Tuesday, 9 November 2010

Diaries of a Prisoner- Notebook idea

Radio play idea: Memories re- awakening: The film opens with an elderly man reading out of a notebook to an elderly woman about a story between two young lovers, Allie and Noah. The story dates back to the summer of 1940 in Seabrook, South Carolina and re tells the story of how they fell in love with each other.
At which we are transported back to present day, where the elderly Noah and Allie sit in his room, and he says, "And they lived happily ever after," which makes Allie remember who she is and what happened: Allie appears at Noah's doorstep, and they embrace. Present day Allie and Noah embrace as well. A few years before, after finding out about her impending dementia, she wrote their story in the notebook with instructions for Noah inside: "The story of our lives, by Allie Calhoun. Read this to me, and I'll come back to you." But soon Allie relapses, and she finds herself in, to her, a stranger's arms. She yells for help, and nurses come to calm her down.
The next morning, Noah is found unconscious in bed, and he is rushed to the hospital. He goes to Allie's room later that night, and they start talking about how they were in love then Allie remembers who they are, they fall asleep together and die in their sleep holding hands.

Research: Actual Letter from Harold Porter to his parents when he was in a concerntration camp:
Dear Mother and Father,
You have, by this time, received a letter mentioning that I am quartered in the concentration camp at Dachau. It is still undecided whether we will be permitted to describe the conditions here, but I'm writing this now to tell you a little, and will mail it later when we are told we can.
It is difficult to know how to begin. By this time I have recovered from my first emotional shock and am able to write without seeming like a hysterical gibbering idiot. Yet, I know you will hesitate to believe me no matter how objective and factual I try to be. I even find myself trying to deny what I am looking at with my own eyes. Certainly, what I have seen in the past few days will affect my personality for the rest of my life.
We knew a day or two before we moved that we were going to operate in Dachau, and that it was the location of one of the most notorious concentration camps, but while we expected things to be grizzly, I'm sure none of us knew what was coming. It is easy to read about atrocities, but they must be seen before they can be believed. To think that I once scoffed at Valtin's "Out of the Night" as being preposterous! I've seen worse.

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