The Reflection by J Gagne
- 2. FADE IN EXT. OPEN AIR MARKET - DAY An old (80s), fair skinned, white haired man walks his bike among Latino vendors selling vegetables, fish, headless chickens, flowers and fruit juices dispensed from large glass containers. This is SENOR WAGNER. The basket on the back of his bike is already pretty full of food he’s picked up at the market. He stops at a fish stand. The VENDOR sports a nice variety of fish, from trout to catfish, all fresh and on a bed of ice. SENOR WAGNER (in poor Spanish, with a German accent) Good morning, Ricardo. Any herring? RICARDO (in perfect Spanish with an Argentinian accent) I saved some just for you, Senor Wagner. Ricardo opens an ice chest behind the main display and takes out a ziplock baggie with five herring. SENOR WAGNER Can you ice them please? RICARDO Of course. Ricardo scoops some ice off the display, puts it inside the baggie and hands it to Senor Wagner. SENOR WAGNER How much today? RICARDO Still the same. Senor Wagner hands him some coins. SENOR WAGNER Thank you. RICARDO Thank you, senor. And god bless you.
- 3. Senor Wagner serpentines his bike through the market, stopping now and then to sniff a fruit or chit chat with a vendor. Finally, he reaches the end of the stalls, gets up on his bike and rides off. The road, narrow and cobblestone, snakes through a quaint Argentinian village. He reaches the local post office and parks his bike. INT. OFFICE - DAY It’s a disorganized home office. There’s a large desk in there somewhere underneath the piles of papers, books, newspapers and photographs. There are shelves of books on all the walls, except for one, which has a bank of filing cabinets. ELI ROSEN (80s, but very alive), sits at the desk, writing in a card. On a chair next to him sits an oval, antique mirror, suitable for hanging in a bedroom or hall. ON THE CARD he writes: “It’s been sixty years, but it feels like yesterday. It took a while, but I found you. I hope this mirror brings you some memories of times gone by.” The door to the office opens and ELI’S WIFE pops her head in. Instantly he throws a lap blanket over the mirror. ELI What, you don’t knock? ELI’S WIFE All these years married and I need to knock in my own house? Supper, Eli. She pops her head back out and slams the door. Eli, puts the card in an envelope, seals it and tapes it to the mirror. INT. POST OFFICE - DAY Senor Wagner stands behind a PLUMP WOMAN attended to by a POSTAL CLERK. She finishes and smiles at Senor Wagner on her way out. He smiles back. 2.
- 4. SENOR WAGNER Hello, Hector. Any mail today? POSTAL CLERK Hello, Senor Wagner. Yes, a package. Let me get it. He disappears into the back of the post office. VOICE (O.C.) (in German, and barely audible) Doctor. Senor Wagner looks behind him. No one else is in the room. The Postal Clerk re-emerges with a large package. POSTAL CLERK Can you get this home? I can drop it off after I close up. SENOR WAGNER Very kind. I’ll manage fine. Thank you, Hector. Senor Wagner takes the package, puzzled by it. THE PACKAGE is addressed to Klaus Wagner, in Villa Lago Puelo, Argentina. EXT. DIRT ROAD - DAY Senor Wagner walks his bike, package balanced on the handlebars, up a dirt road to a humble cottage at the edge of some woods and a lake. INT. OFFICE - DAY Eli sits, asleep in his chair. A loud KNOCK startles him awake. ELI Come in. Come in. Eli’s wife opens the door. Standing with her is a rabbi. ELI’S WIFE Rabbi Silverman is here to see you. She looks puzzled. 3.
- 5. ELI Hello. Hello, Rabbi. Please come in. Sit down. As the rabbi walks in, Eli motions to his wife to leave them alone. She rolls her eyes and closes the door. The rabbi sits in the chair next to Eli’s desk. Eli opens a drawer and pulls out two shot glasses and a flask. He pours them both a drink. RABBI Am Yisrael Chai. ELI Am Yisrael Chai. INT. SENOR WAGNER’S COTTAGE - DAY Neat and tidy. A main room with a small stove, table, chairs and a phonograph on a rod iron end table. A window above the sink has gingham curtains open, allowing a view of the lake. In the back is a door, open to the bedroom. Visible in the back room is an iron bed and a foot-long, heavy, pewter crucifix hanging above it. Senor Wagner sits at the table, inspecting all sides of the package. He gets up, opens a bottle of red wine, pours himself a glass, gets a knife and sits back down at the table. He opens the package and reveals the mirror and card Eli put together. He reads the card and sets it down. He takes a long drink of wine and stares at the mirror, without looking into it, or touching it. He takes another drink. INT. OFFICE - DAY Eli pours the rabbi and himself two more shots. RABBI When? ELI By this morning. God forgive us. 4.
- 6. INT. SENOR WAGNER’S BEDROOM - NIGHT Senor Wagner is asleep. On the nightstand is the wine glass and bottle, both empty. Through the doorway, we can see that the package with the mirror is still on the table. VOICE (O.C.) Doctor. (beat) Doctor. Senor Wagner wakes. VOICE (O.C.) Doctor. SENOR WAGNER Who’s there? Is someone there? He gets up, picks up the wine bottle, holding it as a weapon and walks into the: MAIN ROOM Although the room is dim, there is a slight glow from the box on the table. VOICE (coming from the box) Doctor. Doctor Rascher. We need you. He drops the bottle, runs to his: BEDROOM And closes the door. He grabs the crucifix off the wall, kneels next to the bed and prays in German. CUT TO: INT. SENOR WAGNER’S BEDROOM - MORNING Still clutching the crucifix, he’s asleep on the ground, next to his bed. He wakes up, hangs the cross back up and walks into the... MAIN ROOM Determined, he picks up the box with the mirror and walks... OUTSIDE 5.
- 7. And to the side of his cottage where the garbage bin is. He opens the bin and forcefully tosses the box and mirror in. On his way back to the front of his cottage, he runs into ESPERANZA, 50s and carrying cleaning supplies in a bucket. SENOR WAGNER Oh, Esperanza! You startled me. ESPERANZA Up late this morning, Senor Wagner. SENOR WAGNER Yes. I’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t forget to iron my shirts this time. ESPERANZA No senor. I won’t. EXT. LAKE - DAY Senor Wagner sits in a rowboat, holding a fishing rod and nodding off and on. His cottage is visible in the distance. INT. SENOR WAGNER’S COTTAGE - DUSK Esperanza sweeps the floor. Senor Wagner drops some trout in the sink, rinses his hands and walks back to his bedroom. The door to his bedroom is closed. He opens it, revealing the crucifix on the bed and the mirror hanging on the wall. SENOR WAGNER Esperanza! She drops the broom and runs back. ESPERANZA All of them senor. They are all hanging up. I didn’t forget. SENOR WAGNER No! That! He points to the mirror. ESPERANZA I don’t understand, senor. SENOR WAGNER Why did you hang that up? 6.
- 8. ESPERANZA Not me senor. That was there when I got here. I even cleaned it for you. It’s nice. You buy it? SENOR WAGNER Leave. Go home. I’ll see you next week. ESPERANZA Si, senor. EXT. LAKE - DUSK Senor Wagner rows the boat with all the strength and old man can muster. In front of him sits the mirror, face down. VOICE (from the mirror) Doctor Rascher. We need you. Doctor Rascher. Come back. He stops rowing, in the middle of the lake. He gathers every gram of courage in his ancient bones and stretches out the thousand miles to the mirror. Picks it up and throws it down into the lake and it sinks instantly. Senor Wagner collapses in the boat. EXT. SENOR WAGNER’S COTTAGE - NIGHT He opens the front door and walks in, exhausted. The door to his room is closed. He looks at it. Not yet. He opens a bottle of wine and starts to pour when... VOICE (O.S.) Doctor. Come back. Doctor Rascher. We need you back. He drops the bottle, and as the wine pours down the table to the floor, he stumbles to the door, opens it and walks in. INT. SENOR WAGNER’S BEDROOM - NIGHT The mirror is back, hanging above the bed, with the crucifix arranged on the pillow. Light emanates from the mirror. Transfixed, he walks to it and the door slams behind him. Through the mirror, like a window, we see a Nazi Commandant and a concentration camp behind him. 7.
- 9. Ghostly JEWS float around him, staring out of the mirror at Senor Wagner. Or at least it seems that way, but none of them have eyes, just empty sockets. COMMANDANT Doctor Rascher. You have been most negligent in your duties. We need you back. There is much work still. SENOR WAGNER No. You’re dead. You’re all dead. Leave me alone! Senor Wagner grabs the crucifix off the bed and turns back to the mirror. It’s gone. SENOR WAGNER Thank God. COMMANDANT (O.S.) God no longer cares for you, doctor. Senor Wagner turns to see the Commandant in his bedroom. The apparition grabs him by the neck and pulls Senor Wagner’s face within an inch of his own face. Instantly, the Commandant’s face decays to one who’s been decomposing slowly for sixty years and Senor Wagner faints. The Commandant drops him to the ground. CLOSE ON SENOR WAGNER’S FACE The moonlight turns to dim daylight and his eyes open. He SCREAMS and then we see what he sees. EXT. CONCENTRATION CAMP - DAY It’s day, maybe, but the sky is completely grey and mist moves about the camp. Everywhere, eyeless, Jewish ghosts float around aimlessly. Senor Wagner lays on the ground, horrified. The Commandant reaches a mummified hand down and pulls him to his feet. COMMANDANT Welcome back, doctor. SENOR WAGNER Why? Why am I here? 8.
- 10. COMMANDANT You never really left. Next to the Commandant stand ten Nazi officers, just as decayed as their leader. The Commandant shoves him along and they walk towards a cinder block bunker ahead. All around, the ghosts watch them. They reach the front door to the building. COMMANDANT Open it. They’re waiting. Senor Wagner trembles uncontrollably. The Commandant grabs his right hand and places it on the door knob. SMASH CUT TO: MONTAGE Each sequence goes at fast speed, with no sound and only lasts a second, at most. 1) Senor Wagner, sixty years younger, in a lab coat, supervises Jews being led into gas chambers. 2) He laughs and clinks glasses with Nazi officers at a banquet. 3) He watches as a train arrives at the camp, and the prisoners are led out. 4) He inspects a line of gaunt, naked men, choosing some but not others. 5) Another banquet with the officers, where they all fondle scared, Jewish, women prisoners. 6) He cuts into the abdomen of a naked, screaming prisoner, bound with leather straps to a metal table. DISSOLVE TO: INT. - DR. RASCHER’S LAB A stark room of cement. In the middle is the same metal table with leather straps at both ends. Besides it stands the young Senor Wagner/Dr. Rascher, just as in the montage. Around the perimeter stand twenty or thirty Nazi guards. 9.
- 11. The old version of himself falls to his knees, next to the Commandant. The Commandant motions to his undead officers and two of them pick up Old Senor Wagner/Dr. Rascher and carry him to the metal table. They get no resistance. YOUNG SENOR WAGNER/DR. RASCHER You made it. At last you made it. Sixty years is a long time to wait. Old Senor Wagner/Dr. Rascher looks up at his younger self and the face melts away, leaving behind putrefied flesh. COMMANDANT I’ll leave you to your work doctor. I know you have a lot to do. OLD SENOR WAGNER/DR. RASCHER No. Don’t leave. Don’t leave me. Please. COMMANDANT Oh, but I leave you in good hands. The best hands! YOUNG SENOR WAGNER/DR. RASCHER Indeed. Shall we? The young doctor holds up a scalpel and gets to work on the old doctor. The Commandant walks out, smiling at the SCREAMS. INT. OFFICE - DAY Eli closes a manila file folder, but before he does we catch a glimpse of an official photo showing young doctor Rascher. The tab on the folder reads “Wagner/Rascher”. Eli blacks out the name with a permanent marker, walks to a filing cabinet and puts it away. He opens a drawer on a different cabinet and pulls out a folder. He walks to his desk and sets it down. Next to it is THE MIRROR. FADE OUT 10.