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Missing in America (2005)
Get out of my way,
you damn lazy dog. Here. No good worthless old mutt. Get out of my way, you damn critters. Here. Here. Worthless buzzards. Coffee went up, I had to short you some canned goods to keep 'em at 20. Is that a problem? Take it or leave it. Your friend find you? What? There was a guy here this morning looking for you. Said he was your friend. Daddy, look what I found. What is it, honey? Hey! Hold it right there! Easy, cowboy, easy. Who are you and what do you want? Lieutenant? Oh, it is you, you no good son of a bitch. Private Henry R. Hocknell Jr., reporting sir! Don't salute. Come on, don't pretend you don't remember! Baby killing warmonger! Hocknell? You bet your red ass! Daddy! Vietnam in '67. Come here, it's okay, it's okay. It's all right, it's all right. My God! Henry! Yeah! Come here! Hey, how did you find me? Well, it wasn't easy. Nothing short of a goddamn miracle, it was. This is Lee, it's my kid. I call her Lenny. Lenny, this ugly bastard is Jake. Eggs aren't collected till the end of the day. It's okay, it's okay. Oh, he just looks scary. Oh yeah, you got a little slice of heaven here, Lieutenant. Yeah. Your kid, huh? Yeah, ended up marrying me a gook. Well, me and women never got along too well. Been there myself. So where's your wife? Uh, she died. Sorry. Yeah, well, me too. You still got that thing? Forgot all about it. Oh yeah. Well, my dad gave it to me on his freaking death bed. Said it was leading me to where I was meant to go. Guess it did. Hey! Don't do that. You been to the Wall, Jake? No. You couldn't drag me there. Yeah, well I... I never thought I'd go but I'm glad I did. You went? Yeah, I went in the middle of the night, just me and a. 38, I was gonna blow my freaking brains out. Yeah. A final F-you to Uncle Sam, you know what I mean? And then I looked at all them freakin' names, and all those people that had their lives stole from them, they didn't have no goddamn choice. But I did. All I could think of was me sitting there drowning in self-pity, some pathetic piece of shit. So what'd you do? I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it to them. So, I ended up going back to Nam, to try to find whatever the hell it was I lost over there. So, you see, Jake, if I'd never gone to the Wall, I'd never had Lenny. If you came here on some mission, preaching me about the Wall, you're wasting your time. No, no, I... that's not why I came. Why did you? You know, I always wanted to take Lenny to the Wall. Yeah, so take her. Nah, I can't. What's stopping you? Lung cancer. Oh, Christ! Yeah! It's that Asian orange shit. Yeah, go figure all that goddamn crap I've been through, some goddamn weed killer from 30 years ago is trying to kick my ass. Yeah, I've got to see some specialist back East, and it's gonna be pretty rough. We all gotta take a dirt nap sooner or later, don't we? Oh no. You're the only guy I can trust, Jake. Absolutely not. Hey, it's just for a little while, you know what I mean? She could help around the place here, No! Come on, Jake, you took care of me. You always took care of all of your men! No I didn't. She's all I've got in the world, Jake. And... and I'm all she's got... Forget about it, Henry. It ain't gonna happen. You all squared away, honey? Good, I'll be right in. You're nice and warm in there, my little princess. Yeah. Good, good. Uh, you brush your teeth, did you? Wash your face and hands hm? Everything? You, uh, got your clothes all set up for tomorrow? M m-hmm. Yeah? I'm okay. Oh, I know you are. You know, I love you very much. Now, you know what you gotta do, right? M m-hmm. I know you're gonna do a good job. I know you will. Yeah. You're gonna make me very proud. Okay, Lenny. Okay, now. Okay, Lenny. Now you be strong, be real strong, all right? You know, there's not a better man alive than Jake. And you can trust me on that. You can. Look at those cute little kids, man. A girl, that's all the wife and I ever talk about. A cute little girl. Good night, honey. Good night, Daddy. Hey, Lenny? I want you to say "Good night" to mean old Jake here. ' Night, Lieutenant M r. Mean Old Jake. Your dad in the shed..? Your dad in the outhouse? Did you hear me? What's the matter? I gotta go find your dad. Hen... Hey... shit! Henry!! Ow! Henry! Where is he?! He's gone! What do you mean he's gone? He left me here! He left me here with you! I... I... when did he leave? Oh, Christ! Let's go! No! Too bad! What hospital is he going to? I don't know! Goddamn it to hell! Stop it! Ice cream, you want some ice cream? No! What about one of them cheeseburger things? No! This is a damn sheer waste of my time. Hey, what are you doing?! I'm leaving! And you can't stop me! Hey! Hey! Wait! Hey, stop! Hey, hey! Hey!! Hey!! Hey! I'm not going! No wonder your dad left you! No wonder your wife left you! How did you..! Why you little..! Let go! Let me go! The truth is she left me 'cause she wanted a bunch of pain-in-the-ass kids like you and I didn't! I don't like you! And so what? I don't like me either. Get, get on. Now I have to wait. Get! You better fix yourself something to eat. When your dad comes back and you're dead because you ain't ate nothin' it ain't my fault. I can't cook. Henry says you can cook! Only a little. Jello. Well, if you can find the chicken that lays the Jello egg, you can cook it. You yelled at me. Get used to it! Lieutenant. Those kids, what if something happened to them, in the line of fire? Shoot 'em all, cherry boy. They're gooks and they're gooks. What? Ain't no big thing. Go to hell. Lieutenant, I've got a bad feeling... Get over it. Sir... Don't be a pussy, Gardner. Sir, we can't do this! Shut up! Let's rock'n'roll! There aren't any seat belts. Any what? Seat belts. We have to have seat belts. We don't need no damn seat belts. Where we going? Never you mind. Yes, hello? The number you have reached is not in service. Please check the number or try your call again. Damn it! Damn it! And damn you Henry!! You shouldn't wander off too far by yourself. There's mean-ass neighbors that hates kids. They eat 'em whole. Swallow 'em up in one bite, they do. It's time for you to start earning your keep. Get some feed and feed the critters. For Christ's sake. Never mind. Give me that! Leave my stuff alone! Go away! Well, who's this little angel? Her name is Lenny, she be going any day now. Hi, Lenny. My name is Kate. You got my supplies? Where you from, Lenny? We gotta get going. Would you mind? Uh... Can I get something to eat now? Hell no, you shoulda eaten at the house. You just help yourself to anything you want. It's on the house. You shoulda asked me first. Ask you? What? You mean have a real honest-to-God conversation? Ask you, my ass. No, not enough. It's been getting tougher to fill your order for 20 bucks a box. $25? Done. Next time. Is there change for a phone call? This good? Sure. Here, here. There you go. Thanks. So Lenny, where are your parents? My mom's in heaven, my dad... left. Oh. You know people in heaven too, don't you? Yes, I do. They love you even more when they get to heaven, you know. No matter what. Come on, let's go. That was nice. If you say so. You better put on your rain gear. What? Your coat, put it on. I don't have one. What? What have you got in that damn bag? Crayons, a coloring book, and a doll. Damn it! You should have brought some rain gear! You're yelling at me. You're damn right I am! You're gonna catch a death of a cold out here! Sorry. Never go into these woods without at least taking a jacket! Okay. Maybe next time you'll tell me where we're going. What's that for? I'm helping some friends. What's their names? Don't know. You don't know your friends' names? No. Well, then how do you know they're your friends? Some things you just know. Come on. Help me load this wood. Well, where do they live? Out here, in the woods. How'd you meet 'em? Never met 'em. Just heard they were living out here, so one day, I decided to leave them a surprise. How come? I just thought maybe it'd be good that they know somebody cared about 'em, and was thinking about em. Next thing I knew, they were leaving wood in return. Well, how come they live in the woods? Some people just like living by themselves. Why? Because they just do! You stay in the truck and stop talkin', you're wearing my ears out. Can I get out here? I suppose. Cool, a cave! Hey, not exactly. Old mining tunnel. Come on, we'll take some of this wood back to the truck. Can I go inside it? No! Watch out. Come on, I'm freezing. What's wrong, Jake? Nothing. Shoo, shoo! Here, git! Git! If you're not eating, I'm not eating. Does... blue go with orange? I'm not so good with colors. Sorry for yelling. Okay. Sorry for... for throwing things at you. And for going through your stuff. And for not having any rain gear. And for making a mess of... Stop. Stop while you're ahead. Okay. What's the cat's name? Cat. Cat. Just Cat? Yup. What's the dog's name? Dog. Oh. What do you call the chickens? Chickens? No. Ladies. Most of the time, anyway. My daddy gave me a doll. Her name is Annie, but I'm gonna call her Doll. Sorry. No, no, no, you're doing good, it's the eggshell, you're doing good. Maybe we should put this in for a little longer, let it cook on the other side a little bit. Lay it down gentle like, a dog will sometimes turn on you and bite when it's his chow. Most dogs anyway. Let's go, ladies. Hey, this is how you do it. Will they bite too? No, but they won't eat out of your hand. They don't trust you. They tickle. Let's go, we gotta feed the birds. Ooh, what a big black bird. It's a raven. "Follow a raven into the shadow, and you will find the light." That's from an old Indian medicine man. What does it mean? They say the raven brings people courage. He's a symbol of healing. Do you believe that? There's not much I believe in anymore, Lenny. Do you feed it too? Oh, be damned if I know. I guess so, but I've never seen it eat. It just sits there in that tree. It's pretty. That it is. You got running away out of your system? Jake, look! It's a beach! That's where we headed. Yes! It's the best crab I've ever had. I can't even believe we caught all this ourselves. M m-mm-mm. Is this what your friends eat? I n the woods? I'm not so sure what they eat, but I bet it ain't this fancy. Hey! We should invite them to go to the beach with us! Then take them back here and cook them dinner. What? Why would we do that? 'Cause that's what friends do. Is that right? M m-hmm. They wouldn't come. Then we should go to them. Let's have a picnic! I'm not so sure that's a good idea. Wipe your mouth. Why not? Well, first of all, they might not want to have anything to do with us. And plus, maybe I don't want anything to do with them. Maybe I'm happy the way things are. You don't seem very happy to me. Everybody's happy at a picnic! I'll do all the work, I promise. I n this dirty old part of the city Where the sun refuses to shine People tell me there ain't no use in trying My little girl, you're so young and pretty And one thing I know is true It looks good enough to eat. I'm having fun. You having fun, Jake? H mm. You think they know we're here? Nothing happens in these woods they don't know about. Besides, there ain't a living thing in this valley that can't smell this food cooking. Do you hear what I'm hearing? Sounds like somebody's having a party. Nobody came. I didn't really expect them. Hey. Hey. Hey! Uh, Neeley. Oh yeah, I'd recognize that truck anywhere. Thank you, bro. Welcome home. You too, my man, you too. Mitchell. Chopper, '68. Army, '67. This here's Lenny. Lenny! It is indeed my pleasure, ma'am. Can I interest you in a beer? Oh yes sir, you can, you most certainly can. We got some dead cow, a chicken or two. Yeah, my wife said she smelled yard bird on the grill. Ohhhh. Goddamn it, look at all this food. It never crossed my mind you'd have a woman. She's welcome too. Oh, well, uh... Cyd, she don't like to leave the house much. Mind if I bring one of these back to her? Help yourself. Hey, Dinky, get your arse out here! Chickenshit! Probably slobbering all over himself from the smell, but he hasn't got the guts to come out on his own. How many more of you are out here? Around here? Well, there's, uh, Dinky and Red, oh and there's some other vets out in the deep woods, we trade with them every once in a while. Dinky! Come and get a brewsky! Oh, there he is. Booby trap? Oh, no, he was running down an elk fell and busted his leg, he set it himself but, uh, it never did mend right, did it, Dink? No, damn thing. Hey. Hey. Marines, '70. '67, Army. Go on and get yourself some grub, Dinky. Who's the little kid? Lenny. Kid of a buddy of mine. Looks like a gook. Yeah. Her real name is Lee. She was born... her momma was a gook. She was Vietnamese. Uh, yes, you're right, she was Vietnamese. I'll be damned. Lenny, these guys were in Vietnam too. Hi, girl. How you doing? You remember the word for crazy? You got it! Hell, honey, that's his name too! Dinky-dod. He's as crazy as they come! Don't shake her arm off, Dink. She could be Sure is a pretty little thing, ain't she? Less talk and I've got to get me a beer. You know, you and Lenny should come and meet my wife. She was a nursing nun, used to hang out at them orphanages and shit. I got a lot of respect for nurses. So, who's Red? Red? Well, he's one of us, sort of. He lives closest to your place. He's watching us right now, you can bet on that. Can you get him to come out? Maybe, maybe not. He's, uh, got kind of a short fuse. Gotta be careful with him. He's got so many booby traps around this place I don't even go over there anymore. 'Fraid I'll get myself blowed all to hell. That don't make him a bad guy. Oh no, that's true enough. I don't think he heard us talking about your little girl, so, it should be all right. Is she a problem? She could be. Keep your eye on her. Got it. Hey, Red? Red? We got food! Is that him? Oh, yeah. He don't talk any. That's just the way he is. Might be he don't have much to say. That could be but funny thing is I ain't never heard Red make a sound. Not so much as a peep. A walking bodybag, that one. He died in the Nam. How you doing, Red? Thanks for the grub, Jake. It was all Lenny's idea. Thank you, Lenny. Lenny. You're welcome, M r. Dinky-dod. And you go! Go on! Hey! Hey! What the hell is his problem, huh? Some gook little girl pulled a pin on a grenade and threw it at him, blew half his face off. Aw shit! That ain't right! That ain't right at all! We need reinforcements! Radio! Radio! Get on the phone! Tell him we got heavy automatic weapon fire! Shit! Get down! Shit! Gardner! Take out the hut! There's kids in there! They're killing us! Do it! Now! No sir! It's a direct order! I made you some supper. Give it to Dog. Yes, sir. Where's my boots? I always leave 'em next to my chair, they're not there. Lenny! Answer me, goddamn it! What the hell..? Why are my boots under your bed? I told you to leave my stuff alone! We're closed! It's Jake Neeley! What brings you out? I need something to drink! How about some coffee? How about you give up playing the social worker and get me some whiskey? How about you kiss my ass? H mm. I only have beer and wine, I'm not selling any to you. I don't want no damn coffee, where is it, huh? Hey! Knock it off! All right, you want to tell me what's going on or do I call the cops and have your ass hauled in? I can't do this anymore. She shouldn't be with me. What do I know about taking care of a kid? I figured he'd be back to get her, but it's been weeks now. He could be dead for all I know. Dead? He has lung cancer. No relatives? None that I could find. Her mother's dead. She should be in school! Where is she now? At my place. You left her alone? She's sleeping. Probably. Oh crap. Maybe she should stay here. With me. What? Well, you'd still be taking care of her, she'd just be staying here with me. You'd do that? Why? Well, certainly not for you. She's a very special little girl. Yeah. Well, think it over. And now, if you are done trashing the place, would you like a cup of joe? You take cream or..? Hey! Put it on my bill. Why did that man spit on me? Listen kid, I'm not gonna explain some damn thing to you that you'd never understand anyhow! You're mean. You think so? H uh? Well, fine! You won't have to listen to mean old Jake cussing and yelling anymore! Tomorrow I'm taking you to Kate's! What? I've had enough! You're gonna stay at Kate's until your dad comes back! No! Yes! I'm not going! I'm not going and you can't make me! Oh! Jesus! Lenny? Let's go. Time to pack your things. Lenny? Damn it. Damn it to hell! Lenny!! Damn it. Lenny!! Damn. Lenny!! Hey Lenny!! Lenny!! Lenny! Answer me! Lieutenant, I got a bad feeling. A dead gook's a good gook. Gardner, what the hell is wrong with you? I'm not killing any kids! I'll kill you with my gun damn it! Take out that hut! No! Damn you! Give me that! I'll do it I Agh! Lieutenant! You gotta do it, Gardner! Shoot! Now! Agh! Agh! Oh God! I'm hit! I didn't mean to do anything wrong! Goddamn you sons of bitches! I'm sorry! I... Help. Help me, please! No! I'm not the girl who hurt you! Lenny!! Jake!! I'm over here! Jake! Hurry!! Lenny!! Jake!! Lenny. Hold on!! Jake!! Hold on, Lenny!! Grab the branch! Grab the branch! Grab it Lenny! Can you use both hands? I don't know, I'm scared! Good, now hold on tight! Don't drop me! I... won't, I won't! Give me your hand! Oh! Hey, you okay? Who was shooting? I don't know. What happened? I was running, and I slipped. Damn girl, your dad would've killed me. Come here. Oh! God, don't scare me like that. Oh, God. Don't scare me like that. Jake... my dad's gone. He's not coming back. He gave me this the night he left. He's dead, Jake. I know it! I'm sorry. It's okay. Everything's okay now. It's okay, it's okay. It's okay. I imagine you're pretty tired with running away and all. You probably want to go to bed when you're done there. Oh no, Jake, I'm wide awake. See? Let's fix up my bedroom. Let's not. Okay. Will you read to me? I don't have anything you'd like. What about this one? H mm, let's see what we can find out about the raven. "Voice: Incredibly varied "With low deep baritone, "Croaks, "To high, fine, Twangy notes." Kinda poetic, huh? Oh, sorry, does your arm still hurt? No. Not at all. Read. "Has a long, hoarse, croooooak. "Lower, hollow croak And deep resonant notes are typical." Shhh. Go to sleep now. Good night, Lenny. Good night, Jake. I won't do it ever again, I promise. Don't worry about it. Doll can have it. Never really sat right with me anyhow. Lenny. H mm? Why did you hide my boots? So you couldn't leave me. I won't leave you, Lenny. Never? Never. You better go to sleep now. Okay. Put it on his bill, my ass. Jake, look! It's eating. That it is. Oh! You got it, Jake? Ay, hold your horses, girl. Any problems? Nope. I fed birds and ladies and Dog and Cat. Even Raven came down to eat. Well, I guess you can sit down and close your eyes. No peeking! Okay! Is it a book? No. Is it something for the cabin? No. Hold out your arms, it's something just for you. Oh my God, it's a baby lamb! Yes. You gave me a baby lamb, Jake! Yes, it's a baby lamb. A baby lamb! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're welcome. It's the absolutely most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me! Well, I know just how you feel. Oh, cut it out. Oh, cut it out. Three, four... four, five, six, ten, eleven... Thank you. Hi, Kate. Hi. Oooh, your hair looks pretty today. Thanks. Morning. Yeah, it's pretty. You have the list, Lenny. Why don't you start? Okay. Uhm, listen, about the other night. I could come in here and act like it never happened. Uhm, and maybe a few weeks back, I would've done just that. I'm not the kind of guy who likes to... show that side of myself, so to speak, none of this happened, let me just... Oh, please stop, it was entirely an accident, I... Is that enough? Because if it ain't, just tell me, I'll pay whatever you want. It's been a long time since I had any. And, uhm, I can't even remember when the last time was so I'm not up on prices these days. Fifteen, twenty, yeah, whatever, you just tell me the price. Okay, okay, I'm... I'm... I'm sorry about taking the wine. The wine. And I know I've been a real horse's ass over the years and I... it's difficult to apologize, but I got something for you. A peace offering. Oh! Well... you shouldn't have. It's freshly picked. Thank you. It's very nice. Sorry, uh, ten. Ten's good. Wait, wait, wait! You forgot this. Yeah. He will like that. Hey, M itch. Hey, Jake. Yeah, Cyd, this here is Jake, this is Lenny, there're the folks I was telling you about. That had the barbecue the other day. Pleased to meet you, nice to meet you thanks for all the supplies. He's been bringing them all these years. I drew this. Oh! You're quite an artist. There's no wood. How come Red didn't leave any wood? I don't know. Is this the first time he hasn't left any wood? Yeah. Why is he mad at me? I don't think he's mad at you. Yes he is. Red's mixed up. He needs help. Can a friend help him? I don't know, maybe. How come you so quiet? I don't know. I think the schoolbus will stop at the end of the driveway. I've been thinking maybe we can build a bench for Doll if you want. Maybe tomorrow. Okay. Anything special you want to do? Go for a walk or something? I think maybe Lamb wants to go for a walk. You want me to go with you? No. No, that's okay. All right. All right. Don't stray too far. Okay. I mean it, stay real close. I don't want you to jump off no damn cliff. Come on. Shhh. I'm not afraid of you anymore. Want to pet a lamb? It's okay. I wanna be your friend. Lamb, wait! Jake! Jake! I'm here, what's wrong? What is it? Red! I told you not to go far! He's hurt, Jake! He's hurt real bad! You gotta help him! Okay! Okay! Jesus Christ! It's bad. What... what happened? Lenny, what happened? He saved me. God, I gotta leave it in. Lenny, I need your help. Come here! Push down here to stop the bleeding. There, just like I'm doing. I'm going to Mitchell's for help. Look, be as brave as you can. He won't hurt you now. All right? Look at me. You can do it, Lenny. You can do it. I'll be right back. It's okay. Hey! Hey! Oh, you're so cold. Lenny! I... I was trying to keep him warm. He's cold from losing so much blood. I'll got get him a blanket! Red, lie still! Lie still! Lenny!! No!! Oh my God! Oh Jesus! No!!!!! Lenny! Lenny! No, Lenny! No! Cyd! You can help her, Cyd! You can help her! Lenny. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay! Come on, come on, Lenny, gotta get help. I gotta get help! Where are we? Where are we? Let me go! Let me go! Hey, Cyd! You can help, Cyd! Somebody help her! She's gone. Jake? Jake, you in there? Don't do this to yourself. Jake! I don't give a damn about you. Give me the same respect and leave me the hell alone. You're just gonna sit here and rot? Everything I touch turns to shit. It's better this way, better for everybody. No, my ass it is! This wasn't your fault! You're so damn full of yourself you think you have that kind of power? Get the hell out of my house. Fine. But you're pathetic. You don't understand. Oh, don't I? You think you're the only person in the world who's lost someone they love? Well, you're not. I know that. Do you? Do you? Do you know how my husband died? No. No. Did you know that I had children, too? A family? No. Then what do you really know about anything? Nothing. They found this when they cleaned out Red's place. The chain's broken but otherwise, it survived. You know where to find me. I have a son I never met. A grown man by now. Probably hears my cussing. We didn't know she was pregnant when we split. She told me later. I always wish she... hadn't told me at all. What? Why? You can't lose something... if you never had it to begin with. What I wouldn't give... to have what you're throwing away. My dad gave it to me, said it would lead me where I was meant to go. I guess it did. Follow the raven into shadow, and you will find the light. |
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