Feature Film Treatment

"Stuck In Paradise" by Alans Torres

ACT ONE

We are drowning. Overwhelmed by water, blurring our vision of the crowd of people on the distant warm sunny beach. The small hands of a scared and skinny little boy, JESUS become useless in the presence of the overwhelming ocean behind him. As our vision sinks under the blue clear water, there are muffled sounds of a woman screaming and indistinguishable figures running towards us and the scene fades to black. Three years later. Running back and forth in a small busy kitchen, JESUS' MOTHER gives JESUS' FATHER directions as he rapidly packs baskets, pots, pans, and trays filled with hot food on to an old rusty wagon. In an alarmed pause, the mother rushes into her son's room and viciously shakes him from the shoulders urging him to hurry or he will make them late. Trying to compose himself from his sudden waking, he is unable to ask his mother if he can stay home from school before she gathers his clothes and exits the room. Now dressed, Jesus exits his room into the kitchen and barely gets his parents attention as the parents continue to move across the kitchen in rapid synchronized movements. Barely hearing him say he doesn't want to go to school, the mother ignores him. She rapidly focuses her attention on getting him off to school. She urges her husband to take him. Anticipating, he comes up on his bike immediately.

At school, Jesus climbs up the steps like climbing the tallest mountain. Some kids speeding past him and some standing around. He reaches the top and hears the voices of two boys, which causes him to walk faster and turn away. Pretending to act normal, Jesus draws more attention to himself and suddenly finds himself hitting the floor as a taller schoolboy with spiky hair trips him over. The other join him. They unfriendly pick Jesus up as he sweats with uncontrolled nerves in the cold morning. From behind them, CONCHA hits the three boys with a baseball bat hard enough to scare two away. The taller bully grabs the bat as she tries to make another strike and insults Jesus with homophobic remarks, then Concha yanks the bat with assertive anger and he leaves. She hugs him and they walk towards his class.

The bell rings and the kids rush out of the school doors. We cut to a Jesus saying bye to his best friend Concha as his parents arrive in a car. Looking confused, he slowly approaches the car and his dad urges him to get in it. Overhearing the talk about his godmother, he gathers that they will go see her. Excited by the adventure and the ocean in the distance, Jesus takes the chance to bring up the possibility of leaving the Island. The mother rambles on about their business, lack of time, and money. She reminds him he can't get near the ocean and the fact that flights out of the Island are only available for emergencies. Left in silence and close to tears, Jesus looks out the car window as the sky begins to weep.

Arriving at sunset as the sky clears, the parents and Jesus approach the godparents' house and the mother knocks the door to find the emotionally unstable godfather. They make their way inside the dark gloomy home. The GODMOTHER looks sick but stable and Jesus goes up to her with a clear sad expression on his face. Obviously, the godmother questions him and he doesn't hesitate to express his desire to leave the island. Making himself the victim and telling her the reason his parents won't take him. She offers to take him with her on the emergency flight she has scheduled to see a doctor. She lets his parents know and they give him permission.

A week later. The day of the departure. Jesus can barely hold his excitement waiting for his godfather to pick him up. His parents, performing their usual choreography for their business, pay little attention to Jesus as he tries to pack. The ringing of the phone startles the mother and she rushes to answer. The energy of the room quickly comes to a halt as she grows silent by the news coming from the phones. The godfather calls to give them the news that the godmother has passed. She turns to her husband as if to deliver the news with her eyes. Jesus, with an innocent unaware look, asks if it's time to go.

That night, Jesus has a dream. We see Jesus looking deeply into a body of water. With him is a BEAUTIFUL YOUNG MAN who has a calming nature to his voice and movements, a close resemblance to a heavenly figure. He shares with Jesus the teleporting magic, powered by the sun in the bodies of water. Jesus and the young man enter a new place, where nature governs. Periodically, the beautiful dream is interrupted by the face of a tiger looking right at us, flashing us back to Jesus in bed turning with discomfort. Through the fragments of the dream, we are able to see Jesus take a final step with the young man. He follows him to a beautiful pond filled with white spaghetti like trees, which then teleports them to the little island in the ocean where Jesus sees the young man by the beach disappear, causing Jesus to wake up looking confused.

At school, during lunch, Jesus is sitting eagerly waiting for Concha to join him. Seeing that he is alone, the taller bully goes up to Jesus, coming very close to pouring his juice over Jesus. Concha calls his name as she approaches and the bully is forced to back away. She sits next to Jesus and he jumps in excitement to tell her about his dream. Intrigued by the dream, Concha listens. She expresses excitement until Jesus expresses his desire to find the young man. Finding it hard to believe and remembering her overly protective father who just grounded her, she sadly declines and they eat in silence.

After school, Jesus waits for his parents to pick him up. Concha's dad is already outside waiting to take his daughter home. Jesus grows impatient and leaves. At the parent's business, the dad panics, remembering he had to go get Jesus from school, but it is almost time for the nightly roll call. He can't afford to be late and face a bad mark on his record so he hops on his bike and goes to roll call. The sun is setting soon, and the dad makes it to roll call. As soon as he is marked present, he takes off to the school but Jesus is not there. He returns immediately, barely

stopping to confirm if Jesus really did leave.

Halfway to his house, Jesus is walking by himself. It's going to get dark soon so he hurries. He encounters the main bully and his eyes sink in with fear. The bully drags him to the side of the road, into the dense crowd of trees and bushes. Jesus lets out a half scream before the bully could cover his mouth. Jesus begins to weep. To Jesus' surprise, the clearly older boy begins to undo his pants and pulls Jesus' pants down. Touching himself and groping Jesus who now lays on the dirt, the bully tries to get Jesus to touch him back, rubbing himself against Jesus. Jesus, confused, panicked and despicably scared is paralyzed. Soon after, the voice of an older man is heard in the distance, calling. Without thinking twice, the bully scrabbles to get dressed, releasing Jesus. Jesus, who only had his pants to his ankles runs off faster.

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