CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
THE SHARYNGOL SYMPHONY
A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting
By
Robert B Taylor
December 2014
The graduate project of Robert B Taylor is approved:
______
Professor Alexis Krasilovsky Date
______
Professor Scott Sturgeon Date
______
Professor Jared Rappaport, Chair Date
California State University, Northridge
ii
This graduate project is dedicated to my wife, Juliet, without whose love, support and inspiration it would not have been written and who knows all about rewrite hell.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Signature Page ii
Dedication iii
Abstract v
The Sharyngol Symphony 1
iv
THE SHARYNGOL SYMPHONY:
A GRADUATE PROJECT
By
Robert B Taylor
When eighteen year old Zhao volunteers to join a re-education program during China's cultural revolution he is sent to Mongolia where he is rejected by the villagers and victimized by Re-education Officer Wu.
But he rediscovers his love for music when Altant, a deaf village girl shows him a piano abandoned by Christian missionaries a century ago.
He secretly, patiently rebuilds the piano and when he meets other young musicians also banned from playing Western music risks imprisonment by forming an underground orchestra in order to play the music they love.
v
FADE IN:
EXT. MONGOLIAN STEPPES, VARIOUS - DAWN
SUPERTITLE: Mongolian Steppes, 1968
Snow and ice on the vast, flat steppes. In the distance - mountains. A gentle breeze
SOUGHS.
The breeze picks up in the foothills of the mountains: snow FLURRIES. The wind
WHISTLES down a valley.
Giant conifers WHISPER in the breeze. Birds CHIRP in the branches.
Ice floes CRACK in the water on a small lake. The breeze RUFFLES the water. The water LAPS against bullrushes. Water birds CRY.
Water BURBLES over rocks in a stream. Fish PLOP out of the water.
OVER: Sweeping SYMPHONIC MUSIC.
EXT. SHARYNGOL VILLAGE, VARIOUS - DAWN
The SYMPHONIC MUSIC continues.
A dozen wooden shacks. A handful of yurts. A wooden village hall.
A small wooden shack, more modern and professionally constructed, with the flag of the
People's Republic of China FLAPPING.
1
Camels SNORT, horses WHINNY, Goats BLEAT in the animal corral. Chickens
SQUAWK in a coop.
A chain RATTLES against the wooden railing of the blacksmith's forge. A shutter
CLATTERS in the breeze of the wood carver's workshop.
Yurts FLAP and CREAK in the breeze.
EXT. ZHAO'S YURT - DAWN
One yurt is smaller, more dilapidated than the rest. It tilts. A loose animal hide CLAPS in the wind.
INT. XHAO'S YURT - DAWN
The symphony continues.
ZHAO, 20, lies on the floor beneath blankets and animal skins. He listens to the symphony of sound and music he hears in his head.
He shakes his head, forcing the music to stop. Silence, except for the wind and the flapping animal hide. He sits up.
The yurt is a mess of crude cooking implements. A few packing trunks and suitcases.
Clothes strewn about. Two other figures lie on the floor covered in blankets and animal skins.
2
Zhao rises, fully dressed against the cold. The trousers, shirt and sweater are dirty and torn in places, but are urban, almost Western in style.
Zhao heads for the door. A family portrait of 6 year old Zhao, his mother in a gown and father, in a tuxedo, is tacked to the wall.
A second photo of a smiling Zhao with his girlfriend, XU, holding a viola is tacked beside it.
EXT. SHARYNGOL, REAR OF VILLAGE - DAY
The sun rises. Four men GANBOLO, 45, the village chief, his son MONKHBAT, 22 the
BLACKSMITH, 30 and the WOODCARVER, 25 - all dressed in traditional Mongolian costume - pee in the snow behind the yurts.
Zhao, rugged up in animal skins trudges through the ice and snow.
ZHAO
Morning.
The villagers nod indifferently and finish peeing. They nudge each other and deliberately watch Zhao trying to pee.
Zhao self-consciously turns his back to them and finally manages to pee. The wind blows it back, showering him in pee.
ZHAO
Shit!!
3
The Mongolians burst into laughter.
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - DAY
Zhao prods one of the prone figures under the animal skins.
ZHAO
Wake up. It's your turn to get the water.
GUAN
(muffled, under skins)
Fuck off!
Zhao prods the other figure.
ZHAO
Oy!
DENG
(muffled, under skins)
Fuck off.
Zhao grits his teeth.
EXT. GANBOLO'S HUT - DAY
Ganbolo's wife, QORIN, 40, SHARPENS a hunting knife on a foot-pumped whetstone.
The BLADE SCRAPES and sparks shower.
4
She hauls a chicken out of the cage at her feet.
Zhao, a pair of water jugs on a pole across his shoulders, pauses and watches her. He looks hungrily at the chicken and lips his lips.
Qorin lays the SQUAWKING chicken on a block and deftly decapitate it.
Qorin is distracted when she sees Zhao and lets go of the chicken. The headless chicken charges toward Zhao. Zhao back pedals, holding out the water pole like a lance. The headless chicken keeps advancing. Zhao keeps back pedaling.
Qorin chases the bird, cursing Zhao. She snatches it up, its neck pumping blood, its wings
BEATING. She mutters at Zhao under her breath. Zhao nods apologetically.
EXT. SHARYNGOL STREAM - DAY
A dozen or so Sharyngol WOMEN fill their water jugs, and heave them onto their shoulder poles.
Zhao arrives and smiles at the lovely ALTANT, 18, who helps fill the women's water jugs. She ignores him.
ZHAO
Good morning.
The women ignore him. BAT-ERDENT, 60, wrinkled as a prune, the chief's mother and
Altant's grandmother puffs on a pipe and lifts her water jugs. Zhao gallantly tries to help.
She spills a little water and pushes his hand away.
5
ZHAO
I'm only trying to -
Zhao adjusts the pole. She curses and swats his hand away.
ZHAO
- help.
Zhao watches the women head back for the village. Altant looks back at Zhao - eye contact, but inscrutable.
INT. ZHAO YURT - DAY
Guan and Deng watch Zhao stir the pot above the cooking fire. Zhao ladles clear soup into bowls and hands it to them. He hands them rice cakes.
GUAN
A week to go and then we're out of this shithole.
DENG
How long for you, Zhao? Two weeks?
ZHAO
Two weeks.
They try to bite the rice cakes, but they're as hard as rock. Zhao SNAPS his rice cake across his knee.
6
INT. PARTY OFFICE, SHARYNGOL - DAY
The one room shack/office is newly built but unadorned. Rough wood walls. A portrait of
Chairman Mao gazes benevolently from the wall.
Zhao sits opposite WU, 30, thin-bodied, thin-lipped, bespectacled - in another time and place he would have served the Spanish Inquisition. He wears the official Red Guard uniform of Mao shirt, cap and trousers.
Wu's imposing henchman, FUNG, 25, also in Red Guard uniform, sits in a corner chair, scowling.
WU
This music - it's still in your head?
Zhao considers.
INT. CONSERVATORIUM AUDITORIUM - NIGHT
BEGIN FLASHBACK:
The AUDIENCE watches a tuxedoed Zhao play the Prokofiev on stage.
A tuxedoed PEI, 20 handsome assured watches from the wings, ready to go on.
Professor SUN, 65, patrician conducts and XU, female 18 plays viola with a small chamber orchestra.
CHEN, 20, First Violin and BINGUN, 20, violin and CHEN 20, play.
7
Beads of sweat form on Zhao's brow. He frowns - he's losing it.
Pei looks confident. Professor Sun looks puzzled.
Zhao plays the crescendo. He rises and bows stiffly to the audience applause.
Zhao strides offstage, past the sympathetic Xu and past Pei, who claps ironically.
END FLASHBACK:
INT. PARTY OFFICE, SHARYNGOL - DAY
Zhao clears his head - back to reality.
ZHAO
No. No, not at all. Banished.
WU
That is very encouraging.
ZHAO
I'm very much looking forward to going home. A
new man.
WU
You're not happy here?
ZHAO
8
Oh, very happy. It's been a real education. A real re-
education.
WU
I'm told you have trouble assimilating.
ZHAO
Who told you that?
Wu won't reveal that, but Zhao knows.
WU
The villagers are your friends. They are free of the
old ideas. You can learn much from them.
ZHAO
I have, Comrade Wu. So much. But now, I feel it's
time to go back. To my friends, my life, my -
Zhao bites his tongue.
WU
There's no going back, Zhao. The only way is
forward.
XHAO
I've made so much progress.
WU 9
Long may it continue.
ZHAO
Long? How long?
WU
I am responsible for your welfare, Zhao.
ZHAO
You can't keep me here.
Fung allows himself a small smile.
WU
You don't want to be here?
ZHAO
How long? ... How long?
Wu remains inscrutable.
EXT. TRAIL - DAY
Ice and snow as far as the eye can see. The Sharyngol men ride ponies and camels through the flurrying snow.
Guan and Deng ride in a pony-drawn wagon, rugged up in animal skins against the cold.
A dazed Zhao sits beside them.
10
EXT. FOREST - DAY
The bigger, more muscular Deng and Guan lean on their axes while the slim Zhao, chops a giant tree with his axe.
ZHA
What did you tell Wu?
Deng and Guan exchange glances.
GUAN
We hear you humming. When you think no one's
listening.
ZHAO
Humming? You reported me for humming?
Zhao slams the tree with his axe.
DENG
It sounded bourgeois.
ZHAO
Bourgeois? My humming sounded bourgeois?
Zhao hammers the tree with his axe. The tree CREAKS.
Zhao swings mightily with his axe. The tree totters.
11
GUAN
Decadent then.
DENG
Yeah, decadent.
ZHAO
You don't even know what I was humming?
(slam)
It was Prokofiev, thickshits.
SLAM. The tree totters. Then falls slowly back toward them.
ZHAO
Oh shit.
Their legs start pumping and they sprint away. The tree falls, its branches crashing but missing them by inches, and neatly flanking them. Deng and Guan stand, shaking a little.
ZHAO
What is decadent about Prokofiev?
Zhao brushes the snow and conifer needles off himself.
EXT. FOREST CLEARING - DAY
The Sharyngol men and Zhao, Deng and Guan sit apart on logs and munch stoically on dried meal cakes.
12
EXT. FOREST CLEARING - DAY
Zhao heaves a log onto the cart. The rhythm of a grand symphony booms and pulses in
Zhao's mind. He forces it out.
EXT. TRAIL - DUSK
The Sharyngol men ride their ponies and camels into the setting sun.
Zhao drives the cart with Guan and Deng and the load of logs.
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - NIGHT
Deng and Guan lie beneath their animal skins and blankets. Muffled SNUFFLING and
SNORING.
Zhao is wide awake. He quietly slides from under his animal skins, fully dressed.
EXT. ANIMAL YARD - NIGHT
Zhao harnesses a pony.
EXT. SHARYNGOL STREET - NIGHT
Zhao nervously leads the pony, worried by its clattering hooves. He climbs awkwardly aboard and grips the reins.
EXT. TRAIL - NIGHT
13
Zhao rides the pony at a trot. The pony breaks into a canter. Zhao tries to rein it in.
The pony breaks into a gallop. Zhao holds on for dear life. The pony shies, and Zhao slams into ice and snow.
ZHAO
Fuck. Fuck!
The pony stops. Zhao clambers painfully to his feet. He stumbles toward the pony. The pony trots off. Zhao chases it. The pony gallops off.
The wind picks up. Snow flurries around the despairing Zhao.
EXT. TRAIL - NIGHT
Zhao hobbles painfully through the snow storm.
EXT. TOV AYMAG TOWN, OUTSKIRTS - DAWN
Zhao hobbles along a street, trying to look inconspicuous.
EXT. TOV AYMAG, TOWN SQUARE - DAWN
Zhao marches through the town square. TOWNSFOLK stare at him, but he keeps his head down.
A train WHISTLES. Zhao breaks into a run.
EXT. TOV AYMAG, TRAIN STATION - DAWN 14
Zhao races toward the station. He stops in his tracks.
Wu. Standing at the station entrance. Waiting.
Zhao edges into an alleyway. He sees the train CHUNTER into the station. Stop. A HISS of steam.
EXT. END OF TRAIN PLATFORM - DAWN
Zhao sneaks to the end of the platform. He sees STUDENTS alight from the train. He sees Wu and Fung meet them. He sees them collect their bags.
Zhao sees them stay on the platform. He sees the GUARD blow his whistle. A HISS of steam and the train chugs toward Zhao.
The locomotive passes him.
Finally, Wu, Fung and the students head for the exit.
Zhao chases the train. He leaps onto -
EXT. TRAIN, THE RAILS - DAWN
- the rails beneath the carriage. He gets himself into some sort of comfort straddling the rails.
He sighs in relief. He opens his pack and takes out a dried meal cake.
15
The train hits points. The carriage jack-knifes, almost jolting Zhao onto the tracks below.
He loses his grip on the meal cake. Then his pack.
It's crushed beneath the train's wheels. Zhao hangs on for dear life.
EXT. BEIJING RAILYARDS - EARLY MORNING - THE NEXT DAY
The train rattles into the yards.
EXT. TRAIN, THE RAILS - EARLY MORNING
Zhao sees the approaching station. He leaps off the rails and hits the ground HARD.
A RAILWAY POLICE OFFICER spots him.
RAILWAY POLICE OFFICER
Hey!
Zhao clambers to his feet. He's badly winded but hobbles toward a fence.
The Railway Police officer closes in fast. He blows a WHISTLE. Zhao scrambles over the fence.
EXT. BEIJING CONSERVATORIUM - MORNING
Zhao approaches the conservatorium entrance. He sees columns of uniformed RED
GUARD YOUTH marching and shouting slogans. He shrinks into an alleyway.
INT. BEIJING CONSERVATORIUM, LOBBY - DAY 16
Zhao enters the hallowed hall of academia. He feels its traditions.
Zhao moves along the hallway. Throngs of STUDENTS, 16-22, male and female carrying their instruments - violins, flutes, a tympani, cymbals - engulf him. Others cart traditional Chinese instruments.
One tiny girl, JINJU, 17 hefts a double bass which dwarfs her. Six uniformed STUDENT
PARTY OFFICIALS march through the corridor, chanting slogans. They bump Jinju as they pass and her double bass hits the floor.
Zhao rushes to help, lifting her and the bass.
ZHAO
Are you all right?
Jinju nods her thanks and heads off with her bass.
INT. DORMITORY - DAY
Four single beds - unmade, clothes and sheet music and music cases strewn across three beds.
Zhao sits on his old, stripped bed. He hauls a trunk from underneath the bed and takes photos from it - a couple of him aged 8 and 12 in tuxedo at his piano or accepting prizes.
An old portrait of his mother with her violin and his father at the piano.
Zhao fishes an old crystal radio set from the trunk and smiles at the memories.
17
He moves to the slim wardrobe beside the bed and takes out his old tuxedo. Brushes imaginary lint from the collar.
He hears chattering approach from outside and BINGSUN, 20, spirited, rebellious and
CHEN, 18, sensitive bespectacled enter.
BINGSUN
Zhao, as I live and breathe.
Chen bows mockingly.
CHEN
Maestro.
They embrace like long-lost brothers.
CHEN
Has it been six months?
ZHAO
Time off for good behavior.
BINGSUN
Mongolia. What's it like out? Cold?
ZHAO
You wouldn't believe.
CHEN
18
Boring?
Zhao shakes his head - you wouldn't believe.
BINGSUN
Girls?
ZHAO
No. Well, one. The chief's daughter.
BINGSUN
The chief's daughter, huh? You always did aim
high.
CHEN
Tell me you'll carry her off naked and bareback
across the steppes?
ZHAO
Look at one of their girls and they'll cut off your
balls. Look at one of their goats, they'll cut off your
balls.
BINGSUN
What've you been doing for music?
Zhao scoffs.
CHEN 19
No piano?
ZHAO
I haven't played a note in six months.
Zhao holds out his callused hands.
Bingsun and Chen shake their heads, trying to comprehend it.
BINGSUN
Ouch.
ZHAO
My old piano, is it still there?
Bingsun and Chen look doubtfully at each other.
INT. CORRIDOR - DAY
Zhao, Chen and Bingsun march through milling students.
BINGSUN
There are other pianos.
ZHAO
No, I want my old piano.
They pass two MALE and a FEMALE STUDENT in Red Guard uniforms lounging around watching.
20
ZHAO
Hey, Lingtian.
Lingtian looks at Zhao suspiciously. Zhao, Chen and Bingsun keep marching.
ZHAO
When did this happen?
BINGSUN
Recently.
CHEN
They're taking over.
ZHAO
Have you seen Xu?
BINGSUN
Um ...
CHEN
Er ...
They pass doors. Music wafts through each door - a solo cello, an oboe, a violin.
Zhao hears a piano. Then a violin. He frowns. Bingsun and Chen look uncomfortable.
INT. REHEARSAL ROOM - DAY
21
Zhao bursts in, Chen and Bingsun behind him. XU, 19, pretty, stops playing her violin.
XU
(guilty)
Zhao. What are you doing here?
PEI, 19, handsome, well-dressed stops playing the piano and smiles an oily smile.
PEI
Shouldn't you be out herding camels?
ZHAO
You're playing with him?
PEI
And why not? Or have you forgotten the
Competition? You lost, then you slink off to
Mongolia.
ZHAO
There'll be other competitions, Pei.
(to Xu)
You don't want to play with him.
PEI
Xu, who do you want to play with?
Xu looks at Pei, then apologetically at Zhao.
22
ZHAO
One day, Pei, I will show you how to really play.
Zhao turns and exits.
INT. CORRIDOR - DAY
Bingsun and Chen chase Zhao down the corridor.
BINGSUN
Zhao!
Zhao waves him off.
INT. CORRIDOR - DAY
Zhao marches forward, eyes on fixed a wooden door ahead.
INT. MR AU'S WORKSHOP - DAY
Zhao enters and closes the door behind him. Comforting silence. An Aladdin's cave of pianos, skeletons and parts of pianos. A workbench with esoteric tools.
Zhao smiles - he's home. He picks up a tuning fork and strikes it on the bench and listens to its sweet tone.
23
He moves to a dismantled Bechstein and strokes its familiar top. He moves to a repaired piano and plays a simple scale. He sits on the piano stool. He plays a sweet, simple tune.
Satie, perhaps.
The door opens and MR AU, a wizened, avuncular 65, wearing an artisan's leather smock, ghosts in and listens.
Zhao finishes the piece. The last notes echo and fade and Zhao blinks back tears.
MR AU
You haven't been practicing.
ZHAO
Rusty.
MR AU
Funny how the simple pieces catch you out. No
piano out there? No music?
ZHAO
Only what's in my head.
MR AU
That's good.
Mr Au lights a gas ring and puts the kettle on.
ZHAO
It sounds different out there. 24
Zhao gestures to the dismembered Bechstein.
ZHAO
My dad's.
MR AU
Things are bad, Zhao. They've embargoed all
imports. No wire. No strings, let alone keys or
sound boards. I've had to cannibalize it, to keep the
other pianos going
Zhao's hands hover over the keyboard, ready to play. He closes the lid.
ZHAO
They can't keep me out there?
MR AU
What happened?
The kettle WHISTLES. Mr Au turns off the gas.
ZHAO
I did my six months. Almost. They told me six
months. And then the District Commander said I
needed more time. To complete my education.
Mr Au looks worried.
25
INT. PROFESSOR SUN'S STUDY - DAY
Zhao paces the room, restlessly lifting familiar old objects like the bust of Beethoven on the shelf or gazing at the portraits of Mozart and photographs of concert performers.
ZHAO
He said he would review my situation in another six
months.
Professor Sun, 60, in tweed jacket and tie sits behind his desk.
ZHAO
The villagers don't want us there.
SUN
And so you just left?
Zhao picks up an ebony baton with blood red Chinese characters inscribed on it.
ZHAO
They feel humiliated, like we're forcing ourselves
on them.
SUN
Times have changed, Zhao.
ZHAO
You're the Dean. You have friends. Influence.
26
SUN
I have one or two friends left. I'll see what I can do.
Lingtian and his five Red Guard Students burst in.
LINGTIAN
Bao Sun -
SUN
Professor Sun.
LINGTIAN
Bao Sun we accuse you of betraying your students
and your college.
SUN
Who are you to accuse me? You are a student at this
college. No more.
LINGTIAN
You will come with us and admit your crimes
before your students and peers.
SUN
Crime? I've committed no crime.
LINGTIAN
You will come with us and confess.
27
Lingtian signals and two Students grab Sun by the arms.
ZHAO
Get your hands off him.
Zhao pushes the students off Sun.
LINGTIAN
Zhao. What are you doing here? Aren't you
supposed to be at Re-education?
ZHAO
I've been to re-education. And I learnt nothing.
Lingtian glares at the defiant Zhao.
INT. CONSERVATORIUM CORRIDOR - DAY
Lingtian supervises four Red Guard Students drag a kicking, fighting Zhao along the corridor.
Zhao spots Pei lounging against a wall. Pei smirks.
INT. DORMITORY - DAY
Lingtian and the Red Guards watch Zhao take clothes from his trunk and stuff them into his satchel. Zhao sees the crystal radio in the trunk. He sneaks it into the satchel.
28
INT. PARTY OFFICE, SHARYNGOL - DAY
Wu sits at his desk. Zhao sits opposite. Fung slouches in the corner.
WU
I feel like I've failed. It's a most unpleasant feeling.
How can I help you, Zhao?
Zhao looks to Fung.
EXT. FOREST - DAY
The wind HOWLS and the snow flurries.
Zhao, his face bruised and contused, staggers through two feet of snow, bent under a sawn log. He somehow heaves it onto the cart.
He catches his breath and sees hundreds of logs in the snow and his heart sinks.
EXT. CLEARING - DAY
Zhao sits separate from the Sharyngol men and munches on a meal cake. Zhao sees
Monkhbat staring at him. Their eyes lock for a beat, then Monkhbat looks away.
EXT. TRAIL - DUSK
The Sharyngol men ride their ponies and camels through the falling snow.
Zhao drives the cart. Something catches his eye through the falling snow.
29
A stone and wood building. In the woods. It disappears in the snow. Reappears.
Disappears again.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Monkhbat, The Blacksmith and The Woodcarver play a tune on traditional Mongolian stringed instruments - morhins - and a drum.
Zhao sits alone, watching them "jam" - almost like a Western rock band. Zhao watches the Mongolian GIRLS sitting at their feet, watching and listening adoringly.
Zhao sees Altant serve tea to Ganbolo and a group of men playing dominoes.
The music finishes and the Girls sigh, lovelorn-ly.
Altant approaches and offers Zhao tea.
ZHAO
Thank you.
She pours the tea.
ZHAO
I don't know your name.
Altant ignores him.
ZHAO
30
I said, I don't know your name. Are you deaf or
something?
Monkhbat appears at Zhao's side.
MONKHBAT
She is deaf.
ZHAO
What? Deaf? I'm sorry.
MONKHBAT
Can't speak either.
ZHAO
Can she read? Or write?
Monkhbat shakes his head - no.
ZHAO
How does she - ?
Zhao watches Altant sit with her mother and grandmother. Monkhbat returns to the group and doodles on his morhin.
ZHAO
(still disturbed)
At least she can't hear that racket.
31
The three musicians stare hostilely at Zhao.
MONKHBAT
(challenging, to Zhao)
You play, do you?
Zhao looks at the proffered morhin.
ZHAO
No.
MONKHBAT
You're a music student. And you don't play?
ZHAO
I was a student.
MONKHBAT
The Big Man from Beijing. Too scared to play. Or
are the peasants too far beneath you?
Zhao sees the hostile eyes on him. He holds out his hand and takes the morhin. He plays a few notes.
All eyes watch Zhao play a sweet, lyrical piece.
All eyes turn as the door quietly opens and Wu and Fung slide in.
32
Zhao keeps playing for a bar or two, then senses Wu and Fung's presence. He pauses for a beat. Then launches into the Mongolian equivalent of hillbilly music.
All eyes turn back to Zhao. He finishes the piece. He looks at Wu.
ZHAO
Traditional Mongolian piece.
Wu looks doubtful. He looks to Ganbolo and Monkhbat.
MONKHBAT
Traditional.
Wu stares at Zhao disbelievingly.
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - NIGHT
Zhao sits on his animal skin bed and adjusts the dial on his crystal radio set. An
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE. It disappears in the static. A snatch of MUSIC. Then
STATIC.
He tunes and fine tunes again. Another snatch of music. Static.
Zhao turns off the crystal radio and pulls blankets and animal skins over him. He blows out the lamp.
EXT. SHARYNGOL STREAM - DAY
33
Zhao approaches the stream with his water jugs. The Sharyngol women fill their jugs from a hole in the ice.
Zhao picks up Bat-Erdent's jug and hands it to her. No smile, but she nods a polite thanks. Zhao watches Altant fill a jug. She smiles shyly at him and leaves with the others.
Zhao sees Ganbolo, Monkhbat and other MEN fishing in holes in the ice.
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - DAY
Zhao sits huddled in animal skins. He SNAPS a meal cake across his knee, and grimaces with the pain. He sees WEEVILS crawl out of the meal cake.
ZHAO
I need to eat the flesh of fish or fowl!
EXT. SHARYNGOL STREAM - DAY
Zhao approaches Monkhbat, fishing on the ice.
ZHAO
Have you got a spare rod?
EXT. SHARYNGOL STREAM - DAY
Zhao hacks a hole in the ice with a pick. He drops the baited line and hook in the water below.
34
Zhao sees Ganbolo reel in a fish.
AN HOUR LATER:
Snow falls gently. The wind picks up. Zhao sees Monkhbat reel in a fish.
AN HOUR LATER:
The snow falls more heavily. Zhao sees Monkhbat and the other men head for home.
Zhao grits his chattering teeth.
He puts his rod down to clap his freezing hands. The line surges and the rod heads for the hole. Zhao grabs it, slips on the ice and tumbles into the hole. He shouts for help.
EXT. STREAM, BANK - DAY
Monkhbat sees Zhao disappear into the hole.
MONKHBAT
(to the other men)
Hey!
EXT. UNDER ICE - DAY
Zhao grabs at the edge of the ice hole with one hand. But he's swept away by the fierce current. He hammers frantically at the solid ice above him.
EXT. STREAM, BANK - DAY
35
Monkhbat sprints along the bank, the pick in his hand. The men follow him. Monkhbat points to the bend in the river and sprints toward it.
EXT. UNDER ICE - DAY
Zhao feebly punches and kicks at the ice above him.
EXT. SHARYNGOL STREAM - DAY
Monkhbat hacks a hole in the ice. He peers in. Grimaces. Then drops into the icy water.
EXT. UNDER ICE - DAY
Monkhbat holds onto the edge of the ice with one hand and peers through the current for
Zhao. He spots him, caught limply in the current. Closer. Closer. Just out of reach.
Monkhbat lets go of the ice and the current sweeps him away. He reaches for the limp
Zhao, but the current sweeps him away. He reaches again and grabs a handful of jacket.
He strikes for the shore.
He gets out of the raging current and kicks and kicks at the ice. It cracks.
EXT. STREAM, BANK - DAY
Monkhbat hauls Zhao through the ice and onto solid ground. Zhao coughs and throws up water.
INT. GANBOLO'S HUT - DAY 36
Zhao sits in front of the fire, thawing out in some of Monkhbat's clothes. Monkhbat sits beside him.
Altant hands them both a bowl of steaming soup.
ZHAO
Thank you.
Altant smiles shyly and sits beside them. Qorin and Bat-Erdent sit at the humble table, sewing.
ZHAO
(to Monkhbat)
Thank you.
Monkhbat silently acknowledges him.
Zhao sees the morhin propped in a corner. He sees his satchel near his wet clothes, drying in front of the fire. Zhao takes a pencil and paper from the satchel.
He quickly draws a staff and a series of notes. He indicates the morhin.
ZHAO
May I?
Monkhbat shrugs - OK. Zhao picks up the morhin and hands it to the surprised Altant.
All eyes turn toward them.
37
Zhao points to the written note. Then places her finger on the morhin. Holds her hand as she plays it. Then the second note, third note. He continues through the five or six notes which make up, say, "Twinkle, twinkle". He gets her to play the sequence, slowly. Then faster. Altant laughs joyfully.
Zhao draws a character on the paper and points to himself.
ZHAO
Zhao.
Ganbolo enters.
Zhao draws a second character on the paper and points to her.
ZHAO
Altant.
GANBOLO
She's deaf. She's dumb. She can't read. She can't
write.
ZHAO
Maybe she could learn a few basics.
Ganbolo moves toward Zhao, glaring.
GANBOLO
And what use is that? No one here can read or write.
38
ZHAO
Maybe I could teach her.
GANBOLO
You think you can come in here with your fancy
Beijing ways and teach us stuff we have no use for.
ZHAO
No - I - I'm just trying to -
Zhao looks into Ganbolo's hostile face.
ZHAO
- assimilate.
Ganbolo gestures angrily to Altant - go.
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - DAY
Zhao holds a wriggling fish. It squirms out of his hands. He picks up a hammer and holds the fish.
ZHAO
Don't look at me. Please.
He raises the hammer, summons up his courage.
A KNOCK on the yurt flap.
39
Zhao moves to the door, the fish in one hand. He opens the door. It's Altant.
Zhao drops the squirming fish.
ZHAO
Hi.
Altant gestures - come with me. Zhao is non-plussed. She grabs his arm, almost dragging him out.
EXT. ANIMAL CORRAL - DAY
Altant leaps on her pony. Zhao climbs unsteadily onto a second pony.
EXT. TRAIL - NIGHT
Altant rides elegantly across the steppe. Zhao follows, holding on for dear life.
Altant points ahead -
- to a grove in the forest and the stone and wood building. Zhao sees the cross on its roof.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Darkness. A candle flickers. Altant holds up the candle revealing the primitive altar and the Stations of the Cross on the walls.
Zhao licks his lips nervously. We feel his hormones raging. Zhao moves toward her in anticipation. Altant points. And Zhao sees -
40
- a piano. Zhao stares at it, dumbfounded. He moves toward it
An OWL SQUAWKS. They both jump and the owl flies out the window. The piano is filthy, covered in dirt and dust and bird droppings.
ZHAO
How long's it been here?
Zhao remembers he won't get an answer.
ZHAO
(to himself)
Missionaries? Eighty? A hundred years.
Zhao lifts the keyboard cover. He smiles when he sees the keys are all intact. He plays a note. Nothing. He plays an arpeggio. One or two horrible, OFF KEY NOTES.
Zhao plays a chord and one leg collapses. CRASH. Zhao sees some logs in the corner.
CUT TO:
Zhao heaves the piano up and Altant rolls the log under the piano.
Zhao opens the lid. He recoils from the stench. Mice SQUEAK and scurry about. Zhao peers in - a mess of wires. He pulls away rotted felt from the hammers.
ZHAO
It's unplayable.
41
Altant looks at him blankly. Zhao places her hands flat on the piano. He plays a series of scales. A mixture of nothing or FLAT and DISCORDANT NOTES.
Altant feels the vibrations of the notes and grimaces. Zhao shrugs - bummer.
EXT. FOREST CLEARING - DAY
Zhao and Monkhbat saw a giant fallen tree with a two-handed saw. Zhao saws to the rhythm of the Prokofiev.
Monkhbat pushes back, as if challenging Zhao to saw in his rhythm. The rhythm ebbs and flows and they finally saw as one. They saw through the log.
MONKHBAT
That music you played?
Zhao nods.
MONKHBAT
Can you show me?
ZHAO
It was Bach. It takes years to learn.
Monkhbat looks pissed.
ZHAO
I've been playing since I was four years old. I still
can't play Bach very well.
42
Monkhbat nods - I didn't want to learn it anyway.
EXT. CLEARING - DAY
Zhao sits on one end of a chopped tree. Monkhbat sits at the other.
ZHAO
There are some pieces I could show you.
Monkhbat keeps eating.
MONKHBAT
My mother wants to see you.
Zhao's heart sinks - what does she want?
INT. GANBOLO'S HUT - NIGHT
Zhao stands before Qorin, Bat-Erdent, and Altant who sits in front of the fire.
QORIN
I want you to teach her to read and write.
ZHAO
I'm not a teacher -
Bat-Erdent pokes him in the chest with her pipe.
BAT-ERDENT
43
You said you would teach her.
ZHAO
What about Ganbolo?
BAT-ERDENT
You leave Ganbolo to us.
CUT TO:
Zhao sits in front of the fire with Altant. He draws a Chinese character on a piece of paper.
ZHAO
(points to himself)
Zhao.
Altant draws the character. Zhao draws another character.
ZHAO
(points to Altant)
Altant.
Altant draws the character.
EXT. ZHAO'S HUT - NIGHT
Zhao walks through the snow. He sees a light in his yurt. VOICES. STATIC. A snatch of
MUSIC. He freezes. He turns to run away. But where.
44
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - NIGHT
Zhao rips open the yurt door. Chen and Bingsun shivering in animal skin blankets, sit on their haunches. Bingsun tries to coax the fire to life.
ZHAO
Bingsun! Chen!
Chen and Bingsun are too cold to get up.
BINGSUN
Kind of beautiful, you said!
CHEN
You didn't say anything about the forty below.
BINGSUN
Or no hot water.
ZHAO
How'd you get here? You volunteer?
CHEN
No more volunteering. Now they tell you to go.
BINGSUN
They're sending all the students away.
CHEN
45
For re-education.
BINGSUN
They've sent away a hundred thousand students.
BINGSUN
There won't be any left soon.
Zhao's eye falls on a box of fruit and candy. He whimpers.
BINGSUN
(to Chen, teases)
Do we share with him?
Zhao tears open the candy. He chomps on it and bites into an apple. He groans orgasmically. Zhao tears open the box.
CHEN
Hey!
Zhao upends the box, spilling dozens of toilet rolls.
CHEN
My mother. She thinks I'll run out.
Bingsun sits on an animal skin.
BINGSUN
Did you kill it with your bare hands?
46
CHEN
And eat its still-beating heart?
ZHAO
Ha ha.
Bingsun picks up another package and shakes it speculatively.
BINGSUN
Violin strings. Can't get them anymore. My cousin's
in the navy. He brought them back for me. And
some sheet music.
Zhao opens the package.
BINGSUN
I ask for Beethoven and he brings me -
ZHAO
(reads)
The Beatles! Where are your fiddles?
BINGSUN
We heard it was too dangerous.
CHEN
Our parents are sending them on.
Bingsun indicates the crystal radio. 47
BINGSUN
Does this thing work?
ZHAO
I can't pick up anything. I need an aerial.
Zhao's eye falls on the pack of violin strings.
BINGSUN
Hey, no! That's my only set.
EXT. ZHAO'S YURT - NIGHT
A violin string pokes through the top hole of the yurt.
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - NIGHT
Chen stands precariously on the wobbling Bingsun's shoulders and ties the knotted violin strings to the central pole.
CHEN
OK.
Bingsun collapses and Chen falls - safely.
Zhao adjusts the dial on the crystal radio. STATIC. Then - rock 'n' roll music - Rolling
Stones or something like that.
ZHAO
48
Wow.
BINGSUN
Who is it?
CHEN
What is it?
The music fades. Zhao fine tunes - but only static. He adjusts, retunes. An
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE.
BINGSUN
What's he saying?
CHEN
It's Russian
ZHAO
Must be blowing in from over the border.
BINGSUN
What's he saying?
CHEN
Shostakovich.
BINGSUN
Shosta - my hero!
49
CHEN
Piano concerto ... Number?
The MUSIC plays scratchily.
ZHAO & CHEN & BINGSUN
Three!
Outside the wind HOWLS. The three boys snuggle under their blankets and animal skins and munch on candy bars and listen, rapt, in the music.
MORNING:
STATIC.
The three boys are fast asleep.
The door/flap rips open and Ganbolo pokes his head in.
GANBOLO
We're waiting for you.
The three wake up, groaning.
BINGSUN
Who are you?
Zhao crawls out of bed.
GANBOLO
50
More students.
ZHAO
This is Ganbolo - the village Chief.
BINGSUN
The father of the girl -
Zhao shoots him a warning glance.
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen scramble for clothes. Ganbolo notices the crystal radio.
GANBOLO
What's this?
ZHAO
Umm.
The wind outside suddenly picks up. A snatch of music plays on the radio set.
GANBOLO
Music. Western music.
Silence.
GANBOLO
You'd better hope your pal Wu doesn't find it. We're
still waiting.
Ganbolo exits.
51
EXT. FOREST - DAY
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen chop wood in rhythm with the Shostakovich they hear in their heads.
EXT. FOREST GLADE - DAY
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen sit upright, formally on upturned logs. Zhao plays "air piano" and Bingsun and Chen play "air violins" to the Shostakovich that resounds in their mind's ear over the steppes.
Monkhbat approaches and stares at them.
The music crescendos and Zhao, Bingsun and Chen rise and bow to the applause ringing in their ears.
Monkhbat shakes his head and moves off.
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY
Childlike drawings line the walls.
Zhao, Altant and a female TEACHER, 25 approach a bookshelf, barely half-filled with well-thumbed books.
TEACHER
I don't have enough books for my own students.
ZHAO
52
We only want to borrow them.
TEACHER
Are you qualified to teach?
ZHAO
No.
TEACHER
She really needs a special school.
Zhao shrugs - I know but what else can I do?
TEACHER
How old is she?
ZHAO
Eighteen.
TEACHER
Eighteen?!
The Teacher shrugs and moves to an old cardboard box. She takes out a couple of tatty picture books.
TEACHER
They've been banned. I'm supposed to destroy them.
Zhao takes the books and smiles his thanks.
53
INT. GANBOLO'S HUT - NIGHT
Zhao and Altant sit at the table with books, paper, pencils. Zhao reads from a copy of
"1001 Night".
ZHAO
The Persian King is so angry -
Zhao points to the pictures and the Chinese characters. Altant writes the characters.
ZHAO
- he executes his unfaithful wife.
Altant writes the characters.
ZHAO
He takes a new wife, but still angry with
womankind he beheads her on their wedding night.
Qorin and Bat-Erdent prepare rice cakes and listen.
ZHAO
Then he takes another wife and beheads her on their
wedding night.
Altant writes. Qorin and Bat-Erdent stop preparing the rice, and listen, frozen in suspense.
ZHAO (V.O.)
54
And then Scheherazade volunteers to marry the
king, knowing she will die.
Qorin swallows hard.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Bingsun and Chen jam with Monkhbat, The Blacksmith and The Woodcarver. It's a little rough but recognizable as The Beatles - "She Loves You".
Ganbolo and the village men watch them play - bamboozled.
Bingsun smiles ever so coolly at The Village Girls sitting adoringly at their feet.
BINGSUN
Hold it! Hold it!
The music grinds to a halt. He shows them the simple phrase again.
CHEN
(reads the music in halting English)
"She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah. She loves you
yeah, yeah, yeah."
He shakes his head disparagingly.
Bingsun counts them in and they play again.
EXT. PARTY OFFICE, SHARYNGOL - NIGHT
55
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen stroll toward their yurt.
CHEN
Don't know about those Beatles. Maybe they were
right to ban them.
Zhao stops and points to the flag fluttering above the party hut.
ZHAO
It's a westerly. It's coming from Russia.
The three break into a run.
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - NIGHT
Zhao adjusts the dial on the crystal radio. STATIC. An announcer SPEAKS in Russian.
ZHAO
What's he saying?
CHEN
Prokofiev. Piano concerto.
Silence for a beat. Zhao dreads the next words.
CHEN
Number 1.
Bingsun sees Zhao's heart sink.
56
BINGSUN
We don't want to hear that.
ZHAO
Yes. I need to hear it.
Zhao hears the music play.
INT. CONSERVATORIUM, AUDITORIUM - NIGHT
BEGIN FLASHBACK:
Zhao plays the Prokofiev. Sweat breaks out. He begins to lose it.
END FLASHBACK:
INT. ZHAO'S YURT - NIGHT
Zhao listens, at first dreading it, then rapt. He scrambles around for a pencil. Finds one.
ZHAO
Paper. I need paper.
BINGSUN
We haven't got any.
Zhao spots Chen's toilet rolls. He snatches and unrolls it.
CHEN
57
Hey! I need that!
Zhao listens to the music and notates furiously on the toilet paper.
MORNING:
Bingsun wakes up. He sees a streamer of toilet paper hanging from the washing line strung across the yurt. He nudges Chen awake.
They both sit up and are surrounded by dozens of fluttering toilet paper streamers notated with music.
Zhao is not there.
BINGSUN
Piano players.
CHEN
Mad.
BINGSUN
Should be drowned at birth.
INT. CHAPEL - DAY
Zhao inspects the piano, outside and inside.
EXT. TRAIL - DAY
58
Zhao bounces across the steppes on his pony, clutching fearfully to the reins.
INT. TOV AYMAG, PHONE BOOTH - DAY
Zhao is on the phone.
ZHAO
Mr Au?
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. MR AU'S WORKSHOP - DAY
Mr Au is on the phone, lacquering a piano as he speaks.
MR AU
Zhao?
Zhao sees Fung strolling along the street.
ZHAO
Mr, Au. I've found a piano.
MR AU
Someone lost a piano? How could someone -
ZHAO
Abandoned. Christian missionaries. It doesn't work.
59
MR AU
If it hasn't been played for a hundred years -
ZHAO
I want to fix it.
MR AU
What's wrong with it?
ZHAO
Everything. Some notes don't play, some are flat or
hum.
MR AU
What sort of piano is it?
ZHAO
I don't know.
MR AU
First thing, you've got to clean it.
EXT. TRAIL - DAY
Zhao rides his pony back across the steppes.
INT. CHAPEL - DAY
60
Zhao wipes the front panel of the piano with a damp cloth. The maker's brand gradually appears - Bechstein.
He peers into the piano and along the brass sound bar to an imprint. Zhao blows, then wipes off the dust -
Bechstein - Berlin - 1862 - V 034.
Zhao looks at the brushes on the keyboard cover - a floor brush and pan, a hair brush, a shaving brush, and a toothbrush.
MONTAGE:
A. Zhao wipes the piano cabinet clean with a damp cloth and a bucket of water.
B. Zhao brushes the wires with a toothbrush.
C. Zhao brushes the action with the shaving brush.
D. He sweeps the floor of the inner cabinet with his hairbrush.
He plays the piano but it still sounds awful. He sees the gutted candle. He sees the dawn light through the door.
ZHAO
Oh, shit.
Zhao heads for the door.
EXT. FOREST - DAY
61
Zhao reins in his horse and slides/falls off.
EXT. FOREST - DAY
Ganbolo gives Zhao a sour look as he and Monkhbat load logs on the cart.
INT. PHONE BOOTH - NIGHT
Zhao is on the phone.
ZHAO
I cleaned it. But some of the keys don't work.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. MR AU'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Mr Au is on the phone.
MR AU
What sort of piano is it?
ZHAO
Bechstein. Like my dad's.
Mr Au looks at the cannibalized Bechstein.
MR AU
62
We can use it for parts, maybe. What sort of
Bechstein?
ZHAO
Berlin. 1862. Model V.
Mr Au rifles through a shelf of manuals and selects one.
MR AU
Rosewood?
Mr Au flicks through a restoration manual.
ZHAO
Umm ... I dunno. Some sort of wood. Number 034.
Mr Au comes to a page. He gazes at a photo of Zhao's piano - enraptured by it beauty.
MR AU
Rosewood. Eighty eight key, Baby Grand. Fish-tail
cabinet? Turned legs?
ZHAO
Umm ...
MR AU
Beautiful.
ZHAO
63
Can you help me fix it?
MR AU
I don't know what's wrong with it. Do you know how many parts move you every time you hit a key?
ZHAO
Um ...
MR AU
Fifty-six. Do you know how many strings in a piano?
ZHAO
Um ...
MR AU
Piano players! You don't even know your instruments. A hundred and seventy.
ZHAO
I just want to fix it.
MR AU
OK. Start at the start. The pin block. You know the pin block?
ZHAO
64
Ummm ...
MR AU
You got a pencil and paper?
Zhao rummages in his satchel.
EXT. PHONE BOOTH - DAY
Zhao unhitches his horse. A hand lands on his shoulder and swings him around. It's Fung.
FUNG
Who were you calling? Mama and papa? Oh, that's
right. No mama and papa.
ZHAO
A friend.
FUNG
A girlfriend?
ZHAO
Yeah.
FUNG
Pretty, is she?
ZHAO
Very.
65
FUNG
No longer a virgin, I bet. You students. Bourgeois.
Privileged
ZHAO
You forgot decadent. We drink, we fuck, we play
Brahms.
Fung slams Zhao against the phone booth.
FUNG
Not any more you don't.
Fung moves off leaving a shaken Zhao.
INT. GANBOLO'S HUT - NIGHT
Qorin and Bat-Erdent sit by the fire, sewing clothes. They steal proud glances at Altant and Zhao hunched over books at the dining table.
Zhao points to the picture of a house. Altant draws the character. He points to a picture of a father. She draws the character.
Zhao turns a page to a father at work with tools. He points to the various tools - a hammer, a screwdriver. Then to himself. Altant frowns - confused. Then smiles - she gets it.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
66
A wooden mallet, a screwdriver and other tools sit on the floor.
Zhao lies on his back under the keyboard. He reaches for the wooden mallet and hammers the side case. Dust cascades from the piano into his eyes.
ZHAO
Oh, damn. Oh, shit.
Altant kneels beside him - concerned. He blinks at her. His vision clears and he stares at the lovely girl. She holds his gaze for a couple of beats then rises. Zhao gulps.
CUT TO:
Zhao looks at his crude drawing of the piano workings. He frowns and turns it upside down. He looks at the inside of the piano.
MONTAGE:
A. Zhao unscrews a large screw.
B. Zhao and Altant remove the giant brass sound board and place it gently on the floor.
C. Zhao hammers the side of the casing with the wooden mallet.
Zhao pulls the pin block. He pulls harder. He wrenches it. And it SNAPS in two.
INT. PHONE BOOTH - NIGHT
Zhao is on the phone. He waits silently.
67
INT. MR AU'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Mr Au consults his manual.
MR AU
Model V. No, I'm sorry, Zhao. I don't have the right
pin block.
ZHAO
There's nothing I can do?
Mr Au shakes his head sadly
EXT. PHONE BOOTH - NIGHT
Zhao disconsolately emerges from the phone booth. He freezes when he sees Wu's jeep heading his way.
Wu gives him a penetrative glare but Fung drives on.
Zhao unhitches his pony. He hears a violin play a jaunty air. He can't believe his ears. He sees Bingsun and Chen bouncing toward him on camelback. Chen holds the reins.
Bingsun plays his violin.
CHEN
Our fiddles arrived.
ZHAO
Careful. Wu's about.
68
BINGSUN
Aaah, fuck Wu.
CHEN
And the camel he rode in on.
Chen and Bingsun laugh delightedly and bounce off on their camel.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Bingsun and Chen and show Monkhbat, The Woodcarver and The Blacksmith their
(simple) parts in "Eleanor Rigby".
The villagers, sitting around tables listen with tolerant amusement.
Zhao and Altant sit at a table with "1001 Nights".
The musicians finish.
BINGSUN
What do you want to play?
CHEN
No more Beatles.
Zhao looks at Altant's book.
ZHAO
What about this?
69
BINGSUN
Scheherazade.
CHEN
Pretty simple.
BINGSUN
Do you remember it?
CHEN
Yeah.
Bingsun hums the main theme. Bingsun and Chen play a few bars of the main theme.
Haunting. Beautiful. Everyone - Ganbolo included - watches them.
Zhao scribbles a few bars on paper and shows Altant her part. He grabs a spare morhin and hands it to her. It's simple: almost a bass part, one note to the bar. She reads the notes and plays.
ZHAO
C-2-3-4. B flat-2-3-4. C-2-3-4. E-2-3-4.
She plays the notes.
ZHAO
Shorter. Longer. Shorter. Longer.
(to the musicians)
70
OK? Got it? Just the first four bars. That one
passage.
The seven musicians take their instruments.
Zhao counts them in and conducts. They play the main refrain from Rimsky-Korsakov's
"Scheherazade". Not bad, not perfect, but recognizable.
The villagers watch - intrigued. The music finishes and Altant grins joyfully. Ganbolo sees her smile and melts.
ZHAO
Let's try it again.
EXT. ASBESTOS MINE - DAY
Fung drives Wu in the jeep, through the asbestos mine. Heavily industrial, filthy primitive machines. Mounds of dirt and dust and slag. Asbestos pours from chutes into waiting trucks.
INT. ASBESTOS MINE TUNNEL - DAY
Wu, Fung and MINE MANAGER creep along a shadowy tunnel, dimly lit by naked light bulb.
They hear the SLAP and CRACK of pickaxes against rock. They hear HACKING
COUGHS.
71
Manager puts a handkerchief across his nose and mouth. He gestures and Wu and Fung put handkerchiefs to their mouths.
They come to the working seam and see twenty MINERS, stripped to the waist, bent double in the low tunnel swinging pickaxes, some coughing in the thick dust.
Wu rubs at his eyes and coughs.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY
Zhao sits opposite the Mine Manager at his desk, coughing.
MINE MANAGER
I shouldn't have taken you down there. Appalling.
Not fit for ... My apologies. I hope you won't
mention it to -
WU
The mine is dangerous.
MINE MANAGER
(wary)
The conditions are very primitive. And we have no
money to -
WU
Over a hundred deaths from accidents last year.
72
MINE MANAGER
How did you know?
Wu won't reveal his sources.
WU
The coughing?
MINE MANAGER
It gets into their lungs. Some of the older ones, well,
they -
WU
They are heroes of the Motherland. Martyrs to a
noble cause.
MINE MANAGER
Yes. Yes. Martyrs.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - DAY
Snow melts from the village hall roof and from the trees.
EXT. FIELD - DAY
Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" plays over -
73
Zhao, Bingsun, Chen and the entire village till the earth with primitive hoes and implements. Backbreaking work. But they work in rhythm, as one.
EXT. WOODCARVER'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Zhao dismounts from his pony and takes a kind of cloth saddlebag off the pony. He hears an approaching jeep. It pulls up. Xu is at the wheel, Pei beside her. Both wear Red Guard uniforms.
PEI
Zhao. Wondered when we'd run into you.
Zhao gestures at the uniforms.
ZHAO
Gone over, huh? If you can't beat them, join them.
PEI
Oh no. We've seen the error of our ways.
ZHAO
Doing your best to stamp out Western imperialism?
Bourgeois decadence?
XU
I hope you've seen the error of your ways, Zhao.
ZHAO
74
Oh, I have, Sister Xu. You both look good. The
uniforms suit you.
PEI
We'll be seeing you, Zhao.
Zhao watches them drive off.
INT. WOODCARVER'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
The Woodcarver carves the neck for a morhin at his bench. Monkhbat sits beside him, lacquering the body of a morhin.
Zhao takes the snapped pin block from the cloth bag and places it on the bench.
ZHAO
Can you fix this for me?
The Woodcarver takes the pin block and studies it.
MONKHBAT
It's from that church.
ZHAO
The piano, yes.
The Woodcarver studies the snapped pin block.
THE WOODCARVER
75
No. It's rotten.
ZHAO
Oh.
THE WOODCARVER
I could maybe carve you a new one.
INT. CHAPEL - DAY
Zhao carefully strips rotting felt off the piano's hammers.
INT. GANBOLO'S HUT - DAY
Zhao watches Qorin and Bat-Erdent expertly study the rotting felt.
INT. WOODCARVER'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Zhao watches the Woodcarver study the snapped pin block at his bench.
THE WOODCARVER
It's spruce.
Zhao looks at him quizzically.
WOODCARVER
Does it have to be spruce?
ZHAO
76
It'll throw the whole tone out if it's not.
WOODCARVER
There's no spruce around here.
ZHAO
Oh.
WOODCARVER
There used to be a small stand. The other side of the
mountains.
ZHAO
How far?
WOODCARVER
A day's ride.
Zhao looks at the Woodcarver hopefully.
EXT. TRAIL - DAWN
Zhao and The Woodcarver ride ponies across the steppes. A third pony hauls a light trap with axes and saws.
INT. MANGER - DAY
Altant and Qorin gather coarse woolen cloth.
77
EXT. STREAM - DAY
Altant and Qorin stand ankle deep in the water and stuff the cloth into a wooden box.
Water sluices into the box. Qorin hammers the cloth with a kind of wooden piston in the box.
EXT. MOUNTAINS - EVENING
Above the snowline. Zhao and the The Woodcarver scan the forest. The Woodcarver points to a small darker stand of trees in the forest.
EXT. STREAM - EVENING
Altant, Bat-Erdent and Qorin lay the damp, mulched cloth on a flat boulder. They pound the mulched cloth with flat rocks.
EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
A campfire burns by the stand of spruce. Zhao and The Woodcarver chop a spruce with axes.
EXT. TRAIL - NIGHT
Zhao and The Woodcarver ride in the moonlight with the spruce log tied to the trap.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - MORNING
The length of cloth - now felt - hangs from a line and billows in the breeze. 78
INT. THE WOODCARVER'S WORKSHOP - DAY
Pei and Xu flank Zhao as they march t
The Woodcarver finishes carving the pin block. Zhao starts sanding it. Pei saunters in.
PEI
What's that?
The Woodcarver doesn't know to say.
ZHAO
A rice drainer.
PEI
Oh. For a minute there I thought it was a pin block.
Crazy, huh? You need a piano for a pin block,
right?
ZHAO
Right.
PEI
A friendly little warning from a fellow musician -
Wu thinks you're a corrupting influence. You even
fart in B flat, he'll send you down the mines. And I
don't think you'll come back.
ZHAO 79
(sarcastic)
Thanks for the warning.
Zhao watches Pai saunter out.
INT. YURT - DAY
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen gather instruments and music. The Beatles sheet music falls from his satchel.
BINGSUN
I'm sure I shut that.
Zhao uncovers the crystal radio.
ZHAO
Someone's been through our stuff.
The three look at each other warily.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Zhao conducts the six musicians and plays the morhin in another eight bars of
Scheherazade.
Ganbolo sees Altant smile radiantly and he returns her smile.
EXT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
80
The Potter is the lookout at the front of the hall. He sees headlights approach.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
The Potter pokes his head in the door.
POTTER
They're coming.
The musicians stop playing.
EXT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Wu and Fung alight. They hear music.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
The door snaps open and Wu and Fung stride in. The villagers watch the musicians play a traditional Mongolian piece.
The music finishes. The Villagers applaud.
WU
What is this music?
GANBOLO
A piece of music we've been playing in this village
for centuries.
81
ZHAO
Traditional. Free of western corruption, Comrade
Wu.
Wu clenches his jaw.
INT. YURT - NIGHT
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen - and Wu - watch Fung turn the place upside down.
Nothing.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Ganbolo, Zhao and Altant look at the crystal radio on a table.
ZHAO
We've been using it to listen to Russian radio.
GANBOLO
Western music.
Zhao nods.
GANBOLO
I've never seen my daughter so happy.
Zhao shrugs modestly. Ganbolo switches on the radio. STATIC.
82
ZHAO
We could get better reception if we had a decent
aerial.
GANBOLO
Aerial?
INT. BLACKSMITH'S WORKSHOP - DAY
Ganbolo watches The Blacksmith melt a horseshoe in the blazing forge. He hammers it -
Siegfried-like - into a long tube.
EXT. VILLAGE HALL ROOF - DAY
Ganbolo and Monkhbat secure the aerial to the chimney.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Zhao, Bingsun, Chen and the villagers listen to Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony on the crystal radio.
GANBOLO
(whispers to Chen)
Who is it again?
CHEN
Shostakovich.
83
The music crescendos and finishes.
CHEN
They're still arguing whether that grand finish is a
victory hymn to Stalin. Or a parody of a victory
hymn.
Ganbolo nods wisely.
INT. GANBOLO'S HUT - NIGHT
Zhao shows Qorin and Altant the felt on the piano hammers.
QORIN
How many do you need?
ZHAO
Eighty-eight. Eighty-eight keys. Eighty-eight
hammers.
QORIN
(puzzled)
Eighty-eight?
Zhao holds up ten fingers. Closes his hand. Opens his hand. Twenty. Closes/opens. He shrugs.
ZHAO
84
Lots.
Qorin sits beside Bat-Erdent at the table. They take up scissors and cut the felt.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - DAY
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen stride toward the fields, hoes and pitchforks slung over their shoulders. Monkhbat catches up with them and hands Zhao a package.
MONKHBAT
This came for you.
Zhao rips off the paper wrapping, revealing a book and a letter. Zhao reads the letter.
MR AU (V.O.)
Dear Zhao, I write this with a heavy heart. Last
week the Red Guard faction in the student body
took control of the buildings.
INT. CONSERVATORIUM THEATER - DAY
Young RED GUARDS line the stage with Professor Sun, who wears only a singlet and old trousers and addresses the STUDENTS in the audience.
MR AU (V.O.)
Professor Sun and other members of faculty were
forced to confess to their crimes.
85
INT. PROFESSOR SUN'S OFFICE - DAY
Red Guards smash the busts of Beethoven and Mozart and trash the office.
MR AU (V.O.)
After a lifetime of dedication, all faculty were
sacked.
EXT. CONSERVATORIUM - DAY
Red Guards lock and padlock the front door.
MR AU (V.O.)
The College is now officially closed. I have no idea
what has become of Professor Sun. After a lifetime
of education he has been sent away for re-
education.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - DAY
Zhao looks at the book in his hand.
MR AU (V.O.)
Good luck with your Bechstein.
It's a Bechstein repair manual.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
86
Zhao and The Woodcarver ease the pin block back into the piano. It won't fit.
The Woodcarver gestures - take it out. They heave it out. The Woodcarver planes one side of the pin block. Then sands it.
Zhao and The Woodcarver lift it and place it in the piano.
The Woodcarver taps it almost into place. Then HAMMERS it into place. Zhao winces at the brutal hammering..
EXT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Zhao and The Woodcarver ride off on their ponies. Pei emerges from the shadows.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Darkness. Pei lights a candle. He sees the piano and its innards. He moves to the piano and caresses the keys lovingly.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Monkhbat, The Woodcarver and The Blacksmith watch Altant play the last left hand key.
Zhao shines a candle on the hammer mechanism in the piano. As Altant repeats the note,
Zhao sees the hammer lift and strike.
Zhao nods and Altant plays the next note. The hammer remains stationary.
87
Zhao consults the manual, then removes the hammer with a screwdriver. He taps the mechanism and sees it's broken.
LATER:
The inside of the piano is stripped of every moving part. The five hold the moving parts that attach to one key.
ZHAO
Did you know, every time you hit a key, you
activate fifty-six moving parts?
THE WOODCARVER
I didn't know that.
Zhao grins.
INT. BLACKSMITH'S WORKSHOP - DAY
The Blacksmith fires the bellows over his forge and molds the piano's tiny flange.
INT. WOODCARVER'S WORKSHOP - DAY
The Woodcarver carves the delicate wooden hammer.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Zhao and Monkhbat carefully place the fifty-six part mechanism in place.
88
Zhao nods at The Woodcarver and he nods at Altant. She plays the singe, far left hand key.
INT. INSIDE OF PIANO - NIGHT
Fifty-six metal, wood and felt parts move in harmony. A single NOTE plays and
ECHOES.
Zhao slides out from under the piano and grins.
ZHAO
Only eighty-seven to go.
INT. SCHOOL - DAY
Zhao, Qorin and the Schoolteacher watch Altant sit at a school desk and write Chinese characters. She finishes.
The Schoolteacher looks at her work. She smiles.
SCHOOLTEACHER
Very good. Excellent.
Altant looks at her uncomprehendingly. The Schoolteacher points to a character in the textbook.
SCHOOLTEACHER
Excellent.
89
Altant beams.
SCHOOLTEACHER
There's a deaf school in Beijing. I'd happily
recommend her.
Zhao and the Schoolteacher look to Qorin, who is torn.
EXT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Villagers stream into the hall.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
The villagers pack the hall and watch Zhao, Chen, Bingsun, Altant, Monkhbat, The
Woodcarver and The Blacksmith tune their instruments. Zhao addresses the audience
ZHAO
On her wedding bed Scheherazade tells the King a
tale. He's so entranced by her tale that he agrees to
spare her life one more night - if she tells him
another tale. Scheherazade tells the king a thousand
and one tales, over a thousand and one nights and
she saves a thousand and one lives.
The band plays an arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade".
90
EXT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
The Potter watches and listens to the music through the open door. He thinks he hears something and looks around but sees nothing.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
The musicians keep playing.
EXT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
Wu, Fung, Pei and Xu appear behind The Potter.
INT. VILLAGE HALL - NIGHT
No one hears the Red Guards enter. All listen rapt to the music. The music rises to its crescendo. Silence.
They all see the Red Guards.
WU
(to Zhao, Bingsun and Chen)
You're coming with me.
Ganbolo rises.
GANBOLO
No. They are our guests.
91
WU
This music is forbidden.
GANBOLO
We asked them to play.
Wu nods to Fung and Pei, who take a step forward. The male villagers step forward.
GANBOLO
Are you going to arrest my daughter? And my son?
And my village for listening?
Wu hesitates.
GANBOLO
You're a long way from anywhere out here,
comrade.
Pei catches Wu's eye.
INT. YURT - NIGHT
Wu and his Red Guards and Zhao, Bingsun and Chen stand in the yurt. Pei nods to Fung.
Fung opens Chen's case. He takes out a toilet roll and unfurls it. It's the Prokofiev music.
He hands it to Pei.
WU
Whose is this?
92
ZHAO
Mine.
PEI
(reads the music)
Prokofiev.
Wu smiles a thin smile.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - NIGHT
The entire village watches Fung shove Zhao into the jeep. Pei, Wu and Xu climb in. Pei starts the engine and takes the wheel. It rumbles off.
Zhao gazes at Altant and the others as they recede into the distance.
EXT. ASBESTOS MINE - NIGHT
The jeep drives through the mine.
INT. JEEP - NIGHT
Zhao stares at the wire perimeter fences, the slag heaps and the smoke and dust and
GRINDING machinery. And his heart sinks.
EXT. MINE, MAIN AREA - DAY
93
A dustbowl, bisected by a single bitumen track and surrounded by bunkhouses, offices, sheds, and the slag heaps and rusty mining machinery and equipment.
Zhao, Chen, Bingsun in their raggedy student clothes march across with a FOREMAN and a gang of MINERS.
They pass a loudspeaker on a pole.
MINE MANAGER (THROUGH SPEAKER)
We should be modest and prudent, guard against
arrogance and rashness -
They march toward a corrugated iron, barn-like building.
INT. MINE, ENTRANCE - DAY
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen and the miners enter an elevator cage in the corrugated iron barn.
MINE MANAGER (THROUGH SPEAKER)
- and serve the Chinese people heart and soul.
A SUPERVISOR slams the door of the cage closed and the elevator lurches downwards.
INT. MINE, TUNNEL - DAY
If the steppes had a heavenly beauty, this is hell ... Naked light bulbs dimly light Zhao,
Bingsun, Chen and the miners through a miasma of asbestos dust. They wear no helmets,
94 no protective clothing and hack the walls of the tunnel with pick-axes. The SLAPS of pick-axes and the HACKS of coughs echo through the tunnel.
The Foreman marches toward Zhao, Bingsun and Chen.
FOREMAN
Music students, huh! Playing a piano concerto, are
you? Or playing with yourselves
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen heave their pickaxes.
The Foreman scowls at them. They all pause as the MINE MANAGER and two
Engineers - Guan and Deng (from Zhao's Sharyngol yurt) - helmeted and wearing protective vests - approach.
MINE MANAGER
Comrades, I have last month's production figures
and we are way down on our quotas. We do not
want to let our leader, our countrymen down -
A muffled BLAST. The walls shake, dust and rocks fall. The Mine Manager sees a support bend.
MINE MANAGER
(nervous)
It's all right, everyone.
The Mine Manager looks to Guan and Deng.
95
GUAN
Perfectly safe.
DENG
We checked these supports ourselves.
GUAN
We're building a new China.
Zhao taps a support, dirt falls from the roof.
MINE MANAGER
(more nervous)
We need to increase productivity. I don't wish to
cancel days off, but I will if I have to.
The Mine Manager scurries off, followed by and Guan and Deng.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao lies on his narrow paillasse, too exhausted to move. Chen and Bingsun sleep the sleep of the dead. Forty other miners lie or sit around on their paillasses, playing cards or mah jong. Silence except for hacking COUGHS.
An OFFICE WORKER moves past the bed, handing out mail. He hands Zhao a letter.
A puzzled Zhao rips it open, scans it and breaks into a grin.
ALTANT (V.O.)
96
Dear Zhao, This is my first letter. I hope it finds you
good. We are all excellent in Sharyngol. The rice is
ripening. It will be a good harvest. It is still our
secret. I hope to see you soon.
ZHAO
Love Altant.
Zhao snuggles into his paillasse and reads the letter again.
INT. MINE, TUNNEL - DAY
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen hack at the tunnel wall with their pickaxes. An exhausted Chen stops and stares at his raw and bloody hands. Zhao looks at him sympathetically, but hold up his own wrecked hands.
They attack the wall, and see a rich white seam.
ZHAO (V.O.)
Dear Altant, I have no idea how long I will be here.
Six months at least. I am allowed time off. I will
work twenty eight days straight and then I can take
a weekend off to visit Sharyngol.
They hear FOOTSTEPS and swing their picks.
The Foreman, Guan and Deng approach. Guan sees the seam and nudges the Foreman.
97
FOREMAN
Stop. Stop!
They stop and Guan studies the whitish seam. He grins.
CUT TO:
Zhao watches Guan and Deng set dynamite in pockets in the wall and roof.
Guan casually wires dynamite caps to detonator.
GUAN
Get back. Get back!
Everyone stands back or takes cover. The MINER next to Zhao raises his head to peek.
Guan plunges the detonator's handle. A FLASH. KERBOOM!
Rocks and debris hurtle through the air. The roof collapses. The air is thick with asbestos dust.
ZHAO
Wow. Some bang, huh?
The Miner collapses. Zhao sees a rock almost as big as a football embedded in his chest.
His limbs spasm.
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen stare, motionless, in shock. Beat.
ZHAO
98
Man down! Help! Medics! Over here!
Zhao kneels beside him. He takes his hand.
ZHAO
You're gonna be all right. Help's on its way.
Other Miners crowd around.
ZHAO
Medic!!! Where's the medic?!
SECOND MINER
What medic? There is no medic.
The dying Miner's eyes lock with Zhao's.
INT. MINE, TUNNEL - DAY
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen watch Miners load the Dead Miner's body onto a trolley loaded with raw asbestos.
Foreman nods and the train of mine wagons trundles off.
INT. MINE, CAVE - DAY
Zhao, Chen and Bingsun bent almost double and stripped to the waist, hack raw asbestos from the walls of the cave.
99
Zhao hums the Prokofiev, trying to keep his spirits up. Chen pauses, still in shock.
Foreman approaches. He stares at the students - still in shock himself.
FOREMAN
(forced)
Hey, you! No slacking on my shift.
Chen swings his pick-axe.
INT. TRAIN - DAY
Zhao sits in his seat. He looks hopefully through the window as the train pulls into Tov
Aymag station.
EXT. TRAIN STATION - DAY
Zhao jumps off the train. Dozens of STUDENTS get off. Zhao recognizes JINJU, the tiny female bass player from the Conservatorium.
ZHAO
Hey, you're the bass player, right?
JINJU
Yeah.
ZHAO
You going to Sharyngol?
100
JINJU
Nah. Some mine. There's a few of us.
Jinju spots her FELLOW MUSICIANS along the crowded platform. Zhao waves and they wave back.
JINJU
See ya.
Jinju heads off. Zhao searches through the crowds. He finally spots Altant forcing her way through the crowds. She beams when she sees him. They hug.
ZHAO
If you only knew how much I want to kiss you.
Altant looks at his mouth closely and blushes.
ZHAO
You're learning lip-reading?
She grins and nods. And they kiss. Long and slow and timeless like so many first kisses are. They part and their eyes lock. Pei and Xu appear at their side.
PEI
Reeducating the peasants, Zhao.
XU
Everybody from Beijing, assemble over here.
101
PEI
Or just getting a little r & r in?
Pei and Xu move off.
Zhao watches Jinju and the students assemble, then his eyes return to Altant and his spirits.
EXT. TRAIL - EVENING
Zhao rides his pony - almost elegantly for him - following Altant toward the chapel.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Zhao gazes at his piano with its stump for a leg and its innards surrounding it. He caresses it lovingly.
He smiles at Altant. They both know the moment has arrived.
Zhao loosens her skirt and lets it fall to the floor. He lifts her blouse over her head and lets it drop on the floor.
CUT TO:
Zhao lays a length of felt on the floor. He lies down and Altant gently lowers herself onto him. A silent moan of pain as he enters her. And he stops for a beat and holds the moment.
CUT TO:
102
Zhao and Altant doze in each other's arms under their coats and on the home-made felt on the floor.
INT. GANBOLO'S HUT - NIGHT
Zhao, Ganbolo, Bat-Erdent, Qorin, Altant and Monkhbat sit around the dining table, eating.
Qorin shows Zhao a lip-reading manual with illustrated lip positions.
BAT-ERDENT
We have to watch what we say now.
GANBOLO
Where'd she get the brains? Not from me. Not from
her mother's side.
Qorin and Bat-Erdent snort.
GANBOLO
And Monkhbat? Handy with a knife. And a bow
and arrow. A good lad. But thick as shit.
Zhao laughs with the rest and gazes happily at this new family of his.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
103
Bat-Erdent sits cross-legged on the floor and cuts a tiny square from the felt. She passes it to Qorin who meticulously glues it to a piano hammer.
INT. WOODCARVER'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Zhao watches The Woodcarver carve a perfect copy of the piano's broken leg.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Bat-Erdent measures and cuts a long strip of felt.
Bat-Erdent and Qorin fix the strip of felt to the piano's sound board.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Zhao and The Blacksmith strain to hold the piano up while The Woodcarver screws the new leg onto the piano.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Zhao gazes proudly at the piano with its new, unpainted leg. - but it's still one ugly piano.
He opens the lid and sees the clean interior and strokes the new felt lining the sound board. He caresses the new pin block.
Zhao picks up the wired action. He looks at Mr Au's manual and he attaches the action to the pin block. He plays the key. A horrible FLAT DISTORTED NOTE.
Zhao studies the piano's action.
104
ZHAO
The wiring's shot.
THE WOODCARVER
Where are we gonna get wire from?
Zhao shrugs - who knows?
ZHAO
Eighty-eight keys ... A lot.
Zhao and The Woodcarver consider the problem.
EXT. RED GUARD SHACK - DAY
Zhao and The Woodcarver stand, gazing at the electricity poles and the single strand of wire running to the shack.
EXT. RED GUARD SHACK - DAY
Zhao disconnects the electricity in the switch box.
EXT. RED GUARD SHACK - DAY
Zhao stands precariously on The Woodcarver's shoulders. He cuts the wire to the electricity pole.
INT. CHAPEL - DAY
105
Zhao and The Woodcarver slice the insulation off the wire.
ZHAO
It's aluminum.
The Woodcarver threads the wire through the pegs. He twists it secure with crude pliers.
Zhao tests the key. The action works, but the note DISTORTS. Zhao sees the hammer missing the string.
The Woodcarver plays the key and Zhao studies the action. He adjusts the hammer. He nods and The Woodcarver plays the key.
It hits the string. Zhao grins triumphantly.
ZHAO
Again.
He plays it again and again. But it sounds worse. Zhao removes the wire.
ZHAO
The wire's stretched.
(shoulders slump)
It's unplayable.
EXT. TOV AYMAG STATION - DAY
Zhao watches Monkhbat, Ganbolo, Qorin, and Bat-Erdent hug Altant.
106
Qorin mouths her words so Altant can read her lips.
QORIN
My daughter. Going to school in Beijing. I'm so
proud.
Ganbolo hugs her. He says nothing but he's bursting with pride then pain that she's going.
The train WHISTLES. Steam BILLOWS.
Altant bows to Zhao and he bows back. She climbs on the train.
Zhao waves to Altant as the train CHUGS off.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
Zhao traipses along the empty road. He hears a truck approach and sticks out his thumb.
EXT. RED GUARD SHACK - DAY
Wu and Pei stand before the electricity pole and stare at the cut wire.
EXT. SHARYNGOL, GANBOLO'S HUT - DAY
Wu and Fung, Pei and Xu stand before the entire village.
WU
Who would do this? Who would stand in the way of
progress?
107
Silence. Wu's eye falls on Bingsun and Chen. Bingsun sets his jaw. Chen squirms under his gaze.
WU
Or is this a case of petty vandalism?
Ganbolo and Monkhbat say nothing.
WU
This is a crime against your leader and your
countrymen. Will the criminal step forward?
Silence.
WU
The Szechuan province is experiencing severe
drought. The crops have failed. You will be honored
to donate twenty-five percent of your crop to your
Szechuan brothers and sisters.
Silence. Wu stalks off, followed by Fung, Pei and Xu.
INT. CHAPEL - DAY
Pei opens the piano and sees the aluminum wire in the action.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - MORNING
108
Zhao is fast asleep. The loudspeaker in the top corner CRACKLES.
MINE MANAGER (THROUGH SPEAKER)
My fellow workers, hard work is like a load placed
before us, challenging us to shoulder it. Some loads
are light, some heavy.
Zhao's eyes snap open.
INT. CAGE - DAY
The cage door CLANGS shut on Zhao, Bingsun, Chen and the other miners.
MINE MANAGER (THROUGH SPEAKER)
Some people prefer the light to the heavy. They
pick the light and shove the heavy on to others.
The elevator shudders downwards.
INT. MINE, CAVE - DAY
Zhao and Bingsun hack out the raw asbestos with their picks. Bingsun shovels up the asbestos and tosses it in the trolley.
Chen struggles to lift his pick and feebly hits the asbestos seam. Foreman lumbers up. He points to Chen's half-empty trolley.
FOREMAN
109
We've got a quota to fill. And it's my ass on the line
too. Move it! Move it!!
ZHAO
We'll help him. All right?
Foreman shoots Chen a withering look and lumbers off.
Zhao hacks out asbestos. He points to Chen's trolley and Bingsun shovels it into Chen's trolley.
INT. MINE, CAVE - DAY
The miners take a break and pass around a can of water and a ladle. Chen holds out his raw and blistered hands.
CHEN
I'm never going to play again, Zhao.
ZHAO
Of course you'll play again.
CHEN
The College is closed.
ZHAO
It'll open again.
CHEN
110
How long are we gonna be here? Forever?
ZHAO
No -
BINGSUN
As long as it takes. That's what our friend Wu says.
ZHAO
Shut up, Bingsun. We will play together. We will
play the Prokofiev together. I promise you.
He holds out his calloused hand. Chen and Bingsun add their raw and blistered hands.
ZHAO/BINGSUN/CHEN
I promise.
They grip each other's hands.
INT. MINE OFFICE - DAY
A bland featureless office. Wu sits behind a plain table, empty except for a sheaf of documents. Zhao sits before him in his raggedy-assed clothes.
ZHAO
I have purged myself of decadent western thought. I
thank you, Comrade Wu, for this priceless
opportunity to re-educate myself.
111
WU
It fills me with great joy when a young man tries so
hard to throw off the yoke of western imperialism.
But western decadence is a pernicious drug and
addicts are so hard to cure.
ZHAO
I am cured, Comrade Wu. Ready to return to
Beijing a new man. I thank you.
Zhao smiles. Wu is stony-faced.
INT. WAITING ROOM - DAY
Zhao emerges from the office. Chen and Bingsun look up hopefully from their chairs.
Zhao shakes his head - no.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen lie on their paillasses.
CHEN
We'll never play again. We will die without ever
hearing another note of music.
Zhao hears the wind SOUGH outside.
112
EXT. BUNKHOSUE - NIGHT
Zhao sees the red flag FLAPPING in the wind.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao hauls his rucksack out from under his paillasse. He rummages through it, and hidden beneath the clothes is his crystal radio set.
EXT. MINE, MANAGER'S OFFICE BLOCK - NIGHT
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen ghost through the shadows toward the bunkhouse. The crystal set bulges in Zhao's shoulder bag.
Zhao sees the limp flag flutter on the office block roof, then billow in the breeze. He grins.
They see the Security Guards patrolling and slip behind a building. They wait till the
Guards leave.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE BLOCK, CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Janitor Jinju mops the floor. A KNOCK on the door. Jinju unlocks the door.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S PUBLIC ADDRESS CUBICLE - NIGHT
Zhao unscrews connecting cables to the Public address system. Chen hands him a new cable.
113
INT. MINE, OFFICE - NIGHT
Zhao places the crystal radio set smack in the middle of the plain, empty table.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S PUBLIC ADDRESS CUBICLE - DAY
The Mine Manager flicks a switch and leans into a microphone.
MINE MANAGER
Good morning, comrades.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - DAY
Zhao's eyes are wide open. He smiles as a GRAND SYMPHONY SWELLS.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S PUBLIC ADDRESS CUBICLE - DAY
The Mine Manager flicks the microphone switch off, on. An UNDERLING searches behind the PA unit.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY
A SECOND UNDERLING and a SECRETARY search the office.
INT. BUNKROOM - DAY
The Miners listen to the music, grinning, chatting.
114
INT. CORRIDOR - DAY
Underlings and Office Staff scurry about opening doors to stationary closets and janitor's closets.
INT. MINE ENTRANCE - DAY
Miners wait for the cage to surface and listen to the music.
INT. CORRIDOR - DAY
The Secretary points to a wire running along the join of wall and floor. The Mine
Manager follows the wire along the length of the corridor.
INT. MINE OFFICE - DAY
The Mine Manager bursts in, followed by the Underling and the Secretary.
The crystal set radio sits on the table.
LATER THAT DAY:
Fung slouches against the closed door.
Zhao, Bingsun, Chen, Jinju and six other MUSIC STUDENTS stand before Wu, who sits at his table. The smashed crystal radio sits on the table.
WU
Whose is this? 115
Silence.
WU
I assume this is the prank of a music student.
Silence.
WU
Seven days in solitary for all of you.
ZHAO
It's mine.
Wu nods.
WU
Your accomplices?
ZHAO
No accomplices.
INT. MINE DETENTION CENTER - DAY
Security Guards shove Zhao into the solitary cell.
INT. SOLITARY CELL - DAY
Darkness. Silence. Zhao hums his Prokofiev.
116
INT. MINE DETENTION CENTER - DAY
Wu and Mine Manager watch a Security Guard unlock the solitary cell. Zhao emerges, blinking in the light.
INT. ELEVATOR - DAY
The elevator shudders down.
Zhao glances upwards and through the iron lattice he sees -
- the meshed STEEL WIRE cable lowering the elevator. A light bulb goes off and he gazes at the steel cable.
INT. MINE, TUNNEL - DAY
Zhao, Binsung and Chen shovel asbestos into trolleys.
CHEN
They'll never let us go, Zhao.
ZHAO
We've just got to get on with, Chen.
The Foreman strides toward them.
FOREMAN
What's this? Come out of solitary and think you can
party?
117
ZHAO
Sorry.
FOREMAN
You've had a week's holiday. Sittin' on your arse.
The Foreman grabs Zhao by the scruff of the neck and tosses him around like a rag doll.
FOREMAN
You owe me four weeks. You can start by filling
this train.
Foreman flings Zhao at the trolley train of empty wagons.
FOREMAN
You're not leaving here till this train is full. You
understand.
He shakes Zhao for good measure. Zhao nods.
CHEN (O.S.)
Leave him alone.
Foreman spins around.
FOREMAN
What?
118
CHEN
You touch my friend again and I will kill you.
ZHAO
Chen.
FOREMAN
Who? You? And who else? The Red Army?
Foreman advances on Chen. Chen lifts and swings his pickaxe and hits the Foreman right between the eyes.
The Foreman collapses. Zhao and Bingsun stare, horrified. The Miners stop work and silently gather.
Chen sprints along the tunnel.
ZHAO
Chen!
Zhao chases him.
INT. MINE, ELEVATOR STOP - DAY
Zhao races to the elevator. Too late. The cage rises.
EXT. MINE, BARN - DAY
119
Zhao races out of the barn. He sees Chen jump into a giant truck. Asbestos pours from a chute into the truck's bed.
MINE MANAGER (THROUGH SPEAKER)
- wherever we are, we must bear in, the protracted
war that must be maintained, the counter-offensive,
and the work of reconstruction after the enemy's
expulsion.
Zhao sees Chen jump into the cabin of a giant truck. Asbestos pours from a chute into the truck's rear tray.
Chen starts up the engine and the truck lurches off. Asbestos pours from the chute onto the ground.
MINE MANAGER (THROUGH SPEAKER
We must never be wasteful or extravagant; on the
other hand we must actively expand production.
The TRUCK DRIVER throws away his cigarette and gives chase.
TRUCK DRIVER
Hey!
TRUCK DRIVERS and MINE WORKERS shout. The CONVEYOR BELT/CHUTE
OPERATOR closes off the machine. An emergency siren WAILS.
Zhao and Bingsun, the Truck Driver and Mine Workers chase the truck.
120
INT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY
The Mine Manager stands at his window, microphone in one hand, cigarette in the other.
MINE MANAGER
We must do our utmost, in the course of our
struggle, to preserve all useful means of production.
The Mine Manager sees the men chasing the truck which lurches and bunny hops -
MINE MANAGER
We must take resolute measures against anyone's
destroying or wasting them -
- and side swipes a jeep
MINE MANAGER
(faltering)
- oppose extravagant eating and drinking and pay
attention to thrift and economy.
EXT. MINE, MAIN AREA - DAY
Zhao jumps on the running board, wrenches open the door and leaps in.
INT. TRUCK - DAY
Chen wrestles with the steering wheel and gear shift. The truck lurches and sways.
121
CHEN
Have I ever told you how much I like Ravel, Zhao?
ZHAO
Chen, we've gotta stop. Now.
CHEN
And Faure? And Delius? Do you like Faure and
Delius, Zhao?
ZHAO
Ummm. They're OK, I guess.
CHEN
I love those French guys, Zhao.
EXT. MINE, MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY
The Mine Manager steps out to investigate the commotion. He sees the truck careering around the mine, Truck Drivers and Mine Workers dive out of the way.
INT. TRUCK - DAY
Chen takes his hand off the wheel to make a point.
CHEN
I get sick of those Russian guys. They're so
miserable. The French guys are happy. All that wine
122
and cheese and all those prostitutes. Freedom,
Zhao! Don't you want go to Paris, Zhao?
ZHAO
Not in the truck, Chen.
Zhao grabs the wheel. Wrestles it. Chen tries to wrench it back. The truck sways and swerves.
Zhao sees, ahead: the tower/structure supporting the conveyor belt/chute.
ZHAO
Chen!
CRASH! The truck SMASHES into the tower.
EXT. MINE - DAY
The tower COLLAPSES. Asbestos pours from the broken chute over the truck.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY
Zhao and Chen sit opposite the Mine Manager.
MINE MANAGER
Stealing a government truck? The only punishment.
ZHAO
Sir -
123
A HAMMERING on the door. The Secretary pokes her head in -
MINE MANAGER
Not now.
SECRETARY
Sir, there's been a -
INT. MINE, TUNNEL - DAY
The Mine Manager, Guan, Deng, Zhao, Bingsun, Chen and the Miners gather around the
Foreman's body, covered with his jacket.
MINER #1
It was an accident. The rocks fell from the roof
here.
The Miners all nod. The Mine Manager looks skeptical, but says nothing.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY
Zhao and Chen stand before the Mine Manager.
ZHAO
Shock, sir. It was a great tragedy. And too much for
a sensitive man like Chen.
MINE MANAGER
124
I have no idea what Comrade Wu will make of this.
ZHAO
Comrade Wu will not be impressed, sir. He won't
understand. He wasn't there. It may reflect badly on
you, sir. Which isn't very fair.
Mine Manager ponders.
EXT. SLAGHEAP - NIGHT
The stars shine down on Zhao, Bingsun and Chen who sit on the slagheap and idly toss rocks at rusty old cans.
CHEN
I don't know what's wrong with me. I killed a man.
Me. Chen. Viola player at the Beijing
Conservatorium. Yes, that Chen.
Chen throws a stone and it hits a rusty can.
CHEN
And I don't feel bad. I don't feel bad at all.
EXT. RICE FIELDS - DAY
Monkhbat harvests rice with The Woodcarver and The Blacksmith. Monkhbat sees Pei drive his jeep along the trail, toward the chapel.
125
Monkhbat glances uneasily at The Woodcarver and The Blacksmith.
INT. CHAPEL - NIGHT
Pei gazes at the piano. He lifts the lid and peers inside. He smiles at the interior repairs.
EXT. CHAPEL - DAY
Monkhbat rides along the trail on his pony. He pulls up. He sees Pei's jeep parked in front of the chapel.
EXT. CHAPEL - DAY
Monkhbat, The Woodcarver and The Blacksmith heave and push and pull the piano up planks and onto the back of a cart.
EXT. TRAIL - EVENING
The sun sets on the three boys, driving the cart across the steppes with the piano strapped to the back.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen and Jinju play mah jong at a table. A MINER shows Monkhbat in.
MONKHBAT
Zhao. 126
ZHAO
Momkhbat! What are you doing here?
Zhao rises and Monkhbat embraces Zhao, grins at Bingsun and Chen.
MONKHBAT
Pei. He found the piano.
ZHAO
Oh no.
MONKHBAT
It's all right. We brought it here.
BINGSUN
Here?!
ZHAO
You brought the piano here?!
CHEN
What about the security guards?
MONKHBAT
It's outside. A mile down the road.
EXT. PERIMETER FENCE - NIGHT
Zhao finishes cutting the wire fence with wirecutters.
127
The six boys pull, push and heave the piano through the fence and up a steep slope of a hill.
INT. MINE ROAD, CREST - NIGHT
The six boys heave the piano onto the bitumen road at the crest of the incline. They pause to catch their breath. They embrace each other.
ZHAO
Thank you.
The three Mongolians wave their goodbyes and retreat down the slope to the cut fence.
Zhao, Binsung and Chen keep waving goodbye and catching their breaths. And the piano rolls down the road.
The boys turn and see the piano rolling down the hill.
EXT. ROAD, HILL - NIGHT
The piano keeps rolling down the hill -
- and the three boys chase it.
EXT. MANAGER'S OFFICE BLOCK - NIGHT
The piano races down the hill, scoots across the forecourt and heads for the office block.
128
Their hearts enter their mouths. The piano pulls up before the Mine Manager's office.
And there's a light on inside.
The boys creep toward the piano. They see the Mine Manager through his window.
They push the piano across the forecourt. Oops. Security Guards approach.
They slip between buildings.
EXT. PASSAGE BETWEEN BUILDINGS - NIGHT
They push the piano toward the end of the building. Reach it.
EXT. OPEN SPACE, MINE ENTRANCE - NIGHT
They push the piano into the open space. Ooops. A gang of MINERS emerges from the mine entrance.
They schlepp the piano back into the passage.
EXT. PASSAGE BETWEEN BUILDINGS - NIGHT
They catch their breath.
CHEN
Why couldn't you play, like, an oboe, Zhao?
BINGSUN
Where are we gonna hide a fucking piano?!
129
EXT. ABANDONED MINE SHAFT - NIGHT
Zhao pulls open the rusty gate.
EXT. MINE, CAVE - NIGHT
The three boys catch their breath and stare at the piano with its unpainted leg, scratches and gouges.
BINGSUN
That's one ugly piano, man.
ZHAO
It's beautiful.
Zhao opens the lid and they all stare inside at brand new pin block, the newly carved hammers and felt - and the mess of wires.
BINGSUN
You'll never play that.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen sit close together on their adjoining paillasses.
ZHAO
(to Chen)
Are you sure you're up for this?
130
Chen nods bravely.
EXT. MINE, YARD - NIGHT
A pair of SECURITY GUARDS stroll past.
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen emerge from behind a building and scurry inside.
Chen lurks in the shadows - on lookout.
INT. MINE, BARN/ELEVATOR CAGE - NIGHT
Zhao and Bingsun clamber onto the top of the cage. Zhao adjusts his wrench to fit the huge nut - one of two - securing the pulley plate to the cage.
Zhao heaves but the nut won't move. He squirts oil on both nuts. Zhao and Bingsun heave on the wrench. It moves. They loosen it. They loosen the second nut.
The cage shudders. And tilts.
EXT. MINE, BARN - NIGHT
Chen sees the Security Guards returning. He tries to whistle - but his lips are too dry.
The Security Guards approach - closer. Chen scurries away. The Security Guards approach the doorless opening.
INT. MINE, BARN/ELEVATOR CAGE - NIGHT
131
Zhao and Bingsun hear FOOTSTEPS. They hear the Security Guards quietly chatting.
They see them just outside the entrance.
The cage slips. Zhao and Bingsun cling to the wire cable.
The Security Guards move off. Zhao and Bingsun gulp.
BINGSUN
Those nuts - they're the only thing holding it.
Zhao looks down through the cage into the black depths below.
ZHAO
Get off.
BINGSUN
No.
The cage shudders and drops.
ZHAO
There's too much weight.
Bingsun leaps from the cage and crashes on the ground.
Zhao loosens the nut. The cage shudders. He loosens it more. The cage DROPS. Zhao leaps from the plummeting cage. Onto the floor.
Beat. Another beat. A muffled CRASH.
132
EXT. MINE, BARN - NIGHT
Chen hears the ECHO of the crash. He waits with bated breath. But the Security Guards don't return.
INT. ELEVATOR MACHINE ROOM - NIGHT
Zhao and Bingsun enter the tiny corrugated iron shack with the elevator motor and the spool of wire.
EXT. ABANDONED MINE SHAFT - NIGHT
Zhao and Bingsun lug the spool and wire toward the gated mine entrance.
Chen opens the gate.
INT. MINE TUNNEL - NIGHT
Chen leads the way with a lantern. Zhao and Bingsun follow, lugging the spool.
INT. MINE, CAVE - NIGHT
Zhao and Bingsun hide the spool behind rubble in an abandoned cave.
INT. MINE ENTRANCE - NIGHT
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen, and a gang of miners watch the Mine Manager, Guan and Deng stare at the cageless elevator shaft.
133
MINE MANAGER
Go back to your quarters until this is repaired.
The miners grin amongst themselves.
INT. MINE, TUNNEL - DAY
Wu and Fung, Pei and Xu, the Mine Manager, Guan and Deng study the buckled elevator cage.
WU
Wire?
MINE MANAGER
The wire cable was stolen.
Wu tries to make sense of it.
MINE MANAGER
Metal is very valuable.
Pei knows what the wire was used for.
INT. MINE, CAVE - NIGHT
A lantern lights the cave.
MONTAGE:
134
A. Chen measures and cuts a length of wire from the cable.
B. Jinju threads the wire through the hammer.
C. Bingsun ties off the wire with pliers.
D. Zhao fixes the action to the hammer. He lines it up and screws it in place.
INT. CHAPEL - DAY
Pei, Wu and Fung stand in the empty chapel. No piano.
PEI
It was here. I tell you there was a piano here.
WU
Where is the piano now, comrade?
PEI
I don't know. Zhao. Zhao must have it.
Fung stares at Pei with contempt.
WU
Zhao is in the mines. How did he get a piano thirty
miles to the mine?
Fung smirks.
PEI
135
It must be in the village.
Wu considers.
WU
(to Fung)
Organize a search.
Wu shoots a suspicious look at Pei. Wu and Fung exit. Beat. Pei follows. His eye catches something on the floor. He picks up - aluminum wire.
Pei steps toward the door. He stops. Considers. Pockets the wire.
INT. MINE, CAVE - NIGHT
Zhao fits the last of the actions/hammers. Bingsun, Chen and Jinju peer inside the piano.
It's complete.
ZHAO
It's ready.
They all look to Zhao, beaming proudly. Zhao pulls up a makeshift stool - a rusty old oil drum. He sits and stretches his fingers.
The others watch. Jinju reaches for Chen's hand and squeezes it. Chen looks into her eyes and realizes how lovely she is. Bingsun sees the loving looks and smiles.
Zhao plays a series of SCALES up the piano. The other three grimace.
136
BINGSUN
Urrgghh.
CHEN
Ouch.
ZHAO
OK, it needs a little tuning.
He lovingly plays one last HORRIBLE SCALE. Jinju covers her ears.
EXT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE BLOCK - DAY
Zhao waits in front of the office. His clothes are clean - if torn and frayed. He sees a mine truck trundle toward him and pull up.
Altant jumps out. They hug. Then kiss.
ZHAO
You don't know how good it is to see you.
Altant caresses his lips and gestures - slow down.
ZHAO
It's - so - good - to see- you.
Altant beams.
EXT. MINE, HILLTOP - DAY
137
They sit on an old blanket. Altant unpacks a meagre meal from her suitcase. She rummages under her clothes and takes out a package.
Zhao opens it: a tuning fork and a couple of piano tuning instruments.
ZHAO
Mr Au. I love you like a brother.
They eat the meal cakes.
ZHAO
Damn! These meal cakes are GOOD!
He chomps on them and Altant giggles silently.
They gaze out over the slag heaps, the dust, the open wounds of the open-cut mine.
ZHAO
How's Beijing?
Altant smiles blissfully.
ZHAO
I'll be back one day. And school?
Altant smiles blissfully.
ZHAO
When this is all over. Will you marry me?
138
Altant blinks back tears and nods. They lie back on the blanket and hold each other.
EXT. MINE, FORECOURT - EVENING
Zhao flags down a truck.
ZHAO
(to DRIVER)
Can you take her to the station?
The Driver nods. Zhao helps her into the cabin. He hands her her tiny suitcase.
ZHAO
Say hi to your mom and dad.
She nods and kisses him chastely. She closes the door and waves as the truck trundles off.
He keeps waving, then sadly moves off. He stops.
Pei sits in his jeep.
PEI
Very touching. You must have scintillating
conversations.
Zhao ignores him and keeps walking.
PEI
The piano. Where is it?
139
Zhao stops, gestures - what are you talking about?
PEI
I know you found the piano. I saw it. I know you
nicked the wiring.
Pei holds up the aluminum wire.
PEI
Not very bright. Everyone knows aluminum
stretches. Let me guess. Elevator cable. Very
resourceful. So, where's the piano?
ZHAO
They started this mine sixty years ago. There's a
hundred and twenty miles of abandoned tunnels. If -
if there's a piano out there, you'll need the whole
fucking Red Army to find it.
He strides off.
PEI
I just want to play it.
Zhao pauses, surprised by the admission.
ZHAO
Screw you, Pei.
140
Zhao moves off.
INT. MINE, CAVE - NIGHT
Bingsun, Chen and Jinju watch Zhao strike the tuning fork on the piano. It HUMS. The four of them listen to the pure sweet sound and smile.
Zhao hands the fork to Chen. He strikes it. Bingsun plays Middle C.
Zhao adjusts the C strings with the tuning wrench. Chen hits the fork again. Bingsun plays Middle C. Zhao adjusts. Closer. Closer. Perfect. They all grin.
ZHAO
D.
Bingsun plays D. Zhao tightens the string. Tighter. Tighter.
JINJU
You've got perfect pitch?
ZHAO
(shakes his head)
Perfect relative.
Bingsun plays D again. Zhao tightens the string.
BINGSUN
Close.
141
Zhao tweaks the string. SNAP. The string whiplashes. Hits Zhao across the cheek and draws blood.
ZHAO
No. No.
He looks at the snapped string.
ZHAO
E.
Bingsun plays E. Zhao tightens the string. Tighter. SNAP.
ZHAO
No.No! F! F!!!
Bingsun reluctantly plays F. Zhao tightens the string. SNAP.
A FEW MINUTES LATER:
The four survey the wreckage of snapped strings inside the piano. Bingsun squeezes the dazed Zhao by his shoulders.
INT. MINE - DAY
A dazed Zhao hacks feebly at the asbestos. Chen slaps him encouragingly on the shoulder. He holds out his calloused hand. Zhao holds his hand out.
CHEN
142
The Prokofiev. Remember the Prokofiev.
Chen hums a few bars. Zhao nods weakly.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
A listless Zhao lies on his paillasse. The mailman moves along the rows of paillasses tossing letter. A letter lands on Zhao's chest. He opens it and reads.
MR AU (V.O.)
My Dear Zhao, I am sorry to bear bad news yet
again. Professor Su has passed on.
EXT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao emerges from the bunkhouse, wearing a jacket, his satchel slung over his shoulder.
MR AU (V.O.)
The doctors say he died of a coronary infarction.
But he kept saying the college would never open
again and he would never teach.
Zhao sees the coast is clear and moves off into the shadows.
EXT. TRAIN, RAILS - NIGHT
Zhao rides the rails.
143
MR AU (V.O.)
He worked as a janitor in the steel works and never
complained. But I'm sure he died of a broken heart.
EXT. CEMETERY - DAY
Zhao, Mr Au and a dozen MOURNERS, including six MUSIC STUDENTS listen to the
CELEBRANT conclude the service.
Zhao watches, surprised when the students produce a flute, a piccolo, an oboe, a couple of violins and a viola.
They play a sweet elegiacal piece - Mozart, perhaps.
INT. MR AU'S TINY FLAT - DAY
The mourner congregate in groups, drinking tea chatting quietly. Mr Au and Zhao are off to one side. Mr Au holds up Zhao's tuxedo.
MR AU
I rescued this for you.
Zhao caresses the jacket.
ZHAO
Thank you.
Mr Au hands Zhao a package.
144
MR AU
The Professor left this for you.
Zhao opens it. Sheet Music - the Prokofiev Piano Concerto Number 1. Zhao gazes at it lovingly.
And Professor's Su ebony and red baton.
MR AU
He especially wanted you to have it. Excuse me, I
have other guests.
Mr Au joins a group of mourners. Zhao gazes at the baton.
The student FLAUTIST, female 21, and the student OBOEIST, male, 20, join Zhao.
FLAUTIST
Zhao, remember us?
ZHAO
Xhusa. Of course. The orchestra. You played with
me the night I, er, lost.
The Flautist nods sympathetically.
FLAUTIST
We've heard you're putting an orchestra together -
ZHAO
145
What?
FLAUTIST
- to play the Prokofiev.
ZHAO
Who told you that?
OBOEIST
Jinju.
Zhao shakes his head in disbelief.
FLAUTIST
The members of the old orchestra - we stay in
touch.
ZHAO
I'm not putting together an orchestra. There's eight
of us at the mine. Just a small chamber group.
FLAUTIST
There's another six of us from our village.
ZHAO
Where's that?
FLAUTIST
Guangdou. 146
ZHAO
That's what? Four hundred miles away?
OBOEIST
We'll come to play!
ZHAO
No. It's too dangerous.
LATER:
Zhao climbs into his jacket and shoulders his satchel. Mr Au appears in his best suit.
MR AU
Maybe the tide's turning. There's an American
orchestra over here on a cultural exchange. From
Cleveland. They're entertaining the Party
mandarins. They need a piano tuner. Want to come
along?
Zhao nods, very keen.
INT. CONCERT HALL, STAGE - DAY
Zhao watches Mr Au tune the grand piano on the stage. The CONDUCTOR, PIANO
SOLOIST, FIRST VIOLINIST and ORCHESTRA LEADER confront MADAME
JIANG, 60, and three PARTY LACKEYS. Madame Jiang speaks in Cantonese. A
Translator translates into English. 147
MADAME JIANG/TRANSLATOR
I want to hear the Beethoven.
CONDUCTOR
Madame Jiang, we agreed on concert pieces. We have not rehearsed that concerto. We do not even have the music.
MADAME JIANG/TRANSLATOR
Do you know who I am?
ZHAO
(whispers)
Do they know she's the Chairman's wife?
CONDUCTOR
We know who you are, Madame Jiang.
Wolfie, do you know the Beethoven?
PIANIST
I haven't played it in twenty years.
CONDUCTOR
I'm sorry, Madame Jiang.
MADAME JIANG/TRANSLATOR
148
You will play the Beethoven. Or we will take it as a
grievous insult. And the tour will be cancelled.
Madame Jiang and her Party Lackeys stalk off.
Zhao nudges Mr Au.
ZHAO
Professor Su's archive. Will he have it?
MR AU
He might.
Zhao approaches the Conductor.
ZHAO
Excuse me.
The Conductor looks enquiringly at Zhao.
EXT. CONSERVATORIUM - NIGHT
Zhao and Mr Au gaze at the shut-up and darkened building.
ZHAO
Where's the archive?
MR AU
149
In the prompt. Under the stage. It's locked. There
are guards, Zhao. No way in.
Zhao points to a third floor window and a tree beneath it.
ZHAO
That's how we used to sneak out at nights.
EXT. TREETOP - NIGHT
Zhao clambers up the tree. He wrenches open the window. He gives the thumbs up to Mr
Au below.
INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Zhao creeps along a corridor.
INT. COLLEGE AUDITORIUM, STAGE - NIGHT
Zhao creeps across the stage. He hears a door OPEN. He sees a torch beam swing across the auditorium. Zhao shrinks into the wings and waits for the GUARD to leave.
INT. BELOW STAGE - NIGHT
Zhao moves quietly along a narrow passageway to a recessed door. He opens the door.
INT. PROMPT - NIGHT
150
Zhao enters. No room to swing a cat. A frayed curtain runs the length of a wall. Zhao opens the curtain. Darkness.
He gets down on hands and knees and crawls in. Strikes a match and lights a lantern.
Shelf after shelf after shelf of sheet music.
Zhao crawls to the Beethoven section. Finds the piano concerti. He pulls out a folio.
INT. CONCERT HALL, ORCHESTRA PIT - NIGHT
Zhao, the Orchestra Leader, and TOUR MANAGER watch the Conductor study the folio.
CONDUCTOR
Thank you.
Zhao shrugs modestly.
CONDUCTOR
You'll come tonight?
ZHAO
Thank you.
CONDUCTOR
(to Tour Manager)
Get these copied. And call a rehearsal.
151
INT. CONCERT HALL, SECOND ROW - NIGHT
Zhao sits - second row center - and watches the Cleveland Symphony perform. He watches the Pianist strike mighty chords.
He glances at Chairman Mao and Madame Jiang in front of him.
He thrills to the Conductor's passionate conducting.
EXT. BEIJING STREET - NIGHT
Zhao and Mr Au stroll.
ZHAO
That was something, wasn't it?
MR AU
Wonderful.
RED GUARDS drive by in a jeep. They slow down as they approach Zhao and look at him suspiciously. They drive off.
ZHAO
Professor Su had a Bechstein.
MR AU
Zhao, it's a different model. The pin block -
ZHAO
152
No. No, the strings? Will the strings fit?
MR AU
Should do.
Zhao smiles hopefully.
INT. PROFESSOR SU'S OFFICE - NIGHT
Zhao surveys the wreckage of the office. Books, busts, prints of famous composers and musicians - all ripped and smashed and scattered around the office.
Zhao gazes at the smashed Bechstein. He sees the strings in the piano body - disconnected and tangled.
INT. RAILWAY FREIGHT OFFICE - NIGHT
Zhao waits outside the freight office. Mr Au emerges and hands him a ticket.
MR AU
Addressed to Bingsun.
Zhao nods.
EXT. MINE - DAY
Zhao trudges through the mine gates.
INT. DETENTION CENTER - DAY 153
Wu and Mine Manager watch Fung throw Zhao into the solitary cell.
INT. SOLITARY CELL - NIGHT
Zhao hums and kind of scats the Prokofiev.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
A pale, exhausted Zhao sits across the plain table from Wu.
WU
Have you seen the error of your ways, Zhao?
ZHAO
Yes, comrade. In the second movement, the allegro,
there's an arpeggio which I've always attacked.
There's a delicacy in that passage I hadn't noticed
before.
Wu's jaw clenches.
INT. DETENTION CENTER - DAY
Wu and Mine Manager watch Fung throw Zhao into the solitary cell.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
A pale, exhausted Zhao sits across the plain table from Wu.
154
WU
You must understand, Zhao, you will never play
music again.
Zhao looks beaten. He nods feebly.
EXT. ABANDONED MINE SHAFT - NIGHT
Zhao looks discreetly around - none. He pulls open the rusty gate and ducks inside.
INT. MINE CAVE - NIGHT
MONTAGE:
A. Jinju passes a string to Bingsun who threads it in the far end of the piano board.
B. Chen pulls the string taut and passes other end to Zhao.
C. Zhao twists the string tight with pliers.
D. Zhao looks at the strings - half of the 170 in place.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao lies on his paillasse and reads a letter to Bingsun and Chen on the adjacent cots.
ZHAO
155
We've heard you want to form an orchestra. You
remember I played the trumpet. There are three of
us in the factory. Two trumpets and a cello ...
(to Bingsun)
Who told them I was forming an orchestra?
INT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY
Pei shows Wu and the Mine Manager the aluminum wire.
PEI
They stole the aluminum wire to repair the piano. It
didn't work so they stole the cable wire.
WU
Would that work?
PEI
Probably, yes.
WU
What is he planning? He wants to play this piano?
PEI
Yes.
WU
In public? 156
PEI
No. He's not that stupid. Or brave.
Wu looks at Pei speculatively.
PEI
There are seven other musicians in the mine.
WU
He wants to form a band?
PEI
A small chamber orchestra.
WU
In defiance of my orders? His Chairman's order?
Under my very nose?
Pei nods.
INT. MINE SHAFT - NIGHT
Zhao tightens the last string with the pliers. Bingsun, Chen and Jinju gaze at it proudly.
Zhao nods.
ZHAO
C.
157
Bingsun plays middle C on the piano. Chen strikes the tuning fork. Zhao tightens the string with the tuning wrench.
MORNING:
Light shines through the air shaft.
Bingsun plays the final high note. Zhao adjusts the string with his tuning wrench.
Done.
Bingsun, Chen and Jinju look speculatively at Zhao.
Zhao pulls up the oil drum and sits down. He's almost too scared to play. He plays a rolling scale arpeggio from the bass end of the keyboard to the treble end.
The notes THUNDER and ECHO in the rocky chamber and up through the air vent. And down the tunnel.
INT. MINE TUNNEL - DAY
Puzzled MINERS pause as the RUMBLE of the piano rolls down the mine.
EXT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE BLOCK - DAY
Wu, Pei and Mine Manager exit the office block and pause as they hear the strangely echoing piano RUMBLE.
INT. MINE, CAVE - DAY
158
Zhao keeps playing, inspired.
INT. MINE TUNNEL - DAY
The MINERS lean on their shovels and pick axes and listen to the ghostly music.
FOREMAN
Get back to work!
EXT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE BLOCK - DAY
Wu slow burns as he hears the faint, ghostly chords.
INT. MINE, CAVE - DAY
Zhao crescendos and finishes the piece. Bingsun, Chen and Jinju whoop and holler. Zhao rises and bows theatrically.
CHEN
Shit, what's the time?
INT. MINE, TUNNEL - DAY
Zhao, Chen and Bingsun attack the asbestos seam with vigor. Two MINERS approach
Zhao.
ZHAO
We need a hand.
159
Zhao follows them around a curve in the tunnel. A THIRD MINER and a FOURTH
MINER jump on Zhao. Third Miner gags Zhao. Zhao struggles but they pin him to the ground. Fourth Miner pins his arms.
Second Miner holds Zhao's hands out flat. First Miner lifts a ballpen hammer and smashes Zhao's hand. Again. Second Miner hold Zhao's other hand out flat. First Miner smashes his hand. And again.
INT. SHED, CAGE - DAY
Zhao stumble out of the cage, followed by Bingsun and Chen. Zhao staggers out of the shed, clutching his hands.
INT. ABANDONED MINE TUNNEL - DAY
Zhao collapses onto the oil drum. He lifts up the keyboard cover and takes out the
Prokofiev folio. He opens it and places it on the sheet rack, smearing blood across the music.
Bingsun and Chen watch Zhao play the opening notes.
Zhao drags his battered hands across the keyboard, trailing blood on the keys. The music is harsh, angry.
Zhao's mangled fingers won't go where he wants them and the music is discordant, with missed beats. But recognizable.
160
INT. MINE - DAY
Guan and Deng, the Foreman and the Miners pause as they hear the ghostly piano played through the air vents.
The Mine Manager hustles in and hears the music.
MINE MANAGER
Get back to work!
(to Foreman)
Get them back to work!
FOREMAN
Get back to work! Now!
The miners refuse to budge.
MINE MANAGER
Get back to work! Get back to work!
INT. ABANDONED MINE TUNNEL - DAY
Zhao plays the last defiant notes and the music dies down.
INT. SOLITARY CELL - DAY
Mine Manager watches Security Guards throw Zhao into the cell.
161
INT. MINE TUNNEL - DAY
A concerned Bingsun and Chen watch Zhao manically attack the asbestos seam with his pickaxe.
INT. CAFETERIA - DAY
Bingsun, Chen and the other student musician sit and eat at a communal table. Zhao's meagre food is untouched.
BINGSUN
You have to eat, Zhao.
Silence.
CHEN
Keep up your strength.
Silence.
STUDENT MUSICIAN
How are your hands?
ZHAO
They'll heal.
Pei approaches. Hostile glances all round.
PEI
162
May I sit down?
Silence. He sits.
PEI
I'm sorry, Zhao. This was not my doing.
Pei looks down at his own undamaged hands, lost for words.
PEI
There's someone to see you.
Zhao shakes his head - no.
PEI
I brought her from Tov Aymag.
ZHAO
No.
PEI
She's come from Beijing.
Zhao is torn.
EXT. SLAG HEAP - DAY
Altant cradles Zhao's crippled hands. She kisses them.
ZHAO
163
They feel better already.
Altant takes a flyer from her shoulder bag and hands it to Zhao.
ZHAO
(reads)
The Sharyngol Summer Games.
(to Altant)
Who made this? You?
Altant grins and nods.
ZHAO
(reads)
Horse racing. Wrestling. Archery... Music.
Zhao writes characters on a piece of paper. Zhao reads it.
ZHAO
I can't play.
Altant looks at him pleadingly. A shift WHISTLE blasts.
ZHAO
I've got to go.
Altant clutches his hands and they embrace.
INT. MINE TUNNEL - DAY
164
Zhao, Bingsun, Chen and the Student Musicians hack and shovel.
FOREMAN
OK. Ten minutes.
Everyone lays down their tools. Water jugs are passed around, cigarettes lit.
Zhao discreetly beckons the other to him. They pass around a water jug and Zhao shows them the flyer.
ZHAO
What say we play?
The eight musicians all consider and nod.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Bingsun, Chen and the other musicians take their instruments from their lockers.
INT. PASSAGE BETWEEN BUILDINGS - NIGHT
Zhao and the musicians wait for the Security Guards to pass, then scurry across the main area.
INT. MINE CAVE - NIGHT
The seven musicians play the Prokofiev. Bass player Jinjung watches - without her bass.
Zhao plays valiantly. They reach the end of a passage.
165
BINGSUN
That was good.
Everyone nods and encourages Zhao. But Zhao knows he can't play.
ZHAO
Violinists, I need it a little brighter at bar one two
eight.
Zhao hums and demonstrates the music he wants. They all nod. He counts them in. They play.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao lies on his bed. He gazes at Professor Su's baton which he holds in hands.
STUDENT MUSICIAN
I've been on the phone with Lanfen. The flautist.
She says there are eight players from the old
orchestra. And another six in the next village.
ZHAO
Bloody hell! Why is everyone asking me? I can't
even play.
Student Musician says nothing. Zhao torn - how can I pull this off?
INT. CAFETERIA - DAY
166
STUDENT MUSICIAN #2 joins Zhao, Bingsun and Chen at the breakfast table.
STUDENT MUSICIAN #2
I spoke to my friend up in Szechuan. You
remember, Bo?
ZHAO
Trumpet.
STUDENT MUSICIAN #2
Eight students.
BINGSUN
That's forty musicians, Zhao.
ZHAO
Great. A symphony bloody orchestra.
Zhao defiantly munches his food.
INT. MINE TUNNEL - DAY
Zhao, Bingsun and Chen hack at the seam. STUDENT #3 sneaks up on them.
STUDENT #3
Zhao, you remember my cousin?
ZHAO
No!
167
Zhao smashes his pick into the tunnel wall.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - NIGHT
Zhao sits on his bunk. He takes the toilet roll from his trunk and unrolls it. He gazes at the notes and hears the music in his head.
EXT. PHONE BOX - NIGHT
Zhao waits his turn. A CALLER leaves and Zhao inserts coins and dials a number.
ZHAO
Bo? Hi ... we have about sixty musicians ... can you
get hold of your Prokofiev folio? I'll send you my
notations. We can't rehearse. You'll have to rehearse
your parts as a small group. One performance only.
INT. MR AU'S FLAT, KITCHEN/LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Mr Au sits at his kitchen table, reading a letter.
ZHAO (V.O.)
I need the Prokofiev folio from the secret archive. I
know someone who can help.
EXT. CONSERVATORIUM - NIGHT
168
Mr Au and Altant stand under the tree. Mr Au points to the window and hands her a floor plan. Altant scurries up the tree.
INT. PROMPT/SECRET ARCHIVE - NIGHT
Altant shines a torch on her map/instructions: Prokofiev Piano Concerto Number One.
She finds the Prokofiev archive. She finds the Piano Concert #1 folio.
INT. MINE MANAGER'S OFFICE - NIGHT
A dim desk light haloes Jingju who hand rolls copies of the folio on a primitive Gestetner machine.
INT. RED GUARD SHACK DAY
Pei smokes a cigarette and reads a book, feet up on the desk. The door opens and Zhao enters.
PEI
Come to confess your sins, Zhao?
Zhao sits down.
ZHAO
How would you like to play the Prokofiev?
Pei tries to digest this.
169
ZHAO
I'm putting together the old orchestra.
PEI
Why can't you - ?
His eyes flicker toward Zhao's hands.
ZHAO
If we're caught - and we probably will be - this -
(gestures at Pei's uniform and the
shack)
- will all be over for you.
Pei considers.
INT. ABANDONED CAVE - NIGHT
Bingsun, Chen and the Eight Musicians sit on rocks, packing cases or oil drums and tune up.
Zhao enters. They all greet him. Pei enters. Silence. Hostility.
Zhao gestures to the piano. Pei sits on the oil drum.
BINGSUN
What's he doing here, Zhao?
ZHAO
170
Playing the piano.
BINGSUN
You're playing the piano.
Zhao shakes his head - no. He nods at Pei. Pei lifts the keyboard cover and opens the
Prokofiev. He caresses the keys lovingly and plays a series of scales - beautifully. He stops and blinks back tears.
ZHAO
(to Pei)
I've annotated the score. You're playing under my
instructions.
Pei looks rebellious, but nods.
PEI
From the top.
Zhao counts/ waves his baton. They play a few bars. Zhao stops them.
ZHAO
No!
(to Pei)
This is my arrangement. You play my way or not at
all.
Pei finally nods.
171
INT. TRAIN CARRIAGE - DAY
Altant and Mr Au watch the rolling countryside from their carriage window. While below
-
EXT. TRAIN, RAILS - DAY
A dozen MUSIC STUDENTS ride the rails, clutching their instruments.
EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY
Four MUSIC STUDENTS hitchhike.
EXT. BULLOCK-DRAWN CART - DAY
Five STUDENTS sit in the back of the cart with their concealed instruments.
EXT. ABANDONED MINE ENTRANCE - DAY
A mine truck pulls up by the abandoned mine.
Zhao, Bingsun, Chen and Pei roll the piano out of the mine.
ZHAO
One. Two. Three.
They heave the piano onto the back of the truck. Zhao and Pei leap on board and cover the piano with a tarpaulin.
172
INT. TOV AYMAG TRAIN STATION, FREIGHT OFFICE - DAY
Jingju and Music Student #1 pick up a box - large enough to conceal a string bass - from the freight counter.
EXT. TOV AYMAG, RAILWAY YARD - DAY
The train slows and the dozen Music Students leap off, clutching their instruments in shoulder bags, cases, satchels.
EXT. TOV AYMAG TRAIN STATION, EXIT - DAY
Jingju and Music Student #1 carry the boxed double bass out of the station. Beat. Altant and Mr Au follow.
They all join the stream of rail-riding Music Students.
EXT. JEEP - DAY
Fung and Wu drive past a group of ten MUSIC STUDENTS walking along the road with their concealed instrument. Wu glares at them suspiciously.
FUNG
Must be here for the games.
WU
They don't look like athletes.
173
EXT. TOV AYMAG STREET - DAY
A flyer for the Sharyngol Games is pinned to a post. Wu and Fung drive past the post and pull up.
A stream of HUMANITY swarms past the stationary jeep. Wu sees Altant and watches her suspiciously.
In b/g - the truck with the tarpaulin-ed piano trundles past.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
The mine truck pulls up and Zhao helps Altant and Mr Au on board.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
The mine truck pulls up and the ten music students climb aboard.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - DAY
Wu and Fung patrol the crowded village.
WU
Where is Pei?
Fung shrugs - don't know.
WU
And Xu?
174
Fung shakes his head - don't know that either.
Wu sights Zhao and Altant, Bingsun and Chen.
WU
Go back to Tov Aymag. Round up every man you
can.
Fung nods and marches toward the jeep.
EXT. ARCHERY FIELD - DAY
Ganbolo fires an arrow. It almost silently hits the bullseye.
EXT. WRESTLING RING - DAY
The Blacksmith wrestles a neighboring VILLAGER. He flips the Villager and pins him.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - EVENING
Wu waits as the jeep pulls up and Fung and six RED GUARDS jump out.
EXT. POLO FIELD - EVENING
Zhao and Altant cheer Monkhbat and The Woodcarver and the Sharyngol team as they score a goal against a neighboring village team.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - NIGHT
175
Wu, Fung and their six Soldiers pass a food stall. Then a booze stall.
The STALLHOLDER offers Wu a drink. Wu curtly shakes his head.
Wu hears MUSIC. He sees the tent with chairs set out. VILLAGERS sit in the chairs or on the ground.
Wu and his soldiers approach.
Wu sees Zhao, Chen, Bingsun, Altant, Monkhbat, The Woodcarver and The Blacksmith on the crude stage, play a traditional tune on traditional instruments.
Behind them - a handmade patchwork of a quilt curtain.
Wu's eye catches Zhao's. Wu turns on his heel and stalks off. His soldiers follow him.
EXT. SHARYNGOL - NIGHT
Wu and his soldiers reach the jeep. The soldiers pile into the back.
Wu hears an orchestra TUNING UP.
INT. SHARYNGOL, TENT - NIGHT
Wu and his soldiers burst into the tent. The patchwork curtain parts revealing a full symphony orchestra. Bingsun, Chen, Jingju - all the student musicians - some in tuxedos or white blouses and black skirts, others in a ragtag collection of black and white.
APPLAUSE.
176
Pei enters from the wings in his tuxedo and sits at the ugly piano. APPLAUSE. Pei's eye catches Wu and he nervously looks at the keyboard.
Bingsun (First Violinist) and LANFEN (female, flute, Orchestra Leader) rise as Zhao enters from the wings. HUGE APPLAUSE. The orchestra applauds as Zhao shakes hands with Bingsun and Lanfen. They sit. Zhao bows to the audience. He locks eyes with Wu.
Wu reaches for the revolver at his hip.
Ganbolo and Monkhbat appear at his side. Ganbolo puts a knife to his kidney.
GANBOLO
Let me show you to your seat.
Wu stares at the HUNDREDS of VILLAGERS staring back at him. He sees Fung and his
Soldiers look enquiringly at him. He says nothing.
Ganbolo prods Wu with his knife and Ganbolo and Monkhbat escort him to a front row seat.
Wu sits between Monkhbat and Ganbolo. Beside them sit Qorin and Bat-Erdent, Altant,
The Woodcarver and The Blacksmith.
Zhao raises the ebony and red baton and the orchestra plays.
Wu silently watches.
Zhao waves his baton a beatific smile on his face.
FREEZE FRAME.
177
THE END
178