The Power of One

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 dressed

in 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.

3 BACK TO SCENE 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,

who fought both the Boers and

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.

5 DREAM - EXT. WATERFALL 5

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

as I went until I reached dry

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:

6 EXT. FARMYARD - DAWN 6

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:

7 EXT. YARD - DAY 7

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:

8 EXT. VELDT - DAY 8

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:

9 EXT. ROAD TO SCHOOL 9

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

the country through political

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

miserable as the stinging water pelts him.

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