Unbroken Page #10

light. He then notices something -

Scratched into the plank wall, a message:

NINE MARINES BROUGHT HERE FROM MAKIN ISLAND AUGUST 18, 1942

Under it, nine names.

On Louie, looking up at it.

Footsteps approaching.

Louie’s look goes to the door.

As the footsteps pass without breaking stride, something is

tossed through the door’s window: a white, irregular shape,

the size of a baseball.

It hits the dirt floor and breaks up.

Louie quickly reaches down, gathers pieces of rice, with

panicky fingers flicks maggots away, and stuffs the food into

his mouth.

136

OMITTED 136

137

INT. PRISON CELL - MORNING 137

Days later - The jungle is wet with rain. It spills into his

cell. Suddenly the door is opened and Louie is pulled out and

dragged by his neck.

138

EXT. KWAJALEEN JUNGLE - DAY 138

We hear the chink of silver on china. Louie stands in the

pouring rain, looking fixedly off:

A table set with linen and heavy with food, being eaten by a

JAPANESE OFFICER who sits bone dry under a tarp. A

TRANSLATOR stands by.

The Officer slowly, meticulously, ostentatiously, cuts his

food and eats. He never looks up.

Louie looks around to get his bearings. He is surrounded by

trees. At closer look, Japanese Soldiers in green uniforms

stare out from the jungle. No chance for escape.

The Officer says something to his plate.

TRANSLATOR:

Colonel would like to know

disposition of troop in Hawaii.

Louie is blank for a moment.

LOUIE:

I, I don’t know. . .

TRANSLATOR:

Speak up!

He can’t take his eyes off the food.

LOUIE:

. . . I wouldn’t know what it is

now, haven’t been there in. . .

Murmuring in Japanese. The continued methodical cutting and

chewing.

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Louie sees his wallet on the table and the contents laid out.

The Officer points to a clipping of Louie’s racing at the

Olympics. Another question from the officer, relayed:

TRANSLATOR:

Is this you?

Louie nods. The Officer studies him. He says something to the

Translator in Japanese. The only word Louie can understand is

“Olympic.” The men share a look. Then the Translator asks

another question.

TRANSLATOR (CONT’D)

You were a famous Olympic athlete?

Something else is said.

TRANSLATOR (CONT’D)

Colonel would like to know,

location of radar in E-class, B-24.

LOUIE:

We had the old one. D-class.

TRANSLATOR:

You bomba deer?

LOUIE:

Yes.

Louie hesitates, then asks:

LOUIE (CONT’D)

. . . What happened to the Marines

from Makin Island?

The translator doesn’t bother to relay this.

Eating.

Question from the Officer.

TRANSLATOR:

How you work the Nawdn bombsight?

LOUIE:

You just twist two knobs. What

happened to the Marines?

When the officer receives the translation, he gives two words

of instruction.

The translator responds by bringing pencil and paper to

Louie.

74A

TRANSLATOR:

Draw Nawdn bombsight.

Louie hesitates for a moment, then moves into the tent. He

shakes off his wet hand before he tries to start drawing.

It’s hard to draw with the drops of water covering the page.

The translator has his head cocked, looking down over Louie’s

shoulder.

Scratch of pencil on paper.

Offhand, as Louie draws:

TRANSLATOR (CONT’D)

They were beheaded.

Louie takes this in. He continues to draw.

139 EXT. KWAJALEEN JUNGLE - DAY 139

Louie is being led back to his cell.

As he passes Phil, also under guard:

His tracking, panning point-of-view of Phil, looking

up—quickly lost from sight.

LOUIE:

. . . I drew a Philco radio, knobs

on the side.

The guard shoves him from behind.

140 INT. PRISON CELL - NIGHT 140

Close on Louie’s hand finishing a message by scratching the

wall with his belt buckle:

LOUIE ZAMPERINI - DITCHED OVER PACIFIC - May 1943

Message finished he sits back against the opposite wall. He

looks across the three-foot throw of the room:

The nine Marines. His name underneath.

He stares at the wall, wondering if he will share their same

fate.

He sees a spider crawl across the wall.

141 INT. PRISON CELL - DAY 141

Three weeks have passed. Louie has been in the cell for a

month. We find him in tucked into the corner. His beard has

grown longer and his face has gone pale. But he seems

stronger. He seems focused.

He presses his face against the cold cell wall. As if trying

to connect to Phil.

76

Shouting close by: Louie braces himself as the door is flung

open and a guard screams at him, the same word, over and

over.

Louie, uncomprehending.

The guard keeps repeating, shouting, now showing by gesture

that Louie is to stand. Louie knows he is being asked to walk

to his death. He refuses. He fights.

142

INT. LOUIE’S CELL/ CELL BLOCK - KWAJALIEN - DAY 142

The door opens and TWO GUARDS aggressively attempt to drag

him out. Louie fighting the whole way.

Finally, they overpower him and force him out.

The light is almost blinding after days of confinement.

143

EXT. KWAJALIEN ISLAND - DAY 143

Louie sees Phil, also being dragged, in equally bad shape.

They are scared as they are led out of the cell block.

Louie still fighting, Phil seems to be quietly praying as if

preparing to die.

Louie and Phil are being told to stand at attention. The

Guards step away.

GUARDS:

Strip! TAKE OFF CLOTHES!

Louie and Phil strip down before Guards holding rifles. The

two terrified men fully expect to be executed. Louie eyes the

swords on the mens belts.

They are told to kneel. Louie and Phil’s hearts pump fast.

Louie hesitates and is taken down by a smack to the back of

his knees by a wooden stick.

After a terrifying moment of silence, suddenly, Louie and

Phil are doused with cold water, shocking their systems.

Soap is placed in front of the men and shaving equipment and

scissors. They begin to wash their frail bodies.

144

INT. SHIP’S PRISON - DAY 144

Close on Phil. Wide to reveal this is Louie’s POV from under

his blindfold. Louie and Phil, lay together on the cold floor

of a storage room. Cleaned up but still in the same dirty

clothes. After days in solitary confinement, they lay very

close to each other.

Wider still to reveal -Forty other POWs, bound by rope at the

wrists and ankles, sitting in the dark with them. No one says

a word.

76A

145 EXT. YOKOHAMA PORT - DAY 14EXT. YOKOHAMA PORT - DAY 145

Ocean. Sunlight. A dock. At it, a substantial ship.

Looking straight down at water.

A rough walkway bisects the frame, top to bottom. Men— bound,

blindfolded men— descend the gangplank. Louie and Phil, their

hands tied but holding onto each other.

The men are being loaded into canvas-topped trucks. Phil is

being pulled away. Louie and Phil hold tight, fighting hard

not to be separated.

CLOSE - on their hands ripped apart

Louie is pushed to one truck, Phil to another.

LOUIE:

Phil? Phil?

No answer.

Louie is pushed into a truck.

HIGH ANGLE - The two trucks drive off. Outside the docks the

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