Dreamland

Hockey Star

I’ve written and sold a screenplay. The movie is in production, and I’m on the set watching the filming. The movie is about a poor boy growing up in a Baltic country. He is of an ethnic minority; the residents of the town harass his family constantly.

His father supports the family by unloading trucks, a backbreaking job that pays very little. One of the townspeople steals the handcart he uses in his job; he must now unload the trucks and carry the boxes by hand.

The boy has a passion for hockey; he manages to get a second-hand pair of skates, and spends all his free time during the winter practicing skating and playing hockey with his friends. His skills develop to the point where soon there is no challenge in playing with the kids his age; he pleads with the older teenage boys who are in the city league to allow him to practice with them, and play as a substitute in their matches.

The older boys agree, but they harass him, knock him down, and beat him cruelly with their sticks whenever he misses a play. But he does not give up, the rough treatment only make him more determined to try harder, and fight back whenever he can.

By the beginning of the next season he has grown taller and stronger. His hockey skills are better than most of the other players now, and he has earned some respect from the boys, although they still occasionally make ethnically derogatory comments towards him to “keep him in his place”.

One day, a recruiter for the Olympic team shows up in town. He has heard that this team has some players that might be good enough to recruit for the Olympics. He wants to see them play their next game.

The competition is fierce; the game is against their toughest rival. The boys all try their hardest, they know that this is their one chance to get out of this town. Making it to the Olympics would really change their lives. The older boys play dirty against the younger boy. Even though he is on their team, they don’t want to see him make it to the Olympics because of his ethnic background. In spite of this, he makes a good showing for himself, scoring three goals in the game.

In the end, he is one of three boys picked by the recruiter. He goes on to play in the Olympics and becomes the star player for the team, helping them to win a medal.