Script Analysis: “Women Talking” — Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes pr se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

This week: Women Talking (2022). You may read the script here.

Screenplay by Sarah Polley, based on the book by Miriam Toews

Plot summary: Do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith.

Women Talking
Scene by Scene Breakdown
By Karen Liu (Dantas)
GoIntoTheStory.com

1–2: Morning outside a schoolhouse. We follow 13 year-old AARON’s feet walking along a thin fence, all the way along a path that leads to a barn, around the barn, and the pen where a couple of YEARLINGS graze. A group of about 14 BOYS follow him in complete silence, watching his every move, wondering if he will fall. Beside the boys walks the SCHOOL TEACHER, AUGUST, who watches him silently, willing him not to fall. Aaron manages to walk the entire length of the fence and around the paddock. When he is done, Aaron hops down and the boys erupt in rapturous applause. August looks off into the distance, where he sees a GROUP OF MEN coming towards the boys, looking stern. He tells us in voiceover that “The attacks were originally attributed to ghosts and demons.”

2: On a dusty road, a group of 7 WOMEN walk. A wind picks up, causing them to hold onto their hats.

2: Inside a church, DOZENS OF MEN bow their heads on the floor in silent prayer. We hear August’s voiceover continuing to explain, “When the women woke up feeling drowsy and in pain, their bodies bruised and bleeding, many believed they were being made to suffer as punishment for their sins. Many accused the women of lying for attention or to cover up adultery.”

2–3: ONA FRIESEN (40) and her younger sister SALOME FRIESEN (35), sit in a field with August as the sun sets. They stare out over the soy fields at Salome’s daughter MIEP (3) as she plays. Salome remarks, “Hundreds of times. All of us.” We follow the fragile little Miep creating a path through the soy field. Ona tells us in voiceover, “They said we were dreaming. But then we realized that we were dreaming one dream and it wasn’t a dream at all.” Tears stream out of August’s eyes, and he tries to quickly wipe them away. Salome looks at him, then looks away. As Miep continues deeper into the field, we hear Salome’s voiceover, “They told us that it was Satan. Or the result of wild female imagination.” Over Miep walking into the distance, we see the following text: “WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN ACT OF FEMALE IMAGINATION.”

3: Over a black screen, we hear Ona’s voice, saying, “I’m glad you’re back August. It’s good that you came back.”

3: Salome’s niece, NEITJE FRIESEN (15) hunches over a drawing in Salome’s kitchen. It is night. Salome, MARICHE REIMER (29) and her sister MEJAL REIMER (33), and their mother GRETA REIMER (60), along with Ona, Ona and Salome’s mother AGATA FRIESEN (70), and Mariche’s daughter AUTJE

(16) all watch Neije as she draws three separate drawings. Salome points to a drawing of a field with clouds over it. Neitje explains, “Do nothing.” Salome points at a drawing of a man and a woman, knives drawn towards each other in battle and states, “Stay and fight.” Finally Salome points at a drawing of a horse. Both Salome and Neitje say together, “Leave.” Salome pats Neitje’s shoulder, approvingly.

4–4A: Outside a dilapidated barn, August holds a gun in his hand as he walks in circles in the field. It is morning. We hear him explain, “I have been in love with Ona Friesen for most of my life. This morning she found me, having lost my faith in everything.” We follow behind the pregnant Ona, walking towards him on the path. She sees the gun by his side and calls him by name. Startled, August tries to hide the gun. Ona asks where he is going, and August answers nowhere. Ona smiles at him, then comes very close to him, bringing her face very close to his. She tells him, “Early this morning I saw a squirrel and a rabbit.” She continues her story, “The squirrel charged the rabbit. Just as the squirrel was about to make contact with the rabbit, the rabbit leapt straight up into the air. Then the squirrel turned around and charged the rabbit from the other direction and the rabbit leapt into the air and the squirrel missed.” August looks at her bemused, as Ona makes the revelation, “They were playing!” Ona then speculates on the possibility that “Maybe I wasn’t meant to have seen them playing. It was very early in the morning, and I was the only one roaming around.” Ona takes his arm and pulls him with her, declaring, “We need you,” before explaining that the women need him to take minutes of their meeting.

4A-5: NETTIE/MELVIN (25), dressed as a man, plays a game of tag with a group of 13 CHILDREN of varying ages, including JULIUS (5) in the field. We follow the children closely in their game, and feel their sweat and excitement, before drifting up to the morning sky, and see a flock of birds going by.

5–6: In the early afternoon, inside a hayloft, The Women — Agata, Greta, Ona, Salome, Mariche, Autje, Neitje, Mejal, SCARFACE JANZ (50), her eldest daughter ANNA JANZ (30), and Anna’s daughter HELENA (16) take off their socks and shoes. Some wear plastic sandals with white socks. The younger women, Neitje and Autje wear torn canvas shoes with white socks rolled down around their ankles. Mejal and Autje have rope burns on their ankles. The older women wear sturdy leather sandals. We hear Agata’s voice explaining their ritual as we see The Women wash each others’ feet, “We must honour our service to each other. We must represent it. Just as the feet of the disciples were washed by Jesus at the Last Supper, knowing that his hour had come.” Each Woman washes the feet of the person sitting to their right. They take their time, and do it slowly. August looks at the ground, not wanting to impose. As the women finish, they murmur, “God Bless You” to each other, while Neitje and Autje try to suppress giggles while quietly mocking to themselves the sombreness of the occasion. As Autje tries to hide her laughter in her sleeve, August sits down at a table and writes in a notebook. We linger over the face of each woman, sitting in silence, waiting for the discussion to begin. We hear August’s voiceover reveal what he is writing: “At this moment in time, most of the men are gone from the colony. All of the able bodied men, excluding those in wheelchairs, the elderly, and me, the schoolteacher, left yesterday for the city to post bail for the imprisoned attackers, leaving the women free to talk openly with one another.”

6: We then hear the thunderous sound of boots, like an other-worldly noise, as we flashback to endless pairs of TALL BLACK BOOTS walking quickly in the dirt on a colony road at dawn. The MEN OF THE COLONY, including PETERS, ELDERS and Mariche’s husband KLAAS gather buggies in a convoy. THE WOMEN, which include Mariche, Agata, Salome, and Mejal, help load them up, as they keep their heads down, and avoid eye contact, and stay on the opposite side to the men. Peters eyes the group, monitoring. He tells the women, “We will be back in two days.” August tells us in voiceover, “When they return, in 24 hours, the women will be given the opportunity to forgive these men, guaranteeing everyone’s place in heaven.” The Men get into their buggies and ride off. The Women watch the men go, left in a cloud of dust, a tremendous sound surrounding them. We see from above the distance between the men and women becoming greater.

6–7: It’s early afternoon, and we’re back in the Hayloft, where one by one we peruse the face of each woman. August’s voiceover continues. “My name is August Epp. Two months ago, I returned, from the outside world, to this colony, where I was raised. I am now the colony schoolteacher, and I have been asked to take the minutes of the meetings because the women are functionally illiterate, having had very little education.” We land on Ona, who tenderly watches August writing. August continues to explain in his voiceover, “Ona Friesen asked me if I would take the minutes, and as I had nothing to do but kill myself, and as I have been in love with her for most of my life and would do anything for her, I agreed.” August looks up at Ona, he smiles lightly at her. He then returns to his writing. The Women set themselves up in a kind of haphazard circle.

7: In a flashback, all of THE WOMEN OF THE COLONY, over a hundred of them, take turns to stand at a crudely built ballot box one morning inside the barn. Some murmur to each other. Coffee is served at a table with summer sausage and buns. August continues to explain to us in voiceover that “A vote was held earlier this morning.” The women each mark the paper, with Neitje’s drawings, by writing an “X” next to one of the drawings. We follow Scarface Janz as she puts an “X” next to the “Do Nothing” picture. So do her daughter Anna, and Scarface’s granddaughter Helena. We watch as the women all mark down their votes, Ona, Mehal, Mariche, Agata, Autje, and Neitje, especially. Greta thinks for a long moment, and then votes.

8–10: We return to the scene in the Hayloft. The Reimer women sit roughly on one side, and the Friesen women sit on the other. The Janz women sit further in the corner. A table fashioned out of a piece of plywood laid across hay bales features prominently, as do the chairs which are really just upside-down milking buckets. Neitje draws a portrait of Scarface Janz and her daughter and granddaughter. August continues to explain to us in voiceover, “As the vote was tied between the option of Staying and Fighting or Leaving, representatives of two families of women, the Reimers and the Friesens, have been tasked with deciding whether or not to Stay and Fight or Leave, while the rest of the women tend to the work of the colony. They have invited representatives of the Janz family to be part of the conversation, though they voted to do nothing. They are meeting in Earnest Penner’s hayloft, as he is senile and rarely comes in.” Scarface, matriarch of the Janz family, takes a deep breath and begins her argument. “It is part of our faith to forgive. We have always forgiven those who have wronged us. Why not now?” Salome counters back. “Because now we know better.” Scarface is unrelenting. “Better than God? You know better than God?” Scarface’s daughter Anna, jumps in to support her mother. “Our Lord requires us to forgive, Salome. Or do you believe yourself mightier than he?” Scarface continues to plead the case to forgive and forget, and the logistics of why. “We will be excommunicated, forced to leave the colony in disgrace, if we don‘t forgive the men. And if we are excommunicated, we will forfeit our place in heaven.” Scarface’s teenage granddaughter Helena delivers what she hopes is a closing argument. “How could any of you live with the fear of that?” But Agata, Salome’s mother and matriarch of the Friesen family, looks at Helena softly. “What else are you afraid of Helena? Tell us. We want to hear.” Agata moves towards Helena and sits on an overturned milk pail at her side, holding her hand. Helena answers quietly, “We can only do what we have learned.” The matriarch of the Reimer women, Greta, calls on Helena to speak up. Helena repeats herself, louder. “We have only domestic skills. How are we supposed to survive out in the World if we are excommunicated?” Helena’s mother Anna backs her up. “We are unable to read or write. We’ve never even seen a map.” Agata nods, sympathetically. “These are all legitimate fears. How can we address them?” She looks around at the women, inviting them to speak. Agata’s daughter Salome responds. “Shouldn’t we be concerned about more than just our survival, Helena? Is what we have lived, worth preserving?” Scarface steps in. “These questions themselves are blasphemous.” There is a long silence. Greta, assents. “Alright. No more blasphemous questions. I want to talk about my horses, Ruth and Cheryl.”

10: We flashback to Greta’s horse barn one early morning, where Greta lovingly tends to her team of old horses, RUTH and CHERYL. Greta brushes them, looks into their eyes, and smiles tenderly at them. She breaks contact, a sadness coming over her, as she gives them a final pat before walking away.

10–11: Greta drives her buggy along the road, with Ruth and Cheryl pulling. From Greta’s point of view, we see a ROTTWEILER appear ahead on the road and bark, triggering Ruth and Cheryl to bolt. Greta struggles to maintain control. Over this, we hear Greta’s explanation, “When Ruth and Cheryl are frightened by Dueck’s Rottweilers on the mile road that leads to the church, their initial instinct is to bolt. These horses don’t organize meetings to decide what they will do. They run.” We continue to see through Greta’s eyes her horses Ruth and Cheryl’s manes flying in the wind, as they continue to bolt into the field.

11: We return to the Hayloft, as Agata laughs at Greta’s account. She responds with, “But Greta, we are not animals.” Greta defends her argument. “We have been preyed upon like animals. Maybe we should respond like animals.” Ona asks, “Do you mean run away?” Salome jumps in, “Or kill our attackers?” Greta’s daughter, Mariche scoffs softly.

11–12: We flashback to 2 days earlier. It’s afternoon. Salome runs, shrieking, with a scythe at a shed. We see through the slats as THE 5 MEN INSIDE yell for help and back into the corner. Salome breaks the lock, and slashes at one of the men with her scythe. She is pulled away by Peters, along with a FEW OTHER MEN, and pushed to the ground. We can see the blood from the man on her face. Peters looks around, breathless, and puts his face in his hands. It’s clear he is at the end of his rope. When he finally looks up, he has made the difficult decision. “Go. Go to the city. Get the police.” The other men look questioningly at Peters. Peters explains, “For their own protection. These men need to be taken to jail in the city.”

12–15: We return to the Hayloft. Agata speaks. “In my lifetime I have seen horses confront angry dogs and try to stomp them to death. Animals don’t always flee their attackers. They can fight back and they can run away.” Agata inhales deeply, before she continues. “Either way, it’s a waste of time to try to establish whether we are animals. The men will be coming back from the city after they pay the bail for our attackers. Soon.” Scarface jumps in. “The only important thing to establish is whether we forgive the men so that we are allowed to enter the gates of heaven.” This causes Salome to laugh, and loudly. She stands up and goes to the south doors, and throws them open. Mariche is not impressed. “Laugh all you want, Salome. But we will be forced to leave the colony if we don’t forgive the men. And how will the Lord, when He arrives, find all the women if we aren’t in our colony?” Salome isn’t buying it. “If Jesus is able to return to life, live for thousands of years and then drop down to earth from heaven, to scoop up his supporters, surely he’d also be able to locate a few women who-” Her mother, Agata makes a quick gesture to silence Salome. Scarface shakes her head, appalled. Agata tries to smooth things over. “Let’s stay on track-” Salome then moves quickly back towards the circle of women. She gets blunt. “Alright. I’ll stay on track. I cannot forgive them. I will never forgive them.” Greta’s other daughter, Mejal, agrees. “I can’t either.” Mariche’s daughter, Autje nods. Her mother, Mariche, pleads. “But we want to enter the gates of heaven when we die.” The older women of the group, Agata and Greta nod. Everyone is silent for a while. They sit, thinking. Ona asks the group, “Are we asking ourselves what our priority is? To protect our children or to enter the kingdom of heaven?” Salome makes a sound of frustration. She kicks a bucket. Greta goes and retrieves the bucket before sitting back down. Her daughter, Mejal, answers. “No. That is not what we are asking. That is an exaggeration of what we are discussing.” Ona is patient. “What are we discussing, then?” Her mother, Agata jumps in. “We will burn that bridge when we come to it.” Scarface Janz tries again to plead for the Do Nothing cause. “We have everything we want here.” Salome shakes her head. “No.” Scarface challenges her. “Want less.” Salome looks at her and laughs out loud. Scarface is unfazed. “Does entering the kingdom of heaven mean nothing to any of you? After all we have suffered?” Parroting the party line, Anna pipes in, “Are you really willing to give up what we have always lived for?” Salome’s older sister Ona tries to reason with the Janz women. “Surely there is something in this life worth living for, not only in the next.” Scarface is scandalized. “Are you abandoning your faith?” Ona’s mother, Agata, turns to Scarface. “We cannot stand by and do nothing when our children are harmed.” Scarface says to the Friesen women, to Ona, Agata, and Salome, “How are you protecting your children from harm if you turn your back on God? And how will any of you survive? If you stay and fight you will lose. Or if you leave…” Scarface’s granddaughter Helen jumps in, “Where will you go?” Scarface stands to leave. Agata steps towards Scarface and speaks to her. “All I know is that we cannot do nothing. By doing nothing we are not protecting our children who were given to us by God to protect and nurture.” Scarface is defiant. “We will not be damned to hell with you.” Agata accepts. “That is your decision, and we must respect it.” Scarface takes Helena’s hand in hers and motions to her daughter Anna to follow. Greta’s daughter, Autje, crosses the room and lightly touches Helena’s hand. As Scarface pulls her way, Autje grabs for Helena’s hand one more time and then lets go. Anna looks back, making eye contact with Mariche, but follows her mother and Helena. Mariche pushes the milk pail she was sitting on back, the edge scraping on the floor, which captures her mother Greta’s attention, but she does not leave with the Janz women. There is silence after the Janz Women leave. Agata addresses the group. “We must decide now whether we will stay and fight or leave. These are the options in front of us. We will not do nothing.” Autje sits behind her family, the Reimer women, while Neitje, one of the Friesen women, joins her and grabs her hand. Outside the barn where the Hayloft is located, the sun is slightly lower in the sky, signalling they are losing precious time.

15: Inside Scarface Janz’ house, that same afternoon, Scarface sits quietly at her spotless kitchen table. HER ADULT CHILDREN and THEIR CHILDREN run around doing chores behind her. She looks out the window, looking haunted. Anna and Helena enter and sit beside her. Anna is shaking. They sit in silence for a long time. We then follow Scarface as she walks through her house and out her front door. She stands and stares at the hayloft in the distance, before turning away and looking at the horizon. Anna, who is still in the kitchen, looks down at the kitchen table, breathing hard, trying to contain her panic. Helena puts a hand on her mother’s arm.

15–24A: The remaining women sit in silence in the Hayloft. Autje swings from a beam above the women. The silence is broken by Greta. “I believe the only solution is to flee.” Salome disagrees. “Is this how we want to teach our daughters to defend themselves? By fleeing?” Greta tries to explain. “Not fleeing, but leaving. I am talking about leaving.” Salome continues as though she hasn’t heard Greta. “I’d rather stand my ground and shoot each man in the heart and bury them in a pit than flee. And I’ll deal with God’s wrath if I have to!” Ona gently speaks to her sister, “Salome. Aunt Greta is talking about leaving, not fleeing. The word ‘fleeing’ wasn’t what they meant.” Mariche shakes her head, indignant, and defends her mother Greta. “Please forgive my mother for using the wrong word. It is a sin so outrageous, that Salome must take it upon herself to rectify for the sake of all humanity.” Agata tries to smooth things over with her hot-headed daughter, desperate to not also lose the Reimer women like they just lost the Janz women. “‘Leaving’ and ‘fleeing’ are different words. With different meanings. They each say something about us.” Agata notices August, watching, and turns her attention towards him. “August, what do you make of all this? Do you have an opinion too?” Agata goes over to him and puts her arm around his shoulder. August takes his time, thinking, and finally gives the remaining women his answer. “I think… I think that it is possible to leave something or someone in one frame of mind and arrive elsewhere, in another entirely unexpected frame of mind.” Mariche is not moved, “We are already aware of this.” Ona responds, “We are aware of many things, in our hearts. But it is good, sometimes, to have them said out loud.” Mariche’s sister, Mejal pipes up. “I want to stay and fight.” Everyone stares at Mejal, surprised by her assurance. She takes a sharp inhale of breath. Mariche argues back. “Won’t we lose the fight to the men and then be forced to forgive them anyway?” Ona asks thoughtfully, “Is forgiveness that is forced upon us true forgiveness?” A bit of straw falls from Autje’s swinging into Mariche’s hair. She looks up at Autje and yells out her daughter’s name. Mejal reprimands her niece. “Behave yourself. Can’t you hear the rafter creaking? Do you want the roof to cave in?” August looks up, and smiles to himself. Mejal reaches for her pouch of tobacco and rests her hand lightly on it. Autje gets down and plays a clapping game with Netje, their hands hidden beneath the table. Greta takes her false teeth out. She taps them on the plywood and pops them back in. Salome backs up Mejal. “I want to stay and fight too.” Mejal’s sister Mariche is not surprised. “Of course you do. No one is surprised that you do. All you do is fight. Is this how we are to decide the fates of all of the women of this colony? Just another vote where we put an X next to our position? I thought we were here to do more than that.” Salome doesn’t back down. “You mean talk more about forgiving the men and doing nothing?” Mariche doesn’t hold back. “Everything else is insane. But none of you will listen to reason.” Salome gives in to her frustration. “Why are you here then?! Why are you still here with us if that is what you believe?! Leave with the rest of the do-nothing women!” Greta stands up for her Mariche. “She is my daughter and I want her here with us.” Agata, the diplomat, cuts in. “I believe we are capable of hearing opinions other than our own. Or how can we expect anything to change?” Everyone is quiet, respectful of Agata and Greta. Autje whispers-complains to Neitje, “This is never going to end.” Neitje commiserates, “We’ll be dead and they’ll still be talking.” Autje builds on their woes, “Or worse. We might have to live through it.” The two young ones embark in a body language contest of who can convey their boredom the best, seemingly uncaring that their futures are being discussed in their very presence. Autje pretends to shoot herself in the head by inserting a rifle into her mouth, then slumping over on her milk pail. Ona gets a large roll of butcher paper from the corner and hands it to August, and directs him, “I think you should make lists of the pros and cons for both options. Staying and Fighting or Leaving. And write large. Post it on the wall.” Mejal is incredulous. “Why? We can’t read it.” Ona agrees. “No. But we will keep it here as an artifact for others to discover.” Salome says tenderly, “Yes. A discovery.” Mejal helps Neitje and Autje post a large piece of butcher paper to the wall and August writes on it, and the women continue to post the pages August has already written on the wall. Mejal looks down at her hands which are trembling. One tells the group, “I think the first heading should read as follows. Staying and Fighting. Beneath that, write Pros.” Agata asks who will go first. The Women begin to talk very rapidly, asserting their ideas. August put his hand up, gently. “Forgive me. Please excuse me. Forgive me. May I request that you take turns speaking so that I can understand what each of you is saying. It takes me a few seconds to transcribe… I’m a little behind here. I have to catch up.” Mariche asks him sarcastically, “Shall we put up our hands? As though we are children in your schoolhouse?” August apologises. Salome says, “We won’t have to leave.” August doesn’t understand her. “Excuse me?” Mariche explains on behalf of Salome. “Write it down. Under pros. Salome has had a brilliant idea.” Mariche then theatrically mocks Salome, and does an imitation of her, “‘If we stay, we won’t have to leave.’” Salome glares at Mariche. August writes this down. Neitje shrugs, and half-heartedly contributes her thoughts. “We won’t have to pack.” Mejal joins in. “We won’t have to figure out where we’re going or experience the uncertainty of not knowing where we are going. We don’t have a map.” Salome scoffs. “That’s absurd. The only certainty we’ll know is uncertainty, no matter where we are.” Ona chimes in, “Other than the certainty of the power of love.” Salome faces her sister directly. “Keep nonsense like that to yourself. Please.” Mejal defends Ona. “Why couldn’t that be the case, that the only certainty is the power of love?” Salome starts shouting, “Because it’s meaningless! Especially in this fucking situation!” Agata takes a commanding tone with her daughter. ”Stop it. Now. I mean it.” Salome bites slivers off her fingernails and eats them. Mejal grimaces in disgust as Salome spits out the nails and voices it. “That is disgusting. Truly.” Neitje and Autje begin to braid their hair into one long braid, literally bonding themselves to one another. Agata notices and tries to engage them. “Neitje? Autje? Do you have something to add to the list?” Neitje asks, “We won’t have to leave the people we love?” Greta suggests, “We could bring loved ones with us if we leave.” Mejal can’t believe her mother. “How? What does that mean? We move the whole colony? What can that possibly mean?” Ona gently reminds the group, “Several of the people we love are people we also fear.” Agata shoots for the moon. “We could create the possibility of a new order right here, in a place that is familiar to us.” Salome is firm. “Not simply familiar. A place that is ours.” Mejal asks the group, “Do we need to write the cons? Isn’t it obvious that we must stay and fight?” Greta plows on. “Cons. We won’t be forgiven.” August writes CONS on the paper. Mariche speaks up. “We don’t know how to fight.” Salome can’t resist. “I know how to fight.” The others ignore Salome, except for Mariche. “We don’t want to fight.” Greta points out, “There is the risk that conditions will be worse after fighting than before.” Ona raises her hand, and asks to speak. August welcomes it. “Please.” Ona asks, “Would it be a good idea, before we list the pros and cons of staying and fighting, to talk about exactly what we are fighting for?” Salome is exasperated. “It’s obvious: we’re fighting for our safety and for our freedom from attacks!” Ona is gentle in her reply. “Yes. But what would that mean to us? Perhaps we need a statement which describes what we want the colony to be like after winning the fight. Perhaps we need to know more about what we are fighting to achieve, not only what we are fighting to destroy.” Mariche is dismissive. “Why don’t we talk about reality instead?” Agata stands by her eldest. “Because our reality is an old one. And we are talking about creating a new reality.” Autje and Neitje put their heads down on the table, miming boredom and exasperation. Neitje rests her head on her arm, but her voice is muffled. She plaintively asks, “Are we staying or going?” Agata tries to rally the group. “Ona. Please tell us more about the statement you are thinking about.” Ona starts to explain, and it seems like this is something she has devoted considerable thought towards. “Men and women will make all decisions for the colony collectively. Women will be allowed to think. Girls will be taught to read and write. The schoolhouse must display a map of the world so that we can begin to understand our place in it. A new religion, taken from the old but focused on love, will be created by the women of the colony.” Mariche creases her brow, dramatically. Ona continues to describe her vision, “Our children will be safe.” Greta has closed her eyes and is smiling. She responds to Ona’s dream, “‘Collectively.’ You sound like August’s mother.” August looks up. He and Ona look at each other. However, Mariche is not sold. “Ona. You are a dreamer.” Ona continues calmly, and explains to the group. “We are women without a voice. We have nothing to return to. Even the animals of the colony are safer in their homes than we women are. All we have are our dreams. So of course we are dreamers.” Mariche scoffs, and offers her thoughts. “Would you like to hear my dream? I dream that people who speak nonsense, who have no grasp on reality, are not put in charge of making statements!” Ona smiles, with genuine appreciation. Agata clears her throat, and steps in. “The statement Ona described sounds good to me. We can add to it over time. For now, it will declare what we women see as the future of the colony, whether we are here or elsewhere. Are we agreed?” Greta raises her arms into the air. The women nod, some half-heartedly. Neitje’s eyes roll in their sockets as her head snaps back and her jaw drops open to show her suffering with boredom as Autje laughs. Greta shushes her. Ona opens a window. Neitje walks over to the packing paper, pulling Autje along with her with their braids still attached, and begins to draw illustrations beside August’s words. Greta asks the dreaded question, “What will happen if the men refuse to meet our demands?” Ona flippantly answers, “We will kill them.” Autje and Neitje gasp, and then smile tentatively. Autje hides her face in her hands, trying not to laugh, as Neitje jabs her with her elbow to make her stop. A perturbed Mejal takes out her tobacco and rolling papers. Agata stands up and puts arms around Ona, and whispers, “No. Ona. No.” Agata looks at the others while she gently cradles her daughter, before saying to the group, “She is only joking.” Salome, shrugs, and counters, “Maybe not.” Agata pokes Salome in the shoulder as Neitje draws a woman killing a man. Mariche asks, “What if the men who are in prison are not guilty?” Even Autje, who has been so cheeky up until this point, is flabbergasted. “Mother?” Mariche tries to placate her. “Yes I know, Autje.” But Autje refuses to accept her stance. “Then why are you asking-” Neitje interrupts as she declares, “We caught one of them. I saw him.”

25: Flashback to Neitje’s bedroom, two weeks ago. It’s night. We hear a din like a roar. Neitje waits by her bedroom window, with Autje standing behind her. They hear something and Neitje sticks her head out of her bedroom window. She sees a YOUNG MAN, creeping up a ladder, a large spray can in his hands, looking back up at her. Neitje screams as Autje does too. The Young Man scrambles down the ladder. We hear in a voiceover, Ona stating, “Only one.” Also in a voiceover, Salome confirms, “Yes. Only one. But he named the others.”

25–30: Back at the Hayloft, the Women continue their debate. Mariche throws doubt over her own daughter’s revelation. “But what if he was lying?” There is silence for a while. Salome tries to argue, “But the point-” as Mariche sighs and interrupts her. “We must consider this.” Salome refuses what Mariche is implying. “No! That is not our responsibility! Because we aren’t in charge of whether or not they are punished. We know that we’ve been attacked by men and not by ghosts or Satan as we were led to believe for so long. We know we have not imagined these attacks, that we were made unconscious with cow tranquilizer. We know that we are bruised and infected and pregnant and terrified and insane and some of us are dead. We know that we must protect our children. Regardless of who is guilty!” Agata again tries to calm her fiery daughter down. “Alright, Salome, thank you, please sit down.” Agata tugs on Salome’s sleeve, then takes a breath and strokes her hair, and gently urges her back to the milk bucket. She murmurs words to Salome as she sits beside her, calming her, and continues to stroke her hair. Neitje draws two braids, like hers and Autje’s, intertwined. Agata asks the group, “Shall we move on?” Mariche won’t let the issue go. “But if there is any chance that the men in prison are innocent, shouldn’t we be joining forces to secure their freedom?” Ona answers. “It is possible that the men in prison are not guilty of the attacks. But are they guilty of not stopping the attacks? Are they guilty of knowing about the attacks and doing nothing?” Mariche refuses to go along Ona’s line of logic. “How should we know what they’re guilty of or not?” Ona will not concede defeat. “But we do know. We do know that the conditions have been created by men and that these attacks have been made possible because of the circumstances of the colony. And those circumstances have been created and ordained by the men.” Mariche debates, “But wait, aren’t you suggesting that the attackers are as much victims as the victims of the attacks? That all of us, men and women, are victims of the circumstances from which the colony has been created?” Ona is quiet for a long time, before she finally responds. “In a sense, yes.” Mariche thinks she’s close to victory. “So then, even if the court finds them guilty or innocent, they are, after all, innocent?” Ona agrees. “Yes, I would say so.” Mejal jumps in. “The elders called them evil.” Ona does not accept this explanation. Salome is quick to blame them. “It’s the elder’s quest for power that is responsible.” Ona tries to defend the community that raised them. “Yes because they needed to have those-” but Salome finishes her sister’s sentence with “Those they’d have power over.” Mejal sides with Salome, as she says “And those people are us.” Agata agrees with her younger daughter’s frustrations. “And they have taught this lesson of power to the boys and men of the colony and the boys and men have been excellent students.” Mejal is drawn in. “But don’t we all want some type of power?” Ona responds with, “Yes, I think so. But I’m not sure.” Again Agata tries to bring the discussion back on track. “The only thing we can be sure of is that time is disappearing.” Autje reminds the group. “But…we caught them. We caught them.” Salome affirms the teen, and Mariche confirms her daughter’s claim. The women turn and look at the girls in awe. Autje is confused. “Then why are you making it so complicated?” Neitje complains to herself, “It’s very, very boring.” Ona suggests, “We could ask the men to leave.” Mejal is aghast. “Is that a joke?” Agata explains, “None of us have ever asked the men for anything. Not a single thing, not even for the salt to be passed, not even for a penny or a moment alone or to take the washing in or to open a curtain or to go easy on the small yearlings or to put your hand on the small of my back as I try, again, for the twelfth or thirteenth time, to push a baby out of my body. Isn’t it interesting, that the one and only request we women would have of the men would be to leave?” The Women break out laughing. They can’t stop. It is contagious and out of control. Finally, Agata calms and continues. “It’s not an option. They wouldn’t leave.” The others agree. Greta starts to bring up her two horses again, but as Agata tries to get Greta to stop talking about them, Ona can’t stop laughing, “Please stop. I’m afraid I’ll go into labour!” This sets the women off again, making them laugh even harder than before. Mariche tries not to laugh, but looking at August makes her splutter. She tries to point out to the group, “Look! August is still taking the minutes!” which sets the women off into new hysterics. August watches Ona rolling with her laughter. Agata slaps August on the back, exclaiming, “You must think we’re all lunatics.” August is kind in his response. “I don’t. And it doesn’t matter what I think, anyway.” This brings Ona back to earth. “Do you think that’s true? That it doesn’t matter what you think?” August blushes, as Ona continues her inquiry. It’s a rare opportunity to understand how a man thinks. “How would you feel if in your entire lifetime it had never mattered what you thought?” August is careful. “But I’m not here to think. I’m here to take the minutes of your meeting.” Ona doesn’t give up. “But if, in all your life, you truly felt that it didn’t matter what you thought, how would that make you feel?” August and The Women consider Ona’s question. A new thought occurs to Ona as she looks around, “When we have liberated ourselves, we will have to ask ourselves who we are.” The group sits in silence, as Neitje draws a picture of the women laughing, while she and Autje stifle their giggles. Mejal plays with the smoke in her hand. Salome stares wistfully out of the South-facing door, towards the hills and past the soy fields. We follow her gaze out the window, traveling past the women, and into the landscape in silence. In the field, Salome’s three year-old daughter, Miep, plays with a strand of grass as she looks up at the sky. We return to Salome as she asks the group, “Will we be done by suppertime? I have to give little Miep her antibiotics.” Greta is startled. “Where did you get antibiotics?” Agata explains, “She walked. She walked for a day and half to the mobile klinic. With Miep on her back.” Agata stays perfectly still after mentioning Miep, mouthing the words to a verse from Psalms. Her pose is very still, predatory. Everyone is silent at the mention of Miep.

30: We flashback to two weeks earlier, a very wide shot on Salome, looking exhausted, small in the distance, walking down a long dusty road at magic hour. We stay close on her profile, occasionally moving back to see the face of her sleeping daughter resting on her shoulders. We then see them from behind as they become specks on the crest of the hill in the distance. We hear Agata’s voiceover, almost a whisper, softly praying. “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in loving kindness and forgiveness.”

30–32: We return to the Hayloft, as Salome tells the group, “I have to hide the antibiotics in Miep’s apple sauce or she won’t swallow them” The Women nod. Agata remains perfectly still, mouthing the words to the prayer. “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in loving kindness and forgiveness.” Greta moves over to Agata and pulls up a stool beside her. She takes Agata’s hand and joins her in the recitation. The two women repeat, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in loving kindness and forgiveness.” August looks around at the silent women. Greta opens and closes her eyes. Mariche comes over and sits beside her and strokes her hand. Greta tries to reassure everyone, “I’m not crying. I’m moisturizing.” Agata begins to sing, prompting the other women to join hands and sing. Ona harmonizes beautifully. Neitje and Autje roll their eyes and shake their heads as The Women sing the lyrics:

Work, for the night is coming,

Work, through the morning hours;

Work, while the dew is sparkling,

Work ‘mid springing flowers;

Greta winces and she removes her false teeth, putting them down on the plywood. She whispers to Mejal, “Forgive me. They are too big for my mouth.” Mariche stares at the teeth on the plywood, and we hear the hymn over the flashback of Greta, one year earlier, opening her mouth, blood comes out, as she looks down at her hand which has her bloody teeth in it. We return to the Hayloft where Neitje and Autje look mortified by the singing and look downwards. Greta puts her teeth back in and walks over to Autje. She pats her granddaughter’s hand, encouraging her to sing. Autje reluctantly obliges. Agata declares to The Women, “Well. Let’s take a break.” Autje slips down the ladder and out of the hayloft. One by one, we watch The Women slip down the ladder, a few of them continue to hum the hymn, which we continue to hear over as we see Neitje braiding Autje’s hair on the Paddock, and Mejal lighting up a cigarette outside the barn, as she leans on the fence. Mejal stares up at the barn, before looking out towards the field where she sees in the distance, the group of children from the beginning of the film playing tag in the soy fields, as Melvin/Nettie watches over them. Autje joins Mejal, much to her chagrin, and they keep watching Melvin/Nettie. Mejal begs Autje, “Don’t say a word about my smoking. Honestly.” Autje responds, acknowledging Melvin/Nettie, “Is she always going to be like this now?” Mejal doesn’t know what Autje means. Autje clarifies her question. “Like a man. Is Nettie always going to be a man now?” Mejal answers as best she can. “I think she always felt she wasn’t a woman. What happened to her just made it….final.”

32–33: We flashback to 5 days earlier, where we see Melvin/Nettie, in a nightie, standing in his bedroom, at sunrise, covered in blood from the waist down. Melvin/Nettie is staring at something offscreen on the floor, before hysterically smearing the blood over the walls. In the morning, outside the shed, Melvin/Nettie, still covered in blood, sits with his back to the shed. He speaks, without looking back between the slats, where we see pieces of the MEN inside. Nettie/Melvin asks, “Is my brother listening?” A MAN responds, “He is.” Nettie/Melvin says to the group of men, “Hello, little brother. I don’t know if it was your baby or one of your friends. But I think it was likely yours. Because there was something wrong with it. Small as a bun, but with everything intact. I loved it, I think. Isn’t that strange? I won’t speak of it…or anything else. Ever again.” Slowly, Nettie/Melvin gets up and walks away, a resolve on his face.

33–34: We return to Nettie/Melvin standing in the field in the present day, as he bandages a cut on a LITTLE GIRL’s knee. Mejal and Autje continue to watch, and discuss Nettie/Melvin’s elective mutism, as Autje states, “She doesn’t speak anymore.” Mejal explains, “She speaks to the children. I think they call her Melvin.” Mejal shrugs as she stomps out her cigarette. Autje stares at it while Mejal admonishes her, “I mean it. Not one word about my smoking.” Autje walks off.

34–36: Outside the barn, Autje walks to the pump with a pail and pumps it vigorously. August sits nearby, looking at the fields. He awkwardly stands up, before clearing his throat to break the silence. “You know, during the second world war, in Italy, civilians would hide in bomb shelters. Volunteers were needed to power the generators that provided electricity. They rode bikes. When you were swinging from the rafter earlier, it reminded me of this. You would have been the perfect volunteer. If we were in a bomb shelter.” Autje struggles to wrap her mind around this. “Where would I ride the bike to in such a small space?” August realises he had not properly set up his anecdote. “Ah yes. Well, the bike would be stationary.” Autje smiles and ponders this for a moment, before deciding to continue to speak to this man. “I have to get the water to the yearlings.” She looks back at August and invites him to watch what she is about to do. Autje swings the pail of water around in a complete circle without spilling a drop. August awkwardly smiles at her accomplishment. Autje proclaims, “I’ll bet you didn’t learn how to do things like that when you went to University.” August simply shakes his head. Autje continues to tease. “Only facts about stationary bicycles in far off places.” She continues, “I suppose I shouldn’t be too sad then. That I won’t ever go.” The two look at each other for a long moment, trying to read each other. Autje decides not to hold back. “Why were you forced to leave?” August is not shy to answer.” My mother questioned things.” Autje is surprised. “She questioned God?” August is quick to clarify. “Not God. Power. The rules that are made in the name of God. She encouraged others to question things too.” Autje asks, “Like Aunt Ona?” August confirms the teen’s thinking. “Yes. Ona knew her well.” Autje gets bolder, “Did she die?” August nods, and opens up. “But sometimes, listening to all of you speaking today, I can hear her so clearly.” Autje asks August, “Why did the elders let you come back?” August tells her, “I went to university. So I could serve a purpose and teach the boys.” Autje is bitter. “Too late.” There is silence, before August responds. “I want to help. And I don’t know how.” Autje shrugs before responding. “You came back for Aunt Ona didn’t you? The way you look at her is… funny. I don’t know why she won’t just marry you. You both say so much that doesn’t make sense.” Autje breaks the gaze and runs to the horses.

36: Inside Mariche’s kitchen, we hear a distant sound of a megaphone, and a truck rolling by, the sound of “California Dreaming” coming out of the tinny truck radio getting louder as Mariche tends to her 8 CHILDREN. Mariche looks up, unsettled. We hear the LOUDSPEAKER announce, “I am here to collect data for the 2010 census.” Mariche ignores it, and redirects her children, who move towards the windows to look for the source of the foreign sound, and to watch the truck going by. Outside of her house, the Census Truck continues down the road.

36: Greta makes bread with the help of her 4 GRANDCHILDREN. We hear the Loudspeaker’s announcement in the background, “I am here to collect data for the 2010 census. All residents must come out of their homes to be counted.”

36A: Inside Salome’s house, Salome crushes a pill into apple sauce before feeding the mixture to Miep. Miep looks up at Aaron, Salome’s 13 year-old son who we saw walking along the fence at the beginning. Aaron tickles his little sister. Salome smiles, and scuffs Aaron’s head.

37: Inside Scarface Janz’s sewing room the same afternoon, Scarface sews with Anna and Helena, along with TWO OTHER DAUGHTERS. Scarface looks up at the sound of the Loudspeaker, and remains still.

37: Agata collects eggs from her chicken coop, and looks up as she hears the Loudspeaker booming nearby. She pays little attention.

37: In Greta’s horse barn, Autje pours water into the horses’ trough while Neitje feeds hay to Greta’s beloved horses Ruth and Cheryl. A wooden trailer loaded with hay bales sits near the barn. Autje and Neitje hear the Census Truck approach. They turn, watching the Truck stop by the side of the road. They look at each other and smile, then leave the pail and hay behind as they gravitate towards the music.

37: It’s now late afternoon. At the Wash House, Mejal sits under laundry, light pouring through white dresses. She braids ONE OF HER DAUGHTERS’ hair tightly, as OTHER CHILDREN play around her. ANOTHER DAUGHTER (12) washes clothes in an outdoor sink. Mejal also hears the Loudspeaker, and similarly ignores it.

37: Inside the Hayloft, August looks out the East Barn doors, and sees the truck, which has stopped. Autje and Neitje approach the truck, and stand there listening to “California Dreaming” playing on the radio. The girls are looking into the DRIVER’s side of the truck, bopping ever so slightly to the music. We see the Driver’s face in the side mirror, the girls in the foreground. It’s clear they are flirting, though we can’t hear their words. Eventually the truck drives away, and the song “California Dreaming” continues to play over:

37–37A: August is in the Hayloft alone. He looks at the empty milk pails, the hay bales, a small bird flying in the rafters. It feels empty without the women here. He sings “California Dreaming” faintly to himself. August hears a gentle clatter, as The Women all make their way back up the ladder with food baskets. They take their places, murmuring to each other, serving each other food and instant coffee.

38–43: Neitje slowly and subtly opens the large barn doors facing East. A few of The Women notice and give her a curious look. Salome looks around, as she and Mejal serve coffee to the group. Ona brings coffee to August. Salome inquires, “Where is Autje?” Neitje shrugs silently and sits down. Agata can’t wait. “Well. We must begin without her.” Salome looks at Mejal, who sits beside her. Salome asks, “Were you smoking?” Mejal retorts, “Is that any of your business?” Greta sustains the argument. “Please.” Agata is anxious to start the meeting. “We must decide this afternoon about staying or leaving.” Suddenly, Autje climbs the leader. We hear hysterical moans before we see Autje appear at the top of the ladder. Autje declares, “I can’t live a second longer! Life is too cruel!” Autje sways and moans, then runs to the window and flings herself out the window, headfirst. The Women scream. They all spring and hobble to the window, to find Autje sitting placidly atop a stack of hay bales on a flatbed truck which has been positioned just under the window. Neitje laughs uncontrollably. Autje’s mother Mariche is outraged. “Autje! Wait until I get ahold of you!” Her grandmother, Greta, is also upset. “I could have had a heart attack!” Ona laughs hard in appreciation while the others shake their heads and strive to contain any sign of approval. Mejal tries hard to contain her laughter but keeps sputtering, which makes Ona and the younger women laugh even harder. Mariche does not look amused. When the laughter dies down, Autje looks around at all of the women, her face serious. “Excuse me. Excuse me. The Census taker just told us that one of our men is planning to return late tonight. He is coming to get some old horses to auction.” Greta exclaims, “Ruth and Cheryl!” Neitje explains, “They need more bail money for the attackers.” Greta lifts her arms into the air and stumbles back to her seat. Mariche clarifies, “Tonight?” Autje nods. Mariche then asks, “Which man?” Autje and Neitje speak at the same time, with Autje uttering, “Father,” and Neitje saying, “Your Klaas.” Mariche seems distressed by this news. Agata again emphasises the urgency of their discussion. “So. Time is of the essence. Everyone get back to your seats.” The Women all talk at once, in an uproar. August struggles to write, to keep notes of all they are saying in the din of noise. Ona looks at August. He looks down at what he has written. It says, “Talking at once. All talking at once.” August clears his throat, out of nervousness. Mariche glares at him. “Are you trying to call us to order?” August protests. “No. No. Please forgive me.” Mariche questions him. “Why are you here? Why is my presence questioned when there is a man-” but her mother Greta cuts her off by saying, “Pros for leaving.” August writes “LEAVING” on the brown paper. Neitje and Autje post up what he has written so far. Neitje adds more illustrations of the women, the men, the boys. Autje puts up her hand. Mejal asks half-heartedly, “We will be gone?” Greta tries to assure her daughter. “We will be safe.” Mariche, counters, “Perhaps not. But the first is most definitely a fact, that if we leave we will be gone.” Mariche looks around at the group, annoyed. “Do we really have time to state the obvious over and over?” Mejal rolls her eyes. Greta perseveres. “Add to the list this: We will not be asked to forgive the men, because we will not be here to hear the question.” Agata agrees. “Yes. Autje?” Autje is hesitant as she shares her pro for “LEAVING.” “We will see a bit of the world?” The Women are silent. August, seeing no one else is speaking, begins to write on a new piece of paper. Neitje and Autje get back to rebraiding their hair together as they start to tune out. August tries to help. “Let’s move on to the Cons of Leaving.” Mariche snaps. “We, the women, will decide what happens in these meetings. Not a two-bit failed farmer who must teach. You have been invited here. You have been invited here to listen to what we have to say and to write it down. Nothing more. Just. Listen.” Greta erupts, and stands up, shouting. “Mariche! Klaas is returning soon and you are wasting time! Klaas will return to your home for just long enough to take his animals in order to sell for bail money that will see the rapists return to the colony and he will lay his hands on you and your children, and you, as always, do nothing but fire away at us all like a Gatling gun with your misdirected rage. What good does that do?” The Women are silent. Mariche is shaking, staring back at her mother. August tries to smooth things over. “I would like to apologize for wrongly attempting to nudge the proceedings. That is not my place.” The Women say nothing. Mejal, watching August, lets out a burst of laughter. Greta is appalled. “Mejal!” Mejal promises to stop. Neitje contributes to the Cons list. “We don’t have a map. We don’t know where to go.” Autje and Neitje sway back and forth, a gentle tug of war with the braid that connects them. Autje is laughing, “We don’t even know where we are!” As the girls laugh together, Miep climbs up the ladder to the loft. Greta turns to Neitje and Autje and reprimands them. “Hush. Put your hair away.” The girls untangle their braids. Miep looks frightened and goes to her mother Salome, and snuggles in to her, before complaining, “I hurt.” Agata watches her granddaughter, trying to contain her grief. August looks down. Salome holds Miep and strokes her hair, whispering to her, kissing her. Miep has buried her face in her mother’s lap, and we hear her crying. Ona puts her arm around Salome’s shoulder as she holds her young daughter. Greta watches Miep, and says almost to herself, “There are no Cons of Leaving.” Ona looks up at Greta, then back down to Miep, and nods gently. Neitje draws a picture of Miep sleeping on the butcher paper, beneath August’s words. Nettie/Melvin climbs the leader and appears. He mimes an apology for the interruption. Agata is quick to reassure. “Not to worry, Nettie.” Agata begins to sing, “Children of the Heavenly Father” and the other women join in. Autje and Neitje roll their eyes as the other women’s voices soar. Miep snuggles into her mother while Ona smiles at August, who smiles back. August then looks down, closes his eyes, and listens to their voices. August then stares at Miep, who is drifting to sleep as the singing drifts to humming. Mariche asks, “If we do leave the colony, how will we live with the pain of not seeing our brother and our sons again? The men?”

43: We flashback to the schoolhouse one morning, and see August looking out at the faces of his students, his young men, some who look at him attentively. Some laugh and roll their eyes at him. We examine their faces closely, as we hear first Greta’s voiceover declaring, “Time will heal. Our freedom and safety are the ultimate goals, and it is men who prevent us from achieving those goals.” We then hear Mariche’s voice saying, “But not all men.” Ona’s voice suggests, “Perhaps not men, but a way of seeing the world, and us women, that has been allowed to take hold of men’s hearts and minds.” We hear Neitje starting to really engage in the discussion, “So if we leave….if we leave… I will never see my brothers again?” The last voice we hear is Autje, asking, “Who will take care of them? Of them all?”

43–44: We return to the Hayloft. Neitje and Autje look suddenly full of grief, their emotions permeating the air. All of The Women are all lost in their own thoughts. Miep lies sleeping in Salome’s arms. Greta is the first to break the silence. “We can’t know if we will stay or leave before we resolve these last-minute concerns.” Ona points out, “I wouldn’t call the future of our relationships with the boys and men we love ‘last-minute concerns.’” Ona glances in August’s direction, and he catches it. He looks out the window, and notes the sun getting lower in the sky. Cows can be heard mooing in the distance, while dogs are barking for their dinner. As the women watch Miep asleep in Salome’s arms, we hold close on each woman’s face,the lowering light moving across them. Neitje draws pictures of the boys on the packing paper, the light dimming over the images. It’s now magic hour, as the day transitions from afternoon into evening. We close on Miep sleeping. Melvin/Nettie gently picks her up out of Salome’s arms, and takes her out of the hayloft. The Women watch in silence as the little girl is taken down the ladder. Ona tells the group she is going for some water, and also descends down the ladder to go outside. August follows her awkwardly. The Women watch in silence, and then laugh as soon as he is down the ladder.

44: Melvin/Nettie watches the children play while cradling Miep, still sleeping, in his arms. He looks down at her, tenderly.

44–46: Ona vomits on her way to the pump, with August following close behind. He pumps water into a bucket, and looks around for something to pour it into. He cups water into his hands for her to drink from. Ona pauses for a moment, and then drinks from his hands. He takes another scoop of water and she takes another drink. She wipes her mouth and holds her stomach. Children play in the background. The two stand close together, staring at each other in silence for a long time. Tears appear in August’s eyes. Ona quickly wipes them off his cheek, as August turns away, ashamed. Ona goes to speak and then stops herself. She holds his gaze for a long time, and puts her hand lightly on his face. “It’s good to have you with us, August. To remind us of what is possible. Because it’s easy to forget.” Ona holds her stomach, feeling ill. August apologises. “I am so sorry, Ona.” Ona responds gently, “One day, I would like to hear those words from someone who should be saying them.” Ona looks out across the field towards where the children are playing, and asks, “Why does love… the absence of love, the end of love, the need for love, result in so much violence?” August is moved and says her name, but Ona shakes her head. August tries again. “Ona. I could take care of you and your child. I want to. I-” But he stops himself. Ona understands. “I know August. You don’t have to say the words.” After a pause, Ona continues, “If I were married I would not be myself. And so the person you love would be gone.” August tries to plead with her. “Your child-” but Ona cuts him off by outlining what is at stake. “If we stay and don’t win the fight, my child will be given to another family here. Maybe even to the family of my attacker. If we stay and we don’t win the fight.” August tries to reassure her. “You won’t let that happen.” Ona is resolute. “No. No I won’t.” As August nods, Ona stays silent, processing. August realises that Ona is coming to a decision. Ona nods and walks away, determination in her steps.

46–50: Inside the Hayloft, shadows fall across the women’s faces. Agata and Salome light lanterns. Neitje and Autje are still conjoined by the hair. Neitje has drawn a picture of a woman leaving towards a buggy and reaching out for her son who is behind her. August and Ona enter. Greta speaks, “August. We want to discuss options for the men and the older boys, if the women decide to leave.” Salome can’t resist. “Which is a waste of time because we are not leaving.” August takes up his pen and begins recording their conversation. Mariche chimes in. “The men should be allowed to leave with the women if they wish.” Salome and Mejal laugh, with Mejal pondering, “Then what on earth is the point of us leaving?” Greta suggests that the men could join the women after they are established and thriving. August writes her suggestion down, and adds, “thriving as a collective, literate community?” This irritates Mariche. “Literate is your word. Not ours. We don’t need your university language to make our plans.” August nods, and continues to write. Agata backs him up, “Put it in. We know what it means. Continue.” Greta asks for young boys, and simple minded boys of any age to be allowed to join the women. She pleads specifically for Cornelius to be allowed to go with them, as he is confined to a wheelchair. August writes quickly, as The Women stare at him and the document that they can’t read. Mariche tells the group, “I vote for the first option. They should leave with us if they wish.” There is a din of noise as all The Women object to this. Mariche crosses her arms, her body signalling her thoughts. Mejal tells her, “The first option is ridiculous and should be crossed off the list.” Mejal rolls a cigarette between her fingers as she speaks. Mariche feels this is unfair. “Why are some ideas written down and considered, and others crossed out?” She then says to herself, “I want to leave,” and then throws the dregs of her coffee to the floor. She then complains, “I’d like to strangle myself.” Ona tries to reason with her. “But Mariche, it’s possible that all the men would choose to leave with us. Then all we’d be doing is re-creating our colony, with all of its dangers elsewhere, wherever we end up.” Agata affirms Ona’s argument. “And the men would most definitely leave with us because they can’t survive without us.” Greta laughs, and adds, “Well, not for longer than a day or two.” Salome is adamant. “There is no possibility of the men leaving with us. Whatever we decide. And we have not decided to leave. I would like to remind everyone of that.” Mejal is openly smoking now. Salome looks irritated. Mejal responds by making a big show of waving the smoke away from Salome. Agata tries to move the discussion forward. “Clearly these are unrealistic ideas. And how are we to leave at all if we have never been allowed to even see a map of the world?” August jumps in with a surprising offer. “I can secure a world map for you.” The Women are shocked. Agata exclaims, “Where on earth would you get a map August?” August goes even further, “I also have a map of this specific region.” Greta jumps on his offer. “That will do. We aren’t planning to travel the planet.” Ona gently counters, “Perhaps we are. Did you know that the migration period of butterflies and dragonflies is so long that it is often only the grandchildren who arrive at the intended destination?” August watches Ona, admiringly. August agrees with her. Ona continues, “Perhaps, if we went beyond where the map shows us, we could create our own map as we go.” The Women turn their attention to her, mystified. Greta is intrigued. “Now that is a unique idea.” Salome doesn’t know what to make of her sister. “So now you want to leave? Ona?” The two sisters look at each other for a long moment, broken by Ona suddenly vomiting into the milk pail beside her. Agata walks over to Ona, and strokes her back and hair, as Ona insists that she is fine, while looking at her sister. Mejal begins to breathe heavily, her hand on her chest. Greta and Agata notice, and Salome realises that Mejal is having an episode. Salome springs to action, as she holds Mejal’s hand and whispers softly in her ear. Greta indicates to The Women to pray. The Women bow their heads as Greta prays, “Please, God. Restore Mejal’s equilibrium.” Mejal rocks on her milk pail, as Salome positions herself behind her. Mejal tumbles off, her fall broken by Salome’s arms. Mejal lies in the straw, her body rigid. Salome lies down beside her and continues to whisper inaudibly into her ear and to hold her.

50A-51: We flashback to Mejal’s Room one year earlier. We see Mejal’s lower legs as she stands up out of bed, blood dripping to the floor. We see Mejal’s face as she looks down, and we hear the blood droplets hit the floor with what sounds like a CRASH. Mejal is quiet for a long time, then she begins to scream, a primal animal scream which continues over Agata’s prayer, “Almighty Father, in all humility and supplication we ask Thee for Thy abundant kindness this moment. We beseech Thee, have mercy on our sister Mejal.”

51–58: Back at the Hayloft, it is now Twilight, and Salome continues to hold Mejal. Agata is still praying. “Please, in your beneficence, heal her. Please, we ask of Thee, envelope her in your strength and everlasting love, and please drive out the sickness that afflicts her now.” The Women continue to bow their heads, as they hold hands. Salome whispers to Ona, “Take the cigarette out of her pocket.” Ona reaches into Mejal’s pocket and fishes out a cigarette. Mejal smells the smoke that Salome is putting underneath her nose, and rouses, taking a deep breath. “Alright. Help me up.” The Women help Mejal back to her place at the table. They are all silent for a while, watching Mejal closely, who is trying to recalibrate. Agata is thankful. “Praise be to God.” Mariche is irritated, “Why is it only Mejal who has these sudden-” but Salome cuts her off. “Be quiet.” Mariche points out, “We were all attacked. Not all of us draw so much attention to ourselves.” Mejal turns to her sister and lashes out, “Attention? What attention? I talk less than all of you put together. How have I offended you?” Mariche unleashes on her. “You have these ‘attacks.’ You smoke. Why? Why is it so much harder for you than for us? We were all attacked. All of us. And the rest of us are all able to get through a day without-” Greta ends the bickering between her daughters. “We are wasting time by passing this burden, this sack of stones, from one to the next, by pushing our pain away. We mustn’t do this. We mustn’t play hot potato with our pain. Let’s absorb it ourselves, each of us. Let’s inhale it, let’s digest it, let’s process it into fuel.” Mejal opens her mouth several times to speak. Greta encourages her daughter, “Speak, Mejal. We are listening.” Mejal shares, “They made us… they made us disbelieve ourselves. That was worse than…” The Women are all silent. Salome catches her own tears and then Mejal’s. Mariche looks away. Salome kneels in front of Mejal, and touches her hair, tenderly, and calls out her name. Greta ponders, “Perhaps Mejal’s episode was brought on by the thought of us creating our own map.” Neitje protests, “But I will draw it if we need-” but Greta further explains what she meant. “Not a fear of the do-it-yourself map making. But of what it means: that we are masters of our own destiny. That we would be setting off into unknowable space.” Agata sees where Greta is going. “Yes. It makes sense that one would panic.” Mejal blows smoke rings before denying this. “I am not panicking.” Agata tries to reassure her. “Yes. But panic, in this case would be understandable.” Mejal dismisses her. “But I’m not.” Ona is mindful of the time passing. “Klaas, when he returns, may take horses or livestock that we will need along the way.” Salome is not happy with what her sister is saying. “Along the way? We’re not leaving. You are changing your mind, Ona.” Ona takes a deep breath and looks at her sister. “I don’t believe that is a sin, is it?” Salome puts her head in her hands, conflicted. Mariche plunges in. “How will we be forgiven for all this? How will we be forgiven if not by the elders whom we have disobeyed and who, if we leave, we will never see again. It will leave us unforgiven, with black hearts, and unable to enter the kingdom of god.” Greta tries to find an answer. “Perhaps there will be other elders or men of God that will be able to forgive us our sins. Ones we haven’t met yet.” Salome is angry. “We do not have to be forgiven by the men of God for protecting our children from the depraved actions of vicious men who are often the very same men we are meant to ask for forgiveness! If God, in the book of Matthew asks: Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, then mustn’t we consider it a hindrance when our children are attacked? If God is a loving God He will forgive us Himself. If God is a vengeful God then He has created us in His image. If God is omnipotent then why has He not protected the women and girls of this colony? I will destroy any living thing that harms my child. I will tear it limb from limb, I will desecrate its body and I will bury it alive. I will challenge God on the spot to strike me dead if I have sinned by protecting my child from evil and by destroying the evil that it may not harm another! I will lie, I will hunt, I will kill and I will dance on graves and burn forever in hell before I allow another man to satisfy his violent urges with the body of my four-year-old child!” Ona moves to her sister and hugs her. Agata says softly, “No. Not dancing. Not desecration.” Mejal goes to Salome and takes her in her arms. Neitje draws Salome dancing on a grave. Mejal offers Salome her cigarette. Agata tries to take an objective stance in the discussion by referencing scripture. “I suggest that we think of what is good. ‘Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things… and the peace of God be with you.” The women bow their heads and say the words along with Agata except for Salome, who is thinking and breathing intently. Salome looks at her mother vulnerably, “I will become a murderer if I stay. What is worse than that?” Agata nods. There is silence for a long time as the women watch Salome closely. Agata gets up and walks to the window while Mariche paces, and the others recite the bible verse again. Ona walks over to August, and points at his writing, and asks, “I know what these are. These are letters. But what are these?” August explains, “They are commas. They signify a short pause, or a breath, in the text.” Ona smiles, then in hales. August continues to tell her, “There is also a butterfly called the comma,” which captivates Ona. Mariche rolls her eyes, disgusted by this display of sweetness. August is about to explain why, but Ona insists on guessing. “Because it flits about from leaves to petals, only briefly stopping on its way? Because its journey is its story, never stopping, only pausing, only moving.” August smiles and nods, and Ona punches the palm of her hand in victory. Agata finally walks slowly back to her seat, with an answer for her younger daughter. “Salome, there is nothing worse than being a murderer. If you will become a murderer by staying in the colony, side by side with the men who are responsible for the attacks then you must, to protect your own soul and to qualify for entry to heaven, leave the colony.” Mariche frowns. “We are not all murderers.” Ona points out, “Not yet.” Agata explains, “I have done what the verse from Philippians instructed, which is to think about what is good, what is just, what is pure, and what is excellent. And I have arrived at an answer. Pacifism. Pacifism is good. Any violence is unjustifiable. By staying here, we women would be betraying the central tenet of our faith, which is pacifism, because by staying we would knowingly be placing ourselves in a direct collision course with violence, either by us or against us.” As Agata holds back tears, she continues, “This colony is the only home I’ve ever known, and I don’t want to leave. But by staying, we would be inviting harm. We would be in a state of war. We would turn this colony into a battlefield.” Ona supports her mother’s argument and pleads with the women, “We cannot become murderers. And we cannot endure any more violence. That is why we must leave.” All the women watch Salome as she nods her head gently, signalling her change of heart. Greta raises her arms, but Mariche makes a noise of objection. Mejal takes a long haul off her cigarette, exhales, and nods. “Let’s shake a leg, then.” Ona suddenly feels a kick, which startles her. She puts her hand to her belly, and tells The Women, “I’m also thinking about the verse from Philippians and I’m thinking about what is good. Freedom is good. It’s better than slavery. And forgiveness is good. Better than revenge. And hope for the unknown is good, better than hatred of the familiar.” But Mariche is still not won over. “What about security and safety and home and family? What about marriage and love?” Ona answers truthfully. “I don’t know about those things, any of them. Except for love. And even love is mysterious to me. And I believe that my home is with my mother, with my sister and with my unborn child, wherever they may be.” Ona caresses her belly, lightly, as Mariche stares at Ona’s pregnant belly. “Will you not hate that child? That child is the child of a man who inspires violent thoughts in you.”

58: We flashback to Ona’s bedroom at sunrise, 7 months earlier. Ona wakes up, and she can barely move her arms and legs. She looks down, and sees bloodstains on the bed. We hear a din like a roar again. Ona calls out, “Mother! Again!” Agata rushes in, looks around at the bed, and clasps Ona to her. We hear Ona’s voiceover, “I already love this child more than anything.”

58–60: Back to the Hayloft, and it’s now twilight. Ona speaks clearly and calmly. “He or she is as innocent and lovable as the evening sun. And so too was the child’s father when he was born.” Agata is moved, prompting both of her daughters to show concern. Mariche tells Ona, “If you are saying that forgiveness is better than revenge, aren’t you saying that we must stay here and forgive the men?” Ona’s answer cuts deep. “We cannot forgive because we are forced to. But if there is distance, perhaps I can begin to understand how these crimes may have occurred. And maybe from that distance, I can pity these men, and perhaps forgive them. And even love them.” Silence as everyone absorbs Ona’s words. Agata concludes, “And so we must leave in order to have that distance.” Ona emphasizes, “Not fighting. But moving on. Always moving. Never fighting. Just moving…” Ona seems to be in a trance, which Mariche tells her to snap out of, upsetting Salome. “You snap out of it, Mariche.” Mejal is losing patience. “All of you snap out of it and focus. Have you lost your minds? The sun is gone.” Mejal jabs at the window, at the darkening sky outside. The Women stare at the coming night. Greta tells thes group, “I want to tell another story about Ruth and Cheryl,” to which The Women protest, especially Autje and Neitje.

60–61: We flashback to Greta riding in her buggy on the road one morning, the horses moving erratically, then finding focus and going straight. Greta explains in a voiceover, “I was always frightened of the northern road out of the colony. So many gullies on either side of the road that are so deep. And it’s so narrow. The buggy used to lurch side to side. Ruth and Cheryl were simply following my commands on the reins but they were jerky and frenetic. It was dangerous. It was only when I learned to focus my gaze far down ahead of me, down the road, and not on the road immediately in front of Ruth and Cheryl that I started to feel safe.” As the buggy passes by, we see Greta getting smaller and smaller, disappearing into the distance, the sun setting over the colony. Greta continues in voiceover, “Leaving will give us the more far-seeing perspective we need to forgive.” We flashback to Greta’s kitchen, another morning where we see her feeding porridge to her ONE YEAR OLD GRANDCHILD on her lap. Every now and then she gives her grandchild a little jostle, making her laugh uproariously. Greta continues to explain in voiceover, “Which is to love properly, and to keep the peace, according to our faith.” Another flashback in the kitchen, we see Greta playing hide and seek with her granddaughter, getting down on all fours and hiding behind doorways. Greta is childlike, magical to her granddaughter. “Therefore, our leaving wouldn’t be an act of cowardice or abandonment. It wouldn’t be because we were excommunicated or exiled. It would be a supreme act of faith, a step towards love and forgiveness.”

61–68: The Women silently consider Greta’s words. Neitje draws a buggy, way in the distance. Greta continues, “Leaving is how we demonstrate our faith. We are leaving because our faith is stronger than the rules. Bigger than our life.” These words hang in the air. Greta grimaces and moves her hand slowly in front of her face, and then apologises, as she thinks she might be dying. Some of The Women rise in alarm. Mejal looks into her mother’s eyes and laughs. She removes her mother’s eyeglasses and declares, “Mother. You are not dying. Your glasses need cleaning.” Greta laughs with relief. Mejal cleans her mother’s glasses on her dress and hands them back, as her mother exclaims, “I thought the lights were going out.” Her wisecrack triggers first Agata to hoot, and then the rest of the Women to laugh, with the exception of Mariche. Autje posts the picture of Ona and her baby on the wall. Mariche continues to be an obstacle in this all-important discussion. “What are you laughing at? We can’t leave. It would be better to stay and fight than leave.” Ona tries to pinpoint what exactly is Mariche’s problem. “Do you really mean that you want to stay and NOT fight? Because when was the last time you had the strength to stand up to the aggression of Klaas, to protect your children, or to get out of harm’s way?” Mariche is enraged. She rises, ignoring Salome and looks at Ona. “Who are you to tell me what kind of wife and mother to be when you are neither one yourself? You are a spinster, a lunatic! A whore! An unwed mother!” August writes as fast as he can, nervously watching Ona. Salome rises from her milk bucket, ready to defend her sister. “Ona was made unconscious and raped like the rest of us and now is pregnant as a result! How dare you call her a whore! Mariche, are you not afraid your own sweet boys will become monsters like their father because you do nothing to protect them or yourself-” but Autje tries to interrupt, by softly pleading, “Stop.” Salome continues to vent, “Nothing to educate them, nothing to teach them the horror of their father’s ways, the sickness…” Agata steps in. “Now. I. Have. Heard. Enough! Are you women not aware that we are talking about leaving? We are a large group. Many things can go wrong and our time is fleeting! For the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and precious Saviour will you shut your pieholes, please!” Mariche faces Ona, smoldering. “How dare you pass judgement on me.” Ona meets Mariche’s gaze. “It wasn’t judgement. It was a question.” Agata leans over to whisper to Ona, but Ona keeps talking. “I am sorry, Mariche. I am sorry that what I said hurt you.” Mariche curses. “Fuck it off.” Mejal laughs, and her mother tells her to sit down. Mejal and Salome now share a cigarette and smoke together. Agata continues to stroke Salome’s arms and hair. Neitje whispers, “It’s ‘fuck off’ I think.” The two teen girls laugh. Neitje draws Mariche yelling at Ona, pointing a finger. Ona apologises to the group. “I am sorry. I am saying sorry, not just to leave the hurt behind, but because I feel, truly, that I should not have said something harmful.” Mariche watches Ona, somewhat calmed, but still guarded and waiting to pounce. Ona continues her apology. “And Mariche. I am sorry because you don’t need or deserve more harm.” Mariche’s emotions bubble to the surface. “Who are any of you to pretend I have had a choice?” Mariche notices her daughter is watching her carefully. Autje nods, softly. Greta cuts in. “I am also sorry Mariche.” This startles Mariche, and her mother continues to apologise. “Because, Mariche. I couldn’t — I didn’t try to protect you or your children from Klaas. All this time. And what you say is true. You had no choice. You forgave him, again and again, as you were told to. As I told you to.” Mariche sits down, floored, taking in her mother’s words. She looks around at the group. Salome looks up at her quickly, then looks away, nodding in agreement with Greta, with tears in her eyes. Mariches speaks softly to herself. “It is not only the men and boys who have been excellent students.” Salome empathises. “Yes. All of us have been infected by a poisoned way of thinking.” Mariche is raw. “And so you have judged me. For what I have endured.” Agata nods gently, looking at her. Autje comes over to her mother and sits on the floor beside her, putting her head in her lap. Mariche touches her daughter’s hair, softly. Agata tries to speak on behalf of the group. “I think, Mariche… I think that we are all very sorry. What you have been required to endure with your violent husband was a…” Greta finishes the sentence. “A misuse of forgiveness.” Mejal asks, “Is there such a thing? Is there a forgiveness that is not good?” Agata philosophises, “Perhaps forgiveness can, in some instances, be confused with permission.” This catches Mariche’s attention and she looks up to see Agata. Mejal touches Mariche’s hand. Seeing The Women’s acknowledgement, something in Mariche softens, and she puts her head down, breathing fully, for the first time. Mariche stares at the floor. Ona acknowledges a deep revelation. “Perhaps it will also be a difficult task to forgive each other, and ourselves, after all that has happened.” Mariche nods at her mother, tears in her eyes. Greta holds her daughter close. The moment is shattered when Nettie/Melvin climbs the ladder holding the stunned and upset JULIUS REIMER (5), Mariche’s son. Greta demands to know what has happened. Nettie/Melvin thrusts Julius into Mariche’s lap, and points at Julius’ noise, gesticulating, expressing bewilderment. Agata pleads, “Nettie. Please. Be reasonable. Make an exception and tell us what is happening. There are only women in this loft. Nettie!” August remains very still. Nettie/Melvin remains silent, pondering the request. Julius turns his face into his mother’s chest and howls. Mariche begs urgently, “What has happened to him” Julius points to his nose. Agata begs Nettie to explain, to speak this once, but Julius speaks for himself. “My nose. There is a cherry pit in my nose!” Mariche presses on one of Julius’ nostrils, and commands her son to blow. Julius blows the cherry pit out, and his mother runs her fingers down his nose. The cherry pit comes out. Ona inserts two fingers into her mouth and whistles. The Women look at her, and Ona explains, “If Julius has put a cherry pit up his nose it means he has been eating cherries or he has, at least been near cherries.” The Women are silent, as Ona points out, “We have no cherries in the colony.” Mariche realizes, “Klaas sometimes brings them back from the city.” Agata demands, “Who gave you the cherries? Julius!” Julius confirms The Women’s fears. “Papa.” Mariche asks, “Papa is home now?” Julius tells her, “No. I saw him out on the road. He’s collecting animals.” Mariche looks pale, and looks at Melvin/Nettie who nods. Agata steadies her gaze and is still, but Salome rushes to the window, cursing. Mariche tells her son, “If you see him again you can tell him that we are all quilting.” Her son sees through his mother. “Isn’t that lying?” Mariche backpedals. “No. It’s….something else. Go now. Go with Nettie.” Her son nods. Melvin takes Julius’ hand and takes him down the ladder. Greta asks, “Have we made a decision? Are we leaving?” It’s the moment of truth. She looks at each woman, and they each, silently, in their own way, agree. Mariche is still. Autje answers, “Yes.” Greta needs to ensure they have truly thought this through. “We are leaving because-” but Autje interrupts. “We know why we are leaving. We are leaving because we cannot stay.” Everyone looks at this teenager, taking this in. Mariche beckons to her daughter, and puts her arm around her. Neitje asks, “What happens when we become hungry? Or afraid?” Ona tries to assure her. “We are not animals. Hunger and fear cannot be our guide.” Mejal asks, “Should we not have more perspective than animals?” Agata reminds the group, “Animals have perspective. Remember? The dragonflies? They set out knowing that they will not see the end of their journey but their children will.” Mejal shows her frustration. “Please for the love of Joshua Judges Ruth can we start talking practically!” Agata smiles and twists her body from side to side in delight, “I like that. ‘For the love of Joshua Judges Ruth.’” Greta starts talking about logistics. “We will take young boys under twelve with us. And we will allow the men to join the women later, under certain conditions.” Autje and Neitje show their approval. Salome shakes her head, alarmed. Greta smiles, and tries to find a common ground. “Would everyone agree to this now, knowing that our minds may change in the future?” Ona refuses. “No. Not yet.” Salome tries to push back her tears with her index fingers. “We can’t leave.” Agata answers for her. “Aaron. I know.” Salome clarifies, “He is just over twelve. Just barely.”

68: We flashback to Salome at the Washhouse Fence one morning, where she is leading her son Aaron home. He jumps up on a fence and takes a few steps. Salome watches him before sneaking up behind him, and grabbing his waist and screaming. Her son laughs, startled, and pretends to be annoyed. We hear Greta’s voiceover this image, saying, “The sadness of leaving Aaron behind for the time being will only spur us all, all of us grieving mothers, to rebuild a new and better colony for everyone.”

68–70: Back in the Hayloft, Agata puts her arm around Salome’s shoulders. Mejal crosses to Salome’s side, tears falling. She also puts her arms around Salome. They are silent for a while. Salome breaks the silence by asking, “Why are boys aged thirteen and fourteen left behind? Why wouldn’t they leave with us?” Agata agrees. “Surely we can’t be afraid of boys of this age? Why couldn’t they join us if we leave?” Ona looks at August and seeks his input. “August. You’re the boys teacher. What is your feeling about this? Do boys of this age pose a threat to our girls and women?” August stops transcribing. He puts his pen down and thinks. “Yes. Possibly. Every one of us, male or female, poses a potential threat. Thirteen and fourteen-year-old boys are capable of causing great damage to girls and women, and to each other.” We flashback to the Schoolhouse one morning, where we see the boys racing, scrum around the victor, and shoving each other. At first playfully, and then more aggressively. August explains in voiceover, “It is a brash age. They are possessed of reckless urges, physical exuberance, intense curiosity that often results in injury, unbridled emotion, including deep tenderness and empathy, and not quite enough experience or brain development to fully understand or appreciate the consequences of their actions or words. They are similar to the yearlings; young, awkward, gleeful, powerful. They are tall, muscular, sexually inquisitive creatures with little impulse control, but they are children. They are children and they can be taught. I’m a two-bit schoolteacher, a failed farmer, an effeminate man, and above all, a believer.” We flashback to Salome’s kitchen, close on Aaron’s face, staring silently into the camera, his expression inscrutable. TWO SMALLER CHILDREN play in the background. August continues to explain in voiceover, “I believe that with direction, firm love and patience these boys are capable of relearning their roles as males in the colony. I believe in what the great poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge thought were the cardinal rules of early education. ‘To work by love and so generate love. To habituate the mind to intellectual accuracy and truth. To excite imaginative power.’ He said ‘Little is taught by contest or dispute, everything by sympathy and love.’” We now see Salome, sitting across the table from Aaron, looking at him tenderly. She puts her hand on her son’s cheek, and he moves away, embarrassed. Aaron smiles at her awkwardly, then gets up and leaves her there, the table shining clean in front of her.

70–73: Back at the Hayloft, Neitje has drawn pictures of the boys next to August’s writing. In some of the illustrations they do work, in some they are violent, in some they study at school. August tells the group, “I believe those boys should be allowed to leave with the women, providing the women choose to leave.” Mariche is still irritated with him. “It was a yes or no question. You shit like any other man, why don’t you talk like one?” Mejal laughs. Mariche catches herself, shakes her head and smiles. She apologises. “Sorry.” Salome is emphatic. “I won’t leave Aaron.” Agata steps in to make a proposal. “We must protect all of our children. Not only our daughters. All boys under the age of fifteen, and the ones that require special care must accompany the women.” Ona brings up a great point. “What if they refuse? If they don’t want to leave?” Mariche notes that they can’t carry teenagers on their backs. Agata tells the group they can try to influence their sons, but acknowledges that they cannot force them, and the possibility their sons may refuse to leave. Neitje shares, “But that would be very sad.” Agata is focused. “Let’s talk about our sadness after we have nailed down our plan. August, you would stay here to teach the boys who remain?” August nods, as Ona looks at him. The two share a long moment in silence. Ona’s mother takes note of this interaction. Neitje sees this as useless. “What’s the point in trying to teach them? Fifteen-year-old boys still believe that throwing horse turds at the girls while we do the milking shows their love.” Autje laughs, and adds, “But a boy who truly loves you will intentionally miss when he throws the shit, or not throw it with quite as much force.” Mejal and Salome shake their heads and comment on the insanity that this is what constitutes to be their most hopeful dreams for their daughters. Autje glances out the east door, and says, “He’s here.” Mariche looks as though she will be sick, and says, “Klaas.” The other women rush to the east door, and see in the distance, Mariche’s husband, leading two horses, walking away from them. Greta cries out that he has her beloved Ruth and Cheryl. The Women move to hide themselves away from the windows until he is out of sight. Agata quickly takes command. “Everyone, back to your houses. Go collect your children, and pack up. August, get the map. Greta and I will pack the food supplies. If anyone asks, we were quilting here. Neitje and Autje are the first to scramble down the ladder. Agata calls out after them to run to every house and to tell the women that they are leaving. Salome also commands the girls to tell the women to bring everything they can, and to assemble outside the washhouse. Neitje and Autje stand at the bottom of the ladder, looking paralyzed by the awesome responsibility. Salome reminds them to pin up their hair as per their custom. As the two girls put up their braids, they run off.

73: On a porch at twilight, a YOUNG WOMAN hangs out of a hammock, asleep. A MIDDLE AGED WOMAN lies asleep on the porch chair. A TEENAGER sleeps on the floor. Neitje and Autje kneel beside them, waking each of them up, gently, talking to them. The women are bleary eyed and don’t seem interested in what the girls have to say. We hear Mejal’s voice sharing her fears. “I am worried about the women who have voted to do nothing. If Klaas, or any other man has returned, there is a high risk that these women will inform them that we are plotting.”

73–74: Inside Scarface Janz’ Sewing Room, Neitje and Autje approach Scarface who is sewing in the corner, along with her daughters Anna and Helena and OTHER WOMEN, who are all also working on various projects in chairs or tables in the room. The other women nod as Neitje speaks to them. Scarface stares at Neitje, shaking her head imperceptibly. We hear Ona and August’s conversation taking place offscreen over this scene. Ona says, “We must have faith that the Do Nothing women will not inform on us.” August counters, “But some, like Scarface Janz, believe that to fight or to leave is a sin. What about her?” While Neitje is still speaking, Scarface returns to her sewing, and turns her back to Neitje. Neitje eyes her nervously. We hear August ask the question, “Do you have faith in her?”

74–75: In the Hayloft, we watch Ona’s face as she considers August’s question. She finally answers. “I must have faith in all of us, right now.” August nods. Greta looks at Mariche as she heads for the ladder and tells her daughter to be careful. Mariche nods lightly. The Reimer women clatter down the ladder. Ona tells her mother to breathe. Agata looks at her daughter and laughs, then kisses the top of her head. Ona is worried about her mother. “Breathe and slow down. You always hold your breath when you’re exerting yourself.” Agata laughs again, which earns another reprimand from her daughter. “Don’t laugh while you’re on the ladder. Concentrate.” Agata calls out to the other women, below her and above her. “We will have to get an early start tomorrow morning. Let’s meet here again at sunrise. All of us.” Agata goes down the ladder and leaves the barn quickly along with the other women. August moves to the window and watches them go across the North fields.

75: Out in the field, under the twilight sky, Mariche collects her many children, her movements subdued. She looks across the field and sees her husband Klaas, beckoning to her from the doorway of their house. Her shoulders slump. Her mother approaches her, and she pleads, Don’t go. Stay with me tonight. Or I will go with you.” Mariche tries to be brave for Greta. “If I don’t go home, it will draw attention to all of us. I must behave as though everything isn’t about to change.” As Mariche heads towards her home, Greta calls out to her daughter, but Mariche insists. “Go home, Mother. I will see you at sunrise.” She smiles faintly back to her mother and gives her a soft kiss, leading her children home with a sense of dread. Greta watches her daughter and family go, concerned.

76: Neitje and Autje walk along the paths, stopping to talk to women as they go. Neitje speaks under her breath, “An hour after sunrise. We congregate on the road by the wash house.” A GROUP OF WOMEN nod. ONE DARK-HAIRED WOMAN pushing A BOY IN A WHEELCHAIR asks, “Do we bring-” Autje confirms, “Everything. Bring everything.” The boy, Cornelius, asks, “Why?” He and his mother look scared.

76: Neitje and Autje pass ANOTHER GROUP OF WOMEN WITH CHILDREN on a Colony Path. Autje tells them, “We meet an hour after sunrise. On this road. We need your buggy.” One of the women answers, “Thank you, sister.” The group nods in solidarity, and Autje nods back.

76–76A: Outside a Colony House, Neitje and Autje speak to CLARA (20s) in her doorway, her CHILDREN running around behind her. Neitje explains the plan, while Autje tells Clara that she will need both of her buggies. Clara catches her breath, and asks, “Tomorrow?” Clara looks behind her at her children, anxious. Neitje asks, “You will be there?” Clara nods anxiously. “I have so much to do.” Clara then closes the door.

77: Inside Salome’s kitchen, Salome has just finished speaking with Aaron about the plan as Miep sits in her arms. TWO of SALOME’S OTHER CHILDREN (8, 10) do chores and play in the background. Aaron looks stunned. Ona pats Aaron’s hand but he pulls it away. Salome tells him that they will need his help to brush and saddle their horses. Aaron nods, and looks away. Miep interrupts. “Mama. I’m hurting.” Salome looks down at Miep, covered in sweat. Salome quietly tells Ona, “The pills aren’t working. I think they are for calves, not people.” Ona tries to reassure her sister. “But she is small. They’ll work.” Salome acknowledges her daughter is small in size, “But she’s not a calf.” The women focus on Miep, while Aaron gets up and leaves the table. He stares out the window, furious.

78: Outside Mariche’s house, it is now night. Autje and Neitje sneak Ruth and Cheryl away from Mariche’s house, looking nervously behind them. A light turns on in Mariche’s house. Neitje and Autje freeze. The light turns off again. Autje and Neitje continue leading the horses away.

78: Inside Greta’s house, Agata, Greta, and Mejal quickly load up barrels with cheese, sausage, bread, flour, eggs, and water.

78: At Salome’s house, Salome tucks Miep into bed.

78–81: At the Washhouse, the moon is bright. Ona sits on the roof of the washhouse. Ona, whispers, “Psst! August!” as he walks by. She laughs when he looks up. She calls him up to sit with her. August climbs up and joins her. He reaches into his satchel and hands her the map. Ona unrolls it and stares at it, mesmerized. She asks him, “Where are we?” August points to a spot on the map. “Here.” Ona stares at the spot, puts her finger on it, and smiles. “Here. This is where we are.” She continues to stare, in awe. August tells her that he’s created a legend, but Ona only looks at him questioningly. He explains, “For the map. I’ve drawn asterisks on the map that coincide with pictures in the legend.” Ona doesn’t understand. “What do the pictures show?” August switches on his teacher mode. “Rivers, roads, towns and cities and borders, train tracks. See?” Ona nods her head. August points to the compass printed on the map. “This is north…south…east…and west.” Ona is still trying to grasp this teaching. “But the map moves. How do we know which direction the map should be facing?” Ever so patient, August answers, “Celestial navigation. Let me show you.” August points to a constellation of bright stars, and talks to Ona about the Southern Cross. He encourages her to teach the others to use it for navigation, and shows her to clench her right fist, by taking her hand and shaping it into a fist. He holds her fist up against the stars. Ona’s arm is rigid, fist clenched, like a freedom fighter. He tells her, “Now align your first knuckle with the axis of the Cross.” He holds her hand, her wrist. He continues his instruction. “Now. The tip of your thumb, here, will indicate south.” Ona smiles, nodding, clapping her hands, promising to teach this lesson in navigation. The moment feels intimate. August asks her, “Did you already know about this little trick?” Ona laughs. “Of course. Of course I did.” August smiles, sheepishly. “I wish there was something I could tell you that you didn’t already know.” Ona smiles, and they continue to look up at the stars. She watches him tenderly for a while, then asks, “What will become of you when we leave?” August is silent. Ona continues, “I hope…. I hope that you can help the boys. I hope that you can help them to be truthful. And to listen. Like you do.” She holds his hand for a long moment.

81: It’s pre-dawn, and August watches from the window of the barn as he sees the silhouette of Ona teaching the other women how to find the Southern Cross with her hands. He watches them, silently guiding each other’s hands into position, the beginning of the light coming up over the horizon behind them.

81–86: It’s now early morning inside the Hayloft. August pins Neitje’s drawings to the wall around the butcher paper lists. The Women start to emerge into the loft. Greta paces, periodically going to the window to peer into the dark. Her balance does not appear to be very good. Mejal watches her. Salome is worried. “Where are Mariche and Autje?” Greta tries to assure her. “They will be here. I pray they will be here.” Greta paces more. Mejal tells her mother, “Concentrate on lifting your feet higher when you take steps. Don’t shuffle. You’ll trip again.” Greta complains, “I am very tired. My body is heavy.” Agata puts her feet into Ona’s lap and Ona rubs them, and quietly sings, “On the Old Rugged Cross.” Agata sings every word or two, but is fighting for breath. August and Ona watch each other. Salome braids Neitje’s hair and tugs tightly as Neitje complains, “Please. Please. Be gentle. You are blinding me.” Mariche finally climbs the ladder to the loft, with Autje behind her, helping her. Mariche’s face is bruised and cut, her arm is in a sling fashioned from a feed bag. Autje has a bruise on her cheek in the shape of four fingers and a thumb. Greta rushes to Mariche and takes her in her arms. The rest of the women are silent, having seen this before. Some look down. Mariche and Autje sit down on a haybale. Mejal is shaking with rage, and holds Autje tightly. Greta asks, “Is he gone?” Autje answers. “He’s sleeping. Dead to the world. He was very drunk.” The women stare at Autje and absorb this. Neitje moves to sit with her friend, and synchronizes her breathing with Autje’s. They look ahead together, silent. Greta asks her daughter to tell her what happened, but Mariche shakes her head. Autje answers instead. “Father caught me sneaking back into the house, late and then he went to the barn and found we had taken the horses.” Salome wants to know if they had revealed to him their plan. Mariche nods, and Salome puts her head in her hands. Autje explains, “She did. But it was because he wouldn’t stop hitting me and she was trying to distract him.” Mariche tries to explain that she doesn’t think her husband believed her, or that he will remember. She’s confident he will be passed out in the barn all morning. Agata moves quickly to focus the group. “So. Yesterday was a day for talking. Today is a day for action. When Klaas wakes up he may go to the city to alert the other men. We have decided to leave before that happens. Is that accurate?” The Women nod. Agata is about to review why they had ruled out the option of staying, when Mariche interrupts her, “I thought today was a day of action, not talk.” The Women laugh. We hear animals lowing in the distance, and a hint of light is appearing in the sky. Mariche continues. “We have decided that we want… that we are entitled to three things.” She looks on the wall at August’s notes and Neitje’s drawing of children playing. She declares, “We want our children to be safe.” Mariche begins to cry softly, and is finding it difficult to speak. She looks at a drawing on the wall of a woman kneeling in prayer. “We want to be steadfast in our faith.” She then looks up at a drawing of a woman looking off, with a book in her lap. “We want to think.” Agata claps her hands, and praises God. Greta raises her arms above her head like a football official, jubilant. Salome and Mejal smile. Salome, concurs. “A perfect beginning.” Mejal asks, What if we feel guilt? What if it overwhelms us?” Agata validates her feelings. “We will feel pain and we will feel uncertainty and we will feel sadness, but not guilt.” Mariche chimes in. “We may feel guilty but we will know we are not guilty.” Mejal shares, “We may feel homicidal, but we will know we are not killers.” Ona states, “We may feel vengeful, but we will know we are not raccoons.” The women laugh again. Salome declares, “We may feel lost, but we will know we are not losers.” Salome and Mejal tease each other, as if they are sisters by birth. Neitje places her hand gently on Autje’s cheek, over the bruise. Agata rallies The Women. “We may feel guilt and we may feel sadness. But we will endure it. We’re embarking on a journey. We are making a change that we have interpreted as being a testament to our faith and to our instincts as mothers. We must believe in it.” Greta joins in. “We don’t know everything that will happen. But we’ve made our plan. And, yes, we must believe in it.” The Women all take each other’s hands. Ona walks to August, takes his hand, and leads him with her into the circle of women. He stares at their hands, holding each other. Greta begins to sing, “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” Everyone joins in as August cries.

86: On the Colony Road, in the early morning light, A GROUP OF WOMEN pull THEIR CHILDREN down the road, hearing the faint singing in the distance. They stop and look in the direction it is coming from.

86: Outside Scarface Janz’ house, Scarface and her daughters stare at the barn, as they hear the hymn. Anna, holding Helena’s hand, makes a move to run towards the music of the barn, but her mother grabs her arm. Anna breathes heavily, panicked, but Scarface grabs her face with her free hand, and looks deeply into her eyes, holding her there. Anna holds her daughter’s hand, tightly, as Helena’s face turns towards the direction the music is coming from.

86: Outside in the field, Nettie/Melvin plays with the children. He motions to them, “ssshhhh.” They all stop and listen, looking into the distance where the music is coming from. Some of the children, including Julius, sing. We see the faces of the young children, listening to the singing and singing along. Some of them continue to play, oblivious.

87–89: Inside the Hayloft, when the women are finished singing, August raises his hand. Ona smiles at him. Agata tells him, You can speak whenever you want, August, and you don’t have to raise your hand. You’re the teacher!” Tears are rolling down his cheeks. Autje and Neitje look mortified by his crying. August tells Agata, “It’s alright. It wasn’t important.” Agata tells the women “There is work to do. We must stop talking and prepare to leave.” The Women’s expressions are stern, grim, desolate, and tight with tension, but they nod in agreement. They are startled by the sound of someone climbing the ladder. The Women hold their breaths. An old man, EARNEST PENNER appears, and he can barely walk, clearly suffering from dementia. Ona rushes to help him up the last few rungs, and greets him, helping him sit down on a hay bale. “Uncle Penner!” He looks around at The Woman, and asks, “What are you doing here in my loft? Are you angels? Are you lost? Will you help me with my bath?” He is gasping and struggling. “What are you bitches plotting?” Agata gets up and walks to Earnest and sits next to him on the bale. “Oh, Earnest. My sweet cousin. We’re getting old, aren’t we?” Earnest puts his head on her shoulder, and Agata smooths his wild, white hair. He asks her, “Are you devils?” Agata soothes him. “No. We’re your friends.” He still isn’t sure. “Are you plotting to burn down my barn?” “No, Ernie. There’s no plot. We’re only women talking.” Ona sits beside Earnest, and leans her head on his shoulder. Everyone sits in silence. Earnest finally asks, “Will you help me with my bath?” Mejal moves towards him, her hands outstretched. “Why don’t I take you back to your house and give you a washing. I’ll give you a bath and get you something to eat.” Agata fusses over him, suggests that Mejal pick some mint by the lower barn door to add to his bath, then whispers to Mejal, “Be quick.” Mejal nods, and leads him slowly down the ladder, accompanying him back to his house as Agata watches from the window.

89: Outside the Lower Barn Door, we see mint being lovingly picked. Mejal holds it under Earnest’s nose, and invites him to smell it. He smiles, and picks some himself.

89–95: Agata still watches Mejal and Earnest from the window in the Hayloft, tears streaming down her face. Salome is concerned for her mother. Agata assures her, “I’m just saying goodbye.” She wipes her tears, and Greta admits that she is nervous. Ona also confesses, “We’re all nervous. We can’t avoid nervousness.” Autje tries to encourage her grandmother. “We hid Ruth and Cheryl for you. They are ready to go.” Greta is ecstatic. “Ruth and Cheryl!!! Really??!!” She runs to Autje and kisses the girls. Salome points out, “We’ll need to find guns, in case anyone tries to stop us.” Agata disagrees. “No. We won’t have guns. We must begin peacefully. As we mean to continue.” Agata looks off, decisive, but Salome suddenly looks frightened. “We don’t know where we are going.” Greta acknowledges this. “We don’t. We can’t. But we must go anyway.” Nettie/Melvin climbs the ladder, and stands silently in front of the women, signalling the children are clean, ready and fed, their things packed. Agata is grateful. “Thank you, Melvin.” Melvin smiles for the first time, hearing his name. He tells Agata, with tears of joy, “Thank you. Thank you for saying my name.” Agata asks him if he is ready for the journey. He answers, “No. I am not ready.” The Women are alarmed, some open their mouths to speak, but Melvin is prepared to answer. “But I am coming with you.” The Women smile and sigh with relief. Greta empathises. “Yes, who of us can say we’re ready, after all?” Mariche answers, “I can.” Salome asks Melvin if Aaron has readied the horses, but Melvin tells her that Aaron has not. Salome takes Melvin’s arm, begging to know where her son is. “Speak to me. Please. I won’t harm you. I am not your enemy!” Melvin is frightened and backs away, towards the window. Agata tries to smooth the situation over. “You must calm down, Salome. Aaron will be found. Melvin. You are safe.” Salome is hysterical. “But we’re leaving soon. I’m not leaving without him.” She climbs down the ladder, panicked. Melvin whispers at the window while Agata calls out after her daughter. The Women go to the window and watch Salome run, her skirts flying behind her, bent into the wind, kicking up dust. Ona calls out verbal encouragement to her sister, but turns to her mother, “But what if she doesn’t convince Aaron?” Agata suddenly collapses onto her feed pail. Ona rushes to her, calling out to her. Agata doesn’t speak. The other Women crowd around her. Agata smiles, eyes wide, nodding her head, as she concentrates on her breathing. Greta prays. Ona and Greta each hold one of Agata’s hands and synchronize their breathing. Mariche and the young women are quiet, watching. Finally, Agata raises herself up to standing. Agata announces, “We are going to go now.” August is not ready. “Now?” Agata asks him to make a list. “Of good things. Of memories, of plans. Whatever you feel goes into a good list; what we, the women, would want there, please write it down.” Agata laughs, her breath choppy and laboured. She tells him, “Thank you, August. For all you have done. We are all so proud of you. Your mother would be too.” August promises to make this list, as tears stream down his face. The Women rise, ready to leave. Greta notes Agata’s difficulty in breathing and warns her, “This will be a difficult trip.” Agata is ready. “I’m aware of that. Today is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” She turns to Ona and says softly, “I won’t be buried in this colony. Help me into a buggy now and I’ll die on the trail.” Ona laughs but her eyes tear up. August is writing but he can’t stop crying. The Women help each other down the ladder in a chain. He moves towards the ladder to catch one last glimpse of Ona as she goes. Ona looks back, and sobs, “What about August?” He smiles and waves. Agata is the last to climb down, and she asks him, “August, wouldn’t you marry my Ona?” August returns her smile. “I’ve asked her so many times.” Agata doesn’t give up. “And she always said no?” Agata reaches up and pats August’s knee. He is towering over her now. He bends to touch her shoulder. She puts her hand on his. He tells her, “Hang on with both hands,” as she descends. August walks over to the window and sees The Women walking away into the distance. Ona walks backwards, keeping her eyes on him. He calls you, “Ona. I will always love you!” Ona laughs and cries and keeps walking backwards so she can see him. She waves. She forces herself, finally, to turn around. Agata is closer to the window, calls to August, “And she loves you too, August. She loves everyone.” August nods, and waves lightly.

95: August sits alone in the Hayloft, working on the list. We see all the words and illustrations that have been posted on the walls, all around him. In voiceover, August tells us, “How will I live without these women? My heart will stop. I will try to teach the boys and men about these women, about the new reality of which they dream. I must make a list. A list, from the Middle English liste, meaning desire. Which is also the origin of the word ‘listen.’” August looks at the wall of notes, and begins to write.

95–96: As the sun rises over the field, we see beams of sun shining through trees, light dancing on a pond. We hear Agata’s voice say, “Sun.”

96: From the field at night, we see the milky way in the night sky. We hear Neitje’s voice say, “Stars.”

96: Inside the barn, we see a pail sitting alone among discarded tools. We hear Miep’s voice say, “Pails.”

96: Outside a house in the daytime, we see a newborn baby staring at the sky, adjusting to the light. We hear Autje say, “Birth.”

96: Outside in the fields at magic hour, we see a TWO-YEAR-OLD sleeping in a cart of cucumbers. We hear Mariche say, “The Harvest.”

96: Inside the Schoolhouse in the daytime, we see a BOY’S HAND write down a math problem. We hear Mejal say, “Numbers.”

96: Inside the Barn, August continues to write his list. We hear Ona say, “Sounds. Window.” Then we hear Greta say, “Straw. Beams.”

97: Inside Salome’s kitchen, we see Aaron’s face, tears streaming down, looking at us sobbing as he shakes his head violently. A SPRAY CAN suddenly comes into frame. He screams and drops to the floor. We hear Salome say, “Love.”

97: Outside Scarface Janz’s house, Scarface is walking along a path, quickly away from us. She says, “I will do what God commands me to do. I will not lie for you.” Salome pushes her down to the ground. She holds out the can and sprays in her face. Scarface goes immediately unconscious.

97: Inside Klaas’ horse barn, we see Klaas passed out in a stall on a bale of hay while a cow stands nearby. He begins to rouse. A hand comes into frame with a spray bottle and sprays. We see Salome close the stall door and leave the barn.

97: We see an image of a group of women walking down the road, similar to the one we saw near the beginning. The wind picks up. They try to hold onto their hats. We hear in voiceover, Salome saying, “Futility.” Then Melvin says, “Language.” Miep says, “Wind.” Agata says, “Women.”

98–101: Back at the Hayloft, August hears clambering on the ladder. Salome appears. She takes an axe and a few other big tools from the tack room. August looks at her, questioningly. Salome explains, “We may need to protect ourselves.” August asks her, “Where is Aaron?” She tells him that her son is in the buggy, waiting. August asks, “You convinced him to leave?” Salome doesn’t respond, only hands him the spray can. “Here. You may need this. For protection.” August’s eyes widen as he stares at the spray can and begins to understand. He starts to ask, “Did you have to-” but Salome dismisses his niceties. “Yes. It’s just as though I had picked up a sleeping child in the night and carried him away from a house that was on fire.” August isn’t sure. “Is it?” Salome won’t discuss this. “He’s coming with me. He’s my child.” August nods, looking unsure. Salome continues. “I broke the rules? I did. I broke the new rules already. Maybe I’ve broken everything. And we haven’t yet begun. I sprayed Scarface Janz also. She was planning to go to the city to tell the men.” August probes deeper. “Does she know how to get there?” Salome scoffs. “No, of course not.” August concludes, “So it was an idle threat.” Salome confesses, “But I was afraid.” She also confesses to knocking out Klaas as well, but explains, “But he wasn’t awake yet, so he won’t remember being knocked out. Just like we didn’t.” Salome goes to leave. “Goodbye August, and good luck.” August begs her, “Please take care of Ona and her baby.” She promises to. He tells her to wait, as he needs to give her something. August crosses the room and pulls a gun out of his satchel. He returns to the ladder and hands it to Salome. Salome stares at it. “Why do you have a gun, August?” He struggles to answer. Salome is firm. “Don’t kill yourself August. You have important work to do. You are the boys teacher.” Salome tucks the gun away, wordlessly, and begins to climb down. We really have to hurry.” August reminds her, “But you’re not fleeing.” Salome laughs again. “That’s right. We’ve chosen to leave.” August feels compelled to confront Salome with the truth. “But not Aaron.” Salome is quiet for a moment, then looks at him. “I will have to live with that.” August bids her farewell, acknowledging all the wrongs of the colony. “Don’t ever come back, any of you.” Salome laughs and nods. “I’ll miss you. Be a good teacher. You have straw in your hair.” August asks her to wait. “I have to give you the minutes!” He runs to the table and picks up the notebooks and takes some of the sheets of paper from the walls, and hands her what he has gathered so far, telling Salome to give them to Ona. Salome protests, “But she can’t read them.” August tells Salome, “Her child will read them.” Salome places the notebooks and papers back in August’s hands. “August. The purpose was for you to take the minutes.” She pushes his hand with the papers in it back at him. August looks at her, beginning to understand. They both promise each other to meet again. August goes to the north doors and opens them. He stands there, watching Salome running away one last time from the barn, and catching a glimpse of the convoy of buggies lining up beside the Wash House.

101: We run with children through the field near the Wash House, obliviously carefree, in a wild game. The children approach the road and are ushered towards buggies by the women. We see the convoy of buggies being loaded with many bags and supplies, the children being passed up. The Women get inside. Among them we see Mariche and her children, and we see Ona, Agata, Salome, Mejal, and Greta. A frantic Anna runs alongside the convoy, holding tight to Helena’s hand, bags in her hand, looking scared. Autje grabs Helena’s hand and helps her into a buggy with Neitje. Anna sighs with relief and follows her in. One of the buggies behind Autje’s gets stuck with the wheel of the buggy in front, causing a commotion. Neitje, Autje, and a GROUP OR WOMEN spontaneously leap out and help to move the buggy into the correct position. The buggies begin to move.

102: August stands, watching from the Hayloft the convoy depart the colony. A hand reaches out of the fourth buggy, lifted in farewell. It might be Ona’s. He lifts his hand in farewell, knowing he will likely not be seen.

102: As the convoy of buggies makes its way down the long road by the Wash House, the camera cranes up to see the convoy of women and children snaking away into the distance.

102: We see a tableau of Salome’s kitchen as it sits empty.

102: We see a tableau of Greta’s kitchen, still and empty.

102: We see a tableau of Mariche’s kitchen, also still and empty.

102: August stands inside the front of his schoolroom. There are some empty chairs, where the younger ones used to sit. He looks at the teenage boys in front of him. He studies their faces, innocent, mischievous, paying attention, not paying attention. He inhales and opens his mouth to speak.

CUT TO BLACK.

A trailer for the movie:

Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?

To download a PDF of the breakdown, go here.

Kudos to Karen Liu (Dantas) for doing the scene-by-scene breakdown.

For more movie scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here.