7 Stones (2012) - full transcript
Laura Brummels is determined to avenge the death of a young boy - a death she could have prevented, but didn't. It's placed her in a prison of guilt driven by her cooperation as a reporter with a political regime that's successfully corrupted her. Fallen from grace with the regime, Laura is sentenced to Aquila, where no one escapes and an annual monsoon floods the prison, eliminating everyone. And she discovers her chance to clear her conscience: One of the notorious guards is the young boy's killer. This is her chance to avenge the boy's death and relieve her guilt. But there's a surprise for her in the large cell where she's placed: another prisoner, Joseph, has survived the last flood and has been working to escape from Aquila before the next flood comes. He's devised a clever means of removing stones from the prison ceiling, but he can't do it alone. To succeed he must convince his new cell mate to abandon murder and choose to survive with him and escape.
(VOICEOVER): I know
revenge for his murder
will give me some
shred of my life back.
Make me feel decent again.
Like walking into a
room, finding my old self
tucked away in a drawer,
waiting for the light.
-Before when I was scared,
I used to remind myself
that I was a reporter and
they don't kill us easily.
We know people right?
But it wasn't enough.
The government crumbled.
I couldn't control my fear.
So I cooperated.
The way that scared people do.
I wrote what they wanted.
Sent innocent men to prison.
I played ball.
Now the monster I helped
create has sentenced me to die.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
-But first I'm
going to kill a man.
He killed the one decent
thing I still looked up to.
-I know you.
-It's all right.
[GASPS]
-You won't be here for long.
-No one ever is.
-Good.
You made it.
Now remember your promise.
-A boy.
A simple boy who
wouldn't cooperate.
[COUGHING]
-(WHISPERING) Who's this?
-I've made a promise
to avenge his murder
and it's the one promise
I'm going to keep.
For revenge is all I have left.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
-Is there any water?
-One's supposed to be yours?
-What am I supposed
to do with it?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
-He likes you.
-Who?
-Elias.
-Elias is going to
like a lot less of me.
He's gonna wish he
never heard my name.
-Good.
Then you won't mind.
My guess is they don't feed you.
-Give me that rabbit!
-This is probably easier.
That how they punish people
who are already in solitary?
Huh?
No food?
I suppose I ask for
another potato from now on.
-No!
-Because they don't
know you're here.
If it's one potato a day,
both of us won't last.
-I've survived a year.
Elias he brought you that.
Why?
I mean he's cunning.
Brilliant actually.
If he wasn't a psychopath.
He wants to control you.
You've gotta show him that
it doesn't mean anything.
Give me the rabbit and I'll
tell you how to survive in here.
-What's this?
--[INAUDIBLE] It's
in the ceiling.
See, they're all
held up by the weight
of each one pressing
against the other.
There.
Now we need seven of them.
-And the ceiling collapses
and then we're killed.
Good plan.
-No.
A controlled collapse.
One at a time.
You can help me.
Yeah.
-I'm busy.
-You're busy huh?
Do you know why no
one escapes from here?
Huh?
Last year when the rains came
this entire prison flooded.
Every cell, every man,
waist deep in water.
No sleep.
No food.
And snakes.
And [INAUDIBLE].
See they're smart.
Somehow they know, they know
to wait until the men are week.
-You're lying.
-Yeah.
I stay up here on
this beam and I
watch the water get
higher and higher.
See it comes in under
that wall first.
It starts a couple
inches, then a foot.
Then three feet and four feet.
It keeps getting higher.
And higher.
And the rain keeps
coming day after day.
Almost like God is still
rehearsing that ark thing.
Then they stop feeding us.
And you can hear the cries
of the men asking for food.
Then there's the quiet.
And the snakes, they gorge.
I saw it.
I saw the constrictors--
-Stop it!
-In the future why don't you
try to draw the least amount
of attention to this cell,
do you understand me?
See I was lucky to find food.
I was lucky to have
this cell to hide in.
I was lucky enough to find this.
Seven stones.
And the whole
ceiling comes down.
-So your escape is to
tear this place down?
-I want this place to die!
-All the men that have been
killed year after year.
-Destroying the one cell isn't
going to tear this prison down.
-OK.
So maybe it's a
little symbolic OK?
My wife.
She always said I was
a little grandiose.
But I'm getting out.
-You're not the only
one with a plan.
-[INAUDIBLE]
-I'd be a fool to trust you.
-I could kill you.
-Nice try.
But I'm already dead.
So did you ever hate someone?
So completely.
So fully.
That killing him would
trigger as much remorse
as accidentally
stepping on an ant?
-Well you said accidentally.
Maybe I would have thought
that you were hopeless.
-And you realized?
You're no longer
capable of remorse.
So you're just like him.
You act so tough.
-What did you do to
get thrown in here?
-I've become dangerous.
-And you said that you
were here to kill someone?
Who?
-I'm here to kill Elias.
-[LAUGHS] Right.
-No!
I'll get food for you.
Please don't kill him.
I'm tired of everything dying.
-Well then I suggest
that you don't listen.
Or you could forget
about Elias and help me.
-I didn't come here to help you!
-I didn't come here
to eat this rabbit.
What happened to I'm
tired of everything dying?
-What [INAUDIBLE] do you
have to get back to, huh?
By the time you get thrown
in here you got nothing left.
-That's not true.
See, I was a writer.
You can't take
that away from me.
-Yes they can.
-See.
I wrote children's stories.
But the government, they
thought it was subversive.
I refused to write
their version of what
a children's story should be.
When politics go bad eventually
we all become prisoners.
-Even authors of
children's books.
Anyway you would have
eventually gotten into trouble.
Everybody did.
-So what did you do out there?
You don't look
like a subversive.
You don't have the look.
-Anything but.
Opposition to the
political party.
-No.
-You're going to have
to help me out here.
-School teacher.
I was a school teacher.
-So you saw these boys
disappearing first hand.
Boys being turned into soldiers.
Being taught how to kill, and
you just had to do something.
-You must have been
watching me the whole time.
-You don't know Elias.
He's smart.
That's how he survived
in the shark tank.
The only thing these
boys understand is power.
It's about who has it.
Who doesn't.
-Elias doesn't understand
justice either.
He will.
-I need to find my son.
-I lived in this
aided community.
[INAUDIBLE] community.
Anyway, the whole time
there was this boy.
This homeless kid.
Always [INAUDIBLE].
He never bothered me.
-When was this?
-Things were bad.
Boys started showing
up with guns.
I saw them kill.
My boy wouldn't kill.
Then I saw him.
I saw him.
I knew they were being used.
I knew I [INAUDIBLE].
-How did you help?
-I knew he disappeared.
Then I saw him.
He wouldn't cooperate.
Wouldn't kill.
So they killed him.
I saw his head on
the end of a pole.
Warning the other boys.
And then I found out
Elias killed him.
-Elias?
He killed my son?
And they dragged
me here a year ago?
I didn't get to say goodbye.
My son was at school.
-It wasn't your son.
-How do you know that?
How do you know anything?
-Listen to me.
I'm Laura Brummels.
-You're not a school teacher.
You're the reporter.
-There has to be a God.
Because who else would turn
things like this on me?
I lied awake night after night.
Why didn't I do something?
Why did I cooperate?
I'm like everyone else hoping
things would get better.
Hoping just a bit more.
-You're the one
who sent me here!
Why should I believe
anything you say?
-Because I'm here now too!
-Ah!
-It was your choice to
leave the way you did.
I didn't chase you down.
I didn't go after you until
I was directly ordered to.
I knew all along you were
leading the opposition.
I kept my mouth shut.
And then you wrote
that stupid book!
Children don't pick up
books to learn politics.
-They wanted to know why
people were disappearing!
I thought that it
would be brave.
-How's that working for you?
Your book is no where,
and you're here.
-Better life for my son.
-What do you think
his life is like now?
You've been here over year!
Everything.
Your house.
Your wife.
All of it's gone!
-[INAUDIBLE]
-She resisted you!
Yeah.
-I'm getting out of here.
I don't need your help.
The rains are going to come.
You think you're tough.
The strongest swimmers drown.
[THUNDER]
-Clear out.
Where's your little friend?
-Who?
-The one I gave you.
You see.
I gave you a pet in
contemplation of friendship.
-Why be friends with me?
[GASPS]
-It was a gift!
Why don't you want to
be friends with me?
[STRUGGLING]
[THUNDER]
-[INAUDIBLE]
-Hell of a consolation.
-You would have killed him.
-You would have
under the opposition.
Seven stones.
You're a fool.
The only rocks in this
place are in your head!
And I wonder who's
going to go to hell.
Hey!
Hey!
I want someone in here with me!
-Bitch!
-They're going to kill you.
-What am I the one
that you came to kill?
Is that it?
[THUNDER]
-Bring me a [INAUDIBLE].
-[INAUDIBLE]
-There's going to
be a prison break.
All of you are going to die.
Including Elias.
-I doubt anything
could kill Elias.
-Perhaps?
But if they try and he survives.
You knew about it.
-Damn right there's going
to be a prison break.
He's crazy you know that?
He probably played
with scissors as a kid.
If you think that you're
going to lure him in here
and then yell to me to help,
you can forget about it.
-Yeah, I got that idea
about you last night.
-I gotta get out of here.
That's right.
You're late for a revolution.
You don't want to
ruin your plan.
So you sacrificed me.
-I would do anything
to see my son.
-Everything you're doing you're
doing because you hate me.
-I did something to you?
My son is God knows
where and lonely.
And you put me here!
You got something on your
mind but it's not hate.
-You want me to die?
OK.
I'm going to die.
But on my way out,
I'm going to fix this.
Make one thing right!
-[INAUDIBLE] Help me.
You don't want to die here.
-What are you doing?
Making friends?
You didn't come here for that.
You have to do this.
You have to kill him.
He deserves it.
He killed me!
-Shh.
You made a promise.
-Calm down.
--[INAUDIBLE] If
that's what you want.
-OK.
-You're so strong.
I used to admire you.
You gave the boys
a sense of home.
Belonging.
Nobody ever thanked
you for that.
And sometimes, they didn't obey.
So you had to
discipline them, right?
Otherwise.
-Otherwise
-You'd have nothing.
Like what you have now.
-Nothing.
-You feel it.
-They're afraid of me.
-No.
They just hate you.
I hate you.
For what you did.
And who you are.
-The other boys tell me stories
of how their dad beat them.
How their mothers
would put their hands
in boiling water as punishment.
And they're filled
with rage and anger.
And I can't stop feeling.
I don't feel sorry for them.
It feels good.
When their stories are bad it's
good that whatever happened
to them makes them
perfect for me.
I'm just as bad as they are now.
Worse.
-And you're feeling lonely.
-My parents were loving.
I got everything.
They never hit me.
What the hell happened?
But I am going to enjoy
every second of this.
I know this won't last.
Power this great can never last.
This is my time.
-You're evil.
-You don't think I
know what you did?
I know who you were.
-I did this to survive.
You did this to keep your home.
Your lifestyle.
That's what you wanted.
You put men in
here to keep that.
-You killed a boy!
-There will probably be more.
This ain't over.
But you're evil just like
me, which makes you perfect.
Don't you think?
Ah!
-Ah!
[THUNDER]
[CRYING]
-You did it.
He deserved it.
Nobody's ever defended me.
Ever.
-No.
(CRYING) He's killed my friend.
-You killed him for me.
-No.
I killed him for you.
[CRYING]
-[INAUDIBLE] Which one?
Help me.
(VOICEOVER): Seven.
Seven.
-Ugh!
[RUMBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(VOICEOVER): I spent so
much time in the dark.
So what changed?
I suppose I had to learn how
powerful courage could be.
I suppose I had to learn how
to tell myself the truth.
I got to thinking about all the
people whose lives I ruined.
And it's not killing that's
going to take that away.
Finally, I defended
someone for the first time.
Courage isn't about winning.
It's about doing.
And what I'm going to do,
Joseph, is find your son.
I want him to know how you
saved me from the dark.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
revenge for his murder
will give me some
shred of my life back.
Make me feel decent again.
Like walking into a
room, finding my old self
tucked away in a drawer,
waiting for the light.
-Before when I was scared,
I used to remind myself
that I was a reporter and
they don't kill us easily.
We know people right?
But it wasn't enough.
The government crumbled.
I couldn't control my fear.
So I cooperated.
The way that scared people do.
I wrote what they wanted.
Sent innocent men to prison.
I played ball.
Now the monster I helped
create has sentenced me to die.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
-But first I'm
going to kill a man.
He killed the one decent
thing I still looked up to.
-I know you.
-It's all right.
[GASPS]
-You won't be here for long.
-No one ever is.
-Good.
You made it.
Now remember your promise.
-A boy.
A simple boy who
wouldn't cooperate.
[COUGHING]
-(WHISPERING) Who's this?
-I've made a promise
to avenge his murder
and it's the one promise
I'm going to keep.
For revenge is all I have left.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
-Is there any water?
-One's supposed to be yours?
-What am I supposed
to do with it?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
-He likes you.
-Who?
-Elias.
-Elias is going to
like a lot less of me.
He's gonna wish he
never heard my name.
-Good.
Then you won't mind.
My guess is they don't feed you.
-Give me that rabbit!
-This is probably easier.
That how they punish people
who are already in solitary?
Huh?
No food?
I suppose I ask for
another potato from now on.
-No!
-Because they don't
know you're here.
If it's one potato a day,
both of us won't last.
-I've survived a year.
Elias he brought you that.
Why?
I mean he's cunning.
Brilliant actually.
If he wasn't a psychopath.
He wants to control you.
You've gotta show him that
it doesn't mean anything.
Give me the rabbit and I'll
tell you how to survive in here.
-What's this?
--[INAUDIBLE] It's
in the ceiling.
See, they're all
held up by the weight
of each one pressing
against the other.
There.
Now we need seven of them.
-And the ceiling collapses
and then we're killed.
Good plan.
-No.
A controlled collapse.
One at a time.
You can help me.
Yeah.
-I'm busy.
-You're busy huh?
Do you know why no
one escapes from here?
Huh?
Last year when the rains came
this entire prison flooded.
Every cell, every man,
waist deep in water.
No sleep.
No food.
And snakes.
And [INAUDIBLE].
See they're smart.
Somehow they know, they know
to wait until the men are week.
-You're lying.
-Yeah.
I stay up here on
this beam and I
watch the water get
higher and higher.
See it comes in under
that wall first.
It starts a couple
inches, then a foot.
Then three feet and four feet.
It keeps getting higher.
And higher.
And the rain keeps
coming day after day.
Almost like God is still
rehearsing that ark thing.
Then they stop feeding us.
And you can hear the cries
of the men asking for food.
Then there's the quiet.
And the snakes, they gorge.
I saw it.
I saw the constrictors--
-Stop it!
-In the future why don't you
try to draw the least amount
of attention to this cell,
do you understand me?
See I was lucky to find food.
I was lucky to have
this cell to hide in.
I was lucky enough to find this.
Seven stones.
And the whole
ceiling comes down.
-So your escape is to
tear this place down?
-I want this place to die!
-All the men that have been
killed year after year.
-Destroying the one cell isn't
going to tear this prison down.
-OK.
So maybe it's a
little symbolic OK?
My wife.
She always said I was
a little grandiose.
But I'm getting out.
-You're not the only
one with a plan.
-[INAUDIBLE]
-I'd be a fool to trust you.
-I could kill you.
-Nice try.
But I'm already dead.
So did you ever hate someone?
So completely.
So fully.
That killing him would
trigger as much remorse
as accidentally
stepping on an ant?
-Well you said accidentally.
Maybe I would have thought
that you were hopeless.
-And you realized?
You're no longer
capable of remorse.
So you're just like him.
You act so tough.
-What did you do to
get thrown in here?
-I've become dangerous.
-And you said that you
were here to kill someone?
Who?
-I'm here to kill Elias.
-[LAUGHS] Right.
-No!
I'll get food for you.
Please don't kill him.
I'm tired of everything dying.
-Well then I suggest
that you don't listen.
Or you could forget
about Elias and help me.
-I didn't come here to help you!
-I didn't come here
to eat this rabbit.
What happened to I'm
tired of everything dying?
-What [INAUDIBLE] do you
have to get back to, huh?
By the time you get thrown
in here you got nothing left.
-That's not true.
See, I was a writer.
You can't take
that away from me.
-Yes they can.
-See.
I wrote children's stories.
But the government, they
thought it was subversive.
I refused to write
their version of what
a children's story should be.
When politics go bad eventually
we all become prisoners.
-Even authors of
children's books.
Anyway you would have
eventually gotten into trouble.
Everybody did.
-So what did you do out there?
You don't look
like a subversive.
You don't have the look.
-Anything but.
Opposition to the
political party.
-No.
-You're going to have
to help me out here.
-School teacher.
I was a school teacher.
-So you saw these boys
disappearing first hand.
Boys being turned into soldiers.
Being taught how to kill, and
you just had to do something.
-You must have been
watching me the whole time.
-You don't know Elias.
He's smart.
That's how he survived
in the shark tank.
The only thing these
boys understand is power.
It's about who has it.
Who doesn't.
-Elias doesn't understand
justice either.
He will.
-I need to find my son.
-I lived in this
aided community.
[INAUDIBLE] community.
Anyway, the whole time
there was this boy.
This homeless kid.
Always [INAUDIBLE].
He never bothered me.
-When was this?
-Things were bad.
Boys started showing
up with guns.
I saw them kill.
My boy wouldn't kill.
Then I saw him.
I saw him.
I knew they were being used.
I knew I [INAUDIBLE].
-How did you help?
-I knew he disappeared.
Then I saw him.
He wouldn't cooperate.
Wouldn't kill.
So they killed him.
I saw his head on
the end of a pole.
Warning the other boys.
And then I found out
Elias killed him.
-Elias?
He killed my son?
And they dragged
me here a year ago?
I didn't get to say goodbye.
My son was at school.
-It wasn't your son.
-How do you know that?
How do you know anything?
-Listen to me.
I'm Laura Brummels.
-You're not a school teacher.
You're the reporter.
-There has to be a God.
Because who else would turn
things like this on me?
I lied awake night after night.
Why didn't I do something?
Why did I cooperate?
I'm like everyone else hoping
things would get better.
Hoping just a bit more.
-You're the one
who sent me here!
Why should I believe
anything you say?
-Because I'm here now too!
-Ah!
-It was your choice to
leave the way you did.
I didn't chase you down.
I didn't go after you until
I was directly ordered to.
I knew all along you were
leading the opposition.
I kept my mouth shut.
And then you wrote
that stupid book!
Children don't pick up
books to learn politics.
-They wanted to know why
people were disappearing!
I thought that it
would be brave.
-How's that working for you?
Your book is no where,
and you're here.
-Better life for my son.
-What do you think
his life is like now?
You've been here over year!
Everything.
Your house.
Your wife.
All of it's gone!
-[INAUDIBLE]
-She resisted you!
Yeah.
-I'm getting out of here.
I don't need your help.
The rains are going to come.
You think you're tough.
The strongest swimmers drown.
[THUNDER]
-Clear out.
Where's your little friend?
-Who?
-The one I gave you.
You see.
I gave you a pet in
contemplation of friendship.
-Why be friends with me?
[GASPS]
-It was a gift!
Why don't you want to
be friends with me?
[STRUGGLING]
[THUNDER]
-[INAUDIBLE]
-Hell of a consolation.
-You would have killed him.
-You would have
under the opposition.
Seven stones.
You're a fool.
The only rocks in this
place are in your head!
And I wonder who's
going to go to hell.
Hey!
Hey!
I want someone in here with me!
-Bitch!
-They're going to kill you.
-What am I the one
that you came to kill?
Is that it?
[THUNDER]
-Bring me a [INAUDIBLE].
-[INAUDIBLE]
-There's going to
be a prison break.
All of you are going to die.
Including Elias.
-I doubt anything
could kill Elias.
-Perhaps?
But if they try and he survives.
You knew about it.
-Damn right there's going
to be a prison break.
He's crazy you know that?
He probably played
with scissors as a kid.
If you think that you're
going to lure him in here
and then yell to me to help,
you can forget about it.
-Yeah, I got that idea
about you last night.
-I gotta get out of here.
That's right.
You're late for a revolution.
You don't want to
ruin your plan.
So you sacrificed me.
-I would do anything
to see my son.
-Everything you're doing you're
doing because you hate me.
-I did something to you?
My son is God knows
where and lonely.
And you put me here!
You got something on your
mind but it's not hate.
-You want me to die?
OK.
I'm going to die.
But on my way out,
I'm going to fix this.
Make one thing right!
-[INAUDIBLE] Help me.
You don't want to die here.
-What are you doing?
Making friends?
You didn't come here for that.
You have to do this.
You have to kill him.
He deserves it.
He killed me!
-Shh.
You made a promise.
-Calm down.
--[INAUDIBLE] If
that's what you want.
-OK.
-You're so strong.
I used to admire you.
You gave the boys
a sense of home.
Belonging.
Nobody ever thanked
you for that.
And sometimes, they didn't obey.
So you had to
discipline them, right?
Otherwise.
-Otherwise
-You'd have nothing.
Like what you have now.
-Nothing.
-You feel it.
-They're afraid of me.
-No.
They just hate you.
I hate you.
For what you did.
And who you are.
-The other boys tell me stories
of how their dad beat them.
How their mothers
would put their hands
in boiling water as punishment.
And they're filled
with rage and anger.
And I can't stop feeling.
I don't feel sorry for them.
It feels good.
When their stories are bad it's
good that whatever happened
to them makes them
perfect for me.
I'm just as bad as they are now.
Worse.
-And you're feeling lonely.
-My parents were loving.
I got everything.
They never hit me.
What the hell happened?
But I am going to enjoy
every second of this.
I know this won't last.
Power this great can never last.
This is my time.
-You're evil.
-You don't think I
know what you did?
I know who you were.
-I did this to survive.
You did this to keep your home.
Your lifestyle.
That's what you wanted.
You put men in
here to keep that.
-You killed a boy!
-There will probably be more.
This ain't over.
But you're evil just like
me, which makes you perfect.
Don't you think?
Ah!
-Ah!
[THUNDER]
[CRYING]
-You did it.
He deserved it.
Nobody's ever defended me.
Ever.
-No.
(CRYING) He's killed my friend.
-You killed him for me.
-No.
I killed him for you.
[CRYING]
-[INAUDIBLE] Which one?
Help me.
(VOICEOVER): Seven.
Seven.
-Ugh!
[RUMBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(VOICEOVER): I spent so
much time in the dark.
So what changed?
I suppose I had to learn how
powerful courage could be.
I suppose I had to learn how
to tell myself the truth.
I got to thinking about all the
people whose lives I ruined.
And it's not killing that's
going to take that away.
Finally, I defended
someone for the first time.
Courage isn't about winning.
It's about doing.
And what I'm going to do,
Joseph, is find your son.
I want him to know how you
saved me from the dark.
[MUSIC PLAYING]