The Power of One Page #3

8.

Several boys sneak up in the dark. The CHICKEN begins

to CHATTER. The six-year-old wakes, a shoe in hand

ready to throw. The shadows scatter. The Boy gives the

chicken a few grains of corn and an affectionate scratch

behind the ear, and goes back to sleep.

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

He was my best and only friend.

CUT TO:

14 INT. SCHOOL 14

Boys and faculty running through the halls excitedly,

showing newspapers with pictures of Hitler and

Chamberlain on the front. Posters and slogans with

swastikas are slapped up on walls. Some boys mimic

"heiling" to each other.

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

I'm sure in time a status quo

would have been achieved between

me and my schoolmates were it not

for the cataclysmic events

occurring in that faraway place

none of us had ever seen.

(beat)

Two montjhs after I arrived at

the school World War II broke out

in Europe. Hitler had vowed to

crush the British Empire. The

Boers sharpened their swords in

anticipation.

The six-year-old comes back to his bed in the dorm to

find a swastika carved into it.

CUT TO:

15 INT. DORMITORY - NIGHT 15

The six-year-old sleeps fitfully. There is a MUFFLED

SQUAWK. He wakes. A blanket is thrown over his head.

CUT TO:

16 INT. DARKENED BASEMENT ROOM 16

The Boy is dumped on the floor, the blanket removed. His

eyes open in horror. The room is lit by torches.

Shadows dance fearfully off two dozen boys with swastika

armbands and leather pistol rigs without pistols strapped

to their sides. In front of him on a platform Jaapie

Botha stands, his shirtsleeves rolled to the shoulder,

9.

as another student painfully tattoo-scars his arm with

a swastika, using a knife and blue dye. Seeing the sixyear-

old, Jaapie turns his attention to him and

addresses him in Afrikaans.

JAAPIE:

God has sent Hitler to deliver us

from the English bastards who stole

our country and killed our people.

Heil Hitler!

The other boys chorus in.

ALL:

Heil Hitler!

JAAPIE:

We will swear a blood oath. When

Hitler comes we'll rise up and

kill the Verdomde Rooineks.

ALL:

A blood oath! A blood oath!

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