Breakers of Heavens

BREAKERS OF HEAVENS
Screenplay by
Giovanni Fantoni Modena
Based on
"Mackintosh"
By W. Somerset Maugham
9A Lloyd Road, Singapore

gio@cloudrunner.net
WGA N.I258640
A deep, growing SOUND accompanies credits on black screen.
As the sound slowly reaches its peak...
FADE IN:
EXT. BEACH - DAWN
The first rays of the sun cross gigantic clouds in front of a

deserted beach.
Huge palm trees uprooted from the ground, seaweed and scraps
of wood from a storm make everything look untidy. Tropical
birds screeching in the darkness.
And here he comes, the MAN, appearing at a distance on the

sand.
This is Mackintosh, 38. He’s almost naked, tall and skinny,

like a Giacometti statue.
The thin figure dives in the water and starts to swim

nervously in the bay.
The ROAR of the breakers is unceasing and menacing in front

of us, like a giant tsunami about to hit the coast.
Mackintosh stops swimming. He rises up, still touching the

seabed with his feet.
In front of him the sand suddenly descends into a dark ABYSS.

Mackintosh is too afraid to swim further.
He sits down in the water, defenceless, in front of the

enormous conflagration of the sunrise.
The deep sound builds to a violent crescendo over the abyss,

the loud breakers, the huge sun above them, rapidly elevating
from the waters.
JUMP CUT TO:
INT. BATHROOM - DAY
Mackintosh is nervously rinsing the sea salt from his skin

under the shower.
VOICE (V.O.)
(In Samoan language)
“Flesh is sin”. That’s how the
breakers of heavens talk.
Mackintosh get out of the shower and wraps himself into a

bathrobe.
2.
VOICE (V.O.)
They are always careful to cover
their flesh the best possible way.
INT. BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
The room is tidy but poorly furnished, somehow suffocating.
A set of worn out UNIFORM clothes is tidily ordered on a

valet rack. On the jacket we see the New Zealand Army EMBLEM.
VOICE (V.O.)
They wrap all their bodies in tick
mats.
A heavy military shirt flies into the air, covering

Mackintosh’s chest. Thick military TROUSERS rise up on his
thin white legs. It is such a heavy cloth, not proper for a
tropical climate.
VOICE (V.O.)
All the parts are held together by
shells and ropes.
Mackintosh buttons up his shirt and closes his trousers. A

lot of mosquito BITES on his hands and wrists, trapped in the
narrow cuffs.
He takes a silver MEDAL from the table and attaches it to his

uniform.
VOICE (V.O.)
Around the feet two mats are tied.
A soft one wrapping them up...
Mackintosh’s left foot is wrapped up in a pair of slim socks.

A pair of horse RIDING BOOTS under the bed.
VOICE (V.O.)
...and then a hard one on top. A
kind of canoe with high sides.
Mackintosh’s left foot enters one leather boot with

difficulty.
VOICE (V.O.)
These foot-ships are fastened
around the ankles with ropes and
hooks, to contain the feet like in
snail house.
We can see Mackintosh’s foot trapped inside the boot while

he’s fastening a tricky set of STRINGS tight up to his knees.
3.
VOICE (V.O.)
With them they separate their feet
from the ground, that they feel
sick of.
We follow the imposing boots as they walk into the room.
VOICE (V.O.)
Because inside them the feet look
dead and putrid they hide their
shame with a liquid that makes them
shine.
Mackintosh is meticulously greasing his boots until they are

perfectly shiny black.
A dark slim TIE passes through his shirt collar. A fast

sequence of closing BUTTONS, ZIPPERS, SNAPS, etc. leads us to
Mackintosh pensively looking at himself in the mirror, ready
for another day of work.
He now meticulously cleans his teeth with dental floss and

swallows a PILL with some water.
It’s the first time we see his face completely. He adjusts

his medal on his chest.
VOICE (V.O.)
Their mats are bound so tightly
that neither the human eye nor rays
of the sun can penetrate them.
His shirt’s collar is already wet from the sweat dripping

from his unhealthy pale face, the portrait of an infinite
tiredness.
VOICE (V.O.)
They becomes pale white, like
flowers that grow in the deep wood.
Mackintosh grabs his GUN, his NOTEBOOK and exits the room.
EXT. COLONIAL BUILDING FACADE - DAY
We slowly reveal a large white colonial BUILDING.
We follow Mackintosh walking on the second floor’s balcony

while SUNG, 39, the Chinese cook, is preparing breakfast on
the first floor.
Mackintosh sits at the table, noticing that Sung is cleaning

up SOMEBODY’S else place. Mackintosh sits opposite to it.
Sung handles him bacon, scrambled eggs and thin slices of

papaya. The dish is served in a unappetising fashion. Two
dark eye bags stand out on Mackintosh’s nauseated face.
4.
Sung sits on the stairs close to the table and starts eating
his own Chinese meal in silence.
VOICE (V.O.)
Imagine a mat of tapa with writings
on all sides.
Mackintosh turns over a pile of the New Zealand Herald

NEWSPAPERS.
VOICE (V.O.)
Inside those their wisdom is
hidden. Every morning they have to
sink their heads into it, to make
sure they will think well.
MACKINTOSH
The newest is from three weeks ago.
Shall we still call them
newspapers?...
Sung nods a smile and continues to eat his noodles.
We track back revealing the old colonial building surrounded

by the lush vegetation. A creepy, somehow rotten atmosphere.
Mackintosh continues reading, cross legged. His fingers

meticulously stretch the newspaper and fold it. He stands up
and leaves.
His breakfast is still there, untouched. Sung takes it away

as the UNION JACK flutters softly on the building’s facade.
Legend: Samoa, farthest British Empire outpost, 1922.
EXT. OFFICE - DAY
Mackintosh enters a large, bare room. A number of Samoan

people are seated on the ground, chatting.
MACKINTOSH
Talofa. (Hello in Samoan)
The Samoans answer respectfully. Mackintosh sits down,

leaving a couple of BOOKS on his desk. He extracts the GUN
from his holster and locks it inside the drawer.
VOICE (V.O.)
Everyone of them does things. It is
a profession to have thoughts and
to look at the stars but more often
they do nothing else but write one
paper after the other.
Mackintosh starts to read a DOCUMENT badly folded and full of

ink stains. The calligraphy is heavy and childish.
5.
MACKINTOSH
(Reading, perplexed)
“Be cause of the road won’t cost
that much”? - What?...
There are many grammar errors. Mackintosh starts to

transcribe the document in elegant calligraphy and proper
English, as the Samoans keep chatting in front of him.
MACKINTOSH (CONT’D)
(Writing and whispering)
The road’s costs will not exceed
our estimated budget...
The Samoans suddenly stop talking.
The sound of a HORSE galloping gets louder and louder.

Mackintosh tilts up his head. He exchanges a glance with
Sung. The galloping stops.
WALKER, 65, the Administrator of the island, enters into the

office. His fat silhouette stops at the door.
The Samoans stand up, noisily trying to grab his attention.
Walker only lifts his hand. It’s silence. He’s staring at

Mackintosh from the other side of the room. We can’t quite
see his face. With a heavy, slow resolute tread, he starts
crossing the room towards us.
He stops in front of Mackintosh’s desk, almost touching it

with his pelvis. A soft, threatening voice.
WALKER
You ought to have been up working
before dawn like me, lazy beggar.
Mackintosh keeps writing in silence.
WALKER (CONT’D)
There was an accident down the
road. You didn’t hear?
MACKINTOSH
Where did it happen?
WALKER
Forget it. You wouldn’t have been
of any help.
Walker throws himself into the chair in front of Mackintosh’s

desk and wipes his face with a sweaty bandana. He’s
enormously stout. A large, fleshy face.
The Samoans have composed a line behind him. They wait for
his permission to come over. Walker doesn’t mind about them.
6.
WALKER (CONT’D)
By heaven, I've got a thirst.
Sung fills a half coconut shell and handles it to him. Walker

drinks with relish. His face is hidden by the bowl, noisily
dropping the liquid on his old uniform.
Mackintosh takes a quick glance to him. He doesn’t wear his

tie, his ragged trousers are badly cut to the knee.
Walker handles the empty coconut to Sung and he now

scrutinizes Mackintosh, who continues writing.
Mac is sitting on a taller chair, his desk is all tidy. He

has the look of a London’s stockbroker clerk. He is sweating,
evidently uneasy.
Walker spots Mackintosh’s books. He grabs them and extracts

his gold-rimmed SPECTACLES. His little eyes shrewd and
vivacious. A nose suspiciously red.
WALKER (CONT’D)
“Ethnography of the Samoan people”,
“Coming of age in Samoa”... What in
the hell have you brought all this
muck for?!
MACKINTOSH
I brought them because I want to
read them.
WALKER
When you said you'd got a lot of
books coming up I thought there'd
be something for me to read.
Haven't you got any detective
stories?
MACKINTOSH
(icily)
Detective stories don't interest
me.
Walker badly throws the books on Mackintosh’s desk.
WALKER
That’s why you are a damned fool.
Walker takes out a tiny NAIL CLIPPER from a pocket and starts
to cut his nails, letting them fall in front of Mackintosh’s
desk.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You don’t need that rubbish to
understand this people Mackintosh.
They are children. As children must
be treated.
7.
The sound of the nail cuts irks Mackintosh. He’s trying to

focus.
WALKER (CONT’D)
What the hell you’re always
scribbling about?
MACKINTOSH
I am correcting your “letter” for
the government. It’s full of
errors.
Walker raises his voice.
WALKER
I don’t care about grammar. That's
what I want to say and that's how I
want to say it!
The Samoans are looking at the scene from behind. Mackintosh

pretends to keep his aplomb.
MACKINTOSH
(whispering)
I remind you that I am not your
inferior officer and I do not
accept to be treated as such.
WALKER
Can’t hear you.
MACKINTOSH
I was sent here to help you, to...
Walker grabs the document from Mackintosh’s hands.
WALKER
Fudge, fudge, Mackintosh. I've run
this island for twenty years
without red tape and I don't need a
clerk now.
MACKINTOSH
Without “red tape” we’ll never
receive the funds you want.
Walker gives a glance to his well written copy. He signs it

and, satisfied, puts it back on Mackintosh’s desk.
WALKER
Jolly good. Send it in by tomorrow.
Walker leans back on his chair, childishly. Hands behind his

head.
Behind Walker there is ULI, 80, the first of the line. He has
a gentle old face, only a lava-lava around his hips, his
tattooed skin is wrinkled like a wine-skin.
8.
He shyly comes forward. Walker doesn’t turn.
WALKER (CONT’D)
What have you come for Uli?
Uli touches his bare belly.
ULI
(in Samoan)
I... I can’t eat without vomiting.
WALKER
(In Samoan)
Go to the missionaries then. You
know that I only cure children.
ULI
I have been to the missionaries.
They do me no good...
Walker inserts a finger in his left ear. He extracts it and

examines the content.
WALKER
Then go home and prepare yourself
to die.
Mackintosh tilts his head.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Have you lived so long and still
want to go on living? You're a
fool.
Uli is about to say something when a young Samoan WOMAN, 28,

rushes into the office holding a BABY, screaming desperately.
She passes the queue of Samoans. Someone protests.
YOUNG MOTHER
Please! My baby is sick!
Uli realizes he already had his chance and goes away.
WALKER
Bring it here.
Walker stands up and violently makes space on Mackintosh’s

desk. Mackintosh frowns at the sight of all his papers
slammed on the ground.
Walker lays the baby down. His belly is very swollen.
WALKER (CONT’D)
How long he had this for?
YOUNG MOTHER
Three days.
9.
WALKER
Bring me some calomel pills.
Mackintosh is too focused on the sick pale baby.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Mackintosh! This baby is dying, I
said bring me the calomel pills!
Mackintosh rushes to:
INT. DISPENSARY - DAY
He reaches the MEDICINE CABINET.
MACKINTOSH
Calomel, calomel, calomel...
He quickly browses the bottles. After many names: CALOMEL.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Walker grabs the baby from his legs and reverses him, holding
him like a chicken in the air. Everybody stares at the baby
screaming up side down.
He touches the baby’s belly it with his fatty fingers. He

seems an OGRE examining his lunch.
He turns the baby onto its front, looking at his butt. He

inserts his fat little finger in the baby’s anus and pulls
something out. The baby makes a louder cry.
Mackintosh comes back with the bottle.
MACKINTOSH
Calomel.
Walker turns in the center of the room, showing the baby like
a magician shows the tools of his magic. His eyes twinkle.
His brutal fingers force one PILL into the baby’s mouth. He
attends for the effect, looking at his WATCH. The baby soon
starts to defecate as Walker holds him in the air.
WALKER
Good booy! Good booy! Ahahah!
The baby looks much better now. Walker hands him back to the
young mother.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Take the child away and keep it
warm.
10.
A beat.
Tomorrow he’ll be dead or better.
The mother wraps the baby in a lava-lava and takes him away.
Mackintosh looks down in front of his desk. It’s a mess of

papers and baby feces.
Walker cleans his hands and wears his military HAT, ready to
leave. The hat’s CORD disappears in his three fat chins.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Wonderful stuff calomel. I've saved
more lives with it than all the
hospital doctors in Apia put
together!
Walker passes the Samoans still on the queue.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Time is up for today people.
Mackintosh is quite worn out by the experience. He’s on his

knees, trying to save some documents from the stinky mess.
Walker turns to him from the entrance of the office. The

strong light embraces half of his face.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You look pale Mackintosh.
A beat.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Gotta get some sun before you die.
CUT TO:
10 EXT. GRASS ROAD - DAY 10
The sound and the speed of horses HOOFS beating the road is
threatening.
We are flying behind Walker’s brown HORSE. His fat body

roughly bounces up and down on it.
Mackintosh appears at our side, following with his black

HORSE. His educated riding style is the opposite of Walker’s.
The high pitched screams of a Samoan fast paced MUSIC

accompany the chase.
They emerge on top of a hill. The road is leaving the ocean,

going inland. Brown CATTLE scattered throughout the valley
softly moo, lit up by the strong sun.
11.
Mackintosh tries to keep Walker’s pace without success. He

looses him at the following turn.
CUT TO:
EXT. FURTHER ON THE GRASS ROAD - DAY
A shiny, noisy waterfall plunges into a deep volcanic gorge

opening up below us as the two horses pass right above it.
EXT. VALLEY - DAY
Walker stops at the top of a large valley. The grass road

runs through the stunning bucolic scenery all the way to the
distant glimmering blue of the ocean.
Walker stares at the Samoan panorama in contemplation.
WALKER
By George, it’s like the garden of
Eden.
He takes out his sweaty bandana and wipes his neck. He

extracts his MONOCLE. It’s a jewel of engineering. The LENSES
turn inside the monocle as the valley comes into focus.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I personally designed this entire
road. See how it makes that bend
over there?
Mackintosh looks distractedly to a point, tired by the fast

ride.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I made those fools root up ten
trees for that single turn.
Walker’s boldness is insufferable. He clears his throat with

a vulgar sound and spits on the ground.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Now I want to pass the road over
those mountains and complete the
circle around the island. We’ll
bring the coconuts to the port in a
fifth of the time.
Mackintosh stares at the endless amount of coconut trees in

the valley.
MACKINTOSH
What are all these plantations for?
12.
WALKER
Everything is made with dried
coconut: oil, butter, livestock
feed. Even the soap you used this
morning to shave...
Walker looks at Mackintosh’s clean face with a hint of

mockery. He rides off.
EXT. BUSHES - DAY
A pair of deep BLACK eyes look out from the greenery.
This is SILEI, 26, Samoan, spying on Mackintosh and Walker

hidden in the bushes.
Instead of the traditional clothes he is wearing a pair of

trousers and a loose shirt that make him look more civilized.
EXT. VALLEY - DAY
Walker and Mackintosh has left the horses and are looking at
the mountains from a little hill. We see Walker’s magnified
EYE looking inside his monocle.
WALKER
See that peak? It looks like a
woman’s face doesn’t it?
He passes the monocle to Mackintosh who focuses on the

mountain’s features. Its shape truly resembles a sleepy WOMAN
covered by vegetation.
On the left side the crest makes a feminine profile: the

forehead, the nose, the chin. On the right a little hill
composes the woman’s arms, peacefully folded on her body.
It’s almost a sacred view, soon interrupted by Walker’s bad

language.
WALKER (CONT’D)
We’re going to ride that woman,
Mackintosh.
A pristine river descends from it.
WALKER (CONT’D)
It’ll be the most beautiful sight
on the island. The most remote
track in the whole bloody Empire.
Walker grabs back his monocle from Mackintosh.

13.
WALKER (CONT’D)
We’ll follow that river to that
gorge, and then turn to get to the
crest over there.
MACKINTOSH
Why not going directly to the crest
instead?
Walker turns to Mackintosh, irritated by the lack of

admiration for his project.
WALKER
Why?! It will just be more
enjoyable to ride.
MACKINTOSH
The natives will have to work three
times harder.
WALKER
I don’t give a damn. They will
thank me when it’s finished.
Walker takes a sip from his Whiskey FLASK.
WALKER (CONT’D)
The government must accept your
proposal Mackintosh. I want to
start right when the dry season
begins.
Walker stands up and looks to Silei’s direction. Silei stands

motionless inside the bushes. He looks at Walker reaching his
horse downhill.
EXT. BUSHES - CONTINUOUS
Silei stares at the two horses disappearing into the

greenery.
He gets out of the bushes and jumps barefoot on his white

HORSE with no saddle. We follow him galloping quickly in the
opposite direction.
EXT. FURTHER IN THE VALLEY - DAY
Silei’s horse passes huge wild banyan trees. In front of him

a small village of Samoan HUTS appears.
It’s an enchanting view. The village overlooks the woman

shaped mountain. The huts have perfectly half-spherical
domes, and apertures all around their bases.
14.
MAEA, a Samoan kid, 9, spots Silei. His little lava-lava

bounces back and forward in the high grass running to the
main hut.
MAEA (IN SAMOAN)

Silei is back! Silei is back!
People get out of the huts as Silei jumps down the horse.
NOA, 24, Silei’s younger brother leaves a coconut basket on

the ground and runs toward him. They hug each other.
NOA
Silei!
SILEI
I got a bigger brother now!
Noa looks at Silei’s horse.
NOA
Where did you buy this?!
SILEI
Apia.
Noa touches his brother’s Western clothes.
NOA
And what about these?
SILEI
Everybody wears them in town.
Silei spots his mother, FANUA, 50. He runs to her, they hug.
Fanua spots Silei’s long haircut and touches it.
FANUA
You’d better cut it before your
father sees you.
Silei looks inside the hut.
INT. HUT - DAY
There is just one MAN sitting on the mats. This is TANGATU,

60, the chief of the village. He has an imposing figure and
fine traits. He’s wearing a splendid Siapo, the most precious
Samoan cloth.
Silei enters and sits politely behind him.
SILEI
Good evening father.
Tangatu doesn’t turn. His deep-set eyes, overshadowed by

bushy eyebrows, overlook the river with a vacant stare.
15.
TANGATU
Welcome back son. Now take off
those clothes and put your lava-
lava on.
His voice is soft and gentle. We recognize it’s the same of

the VOICE OVER we heard until here.
SILEI
I’d like to keep them on.
A beat.
TANGATU
And I’d like you to take them off.
You don’t need them here.
SILEI
I am going back to town soon...
Tangatu smiles slightly as all the village enters the hut,

curious to hear Silei’s news.
TANGATU
Come on son, tell us what you saw.
INT. COLONIAL BUILDING - NIGHT
Two shadows are trembling on the wall, lit by the candles.
Sung and Mackintosh are studying a CHESSBOARD on a small

table. Sung’s sharp fingers move the black tower on B7.
Walker’s fading voice breaks the silence from outside.
WALKER
The company knows Private Queen!
His weakness is slings made of gin!
But when tales he’s unloading of
shrapnel exploding, he’ll p’raps
put the aspirate in!
Walker SLAMS the door and enters the room.
WALKER (CONT’D)
He’s a cheerful lad! His morals
anything but bad! His truthful ways
will always please! And if a shot
he squeeze! Into your ribs just
crack a wheeze!
He’s drunk. He approaches the alcohol cabinet and pours some

whisky in a glass.
16.
WALKER (CONT’D)
That baby today was the sort of
case I like. The one that all the
other doctors have deemed hopeless.
He hands a glass to Mackintosh. He refuses, lifting his hand.
WALKER (CONT’D)
When the doctors say they can't
cure you, I say to them, come to
me! Have I ever told you about the
fellow who had that cancer?
MACKINTOSH
Frequently...
WALKER
I got him in three months!
MACKINTOSH
You've never told us about the
people you haven't cured.
WALKER
I can’t cure women! Once a Samoan
complained that his wife ran away.
Lucky dog - I said - Most men wish
their wives would!
Walker burst out laughing, hung to the handrail. He waits for

Mackintosh’s laughter that doesn’t come.
MACKINTOSH
Was that a joke?
WALKER
Scots wha hae Mackintosh! There's
only one way to make a Scotchman
see a joke and that's by surgical
operation!
We follow him disappearing at the end of the stairs.
INT. HUT - NIGHT
The Samoans are all sitting in a circle around Silei. His

face is lit by a rusty oil LAMP.
SILEI
I have been into their huts before.
But this one was completely dark. I
don’t know why but all these weird
seats were facing the same
direction in front of a wall.
NOA
A wall?...
17.
Noa is captured by his brother’s story.
SILEI
They were all sitting in front of
it, in the darkness, waiting for
something...
Noa laughs. But Silei gets more serious.
SILEI (CONT’D)
But then a beam of light hits the
wall. And then, into this light a
lot of Papalagi appear, dressed
like Papalagi. And they walk, they
talk, they jump around!
Everybody laughs. Tangatu is listening to him silently.
TANGATU (V.O.)
The Papalagi are magicians. They
put a piece of glass in front of
you and catch your image in it. If
you try to catch yourself you
realize you are made of light.
EXT. LAGOON - NIGHT
The clouds play with the MOON in the sky.
TANGATU (V.O.)
It’s like the reflection of the
moon in the lagoon. It is the moon
but it is not, at the same time.
The reflection of the moon shines on the lagoon’s water.
INT. HUT - NIGHT
YOUNG BROTHER
I saw it many times. I have one of
them with me...
A young brother extracts a black & white picture of himself.

Silei looks at it.
SILEI
You haven’t got it. This time the
picture moved...
The fire lights his big brown eyes.

18.
INT. TOWN’S CINEMA - NIGHT
Fragments of fast paced footage from a 1920’s Western NEWS

FILM unfolds in front of Silei’s eyes, emerging from the
smoky darkness.
It’s a CROWD swirling around London’s concrete buildings.
SILEI (V.O.)
Thousands and thousands of them
lives in the same place, in
thousands of gigantic huts.
The images are now from some WWI trench footage. A crowd of
soldiers advance on the battlefield, some of them wearing GAS
MASKS, into the tick fog.
SILEI (V.O.)
Because of so many of them living
together, thousands and thousands
kill each others.
A Machine gun, very big on the screen, frantically shoots at

soldiers falling from their horses in front of it.
Horrific footage of dead bodies crawled in the mud, still

wearing the gas masks unfolds in front of Silei’s face.
INT. MACKINTOSH’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
A TELESCOPE faces the moon out of the window. Mackintosh is

writing at his desk, his pajama on.
MACKINTOSH (V.O.)
(writing)
...with my warranty that the
project will not exceed the
estimated construction costs. In
faith, H.S. Walker. God Save the
King.
The letter is ready. Mackintosh carefully inserts the

document inside an official folder, he seals it with a
colorful Samoan STAMP and stands up.
He takes off his medal from his uniform. He rapidly undresses

in the same reverse fast sequence of untying BOOTS, undoing
BUTTONS, meticulously folding UNIFORM etc.
The sequence ends up with Mackintosh in his bed. His

breathing is somehow abnormal. He seems exhausted by the day.
He takes his daily PILL.
He gives a last glance to his medal on the bedside table. He

turns the lights off.
19.
INT. HUT - NIGHT
TANGATU
Good night son.
SILEI
Good night father.
Tangatu and the older people stand up and leave Silei and his
brothers in the hut. When Tangatu is finally out of earshot:
SILEI (CONT’D)
(Whispering)
I saw the Papalagi today.
NOA
Where?
SILEI
Not far from here.
OTHER BROTHER 1
Last time they came was to build
the road.
SILEI
Yes, I guess they want to follow
up. And this time we will ask them
more.
NOA
What do you mean?
SILEI
I saw villages getting paid up to
100 pounds in Apia. If he doesn’t
pay we won’t work.
OTHER BROTHER 1
Brother, did you go nuts in town?
SILEI
I did not. Imagine how many things
we can buy.
Noa rapidly calculates, daydreaming.
NOA
100 pounds... something like 5000
cans of salmon.
OTHER BROTHER 1
Bleah, how can you like that shit?
How about 100 bottles of Whisky
instead?
OTHER BROTHER
It costs double for us.
20.
OTHER BROTHER 1
Well, it’s still a lot of
alcohol...
The brothers keep murmuring. Silei interrupts them.
SILEI
How do you think they did in town?
They were all there, in front of
the Papalagi. They stood up against
them and asked for more.
The young brothers look doubtful.
SILEI (CONT’D)
They’re all flown in their
ridiculous mats. They pass by, they
look at you. They think they’re
superior but the truth is that they
are damn afraid. They know we’d eat
them alive if it wasn’t for their
weapons. They can just sit and
drink, looking at our women. I hate
when they do it.
BROTHER 1
Don’t suffer too much, we’ll never
get rid of them...
SILEI
The islands are rising brother.
It’s called the “Mau”, the movement
for independence.
His eyes are wide open, his brown cheeks are lit by the
flames. Noa is frightened but excited.
SILEI (CONT’D)
When they come, follow me. If we
stand together they must listen.
FADE OUT.
Mackintosh is cleaning his boots on the second floor’s

balcony. He tilts his head. Two FIGURES appear at the bottom
of the lawn.
These are JERVIS, 57, the rich trader of the island,

approaching with his daughter THERESE, 21.
Jervis has a bushy grey moustache and an elegant wood stick

in his hand. Under his lava-lava he’s barefoot but he wears a
colonial shirt and tie above it. A curious match.
21.
Walker is cleaning the horse with Sung. A cloth on his

shoulder. Jervis approaches him.
JERVIS
Good morning Walker.
WALKER
How are you Jervis...
A Christian CROSS is visible on Jervis’s tie.
JERVIS
Thank God my family and I are good.
This is my daughter Therese. She’s
twenty-one now, right Therese?
Therese doesn’t answer. Jervis has an ingratiating way and a

suave, oily politeness.
Therese shyly lifts her sensual face under her UMBRELLA.

There´s something wild in her eyes contrasting with the
whiteness of her western dress.
She notices Mackintosh on the balcony. They stare at each

other for a moment.
TANGATU (V.O.)
Flesh is sin, I said.
Jervis is explaining something we don’t hear to Walker.
TANGATU (V.O.)
Because the bodies of the women are
always covered up, inside the men
there is the profound wish to see
their flesh.
Walker is focused on Therese’s chest, folded into her dress.

Therese notices this, embarrassed.
TANGATU (V.O.)
They have that on their minds day
and night. They talk about the
female body in a way you would
think such a beautiful and natural
thing is just a sin and must be
hidden in the darkness.
JERVIS
So how is the new Cpt. Mackintosh?
Walker is rubbing the horse’s muscular thigh with a sponge.
WALKER
He's a good dog. And he loves his
master.
22.
He wipes some sweat from his forehead, smiling at Therese.

Therese avoids to make eye contact with him.
WALKER (CONT’D)
He'll be all right when I've licked
him into shape.
Mackintosh heard what Walker said, hidden behind a column.
JERVIS
Where is he?
WALKER
He’s always in his room, reading, I
don’t know... Mackintosh!
As Walker looks up at the second floor Mackintosh ghostly

appears right behind him.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Here you are lazy beggar. Jervis
wants to show you his daughter.
Jervis touches Therese’s back.
JERVIS
Come on Therese...
Therese only steps forward, without saying a word.
MACKINTOSH
Captain Mackintosh, at your
service.
They shake hands. Mackintosh knows how to talk with women.

Something that Walker will never have.
WALKER
Have you cleaned your horse
Mackintosh?
Mackintosh caresses his horse.
MACKINTOSH
Already.
WALKER
What are you waiting for then?
Walker and Mackintosh gets on their horses and leave the

compound as Therese and Jervis stare at them riding off.
Mackintosh turns to look at Therese who notices his elegant

ride. Walker looks at her too, bouncing grossly.
Jervis seems satisfied by this first meeting. He takes

Therese under his arm and they walk back down the lawn.
23.
EXT. GRASS ROAD - DAY
We follow Walker and Mackintosh’s horses rapidly making their

way through the turns of the same grass road.
Walker keeps lashing his horse to make it run faster. He gets

aside Mackintosh’s horse.
WALKER
Flog that bloody horse Mackintosh!
You don’t hurt it!
Mackintosh refuses to whip it. Walker passes over.
EXT. LAWN - DAY
Jervis and Therese are walking down the road.
JERVIS
So... how do you like him?
Therese keeps walking faster than his father.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
I told you he wasn’t bad.
THERESE
You wanted me to come only for this
reason?
JERVIS
(lying)
Not at all.
Therese is quite disappointed.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
Being a good Christian Therese...
is to build an honored family.
THERESE
Oh please...
JERVIS
It since you were born that we
thought about this moment... Your
mother and I were talking about it
very often.
Jervis crosses his chest, getting distracted by his own

thoughts. His gaze wanders at the compound’s cured garden.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
Walker was too old. But now some
new fresh air has come... You have
to be ready Therese.
24.
Jervis stops and turns to Therese. She disappeared.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
Therese?... Therese!?...
Walker has stopped to admire the landscape on a hill’s crest.

He takes a sip from his flask. Mackintosh stops behind him.
WALKER
Stunning chick, Jervis’s. I saw how
she was looking at you. If I were
you I’d try her right away.
Mackintosh disapproves his gross language.
WALKER (CONT’D)
They can be so dirty, you just ask
them... I have at least a dozen
sons scattered on these islands.
Walker seems so proud of it. He doesn’t get why Mackintosh is

not answering.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Fuck son, fuck as much as you can.
He rides away. Mackintosh reluctantly follows him.
Walker’s loud scream breaks the silence of the early morning.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Sung silently observes Walker heavily descending the stairs.
WALKER
Show me Santa Claus! Show me what
your damn pen can do!
Mackintosh opens the sealed folder from a British Empire’s

DISPATCH. Walker sits in front of him, like a child on
Christmas’s day, still unkempt from the night.
Mackintosh reads it pensively.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Quick Mackintosh, what does it say?
MACKINTOSH
Permission denied.
25.
WALKER
What?!
MACKINTOSH
There aren’t enough funds at the
moment.
WALKER
Bullshit. They have the money, they
just keep it all for themselves.
MACKINTOSH
The Commission will gather again to
decide.
WALKER
When?
MACKINTOSH
It doesn’t say.
WALKER
You are just a drip Mackintosh, you
can’t even write a damn letter. Why
did they send you to me?
While Walker leaves we keep reading the letter with

Mackintosh.
LETTER
“Your duties will be entirely
substituted by Cpt. Mackintosh from
next Fall.”
Mackintosh didn’t expect this at all. He turns to Walker who

is staring at the sunset over the hills in silence.
WALKER
Those ignorant bureaucrats, they
can just throw money away, for
things these people don’t need.
Mackintosh silently folds the letter and puts it in his

drawer, beneath his GUN.
WALKER (CONT’D)
The money will come...
(BEAT)
We’ll start to build the road in
the meanwhile.
MACKINTOSH
We can’t begin without permission.
WALKER
Damn the permission. Tomorrow I
talk to the village.
26.
MACKINTOSH
How we are going to pay them?
Walker turns threateningly to Mackintosh.
WALKER
You better think on which side you
are on, son. I’m not leaving this
island until this road is finished.
Then I can die or they can fire me,
I don't care.
EXT. VALLEY - DAY
The clouds above the island get prepared for God’s daily
paintings. The heavens hold all the possibilities of red.
VOICE (V.O.)
The Breakers of Heavens have no
time. Whenever they show up they
stir up disasters, because they
have lost their time. Being
possessed is a terrible disease
that no medicine man can cure.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE HUT - DAY
Silei and his brothers are surrounded by a mountain of

coconuts. They are cutting them in halves with their long
MACHETES and let them dry in the sun.
They ear the sound of two horses approaching.
SILEI
They are here.
Walker’s horse enters the village, people get out of his way.
He stops in front of Tangatu and dismounts off of his horse.
WALKER
Talofa lava Tangatu.
TANGATU
Talofa.
They shake hands firmly. It seems they know each others from
a long time. Mackintosh has arrived too. He spots Silei
amongst the coconuts. An icy look from him.
TANGATU (CONT’D)
Silei, get the kava ready.
Silei didn’t expect this.
FANUA
Come on, let us dress you.
27.
As Silei’s mother and the women of the village get him

dressed for the ceremony, Walker gets toward the hut.
WALKER
(to Mackintosh)
Follow me.
INT. HUT - DAY
Walker and Mackintosh stoop a little to get inside the hut

and sit. Walker notices Mackintosh’s skinny legs stretched on
the ground facing Tangatu.
WALKER
(whispering)
Never show them the bottom of your
feet.
Mackintosh crosses his legs like Walker, in sign of respect.
Silei enters the hut. He’s now wearing the gorgeous Samoan
customary HAT. It’s very high, made of shells, mirrors and
dyed hair.
TANGATU
Silei, handle him the root.
WALKER
Tangatu, the kava should be
prepared by a virgin...
TANGATU
My daughters are all out today.
It doesn’t seem so, since some your girls are sitting behind
him. Walker notices this. Silei hands Walker the kava ROOT.
Walker examines it and nods back to him.
As Silei starts to make the kava drink, squeezing the root

into a bowl and adding water little by little Tangatu’s
welcome speech starts.
TANGATU (CONT’D)
Dear Papalagi...
As the speech unfolds in Samoan we focus on the people

expressions. Curiosity from both sides: it seems that
Mackintosh has never been inside a Samoan hut. He admires the
huge spherical structure above him.
And the Samoans have never seen a Papalagi so thin. They look
at his uniform full of gadgets, his GUN.
Young girls offer gifts to them: Mackintosh accept them

respectfully while Walker childishly picks up only the most
precious ones and leaves the rest to Mackintosh.
28.
Walker opens up a SACK with his own cheap gifts: CIGARETTES,

HANDKERCHIEFS etc. Noa and his brothers pick them up. Silei
doesn’t approve this.
The women take out some PORK wrapped up into Taro leaves and
cooked inside a pile of smoky rocks, the Samoan way.
Walker rudely binges with bare hands on the pork and the
Palusami, a fatty pie made with coconut milk. He offers some
to Mackintosh.
WALKER
Eat!
Mackintosh refuses but Walker forces him to have some. Some

Samoans notices this, laughing.
TANGATU
.... and everything that is mine
belongs to you.
Tangatu’s speech is over. Silei approaches Walker with the

Kava drink. Walker inserts his fingers in the liquid and
pours a little on the ground.
WALKER
Manuia. (Health to the company)
He drinks and throws the rest away, following the custom. Now
it’s Mackintosh’s turn. He shyly repeats the customary word.
MACKINTOSH
Manuia. (Health to the company)
The Samoans stare at his unhealthy face while drinking it.
WALKER
Map.
Mackintosh takes out a MAP of the island. Walker grabs it and

opens it on the hut’s gravel floor.
WALKER (CONT’D)
All right people, tomorrow we will
start the last section of the road
around the island.
Noa exchanges a glance with Silei.
The map clearly shows two DEAD ENDS of the road. One end is
right where Tangatu’s village is. The other end is beyond the
mountains.
Walker takes out a PENCIL from one of his dusty pockets,

sweaty and burnt by the sun. Walker roughly sharpens a red
pencil with the knife and unifies the dead ends with a
threatening thick red LINE.
29.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I want to bring it from here to
here by the end of the year.
Walker looks outside the hut at the dried coconuts.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Since it will be much faster for
you to reach the port and sell your
nuts the government will only give
you half of the cost to build it.
Mackintosh lifts his head.
WALKER (CONT’D)
It’s a 40 pound job. I’ll give you
20 when the work is finished.
Walker writes down 20 pounds on the map and gives it to Noa

who brings it to Tangatu.
Tangatu looks perplexedly at the map, as Mackintosh pretends

to be unaware of Walker’s bluff.
SILEI
(murmuring)
20 pounds is ridiculous.
Walker turns to Silei. A beat.
WALKER
What did he say?...
TANGATU
Silei, don’t interrupt the guest.
WALKER
Let him talk.
SILEI
For this job people get paid 100
pounds in Apia.
WALKER
Give me a break kid.
TANGATU
I must apologize for...
It’s an awkward silence. Walkers keeps staring at Silei. He

turns to Tangatu.
WALKER
I promise you a feast when the road
is finished and...
30.
SILEI
Just pay us 100 pounds and we will
work.
Tangatu is astonished by his son’s conduct. People murmurs.

Walker looks at Silei’s brothers, all silent around him.
A beat. Walker stands up.
WALKER
I am not going to waste my time
with a pack of fools.
He gathers the map and exits the hut. He turns to Tangatu.
WALKER (CONT’D)
This is a village without a chief.
Let’s go.
Mackintosh follows. Tangatu and the other old men pensively

watch the two Papalagi leave.
EXT. VILLAGE - DAY
Walker gets on his horse. An old MAN, 72, bends under

Walker’s weight to help him onto the saddle with all his
gifts under his arms. The scene is grotesque.
WALKER
You know what I have offered. If
you do not start in a day you’ll
regret it.
Tangatu overlooks the two horses leaving. He looks at his old

peers. He has to keep his respectability in front of them. He
reaches Silei.
TANGATU
Who told you to bargain with him?!
SILEI
It’s the truth father.
TANGATU
Don’t interrupt when I am talking.
SILEI
In town people get paid much more.
TANGATU
Never joke with the Papalagi. Never
do it again.
EXT. VILLAGE - NIGHT
Silei, Noa and the young guys are thoughtful around the fire.
31.
NOA
You can’t go against the father.
You have disrespected him.
SILEI
I am not going against the father.
I am going against the Papalagi.
OTHER BROTHER 1
What the hell are you planning?
SILEI
No Samoan bends the neck to the
Papalagi. When he comes back just
stay calm, continue your business,
don’t say a word.
Noa is the most afraid of the consequences for his brother’s

behavior.
NOA
What do you mean?
Silei turns threateningly to Noa.
SILEI
I mean to not move a single finger.
EXT. COLONIAL BUILDING VERANDAH - DAY
The building is silent, nobody around.
A HAND is slowly turning a door on the second floor. It’s

Therese. She looks at the lawn. Sung is far away, gardening.
INT. MACKINTOSH’ ROOM - DAY
Therese slowly enters Mackintosh’s room. Everything so silent

and tidy, almost sacred. A uniform stands on the valet rack
as a scarecrow.
Piles of books are tidily ordered on his desk. She spots

Mackintosh’s MEDAL. The face of King George V stands on it.
As the medal flips we read: “FOR BRAVERY IN THE FIELD”.
She moves to the telescope next to the desk. A MAP with all
the constellations lies beneath it. She looks through it. We
see the tip of the mountains, the shiny crests on the sea.
Therese picks up Mackintosh’s NOTEBOOK. She opens it on a

page with a self made English- Samoan dictionary. A lot of
Mackintosh’s notes on it. She smiles.
A POSTCARD falls out from the notebook. It’s a picture of

Aberdeen, Scotland. Snow all over the streets.
32.
Therese turns, she heard a noise. She quickly inserts the

postcard in a book. A DIFFERENT book.
Sung appears at the window, he looks inside. The room is

empty.
EXT. VILLAGE - NEXT MORNING
The profile of the woman shaped mountain welcomes Walker and

Mackintosh as they ride back to Tangatu’s village.
Silei, Noa and his brothers are cutting the coconuts.
SILEI
As I said.
When Walker reaches the hut all the young brothers remain
down in the grass, continuing their business.
Silei has a cigarette between his lips, looking up at Walker

with a smile of triumph. His attitude is insufferable.
Walker’s red face grows purple, he foams at the mouth.
WALKER
You bloody lazy beggars! Stand up!
Tangatu gets out of his hut. Walker is terrifying. He knows

well how to wound and how to humiliate. Mackintosh silently
stares at Walker’s show.
Noa grows pale and uneasy, he’s about to stand up. Silei
grabs his arm, keeping him on the ground.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Bloody mother f...
Walker runs toward Silei but Mackintosh blocks him.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Tangatu! Your children don’t seem
to have grown up yet, shame on you!
Walkers grabs his horse and rides off.
Mackintosh remains alone among the Samoans. Silei stares at

him straight in the eyes. A beat. Mackintosh rides off too.
He is soon riding out of the village. He spots Maea, the same

young kid we saw before, who grabs a STONE from the ground.
He violently throws it to Mackintosh who leans back on his

horse, closing his eyes, scared.
He opens them again. Maea has still the stone in his hand. He
never threw it. He starts laughing madly.
Tangatu grabs Silei’s cigarette and throws it on the ground.

33.
TANGATU
You are mad!
SILEI
YOU are mad! It’s since I was born
that he exploit us, why do you
never react to him?!
Tangatu gives Silei a hard slap. Silei withdraws, shocked.
TANGATU
You are going to do what I want you
to do.
SILEI
I’ll never build that road, father.
Silei slams Noa away and rides off in anger. They all watch
him riding out of the village.
NOA
Silei!
Maea runs into the grass fields to spread the news, excited.
MAEA
Silei has challenged the Papalagi!
Silei has challenged the Papalagi!
EXT. BEACH - DAY
We are flying behind Silei’s Silei as the waves are violently

crashing on his side.
Silei rides fast, tears on his cheeks. He disappears on the

glorious stretch of white sand.
EXT. SKY - DAY
The multiple layers of the sunset clash on the ocean. The red
sky suddenly turns into...
JUMP CUT TO:
EXT. SKY - NIGHT
...an open ocean of stars.
EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
Sound of cicadas in the darkness. We slowly reveal the

colonial building, partially lit by several lamps.
34.
TANGATU (V.O.)
The Papalagi catch the lighting
from the sky and spit it out again
at night, in thousands of small
stars.
EXT. VERANDAH - NIGHT
Sung switches the series of buttons on the second floor. Now

the building is fully lit, like a doll house in the jungle.
TANGATU (V.O.)
It would be a small thing for the
Papalagi to bathe our island in
light at night time, so it wouldn’t
be much darker than the day.
INT. MACKINTOSH ROOM - NIGHT
Mackintosh is sitting at his desk, writing on his NOTEBOOK.

We read Samoa with the English translation aside.
Sa: Sacred, Moa: Centre. Sa-moa: Sacred Centre.
EXT. COLONIAL BUILDING FACADE - NIGHT
Walker is in the proximity of the building, taking his usual

night stroll alone, loudly singing.
WALKER
Unfurl the flag of England, and
fling it to the breeze! Beloved by
British hearts at home, and those
beyond the seas!
We barely understand the words. He stops to pee, oscillating

back and forth.
WALKER (CONT’D)
God guard the flag of England, the
Empire and the throne! At freshing
dawn it flies, anew beneath the
skies! Vow we once more, should
need arise, to strike for it and
die!
SWIISSHHHH! - Suddenly we hear SOMETHING whizzing past him.
Something strikes a tree with a dreadful THUD.
WALKER (CONT’D)
WHO’S THAT?!!
The sound of SOMEONE escaping through the bushes.

35.
Walker races after the sound. His fat body SMASHES the wild
vegetation.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I said who’s that!?!
INT. MACKINTOSH’S ROOM - NIGHT
Mackintosh hears Walker’s scream. He runs out.
EXT. BUSHES - NIGHT
Walker keeps destroying the vegetation with his fat body,

breathing heavily.
WALKER
Stop bloody bastard!
He’s soon out of breath. He looses the sound.
INT. OFFICE - NIGHT
Mackintosh jumps downstairs. Sung is coming out of the

kitchen. In a second they are both outside.
EXT. BUSHES - NIGHT
We follow Mackintosh and Sung running towards Walker. He

appears from the darkness.
WALKER
One of those devils has thrown
something at me! Bring the lantern!
Sung runs back to take it.
CUT TO:
EXT. BUSHES - NIGHT
The three men are searching everywhere, two LANTERNS swinging

around in the darkness.
WALKER
There! No! There!
Sung moves some foliage, holding the lantern.
SUNG
Here!
Sinister in the light that cut the surrounding darkness,

there is a long Machetes sticking into the trunk of a tree.
36.
It has been thrown with such force that it requires quite an

effort for Sung to pull it out. He hands it to Walker.
Walker looks at it. It is a murderous weapon, and the BLADE,

twelve inches long, is very sharp.
INT. OFFICE - NIGHT
The oil lamps on the table are lighting the large room.
Walker and Mackintosh are playing cards.
MACKINTOSH
We need more security from Apia.
WALKER
I don’t need any police. I know how
to make them pay for this.
Walker is not angry. On the contrary he is in high spirits.

The chase was a shot of adrenaline for him.
WALKER (CONT’D)
They insisted on building a jail
for me. What do I need it for? If
they do wrong I know how to deal
with them, ignorant buffoons.
He blows his nose loudly.
MACKINTOSH
Twenty pounds is nothing for the
work you want them to do.
WALKER
They should be thankful I give them
anything. They have always lived
without money. They’d only spend it
on all kind of muck they don’t
need.
Walker is actually cheating, he can see the color of

Mackintosh’s cards trough the reflection of a silverware
behind him.
MACKINTOSH
They won’t build the road.
WALKER
You know what we’ll do then?
MACKINTOSH
I haven’t the foggiest.
Walker leaves a good set of cards on the table. His eyes

twinkle.
37.
WALKER
If they don’t want to build it
someone else will.
EXT. BEACH - DAY
The SUN rises, distributing its light to the huge lush

mountains of the island. Hundreds of little clouds are broken
in two parts, raw black on the top, soft pink on the bottom.
And there he comes, Walker, galloping on the pristine beach.
EXT. VILLAGE - DAY
Tangatu and other old men are sitting outside the hut in a
circle, chatting. They turn. Walker’s horse rushes into the
village.
WALKER
Talofa Tangatu.
Walker extracts the long Machetes from his belt.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Someone forgot this in a tree last
night.
The old men grow pale.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I thought to bring it back to you!
Walker violently FLINGS the knife down in the midst of the

circle. He rides off, disappearing into the forest.
Tangatu stands up. He’s a fury. He reaches Silei. He throws

him on the ground and violently takes off his Western
trousers.
Silei tries to keep them on but Tangatu is too strong. In few

seconds they are off. Tangatu throws them in the fire.
This is a real humiliation for Silei who remains completely

naked in front of the whole village.
TANGATU
Noa! Take his horse to town and
sell it!
Noa looks at Silei for a moment.
TANGATU (CONT’D)
I said go!
Noa brings the horse away. Silei covers himself with a lava-
lava, staring at Noa with despise.
38.
EXT. VILLAGE - MORNING LATER
Noa is collecting some coconuts near the village. He turns.
A band of 15 Samoan men, armed with long Machetes is

approaching the village fast. Noa runs towards the huts,
scared.
NOA
Someone is coming!
The company of men is lead by AVEOLELA, 32, who stops at the

threshold of the village. Silei approaches him, surprised.
SILEI
Talofa.
AVEOLELA
Talofa.
SILEI
Where is your head man?
AVEOLELA
I am the head man. My father died
last year.
SILEI
Why are your people passing through
here?
AVEOLELA
We made a bargain with the
Papalagi.
Silei is puzzled. Aveolela keeps walking.
SILEI
You mean to build the road?
How much is he giving you?
AVEOLELA
Twenty pounds.
Silei rushes after him.
SILEI
Wait, where are your people going
to stay?!
Tangatu comes out of his hut.
SILEI (CONT’D)
Where are they going to stay
father?
39.
INT. HUT - DAY
Aveolela and his men are drinking the kava inside the hut.
Tangatu is overlooking them, the other old men around him.
TANGATU
A headman can’t refuse shelter to
people passing from his own land.
Tangatu is sad but firm. Silei wasn’t expecting this.
TANGATU (CONT’D)
We won’t miss our duties. Prepare
the huts for the guests.
SILEI
We can’t keep them all father,
there is not enough space.
Tangatu knows Walker made it on purpose but he has to obey to

his culture.
TANGATU
You and your brothers will make
space and serve the guests until
the road is finished.
EXT. VILLAGE - DAWN
We barely see the features of the village. Everybody is still

sleeping. A SHOUT from a villager far away in the valley.
INT. HUT - DAY
Silei is woken up by the shout, almost squeezed among his

brothers. The hut is covered with too many bodies. He looks
at Aveolela, sleeping among his workers.
The village slowly wakes up. Fires are lit. Aveolela’s men
chat while the women prepare breakfast for them: taro and
bananas just hot from the stone oven.
NOA
(to Silei)
We have to get the water.
EXT. RIVER - DAY
Children roll out of the huts in front of the “woman” shaped

mountain. They wander down to the river to bath, followed by
their mothers carrying piles of washing.
Silei stares at his face reflected on the river. The image

gets distorted by his BUCKET violently plunging in the water.
40.
EXT. VILLAGE - DAY
Aveolela calls his workers together.
Silei reaches them. Two of them smile as Silei pours them a

coconut of Kava, amused by this great hospitality. Aveolela
notices Silei’s serious attitude.
AVEOLELA
Something wrong?
Silei leaves. The workers laugh at him behind his back.
EXT. CONSTRUCTION ROAD - DAY
The sound of the Machetes is threatening.
Aveolela’s men are at work. Their dark fit arms swing the
long Machete blades back and forward in the high grass.
Mackintosh is sitting at a small PORTABLE TABLE, calculating

the distances of the road on his MAP. Walker is observing
with his monocle.
WALKER
Tell me I am genius Mackintosh!
Mackintosh doesn’t answer.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Tell me! How genius am I?!
MACKINTOSH
You forced the village to host the
workers.
WALKER
It’s their bloody hospitality rule,
not mine...
MACKINTOSH
We can’t use their millenary
customs against them.
WALKER
When I want your opinion I’ll ask
for it.
MACKINTOSH
That’s what you have asked for...
WALKER
Bleah shut up with this bullshit
Mackintosh. Look! How gorgeous!
The new track of the road starts to be visible, cutting in

two the high grass fields towards the mountain.
41.
With a firm gesture Walker indicates the direction of the

road. Aveolela nods. Walker leaves, enthusiastic.
Mackintosh spots Silei looking at him. He’s carrying the kava

to the workers. He pours some into Aveolela’s shell.
AVEOLELA
A little bit more.
Silei pours some more up to the brim. Aveolela let the shells
fall on the ground.
AVEOLELA (CONT’D)
Now it’s too much kid. Bring me
another shell.
The other workers laugh. It seems the more Silei gets angry
the more they exploit him.
Maea, who was looking at the scene, runs into the high grass
field to spread the news, laughing:
MAEA
Silei is now serving the Papalagi
like a servant! Silei is now
serving the Papalagi like a
servant!
Three rapid cuts. Aveolela opens a coconut with his Machete

and drinks, holding it above his head. He throws it on the
ground. Noa collects it.
His men are working on the road, singing. They joke, they
laugh. They seem to enjoy the work too much.
Walker stares at them, attentively. He looks at the strong

midday SUN in the sky. He extracts his golden POCKET CLOCK.
TANGATU (V.O.)
They have a round thing inside
their loincloths, a Machine that
tells the time.
The hand of the SECONDS is running fast. TIC-TIC-TIC...
TANGATU (V.O.)
They divide every day by cutting it
up into small pieces, the way we
cut up the coconut with the
Machete.
Walker opens the back of the clock. We see its micro

mechanism turning. Walker’s fatty fingers turn the micro cog.
The hand shifts from twelve to eleven.
42.
TANGATU (V.O.)
The Papalagi try to make time as
fat as they can.
Aveolela and his men are leaving the construction site.

Walker stops him and indicates the clock.
WALKER
It’s only eleven. One hour more
before break.
Aveolela nods, perplexed. He orders his men to keep working.

Mackintosh stares at Walker, severe. His eyes twinkle.
Silei is looking at the scene from far away.
SILEI
(to Noa)
They should eat now. What’s wrong?
Noa is carrying a basket of coconuts for the workers, all

sweaty. He doesn’t answer him.
EXT. BEACH - DAY
Maea and other kids are fishing in the azure water around
some black lava rocks. Some of them wear handmade bamboo
GOGGLES.
He captures a big EEL with bare hands and forces it into his
lava-lava.
Further down the beach there is a white DRESS lying on the

sand. A little further we spot Therese, swimming in the
ocean.
She comes out of the water and reaches her dress. She puts it
back on. She reminds us a Gaugain’s painting.
Silei appears on the beach, holding some coconuts in two

buckets, visibly frustrated. Therese spots him.
THERESE
Silei!
Silei stops. He is quite surprised to see her.
THERESE (CONT’D)
Come! Sit here!
Silei drops his coconuts on the sand and sits down.
THERESE (CONT’D)
How are you?
SILEI
I haven’t seen you for ages.
43.
THERESE
I remember when we were playing
together on this same beach.
Therese looks at Maea and the other kids fishing and

screaming, having fun on the black lava rocks.
SILEI
Once I made this to save you from
those rocks.
Silei shows her an old SCAR on his arm.
THERESE
I remember.
They both look at it.
THERESE (CONT’D)
How was town?
Silei thinks about it for a moment.
SILEI
Big... the town was big.
They both laugh.
SILEI (CONT’D)
And you, where do you leave now?
THERESE
We leave in a new house now,
Papalagi style.
SILEI
Papalagi style! How awful!
THERESE
You get used to it... My father’s
trade is getting bigger.
Silei looks at Therese’s Western dress.
SILEI
That is very nice.
Silei examines Therese’s hair, held in an elegant COIL. He

touches the coil softly. He seems to investigate on something
he doesn’t agree with.
SILEI (CONT’D)
Your father buys you a lot of
things.
Therese slightly moves her head away, disturbed by this

remark.
44.
THERESE
How are things at the village?
SILEI
You haven’t heard?
THERESE
No.
SILEI
We refused to build a road so the
Papalagi called another village.
THERESE
Who did that? The old or the young
one?
SILEI
The old one. But the young one
follows him.
THERESE
You should ask him to help you.
SILEI
I’d rather die than asking him for
help.
THERESE
My father wants me to marry him.
Can you believe that?
Silei turns to her.
SILEI
What?
Silei stares at her seriously. He wasn’t expecting this.
SILEI (CONT’D)
You won’t, will you?...
THERESE
No. I mean, not yet...
Tangatu exits the forest and spots Silei on the beach.
TANGATU
Silei! Bring those coconuts over!
SILEI
I gotta go now.
THERESE
Bye.
Silei grabs his coconuts and leaves. He turns to her for a

moment.
45.
SILEI
Bye.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
Therese reaches the road from the forest as Walker and

Mackintosh pass by riding toward the construction site.
A primal scream invades the valley.
WALKER
What ‘you doing goddamnit?!
Walker is showing to a young WORKER how to cut the grass with

the machete.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You cut this way, like this, you
see?! The grass must be cut all at
the same height, you gotta be
precise, understand?!
Therese reaches the road and looks at the scene, unseen.

Walker turns to another WORKER who’s removing big lava rocks
from the soil and putting them on a cart.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Faster! You have to take out all
those by today. I break you that
cart, so you have to bring them by
hand! This road must be a carpet. I
want to lay down on it and take a
nap after!
He walks over a couple of WORKERS who are planting a series

of wood sticks on both sides of the road.
WALKER (CONT’D)
What’s this!? I said all at the
same distance! All cut at the same
height, all at the same distance!
Take them off and starts again!
Walker badly kicks them sticks out of the ground and launches
them away. The workers collect them and starts again.
Silei is serving the workers. He spots Therese, ashamed by

what he’s forced to do. He notices that Therese is looking at
Mackintosh.
46.
EXT. CONTRUCTION ROAD - DAY
The road advances closer and closer to the mountain. Walker

is shaping it with the precision of a Japanese gardener.
He calls for a break, satisfied. The workers reach the shades

and start sharing their meals.
A small GIRL, 8, passes close to Walker. He tries to caress

her head but she avoids his fat hand and runs to her mother.
Mackintosh is sitting in the grass among some children. He’s

preparing a PAPER PLANE for them. He lets it fly. The young
boys and girl laugh, completely comfortable with him.
Therese notices this. Walker is looking at Mackintosh too. He

seems quite envious.
EXT. FURTHER UP THE ROAD - DAY
Silei walks toward Aveolela who is laying down in the grass,

peacefully. He serves him some Kava.
SILEI
Aren’t you angry about the way he
treats you? It’s the third time he
asked to work more.
AVEOLELA
You are not building the road. Why
do you ask?
SILEI
The work is still very long.
AVEOLELA
My men will make it in time...
The two turn. Walker is approaching.
SILEI
Tell yours to ask for a better pay.
AVEOLELA
I have already accepted.
SILEI
Together we are stronger. We can
ask him for more money.
Walker has almost arrived. He notices them talking.
AVEOLELA
We? Why you are saying we? Just me
and my men are working for the
road.
47.
Aveolela walks away with his Machetes. Walker has arrived
WALKER
Back at work!
The whole group stands up and leaves the shades.
MACKINTOSH
They are starting to talk.
WALKER
They can talk all day long.
MACKINTOSH
We’ll need to pay them sooner or
later.
WALKER
We don’t have the money because of
you. Write a reminder to the
government!
MONTAGE
The road has to pass on the other side of the river. Walker
looks for a shallow spot, entering till his knees in the
water.
He screams, indicating the ideal place. Aveolela and his men

start to cut the grass on the other side as a cart passes
over the shallow water.
Mackintosh is writing a letter above the road plan on a

larger MAP. Every detail is carefully annotated upon it.
MACKINTOSH (V.O.)
The road will get the coconut
stocks to the port in the fifth of
the time. I strongly believe that
the trade will drastically increase
despite the road’s contained costs.
An exciting fast paced drum Samoan music builds upon the

construction. Huge rocks are removed, the terrain is
levelled. Silei and Noa climbs up and down palm trees for
coconuts. Many trees are eventually cut down to make wood
sticks for the road.
48.
MACKINTOSH (V.O.)
I hope this will convince the
commission to forward us the sum
previously asked. In faith H.S.
Walker. God save the King.
Mackintosh folds the map into the letter and closes it.
EXT. FOREST - DAY
Mackintosh is slowly walking up a narrow track, alone. He

crosses a stream, he keeps walking against the current.
TANGATU (V.O.)
The Papalagi is like a fish, a
bird, a worm at the same time. He
drills into the ground, he crawls
through mountains and rocks. I've
seen him glide through the air like
a seagull.
A small DOT followed by the sound of a small airplane is

breaking into a huge, puffy cloud, far away.
TANGATU (V.O.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if one day
he wanted to step up with his heavy
foot ships upon the moon.
END MONTAGE
EXT. FOREST - DAY
There is a large marble GRAVE hidden in the forest. On its

headstone we read: Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 - 1894. “Under
the wide and starry sky, dig the grave and let me die”.
Mackintosh is sitting on Stevenson’s grave, writing on his

notebook. A rustle in the wood. SOMEBODY is hidden in the
greenery.
MACKINTOSH
Who’s there?
It’s Therese. She comes forward.
I thought I was alone.
THERESE
It seems you Westerners are always
alone.
49.
MACKINTOSH
Might be the reason we want to
possess the whole world.
Therese doesn’t seem to have understood. She looks at

Stevenson’s grave.
THERESE
Are you going to stay here all day
long?...
Mackintosh closes his notebook. They starts walking down the

track together.
THERESE (CONT’D)
So, how do you like our island?
MACKINTOSH
I’d love it if it wasn’t for
someone I can’t stand.
THERESE
He can’t treat them that way.
MACKINTOSH
Everything must come to an end in
this world.
Therese spots his notebook.
THERESE
What were you writing?
MACKINTOSH
Nothing you’d understand.
Therese takes it badly.
THERESE
The problem with you Westerners is
that you think we can’t understand
you. We do get you quite well.
Can’t you try to understand us
first?
Mackintosh is quite surprised of her reaction. Therese keeps

walking.
THERESE (CONT’D)
Old Samoans used to say that
Westerners think of themselves as
gods.
MACKINTOSH
(ironically)
Don’t you believe in us?...
50.
THERESE
My mother died for the epidemic
brought by your ship in 1918.
Mackintosh didn’t expect this.
THERESE (CONT’D)
I was only a child, but I found
absurd how you dealt with the
situation. People were dying like
flies on the street. You had no
idea what to do.
MACKINTOSH
I have read about it. I’m sorry.
THERESE
You weren’t here. But you should
prevent him from treating us this
way.
MACKINTOSH
It’s not easy.
THERESE
It’s your duty Captain. I believe
in you.
Mackintosh stops walking. Therese leaves.
THERESE (CONT’D)
Good bye Captain.
MACKINTOSH
Good bye...
Therese leaves Mackintosh fascinated and disturbed at the

same time.
EXT. FOREST - DAY
Silei is climbing a palm tree, barefoot. In few seconds he is

at the top. He cuts the only coconut available on it.
The coconut falls on the ground with a hollow sound, close to

Tangatu’s feet.
SILEI
This is the last one here father!
Mackintosh is sitting at his portable desk. He is calculating

the inclination of the road.
51.
MACKINTOSH
It’s becoming too steep. We have to
make the next bend soon.
WALKER
You’ve never seen a steep road.
MACKINTOSH
We are already one week behind
schedule. They’ll get too tired by
the time we get up.
WALKER
What you talking about? We’ll make
it, believe me.
Walker looks up at Aveolela and Silei. They are discussing

about something. He reaches them.
WALKER (CONT’D)
What’s the matter?
AVEOLELA
He says there are no more coconuts.
How come?
Walker turns to Tangatu.
WALKER
Tangatu, your guests should be
treated better.
TANGATU
The seem they never have enough
food and drink. I told you that
everything I own was yours. We have
already given everything away!
WALKER
Why are you telling me that
Tangatu? You created all this
because you didn’t want to work.
Tangatu doesn’t reply.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Are you running out of food? Help
them finish the job then. They’ll
leave sooner.
TANGATU
My sons won’t do it.
WALKER
You are the chief here! You talk to
your own people!
52.
Walker leaves. Mackintosh watches Tangatu walk up to Noa and

Silei.
EXT. FURTHER UP THE ROAD - DAY
Tangatu stands between his two sons. He overlooks the valley.
TANGATU
From now on we’ll all help them to
build the road.
SILEI
Father...
TANGATU
Say an other word and you’ll be
banished from my village forever.
Noa takes up the machete. He grabs Silei and brings him away
from his father. They goes toward the road.
Now both Aveolela’s men and Silei’s brothers are working on

the road, all scattered all over the woman shaped mountain.
Walker looks inside his monocle, satisfied. He extracts his

personal COCONUT SHELL. Its upper part can be opened and
closed, like a flask. The content has a whiskysh color.
MACKINTOSH
You are doubling the manpower with
a promise we don’t know if we can
honour.
WALKER
You shout your mouth Mackintosh.
Mackintosh stares at the Samoans working hard under the

fierce sun. People have to share their meals cause there
isn’t enough food for everybody.
Tangatu’s village passes in front of Silei. They look at him

with anger.
EXT. OFFICE - DAY
We hear the sound of a key turning inside a huge STRONGBOX.

The heavy strongbox’s door opens. The light enters inside it.
Mackintosh is in front of it, staring at the government

MONEY. A small SACK.
He opens the sack and counts out a few pounds. He closes the
locker.
53.
He gets out of the office. We see him giving the money to two
Western MISSIONARIES.
Walker reads his clock and calls for a break. Sung opens up
an umbrella over a small table set for lunch.
The two missionaries arrive with their two donkeys. They are
transporting some CARDBOARDS.
Mackintosh and Walker sit down as Sung brings the meal: bad
looking corned beef and tea. Walker opens his shirt and
starts to eat voraciously.
Silei and Noa approach the missionaries. They are opening up

one cardboard.
NOA
Food!
The other brothers come to help. They help the missionaries

to unload the supplies. There is bread, tea, canned food.
Mackintosh looks at it satisfied. She spots Therese. She’s

looking at the scene. She smiles at Mackintosh.
Walker notices the unloading.
WALKER
Put the boxes back.
MACKINTOSH
I asked them to bring them.
WALKER
I haven’t given my permission.
MACKINTOSH
I am in charge of the food supplies
and they have already received my
permission!
WALKER
This people don’t eat canned food.
MACKINTOSH
These people need to eat.
WALKER
I said put the supplies back. Now.
Silei and Noa stare at Walker. Noa puts the food back on the
animals as Walker swallows another piece of meat.
54.
Mackintosh stands up and gives his lunch to his horse. Sung

notices it, disapproving. Therese stares at Mackintosh
leaving the road.
EXT. BUILDING FACADE - DAY
Mackintosh approaches the building. He notices a young Samoan

BOY leaving with a donkey.
Two heavy bags on the donkey’s back. MAIL is written on top.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Mackintosh enters the office. Sung is cleaning. His eyes go

towards a letter on Mackintosh’s table.
Mackintosh reaches his desk and quickly opens the dispatch.

He starts reading.
LETTER
We confirm Cpt. Mackintosh the new
administrator of the island.
Moments later Walker gets in, all sweat by the day.
WALKER
What does it say?
Mackintosh doesn’t have the courage to read him the content.
WALKER (CONT’D)
What does the bloody letter say!?
MACKINTOSH
(They won’t send the money).
Walker gets out. Mackintosh hears him riding away.
Two hands are passing some CANNED FOOD to some hold hands
inside the hut. It’s Therese, giving food to an old WOMAN
with some children, sleeping around her. Therese turns.
Mackintosh is behind Therese, unloading the supplies from his

horse in the darkness.
The tension is pretty high. The road is making its way up the
mountain, steeper and steeper. Tangatu pensively watches the
clouds gathering around the mountain. The sound of a thunder.
Walker steps off his horse. His boots sink into the MUD.
55.
WALKER
What’s this mess!?
AVEOLELA
Rain.
WALKER
I don’t care! You gotta keep the
road clean, all the time!
TANGATU
The rain will come more and more
everyday in bucketful. Stop now and
resume with the dry season.
WALKER
What you talking about?! We are
going forward. These beggars have
to keep it tidy!
Aveolela shows Walker a piece of wet wood.
AVEOLELA
The trees get wet. It’s more
difficult to cut them.
WALKER
And you cut harder! And harder! And
harder! Tomorrow we’ll continue!
MACKINTOSH
Tomorrow is Sunday.
WALKER
We are behind schedule, you said
that!
MACKINTOSH
(biting his teeth)
These people go to church on
Sunday.
WALKER
I don’t give a damn. We’ll bring
the church here.
A WORKER, 43, holds a beautiful SHELL and blows into it. A

smooth, horn-like sound reverberates into the valley. It’s
the traditional way to gather people for the prayer.
Tangatu’s and Aveoleola’s villages are gathering around the

two missionaries, standing in the high grass. They are
scattering the incense around. The Samoans form a line in
front of them. The first gets on their knees.
56.
MISSIONARY
Corpus Christi.
The missionary drops the HOST on his tongue. It’s now Noa’s
turns. He lies down. He turns. Silei is watching him from far
away.
Noa looks up at the imposing figure of Walker above him,

while the missionary is dropping the host in his mouth.
MISSIONARY (CONT’D)
The more you suffer, the closer you
are to God.
Walker is not following the mass. He’s already studying the

next stages of the road with his monocle. Mackintosh attends
the ceremony from far away.
The mass is over. People goes toward the road.
Walker is far away. Aveolela reaches Mackintosh.
AVEOLELA
My men are getting tired. We want
the money now.
Mackintosh doesn’t know what to answer. Aveolela is holding

the Machete.
Mackintosh reaches Walker at the head of the road.
MACKINTOSH
They want to get paid.
WALKER
You are in charge of it. You solve
the situation.
MACKINTOSH
You bluffed them, you deal with
them now.
Walker stares at Aveolela without saying a word. For the

first time he seems weak. Mackintosh notices it.
WALKER
(To Aveolela)
He said he had the money but it’s
false. He’s a liar.
Mackintosh is shocked by Walker´s accusation. Walker leaves.
The wind is heavy. It starts raining. Tangatu stands on

Walker’s way. Walker has to stop.
57.
TANGATU
It is impossible to get further.
A beat. Rain starts to pour. Walker has to scream in order to

be heard.
WALKER
What benefit do you think I get out
of the road Tangatu?! I offered to
pay you for the work but it was for
your own sake the work was done!
Tangatu doesn’t reply.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You ungrateful people. I offered to
pay you generously. You didn’t
accept. NOW YOU MUST PAY ME.
A beat. People stop working. Silei looks from far away.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You’ll have to pay the twenty
pounds I owe them.
TANGATU
How can we pay them?
WALKER
Ask him. It’s his fault.
Walker leaves. Mackintosh chases after him.
MACKINTOSH
I suppose you are joking!?
Walker doesn’t stop, he grabs a Machetes and reaches the end

of the road.
WALKER
I told you we would had found the
money sooner or later.
MACKINTOSH
You're not really going to make
them pay twenty pounds!?
WALKER
You bet your life I am.
MACKINTOSH
We cannot make them pay!
The Samoans stare at the argument. Walker turns to Mackintosh

with the Machete.
58.
WALKER
I am the administrator! I guess I
have the right to do any damned
thing I like!
MACKINTOSH
You are setting a revolution.
WALKER
Damn the revolution. I am the only
revolutionary on this island.
He keeps opening the passage for the road, hysterically.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
MONTAGE
The notes of a struggling classical music introduce us to the

tired steps of the Samoans working on the road which is
climbing the mountain like a snake.
The view from up there is enchanting but both Tangatu and

Aveolela’s villages are working, side by side, in despair.
TANGATU (V.O.)
Why work all day long? Why not have
the time to stretch under the sun,
feel its rays entering the body.
The Papalagi have not understood
time. That’s why they mistreat it.
INT. HUT - DAY
The wind blows under the big hut. Two GIRLS are trying to
rest, lying on the ground. Noa enters and wakes the girls up.
Their turn has started.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
All men, women and children are working in the heavy sun.
Mackintosh is helping too. His white fragile arms are burned
by the strong sun.
Noa is leading the company, cutting the grass in front of

everybody, sweat all over his face.
The gorgeous landscape goes out of focus in Noa’s eyes for

the struggle. But Noa believes in it, more than anybody else.
It’s a very steep part of the hill. Walker indicates the

trees that need to be cut down.
Mackintosh goes back to his table.

59.
WALKER
Your brain gets soft.
Mackintosh puts his hat on, disturbed by his remark.
His compass derails, we zoom out of his map. Outside the

microscopic island just the cruel blue desert of the pacific
ocean.
TANGATU (V.O.)
The Papalagi have weird tastes.
They do all kind of things that
make them sick but still they take
pride in them and sing odes for
their own glory.
Tangatu watches Walker from his position in front of the

road. It starts to rain. Walker directs the workers,
screaming as usual. His hands are covered with dirt.
Their backs are all stretched under the weight of rocks and
wood. Walker screams after them. Plants are uprooted, dirt is
cleared. The machetes cut the grass, the HATCHETS cut the
trees one after the other.
TANGATU (V.O.)
They are poor because they pursue
things like madmen. Because they
destroy all the things of the Great
Spirit, they believe they are the
Great Spirit themselves.
END MONTAGE
EXT. VILLAGE - DAY
Walker is passing close to one of the huts. He spots a woman,

eating from a CAN. She hides it behind her back.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Mackintosh gets back from the road, deadly tired.
He gets closer to his desk. The drawer is badly broken, the

government letters lay down on his desk.
Walker gets down from the stairs.
WALKER
Sorry, I didn’t find the key.
Mackintosh is sitting at his portable desk, working on the

map. A hand grabs his shoulder from behind. It’s Walker.
60.
WALKER
Come here lazy beggar! Come help me
with this!
Mackintosh almost falls off the chair. Walker drags him by

the uniform like a brat. Mackintosh tries to avoid this
humiliation in front of the natives. Walker gives him the
HATCHET.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Show them how to cut this tree.
Mackintosh’s insecure hand grabs the hatchet. He looks at the

tree in front of him.
His thin, fragile body starts to cut the tree, pretending he

knows what he’s doing. His breath is getting heavier. His
strength is already fading away. Natives are all around.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Come people! Look and see who is
going to replace me when I retire!
The wood is too strong for him. The hatchet swings away from
the tree like as if it was encountering a magnet. With his
will to pursue the job without success he looks even more
ridiculous in the eyes of the Samoans.
Mackintosh slips in the mud. Walker races after him. The

Samoans start laughing.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I guess you’re betting on the wrong
horse people. Look!
Mackintosh starts having a bad coughing attack. The hatchet

falls from his hands. He goes back to his portable desk.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Mackintosh! Come back here!
Walker goes towards his prey.
Mackintosh is shivering. He is gathering all his documents.

Walker pushes him violently. In the rush his NOTEBOOK falls
into the mud.
Mackintosh is in pain.
MACKINTOSH
Let it go.
WALKER
Tell ’em you can’t do anything!
Tell ‘em you can’t do anything
except read your damn books!
61.
MACKINTOSH
I don’t feel well.
WALKER
Listen! He says he doesn’t feel
well!
Mackintosh tries to escape from Walker’s grasp, crawling

ridiculously in the mud trying to reach his notebook. The
Samoans keep laughing. Silei too.
WALKER (CONT’D)
What’s the matter uh!?
Mackintosh keeps crawling out of breath.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Are you missing home son?
MACKINTOSH
YES!!
WALKER
He says is missing home!
Some Samoans are almost falling on the ground for their

laughter. Walker leans down, face to face with Mackintosh.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Take your time Mackintosh. Scotland
is at the other end of the world!
He violently slams the hatchet on his chest again. He turns,

sharing his laughter with the Samoans.
Mackintosh is about to punch him but he’s too weak. He falls

again on the ground. They all laugh stronger at his pitiful
reaction.
Mackintosh starts coughing badly. A small drop of BLOOD drips

from his mouth.
Walker notices it. The Samoans don’t. Walker looses his grip
on Mackintosh.
Mackintosh’s face is ghostly white. He stands up and finally

reaches his notebook and books, scattered in the mud. He
grabs them and reaches his horse.
He manages to mount the horse and rides off, escaping the

laughter behind him. Therese looks at him leaving.
62.
EXT. BEACH - DAY
Mackintosh is riding as fast as he can, panting, almost

crying. All around him is the most paradisiac landscape ever,
that now looks just like his hell.
JUMP CUT TO:
INT. SHIP - NIGHT
Mackintosh is in a small wooden cabin, reading a MAP.
His index finger moves on the path between New Zealand and
Samoa, above the black, abyssal Kermadec and Tongan TRENCHES.
On his desk we note the book “Samoa, pearl of the Pacific”.
EXT. BEACH - DAY
Mackintosh is riding hysterically fast.
Uli, the old man of the first scene, is walking on the side
of the road. Mackintosh rides as though being chased by the
devil. Uli waves at him. Mackintosh doesn’t wave back.
EXT. SHIP - NIGHT
Mackintosh exits to the ship’s boardwalk. The sound of the

ship crashing through the waves in the darkness.
Mackintosh is holding firmly to the handlebar. He looks at

the calendar CLOCK above the boardwalk. We read: Saturday -
11.59 PM.
The hour shifts to 12.00. But the day remains SATURDAY.
An attendant passes by in the strong wind. Mackintosh stops

him.
MACKINTOSH
Excuse me! That calendar must be
broken!
The attendant looks at it.
ATTENDANT
It’s not broken Sir! It’s perfectly
working! We are passing the date
line!
MACKINTOSH
So what?!...
ATTENDANT
Tomorrow will be today again!
63.
The attendant passes over, holding onto the handrail for the
big waves.
EXT. SHIP - DAY
Fleecy clouds chasing one an other in the sky seem to compose

a range of mountains at the horizon.
Mackintosh is standing at the prow of the ship. His hair is

moved by the strong wind.
TANGATU (V.O.)
We call them the Papa-lagi, the
Rock in the Sky.
The clouds make up gigantic shapes. They look like Titans

clashing in the sky.
TANGATU (V.O.)
They lacerated the sky with a rock
to get here. They are the Breakers
of Heavens.
We slowly descend from the sky revealing the island in front

of Mackintosh. A spiritual smile of adventure on his face, as
he rises and falls on the ship’s prow sinking into the waves.
EXT. CONSTRUCTION ROAD - LATER
Silei tilts up his head, deadly tired.
SILEI
Noa... Have you seen Noa?
BROTHER
What?
SILEI
Noaaa!
The workers start to search for him.
ALL
Noaa! Noaaa!
SILEI
Noaaaa!
The sun is setting. The FIRE TORCHES are lit.
Silei looks down the valley. There is a black DOT down the
rope. It’s Noa’s body.
Silei rushes down. Walker looks at the scene from above,

directing the rescue.
64.
WALKER
There! No there!
Silei reaches Noa. He lifts his head, scratches all over on

his dark skin. But he’s still alive.
They carry him up the hill. Walker reaches him.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You gotta be careful, goddamnit!
He leans down and opens his FIRST AID CASE. He starts to

treat his scratches with a cloth and some alcohol. He gives
him a PILL for the pain.
Noa swallows it, staring at Walker like a worshipper. Walker

looks up. Tangatu is looking at him, thankful.
A fast tribal music wanders in the air as a moving FIRE light

is illuminating the exterior of the huts.
The Siva Afi, the traditional Samoan fire dance is

entertaining Tangatu’s guests. It’s a spectacle of wood
sticks on fire which two young dancers dangerously play with.
Aveolela sits among his men, drinking kava, visibly effected

by it. Silei passes over.
AVEOLELA
Hey kid. We need more kava.
SILEI
Go find it.
AVEOLELA
What did you say?
SILEI
Go fuck yourself.
Aveolela stands up.
Silei is holding a stack of food. He THROWS the entire stack

in Aveolela’s face.
A violent BRAWL starts.
People get in between Aveolela and Silei. The fast music

continues to play along with the fire dance. Noa grabs Silei.
NOA
Let him go!
SILEI
You let me go!
65.
Silei throws Noa on the ground.
Aveolela hits Silei on the back. He falls down. They

frantically wrestle in the dust. A small crowd forms around
them.
Silei lies down trying to protect himself from the beating

that he now realizes is coming from HIS OWN people.
Silei is astonished. They are all screaming and kicking him

badly. Silei tries to protect from the hits on the ground.
Noa is kicking his brother too, crying.
Tangatu pensively watches his son screaming on the ground. He

doesn’t say a word. He silently leaves.
FADE OUT.
EXT. BEACH - NIGHT
The glaring band of white breakers outline the island,

separating it from the depths of the ocean.
The ROAR of the breakers grows unceasing and menacing, like a

giant tsunami about to hit the coast.
INT. STAIRS - NIGHT
MONTAGE
Fade in of frantic piano music. We are slowly climbing the

stairs of the colonial building. Nobody around. Outside it’s
pouring rain.
We are slowly moving into Mackintosh’s room.
VOICE (V.O.)
The breakers of heavens know the
size of the moon, the stars and all
the countries. They fill themselves
with such paper food. Their heads
are like a mangrove swamps,
suffocating in their own mud.
A lot of books lie in disorder on the floor. Mackintosh is on

his bed. The ROAR of the breakers hammers on his tired
nerves. He’s holding his head in an effort to bear it.
66.
TANGATU (V.O.)
They devour these thought-mats,
they have piles of boxes full of
them. They gnaw at them like rats
gnawing at sugar cane.
It seems that nothing can stop that sound, and that it might
continue to all eternity.
CUT TO:
EXT. CONSTRUCTION ROAD - NIGHT
Walker appears on his horse in the darkness. His oil lamp

lights the thin palm trees around him.
His sweaty face whispers something bad to Mackintosh. No

sound.
Mackintosh reacts, punching him, grabbing his hair, but

Walker laughs. They are just Mackintosh’s thoughts in loop.
CUT TO:
Mackintosh lies naked half wrapped in his white sheets,

turning from side to side in the heat.
TANGATU (V.O.)
Most of them fill their heads with
so many thoughts that there is no
space left and no light can enter.
We hear the first nervous peep of the birds awakening in the

forest. The light starts to filter through what we recognize
is black CLOTH covering all the room’s windows.
Mackintosh reaches out for one of them. He stretches the

cloth without success, trying to protect the room from
daylight.
EXT. SKY - NIGHT/DAY
The dull SOUND of the stars, billions of burning suns

swirling in the sky, fades away leaving space for the
gigantic sun emerging from the ocean.
INT. SUNG’S ROOM - NIGHT
Sung is laying on his bed inside his tiny room, carved under
the building’s roof.
67.
His eyes are open. He can hear Mackintosh’s smothered sobbing

on the second floor.
TANGATU (V.O.)
Just his head is alive, while all
his senses are sleeping deeply.
INT. MACKINTOSH ROOM - DAY
The bedroom is almost lit by the sunrise. Mackintosh hides

his eyes under the black cloth.
TANGATU (V.O.)
Sad is the fate of thinkers who go
too far in their thoughts. They do
not live, even though they are not
dead.
FADE OUT.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
The sound of heavy rain fills the office.
It’s not pouring, it’s flowing.
Mackintosh is at his desk. His eye bags are scary black. He’s
trying to focus on a book.
A POSTCARD falls out from the pages. It’s the snowy Aberdeen
one. Mackintosh finds it strange to find it there.
He stares at it for a moment.
He unlocks the drawer of the desk.
His REVOLVER is there. A beat.
He starts to clean it carefully with a cloth.
Mackintosh is elevating the gun to his head.
The cold BARREL touches his temple.
He makes a better grip on the gun. His thumb slowly shifts

the HAMMER back.
TICK.
We are slowly approaching Mackintosh from behind, waiting for

the shot, that never comes.
We can’t see his expression. Only his chest, panting.
The hand trembles slightly. The index finger pushes the

TRIGGER.
68.
A CRACK on the boardwalk. A beat
MACKINTOSH
Who’s there?...
Heavy rain. No answer.
We see Mackintosh though the wet window’s glass. His elbows

on the cloth, covering the gun.
Who’s there?!
The silence is filled by the storm.
Then Silei appears at the door, breathing heavily.
He has a terrible look. He’s emaciated, completely soaked.

Two swollen eyes.
SILEI
(Samoan, strangled voice)
We can't pay him. We don’t have the
money.
Mackintosh pretends to order some documents, his trembling

hands on the cloth. He tries to reply in Samoan.
MACKINTOSH
You heard what he said. I can’t do
anything.
SILEI
I am sick...
Mackintosh stops reading. Silei looks pitiful.
MACKINTOSH
Come in...
Silei stops half way into the room. His sight LANDS on the
cloth.
The extremity of the gun’s BARREL is visible beneath the

cloth. He gets that something is very wrong in the room.
A weird silence follows.
They both hear a wood CRACK on the ceiling. It’s Walker,

moving in his bedroom upstairs.
MACKINTOSH (SAMOAN) (CONT’D)

What do you feel?....
Silei doesn’t answer.
What do you feel?
69.
His eyes are only focused on the barrel beneath the cloth.
Sit down.
Silei slowly gets closer to the desk and sits down.
SILEI
(looking at the gun)
I have pain here and here.
Another CRACK from upstairs.
SILEI (CONT’D)
Give me the medicine.
A thunder up in the sky.
Mackintosh slowly covers the barrel with some documents and

slowly stands up. Every movement is awkward.
MACKINTOSH
Wait here.
Mackintosh slowly makes the way to the door.
INT. DISPENSARY - CONTINUOUS
Mackintosh reaches the MEDICAL CABINET full of bottles.
Due to the pounding of his heart it’s difficult for him to

breathe. He takes a small BOTTLE from the closet.
He opens his shirt pocket and inserts SOMETHING we don’t see

into the bottle.
We now see the content. There are three BULLETS hidden among
the pills. He shakes the bottle to hide them.
Mackintosh is about to go into the office again. His hands on

the door. He changes his mind and exits to the boardwalk.
EXT. COVERED BOARDWALK - CONTINUOUS
Mackintosh looks into the office through the window. He can’t

see Silei.
MACKINTOSH
Come out! I am here!
Silei steps outside from the darkness of the office. A beat.
They are facing each other. Mackintosh keeps his eyes on

Silei’s shoulders.
70.
(Whispering)
Take’em on a daily basis.
Silei takes the bottle.
Remember. Just one per day.
Silei is already walking off the building under the storm.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
The silence that broods over the house is unearthly.

Mackintosh sits on the ARMCHAIR and takes a newspaper, as if
nothing happened. He’s sweating.
His desk stands few meters behind him. He cannot read, he

stands up again.
He leans on the stairs to the second floor. Walker’s boots

are in front of his bedroom. The sound of SNORING comes from
it.
EXT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
Mackintosh stops at the kitchen’s entrance. Sung is at the

window, peaceful as usual, busy with some vegetable chopping.
Mackintosh stares at him. Sung turns to him with the kitchen

knife.
A beat. Mackintosh exits the kitchen without saying a word.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Mackintosh enters the office and heads to his desk.
JERVIS
Captain Mackintosh!
Mackintosh stops. Jervis appears behind him.
He enters in the room, followed by a huge ROASTED PIG held by

two Samoan SERVANTS.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
Hope I don’t disturb you at this
hour of the day?
Mackintosh looks back at his desk. The documents still

prevent anyone from seeing what’s beneath them. He turns.
Jervis comes forward while the two servants lay down the
roasted pig. It’s enormous. A vacant stare in its dead eyes.
71.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
This is a present for you and
Walker. Is he in?
MACKINTOSH
I guess he’s having a rest.
JERVIS
I see. Shall I...
Jervis sits down. He gives a glance to the alcohol cabinet.
Mackintosh understands his wish and pours some whiskey in a

glass. He hands it to Jervis.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
Aren’t you drinking with me?
Mackintosh reluctantly takes a glass for himself.
Jervis starts gossiping quite insufferably. We hear his voice

muffled in Mackintosh inner world. His gaze lost somewhere on
the floor. A hand holding his forehead.
He takes a sip from his glass. The brown liquid disgusts him.
Jervis looks at Mackintosh with some sort of astonishment for

his behavior but continues to talk. He lowers his voice.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
(whispering)
Listen Captain, they were saying in
Apia it was about time Walker
retired. He ain't so young as he
was. Things have changed a lot
since he first came to the islands.
He ain't changed with them.
Mackintosh is completely absorbed in his thoughts. The desk

is the only thing bothering him.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
That was a good joke about calling
the other village for the road.
When I told them about it in Apia
they split their sides laughing.
Mackintosh turns to Jervis savagely.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
I hope you'll take his place soon,
Mr. Mackintosh. We all like you on
the island. You understand the
Samoans. They're educated now, they
must be treated differently.
Mackintosh feels horribly sick.

72.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
When the time comes if there's
anything anyone can do here, you
bet I’ll do it.
Jervis gets closer to Mackintosh and looks straight in his

eyes.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
A marriage with a Samoan will help
them to rely on you...
A beat. Mackintosh stands up.
MACKINTOSH
I am sorry. I need to go now.
JERVIS
As you wish Captain. I hope to see
you soon.
Jervis exits the office followed by his two servants. Jervis

turns.
JERVIS (CONT’D)
God bless you Mackintosh.
Mackintosh stares at him, nauseated from the alcohol.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Mackintosh enters the office. His face seems it has been

sucked inwards. His eyes are deep in their sockets.
He slowly reaches his desk. He uncovers the documents. He

nervously looks beneath all of them but there’s nothing
there.
The GUN is gone.
WALKER
What the devil are you up to?
Mackintosh freezes. A beat.
Walker is at the doorway. He has been incredibly silent

despite his usual conduct.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I heard you talking.
MACKINTOSH
Jervis brought this for you.
The face of the dead pig on the ground is repulsive.

73.
WALKER
I'm going to the pool to bathe.
Mackintosh doesn’t answer. The sun is back outside.
WALKER (CONT’D)
It’ll be good for your lungs. Come
along.
EXT. POOL - DAY
We are above a giant crater. A large pool of crystal

turquoise water spreads at the bottom of it. It’s paradise.
Walker and Mackintosh are reaching the pool followed by some

young Samoans.
Walker takes out his shirt, revealing his massive body and
plunges into the water. Soon they are all splashing about,
shouting and laughing, apart from Mackintosh.
Walker swims to and fro like an unwieldy porpoise. The young

Samoans amuse themselves by diving under him and wriggling
away when he tries to catch them. He grabs one of them.
WALKER
Come here! Come here!
Two young girls try to submerge him into the water. Walker
tries to liberate himself from their grasp, amused.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Noo! Noo! Let a poor old man be!
Mackintosh observes the game from outside the water. He keeps

monitoring the trees above the crater. It seems looking from
a huge hole inside the earth.
With his thin legs and skinny body he’s quite grotesque, like
a sinister Don Quixote.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Aren’t you able to swim?
Walker spots his skinny arms.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Look at his arms! They are
ridiculous!
The Samoans laughs shyly.
Walker gets out of the water, puts on his own large LAVA-LAVA
and lays down. One of the girls brings a bowl of Kava to him.
He tilts his head and drinks.
74.
MACKINTOSH
If you want to get back in time for
dinner we ought to come out soon.
WALKER
When you're doing one thing you
always want to do another
Mackintosh. That's not the way to
live...
He closes his eyes and relaxes. Mackintosh keeps looking at

the trees above them.
Walker is riding unusually slow, enjoying the landscape as it

passes by. Walker is whistling one of his songs, taking sips
from his flask.
Mackintosh keeps following Walker’s slow pace.
MACKINTOSH
(whispering)
Move, fat bastard.
Mackintosh is obsessed with any sound coming from the forest.
Walker suddenly stops whistling. He has heard something. A

beat. He stops his horse.
He tilts his head above the trees. Mackintosh freezes.
WALKER
(whispering)
Do you see him?
Mackintosh slowly looks up at the trees, terrified.
WALKER (CONT’D)
There.
Mackintosh can’t see anything. Walker grabs his head from

behind and tilts it more.
WALKER (CONT’D)
There.
Like a holy apparition, the rare Samoan LONG TAILED BIRD

appears in the sky. He’s flying almost steadily, enjoying the
silent breeze. It’s the most peaceful thing ever.
Mackintosh swallows his saliva and looks back at Walker.
He is drawing the bird on his little DIARY. We read Sunday,

29th October, 1922. Mackintosh notices there are already
plenty of bird sketches on the diary’s pages.
75.
WALKER (CONT’D)
(whispering)
I was waiting for him. It’s
gorgeous, isn’t it?
Walker keeps drawing, his tongue’s tip out of his mouth in

concentration. Mackintosh is quite surprised to see such a
sensibility in Walker.
Walker puts the diary away and rides off.
Walker turns and notices Mackintosh’s weird attitude. He

accelerates. Mackintosh follows him. This time he can’t lose
him.
Walker turns. He smiles. Mackintosh seems to have finally

accepted his challenge.
EXT. GRASS ROAD - MOMENTS LATER
MONTAGE - Fade in of a fast paced Samoan tribal music.
Mackintosh and Walker are flying on their horses. Walker

suddenly changes direction into the forest.
WALKER
Let’s take the shortcut!
CUT TO:
EXT. BEACH - CONTINUOUS
Walker’s horse jumps out from the vegetation and gallops on a

white pristine beach.
Mackintosh’s horse accelerates as Walker’s jumps into the

azure water that splashes his horse’s snout.
Walker turns back to Mackintosh. He mocks him, saying

something bad we don’t hear in the strong wind.
His horse accelerates. Mackintosh’s does too.
EXT. BEACH - MOMENTS LATER
A MAN suddenly appears on the beach in front of Walker.
MACKINTOSH
Watch out!
Mackintosh looses control of the horse. His body violently

slams on the surface of the water. SPLASH!
76.
EXT. BEACH - MOMENTS LATER
Mackintosh reemerges from the azure water.
The man was just a peaceful FISHERMAN, 75, going home. He

looks at Mackintosh perplexed.
Walker’s horse is already at the end of the beach.
END MONTAGE
Mackintosh rides onto the lawn, all soaked. Walker is waiting

for him, cleaning his horse.
WALKER
You finally convinced yourself to
take a dip!
He bursts out laughing and gets inside. Mackintosh holds the

horse’s bridle and caresses it.
MACKINTOSH
(whispering to his horse)
You can tell him he can go f**k
himself.
INT. OFFICE - NIGHT
Mackintosh is looking out of the window, in the darkness.
Sung finishes to prepare the table. Supper is ready. Walker

descend the stairs with his Sunday’s SUIT, an old colonial
cloth, too short for his fat body.
WALKER
What’s tonight deal Sung?
SUNG
Porridge sir.
WALKER
Jolly good.
Mackintosh is elegantly dressed. He enjoys every bad taste

detail of Walker’s look. An awful combinations of colors
exalts his BOW TIE, his leather shoes are too large and badly
designed.
WALKER (CONT’D)
What you lookin’ at?
MACKINTOSH
Nice shoes...
77.
Walker takes it as a compliment.
WALKER
Irish leather, the best.
He sits down as Sung handles it the porridge.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I bought them many years ago. Have
I ever told you when I won at the
horse races?
Sung cleans his hands on the trousers and sits on the stairs,
ready to hear Walker’s story.
WALKER (CONT’D)
I ran away to sea when I was
fifteen, shovelling coal on a
collier. I was an undersized boy
and the captain for some reason
hated me. He used to kick me so
hard. I loathed that drunkard with
all my soul. I often couldn’t sleep
for the pain that racked my limbs.
Sung is focused on his story. Mackintosh has heard SOMETHING

coming from the window. Walker keeps talking.
WALKER (CONT’D)
But one day I receive a tip to go
to the horse races... I managed to
borrow some pounds from a friend in
Belfast. I put all the money on a
horse, an outsider, at long odds.
The horse started as last. I had no
means of repaying the money if I
lost. The crowd was screaming and
shouting. I was too short, I could
barely see the race.
Mackintosh stands up, he goes for the window.
WALKER (CONT’D)
But then, little by little, my
horse got fourth, third, second!
AND FIRST! I looked down at my
ticket. Couldn’t believe it. Found
myself with over a thousand pounds
in hard cash. I have heard the
collier I was working on was for
sale. I asked a solicitor to
arrange the sale for me. He was
amused to see such a small client.
He promised me to make a good
bargain. I arrived at the port, I
looked at the ship. That drunkard
of the captain was smoking on the
deck. I screamed at him: “Hey you!
(MORE)
78.
WALKER (CONT’D)
“You have to get out of MY ship in
half an hour!” It was the most
glorious moment of my life...
SUNG
When did you arrive to the islands?
WALKER
I reached them at twenty-six. My
marriage didn’t go well.
SUNG
What happened?
WALKER
I got so drunk at the wedding feast
that the bride left me right away.
MACKINTOSH
A sad story with a happy end.
WALKER
It’s sad that I’ll leave all this
to you.
Walker stands up with difficulty. He suddenly looses the

balance.
MACKINTOSH
You are drunk.
WALKER
A stroll will get me back in shape
again.
Mackintosh grabs him from behind. He can barely hold him.

Sung helps him.
MACKINTOSH
Don't you think it's unwise to go
out at night by yourself?
Walker heads to the door.
WALKER
Samoans would never hurt me.
MACKINTOSH
Stay at home tonight. I'll play
cards with you.
Mackintosh and Sung keep holding him from behind. Walker

violently detaches from them.
WALKER
You stay where you are! Prepare the
cards. I’ll beat you when I come
back.
79.
Mackintosh and Sung pensively watch Walker staggering out.
INT. DINING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Mackintosh walks back and forth in the room in anguish.
He stops and looks out of the window. Walker is reaching the

end of the lawn. He grabs the lantern.
Mackintosh exits on the verandah. Walker disappears into the

forest, singing. Mackintosh follows him.
EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
Mackintosh silently chases Walker in the darkness. He looses

him.
MACKINTOSH
Where the hell?...
We see the interior of the lamp. The oil inside it is almost

finished. The lantern shuts off.
Damn!
Mackintosh is in pitch black.
Walker!
EXT. ROAD - NIGHT
It starts raining. Mackintosh doesn’t have a rain coat. He

seems completely lost. We hear his fast breath increasing.
SOMEBODY appears in the darkness. Mackintosh freezes.
Under an umbrella, a WOMAN appears on the road. It’s Therese.

She turns and notices him. Mackintosh reaches her.
MACKINTOSH
What are you doing around at this
hour of the night?
Therese, who is perfectly dry under the umbrella, takes a

glances at Mackintosh, soaked to the skin.
THERESE
What are YOU doing out at this hour
of the night? My house is just down
there.
80.
Mackintosh spots the lights of a house nearby. A beat.
MACKINTOSH
Have you seen Silei?
THERESE
Silei? Why should I have seen him?
She now realizes how in anguish Mackintosh is. He’s breathing

heavily, extremely pale. His glasses blurred by the cold
perspiration. She covers him with the umbrella.
They now stand close to each others. The rain fills the
silence. Therese slowly raises her free hand, touching his
white lips with two fingers.
THERESE (CONT’D)
You are ill.
Her touch is almost an electric shock for Mackintosh.

Therese’s beauty is hypnotizing. Her eyes, her scent, the
starry night above them. Too many emotions at the same time.
Mackintosh steps back.
MACKINTOSH
Do not try to heal a dead man.
Three more steps back, still looking at Therese. Then he

disappears in the darkness.
Sung spots Mackintosh coming back alone all soaked. They

exchange a glance.
Mackintosh is wrapped up in a TOWEL. He’s shivering and

coughing badly.
He puts a RECORD on his GRAMOPHONE. The record starts

turning. He lies down on his bed. He’s the picture of
tension.
He closes his eyes, exhausted, as the chorus of the Requiem

N.5 by Berlioz fades in from the Gramophone’s aperture.
EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
MONTAGE: Mackintosh is breathing heavily, walking up a hill

in the thick vegetation. He seems lost. He falters on a root.
His hands disappear beneath some leaves on the ground.
81.
He looks up to the sky through the trees. It’s almost dark.

He stands up in anguish.
INT. HUT - NIGHT
The fire lights the interiors of the hut. A Samoan young

WOMAN, is lying down, surrounded by a lot of people. She’s in
labour pains, screaming.
EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
Mackintosh is running. He changes direction, but it’s not the

right one. He changes again, panting.
Therese appears through the wood, like a ghost. She escapes.
MACKINTOSH
Therese!
Therese is laughing at him. Mackintosh races after her.
INT. HUT - NIGHT
The girl is wiped of her sweat by an older woman. Two

brothers are holding her legs open. She screams.
EXT. POOL - NIGHT
Therese stops. Mackintosh arrives at her back. They are

exhausted from the run. She smiles at him, whispering
something we don’t hear.
Light passes through the crystal water like in a paradise

lost. Therese plunges inside. Mackintosh reaches her.
INT. HUT - CONTINUOUS
The girl is now screaming out at her peak.
She’s almost naked in front of everybody, her flesh is

extremely erotic despite the context.
EXT. POOL - NIGHT
Mackintosh and Therese’s faces are both full of innocent

desire. They are now in front of each others, close as never
before. Mackintosh can see her underwear through the water.
They kiss.
82.
INT. HUT - NIGHT
The stars above the hut are fiercely lit. The woman’s
breathing increases. A sudden SCREAM. A beat.
It’s joy. A BABY is screaming in the sky held by the MIDWIFE

who cuts the umbilical cord with a bamboo knife and throws it
away.
EXT. POOL - NIGHT
Mackintosh’s and Therese’s bodies reach their peak. They’re

one, illuminated by spots of surreal light.
INT. HUT - NIGHT
Two women remove the baby’s blood in a basket with wild

ORANGE juice. A beat.
By a weird phenomenon that happens only in dreams, Mackintosh

realizes he’s in the exact same hut of the birth.
The pregnant woman was Therese and the baby is likely

Mackintosh’s. Therese turns to him holding the baby, DEAD.
Mackintosh stands in the middle of the hut, all naked.

Everybody stares at him in silence.
As the requiem fades away Mackintosh starts to hear the voice

of:
END MONTAGE
CUT TO:
WALKER
Wonders will never cease! It's not
often you play yourself a tune
Mackintosh!
Mackintosh wakes up. Walker ghostly appears out of the

window, red-faced and jovial.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You see!? Still alive and kicking!
Mackintosh stands up fast and runs to stop the gramophone.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Nerves a bit dicky, eh?! Playing a
tune to keep your pecker up?!
83.
MACKINTOSH
I was playing your requiem...
WALKER
What the devil's that? I'm ready to
take your money off of you, son!
INT. OFFICE - NIGHT
Walker and Mackintosh are playing cards again. Walker bullies

his way to victory, bluffing, chaffing, jeering at
Mackintosh’s mistakes.
WALKER
Come on Mackintosh, try to win just
one time.
Mackintosh is playing very distractedly. He puts his cards

down. BAAMM! Walker violently slams his fist on the table.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Mackintosh!! You’ve got to focus
goddamnit!
Mackintosh leaps up, landing back on earth from his thoughts.

He looks at his cards, he realizes his mistake.
WALKER (CONT’D)
It’s not even fun to beat you.
Walker stands up and prepares another of his bomb cocktails.

It’s a pretty disgusting mix of Gin, Brandy and Irish
tobacco. He offers it to Mackintosh who refuses, as usual.
WALKER (CONT’D)
(to Sung)
Never trust men who don’t drink.
Mackintosh’s glass is full of water.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You'll have to get a little bit
older before you stand much chance
against me, Mackintosh.
MACKINTOSH
I don't know that there's much
talent to it when I just happened
to deal you fourteen aces.
WALKER
Good cards come to good players.
I'd have won if I'd had your hands.
If I had the luck to study like you
I would have beaten you at school
too.
84.
MACKINTOSH
It’s never too late...
Walker takes it as an offence.
WALKER
You’re all smart dressed, you think
you know everything. Look at
yourself. You all skinny, without a
woman, without sons. Who do you
think created all this? It was
because of people like me, working
in the factories, in the mines, on
the colliers, that you could jerk
off at the academy with a silver
spoon stuck in your mouth.
Mackintosh wasn’t waiting for this.
WALKER (CONT’D)
We gave you paradise. But you don’t
even know what to do with it.
MACKINTOSH
I don’t want your paradise if it’s
built upon tyranny. I was at the
front when you were sitting here,
usurping this people.
Walker looks at Mackintosh’s medal.
WALKER
Give me a break, for sure we didn’t
win the war because of you. Have
you ever asked yourself why you did
not die? Rich people never die in
war, who knows why. You go around
with that ridiculous medal. They
will give a medal to me. And they
will take it off of you!
Mackintosh can’t stand him any longer.
MACKINTOSH
You liar, you vile. You don’t
represent me nor my country, you
are just an ignorant buffoon. You
just able to insult, to belittle,
to mistreat this people. I don’t
want your conquests, I don’t give a
damn about all this!
He stands up. Walker is attached to the bottle.
WALKER
I want to explore, to understand
this world, who am I. And you are
everything I don’t want to be.
(MORE)
85.
WALKER (CONT'D)
You drive me mad. If I had the
strength I will beat you and kick
you, I will cane you!
Mackintosh is breathing heavily. Walker is completely drunk.

He staggers on the chair.
MACKINTOSH
I am your consciousness, that’s why
you can’t stand me. I come
silently, harassing you in the
middle of the night. I tell you
that what you are doing is wrong,
that this people doesn’t want your
road, they don’t give a damn about
it. Yes, I am your consciousness,
telling you how revolting you are!
WALKER
And I am yours.
Mackintosh doesn’t get this answer. Walker stands up. Sung

holds it.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Bring me to bed. Heading to the
road early tomorrow.
MACKINTOSH
Would you like me to come with
you?...
He knows the answer will be no.
WALKER
Yeah, I am sure you'd be a fine lot
of use in a scrap!
Walker heads to the stairs, hold by Sung.
MACKINTOSH
Quem deus vult perdere prius
dementat.
“Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make silly.”
WALKER
You talk like a priest. What the
hell is that?
Mackintosh is ordering the cards. His face slowly shifts into

a weird smile.
MACKINTOSH
Latin, never mind.
86.
Therese runs up on the road. Silei is bent, clearing for the

road, alone. His scratches and wounds are still visible.
THERESE
Silei!
Therese sits and touches his shoulder. Silei groans slightly

for the pain. She spots all the bruises on his body.
THERESE (CONT’D)
What happened?
He keeps cutting the vegetation.
SILEI
Don’t marry him.
THERESE
What are you taking about?
He turns to her. One of his eyes is enormously swollen,

almost closed.
SILEI
Which side are you struggling for
Therese?
THERESE
Who did this?
He doesn’t reply.
THERESE (CONT’D)
I met the captain. Whatever you two
are planning, please don’t.
Therese grabs his arm. Silei pushes her back.
SILEI
Leave me alone.
THERESE
Let me bring you to the ocean, like
the old times. It will heal you.
SILEI
You gotta dirt your hands before
you can wash them.
He moves along into the greenery.
Mackintosh exits on the verandah. It’s a lovely sunset over

the hills.
87.
Mackintosh seems to be enjoying the breeze for the first

time. Sung comes out.
SUNG
When does Sir want to eat?
MACKINTOSH
Better not wait. One can't tell
when the boss'll be back.
SUNG
As you wish.
MACKINTOSH
Sung...
SUNG
Sir?...
MACKINTOSH
(smiling)
Let’s eat outside tonight.
A fast sequence of buttoning BUTTONS, tying SHOE LACES, tying

a TIE etc. ends with Mackintosh in an elegant colonial DINNER
SUIT.
His movements are all oddly slow. He gives a last touch to

his tie in front of the mirror. He exits the room. His medal
remains on the table.
Mackintosh slowly comes down on the verandah. The dinner is

ready.
Sung hands him a good looking steak and pours some red wine,
quite pleased to see Mackintosh finally eating.
Fade in of fast paced Samoan tribal music.
Walker is riding fast on the road.
In front of him some Samoans are going home upon their little
CART full of coconuts. Walker passes them quickly.
INT. THERESE’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Therese sits at her desk, reading a book. Jervis opens the

door.
88.
JERVIS
Evening Therese.
THERESE
Good evening.
JERVIS
I met with Mackintosh yesterday. We
talked about you...
Therese turns.
THERESE
What dis he say?
JERVIS
I’ll tell you tomorrow. Good night.
Jervis is about to close the door.
THERESE
Father.
JERVIS
Yes.
THERESE
Something bad will happen.
JERVIS
What do you mean?
THERESE
Go back tomorrow. Talk to him
again.
Jervis is puzzled, he did not wait for such a remark from his
daughter.
JERVIS
Let me handle this. Go to bed and
wash up your head with your dreams.
Jervis closes the door. Therese looks thoughtful. She takes

pen and paper.
Mackintosh is cutting a small piece of thick steak with

precision. He inadvertently cuts his index finger, which
starts bleeding on the plate.
Sung comes over and pours some more wine. He spots the blood
on the plate. A beat.
SUNG
Sir, your hand is bleeding.
89.
MACKINTOSH
It’s nothing. I just had the knife
from the wrong side.
Sung notices Mackintosh’s weird attitude. Behind him the

clouds are turning into vengeful red.
The jungle is disappearing in the shades of itself. Walker is

riding his horse fast in the woods.
He screams at the horse to make it run faster.
Therese is writing a letter.
THERESE (V.O.)
I am responsible for this. I don’t
know what are you planning, but I
am afraid I put you in this
situation. And I apologize. If
there is something to apologize.
We see Tangatu and Aveolela with their respective men

discussing in circle around the fire. We can’t see what they
are saying but the topic seems very serious and solemn.
Mackintosh enjoys the meal little by little, eating as he as

never eaten before, in a bright silence. His white dress
glows in the darkness, overexposed by the candle.
He lights a cigar leaning back on the chair, mimicking

Walker’s attitude. He makes a deep drag. He coughs hard,
almost vomiting.
THERESE (V.O.)
You think we can’t understand you.
But I can. What I don’t understand
is if you really care about this
island, my island. I want to show
it to you. There are places you
can’t conceive, smells you can’t
imagine they exist. On MY island.
She looks out of the window, thinking.

90.
INT. VILLAGE - NIGHT
Tangatu stands up. He grabs a wood stick and lights it up

over the fire. Silei’s brothers do the same.
INT. THERESE BEDROOM - NIGHT
THERESE (V.O.)
Promise me everything will be over
soon. I promise I’ll transform my
island in your lullaby.
She folds the letter and gets out of the room.
EXT. GRASS ROAD - NIGHT
Walker is now on the top of the mountain.
The landscape on the other side of the valley slowly appears

in front of his horse.
And there, in the gorgeous valley lit by the last lights of

the day, the other end of the ROAD finally appears.
The sign of a smile on Walker’s face.
The frantic, dreadful SOUND of a GUN SHOT.
The horse accelerates. Walker leans on one side, trying to

hold onto the horse’s bridle.
INTERCUT WITH:
Mackintosh is slowly tasting another piece of steak.
Walker is badly unbalanced but doesn’t drop the bridle.
An other GUNSHOT. The bullet again misses him. The horse

rises up and keeps running fiercely.
Mackintosh puts another slice of meat in his mouth.
A third bullet, this time explodes on walker’s fat back.
Mackintosh’s eyes are closed in ecstasy.
Walker’s grabs the horse with all his strength. He looses the
grip. His body falls down with an horrendous THUD.
He rolls on the ground smashing the vegetation, his face

scratching into the dirt.
Mackintosh, smiling devil, deeply enjoys his meal.

91.
Walker’s body stops in the woods. His diary lost in the

foliage.
CUT TO:
The tribal music stops. Mackintosh opens his eyes. He stands

up.
The very last sunlight is leaving space for the first stars.
The land sinks into darkness.
EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
A small procession of TORCHES opens up the night, revealing

the shape of the ROAD. Holding the torches are Aveolela, his
workers and Silei’s brothers. Tangatu is leading the group.
INT. OFFICE - NIGHT
Mackintosh enters the office. He’s drunk and softly singing.
He distractedly looks down at his desk.
The GUN is back.
A beat.
Mackintosh takes the gun and opens it. The chambers are
empty. All the bullets are gone.
He quickly locks the gun back in his drawer. He turns.
Sung stands at the office’s door.
SUNG
Boss very late. Dinner no good...
A beat.
MACKINTOSH
Keep the soup hot. At all events.
The words are hardly out of his mouth when the silence is
suddenly broken into by a confusion, cries, and a rapid
patter of naked feet.
Mackintosh and Sung rush out.
EXT. BUILDING FACADE - CONTINUOUS
Screaming workers are running toward them.

92.
They crowd round Mackintosh and they all talk at once. They
are unintelligible.
MACKINTOSH
I can’t... Speak slower!
The workers are excited and frightened. They are indicating a

place somewhere.
Mackintosh spots a bigger group at the entrance of the lawn.
He pushes his way through them and runs to the gateway.
Tangatu, Aveolela and the others are gathering around a CART.
Mackintosh gets closer. A beat.
In the cart, surrounded by Samoans screaming and shouting

madly, lies Walker’s BODY.
The workers are holding him like prey. He is still alive,

moaning. Jervis is in the group. He is trying to calm the
crowd down. He looks at Mackintosh who pretends he doesn’t
know anything.
Stand back! Get him out of the
cart!
Four workers lift him. Walker utters a dull groan. Blood all
over his face.
INT. STAIRS - NIGHT
They are carrying Walker up. Mackintosh is behind them.
He has to stop. He’s too weak even to climb the stairs.
INT. WALKER’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Mackintosh enters the room. The Samoans have put Walker on

his bed.
The men who have carried him wipe their hands, red and
sticky, on their lava-lavas. Walker lays unconscious, deadly
bloated.
MACKINTOSH
Bring me the hypodermic needle!
Sung brings him the NEEDLE. Mackintosh tries to fill it in

the right way. He injects it in Walker’s arm.
Walker opens his eyes.

93.
WALKER
They’ve got me.
MACKINTOSH
We called the doctor. He’ll be here
by tomorrow morning.
WALKER
I’ll be dead by then.
MACKINTOSH
Tell me what to do. I'll do it.
WALKER
There's nothing to do.
He looks pitiful, small on his big bed. A huge, old man. But
so wan, so weak.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Give me a drink, a stiff one.
Sung handles the bottle of Whisky to Mackintosh. He pours a

little in a glass.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You were right. You warned me.
Mackintosh brings the glass to Walker’s mouth.
WALKER (CONT’D)
They'll give you my job.
MACKINTOSH
I don't want your job...
WALKER
You are a good chap Mac. Last time
I was in town I told them you were
all right. One of the best.
Mackintosh can’t believe his ears. He keeps helping him with

the glass. Mackintosh takes a wet CLOTH and starts removing
the blood from Walker’s face. Walker stares at him.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Only now that I am dying you care
about me? Why do you hate me so
much Mac?
It is a very weird question coming from Walker. And the very

first time he uses Mac instead of Mackintosh. Mac keeps
cleaning him. It’s a hard job, dirt and scratches all over.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Just finish my road son. All round
the island.
94.
Walker opens his eyes and looks at him. He’s fat face still
half full of blood and dirt.
WALKER (CONT’D)
The road's the great thing Mac. Get
the road finished.
He understands Mackintosh won’t follow up.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Please.
Walker’s eyes are wet. Mackintosh can’t hold his tears.
He turns to Jervis, realizing that the room is now all

crowded with Samoans, all sitting around Walker’s bed.
MACKINTOSH
(to Jervis)
What are all these people doing
here?!
WALKER
Let them stay. They're my children.
They ought to be here.
Mackintosh turns back to Walker.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Don't make a fuss about this. In
'ninety-five white men were shot.
The fleet came. They shelled the
villages. A lot of people died
who'd had nothing to do with it.
They're damned fools in Apia.
They'll only punish the wrong
people.
Mackintosh looks at the cut on his finger. Below it his white

trousers are all soaked with Walker’s blood.
WALKER (CONT’D)
You must say it was an accident.
Tell them it was you.
Mackintosh looks back to Walker, speechless. A beat.
WALKER (CONT’D)
They're my children. I'm their
father. A father doesn’t let his
children get into trouble if he can
help it.
Mackintosh is trembling, astonished by Walker’s words.
WALKER (CONT’D)
What's that about forgiving
them?...
95.
A beat.
MACKINTOSH
“Forgive them, for they know not
what they do”.
WALKER
That's right. Forgive them. I've
loved them, you know, always loved
them.
Mackintosh tilts his head. Behind Walker’s bed all the Samoan
souvenirs he collected in a life: old photographs with Samoan
chiefs, precious objects, siapo cloths etc. All his love for
Samoa lays up there.
Walker’s lips faintly move. Mackintosh must put his ear in

front of them in order to hear.
WALKER (CONT’D)
Hold my hand.
Mackintosh takes Walker's big hand. Below his massive body

the bed is all soaked in red.
The Samoans stare at Mackintosh who is now laying his head on

Walker’s chest, sobbing as a son on his father’s deathbed.
The silence is broken by a young MAN who breaks out crying.

Mackintosh turns. It’s Noa, cross-legged in front of Walker’s
bed. Next to Noa there is Silei, silently sobbing, covering
his face for the shame.
Mackintosh disengages from Walker's hand.
He stands up. He slowly exits the room, leaving the cry

behind him.
INT. STAIRS - NIGHT
Mackintosh looks down the stairs. On them there’s no one but

Therese, facing the other side, shoulders to him.
Mackintosh stops behind her. She’s holding her letter.
THERESE
He exploited us to build a road.
BEAT
You exploited us to kill a man.
Mackintosh looks at her letter for a moment. He leaves.
INT. MACKINTOSH’S ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Mackintosh is looking through the window with his telescope.

96.
A small MOTORBOAT with some armed SOLDIERS is approaching the

island fast.
He goes to his desk. His NOTEBOOK is opened to the very last

page. He closes it.
INT. OFFICE - DAWN
Mackintosh opens the locked drawer and takes out his

revolver.
EXT. BEACH - DAY
A brand new enormous conflagration of sunrise opens up the

sky from the ocean.
TANGATU
The Papalagi came to liberate us
from darkness. They led us to God
and taught us to love him. God is
love, they repeat.
EXT. MOTORBOAT - DAY
Captain Hudson, 45, looks at the Samoans gathering on the

beach.
CAPTAIN HUDSON
It seems there will be action
people! Prepare to shoot this bunch
of fools!
EXT. BEACH - DAY
Therese is following Mackintosh through the forest. She’s

panting and crying.
The motorboat approaches the shore. A small regiment of NZ

RIFLEMEN jumps down, rifles pointing at Tangatu and
Aveolela’s villages scattered on the beach.
A hundred meters away Mackintosh is inside the water. The

ocean glitters like living silver.
In front of him the sand suddenly descends into a dark ABYSS.
TANGATU (V.O.)
They want us to believe they are
the fire, when they are only the
carriers of the light.
Therese has almost reached him on the beach. Mackintosh

brings the revolver to his forehead.
97.
TANGATU (V.O.)
They illuminate everything around,
although the light hasn’t
penetrated them.
A loud GUN SHOT echoes in the bay.
Hudson and his soldiers quickly turn. Mackintosh’s head

violently plunges in the water.
The azure-blue water turns RED, swallowing his body.
Therese falls on the ground crying. Her puffy skirt blows

down on the grass.
The gun slowly disappears into the ABYSS.
Hudson and the soldiers run towards Mackintosh. His blood

quickly dissolves in the turquoise water.
Two soldiers drag his body back ashore. Tangatu is watching

from far away.
TANGATU (V.O.)
You think you brought us the light.
In truth you are dragging us down
in your pool of darkness.
FADE OUT.
The Samoans are all in line, watched by the riflemen. Hudson

is admiring the road climbing up the mountain. He is about to
finish his report.
HUDSON
Those bastards made them build this
road without any money.
In age and personality Hudson is exactly in between

Mackintosh and Walker. He’s too young and too dull to be
Walker, too old and too ignorant to be Mackintosh.
A soldier approaches him.
SOLDIER
We examined both the bodies Sir.
The bullets come from the same gun.
Hudson examines the bloody bullets in his hand.

98.
HUDSON
(to his sergeant)
I got everything, but I still don’t
get how he could be dining at home
at 6.30, killing him at 6.45 and
get ready to wait for him back at
home at 7.00.
SERGEANT
He was riding pretty fast I
guess...
Hudson looks at him like a man looks at his dog. He doesn’t

seem to be satisfied by his intelligence.
He stares at Sung, wondering if he had told the truth or he’s

protecting Mackintosh.
Hudson looks at the clock, irritated. Silei remains silent in

front of him on the line. They look at each others.
HUDSON
Fair enough. Sergeant, write down:
Captain Mackintosh commits suicide
after having shot the
administrator. Everybody clear the
area please.
The line of Samoans breaks, followed by the riflemen. Silei

is the last one to leave the road.
A struggling Samoan CHORUS fades in as all the Samoans are

surprisingly working on the last steep section of the road up
on the mountain.
There is everyone. Therese, wearing a lava-lava, is working

with Noa and his brothers. There is a young MAN directing the
works. This is Silei.
EXT. COLONIAL BUILDING - DAY
Walker’s and Mackintosh’s horses rest peacefully outside the

compound. Inside two simple wooden COFFINS are opened side by
side, surrounded by the Samoans.
In one of them lays Walker’s body. The other coffin is empty.

Therese lays her letter inside it.
The two coffins close.
CARD - By the late 1920’s the resistance movement against New

Zealand had gathered widespread support during the
mistreatment of the Samoan people.
99.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
The chorus accompanies Walker’s and Mackintosh’s coffins

carefully transported on the Samoans’ shoulders up on the top
of the woman-shaped mountain.
Noa and Silei lead the coffins under the heavy weight.
EXT. BURIAL PLACE - DAY
The procession scatters around two HOLES.
The two coffins slowly descend into the ground. The Samoans
set corals and lava stones around the TWIN, marble graves.
Two fraternal enemies, buried one very close to the other.
CARD - After other 40 years of struggle, Samoa was the first

country in the Pacific to become independent from Western
rule.
The Samoans leave the graves in the greenery. In front of

them the ROAD is starting to withdraw, swallowed by the
vegetation.
FADE OUT
THE END
CREDITS on extreme wide angles of the island from the ocean.
EXT. VILLAGE - DAY
Tangatu is overlooking Walker’s road climbing the woman

shaped mountain.
CARD - The voice over in Samoan is taken from “The Papalagi”,

a monologue wrote by a Samoan Chief, published in Europe in
1920’s. A one million copy best-seller.
INT. MACKINTOSH’S ROOM - DAY
The window is open. A soft curtain blows facing the ocean.
CARD - Although the monologue has been accused of being

completely false, a hoax deliberately invented by its
European translator.
Mackintosh’s NOTEBOOK lies open on the table. We finally look

at its content. It’s all written in SAMOAN.
We read the translation aside of the last line: “In truth you
are drugging us in your pool of darkness.”
100.
We now understand that the Voice Over through the whole film
wasn’t Tangatu’s but Mackintosh’s.
EXT. VILLAGE DAY
Tangatu walks back and disappears inside his hut.
FADE TO BLACK.
CREDITS

Breakers of Heavens - GFM

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Breakers of Heavens - GFM

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Giovanni Fantoni Modena

9A Lloyd Road, Singapore

As the sound slowly reaches its peak...

EXT. BEACH - DAWN

The first rays of the sun cross gigantic clouds in front of a

And here he comes, the MAN, appearing at a distance on the

This is Mackintosh, 38. He’s almost naked, tall and skinny,

The thin figure dives in the water and starts to swim

The ROAR of the breakers is unceasing and menacing in front

Mackintosh stops swimming. He rises up, still touching the

In front of him the sand suddenly descends into a dark ABYSS.

He sits down in the water, defenceless, in front of the

The deep sound builds to a violent crescendo over the abyss,

JUMP CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM - DAY

Mackintosh is nervously rinsing the sea salt from his skin

Mackintosh get out of the shower and wraps himself into a

INT. BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS

The room is tidy but poorly furnished, somehow suffocating.

A set of worn out UNIFORM clothes is tidily ordered on a

A heavy military shirt flies into the air, covering

Mackintosh buttons up his shirt and closes his trousers. A

He takes a silver MEDAL from the table and attaches it to his

Mackintosh’s left foot is wrapped up in a pair of slim socks.

Mackintosh’s left foot enters one leather boot with

We can see Mackintosh’s foot trapped inside the boot while

We follow the imposing boots as they walk into the room.

Mackintosh is meticulously greasing his boots until they are

A dark slim TIE passes through his shirt collar. A fast

He now meticulously cleans his teeth with dental floss and

It’s the first time we see his face completely. He adjusts

His shirt’s collar is already wet from the sweat dripping

EXT. COLONIAL BUILDING FACADE - DAY

We slowly reveal a large white colonial BUILDING.

We follow Mackintosh walking on the second floor’s balcony

Mackintosh sits at the table, noticing that Sung is cleaning

Sung handles him bacon, scrambled eggs and thin slices of

Mackintosh turns over a pile of the New Zealand Herald

Sung nods a smile and continues to eat his noodles.

We track back revealing the old colonial building surrounded

Mackintosh continues reading, cross legged. His fingers

His breakfast is still there, untouched. Sung takes it away

Legend: Samoa, farthest British Empire outpost, 1922.

EXT. OFFICE - DAY

Mackintosh enters a large, bare room. A number of Samoan

The Samoans answer respectfully. Mackintosh sits down,

Mackintosh starts to read a DOCUMENT badly folded and full of

There are many grammar errors. Mackintosh starts to

The Samoans suddenly stop talking.

The sound of a HORSE galloping gets louder and louder.

WALKER, 65, the Administrator of the island, enters into the

The Samoans stand up, noisily trying to grab his attention.

Walker only lifts his hand. It’s silence. He’s staring at

He stops in front of Mackintosh’s desk, almost touching it

Mackintosh keeps writing in silence.

Walker throws himself into the chair in front of Mackintosh’s

Sung fills a half coconut shell and handles it to him. Walker

Mackintosh takes a quick glance to him. He doesn’t wear his

Walker handles the empty coconut to Sung and he now

Mac is sitting on a taller chair, his desk is all tidy. He

Walker spots Mackintosh’s books. He grabs them and extracts