Nostradamus

Author: Adrian James
Location: Nashville, TN

NOSTRADAMUS

CREW:
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Written by: John Logan and Darren Aronofsky
Cinematographer: Seamus McGarvey and Matthew Libatique
Editor: Jay Rabinowitz

CAST:
Emile Hirsch - Charlie Duncan
Richard Dreyfuss - Pete Howell
Rachel McAdams - Anna Duncan
Dev Patel - Omar Shirad
Zach Braff - Hughey Fritz
Marion Cotillard - Sylvie Lefèvre

TAGLINE: In the Heavens, a Fire is Seen.

SYNOPSIS: The year was 2010. In the United States of America, the economy had sunken to an all time low, and the people had been thrown into an all out depression. Armed forces were pulled out of Iraq and sent home, and America had become isolated from the rest of the known world. The government had begun censoring broadcast news sources, and the American people no longer knew what was happening in Europe and the Middle East. The internet was now restricted, in a way of protecting the people from the knowledge that may cause anarchy. With the United States limiting itself to personal problems, the world was free to do as it saw fit, without the threat of the American police actions such as the Gulf War and Vietnam. Iranian scientists secretly perfected nuclear weapons of mass destruction in March of 2011. By February 2011, however, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France had followed in America's footsteps and cut themselves out of the loop. With no larger, richer, and stronger nations to hold them back, in December of 2012, Iran launched nuclear warheads at Paris, London, Moscow, Los Angeles, New York, and Baghdad. The nations of France, Germany, and Italy all surrendered to the new Iranian Empire. Russia resisted, and was then invaded by Iranian armed forces. In nearly four days, the Russia surrendered. Being isolated from the havoc in Europe, the United States of America began healing the wounds of 10/21/2012. Billions of people around the world struggled to find their new meanings on this planet. This is their story.

Charlie Duncan - Part One
Working in the garage of an auto-repair shop, Charlie had access to all kinds of machinery. Throughout his workday, he would spend his downtime in the back room, tinkering. At night, he would go home to his wife, Anna, and not tell her about his plans. Ever since the economic meltdown, Charlie has been closely following the government's actions. He knows that they are keeping the citizens prisoners, and denying them their rights. But he has a plan to change all of that. In his basement, Charlie has a list of over 3,000 people's names and phone numbers. They have agreed to be a part of the uprising. Today, Charlie finished his project in the back room of Tim's Auto-Body Shop. A home fashioned bomb.

Pete Howell - Part One
His whole life he has lived in Frankfort, Illinois. He grew up working on his father's farm, and took over after his father died. His sons went on to live fulfilling lives in New York City, becoming doctors, and lawyers, and business executives. Until November 21st of 2012 when they were killed in the Iranian bombings. He has since lived a life of seclusion, not associating himself with the town he knows. Frankfort is slowly becoming a ghost town, and he is dying with it. But one day, he finds a man lying in his barn, badly wounded. He takes him inside and when the man comes to, Pete asks him what his name is, but the man can't remember. He appears to have amnesia, and Pete decides to call him Hughey Fritz.

Sylvie Lefèvre - Part One
After the bombings of 2012, Iranian forces invaded, and conquered France. The took the rubbled city of Paris and made it the death camp for the surviving civilians. Sylvie Lefèvre was a nurse before the tragedies of 10/21, and lost her husband and children in the destruction of Paris. She owns a boarding house, but never lends out the rooms. She stays inside, occasionally going out to the market. Iranian police have been searching for, and killing any Palestinian people they come across, and at times even execute their French prisoners. Sylvie feels it is safer for her to just stay indoors and not risk it. At night, Sylvie would leave her table scraps for her dog Sophie, and then take the remainder of what she cooked and bring it to the cellar door. She opens the door and walks down the steps. She takes what food she brought down, and then feeds the Palestinian orphans she found 3 weeks ago. She does this every night.

Omar Shirad - Part One
Being an Iranian teenager in a time of world dominance, Omar should have everything under control. But it isn't that way at all. He gets picked on daily by the bigger, stonger boys, and the society he lives in doesn't quite take kindly to homosexuals. Everyday is a stuggle for Omar, but he survives. He makes friends with a man who tells him he can stop being the laughing stock. That HE can be a hero. Omar wants nothing more than to be accepted by his peers, so he accepts this man's offer. The man, unbeknownst to Omar, was an Iranian government agent, sent to recruit young men to suicide bomb the Palestinian hideouts. Omar begins his training next week.

Charlie Duncan - Part Two
His army grew by the day. More and more of the people learned of the American National Threat Inc. His weapons cache was becoming crowded, and he felt it was time for a message to be sent to the rest of the public. After wiring a bomb into a briefcase, he laid it down in a DMV, and walked out the door. Later on the news, Anna watched the building in flames as the names of the victims displayed on the screen. The building was at the bottom of an apartment complex put in place for war victim's families who went broke after the depression. None of the building's tenants survived the explosion.

To Congress,
I address you today to discuss the growing concern with the safety of the American public from the violence of American Terrorist organizations. Last week, in Portland, a bombing took place killing nearly 200 cramped, poverty ridden citizens. It was I who organized the attacks. We call ourselves A.N.T.I. and we are your voting public. The country we now live in is the result of a nation run by cowards. When the world's future needed aid, we stood back and did nothing. And now we pay for it, with the losses of Los Angeles and New York City. Our government keeps us locked up, on our own soil. No knowledge of the outside world. Well here is the deal I make you. Release the prisoners, and the rebellion will go away. Give us back the freedom our forefathers died to give us. If you fail to release us, then the violence and anarchism will only increase in quality and quantity. You have 3 days.
-FREEBIRD

Once the three days went bye, and congress had not even made an announcement, Charlie targeted a law firm. He had men take the building under seige, and execute the captives. The soldiers were killed in the process, but Charlie said that it was a risk they needed to take. The message still hadn't gotten through. Anna, however, soon put the pieces together. She began to suspect Charlie of being involved. He denied it, and she didn't believe him. Then on the news, a report was saying that "the government has officially stated that they will not negotiate with the American Terrorists." Charlie, in response to the failure to cooperate, next targeted an elementary school.

Pete Howell - Part Two
He takes a liking to this amnesiac boy. Fritz gives him help around the farm, much like his sons used to. The world was dead all around them, but they seemed alone on their own little place, free from the war and the pain that goes along with it. During the days, they worked on constructing a new barn. At night, they would sit around Pete's firepit and talk, with Pete teaching Fritz about the world. They were friends, and Pete felt a new sense of fatherhood.

Fritz' memory has slowly been coming back to him. He does not tell Pete, because he remembers all of it. He knew Pete's daughter before the destruction in New York. She moved out there in 2010 to live with her brothers, after getting hooked on meth. Pete disowned her. Fritz was responsible for her addiction. While walking through town, the town that he remembers, Fritz meets an old friend. Tom, who used to deal meth. That night, Fritz didn't come back from the store. Pete waited up until, late that night, he heard footsteps outside. Fritz was nearly passed out on his porch, showing signs of drug use.

Sylvie Lefèvre - Part Two
Iranian presence was ever increasing in Paris. They had begun an all out extermination of Palestinians in the nation. They were investigating homes of suspected Palestinian harborers. Sylvie feared for her life, but also for the lives of these orphans. This was her second chance to save her children, in God's eyes. She made a plan to smuggle them out of Paris so they could live at her parent's summer home in the hills. She would take care of this in a week.

Sylvie's neighbor had been increasingly suspicious of her affairs in the past month. She was taking out the garbage four more times than usual, and occasionally stayed up incredibly late on work nights. She feared that this was part of the grief that Sylvie felt over the loss of her family. One night, she went over to Sylvie's house to chech on her. She knocked, and Sylvie answered. After a night of drinking wine and talking, a baby began to cry in the distant rooms of the house. When Sylvie's neighbor discovered the Palestinian children, she left immediately. Sylvie decided that she would have to escape to country sooner than she originally thought.

Omar Shirad - Part Two
His training was brutal. He would undergo hours of physical torture for days on end, only to be rewarded with more beatings throughout the night. When it was over, they treated him like a hero. He loved it. They soon gave him his mission, to infiltrate the rundown cinema in the lower east side. It's said that at this film theater, a group of Israeli rebels have their meetings. If Omar were to just stroll in there, carrying a bookbag on his back, then no one would see it as hostile. And this was his mission.

“After there is great trouble among mankind, a greater one is prepared. The great mover of the universe will renew time, rain, blood, thirst, famine, steel weapons and disease. In the heavens, a fire seen.”
-Nostradamus

PRESS SECTION:
"It started out as just an idea. You know, like, what would relatively normal people change into, and become, when faced with the end of the world as we know it. After that, we decided that we couldn't just focus on American people, because Americans wouldn't be the only ones effected by global change. We had to encorporate all walks of life into this bleak vision of the future."
-director Darren Aronofsky on Nostradamus

Nostradamus, Darren Aronofsky's ambitious, poignant vision of future turmoil delves into the lives of 4 different people dealing with the end of the world. "Requiem for a Dream" director Aronofsky crafts a realistic, visual masterpiece. From the newspaper reel in the beginning (fantastically set to The Boxer, by Simon and Garfunkel) depicting the events leading up to nuclear war, to the heartbreaking conclusion in the end (with Somewhere Over the Rainbow playing as a dark undertone), Nostradamus grabs you and doesn't let go.

"Charlie Duncan is a man who was never one of the most fortunate of people. Growing up middle class, he was never really well off. But after the tragedy happens, it's like something snapped in him, almost turning him into a monster. One that no one could predict, or even control. And in the end, right before the bomb goes off in his hand at the elementary school, it seems like he finally witnessed what a demon he had become. But it was too late."
-actor Emile Hirsch on his character "Charlie Duncan"

"She had everything ripped away from her, in an instant. She never had the oppurtunity to let it go. It was all at once, and it seemed she could not forget that. But when she is given a second chance, to help these orphans, it's almost not even a thought in her mind. And when she risks everything to bring them to safety, it really shows her true heroism, and brings her peace of mind. I believe that is why she smiles through the tears as she is executed."
-actress Marion Cotillard on her character "Sylvie Lefèvre"

Aronofsky seems, in this film, to put together all the skills he has mastered in his previous films. The visualizations, and the character's losses and goals in "The Fountain". The deep, subtle character dimensions in "The Wrestler". And the desparation of human nature in "Requiem for a Dream". The whole cast shines brightly, and the screenplay is sharp. Nostradamus is truly a film ahead of its time.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
Best Picture
Best Director - Darren Aronofsky
Best Original Screenplay - John Logan and Darren Aronofsky
Best Actor - Emile Hirsch
Best Supporting Actor - Richard Dreyfuss
Best Supporting Actress - Marion Cotillard