"The Messenger" screenplay I discussed in class

Here is word for word what I turned in for class, I'd appreciate any coments and/or questions.

Background Information for “The Messenger”
The following screenplay is the opening scene to a story about the era following a period of global catastrophe. World War III has ravaged the world. Nuclear weapons have leveled the major cities and the governing bodies that remain have lost virtually all their former power. Nearly all the world is without power, running water or any of the amenities that the modern world has to come to expect.
The survivors, who are mostly from rural areas, must fend for themselves. This is a story about a group of survivors who were infants when the catastrophic events took place and, therefore, knew nothing about the old world. The following scene depicts their rescue by a group of military units.
In the opening scene the viewer, much like the children, will be unaware of who the soldiers are. They appear as ambient, otherworldly figures with seemingly genuine intentions, but as the story unfolds it will be clear that this is not true of all of them. To provide some context for the story I will summarize the main themes that make up the remainder of the film.
The highest ranking soldier in the group that finds the infants wants to return them to proper military personnel and continue their mission (essentially to fight in a war to save a planet which is already ravaged). Several of the other soldiers (there are 8 in total) refuse to let this happen. Some have already lost their own families and see the children as an opportunity to start anew. They are tired of fighting a war that can’t be won and simply want to start a life somewhere. Before the commander can take the children back to a military compound, the other soldiers kill him and take the children. They then flee by helicopter (a futuristic helicopter that has a nuclear energy source) to a remote and dense forest in East Texas. The chose the spot because one of the soldiers grew up nearby and knows of a fallout shelter where they can hide and base their village. The soldiers destroy any equipment that could allow them to be tracked and found “Antiquity” where they will raise the children and, they hope, rebuild mankind.
Quickly things get off track. The soldiers dispute amongst themselves as to how they should raise the children. Some of them want to tell them everything about the old world and how it was destroyed. Some are deeply religious and want to offer the children a very religious upbringing. But one of the soldiers, who the others call Silver, thinks differently. He begins with a simple question: if children had no background knowledge and no external world to influence them, what would you teach them? Anything from the old world that was a source of conflict or used as an instrument of war, religion, political ideology, science and technology, he discards. Instead he tells the children an outright lie; he lies about who they are, what happened to the world and what their purpose on life is. Silver will, in time, acquire complete control of the village, by killing several soldiers who disagree with him and frightening the remaining into submission. One of these soldiers, however, will escape and play a role later in the film.
The remaining story would follow one of these children as he escapes from the village and begins to learn the truth about the old world. He encounters the escaped soldier, travels to remaining city, learns the truth of the world, and discovers technology and art from the past. Eventually he will return for the other children, in particularly for one girl (it has to have a love story of course), and the confrontation with Silver will be violent.
The opening scene will revolve around the myth that Silver tells the children. This myth accounts for who they are, what their purpose is, and why the world has grown dark (some of the children are old enough to faintly remember their parents and a very different world). Angela, the youngest child, will be heard telling the myth as images of what really happened flash on the screen. At times she will use terminology that will not make sense and for this reason will be juxtaposed with an image. For example, stars (which are very visible in their remote location and a constant source of awe to the children) are called the Temple Above. Silver tells the children that he is from one of these Temples and that is where they will ultimately return. This is an example of one of the myths he tells them, piecing together the other myths will require attaching a term to a common image.
The myth Silver tells the children is meant to dichotomize the world between good and evil. Everything favorable Silver will equate with the “Light,” an entity that exists in the stars that the “Messengers,” what Silver will call himself and the other soldiers, have come to share with the “Children” the inhabitants of Earth. Everything that Silver thinks could lead to a loss of power over the orphans he equates with the “Dark,” a force that led to the destruction of the war by bringing false “light,” called the “Synth,” to the Children of the old world. Synth includes technology, art and anything else Silver wants it to include. It is his tool of submission for his followers. He tells his followers that if they follow his teachings they can, in time, be granted access to the “Temples” which are simply stars. The children are severely punished if they doubt this myth.
The theme of the story will revolve around mankind’s ability to resist myth and discover truth, the inability to dichotomizing the world between good and evil and the morality of lying to children to protect them.





“The Messenger”
by
Gabriel Canto














FAde In:
Intro Scene: A FLicker in the dark
It begins with a shot of a beautiful night sky and the sounds of a toddler crying. Then, the following narration begins and the stars shine increasingly brighter until the words “Temples Above” are spoken. After the first two sentences, the audience sees an image of a door opening, bringing light into a dark room occupied only by small children and an older woman who lies dead. The older children are nudging at the women, but she doesn’t respond. As the door opens they turn and look towards the door. Three large figures emerge wearing futuristic military uniforms that are only minimally visible in the dark hallway. Each is wearing a helmet with a flash light on the side that quickly blinds the children. The three figures are recognizably human only by their shape. Their faces are not visible and the overpowering light gives them a mystical quality. The light fades into images of nuclear bombs, panicked crowds, tanks, planes, destroyed monuments, burnt art and collapsed churches.
Angela
We shined through the Dark, that’s how our Father found us. As all the Light faded in the World Before, Father watched from his Temple above. Our Brothers and Sisters, he told us, were seduced. Seduced by the Dark which had grown to engulf the World Before. The world that once belonged to our Brothers and Sisters, of Children, those who were to grow to become Keepers of the Light. But they had ceased to grow. Now it was the Dark that filled their hearts. In time, the Children, Father said, forgot to tend the Light, and in its place they harbored treachery.
An image of a young man in boot camp will appear for a few seconds intermixed with other war images. This same man will keep appearing at different stages of his military career, first deployment, first kill, etc. One image is of him getting injured by shrapnel leaving a very noticeable scar on his face. The last image will be this man in a squad of four men walking through the wreackage of a destroyed city and hearing the same baby’s cry. These images will be very quick and focus on the face and, particularly, the scar.

Angela
Never, Father said, never forget to tend to the Light. For many ages the Light had reigned in the World Before, but the Children forgot to tend to the Light. For this reason the other Children shine no more. We were only Seeds when our Brothers and Sisters strayed. As seeds our Light flickers so that our Brothers and Sisters could find us, but they were blinded by deceit. They were to pass on the Message, so that one day we could be Keepers of the Light like our Father, but they didn’t. That’s why Father came for us.
War images continue.
Angela
During the age of Light the Dark plotted while it slept, for it longed to reign above as it had before the Message was delivered to the Children. The Dark is cunning, Father warned, cunning and seductive. The Dark disguised itself as Light and only the ever Tending Children could distinguish one from the other. The Synth, the deceitful Light of Dark, grew slowly at first. The Synth was Light that never needed tending, and many of the Children were fooled by its lure. Light that needs no tending, our Father warned told us, is deception.
Now the images go back further than the beginning of the War. Images of technology are prevalent. Phones, computers, ipads, TV’s. As the word “Synth” is heard a child is seen staring into a television as he plays video games. The screen closes in on his eyes and the reflection of television screen is visible in his pupils.
Angela
From their Temple above they watched as Dark preyed on the foolish Children and spread to the ever Tending. The ever Tending, however, were ready to join their Mothers and Fathers in the Temples above. They left the World of Children in the hands of the foolish, just as Dark had hoped for. The foolish embraced the Synth and the Dark grew strong. In time, no Light remained except that of Seeds. Seeds that lie in the dirt, until they are released, but no children were left to release Seeds.
Again, an image of bright stars coincides with the words, “Temples Above.” Next the images return to the children. They, nine total, 6 boys and 3 girls, ranging from tiny infants to 7 years old, are being carried in the basement of a nursery. In the windows we quickly catch glimpses of explosions in the distance. When the children are finally safe in the basement, a nearby explosion rattles the room, knocking over baby carriages and toppling file cabinets. One of the cabinets falls on the woman who has been carrying the children into the basement. She is the same women we saw dead before, and she looks into the camera hopelessly as she lies on the ground under the debris. No one will be able to help her. A puddle of blood grows around her.
Angela
When Father left their temples to battle the Dark, we remained in the dark casting our fragile flickers. Father pulled us out, and showered us with Light. He took us to Antiquity and taught us everything. Father is the Messenger. Our Savior.
The same children, slightly older, are being led by the same mystical figures through a dark wooded area. They find a stone bunker and the figures lead them inside. The end of the narration coincides with the children walking inside.
Outside the setting is very dark with only a faint outline of tall trees surrounding the secluded bunker. After all the children are inside two soldiers remains outside and one smokes a cigarette. He takes off his helmet revealing a scar on his cheek. The other soldier wanders into the trees, as the smoker watches, before looking up to the stars. He is smiling and clearly excited about what the men have done. For the first time since the war, he has a home and a family. As he turns to walk back to the bunker the other soldier is suddenly in his way. Before the soldier, who is no longer smiling, can speak, the smoking soldier covers his mouth and slits his throat. The dying soldier falls to his knees, mutters indistinguishable words and falls to his side. The living soldier walks back to where he was standing before, picks up his still lit cigarette and takes one long drag as he stares into the camera.
Fade Out: