Unbroken Page #11

second truck with Phil in it peels off and takes a different

road.

A146 EXT. BACK OF TRUCK/TOKYO STREETS - DAY A146

We are traveling, inside the truck with the prisoners. The

man closest to Louie is FRANK TINKER, dive bomber pilot and

opera singer.

Close on Louie trying to look from under his blindfold. He

sees a lovely Asian woman on a bicycle.

LOUIE:

This is Tokyo right?

TINKER:

Must be.

LOUIE:

I made it.

TINKER:

You wanted to come to Tokyo?

LOUIE:

I sure did.

TINKER:

Be careful what you wish for mate.

148 EXT. BRIDGE TO OMORI - TOKYO BAY - DAEXT. BRIDGE TO OMORI - TOKYO BAY - DAY

148

Louie’s POV from under his blindfold. He sees they are

driving over a long bridge leading away from Tokyo.

149

EXT. OMORI POW CAMP - TOKYO BAY - DAY 149

The men are unloaded from the truck. Blindfolds off.

Omori POW Camp sits on a man-made island in Tokyo Bay: a

sandy spit connected to shore by a tenuous thread of bamboo

slats, surrounded by six fences. Ashen and gray earth.

Louie approaches oversized wooden gates into the Omori

compound. Grim, lifeless, like the surface of the moon.

Louie and the other newly arrived POWs are lined up with the

current prisoners, emerging threadbare from their barracks,

for roll call, in front of a small office building. They

stand by a “quarantine shed” - a corrugated carport, roof

without walls, completely open to the elements. The men are

ordered to stand at attention, in Japanese, by the Guards.

A bark from a Japanese guard.

The men stiffen.

79

The door of the office barracks swings open.

MUTUSHIRO WATANABE aka THE BIRD: a distant figure, too far

away to distinguish his features. He is in an enlisted man’s

uniform:
little cap, khaki green uniform. He steps out onto

the porch, a kendo stick clasped behind his back. He looks

slowly across the men assembled before him.

WATANABE:

Good evening, old prisoners.

Welcome, new hands. This is Omori

Detention camp.

He steps slowly down off the porch.

Watanabe takes a stroll down the row of men.

Lateral tracks over him as he walks along the front row of

prisoners.

All the men are looking down, taking care not to meet

Watanabe’s eye as he passes.

Reverse lateral tracks on The Bird are from behind the

assembled men, so that his face is obscured by foreground

prisoners, or seen only in fleeting bits, as he walks along

the line.

He speaks with a strong, confident voice. He clearly is very

well educated.

THE BIRD:

I am Corporal Watanabe. You are

enemies of Japan and you will be

treated accordingly.

He moves down the line to Louie.

Louie’s eyes are cast down, head lowered. But the voice and

footsteps stop, as the Bird halts, directly in front of him.

Uneasy quiet.

Louie’s point of view is of the bottom half of the man halted

before him:
huge, brutish hands holding a kendo stick.

The disembodied voice:

WATANABE:

Look at me.

Louie looks up. For the first time we get a good look at the

Bird:
handsome face, cold, black stare - the cruelest eyes

Louie’s ever seen.

Close on the Bird challenging Louie. Close on Louie, not

backing down. Defiant.

THE BIRD:

You look me in the eye?!

Out of nowhere, The Bird’s kendo stick swings into Louie’s

head, hard, making Louie stagger. Shocked, Louie takes the

hit.

Another blow and The Bird breaks Louie’s nose.

THE BIRD (CONT’D)

Look at me!

Every prisoner goes rigid with fear. Louie looks up. The Bird

swings again, delivering another blow to Louie.

THE BIRD (CONT’D)

Don’t look at me! DON’T LOOK AT ME!

Beat. Louie looks at him, enraged and confused, with his

fists clenched, restraining himself from hitting back, Louie

lowers his eyes. The Bird looks triumphant. He smiles.

THE BIRD (CONT’D)

New prisoners... you are not

dismissed...you will stand

quarantine. We cannot have disease

in the barracks.

He exits into the Commander’s office. A guard shouts in

Japanese telling the other soldiers to return to their

barracks. They do, in an orderly fashion, leaving Louie and

the POWs who are told to head to the quarantine shed.

150 EXT. OMORI POW CAMP - QUARANTINE SHED - NIGHT 150

Night has fallen. Louie, still standing under the corrugated

roof. He resets his own nose. Crack. Fresh blood drips down.

151 EXT. OMORI POW CAMP/ QUARANTINE SHED - NIGHT 151

LATER-

Louie and the POWs, are still standing in the cold.

The Bird appears on his balcony, finally giving the order to

the Guards to lead Louie and the new POWs to their barracks.

152 INT. BARRACKS, OMORI - NIGHT 152

The new prisoners stream into a long, narrow, barrack

building. Double bunks on either side of a narrow aisle. The

old timers are in here, stretched out on their bunks.

Louie and Tinker look on as The Scots, led by BLACKIE, unload

stolen goods from everywhere inside their clothing: long

cloth tubes down trousers and sleeves are full of sugar,

tobacco leaves, flour. They stash the plunder in secret

compartments behind wooden planks.

81

Louie can’t help but smile a little. Blackie gives him a

look. He doesn’t warm easy to new people.

A British soldier, MILLER, notes Louie’s bloody bruises.

MILLER:

I see you’ve met the Bird.

LOUIE:

The Bird?

WILLIAM HARRIS a handsome young Marine, points at Louie's

face.

LOUIE (CONT’D)

Why d'you call him “the Bird”?

HARRIS:

(not too loud)

Because he listens, and if he heard

us using the names we’d like to

call him, he’d kill us.

MILLER:

Apparently, he grew up wealthy,

spoiled. Wanted to be an officer.

Expected to be, too. Was denied. A

great humiliation for him, not

making the grade.

FITZGERALD (O.S.)

(beat) Of course none of this

explains the. . . erratic behavior.

Louie sees COMMANDER FITZGERALD. He is laying down writing in

his make shift journal. A man with the confidence of the

leader that he is. Fitzgerald gives Louie a welcoming smile

and nod. Louie notices that Fitzgerald’s fingernails have

been removed.

FITZGERALD (CONT’D)

They were looking for some answers.

MILLER:

Didn’t get any though did they?

FITZGERALD:

(smiling)

Not a thing.

(He offers his damaged

hand to Louie)

Commander Fitzgerald.

153

EXT. OMORI BARRACKS - MORNING 153

Louie and the other POWs are run into the compound and lined

up. Louie looks around for The Bird. He can’t see him but he

can sense him. He must be lurking in the shadows, watching.

Not knowing where he is, is even more unnerving for Louie.

OMORI GUARD:

Enlisted men to work.

The POWs watch as the Enlisted Men are marched out of the

compound for work. The men look to the Officers.

155

EXT. OMORI - COMPOUND - MORNING 155

Later - Louie and the POWs are forced to do calisthenics in

the snow.

The Bird appears and walks toward the men. He stalks down the

line, glancing at papers in his hand, looking for someone.

THE BIRD:

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