Film Summary: Chocolat
1989
Dir: Claire Denis
Main Characters:
France: young girl,
daughter of French Colonial administrator in French Cameroon, in
the
1950s
Marc: her
father
Aimee: her mother
Protee: her parents' personal servant
Enoch: family cook
Jonathan Boothby: friend of Marc and Aimee's
Luc Segalen: young Frenchman who arrives with
a work crew and then stays with Marc
and
the family
Delpich: Coffee
planter who arrives with plane crew
ONE * * * * * * * *
1. Credits.
Shot of the beach. Begins as
still, then moving. Two people in the
water along the beach. The man and his
son run and play in the water. Camera
pans right to show a white woman sitting on the beach. Closer shot of the woman. She has a pensive look on her face. Cut to birds eye shot of boy lying in the
shallow water. His eyes are closed. Closeup of his hand. Wide shot of father lying next to him. Back to the woman. She has headphones on and looks out to the water. Closeup of her foot as she brushes off some
sand.
2. Woman walks along road by beach, cut
to another road farther inland. A car
pulls up and stops in front of her.
It's the man and boy from the beach.
The man speaks to her in French. He offers her a ride. She
accepts. She gets inside and the man
drives toward Limbe, in the French Cameroon.
They
converse. When she says she decided not
to take a taxi back, he says, "going tourist?" Cut to her in the backseat. She looks out her window. Moving point of view shots of her view:
shacks crowded along the road, people
outside, lush jungle foliage.
3. In Limbe, the town. The woman talks to some of the black people
on the street. Later, we see her
standing outside a hotel. The same car
stops on the square. The man who gave
her a ride drives up. The boy is still
in the car. He asks if she is going to
another town. She says the bus comes in
an hour. He offers her another ride.
4. The boy watches her from the front
seat. She closes a leather-bound
journal which has writing and line drawings in it. She clasps the closed book with both hands. She watches the boy and his father playing a
word game. The boy is learning Swahili
names, and the father repeats after him when the boy gets it right. The father asks where she is from. "France." "Viva la France," the man says. She looks outside her window again. Now we see her from the outside of the
vehicle. She looks out from the open
window at the passing scene. The scene
before her looks different now. The
wooden shacks are replaced by round mud dwellings.
TWO * * * * * * * * * *
5.Cut to a different point of view shot
of the same landscape.
We
are dropped into the past. Reaction
shot shows the woman, now a child, seated next to a tall black man in the back
of a pickup truck. They look on at the
passing scene. Later, they stop. The black man and the white Frenchman are
passing water by the side of the road.
The girl, whose name is France, sits next to her mother to prepare lunch
from the picnic basket. The black man,
Protee, goes to the side of the road and smears some black ants on the piece of
bread spread with cream cheese. He
brings it back to the girl. They sit at
the back of the pickup truck and she eats the sandwich.
6. The mother, Aimee, and father, Marc,
in the front seat as the truck roars down the dirt road. Cut to the girl, France, in the back of the
truck. She sits next to Protee, who
seems lost in a world of his own. The
mother looks out at a mountain in the distance. They arrive at the house, and we see the front in a long tracking
shot from the point of view of the truck.
As soon as the vehicle is stopped, the mother goes into the house,
Protee unloads the luggage, and then Marc drives away.
7. Marc is leaving for ten days to
supervise road construction. His wife
says goodbye, and then Marc tells Protee, "I entrust them to you. Take care of them." He leaves.
Exterior landscape, the road crew moving across the countryside.
Back
at the house. Interior of the dining
room. France and her mother sit across
from each other at the table after dinner.
Aimee is smoking a cigarette.
Protee serves coffee. Later,
Aimee is asleep. France gets up from
her nap and goes to the back of the compound, where the black workers are. One of the women warns her, "You'll
turn black and your father will scream."
Protee is working in the background.
8. More scenes of Marc and the others
on the road. France and her mother
cleaning up around the cemetery that lies behind their compound France asks if the Germans lost the war in
France, too? Her mother tells her they
lost the war everywhere. "Do you
think we'll be buried here?" Her
mother doesn't answer. In the
house. Protee asks Aimee if she would like
a drink. She says no. They say good night. He leaves the room. Protee sits on the porch rail.
9. Another porch scene. Marc and another black man are on a porch at
the encampment. Marc sings a silly love
song, probably one sung by troops far from home. Aimee in bed. She is not
sleeping. Protee talks with another
woman in the black compound at the same time.
THREE * * * * * * * *
10. School scene. France sits on a donkey. She is watching Protee, who is sitting
across from a teacher, who is reading the letter he has just written for him to
his parents: "I won't forget to send you 3000 francs for Citabella's
wedding. I'm expecting a letter from
you, but as they say, no news is good news.
Dear Parents, I wish you a long and happy life. God bless you, your devoted son." Protee thanks him. Cut to France, who yells for him to go. The two men exchange smiles.
Then all of the school children, who are black, chant in unison,
"Protee must go back!" and follow him across the school yard to where
France is waiting. Protee steps up to
her and says, "As you wish, Ma'm Governor." They leave. France asks
later, "For whom is the letter."
"For my fiancee."
11. France
sitting at the table. Protee stands
next to her. Her food is too hot and spicy
for her. She orders him to
"eat." He kneels down and she
spoons the food into his mouth. He
licks a spilled drop off of her hand.
She smiles at him. He stares
back. Sound of hyenas outside the
compound. Scared, France runs into her
mother's room and slips under the mosquito netting. Her mother brings in a lamp.
The two sit next to each other.
Aimee goes to the window.
"Don't be afraid," she says.
She
goes throughout the room, then calls, "Protee." Outside the room she calls again. He appears outside the shutter to her
bedroom. She seems angry that he didn't
come sooner. He stands there
expressionless. She orders him to come
into the bedroom. He doesn't move,
although it is clear he is stunned by the request. France watches from the bed.
Then he is in the room. She
crouches at a storage chest, looking for Marc's machine gun. She turns and looks behind her at Protee. The look on her face shows uncertainty,
confusion. Then she stands and hands
him the gun. He asks for the clip of bullets. She hands that to him. He starts to
leave. She says "Stay here with
me." She asks him to sit by the
window. He pulls the chair to the
window and sits down. "That awful
beast could come here any time," she says. She goes to bed and turns out the lantern. Protee says good night. He sits in the dark at the window. Camera comes in slightly. He smiles, seems to say "man oh
man," under his breath, then turns to the task at hand.
12. Marc
talking to a chief. The men sit around
inside a room with stone walls. Orange
light from a lantern illuminates the men.
One of the men with Marc translates.
He tells Marc the people are being bothered by some lions nearby. Marc says he will help drive out the
lions. But the chief seems to think an
organized hunt is not the right way to operate. He says a man must hunt a lion with a night.
13. Protee
carries France on his shoulders as he walks the perimeter of the compound with
the submachine gun. Protee sings a
song, then shouts and dances about with France on his shoulders.
FOUR * * * * * * * * * *
14. Aimee
and France arrive at a compound where a priest and his wife lives. Their house is the same as ones the native
peoples live in, a round mud hut with a thatched straw roof. France lags behind, and she finds a strange
scene behind a low mud wall: a dead donkey, its throat cut, a dead chicken, and
parts of the chicken nearby. Protee
comes over and sifts through the scene.
France watches him curiously. He
looks up at her but doesn't speak.
Protee seems to understand what this is all about.
Aimee
chastises the priest for keeping his wife here against her will. She says it is time for them to leave. But he declares his will: he is here to
evangelize for God. "Everything is
fine." She calls him
"crazy." Back to Protee and
France. Closeup of her arms on the top
of the mud brick wall. Protee sets the
chicken's foot next to her, then rubs his finger, covered with blood, twice
over her wrist. Aimee calls for them to
leave. Protee and France follow
her. France holds out her arm from her
side as she walks.
15. Inside
the cook house. Aimee is yelling at the
cook. All he cooks is Yorkshire pudding
and boiled meat. She wants some French
cuisine. She asks Protee to
translate. She yells at the cook in
French, and Protee translates by speaking pidgin English. Aimee points to the cook book and orders the
cook to try some different recipes from the book. Then Protee tells Aimee the cook can't read. She can't believe it. Protee asks him why he is always reading the
book. The cook throws up his arms:
"Oh, inspiration! I call on the
great spirit of cooking to help me cook and make a great dinner!" The man complains to her directly. He throws down his apron and stalks
off. Protee laughs, then tells Aimee
that the man doesn't want to cook any more.
"You always yell at him, like his first wife." Aimee is really angry now. She screams, "As soon as the master
leaves, you all take advantage!"
She goes out and screams some more epithets at the cook. Protee has a
good laugh at this, and so does another servant in the background.
16. A
line of people, mostly porters, carrying baggage, on a trail. Camera pans right to show France watching
them. She runs up a hillside. Then to Aimee and a servant working in the
garden. "I'm fed up!" she cries.
She seems enraged by the task.
France calls, "We have visitors!" A servant runs up and announces there are many visitors. Aimee runs to the front of the house. She stops on the porch. "Jonathan Boothby!" Cut to an Englishman on a small brown
horse. He seems delighted to see
Aimee.
17. Interior
of the cookhouse. Aimee runs up to
Enoch, the cook (who walked out earlier) and urges him to cook "very
English." When he says Yorkshire
Pudding," she delighted with the idea.
Chaos seems to reign. She wants
very much for everything to be perfect.
Boothby comes around the corner in his dressing gown and orders his
tea. The servants can barely keep up
with his orders. Aimee comes out of the
cookhouse and calls out for France.
Exterior
of the servant's compound. France walks
up. The male servants are polishing
shoes. Then inside the compound we see
Aimee and France. Aimee tell Protee to
take care of the wine, wear his special uniform, and shower at the last minute.
18. Interior
of Aimee's bedroom. She is dressed in a
silk dress. She sits at her
mirror. Protee knocks on the shutters. He tells her the Englishman is dressed. She gives him her outer wrap to be ironed.
Protee
calls from outside her bedroom to ask if he should pour drinks. She calls him in to lace tight her
corset. She stands at the mirror, and
we see her from the front, with Protee behind her. Suddenly he looks at her, then at the mirror. Their eyes meet. She looks down. Then looks
up again.
FIVE * * * * * * * * * *
19. Exterior,
night scene. Boothby and Aimee are
dancing on the porch. Protee stands in
the background, dressed in his white servant outfit and red sash. Boothby and Aimee sit down on the
porch. He is drunk. He says he is happy to be here, and it is
clear that he is flirting with her. She
reads an inscription on the porch post: "This is the last house on
earth," carved in German by the former owner, who is buried in the
cemetery. "Very romantic," he
says. "Marc is a dreamer, you
know. He loves this land, the people,
insects, everything. Marc and his
notebook!" But he says this in
English, not in French. Aimee stands
apart on the porch and says, "They say this German official was killed by
one of his 'boys.' " She seems to
be looking into the house, where Protee is watching her. Reaction shot of Protee.
20. Then
the drunken Boothby comes up to her and speaks intimately in French. He reminds her of another visit, when she
wasn't there. He said Marc and he drank
and drank. Then they slept
together. "I have that same
feeling for you, Aimee." She
laughs at his "pass." He says
good night and leaves.
21. Exterior,
night. France and another servant, a
woman, watching the bedroom, where Boothby's servant is helping him prepare his
room for the evening. The woman laughs
at the silly Englishman. "Your
English- man is more handsome when he is dressed. Did you see his skinny legs?"
22. Interior
of the house. Aimee sits in a
chair. She seems lost in thought. "Is that you, Protee?" she says as
he walks up. He tell her he is waiting
to shut off the generator.
Exterior
scene. Protee goes out to the generator
hut and finds France inside. He lifts
her up and takes her outside. He checks
her feet for ticks. He tells her
another riddle. "A charming young
girl weaves children around her neck."
"The papaya tree!"
France answers.
23. Exterior
scene. Cattle being driven through the
countryside. Marc and others on
horseback. Marc asks one of the men questions
about the herd.
SIX * * * * * * * * * *
24. Exterior
of house. France and her mother are on
the porch. France is writing in a book.
Aimee sits apart from her, smoking a cigarette. "Do your work," she says. Aimee goes into her room and slams the door. She holds her head in her hand. She seems very upset.
She
turns around and sees Protee in the room.
He is folding some clothes and putting them away in her bureau. She goes to the sewing machine, starts to
sew, and then barks, "I forbid you to fiddle with my things. I don't want anyone nosing about in my
bedroom. Get out!" He goes.
She stops him. Then she asks for
water to take a shower. He leaves.
25. Protee
climbs the ladder to the metal tank on the side of the shower building. When he sees the water flowing out (a sign
she has started to shower), he throws the pails down and kicks them.
Exterior,
not far from the compound. Aimee sits
on a bench in the cemetery and reads.
France arrives on a donkey and says they should go back. Cut to exterior of the servant's
compound. Protee stands next to the
building and lathers his naked body. We
can see France and her mother in the background. As they get closer to the house, Protee, who is standing under
the falling water, notices them, and he slinks back against the wall, so that
he can't be seen. Then the camera comes
in on him, and he turns his face aside and cries, his face contorted into a
mask of agony and frustration.
26. Exterior
scene. Marc examines a huge limestone karst
thrust up from the valley floor. We see
he has drawn the scene in his notebook.
Interior
of house. Protee sets the dining room
table. Suddenly Marc walks in the open
door and calls for Aimee. Marc asks if
all is all right. Marc goes to the bedroom
door, calls, and Aimee comes out and embraces him. Reaction shot of Protee as he watches the scene. Their embrace continues. Protee walks behind the table as the door is
closed. Their intimate voices can be
heard as Protee stands behind the table at attention. Exterior scene: France is off on the hillside.
27. Back
to Protee. He still stands behind the
table. France comes into the scene and
says she is hungry. Then a scene of her
eating at the table and Protee standing behind her. Suddenly she becomes interested in watching the ants that are
streaming all over the table cloth. She
puts her head down and watches.
Suddenly, Protee stoops down, takes a moth, pulls apart half of it, and then eats it. He offers her the other half. "You disgust me," she groans. "Dirty nigger," he says. Then he eats another moth. The cook comes in, drops the meat on the
table, and complains that all is overcooked.
Obviously Marc and Aimee have spent the afternoon in bed together.
28. An
intimate moment between France and Protee.
They play a game: she points at a body part (head, nose, mouth, etc.),
says the French word, he says the Swahili word, and she repeats after him. He smiles and seems relaxed with her
here. Suddenly they hear a plane flying
over the house. Excited, they jump up and run outside. The plane flies low over the compound. Protee holds France up high so she can
see. "It fell behind the
mountain."
29. Marc
in France's bedroom. He assures her
that the plane didn't fall out of the sky.
He tells her he will explain how that works someday. Exterior of servant's compound at
night. Protee tells two of the men near
him, "The plane fell into the mountain."
SEVEN * * * * * * * * * *
30. Exterior
of house. Marc stands on porch of his house
as black children run up to the house.
Here comes the pilot of the airplane with his passengers. He is Capt. Vedrine. He had to land after mechanical
problems. He introduces his navigator,
then his passengers: Machinard, a colleague (administrator) and his wife,
Mireille. "She's discovering
Africa," he says. She says they
are newlyweds. "Welcome to North
Cameroon," Marc says. Then the
pilot introduces Delpich, a coffee planter, and another passenger. Delpich races up and demands to be taken where
he is heading. But he is going
nowhere. It will take weeks to order
parts for the airplane. Everyone begins
to leave, and Delpich informs Marc that he also needs to bring along his
housekeeper.
31. Interior
of cookhouse. Marc and Aimee are retrieving
some foodstuffs. Protee is helping them.
Exterior
of the front yard. France sits under a
huge tree. She seems to be sunning
herself. Then she sees a red jeep drive
up to the front of the house. She runs
to the scene. Several African men get out
of the jeep, and one of them takes out a white goat. The leader, a Muslim, greets Aimee. His name is Djatao, and he is an old friend of Marc and Aimee. But Delpich, who doesn't know who this man
is, runs out and demands the use of the jeep to take him away. Djatao says, "Accept this gift from the
airplane." Aimee introduces
Delpich to Djatao, who says he can not stay for lunch because it is Ramadan. Delpich continues to ask for a ride, then he
tries to buy a ride. Djatao ignores
him. The jeep drives off. "Do they run things around here?"
Delpich asks. He leaves. Protee watches
from the porch. A look goes between
Protee and Aimee.
32. Interior
of kitchen. France is spying on the
guests at the table. cookhouse. Protee is pouring coffee. At the table are all the white people. The men talk about the humidity of M'Banga,
where the newlyweds are heading.
Delpich complains about the violence from native peoples. Marc arrives. He and Aimee grasp hands, and then Marc announces that men will arrive the next day to help build a
runway for the plane.
Protee
putting away the tablecloth. Delpich
comes in and begins to take some extra food away. Protee comes to help, but Delpich says, "Mind your
business." France watches
him. Delpich surreptitiously slips
away, says goodnight, and goes to his room.
Inside his room is his housekeeper.
She is sitting on the floor.
"Here's your seed, my little chickadee," he says, and places
the food on the floor. Reaction shot of
Protee in the kitchen.
EIGHT * * * * * * * * * *
33. Exterior. Marc and some of his men drive away. Aimee blows him a kiss. France is on the
porch. Protee scrubs the porch floor. Aimee stops to say something to Protee, but
then walks away.
Exterior
scene. Where the plane landed. The site is busy with people. Marc and Aimee greet another French couple,
Randall and his wife Monique. A
truckload of workers pulls up. One of
the workers is a white man. He
introduces himself to Marc and the other French people there. Marc seems
interested in this man's story. Randall
says the man is a little strange.
34. Exterior
of same scene. Dinner scene. Marc and the others are at a table laid
under a tent canvas. In the distance
the workers dig the earth to make the runway.
Back to the table. Randall
explains to Marc that the strange white man is Luc Segalen, an ex-seminarian,
who has a plan to walk across Africa.
But Randall says his wife Monique "thinks he is a saint."
Exterior
scene. Workers take shade under the
truck or under the wings of the plane.
Marc walks up to LUC and says, "You don't belong here. Come to my house. You're more than welcome."
35. The
women sit together part way up the mountainside. Monique talks about her child, Paul. She says that Luc, the ex-seminarian, is great with her son. Then she points out Protee, and says,
"He's handsome. Your boy."
Enoch,
the cook, serves coffee to the planter.
He drinks some coffee, then complains that the coffee isn't right. He describes the "perfect" way to
serve it. Then he speaks to Enoch in
French (we know Enoch can't understand French.) Enoch watches them with a perplexed expression.
Monique,
the woman friend of Aimee, urges LUC to join them. He has other plans.
"Kiss little Paul for me," he says. "Bastard!" she says under her breath.
36. Protee
and France under the truck. The two are
playing in the ground. "Here's
your seed, little chickadee," he says, mocking the planter's comments when
he brought food to his servant.
Exterior
of scene. Delpich orders his
housekeeper to pack the suitcase.
"Tonight we'll be far away."
They leave in a vehicle.
NINE * * * * * * * * * *
37. Exterior of front porch at the
house. Marc finds Luc asleep on the
porch. Marc sits on the bench. Luc comes out and sits next to him. Marc tells him he can stay in the house, but
Luc declines the offer. Luc examines
Marc's notebook. "It's just my
notes from when I travel."
38. In
the kitchen. Aimee asks where Luc
is. Protee tells her he is shaving in
the "boys'" compound. She
seems nervous. We see shots of Luc
being shaved by a servant. He seems
self-satisfied, at peace with the world.
39. One
of the people from the plane rages at a servant and orders him to rearrange part of the garden so they
can play horseshoes. But the servant
says this is Madame's garden. The white
man says, "Don't argue."
Luc
is sitting across from Aimee, who is lying back in a folding chair, and
listening to Luc reading from Marc's notebook.
"Amidst bronzed black African faces, the white skin color evokes
something akin to death. In 1891, I
myself, having seen only colored people for months . . . "
Then
Protee comes up to the scene with a tray in his hand. Aimee asks Protee what he has on the tray. He answers her. Aimee watches him but doesn't say anything. Protee watches her. Luc looks up and tells Protee to put the
tray down. Closeup of Protee as he does
so. Reaction shot shows Aimee looking
at him earnestly. She continues to
watch him as he walks away. Luc resumes
his reading. ". . . once again saw
Europeans. I found white skin unnatural
next to the fullness of black skin.
Then why blame the natives for considering the white man as something
contrary to nature, as a supernatural or fiendish creature?"
40. Exterior
in servant's compound at night. The
servants are playing a simple game throwing rocks. France is with them. Marc
comes out and asks Protee to join him.
Aimee steps onto the porch and says the woman, Mireille, is swallowing
her tongue. Marc tells her to use a
spoon to stop it.
41. Night
scene. Protee returns to the truck from
a hut and tells Marc that the physician is at the school with the teacher. "What do they do at night at the
school." "They're talking,
sir," Protee answers. "Yes, I
know." They drive off.
Still
at night. Marc gets out of the truck at
the school and calls for Prosper, the physician. He comes out after several
other men come out of the building.
"I need you," Marc says.
They leave the scene.
42. Night
scene, interior of the house. Prosper,
the doctor, goes into the bedroom where the ill woman is. He comes out again. The husband, Machinard, refuses to let a
black man treat his wife. The lights
come after Protee starts the generator.
"Are you serious?" Marc asks. "My wife needs a real
doctor." "I pity you,"
Marc says. Suddenly Luc confronts the
doctor: "Dirty nigger! You're a
doctor? You're not good enough to wipe
a white man's ass." Prosper stares
at the man. "That's the way to
talk to them," Luc assures Machinard.
Marc tries to calm him down.
"Leave him alone," the pilot says. "Oh, I forget," Luc says, and makes a snide reference
to Prosper. "One can't say a thing
without being accused of the worst things," Luc says. This with a closeup of Prosper's face. Then a look goes between Prosper and
Marc. As Prosper leaves, the navigator
sings a nasty ditty to further humiliate Prosper. Then the latter walks away in the night. No ride this time.
Marc
and Luc out on the porch later. Luc is
laughing at something. Marc turns to him and says, "One day we'll get
kicked out of here."
TEN * * * * * * * * * *
43. Military
camp. Marc says goodbye to Machinard
after a formal ceremony. Meanwhile,
back at the servant's compound, Luc is showering where Protee showered. Protee comes up to him and says, "This
is the boys' shower." "You're
a pain," Luc says. Then
he sees Aimee on the porch in the distance and yells a greeting. Of course, he is naked standing there. She walks away. He grabs a towel from Protee.
44. Luc
lying on France's bed and trying to teach her some French. She is playing at a small table. Aimee, who is sewing nearby, laughs.
45. The
pilot and navigator at the table with Aimee.
They learn that the propeller has arrived. The pilot stays back to tell her that although the runway is
almost finished, if the rains come early, they will be stuck for another four
months. He leaves. Protee brings fruit. Luc steals in and sits next to her. He flirts openly.
Marc
and France alone at night. He holds her
in his arms. They are in her room. He asks her to listen to the night
sounds.
46. Aimee
comes onto the porch later. She listens
to the sounds. Protee comes out of the
house. He goes to the servant's
compound. Luc is eating with the servants. Luc calls out to Aimee, "I've decided
not to eat with your guests anymore. I
enjoy squatting with Enoch who rambles on and Protee, who pouts. Right, Protee? (No answer.) Say it
bothers you that I'm here. (No answer.)
Well, I think he's mute. You'd
like to be in my place, rubbing against Protee. Come, I'll make room for
you. He looks at her to see what
reaction he can get." She stands
like a stone on the porch. Protee comes
up to her: "Madame?" She says
she needs nothing.
47. Protee
comes out onto the porch later. The
generator still is running. Luc
confronts him at the end of the porch.
"Leave me alone!"
Protee ignores him. "Must I
repeat it, you son of a bitch?"
Protee ignores this. Protee
walks up to him. "Fuck off. Go lick the boots of your bosses." Protee looks at him and walks away.
"You're worse than the priests who raised you." Protee picks up his bedroll and throws it
off the porch. Luc attacks. They grapple on the porch, and then Protee
hurls him off the porch. Luc gets up, grabs his bedroll, and walks off.
48. Protee
comes into the house to close the shutters.
Aimee is sitting curled up on the floor next to the window. She reaches out and touches Protee's leg. He closes the drapes. Then he goes over to her, touches her on the
shoulder, and then raises her up roughly and sets her on her feet. He walks away.
49. Marc
alone with France in her room. He tries
to explain the horizon to her. The
point is: "I'll show you something.
The closer you get to that line, the further it moves. If you walk toward it, it moves away. It flees from you. I must also explain this to you.
You see the line, but it doesn't exist." She lays in bed and listens to her father.
ELEVEN * * * * * * * * * *
50. Interior
of house next morning. France hangs on
her mother's lap. Marc is sitting on the porch. He comes inside and sits at the table with her. "Luc left?" She says he did. "Why didn't you wake me up?" Her answer: "You always get taken in." He looks stunned. She continues: "I'd rather Protee stopped working in the
house. Put him where you like,
somewhere else." He says,
"Protee's good." She pleads
with him. France leaves her mother's
lap. "He'll work in the
garage." He leaves.
France
alone on her donkey. Music up. Shot of Protee sitting on a hillside
alone. Then a shot of Marc sitting on
the sofa inside the house, and Aimee lying on his lap.
51. France
eating her soup, served by another servant.
Music continues to build.
Sunrise
scene of Muslims offering morning prayer on the runway.
52. Exterior,
night scene. Protee goes into the
generator hut. He is
dressed
in mechanic's coveralls. France comes
in to see him. She stands in the
corner. Protee works on the machine. She comes closer. "Does it burn?"
He grabs the pipe and holds on.
She grabs it and pulls away, her hand burned. She stares up at him, as if betrayed. She leaves. We see his hand, then, and it is horribly
burned. He seems to fall back, and then
he leaves the hut and disappears into the night.
53. The
plane is ready to depart. Even the
priest we saw earlier, and his wife, are leaving. But the organ the priest wants to bring along doesn't fit the
door of the plane, so it has to be left behind. The plane is ready to leave.
As
the plane taxis on the runway, we see the assembled masses watching in awe of
the event. Suddenly a number of native
people ride after the plane on horseback.
TWELVE * * * * * * * * * *
54. Music
continues, and we see point of view shot of the jungle from a vehicle. "My son's name is Sawa. I'm
Mungo." Reaction shot of young
woman (France), in the backseat.
"They gave me that nickname when I came. My real name is William
J. Park. I'm a black American. You're not disappointed. You were looking for a real
native?" We see him in the front
seat from her point of view. She asks
if his son could sleep in the backseat.
He drives on. "I remember
the day I arrived in Africa. I was drunk." We can see his point of view shot of the road in front of
him. "In customs I felt like
kissing my brothers and sisters. That's
it, man, you're home. I got ripped off
by the first cabbie. He didn't give a
damn that I was black. He was probably
right. Brothers here, bothers there. I
really stayed American. They don't give
a shit about guys like me here. Here,
I'm nothing. I'm dreaming. If I died
now, I'd disappear."
55. They
have arrived in a town. She tells him
she is going to head north and look at a house. The father says goodbye to his son. He leaves her with a woman.
Back in the car, he tells France, "That's my wife. Now I live alone. I was a big pain."
He
says goodbye to her. He says he will
read her palms. We see her palms in
closeup. One of them is scarred, as if
it had been burned severely. "Your
palm is strange. I can't see
anything." Then in English he says, "No past, no future." She asks if he would like a drink. He takes her hand, slaps it, and says,
"Leave quickly, before they eat you up."
56. Airport
scene. Inside France looks through the
slats of the window, then walks away.
We see three black workers loading carved wooden treasures on the
plane. Then the same three men take a
break on the edge of the runway as the music come up for a lively number. The men smoke, talk, and then one passes
water at the edge of a field. It begins to rain hard. One of the men put on orange rain jackets. They are standing under a structure. The men
continue talking as they stand there.
The airport tower is in the distance.
The music continues.
Summary
written by Robert Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota,
Reprinted by permission of the author for educational use only