gone out. The Boy is still sitting in thecircle, the chicken still in his lap. His eyes snap
open. The first thing he sees is Inkosi Inkosikazisitting across from him with a big smile.
CUT TO:
Inkosi Inkosikazi enters the Buick. The Boy and hissmiling nanny watch. They Boy still holds the chicken.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
Inkosi Inkosikazi said the spiritof the great Zulu warriors livedin me. He told me that whenever
trouble arose I should return to
the waterfall and keep steppingacross the rocks until the trouble
passed. He said three rocks were
enough to conquer my problem withthe night water; that I was verybrave. He said I was a man for
all Africa, bound to her by myspirit, bound by my dreams.
(beat)
And he let me keep the chicken.
The Boy and his nanny watch the car go off in a cloud ofdust.
CUT TO:
The Boy sits on a train looking out the window at theveldt and the wildlife moving across in the distance.
A sack on his lap moves. The chicken's head pops out.
The Boy gives him some kernels of corn and scratchesbehind his scraggly comb.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
Although I was bound by spirit
6.
and dream to Africa, I was bound
by heritage and language to the
birthplace of my grandparents -England
-- a country I had never
seen, but one that was to cause
me eminently more problems than
bedwetting ever did.
CUT TO:
A motorcar driving along the road to the school.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
The school I was sent to was
attended and staffed entirely by
Afrikaaners, the oldest of the two
white tribes of Africa.
CUT TO:
10 INT. SCHOOL 10
The six-year-old walks timorously through the halls,
filled with bigger boys -- brash, noisy, hostile. They
only speak the "Taal" -- Afrikaans. Over and over they
jostle or verbally deride the six-year-old, knocking his
books down so that when he bends to pick them up he is
kicked in the butt. Or pulling his shirt out from under
his jacket and making it hard to move.
YOUNG MAN (V.O.)
I spoke only English. The hated
tongue. The language of the enemy
who had usurped power and stolen
chicanery and military brutality.
A mob of boys, led by a big bully, JAAPIE BOTHA, runs
the six-year-old through the bathroom and into the
showers, fully clothed. He tries to run out. Jaapie
Botha grabs him and throws him back in, holding him with
one ham-fisted hand under the shower head and turning the
shower on with the other. The six-year-old stands
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
"The Power of One" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_power_of_one_143>.
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