LOST AND FOUND
INT. CAR – DAY
The sight of the trees above passes quickly. In the car is LUKE, a 17-year-old, and driving is EVAN, also 17-years of age.
LUKE
(V.O)
Evan and I came out looking for something. Anything.
EXT. BUSH – LATE AFTERNOON
The two boys open the boot of the car and unpack their gear; backpacks, sleeping bags, a tent, two chairs, and a long contraption – a metal detector.
After Evan locks the car, the two boys start to walk into the bush.
EXT. CAMPSITE
Evan has erected the tent, he is standing by it, admiring his work. Luke is sitting down on one of the two camp chairs.
LUKE
You want a beer?
Evan turns around.
EVAN
Yeah, sure.
Luke chucks Evan a beer. Evan catches and sits down.
EVAN
Here’s to finding something.
LUKE
Cheers.
The two boys toast with their cans. Luke has a sip.
LUKE
I think we have as much chance of finding a horse crap than we have of finding a chest of gold.
EVAN
You have no faith. Just watch. If I find something, you won’t be getting a cut of it.
LUKE
Hey I dragged my arse up here too.
EVAN
You don’t believe we’re going to find anything. Well I’m gonna go see if this thing works.
Evan gets up from his chair and fetches the metal detector.
LUKE
Where did you get it from again?
EVAN
(in the distance)
Ebay.
Luke continues to sip his beer. Suddenly a beeping sound emanates from behind him. Luke turns around.
EVAN
Dude, I think I found something!
LUKE
Holy crap.
EXT. CAMPSITE – EVENING
On the ground is a shovel and dirt; next to it is a small hole. Luke chucks his shovel down to the ground. Evan reaches in the hole and pulls out a large metal box.
INT. TENT – NIGHT
Inside the tent Luke turns his camping light on. Evan, fiddling with the box manages to open it. Evan and Luke peer in. Inside is a large array of documents and items.
EVAN
What the fuck is this?
LUKE
Not gold.
Luke reaches in and takes a document out. It is an envelope marked: “OPEN ME”. Luke turns the envelope to show Evan. Evan peers back in the box and examines the remaining items.
Luke opens the envelope and starts to read the piece of paper. It appears to be a letter.
LUKE
I – I know what this is. It’s one of those time capsules.
EVAN
A time machine?
LUKE
No… You know, we did it in school. A time capsule. You preserve items from a period of time. You bury heaps of your own things in the ground and don’t open it for say ten years, and when you reopen it you discover everything you forgot about that time.
EVAN
When was this shit buried?
Luke peers back at the letter.
LUKE
I don’t know…1942.
EVAN
Whoah. It’s 60 years old. How much do you think it’s worth?
LUKE
Wait a minute… Let’s just see what’s inside here.
EVAN
Is that a letter?
LUKE
It’s a very long letter.
EVAN
Read it out.
LUKE
“To the finder of this capsule,
This box was buried on the 14th of June 1942 by Jack White and Anthony Williams. The contents enclosed are dear to us.
In finding this capsule, it is likely that we have not survived the war, for we buried these contents for retrieval upon our return. The burying of these precious items is in hope that a memory of us may be preserved forever. Our deaths, however inevitable, and though not our choosing, are sacrifices in the honour and glory of our home, Australia, so that we may defend our families and our nation.
We did not volunteer to serve in the war, but were drafted. Despite this, our hearts are not filled with reluctance or spite but with pride and honour. This is not to suggest that we are not scared for we recognise this journey will likely lead to our death, consequently our hearts are clouded with fear. Houses and buildings are simply structures that can be destructed or moved, but the Earth is constant and infallible, hence we take solace in knowing that the burying of these items in the Earth means that we will always be remembered.”
As Luke continues to read, Anthony picks up the various items that Luke discusses.
LUKE
(CONT’D)
“Anthony has placed in this box, the engagement ring he has bought. He plans to propose, after the war, to Joanne, who is in England. Anthony has also put in a letter from Joanne that she wrote after she learned Anthony was to go to war. The cross in the box is Anthony’s. He has told me that to go off and kill other men he must leave God behind.
Enclosed too is a photograph of Anthony and I at the town gala. We were young. We still are.
The rifle cartridge is from the first and only living thing I have killed thus far – a rabbit. The event was painful as I felt nothing but compassion and sorrow for the animal.
I have included the poem, “In Flanders Fields”, which my Father recited to me when I was a child. Although I am inexperienced in war, I feel strangely acquainted with death.
Lastly, I place my diary, which will no longer be of any use to me, and a packet of cigarettes, in case I am unable to find any when I come back!
Jack White
14 Benjamin Street
Melbourne, Victoria”
Luke puts the letter down. Long beat.
EVAN
They didn’t come back for this.
LUKE
No, obviously not.
EVAN
What do you think happened to them?
LUKE
They probably got killed. Or kept prisoner for a long time. Beat. They must’ve been our age.
EVAN
We’re lucky. They were born in the wrong era.
LUKE
Why? We have wars now. Would you go to war?
EVAN
You mean would I go and fight for my country in Iraq or Afghanistan?
LUKE
Yes.
EVAN
It’s not my war. Besides, who would I be fighting for? Beat. My country? Australians?
LUKE
Would you die for your country?
EVAN
No I would not. Absolutely not.
LUKE
Those boys were willing. In fact… they were proud. That concept seems so strange. They almost felt obliged to go. If someone made us go to war now we’d jump up and down and yell civil rights.
EVAN
I think maybe things have changed a bit.
LUKE
A bit? What do we fight for now? What do we fight against?
EVAN
Terrorism? Muslims?
LUKE
I mean really, what do we fight? In your life. In our lives. The petty fights. We fight for the remote, the front seat in the car. Man…We fight against our parents. That’s our war. And it’s sad.
EVAN
Like I said, it’s a different era.
LUKE
No you said they were born in the wrong era.
EVAN
They were forced to fight and die in a war.
LUKE
So?
EVAN
So what if they didn’t want to?
LUKE
They had to. And what makes this era so much better than the past eras?
EVAN
Are you telling me you’d be happy to be conscripted?
LUKE
No. But I don’t think I can vouch for this era over any other time.
EVAN
How would you know that, though?
LUKE
It’s what I’ve been observing. Sitting around the schoolyard, listening to people. Just listening. It seems to me we live in a narcissistic era. Beat. There’s no way people would fight or die for their country. Everyone, even I’m guilty, we’re so focused on our own lives.
EVAN
We live in a capitalist society.
LUKE
But why are we so vain? Why are we obsessed with what we wear and what technology we have? I don’t know. I just get annoyed when I see people who seem so shallow and oblivious to anything else going on around them. What else is in here?
Luke peers inside the box. Luke removes the rifle cartridge and looks at it.
LUKE
Could you ever take a life?
EVAN
If it was mine too take.
LUKE
What does that mean?
Luke puts the bullet down and looks at Evan. Luke returns the bullet and takes out the cross – examining it. Evan takes the poem “In Flanders Fields” and reads it.
EVAN
“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.”
It’s weird looking at a life in retrospect.
LUKE
Why?
EVAN
Don’t you think? Doesn’t it make you wonder what someone else would say about your life 60 years from now if they discovered your time capsule?
LUKE
What would you put in yours?
EVAN
VB, a footy. Ha ha.
Luke chuckles.
LUKE
No you’re right. It does make you think. It makes you ask questions – if anything. In sixty years time… I’ll be 78. God…my life would be nearly over. What would it have all meant?
EVAN
I think maybe you’re thinking into things too much. Haven’t you ever just wanted to live for the moment? Just enjoy what’s happening? And not have to worry about anything else. Maybe that’s all there is to life. Just the moment. The events that happen to you.
LUKE
I often ask myself what I want to do. What people would think of me in 80 years time. Will I have made a difference? I can never seem to answer yes. My life, in retrospect, seems virtually pointless. You’re born, you go to school for 12 years. Go to university for 3. Get a dead end job. Find a girl, marry her. Have children. Retire. Get your pension. And die. But these boys, Jack and Anthony, they really meant something. They changed something. I wish I could have that chance, at least. I wish I could fight for something. Or love something with such conviction.
EVAN
Then sign up to the army.
LUKE
No, you’re not getting what I’m saying. This isn’t about war.
EVAN
What you’re saying is that you want to be given a purpose in life? Just because Anthony and Jack were told to go to war doesn’t make what they did any more important than what we’re doing now. I’d rather not be given a purpose in life from a government or people. It turns you into a commodity – into an asset.
LUKE
Is that what we are assets? That seems to concede that there’s nothing after death.
EVAN
So do you believe in God?
LUKE
No…but I think. I think that there is some sort of greater force. That our lives do have some reason – and maybe there is something after death. Socrates asked “What is courage or piety or virtue?” I don’t know.
Evan and Luke sit in silence for a while.
EVAN
You know, it’s good we found at least one thing, so this trip hasn’t been a failure. I wanna find more things tomorrow morning. I’ll wake up early – so I think I’ll go to sleep now. Good night!
Evan unzips his sleeping bag.
LUKE
Yeah, alright.
Luke unzips his bag too, getting ready for bed. Luke packs up all the documents into the metal box.
LUKE
Good night.
Evan reaches to the camp light and turns it off.
Luke lays in his sleeping bad, staring up at the roof of his tent. After a long while he reaches for his torch light, flicks it on and rustles through the metal box, pulling out Jack’s diary.
He opens the diary and starts to read.
LUKE
(V.O)
“7th June, 1942
It seems the war has worsened. The bombing of the American Naval Base in December was just the start. Our new ally America is suffering badly. Our troops in Africa are suffering too. Should I have joined the war? Would I have made a difference?
9th June, 1942
What am I doing? Anthony and my dream to start a brass band seems to be waning away. Me on the trumpet, him on the hornet.
Why do I feel like I have no purpose in life? Why do I feel that whatever I may achieve will be insignificant in the shadow of the death and destruction around the world?
10th June, 1942
I want to do something with my life. I want to make a difference in the world. My world feels hollow. I am feeling soulless. Today I received word that my friend Harry has died in combat. He was only 19.
11th June, 1942
Today Prime Minister Curtin announced that Australia needs more troops to fight the Japanese. He has previously suggested the idea of conscription. It is going to happen. I am going to go to war. I do not know what I feel. I feel frightened but at the same time exuberant.
12th June, 1942
Anthony and I have decided to go camping for the final time before we have to go to war. We used to camp when we were young boys.We used to dream of leaving and exploring the world. Now we have our chance. I have an idea to create a time capsule to bury. We will leave in it some of our prized belongings.
14th June, 1942
This is my last diary entry before I seal the box and bury it. I stayed up all night thinking. I think I have a purpose now. I will fight for my country.”
Suddenly Evan wakes up.
EVAN
What the fuck are you doing? Turn the torch off.
Luke seems to ignore him. Beat.
LUKE
Tomorrow morning. We’re going to the address on the letter.
EXT. ROAD – DAY
Luke and Evan drive in their car along a road.
LUKE
(V.O)
I feel like I know him. He feels strangely familiar. Will I recognize his face? Will he still be here?
EXT. BENJAMIN STREET
The car pulls up. The two boys alight and start walking to Jack’s house.
EVAN
You know, he’s probably not even here. This address is 60 years old. Hell, he’s probably dead. That’s why the box was never uncovered.
Luke ignores Evan, he is carrying the box by his side. He approaches the door and knocks three times.
No one answers. Luke knocks again. After a long time the door opens. In the doorway is a very fragile, old man. It is JACK.
JACK
Can I help you?
LUKE
Anthony Williams?
The man seemingly stares back at him.
JACK
No I’m Jack White. Who are you?
LUKE
Sorry, my name is Luke and this is my friend, Evan.
Luke extends his hand. The old man does not see his hand. Instead he looks elsewhere, he is blind. Luke slowly recognizes this.
LUKE
(nervously)
Sir, we found this. We dug it up when we were camping.
Luke offers the box to Jack. Realizing he cannot see Luke takes Jack’s hands and shows him the box. Jack takes the box.
Jack’s face depicts instant recognition of the box.
JACK
Oh. Oh my.
Jack becomes teary. He opens the box and feels around. He takes the necklace with the cross out.
JACK
It’s been…60 years. Oh my God. Where did you find this? I had looked so hard. Beat. This was my friend, Anthony’s. He died in Singapore.
Luke stares at Jack, listening intently. His face has an expression of sadness. Like he is looking into his own reflection, 60 years later.
LUKE
Did you ever start your brass band?
JACK
You read my diary. With Anthony gone…I couldn’t.
LUKE
And Joanne?
JACK
She never knew of Anthony’s intentions.
There is a brief moment of silence.
JACK
Son, how old are you?
LUKE
Seventeen.
Jack begins to cry.
JACK
Thank you, son. For bringing this to me. I have been looking for this for 60 years.
Luke stares awkwardly back at Jack for a while. He and Evan walk back to the car.
LUKE
(V.O)
I found something that summer. I found myself.