This has one of my favorite scenes, where young Bennoam and Deborah talk about the birds and the bees.
EXT. A CAVE NEAR TABOR - THE NEXT DAY
ISRAELITE SOLDIERS come and go, sneaking weapons and horses into a hidden cave.
Deborah stands at the mouth of the cave. A SOLDIER smiles and tips his head in recognition. She nods back. When he has gone in, she draws her cloak about herself, shudders.
Barak sneaks up, taps Deborah on the shoulder opposite of where he stands. She looks the wrong way.
Barak grins, taps her other shoulder.
DEBORAH: Oh, Barak. Hello. I am just watching everything, marveling at it.
BARAK: Let me show you around inside.
DEBORAH: Must I go in?
BARAK: I’d like you to get familiar with the layout. If trouble should come, I want you to be safe in there. I mapped out the main areas where the horses are. There’s a path to an underground spring, too. Definitely good to know.
Barak offers his arm. She takes a last look at the sun as if to say good bye, then takes his arm.
DEBORAH: All right. I’m ready.
INT. A CAVE NEAR TABOR - EVENING
Torchlight sputters, turning stalactites into teeth and claws. The eerie WHINNY of a horse ECHOES against the stone. Shadows of men jump and bend over stony walls.
Barak unrolls a map, spreads it over a boulder. OFFICERS grimly gather about him.
Deborah, her back to the Officers, shivers in the cave entrance. She whispers to herself.
DEBORAH: Easy, Deborah. Breathe.
She breathes through her nose to fill her lungs.
DEBORAH: You can do this. Breathe.
SHAMGAR (O.S.) Wake up, little girl. God has more
plans for you than this. You must live. Please, little girl. Live!
Startled by the memory of her childhood, Deborah shrinks against the cave wall. She presses her hand against her mouth.
She glances about. Barak and the men are still there. The shadows dance like before.
Barak rolls up his map, hands it to JAHZEEL. They bid each other good night and the Officers go deeper into the cave.
Barak approaches Deborah. He extends his hand. She accepts it and rises from her crouching position.
BARAK: What is it, Deborah? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought you here.
DEBORAH: No, no, I will be fine. (beat) I don’t know what I was expecting. One lives so long in the shadow of oppression, one might almost fear the light of freedom.
BARAK: Do you fear the light of freedom?
DEBORAH: Perhaps it is better said that I fear what people may do with their freedom.
BARAK: Not to be morbid, but you can’t mother Israel forever. Some day you will have to let go and let Israel grow up. It wouldn’t be freedom if you didn’t.
DEBORAH: You are right, of course.
They stand quietly, listening to the night sounds.
BARAK: So what was freedom like? Back before Jabin?
DEBORAH: When Judge SHAMGAR was alive, Israel served the LORD. There seemed to be peace and relative plenty.
BARAK: You knew Shamgar? What was he like?
DEBORAH: He was a man of force, intense and
a little scary. But I remember him as very kind. (beat) If it weren’t for Shamgar, I would not even be alive today. He saved my life when I was small.
BARAK: I’m glad he did.
Barak gently touches Deborah’s shoulder. Deborah smiles briefly. He lets his hand fall back to his side.
DEBORAH: When Shamgar died, Israel mourned, but not for long. It seems to have been Shamgar’s power, not the LORD’s, that compelled a nation to have one God.
BARAK: That wouldn’t have been the first time in our history, would it?
Deborah blows on her hands to warm them.
Barak lays his cloak across Deborah’s shoulders. She looks up appreciatively.
Deborah blows on her hands to warm them.
Barak lays his cloak across Deborah’s shoulders. She looks up appreciatively.
BARAK: After Shamgar, when did you arise as a judge?
Deborah shrugs.
DEBORAH: Arise? You could say Shamgar got me started. People noticed I had a different way about me. Lapidoth-
BARAK: Lapidoth?
DEBORAH: He encouraged me. He gave me confidence even before we were wed.
BARAK: You knew him beforehand?
DEBORAH: I was fortunate. He and my parents arranged the union, but I met him when I was little. To my young eyes, he was already a grown up. Old.
BARAK: How much older is he?
DEBORAH: Fifteen years. He was married to my cousin, but she died. They were childless.
BARAK: And you are still childless.
DEBORAH: We had two sons, Japeth and Asa.
BARAK: Had? I’m so sorry.
DEBORAH: We loved them so dearly. So dearly. They died at Sisera’s command. Lapidoth feels he is at fault. He has never really forgiven himself.
BARAK: (aside) And yet he taught me to forgive myself.
DEBORAH: My husband is a good man, very wise
in his own way. And yet he grants me more freedom than any man in Israel would. What other man would allow his wife to be a judge?
Barak starts to say something, shuts his mouth. He swallows. Swallows again.
BARAK: Lapidoth’s generosity has been Israel’s gain. First, he shares you with Israel. And now he shares you with me.
The setting sun casts its last rays of pink onto their faces. A tear trickles from Deborah’s eye.
Barak gently wipes it with his thumb, doesn’t remove his hand.
BARAK: Deborah, if tonight were the last
of all we knew-
Deborah yanks his hand away.
Deborah yanks his hand away.
DEBORAH: No, don’t! Please don’t say that.
BARAK: What’s wrong?
DEBORAH: It’s just- never mind.
She turns away.
Barak edges around to face her. He takes her hands in his, stands very close.
BARAK: Deborah, tomorrow we go to war. I don’t know what awaits us. I may never see you again. I may die.
DEBORAH: Barak, please don’t say such things.
BARAK: I may go to my grave never knowing the love of a woman.
DEBORAH: Barak, please don’t.
Barak shakes his head. He releases her.
BARAK: You needn’t worry of my intentions. I dare not go to war ceremonially unclean. All I would have asked was a token, a word that I meant something to you. Something besides a civic duty. That maybe in another time or place, I could know the sweetness of your gaze for me alone.
DEBORAH Barak, please –
Barak leans with his face and fists against the cave wall. He strikes the stone with his fist, then lets it fall.
BARAK: If history hung on the choices made
by one man, history is flimsy indeed. But I must not risk all of history for a few moments of solace. Our people mean too much to me. My sisters mean too much to me. You mean too much to me.
Barak rubs his wrist across his eyes. He faces Deborah.
BARAK: This may be the last night of my life, and now I go to spend it alone. Good night, Judge Deborah.
Barak turns sharply, walks out into the woods.
DEBORAH: Barak-
Once he is out of sight, Deborah crumples to the ground. She pulls his cloak close about herself. She WEEPS, alone in the mouth of the cave.
DEBORAH: Don’t leave me here, Barak. I can’t stay in here.
A FOOTSTEP startles her. It is Bennoam.
DEBORAH: Don’t leave me here, Barak. I can’t stay in here.
A FOOTSTEP startles her. It is Bennoam.
BENNOAM: Deborah, Ma’am?
DEBORAH: Bennoam ben Abinoam! What are you doing here?
BENNOAM: I’m practicing being a spy.
DEBORAH: Oh, Ben. It is too dangerous up here. Your sisters will be worried.
BENNOAM: By now, Noah has gotten Evie to spill it. They won’t worry.
DEBORAH: Of course they will. (beat) Well, now that you are were, we will have to put you to work tomorrow.
BENNOAM: Yay!
DEBORAH: (sternly) It will most decidedly not be fun.
BENNOAM: Oh, I get it. Kitchen duty, huh?
Deborah laughs.
DEBORAH: Or worse. Barak will decide.
BENNOAM: Please don’t tell Barak. I don’t want him to worry. Please.
Deborah sighs.
DEBORAH I won’t tell him tonight at least. C’mere.
Deborah sighs.
DEBORAH I won’t tell him tonight at least. C’mere.
Bennoam sits next to her. She wraps Barak’s cloak about both of them.
Beat.
BENNOAM: Why didn’t you kiss Barak just now?
DEBORAH: A married woman doesn’t kiss other men.
BENNOAM: I know you can’t mate, but what’s wrong with a kiss?
DEBORAH: When you’re married, a kiss is the same as mating.
BENNOAM: Oh. I don’t want to get married then.
DEBORAH: You’ll know when it’s the right thing for you.
BENNOAM: Do you and Mr. Lapidoth mate?
Beat.
DEBORAH: It’s in the rule book.
BENNOAM: There’s a rule book, too? Now I really don’t want to get married. Does it hurt?
DEBORAH: Mating? No.
BENNOAM Judge Deborah, ma’am?
DEBORAH: Yes, Ben?
BENNOAM: I’ve watched scorpions and grasshoppers do it. It looks gross.
Deborah cuddles Bennoam maternally.
Deborah cuddles Bennoam maternally.
DEBORAH: I suppose it is. But it’s sort of nice, too.
BENNOAM: Gee, the things grown-ups have to look forward to. I want to stay a kid.
DEBORAH: Know what, Ben?
BENNOAM: What?
DEBORAH: I want to stay a kid, too.
Bennoam snuggles sleepily against her.
BENNOAM: I still think you should have kissed him.
Deborah strokes Bennoam’s hair.
She dozes, dreams of when she was small.
SHAMGAR: (O.S.) Wake up, little girl. God has more plans for you than this. You must live. Please, little girl. Live!
THE VOICE: (O.S.) Please, little girl. Live!
Deborah stirs.
THE VOICE: (O.S.) Please, little Deborah. Live!
Bennoam is still nestled against her. She nods obediently to the Voice.
DEBORAH: Yes, LORD, I will.
She nudges Bennoam. He MURMURS, yawns.
DEBORAH: Come on, Ben, let’s get you to a
real place to sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment