The Power of One Page #19

A man with a walkie-talkie sits in the shadows, watching

25 people run across the athletic field. He talks into

his walkie-talkie.

114.

CUT TO:

154 INT. CHAPEL BASEMENT 154

The light switch is on. The four lights above the

center of the room illuminate a classroom area -- desks

set up in neat rows with stools, a blackboard. The

other furniture has been piled high against the walls on

either side of the room where the light does not reach.

PK:

If you'll all be seated we can

begin.

The Africans head toward their desks. PK turns to

Morrie.

PK:

So far so good.

Morrie's response is to throw the new deadbolt into its

slot with a skeptical eye.

PK takes his place at the head of the class.

PK:

I want to thank you all for

having the courage to come

tonight.

(in Zulu)

Thank you.

ALL:

(in Zulu)

You're welcome.

PK:

I will be teaching the first part

of class tonight and Mr. Levy will

teach the second.

A woman whispers something to Mandoma. Mandoma raises

his hand.

PK:

Gideon?

MANDOMA:

Miss Marais. Will she not be

coming?

PK:

Not anymore.

115.

This causes a flurry among the women.

PK writes on the blackboard the word "see."

PK:

See.

He says the word in Zulu.

PK:

I see. You see. We see.

He moves his hands, eliciting response.

ALL:

I see. You see. We see.

PK holds up a book with a picture of a boy.

PK:

Boy.

ALL:

Boy.

PK:

I see the boy.

ALL:

I see the boy.

PK holds up another picture.

PK:

Girl. I see the girl.

ALL:

I see the girl.

There is a KNOCK on the door. Everyone freezes.

MARIA:

P.K., it's me.

Morrie pulls the bolt, opening and shutting the door

quickly.

PK and Maria look at each other.

MARIA:

I wanted to say goodbye to my

students...

(beat)

... and to you.

116.

The four women in the class speak in unison.

WOMEN:

We see the girl.

Maria smiles, surprised.

The moment is shortlived as a SOUND from behind the

pews in the rear of the room turns everyone.

In the shadows, risen from behind the piles of furniture

against the two opposite walls, stand 20 policemen with

long menacing riot sticks.

Bretyn steps into the light.

Mandoma gives a command and the Africans form a phalanx

around the women.

BRETYN:

Once warned. Twice punished.

PK:

You're violating the sanctity

of the church.

BRETYN:

No. You are with your damned

race mixing ideas, rooinek.

155 ANGLE ON MORRIE 155

by the door, slowly slipping the bolt lock, trying

to remain innocuous while doing so.

PK sees him and trades a look with Mandoma, who also

sees what Morrie is doing.

PK:

At least let the women go.

BRETYN:

You want everything to be equal,

little Boetie. Why not men and

women too?

Just then Morrie throws the bolt.

MORRIE:

Now!

He goes to charge out the door, but to his chagrin the

door does not open, locked from the outside.

117.

Bretyn smiles cruelly.

BRETYN:

Locks keep people out but they

also keep them in.

He has walked right up to Morrie, not taking his eyes

off Morrie's for a moment. Morrie meets his gaze evenly.

The moment is broken as Bretyn's baton slams into Morrie's

stomach, dropping him to this knees.

BRETYN:

Get up, you bloody commie Jew!

He bangs Morrie hard in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

BRETYN:

Captain.

The two police lines start to move towards each other,

sandwiching the Africans, PK and Maria.

Mandoma gives an order. The blacks pick up anything

they can to face the inevitable--stools, chairs, a

flagpole.

PK:

No. Wait. We'll leave.

BRETYN:

Too late. You never should have

come. At the ready.

The two police lines tense to charge forward.

The blacks brace to defend.

PK:

No! Stop!

BRETYN:

Now.

The police charge from both ends of the room, yelling,

clubs held high.

The Africans respond with their own war cry and engage

the club-swinging police.

A policeman swings at PK who ducks and buries a hook

into the man's ribs followed by another to his jaw.

The man goes down.

156 PK'S POV 156

118.

Morrie has risen to take a policeman out with a stool

over his head.

Two other police beat Morrie from behind. He goes

down once again under their brutal clubs.

157 BACK TO SCENE 157

PK turns just as another club comes for his head. He

slips past the blow and punches out his assailant with

a lightning combination. As the man falls another

cop charges from behind.

MARIA:

PK!

PK turns off-balance. Maria leaps. The club cuts

through the air. Maria is caught flush on the forehead

as she comes between PK and the club. She falls to

the floor dead. PK swings a stool with all his might,

breaking the cop's face open.

PK:

Maria!

PK drops to the fallen girl's side. He is frantic at

the sight of her gaping bloody wound and the sight of

her open blank eyes. The battle raging around him

recedes before his pain and rising rage. All at once

he explodes, screaming like a madman.

He leaps at Bretyn and bangs one punch after another

into the startled man. Bretyn's face is broken over and

over against PK's fists. Still PK keeps pounding blow

after blow into the fallen man.

Three cops descend on PK and beat him mercilessly

until he drops to the floor, unconscious.

Mandoma is hit hard and goes down.

The few Africans left fighting go down before the

withering assault of clubs, fists, and boots.

158 EXT. CEMETERY - DAY 158

Maria's funeral.

Hundreds of Afrikaaners are gathered.

Daniel Marais and his wife stand by the open grave,

grieving, as the minister reads the final prayers.

119.

The coffin is lowered.

Daniel Marais steps forward and shovels the first dirtdown after it. As Marais looks up he sees PK standingbehind the mourners, 20 yards off. His anger replacesgrief.

Marais advances towards PK, clutching the shovel as a

weapon. Several MEN restrain him.

MEN:

Daniel. No.

Marais glares at PK.

All of a sudden a thousand African voices cut throughthe air, SINGING songs of mourning.

CUT TO:

159 EXT. CEMETERY WALL

Thousands of Africans and a smattering of whites havegathered outside the cemetery. The singing rises fromthem.

159

Gideon, Morrie, St. John and Solly stand in front ofthe crowd.

CUT TO:

160 EXT. CEMETERY

Marais glares at PK, tears of rage in his eyes.

PK stands his ground.

Marais turns away, back to his daughter's grave.

PK stands, tears streaming down his cheeks, as theSINGING ENGULFS the SCENE.

160

161 INT. PK'S ROOM - DAY 161

PK sits at his desk filling out application forms.

Morrie enters. He picks one up off the desk and looksat it.

MORRIE:

120.

(surprised)

You're applying to South African

universities?

PK:

In case the scholarship doesn't

come through.

MORRIE:

Why are you so bloody stubborn?

You don't belong in a South

African university any more than

I belong in the priesthood.

Will you take my father's loan?

PK takes the applications back just as a TELEGRAPH

DELIVERY BOY comes to the door.

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