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The following transcripts of key scenes from the films viewed in class may help you to construct the selective summaries for the comparative papers. Note that, while you may integrate these excerpts into your film summaries without citing them (since they correspond exactly to the words in the film you describe), you must supplement these words of dialogue with your own description of visual details.
CAUTION: you MAY NOT INCORPORATE REVIEWS OF THESE FILMS into your paper summaries, whether gleaned from the internet or other student's papers. Any attempt to do so without referencing your source constitutes plagiarism, which if detected will earn you a zero for the summary section of your paper (an overall value of 12-14 points out of the total of twenty).
Church Picnic Scene
___________________________________
Troublemaker: [ getting down from the bulldozer, heading for the bible that Sonny has layed in its path] I can pick the bible up myself. Don't you start that preacher stuff with me, all right?
Sister Delilah: No weapons formed against us shall prosper. Hallelujah!
Crowd: Amen! Glory to God.
Troublemaker: Don't you look at me like that. I know what you're trying to do, and you think I can be had, don't you?
Sister Delilah: [whispering] Bible say, "No weapons formed against us shall prosper." Hallelujah.
Sonny: Nobody moves that book.Nobody.
Crowd: Amen.
Troublemaker: [moving to the front of the bulldozer, taking off his hat] Well, I can move it. I can move it just as quick as you can.
Sonny: No sir.
Members of the Crowd: Glory. (pause) Hallelujah.
Sonny: Let's everybody say, "Nobody moves that book.
Crowd: Nobody moves that book.
Sonny: Say it one more time.
Crowd: Nobody moves that book.
Sonny: And a third time.
Crowd: Nobody moves that book.
Sonny: And a fourth time.
Crowd: Nobody moves that book.
Sonny: [as the "troublemaker" kneels down and reaches towards the bible] One more time!
Crowd: Nobody moves that book.
Sonny: [putting his hands on the man's back and arm] No sir. Nobody. [whispering] Nobody moves it. Nobody. (pause) I know why you came here. You didn't come here to knock my church down, did you? You came for another reason, didn't you?
Troublemaker: No, I came to knock your church down.
Sonny: No sir.
Troublemaker: Yes sir, I did.
Sonny: Well you ain't gonna knock it down. I want you to know that.
Elmo: [whispering in the background] Folks, I'm just havin' a hard time...Let me see if I can position myself where I can hear a little better. And there it is. Yes.
Troublemaker: [looking back at Sonny] I didn't come to knock your church down.
Sonny: Yes sir. I know. I know. (pause.) That's why I'm kneeling with you. [pause.] I"ll pray with you if you want me to. I'll even cry. I"ll do anything you want me to do with you...'cause I know you're a good man. I know it.
Elmo: [narrating] Yes, yes. The young man's not nearly as angry. In fact, I believe he actually as a tear in his eye.
Sonny: [after another pause]Now if you reach out, the Lord will accept you here today. [congregation murmurs.] If you reach out[placing the man's hand on the bible], He'll accept you here forever more. He will love you forever, even as we in this church love you now. Forevermore. Do I hear somebody say "Amen"?
Crowd: Amen!
Elmo: [wandering behind the crowd] This may be the very first conversion we've ever had over the airwaves... In fact, I'm quite sure that it is.
Troublemaker: [looking back at Sonny again] I feel embarrassed.
Sonny: Oh, no, no. You don't have to feel embarrassed.
Troublemaker: [looking back at Sonny again] I feel embarrassed by it.
Sonny: I was a worse sinner than you were in my time. [as the man begins to cry] I was a worse sinner than you were.
Elmo: [standing and narrating again] This is an incredible sight. I'm trying to be as quiet as possible, not to disturb this moment. This is an important moment in this young man's life--more importantthan even he can realize at this point, I'm sure.
Sonny: [holding the man, who begins to sob more and more audibly] Go ahead, brother, cry. I'll cry with you. I'll cry with you. Somebody say, "the Holy Ghost is here right now.""
Crowd: The Holy Ghost is here right now.
Sonny: Say it one more time.
Crowd: The Holy Ghost is here right now!
Sonny: "We love the Holy Ghost," somebody say it.
Crowd: We love the Holy Ghost! [woman exclaiming] Wonderful Jesus! [man whispering] Praise Jesus.
Sonny: Victory is ours today.
Crowd: [woman initiates song] "Victory is mine, [other join in] Victory is mine. Victory today is mine." [man calls to "troublemaker"] We love you, brother. [all continue singing] "I told Satan, "get thee behind," Victory today is mine. [continuing the refrain as the man gradually looks up, rises, and receives a hug from Sonny] Joy is mine...Happiness is mine...Love is mine...""
Elmo: [once again pacing through the crowd] This is absolutely incredible.
I just--I don't know what to say. I absolutely don't know what to say. For
those of you who know me to be speechless--well, you better mark this on
your calendar, folks.
********************
End
of Final Sermon
___________________________________
Sonny: [just after the high pitched frenzy of the sermon's climax, as police officer stands at the door with his hat removed, and police car lights flashing outside the church] "Put your hand over your heart. Your other hand, reach out and touch somebody.The Holy Ghost can and will enter you, but there is yet another side to this issue. On the other side of the Holy Ghost explosion, is a still, small voice--the still, small voice of Jesus within you, in your heart, talkin' to you, leadin' you [congregatants murmur]. This powerful, quiet force can penetrate the most callous and hard-hearted atheist you'd even wanna meet[congregatants murmur]. The only place the still, small voice of Jesus Christ cannot enter is into the heart of any man or woman who says, "No, you cannot come in. You cannot enter here tonight.
Congregants: Mercy....mm-hm...ain't gonna say that! ...Glory....Hallelujah....Amen....Glory, Glory!
Sonny: Every head bowed, every eye closed. [organ begins to play] Is there anyone here who wants to come forward, and accept our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as his personal savior? Let him do so now. Once you're saved, it's a done deal [congregatants murmur]. Can you say, "I'm sittin' flat on ready tonight"? For any mother's son or daughter who wants it, it's here--it's here tonight [congregatants murmur]. Jesus is here [congregatants murmur]. It's a one way road to heaven. Jesus is waiting, and the Holy Ghost conductor is callin' "Board! All aboard!" [singing with the organ:] "Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling--calling for you and for me. See o'er the portals he's waiting and watching--waiting, Oh sinner, come home'[encouraging, gesturing with his hand:] Come on, now. "Come home, come home...ye who are weary come ho-o-ome.." [as Sammy rises, on the brink of tears] "Preciously, tenderly, Jesus is calling... [addressing Sammy] Oh, Sammy, my heart's broke for joy tonight, Sammy...[congregants continue refrain: "Oh sinner, come home...come home'] my heart's broke for joy [congregatants murmur]. Come here, son. [Sammy comes forward, crying, and they kneel together.] You've come to accept the Lord tonight. Do you acceptthe Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior? [Sammy nods repeatedly, continues to sob.] Are you ready for him? Are you ready to finally be accepted, at this very instant? [as hymn continues] He's ready for you. Saint Paul says, any man who accepts Christ as his savior is a saint. You're a saint here tonight, Sammy. You goin' to heaven. [chuckling] I'm goin' to jail, you goin' to heaven. [as hymn continues] I love you, son.
Sammy: I love you too [they embrace, congregants clap].
Sonny: Glory be to God on high. Glory be to God on high. Let's a give the Lord God on high a big hand clap. We have a new member of Christ in our midst.... [rising, standing with Sammy, finishing the hymn with the congregation:] "Ye who are weary come ho-o-ome. Preciously, tenderly, Jesus is calling--calling for you and for me." Glory. We love you. [after a brief pause] How many believe I preached here tonight?
Congregants: [clapping] Yes!
Sonny: [his voice breaking] I'm gonna have to leave you now. Satan has called me in the arena one more time. I'm gonna go now. I may never see you much more again, but I love you one and all, and I just want to say, before I leave, I told you in the past: Some people get on an airplane. They fly to Jackson, Mississippi. Others fly to London, England. Some fly to Chicago, some to Dalla-Forth Worth. But I got my own little airplane. Someday, I'm goin' down that runway. [as congregants begin to clap, organ begins to play a lively tune] I'm gonna take off. I'm not goin' to Jackson, Mississippi. I'm not goin' to Philadelphia, I'm not goin' to London England. I'm goin' yonder to heaven. I'm gonna get up there and say, "Get out of the way, moon! Get out of the way, stars! I'm on my way to heaven! I'm on my way to heaven! I'm on my way to heaven!
(Sonny hands his mike to Sammy, as choir singers come to the front to lead "I'll fly away...when I die, Hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away." He hugs Reverend Blackwell, Sammy, and several other church members on his way down the aisle to meet the police officer for his final exit.)
******************
[TOP]
Reuven's
First Meeting with Reb Saunders
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Danny: [to Reb Saunders, who is just walking down the aisle to the front of the synagogue] Papa. [when Reb Saunders looks, pointing to Reuven] This is my friend, Reuven Malter.
Reb Saunders: Reuven Malter? You're eye, it is healing? [Reuven nods.] That's good. With God's help, it'll heal speedily. [after a brief pause] I hear you're a good student. [Reuven looks at Danny, then shrugs & nods.] "You know Torah? [Reuven answers quietly, "Yes, sir"] You know Talmud? [Reuven nods again.] Well we shall see. We shall see [resumes his walk to the front of the synagogue, as Reuven looks at Danny with some concern.].
(scene cuts to the meal after prayers.)
Reb Saunders: [cutting bread while reciting the blessing] Baruch ata Adonai, Elonhaynu Melech ha'olam, hamotsi lechem min ha'aretz. [all in the gathering begin singing "Aya Yayayayayaya.." stopping abruptly after a few minutes, as Reb Saunders begins to speak meditatively with his eyes closed, his hand on his forehead, swaying back and forth] This man was on a boat and fell into the sea, and the captain of the boat, he saw this man was drowning, so he threw this man a rope. And "hold on to this rope," he shouted. "Hold onto this rope. Hold tight. Hold tight, "cause if you let go, you may loose your life." [opening his eyes] Are we too not drowning in a sea of ignorance, cruelty, death? [with eyes close again] Who is our captain? God! And what is the rope that he throws us? It is our Torah! [pausing, looking around, gesturing with raised finger] Now it's not an easy task to study Torah. It is a task that takes all day. It is a task that takes all night. And there is a great danger. Did not the Reb Meir say, "He who is walking by the way and studying, and he breaks off that study and he sees a field, and in that field he sees a tree--him does not the scriptures consider, as if he had forfeited his life!" [passionately, again with eyes closed] Only, only through the Torah, through the Torah can you lead a full life. Only then will God, the master of the universe, only then will he hear your words! [pausing, looking around] Amen.
Gathering of Men: Amen!
Reb Saunders: [turning to Reuven] Reuven? Reuven, what did you think of my...eh...little talk? I mean, eh, was it--was it alright? Was it good?
Reuven: It was very good.
Reb Saunders: [looking at all gathered] It was very good. [men chuckle.] Well, was it, was it as well good and, eh, correct?
Reuven: Sir?
Reb Saunders: [looking to Daniel] Daniel?
Danny: It wasn't Rabbi Meir who said that turning from Torah and looking on the field of a tree would be forfeiting a life; it was written in the name of Rabbi Yakov, not Rabbi Meir.
Gathering of Men: Ah!
Reb Saunders: [smiling] True, it was Rabbi Yakov. And is it, Reuven, is it also true, that a man, he should spend his whole life only studing Torah?
Reuven: Torah should be combined with work and good deeds [crowd mutters approval].
Reb Saunders: [looking intently] And whose words are these?
Reuven: Simeon the Righteous, I think.
Reb Saunders: You think? You should know.
Reuven: I...I know.
Reb Saunders: You know?
Reuven: [with confidence] I know.
Reb Saunders: [looking around] He knows. [laughs, all others join in laughing] That's good that you know [laughing, Reuven smiles, others in the crowd continue laughing]. He know, yeah? [crown once again breaks into song.] "
*******************
Reb
Saunders "Talks" to Danny
___________________________________
Reb Saunders: [greeting the two boys coming into his study] Look at the two of you now. Both of you. You're men. You're a man and my Daniel's a man. It's a pleasure for a father to see. Sit down. [The two boys sit.] So now you'll tell me, what are you going to do after your studies.
Reuven: I'm thinking of becoming a Rabbi.
Reb Saunders: So, you're going to a become a Rabbi, and my Daniel...my Daniel will go his own way. [Daniel & Reuven look at each other.] Reuven, I'm going to tell you something. When my Daniel was four years old, I say him, he read a book. He didn't read the book--he swallowed it. He swallowed it like one would swallow food. And then he came to me, and then he told me the story that was in the book. And this story was about a man, whose life was filled with suffering and with pain. But, that didn'...it didn't move Daniel. You know, Daniel was happy. He was happy because he realized, for the first time in his life, what a memory he had. "Master of the Universe," I cried, "what have you done to me? You give me a mind like this for a son? A heart I need for a son. A soul I need for a son. Compassion and mercy I need for my son. And above all, the strength to carry pain. That I need for my son." How was I to do this? I mean, that was the question. How was I to...to teach him? How was I going to be able to do this to this son that I love...and not lose the love of my son? When Daniel was young, I used to hold him close. We used to laugh together. We used to play together. We used to whisper secrets to each other. We played. Then as he became older, and he became indifferent to peope less brilliant than he thought he was, I saw what I had to do. I had to teach my Daniel that way: through the wisdom and the pain of silence...as my father did to me. I was forced to push him away from me. He became very frightened, he became bewildered, but slowly, he began to understand thatother people are alone in this world, too. Other people are suffering. Other people are carrying pain. And then, in this silence we had between us, gradually his self-pride, his feeling of superiority, his indifference began to...to fade away. And he learned, through the wisdom and the pain of silence, that a mind without a heart is nothing. So, you think that I've been cruel? Maybe. Maybe, but...but I don't think so...because my beloved Daniel has learned. O, let him go, let him become a...psychologist. You see, I know-I know about that. I should know. The books and the universities...the letters. Become a psychologist, already. But you see, now I am not afraid. I have no fear because my Daniel is a tzadik. He's a righteous man. And the world needs a righteous man. [looking straight at Danny, who has tears in his eyes] Daniel...you heard?
Danny: Yes, Papa.
Reb Saunders: And when you go forth into the world, you will be proud and go forth as a Jew? And you will keep the commandments of a Jew? [Danny nods.] It's good! It's good. [Danny begins to sob audibly; Reb Saunders clasps his hands together, then stands and walks to the door, but turns before going out.] I don't know...maybe you should forgive me...for not being...a wiser father. [Danny turns to him and stands; Reb Saunders reaches out his arms, and Danny runs into his embrace.]
********************
[TOP]
Father
Comes to Pick Up Muhammad
________________________________
Ramezani: [knocking at the door of the school principal's office, after gazing silently and unhappily at Muhammad who is waiting in front of the school, washing his hands after returning the baby bird to its nest] Hello.
Principal: Hello.
Teacher: [standing over the principal who is seated at his desk, reviewing papers with him] Ah, Mr. Ramezani, you are late! I'll be with you in a minute.
Ramezani: I'm sorry. I can't take Muhammad back.
Teacher: Is there anything wrong?
Ramezani: No, but if at all possible, keep him here.
Teacher: Mr. Ramezani, we're on school holiday for three months. Everyone is gone. There would be no one to look after him.
Ramezani: I have no one to look after him either. Since his mother's death, I have brought him up with such difficulty.
Principal: [looking up from his papers] You have come all this way just to say this?
Ramezani: Do me a favor and keep this child.
Principal: This is an educational center, not a welfare organization. Even there they support orphans, and children with unfit parents. Well thank God this boy has a family and you are a respectable and hard-working person.
Ramezani: You mean, there is no way?
(scene cuts to front of school)
Teacher: [leading Ramezani to the courtyard where Muhammad is waiting, squatting and feeling the ground around him] What he has been through in the past year is nothing compared to what he suffered while waiting for you. He took it very hard. There he is. [calling to Muhammad] Muhammad, have you lost something?
Muhammad: I've lost my mobil [phone], sir.
Teacher: [approaching Muhammad, as Ramezani stands in the distance] Search around, you'll find it. Go left, left. [Muhammad finds his "mobil," a chalk case.] Muhammad, good news. [Muhammad stands up straight and waits.]
Ramezani: [after a pause] Muhammad. [The teacher walks off.]
Muhammad: [after walking towards his father's voice with his hands raised, and finally touching his outstretched arms, in tears] I thought you would never come. [Ramezani's pained look is shown, with tears streaming down his face.]
****************
Muhammad
& Carpenter/Father's Return Home
________________________________
Carpenter: [having brought Muhammad, who has just parted from his father, out to some logs at the back of his house after showing him around the inside] Now come and sit down. The first step is to get familiar with the wood--to know that each kind of wood is suitable for a certain thing. For instance, take this one--it's soft, isn't it? It's poplar, which is suitable for carving. Now take this one. [A tear drops on the hand the carpenter is using to guide Muhammad's hand on the wood; he feels it with his other hand.] What's wrong? Are you crying? A man never cries. Do you already miss your family?
Muhammad: No.
Carpenter: What then?
Muhammad: You know nobody loves me--not even Granny. They all run away from me because I'm blind. If I could see I could go to the local school with other children, but now I have to go to the school for the blind on the other side of the world. Our teacher says God loves the blind more because they can't see but I told him if it was so, he would not make us blind so we can't see him. He answered, "God is not visible. He is everywhere, you can feel him. You see him through your fingertips. Now I reach out everywhere for God til the day my hands touch him and tell him everything, even all the secrets in my heart.
Carpenter: Your teacher is right. [He stands and walks back to the house, leaving Muhammad sitting. The sound of a woodpecker is heard as the wind blows through the trees; the undulating sound of a loon is followed by thunder.]
(scene cuts to Muhammad's family home)
Ramezani: [arriving home in the pouring rain with a burlap cloth over his head, walking with his horse, as his mother puts on her shoes and comes down the steps of their house] Azi! Azi! [She ignores him.] Where are you going, Mother? [She continues walking away from the house without speaking to him.] What you trying to do to me?
Grandmother: [pausing briefly] Only this way remains to me. [Resumes walking.]
Ramezani: [following her as she walks, attempting to stop her, becoming increasingly agitated] You want to spite me, don't you? I did it for his own good. What am I to do now? What have I done wrong to be stuck with taking care of a blind child for the rest of my life? Who will look after me when I am old and weak? Why doesn't this great God of yours help me out of this misery? Why should I be grateful to him for the things I don't have...for my miseries, for a blind child? For the wife I have lost? I've put up with it for five solid years. What do you think you've done for me? [pulling the burlap off his head, now sobbing] That's who I am--a poor and miserable man! I lost my father so early that I can hardly remember him. Who helps me? Who cares for me? [stepping out of her way and gesturing] Go! Go wherever you like! [He throws down his burlap cloth, sobbing as she walks away.]
(scene cuts to muddy road, where the grandmother looses the broach Muhammad gave her while returning to the nearby river a fish stuck in a puddle)
Ramezani: [riding his horse, catching up with the grandmother] Azi! Azi! Mother! [She ignores him and continues walking through deep puddles.] Come back, for God's sake come back. You'll get ill, I beg you. I kiss your hand. Let's go back. I will lose face... [she falls and he picks her up in his arms] Azi!
******************
[TOP]
Discussing
Thoughts with the Family
________________________________
Seturam: [voice-over commentary as he drives up to his suburban home, enters the front gate, and then is seen sitting with his wife and daughters, who are all sitting around him taking their food] There is a conflict between my own spiritual needs and the needs of my family. It probably seems to you the whole idea is very selfish and irresponsible. We have always been very close to each other. Now that I'm about to set off, it's not surprising that they are very anxious and very hostile. [addressing them directly] I've decided it's time to tell you what's been on m mind.
First Daughter: You're really thnking of taking sannyasa now?
Seturam: Not right way, but I want to find out if it's the right thing to do. Many of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers have taken sannyasa. Isn't the last stage of life the most important? When you think about self-reliaization and proximity to God? Well anyway, this is what has been on my mind.
Wife: [who has been nodding and sounding her assent] I understand, but how long have you been thinking this? Who put the idea into your head? What about my fate and your children's fate?
Daughters: It's not for a man like you, it's for others. How can you think of this after marrying? What about looking after the family?
Seturam: It's not a question of taking sannyasa right away; I want to explore the idea. If I decide to do it, I would make sure you were provided for.
Wife: If this is how you think, you should have never married.
Second Daughter: No, you should have never married.
First Daughter: [in English] It sounds very ridiculous. I don't know why you want to take sannyasa.
Seturam: [answering in English] I'm not running away from things; I'm in fact getting involved!
Daughter: [conversing in English from this point on] It is all high-sounding nonsense. It's just exhibiting cowardice and nothing more.
Seturam: It's not that I am jumping into Ganges [river] or Himalaya [mountains] immediately; this thought is in our tradition.
Wife: [in Kannada] Give up these thoughts filling your head. If you ask anyone, no one will approve of what you're saying.
Daughters: We're all against your idea.
First Daughter: You can talk well, convince anybody--
Seturam: [interrupting] Not you, I suppose.
First Daughter: [looking away deferentially] It's not a question of convincing me, but what you're doing is just not right.
Seturam: If I find out it's not all right, I'll accept it. [Raising his voice over continuing protests] No votes here, I know...
******************
Meeting
with Both Shankaracharyas
________________________________
Seturam: [voice-over commentary as he approaches and prostrates himself before the elder Shankaracharya of Shringeri] When we come into the presence of a great teacher like the Shankaracharya, the custom is to prostrate. You know, it's not a form of idol worship. We don't think he's God or anything like that. It's a form of respect towards someone we feel is charged with spiritual power.
Elder Shankaracharya: [responding to the question Seturam has just posed] You have a feeling that you want to renounce everything. True, but this feeling has not arisen through wisdom. It has arisen because of a few personal difficulties. Once these difficulties go, so will the feelings.
(scene cuts to the narrator's explanation of the belief in karma and rebirth, showing workers carrying dirt in bowls on their heads; then narrator's explanation of as of seeking moksha through meditation and insigh, showing a sannyasi sitting upright in a quiet room)
Elder Shankaracharya: [voice-over commentary accompanying scenes ofa busy city street] The individual is identical with Brahman--pure being--and has no existence other than brahman. It is the same with the individual. Someday the individual will become one with the pure existence of the world. [Now shown sitting, speaking to Seturam] I have seen many people living in darkness. Even after the sun rises, they still don't see anything...Isn't that amazing? After the sun's pure light illumines everything, you should see yourself. Yet people still aren't compelled to see their own inner selves. [Seturam nods.]
(scene cuts to shots of the younger Shankaracharya presiding over temple rituals at the fall festival of Navaratri, with the narrator explaining the proceedings)
Younger Shankaracharya: [sittings alone with Seturam on the floor of a veranda overlooking the temple] Have you got the desire to earn money or not?
Seturam: All that to a large extent has vanished.
Younger Shankaracharya: To an extent or completely?
Seturam: It has been overcome completely.
Younger Shankaracharya: Really? Have you still the desire to accomplish things in this world?
Seturam: I believe that the desire is gone, so I think of taking sannyasa.
Younger Shankaracharya: Have you or haven't you attachment to wife and family?
Seturam: Sannyasa means giving up such attachments.
Younger Shankaracharya: True, but my question is whether you still have such attachments.
Seturam: I think not.
Younger Shankaracharya: If you are certain you have no attachments, if you feel that you have nothing else to accomplish in this world, that you have arrived at a stage where you can live peacefully alone...then you are fit to take sannyasa. But you must decide whether your mind has reached that stage of maturity.
Seturam: I feel I ought to go to Banaras to find out more about sannyasa.
Younger Shankaracharya: Banaras is a holy city on the banks of the sacred Ganges, sanctified by the goddess Annapurna (i.e., a name for Shiva's consort). It may help you to go to such a place.
*******************
[TOP]
Closing Scenes
________________________________
Geko: [finding Orgyen in his room looking through his things, while everyone else is watching the World Cup final] What are you doing here, after all the chaos you've created?
Orgyen: [taking a deep breath] If I don't find some money by tomorrow, Nyima's watch will be sold by that Indian.
Geko: [pointing to the soccer cleats] Shoes for a watch?
Orgyen: [pointing to his bag] I have other things too.
Geko: Show me. [looking through the contents of Orgyen's bag, ending with an ornate knife in a scabbard] Isn't this knife from your mother? [Orgyen stares in assent, and rises as Geko moves towards him, placing his hand affectionately on his head.] You're so bad at business, you'll be a good monk. Don't worry. The abbot and I will pay the money.
(Orgyen slowly smiles as Geko strokes his head, as picture fades to last scenes of World Cup Final, with black and white TV image fading to static, then fiziing out, then a burning incense stick; scene cuts to Abbot reading to a group of monks on the monastery roof top, with Orgyen making an origami paper flower.)
Abbot: [pausing and looking up at students to question them about the topic he has been reading] Can we cover the earth in leather so it's soft wherever we go?
Monk: No.
Abbot: So what can we do?
Sleepy Monk: [lifting his head from apparent slumber] Cover our feet in leather.
Abbot: Yes, covering our feet in leather is equal to covering the whole earth with leather. [cut to various images as Abbot's voice-over continues with monks' chanting and stringed instruments in the background, beginning with shots of monk donning demon mask and dancing slowly with bead drum] Likewise, enemies are as limitless as space. All enemies cannot possibly be overcome. Yet if one can overcome haterd, this will be equivalent to overcoming all the enemies. All that is unsatisfactory in this world--all the fear & suffering in this world--clinging to the "I" has created it. [cut to images of Orgyen's room, with soccer pictures removed so that the Buddha image is clearly visible, and Orgyen's hand depositing the paper flower into a bowl of water set before the Buddha image.] What am I to do with this great demon? To release myself from harm, & to free all others from their suffering, let me give myself away, and love others as I love myself. [cut to Nyima's hand in the grass, holding his and polishing his mother's watch.] If a problem can be solved, why be unhappy? And if it cannot be solved, what is the use of being unhappy?
Orgyen: [running up to Nyima, who is now seen lying in the grass with his mother's watch, handing him a paper pinwheel] Here
.Nyima: [moving the pinwheel to make it turn, rising and running off into the distance.] Hey wait! [gradually catching up to his uncle Palden] Hey wait! Wait! [reaching Palden] How does the story end?
Palden: Which story?
Nyima: The one about the rabbit.
Palden: Guess.
Nyima: I don't know. Just tell me.
Palden: Who cares about the end?
Nyima: What?
Palden: What's all the fuss about endings?
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[TOP]
Last
Scenes of An-Mei and Rose's Stories
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An-Mei (older): [narrating the scene as the younger An-Mei shakes and calls to her mother, who is lying unconscious on her bed] When the poison broke into her body, she whispered to me that she would rather kill her own weak spirit, so she could give me a stronger one.
(scene cuts to An-Mei's mother's funeral, with her body covered in white silk and young An-Mei standing in front of it, as a Buddhist monk chants in the background)
An-Mei (younger): Mama, can you see? Can you see I am no longer scared? I am strong now. I see clearly now what's true and what's false.
An-Mei (older): [narrating] My mother chose the time of her death to give me the power over her enemies.
An-Mei (younger): [turning and speaking to Wu-Ching and his wives, who are standing in a corner away from the body] My mother's ghost will return in three days to settle scores. That day will be the lunar new year. All debts must be paid by then!
Wu-Ching: [coming forward to the altar and lighting sticks of incense] Lord Buddha, forgive me.
An-Mei (older): [narrating as Wu-Ching continues to speak] So, on that day, Wu-Ching promised to revere my mother as if she had been first wife--his only wife. He promised to raise me and my mother's son as his honored children. [narrating as second wife comes forward to the altar after Wu-Ching, and is scared away by the growling of young An-Mei, who holds glass pearls in her hand] And on that day, second wife's hair began to turn white. [Young An-Mei smashes the glass pearls, calling out "Mama!"] And on that day, I learned to shout.
(scene cuts back to An-Mei sitting with Rose in her apartment)
Rose: Ma, what does it mean? What does it mean, Mommie?
An-Mei (older): I tell you this story because I was raised the Chinese way. I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people's misery, and to eat my own bitterness. And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, but still, she came out the same way! Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl, and I was born to my mother and I was born a girl...all of us like stairs, one stair after another, going up, going down, but always going the same way. [taking a deep breath.] But no--this cannot be! This no knowing what you're worth--this not begin with you. My mother not know her worth, until too late...too late for her, but not for me. Now we shall see, if not too late for you.
(scene cuts to Rose sitting in the rain on the patio of her house, with the garden chairs neatly arranged around the table.)
Ted: [approaching Rose from a distance] Rose, I'm standing out in the rain ringing the bell for fifteen minutes. Are you OK? [pausing, more softly] Honey, are you OK? Honey?
Rose: [staring off in the distance] Get out of my house. You heard me, get out!
Ted: Honey, it's our house. We agreed to sell it...that's why I'm here.
Rose: You're not taking my house. You're not taking my daughter. You're not taking any part of me. Because you don't know who I am. [more softly] I died sixty years ago. I ate opium, and I died...for my daughter's sake. [turning to look at him directly] Now get out of my house!
Ted: [stooping down and looking intently at her, gently] I'm listening.
Rose: It's not your fault--none of it. I was the one who told you that my love wasn't good enough...that your love was worth more than mine. I was so full of shit.
(scene cuts back to Rose at June's party, staring off in the distance; Ted comes up behind her, sticks his finger in the dip she is holding and tastes it, giving her a kiss after doing so.)
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