Theme: Scars that are proudly displayed hide and cover up bigger cuts that we cannot see
Premise: With the Iraqi conflict stabilizing and coming to an end, more and more troops being sent back to their homes. Staff Sergeant Lloyd Hawkins, known as Hawk, returns to the States, there is no one to greet him. He takes a cab to an old, broken down house where he talks to his father for the first time in nearly 9 years. He tells stories of how he got each scar. He doesn’t go in chronological order but rather tells each story as he sees them on his body. After his 7 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has many battle stories to tell. He reaches a scar on his knee, which he got as a child riding a bike. How his father dealt with the first scar gives us insight behind his choices in life. At the end, we see that Hawk isn't really talking to anyone but just a big picture of his father.
Program: Because Hawks spent nearly a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has trouble fitting back in to normal life. Since he was faced with combat we can see symptoms of PTS (post-traumatic stress), the scars on his body aren't the only effects of the war. His behavior is confusing and very emotional. The whole time he is talking to his father, we are made to believe his father is there. The camera will reveal a close-up of his father's face in the picture when he’s talking about his scar he got riding the bike, and the camera will show the same close-up one or two more times to show that his father's expression did not change or move. Then it will be revealed that there is a picture.
Treatment: A military plane lands and Hawks gets off. No one is waiting for him there, but he wasn’t expecting anyone. He takes a cab to a run down house, which does not look like it has been occupied for months and possibly years. He doesn’t unpack, but rather takes a bottle of whiskey from his pack and walks up to the living room. Inside this room there are two cushioned chairs in front of the fireplace and the only light comes from a small lamp on a coffee table in between the chairs. Hawks turns this on and sits in the chair. He starts to talk to his father in the other chair. The talk seems as if he is just trying to catch up at first; what he’s been doing for the last 9 years and how he is doing. He is doing all the talking, but he acts if he can hear responses. One of the responses, he pretends to hear is asking about a scar oh his right arm. He recounts of a story how a IED blew shrapnel into it while he was on patrol. Then he begins to talk about the rest of his scars, most of which were products of the war. Then he reaches a scar on his leg and pauses. He says that his father should know about this one. When he was 9 years old and he was riding his bike outside. He sees a friend of his fall off his bike and the mother of the child rushing over and treating it tenderly. He rides his bike home and purposely falls down scraping his knee. When no one rushes out of his house, he gets up and limp into his house. His father is reading a newspaper and Hawk walks over and presents his cut on his knee, which is bleeding a good amount. He begins to cry when his father doesn’t take notice. His father then takes him into the bathroom and pours alcohol on the wound. When he winces in pain, the father tells him, “ A real man should take cuts like this, and move on. It doesn’t hurt, it only makes you stronger.” Hawks breaks down telling the story and we see that who he was talking to was just a picture of his father.
Behavioral Composite:
Hawks gets off the plane and he is greeted with cheers and families rejoicing. As he is walking off the plane, soldiers run past him and reunite with their families. He walks past these reunions watching as a spectator. He walks by all this commotion and reaches a cab.
Hawks talk about his scars with so much excitement and enthusiasms. It is as if he is showing them off to his father, and recounting each moment with as much detail he can muster. Some of the near death experiences he seems to be really traumatized and even trembling after recollecting them. When he reaches the scar on his knee he rubs it tenderly.
Desperate for intention, Hawks fall of his bike. The scrape on his knee is painful, and he walks into his house when no one comes out from him. He walks past the kitchen, where his mother is preparing dinner to the living room. His father is reading a newspaper. Hawk begins to cry and sob. At first his father doesn’t do anything, and then grudgingly he gets up and takes Hawks hand and drags him into the bathroom. He gets alcohol and pours it on the cut. It burns but the father demands that he stop crying and that real men take cuts like this and get stronger.
