Black Panther (dir. Jordan Peele)

Prologue

"Where is he?"

"He has arrived, calm down."

"We've waited long enough..." The assistant rolled their eyes impatiently, earning a reproachful glare from Mosi.

"The Doctor is a man of high intellect and mettle. You may afford him some respect... he's doing us a favor by even coming here."

"And what about all the-"

"Katlego. That's enough."

The assistant fell silent, hearing the footsteps outside.

"Mholo, Dr. Abidemi." Shuri greeted, rising from her seat at the head of the discussion table. She saluted the newcomer, who walked into the lab with Shuri's secretary by his side.

"Mholo, Nkosazane... it's been a long time!" He smiled tightly extending a gnarled hand to pat the princess on her shoulder when he got close enough. Shuri returned it, taking in her childhood inspiration for the first time in years.

"Indeed it has been, Umalume. But we don't have much left right now."

"Of course, of course... what did you want to show me?"

Shuri wordlessly gestured at the cryostat that stood slightly obscured at the windowed end of the lab.
Abidemi's wispy eyebrows slowly rose up to his hairline as he exhaled in wonder.

"So... it's true?"

"My brother did this out of his own goodwill, since this man had been wrongfully targeted as the assassin. The secrecy is because clearing his name in Wakanda will take time; but our job here is to clear his mind." She explained.

"I... I see. Alright. This might be a little complicated."

"Exactly. I have an algorithm figured out, and while I'm sure it works... I think it would help to ask someone who's done it before."

Abidemi 's brow crumpled into a well-creased frown. He regarded the Winter Soldier's peaceful visage before inviting himself to occupy a chair at the discussion table. Shuri's eyes never left him, and she saw a glimmer of recognition in his face for a moment.

"I have not deprogrammed an artificially placed psychological code before, if that is what you mean."

" I am aware of that, Sir... but you are a pioneer in the very field that this lies in. This is new to most of the world."

The man shifted in his seat, throwing the end of his cloak over his lap.

A machine pinged gently in the distance, and Katlego rose to attend it. Shuri turned away for a moment to watch the twenty-seven-year-old reviewing notifications and typing rapidly into a holo-keyboard.

"I could help you," the former scientist said after a long pause, "but you are asking me to go back into something that... well you would know what happened... right?"

"I do." Shuri's tone betrayed nothing.

Abidemi avoided her eye, passing it off as a difficulty in craning his neck upwards. Mosi exchanged glances with Shuri, while Sahisi, the secretary, watched on in silence.

"Very well." the old man sighed. "This is illegal, but I'll do it."

Shuri smiled pleasantly bringing a finger to her lips.
And the lab went dark.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[OPENING CREDITS]

[Imagine this playing out on your screen as 'griot-of-wakanda' comes up as a credit like, a lot of times. This music plays btw.]

Within a long rectangle window randomly placed against a black background we can see a dark bedroom, and a child on the bed.
All the sound from it is muffled and muted.
He's restless and can't sleep. And after a while, he rushes out of the bed.

The rectangle abruptly becomes a tall oval, and we can see him in a landing, holding a pillow and shielding his eyes with one hand.

The oval suddenly becomes a wider rectangle, and we see the boy climbing into another boy's bed.
They seem to have a brief conversation before they cuddle together and the rectangle gradually fades into the black background.

A moment later a similar square appears in the middle of the screen, but it's daytime in the scene. The boy can be seen more clearly now, and his expression is distressed as he nervously glances at you.
He's trying to eat, and we can faintly hear the people at the table asking him if he's okay.

The square disappears and a oval, ground-perspective of a richly furnished Afrofuturistic living room is seen. Now the boy is clearly older, but he stills regards whatever he can see of us with discomfort.
A hand is placed on his shoulder, and the other boy, also older now, kisses his forehead. The oval fades to black again.

An irregular shape with corners appears, and this time the boy, now a man, sings passionately into a mic. We can hear a hauntingly diluted melody and a hint of his powerful voice. He opens his eyes for a second and looks at us through the shape again, but does not change his demeanor.
He keeps singing and the shape flickers to black. But another shape flickers to life much closer to him, and shocked, he shields his eyes again like he did as a child.

The flickering happens faster, and the scene changes continually: the shape becomes more often a uniform rectangle, and more begin appearing at once, capturing the scene from different angles.

More, and more often the scene is of him crying.

Gradually, they're just clips of him literally running from us at any given age. But in the last clip, he walks dazedly towards us in a dark room and slowly glances as us.

The screen flashes white and there's only static to be heard.

◹◿ ◺◸
◸∧◹

So... what do you think?