This is an incredibly beautiful story, gorgeously told. With simplicity and heart and resonance, expressed in the keenly observed details of one man’s life lived fully. Based on a true story, the screenplay follows the life of GEORGE DAWSON, a black man born in the 1890s, told in vignettes as he recounts details of his life for interviewer RICHARD, who has read George’s incredible story of learning to read at 98. The script begins with 10-year-old George and his father HARRISON LEE DAWSON fishing. And the simple wisdom that father passes on to son and the strength and joy with which he approaches life is captured beautifully. As is the portrayal of segregation and injustice as an everyday thing. We also meet George’s mother, REBECCA and his brother JOHNNY. And from the very first scenes we get a personal point of view into a life, spanning the early 1900s through to 1998. There are moments that are breathtakingly beautiful in heart and scope. And say so much in a moment. When George sets off up North at 21 to find work and with a dream to see snow, the details of life on the road and the people he meets along the way come alive. And the constant threat from the Klan nearby is a shocking daily occurrence that creates tension moment to moment. In the spare beauty of this screenplay, one man’s life tells the story of so many.
