In an alternate reality, the Montagues and Capulets got along just fine. Romeo and Juliet fell madly in love, got married and then realized that they couldn’t stand each other. Their love was really just youthful infatuation and lust. And now, in 14th century Venice, they’re stuck with each other forever. If only some obstacle had tested their love early on, they might have dodged a bullet. This is one way of looked at Shantay Cormier’s screenplay for the as yet un-produced short film, Phighter.
In this screenplay named Phighter we meet Callan who, at the tender age of 21, has been diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension. It’s an incurable disease and it means a life of doctor’s appointments, a complicated medication routine and limits on what Callan can do. It also comes with a six-figure annual medical bill. Luckily, Callan has the support of new new fiancé, Jacob. Or does she? Over the course of the script, we see that Callan simply assumes that Jacob will stay with her until the end. But Jacob, it turns out, is not so sure. Will he stay or will he go? And should Callan want him to stay or should she want him to go? These are some of the questions you’ll be asking yourself after reading Phighter.
The characters are well drawn and straightforward. Callan is the sort of person who just puts her head down and gets to work on whatever task is set before her. She is the titular fighter. But she also verges on the naive in her simple assumption that her disease will not deter Jacob in any way. Jacob is similarly a character we’ve all met. He’s a young man whose main interests are sex, going out and video games. They both seem very young to be getting married these days and we can’t help but wonder if they might not have made it all the way to their wedding day in any case. If they’d been 30 and together for five years, Jacob would have come off as a more awful character. He still comes off badly here, but I think many will be inclined to excuse his behaviour on the basis of his youth. So one interpretation is that this is simply a tragedy. Another view is that Callan is actually better off without an immature guy around. We can only imagine that if Jacob does stick around, he will constantly be complaining that his needs aren’t being met. His obvious selfishness would only be an anchor weighing Callan down. And so from this view, Phighter may be a sad story but not necessarily a tragedy.
This film also makes us wonder about the nature of marriage today. As mentioned, 21 is pretty young to get married. But even for older couples, marriage is not really taken as seriously or in past ages, a promise to marry was as good as a marriage. It was a lifelong commitment, and, the pre-Reformation Europe, at least, it could not be undone without a Papal dispensation. Today, marriage is on the decline. Maybe younger Europeans have partners and children but never consider officially tying the knot. Whether this is a good or bad development, I don’t know. But at least in this script, we see a fundamental difference of opinion. For Callan, marriage is forever no matter what. For Jacob, marriage is more like buying a used car. If it turns out to be a lemon, you can return it during the cooling off period.
How will this film look if it’s produced? It’s hard to say. Depending on things like the directorial style, the acting and the soundtrack, the film could either be tragic or inspiriting, or perhaps a bit of both. I would hope for a strong inspiring tone rather than a tragic one, and am eagerly awaiting the outcome.
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.