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:: Words: An Empty Place
SYNOPSIS
The sound of drums reverberate through the soul of a bushveld wilderness.
The hills form a silhouette against the setting sun and the first chill
now rises from the grass as the sky turns toward night. Out of the valleys
- a song, a call, a cry. The shadows of Zulu men awaken to their ancestral
rhythms and dance to the spirit of Africa.
The RANGER is still haunted by memories of the fateful day. Killing a
man is not something that passes with time. A shot and a faceless man
falls. A reminder of that moment, a scent, a sight - and he returns to
that empty place...
He has recuperated from a bout of malaria at a city hospital and returns
to resume his duties at a game reserve that lies on the border of a neighbouring
country. Near the reserve he is on a gravel road when he is delayed by
a puncture. Arriving at the main gate late at night, he finds it locked
and unmanned. He drives his car into the shadows and proceeds to sleep
on the back seat. Later, he wakes up in the dark, not sure what disturbed
him. He hears the familiar squeak of the reserve gate. Looking at his
watch he realizes it's only 2 am. Something is wrong. Carefully he peers
over the back seat and sees headlights that belong to a four-wheel drive
truck he knows well. Perplexed and uneasy he slumps back into the dark
of his car - wondering what it could have meant.
The sun rises and the RANGER awakes to find the PROPRIETOR of a nearby
Trading Store opening up. He buys a few groceries and is about to leave
when the PROPRIETOR asks if he can do him a favour and deliver a parcel
to his mother at her homestead on the far side of the reserve. "It
is very important that she gets it". The PROPRIETOR lowers his voice
to a whisper " It's a matter of life or death".
When he reaches the Game reserve headquarters he unpacks and changes into
his uniform. At the office complex the RECEPTIONIST tells him that the
WARDEN has asked to see him. He walks to the culling shed where the staff
are still attending to the previous nights cull. Here he meets the 2IC
who affirms that the WARDEN is looking for him.
The RANGER locates the WARDEN who is at the boma, and is told that he
is required to shoot a well-known ELEPHANT BULL on the reserves northern
boundary. The FOREMAN working on the new fence line has complained that
it has taken to breaking through the electric fence and is displaying
aggressive tendencies. The WARDEN also informs him of a complaint from
one of the eastern boundary homesteads that he should investigate on his
way to carrying out the task. The WARDEN also instructs the RANGER to
go to the research office to be briefed. At the research office he speaks
to the RESEARCH OFFICER and receives information on the ELEPHANT from
a monitoring programme.
The RANGER collects the .458 rifle and ammunition from the WARDENS walk-in
safe at his office and takes it to the range to shoot in. An afternoon
storm brews over a distant mountain range in the west. The RANGER realizes
that he will have to make an early start the following day if he is to
cross the river before it floods. He spends the afternoon tending to his
HORSE. That night the RANGER heads off to the nearby tourist lodge to
speak to the 2IC. A party is in full swing. The RANGER informs him that
he will be going to the northern boundary for a few days. The 2IC in turn
informs him that the WARDEN is due for leave and will be leaving the reserve.
The following morning he awakes at 4.00am, saddles his HORSE and heads
out into the bushveld - north. The RANGER arrives at the river to find
that the level has risen. They plunge in and cross and unknowingly loses
his handheld radio in the process. He finds a place to spend the night.
The moon rises amidst the calls of nightjars, a bushbaby - hyena. Soon
he hears the familiar sounds of dogs and a hunt in progress. Alone and
without his radio, the RANGER is powerless to intervene.
The next morning, he proceeds along the fenceline. He locates the gate
that will take him to the COMPLAINANTS homestead and later fields the
complaints from the family who have suffered crop damage. An OLD MAN confronts
the RANGER about the weapon he is carrying. He explains that he has been
ordered to shoot the ELEPHANT which is known to the old man by name. He
tells the RANGER of its legendary status." We know him well. He has
cost us many crops, and brothers. He nearly killed me once. Are you going
to kill him? " " Yes Mkhulu, I am."
The RANGER re-mounts and rides back to the eastern fenceline and resumes
north. He locates the outpost and radios the 2IC to learn that the WARDEN
has left the reserve. The following day they descend into the mystical
sand- forest lowlands now shrouded in wisps of morning mist. He rides
until he reaches the cutline and the newly erected game fence of the northern
international boundary. He follows it west until he reaches the temporary
base (TB) of the FOREMAN and his fence building team. At the TB the FOREMAN
explains the elephants behaviour. “He is very dangerous now.
This is the last year the elephants will be able to move across the border,
and UMTAKATI knows it. He doesn’t care about poachers or the rest
of the herd. So he breaks it.”
The following morning the RANGER walks into the forest with a FIELD RANGER
in support. He passes sign of the elephant and eventually locates the
footprints. They inadvertently get too close and the ELEPHANT moves thunderously
off through the vegetation. Time passes and they make a second attempt
at locating the elephant bull.
The Ranger is presented with a clear shot. But in the danger and tension
of the moment the Ranger revisits the memories that haunt him and he hesitates
and the moment is lost.
On their return to the TB they realise that the bull has broken through
the fence and has moved north into the neighbouring country. That evening
the RANGER informs the FOREMAN of this and wishes to take a few days to
try and locate the elephant and make amends for his failure. He requests
the FOREMAN not to inform his superiors of his act, which is illegal and
dangerous in light of the territory being regarded as no man's land.
The RANGER walks down to the temporary pumphouse shelter and drags out
the canoe that is stored there. He sets off down the river and much later
and well into the foreign country, he picks up evidence of activity on
the bank and investigates. Now on foot he locates an elephant carcass.
It is not the elephant that he is looking for but the tusks have been
removed. With this discovery he revisits his thoughts and realises that
when the elephants finally pass from the wildlands, they too will become
an empty place.
Disturbed by the discovery, he picks up the trail of human footprints
and follows them. In time he picks up a faint smell of smoke and moves
forward with trepidation. He conceals himself on an overhang and crawls
forward to an observation point. He is shocked to discover two men that
he recognises. The WARDEN and FARMER, the men who were reputed to be enemies
and who the RANGER witnessed at the reserve main gate the night he returned.
The implication of corruption is obvious to the RANGER. The RANGER disillusioned,
locates their temporary cache near the river and returns back to the TB
by canoe with a pair of tusks. He feigns that the deed has been done and
knows that his deception can never be revealed without the WARDEN and
FARMER both incriminating themselves.
The next morning the RANGER remembers the package that he has promised
to deliver. On the way he sees that part of the fence has been trampled
again. Through the trees he sees an elephant eye stare back at him. It
is him. He feels relief that the legendary animal is alive even though
to all intents and purposes his fate is sealed. The RANGER rides out to
the PROPRIETORS family homestead where he delivers what the Proprietor
referred to as a "matter of life or death". He has already left
when the package is unwrapped. It contains teabags.
The last image is the ELEPHANT, moving off back into the Reserve.