FADE IN:
EXT. THE BADLANDS. NOON.
The scene opens out onto a rocky piece of desert. A snake slips down a rocky outcrop and settles among some gorse becoming practically invisible, except for its eyes which appear to glow orange.
A few moments later a small rodent enters center screen. As it does so the snake’s eyes close. The animal cannot see the snake and does not sense any danger from the gorse, entering it in order to gain some shade. As it does so the snake attacks its prey, killing it and immediately beginning to ingest it.
The camera zooms slowly in toward the glowing orange eye of the snake, dissolving to become the sun for the opening scene.
OPENING TITLES
DISSOLVE
OPENING DAY:
Ext. the badlands, South Dakota, Late afternoon.
The camera zooms out from the red sun from the previous scene to a long shot of part of the Badlands in South Dakota in late afternoon.
CUT TO:
A low horizontal shot of a section of road. The descending sun is in the back ground and in the top left-hand corner of the screen there is another part of the road, a bend which winds round part of the hills. The section enters and exits in that corner of the screen.
Center front of the camera a prairie dog scuttles over a rise beyond the far lane of the road. It stops before the lane almost as if it were checking traffic to see if it is safe and then begins across at the same time that a motor home appears screen left coming around the hill on the twisty section of road and then disappears off screen.
As the dog reaches the nearside lane the motor home, entering from screen left, runs over it, killing it.
CUT TO:
The POV from the bonnet of the motor home toward the inside of the cab. A MAN is driving, a WOMAN is seated next to him and a BOY and older GIRL, of teenage, are seated behind them. They are not talking and look at once, both grim and nonchalant.
CUT TO:
DOG (Doberman) on floor by foot of children. His head is resting on the Boy’s foot but he is not asleep.
CUT TO:
Crane shot above van as it plunges into a tunnel formed by trees or a natural arch in the rock. As it enters a coyote’s cry is heard and simultaneously the camera shot spirals haphazardly away and upward toward the sky.
CUT TO:
A low-angled long-shot of coyote seated on an outcrop of rock with a full moon behind it. As the camera zooms slowly in toward the coyote a close-up of a NATIVE INDIAN CHIEF is overlaid. The Indian talks in Sioux without translation. His manner is clipped and appears to be belligerent. His image fades after he has spoken and at once the coyote now in medium close-up howls and lies down.
After a few seconds he looks behind him as if aware of a presence, and then gets up and runs away into the night.
CUT TO:
A long-shot of a parking site off road close to the Wounded Knee memorial site; the sun has set and it is already dark.
CUT TO:
A low level shot of the motor home approaching the camera. It stops in front to a close-medium shot of the near-side headlamp and the headlights are turned off. After a moment the reflection of a coyote is seen approaching in the headlamp.
CUT TO:
A crane shot with the Motor home below and screen right. The interior lights are turned on illuminating the coyote which is lying down, screen left. The lights disturb him and he runs off.
FADE TO BLACK.
DAY 1:
INT. MOTOR HOME, BREAKFAST TABLE, MORNING.
Woman, Girl and Boy are all seated, eating. The dog is on the floor and Man enters from bedroom groggily.
WOMAN
(Looks at Man and then turns toward window and pulls up the blind)
Fuck me, Sand
MAN
(half-asleep)
Uh?
WOMAN
Yup, it’s definitely sand
MAN
It’s a desert – what were you expecting – Times Square?
WOMAN
After all that irrigation the least I was hoping for was a few flowers outside the window.
MAN
Oh – Christ you know I can never go a full night without…
GIRL
Why don’t you just quit drinking a case of beer before bedtime? … Think of your prostrate.
MAN
I do, I drink for both of us, besides I’m on vacation. I need the rest.
BOY
So does your liver?
WOMAN
It’s like trying to sleep under Niagara Falls.
MAN
(Sarcastically)
You need beauty sleep, honey, I don’t.
GIRL
The dog can piss
quicker than you!
WOMAN
And try getting back to sleep after that.
MAN
What should I do? Go out into the dark and take a chance in the desert?
BOY
Nothing out there scarier than you dad
WOMAN
Shit no – don’t make him do that we may wake up in a lake!
MAN
No different at home. Are we all on edge?
WOMAN
(sarcastic)
Home? That’s an anachronism
isn’t it?
GIRL
At home (pause) in our old home we didn’t notice it. It was just another noise lost in the great urban soundscape.
BOY
It’s different here – creepy, but not in a fun way.
WOMAN
Right – it’s too damn quiet. You get so used to the city that you don’t hear it breathing anymore. Out here any little creak or knock is amplified, especially when somebody drains their bladder four times a goddamn night!
(To son)
Where are you off to?
BOY
I...I...gotta go too now.
GIRL
Mom, if the old man keeps you up all night I’ll make breakfast.
BOY
(From the john)
And who’s gonna wake you up?
GIRL
I can always rely on the erotic alarm clock - those sick pubescent dreams - all those animal groans.
Oh fuck, baby…baby….babeee!!!
WOMAN
(To daughter)
Enough - it’s a deal; tomorrow you fix breakfast,and you
(shouting to son in the john)
…can help her and I’ll lie in.
BOY
(Returning)
And what about my vacation?
WOMAN
(Sardonically)
Boy, you were born on vacation.
GIRL
(Giggles)
Absolutely Mommie dear.
Boy and girl begin arguing.
MAN
Out! Out! Both of you; go and tidy up the desert.
(They exit)
MAN
You know they won’t.
WOMAN
Won’t what?
MAN
Make breakfast.
WOMAN
I know…but isn't it enough they offered?
Pause
MAN
You’re okay with this aren’t you?
WOMAN
With what?
MAN
This...trip.
WOMAN
It’s for all of us, isn’t it? In the long run?
MAN
(looks tenderly toward her)
I hope so.
WOMAN
(sympathetically)
But you’re not sure?
MAN
(cheerfully)
Hopeful…
(pause, and then resignedly)
and uncertain
WOMAN
This may make a difference to our future. But I’m not like you. I don’t believe in magic spells that can make everything right. All I see here is just a lot of sand and rock.
MAN
We've got time… I think you'll take to it. Then there’s ‘Frisco.
WOMAN
I liked Maine. Maine was fresh...
MAN
Let's not go over that again. It was time. It's better to go early when things start to get awkward. We've tried to ride it out in the past and it's never worked.
WOMAN
I know. You’re right. But that was the nicest spot of all, against the ocean; good friends, a great school; we had steady jobs. It was a community and we were part of it.
MAN
And now we’ve got to start all over again. But you knew eventually we’d have to move.
WOMAN
Yes, but not so soon. I could handle one or two strategic moves at the right time… a different scenario, different friends, neighbours and everything’s hunky dory again. That’s a normal thing regular people do. But this…moving again and again, half a dozen towns all over the country; never settling for more than two or three years, dragging them with us…it’s depressing.
MAN
It’s hard I know, but they’re okay with it. They lost friends too.
WOMAN
They’re young, and to them it’s another big adventure. They’re happy to see the world, but they’ll be like me sooner or later; soulless, rootless - looking for a home. Why do they have to go through this?
MAN
They’re learning to adapt.
WOMAN
Will they - any better than me? Trying everything humanly possible to fit in and all the time knowing that the only place we'll ever belong is the same hole we dig for oursleves time and time again.
MAN
I know, but you have hope; they have hope – at least you have that.
WOMAN
(sarcastically)
Hope? Excuse the ingratitude!
(she pauses and he looks at her sheepishly)
Honey, I realise that there are few beings born to a care free existence, so I don’t expect to live with you and be pampered; but there are times when I find it impossible to forgive. Please don’t compare your life with ours – we’re not the culpable ones.
(another pause – he lowers his eyes -she softens)
I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be cruel.
MAN
You’re truthful – that’s all. And I have to accept that.
WOMAN
I just wish sometimes the world would try and fit in with us for a change. Don't we belong too?
She exits. The Man’s anger begins to rise in sympathy with his wife. A rasping sound is heard while he is in close-up. He moves out of shot and the camera pans down to four large scratches across the breakfast table. The camera then pans back up to a position toward the middle of the table with the motor home window behind as the man leans back in his seat. Camera zooms quickly into the round pull of the window blind through which a NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN can be seen standing off into the distance.
FADE TO BLACK
Ext. Desert, Motor home, afternoon.
Man is around barbeque with the Woman. The Girl and Boy are playing a game with the dog in the near distance.
MAN
(Flipping burgers with a spatula)
Impressive, isn’t it.
WOMAN
No. It’s dry, dusty and full of goddamn flies.
MAN
Just like I remember it.
WOMAN
Sure?
MAN
Well, not so crowded.
Pause
WOMAN
What was it like before?
MAN
Lonely.
WOMAN
Why so nostalgic then?
MAN
Oh, I don’t know, innocence maybe.
WOMAN
So this is what it’s all about? When we you ever innocent?
MAN
Here, once. The sophistication of the modern world eradicates a certain magic that can only be appreciated with naivety.
WOMAN
If I were you Confucius, I'd stop philosophizing and concentrate on the food. You're burning it.
MAN
(Ignoring her and shaking the spatula as if deep in thought)
If I could un-know the world or at least my part in it maybe I could go back, rectify my mistakes, or at least isolate myself from it; maybe even do some good.
WOMAN
Meaning?
MAN
I wouldn't have to go through all this.
WOMAN
I see. A different future.
MAN
Right.
WOMAN
Do you see me anywhere in this vision of a bright new world?
MAN
Where would…
(Drops burger)
Oh shit!
WOMAN
How do you like your burger, rare, medium, or well done and coated with our special blend of sand and flies!
MAN
Perhaps the food critic of the New York Times could fetch me a beer after her expert summation of my culinary talents?
WOMAN
It’s amazing, it really is.
MAN
What?
WOMAN
To old world grizzlies like you a woman's place is in the kitchen, sweating over a hot stove while the
Man sits watching TV, guzzling a six pack; except of course when there's a barbecue, then we're not qualified to cook, but we do get to fetch the beer.
Goes toward Motor home
MAN
Get yourself one too!
Woman gestures with middle finger in response as she is walking away
CUT TO:
A long shot of Girl with the barbecue in the foreground.
GIRL
Hey, is it ready yet?
MAN
(Holds up a burning sausage in close-up obscuring body of Girl)
I guess so.
Woman returns with beer as the Boy and Girl draw towards the barbecue.
BOY
One of those for me?
WOMAN
Oh sure and an apple juice for the old Man.
MAN
You’re too young for alcohol.
BOY
But I’m not too young too die.
MAN
Eh!
BOY
Look at those burgers; how can I take the risk of eating them when the nearest hospital is fifty miles away.
GIRL
(Aside)
I wouldn’t take the chance if it were 5 minutes away.
MAN
They’re cooked then aren’t they?
WOMAN
(Taking up a burger and breaking it in two revealing the raw uncooked inside)
Are they?
(Throws it to the dog, who smells it and refuses)
ALL
Laugh.
BOY
All right, I’ll try one.
Grabs a burger and puts it into a bun then smothers it in ketchup.
GIRL
He likes vary the taste of his ketchup by adding a little food now and then.
BOY
Shut up! I’m only doing this as a small mercy to this burger, and my stomach.
GIRL
Your stomach is lined with ketchup. Food can’t hang around your guts waiting to be digested it just slips straight through to your butt. That’s why he’s so skinny.
Boy picks up the ketchup and sprays it at the Girl. Her T-shirt is speckled with red dots.
GIRL
You fucking asshole.
MAN
Enough. You,
(Points to Girl)
get changed. You,
(Points to Boy)
put down the weapon and decide what you’re going to do with that.
BOY
(Puts down the ketchup and the burger)
I’ve kinda gone off it.
Woman gives the Man a can of beer, takes the spatula from him, and throws him a beer.
WOMAN
Let’s stick with traditional methods; I’ll cook, you get drunk. And you two can collect firewood for tonight.
Camera pans into the barbeque flame.
Ext. Desert, evening.
It is a clear night. They have made a campfire. The parents are sitting around it. The Man is drinking, the Woman reading with the aid of a torch. The two teenagers are making a noise in the near distance, playing around with the dog, who barks occasionally.
MAN
What are you reading?
WOMAN
A book of poetry.
MAN
So the landscape has finally inspired you. I told you it would. Ah, you know this land really is timeless. Except for the highway it hasn’t changed at…
WOMAN
Sorry to interrupt the travelogue, but it was recommended to me.
MAN
Who by?
WOMAN
Jill.
MAN
Oh, her…the organizer of that book club you joined…
WOMAN
…and was kicked out of.
MAN
I thought they’d stopped meeting.
WOMAN
No, they just changed venues.
MAN
And conveniently forgot to mention it to you.
WOMAN
As usual.
MAN
Yet if it wasn’t for the book club I wouldn’t have renewed my interest in reading.
WOMAN
Your interest; it was me that located the book through the Sioux mystic woman? She was never happy lending it me, in fact I’m sure it was her that set the others against me.
MAN
Some people have a natural affinity for these things. You’re old enough to know that by now.
(pause)
WOMAN
When are you going to try? – Do you want me to be there?
MAN
Tonight, but alone; you and they can sleep.
WOMAN
I won’t be sleeping.
MAN
Well watch them sleep. Anyway what’s the book about then?
WOMAN
I told you its poetry.
MAN
Alright what are the poems about…love, war?
WOMAN
“Blue remembered hills”
MAN
What?
WOMAN
It’s an image from one of the verses evoking childhood memories. You should read some of these; it may enhance a reminiscence of your murky history. After all isn’t that the purpose for this diversion.
MAN
Vacation, it’s supposed to be a vacation. So relax and read your book. I don’t need poetry…
(Throws out his arms)
I am surrounded by it.
WOMAN
Well if it's all the same to you, Ansel Adams, I'll stick with this.
(Returns to reading)
A rustling sound is heard, then silence apart from the crackle from the campfire.
WOMAN
(Looks up from book)
What’s that?
MAN
What’s what?
WOMAN
I can’t hear anything.
MAN
You can’t hear what?
WOMAN
That’s just it, I can’t hear anything.
MAN
(flabbergasted)
That book is in English isn’t it?
WOMAN
Sorry? Of course, why?
MAN
Because I can’t understand a word you’re saying.
WOMAN
That’s because you’re not listening.
MAN
What!!! I give up.
WOMAN
Ssh, where have they gone?
MAN
(understanding)
They’ve just moved out of earshot, that’s all.
WOMAN
Well let’s have them back within earshot.
Gets up from chair.
CUT TO:
A low-angled shot of the upper torso of the Woman with a clear night sky, full of stars, behind her, as she calls them. She is answered by complete silence until suddenly a coyote cries off in the distance.
MAN
(From chair)
Sit down, they’re not far away.
WOMAN
(Sitting back down)
I suppose not but I’d rather have them here by the firelight.
MAN
Ah fire! Man’s greatest invention. Both friend and enemy, it warms and yet it destroys.
WOMAN
Listen Prometheus, I’m here to enjoy what I can from this little jaunt, hassle free, and then on to ‘Frisco. You start your new job, the kids go back to school and I reassume my position as the boring ‘little woman’; at least for a few years.
MAN
Nothing else?
WOMAN
Of course – but you know I don’t share your faith.
Shuffling noises are heard beyond the campfire, nearer than before.
MAN
Is that them?
CUT TO:
A shot between the two chairs of the Man and Woman at the same level as their head positions. Suddenly between them a small white face from a spot at ground level springs up in an arc between them, the face growing larger as it nears. It is the Boy trying to surprise them. He is wearing what appears to be a Native American Indian Headdress.
BOY
Wooah! Wooah!
The Man and Woman do not react in surprise.
WOMAN
There you are.
MAN
Where’s the Girl?
GIRL
(Coming in out of the darkness with the dog)
Over here.
(To Boy)
I told you it wouldn’t work, nothing scares them.
Dog moves toward campfire and lies down.
WOMAN
Never mind that, where did you get the hat?
BOY
Hat! Have you no respect for the original landowners around here? This is a headdress.
MAN
(Uneasy)
I know exactly what it is. Where did you find it?
GIRL
(Points off into the darkness)
Up in those cliffs this afternoon. He’s been saving it especially for tonight to try and scare the shit outta you.
BOY
(Removing headdress)
For what it was worth.
MAN
Where in the cliffs? It can’t have been just lying there.
GIRL
Oh no, we found a cave.
WOMAN
What sort of cave?
BOY
I dunno…a ‘hole in the rock’ type of cave.
MAN
What else was in this cave?
BOY
Some bones, wall paintings; the usual stuff you see in the movies.
MAN
You shouldn’t have taken anything.
WOMAN
Oh come on, you’re not getting superstitious are you?
MAN
I thought you were the one who was trying to avoid trouble.
WOMAN
What trouble has he caused?
MAN
Burial grounds are sacred places to the Indian people. It should go back.
WOMAN
And if it doesn’t we’re going to be murdered by the ghosts of Cochise and Crazy Horse in our beds tonight.
The Boy pretends to throw a tomahawk and the Girl pretends to take the blow in her back.
MAN
Cochise and Crazy Horse weren’t from around here.
GIRL
You’re very knowledgeable aren’t you?
BOY
So who are the famous Indians of the Badlands?
MAN
The Dakotas belong…belonged to the Sioux, the land of Sitting Bull.
BOY
Never heard of him.
GIRL
A true patriot; immersed in the history of this great country of ours.
BOY
So, history’s a dead subject. It doesn’t interest me.
GIRL
Sitting Bull led the Indians against Custer at the Little Big Horn.
Boy shrugs his shoulders
WOMAN
So that’s it. We’re all going to be scalped tonight.
Boy and Girl begin to dance around the campfire. The Boy proceeds to mime scalping her head.
MAN
There isn’t an Indian dead or alive would dare take you on; we should show some respect, that’s all I’m saying.
WOMAN
What… is this guilt, from you? Why should you feel guilty? Did you kill him? Anyway he’s at peace - he’s at rest, lucky for some.
GIRL
That’s right; whoever owned the headdress has been smoking a peace pipe with his forefathers for a long time now.
MAN
I don't care.
(Looks at Woman for support)
It should not have been removed.
WOMAN
(To appease the father)
Still, your Old Man is right. Perhaps it should go back.
BOY
Aw!
(Disappointed and angry)
Well I’m not going back there tonight.
WOMAN
Nobody’s going back there tonight. We’ll go tomorrow.
(To Man)
Happy?
The Man looks ruefully at her as she gets up out of her seat.
WOMAN
It’s late. Come on you two let’s get to bed.
She walks toward the Motor home and the Boy and Girl follow her.
WOMAN
You coming?
MAN
One more beer.
The Woman rolls her eyes at the thought of another night of interrupted sleep. The Man cracks open another beer.
CUT TO:
A shot at ground level looking up at the Man, with the dog in the foreground apparently asleep.
An ember suddenly erupts into a bright flame.
Neither the Man nor the dog is disturbed.
FADE.
EXT. Wounded knee memorial site, Late evening
Long shot of the Man kneeling in a Christian style in front of the memorial stone. A powerful torch light illuminates the man and the memorial from screen right. The man’s hands are at his side yet his manner suggests he is praying or incanting. After a few seconds he leans forward extending his hands and putting his head against the ground.
FADE TO BLACK.
Int. parent’s bedroom, Motor home, NIGHT.
Slow camera pan across sleeping Man and Woman.
CUT TO:
INT. TEENAGER’S BEDROOM, MOTOR HOME.
A similar shot of Boy and Girl.
CUT TO:
INT. KITCHEN, MOTOR HOME.
A shot of the moon shining brightly outside the window of the Motor home. The camera tilts slowly down past a piece of amber ornament that is sitting on the table. The camera continues to descend until it is directly behind the ornament in close-up with the moonlight shining through it.
CUT TO:
A medium close-up of the sleeping dog lying on a seat across from the table. The orange glow from the ornament is projected onto its sleeping eyelid. A low noise is heard outside. The dog’s eye opens and glows orange through the projection.
CUT TO:
EXT. MOTOR HOME.
A low-angled shot of some scrub brush. After a few seconds the head of a coyote peeks through.
CUT TO:
INT. KITCHEN, MOTOR HOME.
The dog is still lying down. It snarls and begins to rise. It lowers itself down to the floor and heads toward the door which is closed.
CUT TO:
EXT. MOTOR HOME.
The coyote is still within the scrub looking out.
CUT TO:
INT. KITCHEN, MOTOR HOME.
The dog is up against the closed door and snarls louder now.
CUT TO:
EXT. MOTOR HOME.
The coyote hears the dog and slowly backs away into the scrub.
FADE TO BLACK.
