Patriot

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THE PATRIOT

FADE IN:

EXT. THE SWAMPS OF SOUTH CAROLINA - NIGHT

Dark. Ominous. Kudzu hangs from the swamps maples. A

dark and forbidding place. A bird CRIES EERILY in the

darkness. Insects HUM ominously.

SUPERIMPOSITION:

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

A detachment of French soldiers with several wagons makes

it's way along a muddy road cut through the swamp. The

soldiers are wary, scanning the underbrush, weapons ready.

In the swamp, parallel to the road, SHADOWED FIGURES,

hidden among the brush, silently track the French

soldiers.

As the lead wagon rolls over a muddy puddle, straddling

it, a MUD-COVERED FIGURE, reaches up, grabs the wagon's

undercarriage, pulls itself up and clings, unseen to the

underside of the wagon. The figure, obscured by the mud,

barely looks human.

As the other wagons roll over other muddy depressions in

the road, three more mud-covered figures reach up, grab

and cling to the underside of other wagons.

FORT CHARLES

The gates are opened. The relieved French soldiers

quicken their pace and hurry into the relative safety of

the fort. In the fort yard the weary detachment

disperses.

UNDER THE LEAD WAGON

The first dark, mud-covered figure silently drops to the

ground and draws a distinctive TOMAHAWK from his belt as

the other figures drop from the other wagons.

The figures crawl through the shadows toward the sentries

who are closing the main gates. THEY SPRING... the lead

figure dashes forward, raises his TOMAHAWK and HACKS DOWN

at a TERRIFIED FRENCH SENTRY...

The other muddy figures join the attack... stifling the

screams of the French soldiers with VICIOUS KNIFE

SLASHES... gaining precious seconds...

A FRENCH SOLDIER CRIES OUT... sounding the alarm... other

FRENCH SOLDIERS come running out of the darkness...

The four muddy figures, make a stand at the gate, brutally

killing the French soldiers as they come, holding the

gates open as...

Dozens of other muddy figures race out of the surrounding

swamp, tearing through the fort gates, joining the

slaughter...

The lead figure, HACKS, again and again with his

tomahawk...

Blood and flesh cover his arm as the vicious blade rises

and falls amid the SCREAMS in the darkness...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. SOUTH CAROLINA COUNTRYSIDE - DAY

Beautiful sunlight. AERIAL SHOT of a post rider galloping

along a road through peaceful untamed woodlands. Soaring

old-growth elms arch over riverside maples along the

shores of the gently curving, deep-water Santee River.

SUPERIMPOSITION:

SOUTH CAROLINA

April, 1776

The post rider rides along a raised swamp road. On either

side of the road, gorgeous shafts of sunlight pierce the

canopy falling onto soft, swaying ferns that cover the

high grounds. Hundreds of BIRDS SING. The water is

clear, with fields of floating lily pads, each with a

stark white flower rising from it.

EXT. FRESH WATER PLANTATION - DAY

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