A E T H E R

A “THE LIBRARY OF GOLDEN THOUGHTS” FILM
WRITTEN BY Drew Pollock

Ben, a cavalier and charismatic young man, returns to the city after an unsuccessful 6 weeks of basic training. A vague gloom hangs in the air. Their homes already crowded with other siblings and relatives, his parents apologetically refuse him a place to stay.Petrol has radically increased in priceduring Ben’s hiatus, strangling the world’s fragile economy.
Sleeping on an old friend’s couch, unable to find a job, struggling to find food and water; their youthful exuberance dulls in the glow of the TV as they watch the Western world slowly swallow itself.
When the power finally goes out all over the city, the increasing severity of their situation begins to dawn on Ben.
Overwhelming darkness now shelters thedesperate and menacing. Ben and his friend Stew warily scour the littered cars on suburban streets;prying openpetrol tanks until stumbling upon an idling car illuminating the eerie darkness. The lifeless body of an elderly man sits slumped behind the wheel, beside him a large bag of prescription drugs.
Bricks and concrete give way to grid-like hills of farms. Now alone, Ben retreats to a hovel on the outskirts. Whilst venturing out for water, Ben comes upon the waif-like Anna and her small son, Charlie. Alone and wasting away, their innocent plight draws him back from his routine of intoxication and isolation and they band together. Setting off for Anna’s ex-Father-in-law’s farm, they travel over unkempt farmland and forests to avoid the hostile crowds of refugees along the highways.
Wandering aimlessly through the increasingly raw landscape, faced with starvation and an unseen menace; Anna’s initial attraction to Ben’s forceful nature wanes and they soon abandon him. Little by little Ben disappears into a thick mist of rage… with a Mother and Child fuelling the bloodlust.