2081 (2009) - full transcript

The year was 2081,
and everyone was finally equal.

They weren't only equal before
God and the law, you see.

They were equal every which way.

Nobody was smarter
than anybody else.

Nobody was better looking
than anybody else.

Nobody was stronger or quicker
than anybody else.

And all this equality was due
to the 211th, 212th,

and 213th
Amendments to the Constitution,

and to the unceasing vigilance of
the United States Handicapper General.

The strong wear weights
to make them weaker,

the intelligent wear earpieces...



that kept them from taking
unfair advantage of their brains.

Even the beautiful
sometimes wear masks in situations...

where the beauty
might simply be... too distracting.

It was the golden age...
of equality.

Some things about living
still weren't quite right, though.

April for instance,

continue to drive people crazy
by not quite being springtime.

And it was in that clammy month...

that the H-G men came to take George
and Hazel Bergeron's son, Harrison...

away.

You were fixing the tv, dear.

I bet that was a real pretty dance,
that dance she just did.

Huh?

That dance.
I bet it was nice.



Oh...

Wow, how was it time?

Loud. Same as last time.

Sounded a little like somebody
hitting a milk bottle with a...

ball peen hammer,
from here.

Not it must be real interesting,
to hear all the different sounds.

- All the things they think up.
- It isn't.

Only, if I was Handicapper General,
you know what I'd do?

I'd have chimes on Sunday. Just chimes.
Kinda, kinda, in honor of religion.

Yeah, I could think straight,
if it was just chimes...

Well then maybe I'd make'em
real loud, then.

I think I'd make a good
Handicapper General.

You would.

Pfff. Boy!
That one was a doozy, wasn't it?

Yeah.

You seem distracted, hon'.
What are you thinking about?

I don't know.

Can't... uh,
get it straight in my head,

but... something.

You must be tired.

Why don't you stretch out
on the sofa,

so you can rest your handicaps
on the pillows...

I'm fine.

You're always so worn out.
If there was just some way...

- we could light'em...
- There isn't.

I'm not saying all the time,

I'm just saying maybe when you're
sitting around the house...

Hazel. If I take them off.
I'm gonna wanna keep them off.

And we both know
how we would feel about that.

We'd hate it.

So, nothing to be done then.

We interrupt our broadcast
of the national ballet sleeping beauty...

for important breaking news.

Ah, Now I don't understand why
they interrupt such a nice ballet...

just to tell us the same old news.

What does it matter if they're
just showing the same old ballet.

Good evening...
good... good...

good evenig, we've just received a
warning from the handica... ca... ca...

the handicabu ... bububub...
the handicabu... bubub...

the handicaju... jujuju...
the hand... the handicap...

That's all right, he tried.
That's the important thing.

I think he should get a nice big raise
for trying so hard.

Well, I think I'll get started
with the dishes.

Good Evening.

We've just received a warning from
the office of the handicapper general,

that: suspected anarchist,
Harrison Bergeron,

has escaped from custody.

Arrested six years ago
for propaganda's vandalism,

broadcast piracy, refusal to report for
his quarterly handicapping evaluations,

and for the blading removal
of his handicaps in a public place.

Mr. Bergeron had been awaiting trial
on a maximal securation prison,

here in washington DC,
when he...

miraculously disappeared
from his cell, earlier this evening.

Please be adviced that Bergeron
is a genius and an athlete,

is under-handicapped, and is considered
to be extremely dangerous.

If you see this man please contact
your local authorities immediately.

Thank you.

Harrison...

Quiet.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Distinguished guests
from around the world,

may I have your attention, please.

There is a bomb beneath this theater
and there is a detonator in my hand.

So, I strongly suggest
that you remain in your seats.

Now, my apologies for interrupting
this evening's entertainment.

Hopely I can provide you
with some of my own.

My name is Harrison Bergeron.

I'm a fugitive and a public threat.

I'm a abomination of the able.

I'm an exception to the excepted.

I'm the greatest man
you have never known.

And for the last six years
I've been held prisoner by the state.

Sentenced without trial
to torture without end.

They had hope to destroy in me
any trace of the extraordinary.

And in time I came
to share that hope.

But the extraordinary, it seems,
is simply out of their reach.

So, now I stand before you today...

beaten, hobbled and sickened,

but sadly not broken.

And I say to you, that if it is greatness
we'd must destroy...

than let us drag our enemy...

out of the darkness
where it's been hiding.

Let us shine a light, so that at last,
all the world can see.

- The stair-well.
- Hold position direct by the stair-well.

Unit F holding position
outside the north-west balcony.

Copy that.
Unit E what's your status?

Stand by.

We'll need a little more time...

And now, for my next trick,
I'm gonna need a volunteer.

No one, come now.

Perhaps one of you.

Music.

Unit E reporting...

the bomb has been disarmed.

Repeat, the bomb
has been disarmed.

Copy that.
Central, kill the broadcast.

Enough.

Just you.

This is central,
confirmed the broadcast cut.

You're clear to proceed.

Copy that.

All units...
stand by for entry.

That one sounded
kind-a-like a gun shot.

Hon', you look upset,
what is wrong?

I don't know.

Something... sad...
on television... I think.

Oh, well...
you should forget sad things, anyway.

I always do.

Gee I could tell
that one was a doozy.

You can say that again?

Gee I could tell
that one was a doozy.