The Centurion Chronicle
Special Issue – May 2009
SCRIPT OUTLINE FOR A SHORT VIDEO FILM
TITLE: HOSTIS HUMANIS GENERIS
(a common enemy)
(Theme up….)
SETTING: A Federal Courtroom in New York City where, after months of legal
maneuvering and wrangling, the lone survivor of a Somali gang
attempting to seize an American-flagged vessel, and hold its crew
members for ransom, has been found guilty of piracy, and this is the day
set for sentencing. The expectation is that he will be sentenced to 25years
to life, probably to serve that time in a typical “Club Fed” facility.
- - - - - - - - - - -
(Theme down….)
SCENE 1: The courtroom is packed, mostly with a horde of media types all anxiously waiting to milk the proceedings for maximum possible TV ratings and oceans of print filings. Emmys and Pullitzers are definitely on all their minds. There’s also a sizeable number of curiosity gawkers from the general public, since there hasn’t been a trial for piracy in nearly a hundred years. It all seems so wonderfully “exotic” somehow. And, sitting quietly, right up at the very front of all this mob of people, are three veterans. Two of them are wearing their decorations and unit insignias on old field jackets. The third veteran is tall, lean, and somewhat gaunt looking. His clothes, while clean and neat, have obviously seen better days. The left sleeve of his threadbare field jacket is pinned up over the stump of his missing left arm. A black eye patch covers his missing left eye. His graying beard has been trimmed neatly for the occasion.
No one pays any attention or takes notice of these three veterans. They might as well be invisible, because, all eyes are focused on the door of the judge’s chambers. Meanwhile, a number of stony-faced deputies stand here and there along the walls of the courtroom, watching, ready for anything, just in case.
The generally subdued murmur suddenly becomes stronger, as the crowd cranes to watch as the prisoner, in shackles, is being escorted to his seat at one of the tables where his defense attorneys are waiting for him. The months in jail during his trial don’t seem to have ground him down. He’s bright-eyed, well-fed, and flashing a smirking smile left and right to the crowd, as the deputies hustle him to his seat. His whole demeanor is like that of a rock star. The crowd is eating it up. His defense attorneys smile and crowd around him, giving him reassuring pats on the back. Meanwhile, the prosecutors, at the opposite table, are in a quiet huddle, and murmuring among themselves. Everyone is waiting.
* * * * * * *
SCENE 2: Enter the judge. He strides briskly towards his seat, as the Chief Bailiff calls everyone to rise and to order. The courtroom is totally silent, as the Bailiff completes his ritual pronouncements. The judge takes his seat, and lightly raps his gavel. The court is now in session, and the sentencing part of this long drawn out affair begins:
JUDGE: Mr. Prosecutor?
PROSECUTOR: Given the circumstances involved in this case, we stand by our sentencing recommendations, your honor.
JUDGE: (turning to the Defense) Counselor? Does your client have anything to say before I pronounce sentence?
DEFENSE: Your honor, our client is a misguided youth who was lured into piracy by powerful warlords in his homeland. To have refused to do so would have cost him his life, and that of his family besides. He had no other choice. And since there was no real damage done to the vessel, or harm made to its crew members, we ask for leniency in sentencing, your honor.
JUDGE: Save it, Counselor! Piracy is piracy. The prisoner will rise…….
OLD VETERAN: (rising at this moment from his seat): Excuse me, your honor, may I speak before you pass sentence? It has a bearing on it.
JUDGE: (surprised and irritated by the interruption): What? Who are you, and what possible excuse can you have for interrupting these proceedings? Sit down, sir! Sit down!
OLD VETERAN: (still standing). My name is Martens, your honor, M/Sgt James Martens, formerly United States Army, a disabled veteran (lightly shaking his armless sleeve, and pointing to his eye patch), and I’ve been homeless for several years, your honor.
JUDGE: (still irritated but also puzzled by it all): Sorry to hear that, Sgt, but how is any of that relevant to us here?
OLD VETERAN: It’s very simple, sir, I’d like to formally volunteer myself to serve this young pirate’s sentence, in his place, whatever it might be, sir.
(Pandemonium erupts in the courtroom. The media types, the spectators are all yammering and hollering, as flashbulbs, and cell phones spark, recording the scene. The judge is almost apoplectic, banging his gavel without let up, as the deputies race around the room telling people to shut up and sit down, menacing those that are slow to do so. The hubbub finally ends. The old veteran is still standing quietly, waiting).
JUDGE: What kind of sick joke is this, Sgt.? Are you nuts!!!
OLD VETERAN: No, sir, I’m neither joking, nor nuts, so please hear me out, sir.
JUDGE: (still irritated and puzzled): Hmmmm….maybe I’m nuts. Very well, explain yourself, and it better be a good explanation, or you’re in a whole lot of trouble, mister! Now, make it quick!
OLD VETERAN: Your honor, given my present situation, I believe that serving this pirate’s sentence, in his place, would be a significant improvement in my quality of life, sir.
JUDGE: You are nuts!!!
OLD VETERAN: No, sir, I’m not. Look at it from my perspective, sir. Compared to what I have now, and how the VA system treats me, I’d be getting a decent place to live, three meals a day, free medical care, and other amenities, for what remains of my life….all courtesy of the American taxpayers. The way I see it, your honor, why not spend those taxpayers’ bucks on a deserving fellow citizen and veteran, instead of wasting them on a foreigner and low-life pirate?
JUDGE: You’re insane! What the hell kind of twisted logic is that? Outrageous!
OLD VETERAN: Yes, your honor, it is outrageous! It’s outrageous that veterans like me, and so many others besides, keep getting the short end of the stick, and basically told by the VA to go suck eggs, just because we had the gall to come home alive instead of in….a box. Yes, your honor, it is outrageous. But, it’s the least I can do for my country, even if it can’t or won’t do for me. So, to quote Shakespeare, let me step “once more into the breach”, sir, for duty, honor, and country (he remains standing, quietly waiting).
(there’s another outbreak of disorder in the courtroom, and the deputies have to race around again to stop it. The judge is livid. Things finally settle down again).
JUDGE: Sgt., you’re either one of those PTSD mental cases, or, one of those troublemaking anarchists. Either way, I should hold you in contempt, but, instead, I’m ordering my deputies to throw you the hell out of my courtroom. Deputies, remove this man, like now!
OLD VETERAN: (smiling, he quietly sits back down in his chair, and goes limp. The deputies that crowd around him are then forced to lift the chair with him in it. As they start carrying him out of the courtroom, the other two veterans promptly fall in behind them, marching smartly, carrying small America flags, and singing….America the Beautiful. The media and most of the spectators stampede after them, the pirate forgotten, like yesterday’s news. The veterans are now the focus of popular attention. The courtroom is almost emptied as the mob surges out of it, clamoring, calling after the veterans, shouting inane questions at them).
* * * * * * *
SCENE 3: The near empty and quiet courtroom.
JUDGE: All right! (hammers his gavel a few times). Now that we have some order restored, let’s get on with this matter. The prisoner will rise…….
Instead, there’s absolute, shocked, silence. The Prosecutors, the Defense attorneys, the Deputies, the few spectators remaining in the courtroom, are all staring in disbelief at the inert form of the pirate. He is slumped forward, head turned sideways on the table….dead….with the end of a long needle-like shiv protruding from the base of his neck. One of the deputies steps quietly forward, checking the pirate’s neck pulse. Shaking his head, he looks at the Judge and softly says…dead, your honor….then stands back, just staring at the body.
JUDGE: (muttering to himself, as he stalks out of the courtroom heading for the door to his chambers…..incredible!....outrageous!....incredible!....outrageous!.... slamming the door shut behind him as he exits).
* * * * * * * *
(Theme begins very softly in background….)
SCENE 4: Long shot of the courtroom, with all those remaining in it standing in frozen silence, staring, staring, staring, at the pirate’s body, as the camera very slowly zooms in closer, and closer to the pirate’s face, until the screen is filled with his sightless eyes….and that flashing, smirking, smile…. followed by a slow fade out….to a blank screen.
(Theme up full….as credits slowly roll….then down….fades out)
THE END
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