Scrap (2022) Movie Script

[crickets chirping]
[somber, melodic
piano instrumental]



[music slowly fades]
[crickets chirping]
[Dean] I live in the junkyard,
where I was born.
And I grew up
playing in these cars.
Wed use the springs
trampolines and this and that.
[crickets chirping]
[somber, melodic
piano instrumental]
[rasping]

My mother and daddy
started this in 1931.
Back then, it wasn't scrap.
It was about sellin parts.
[water tinkles on metal]
Depression time, another
dime a day made a difference.

Some people has a feeling
about their hunting.
Im automobiles.
They like to get up
and look at their guns.
I like to get up and look at
my cars.

You can look at the way a car
is rusted or faded
or discoloured some way,
and you can see
maybe a face in it,
or maybe a building,
whatever.
Like looking at the moon,
you can see the Man in the Moon
or the clouds,
you see different things.
I see that in a lot of cars.
[crickets chirping]
[somber piano music resumes]

[Mike]
Met Dean across the road
when I was 15 years old.
I'm 42 now.
I believe I'm--
I'm like one of the old cars.

I would love to be polished up,
and cleaned up and moulded
into a new person.

[haunting vocals enter]
[sombre melodic music]


[rustling]
People don't think
they're useful anymore.
And that's one
point of coming here,
it makes people feel
like they can get out again.

They can see what they've
known when they were younger.
[crickets chirping]
[somber and melodic
piano instrumental]
[Dean] Some people says
that I'm hoardin
but Im not hoardin.
I'm savin these cars
so kids that never seen
these here
will come look at em.
It's art, nature and history.

Art is the way
the vegetation,
the trees and all,
has grown through the cars,
and into cars and all,
that's art.


I walk out through the lot and,
no noise going on and you just--
you hear nothing.
[crickets chirping]

[Mike] They're going back
to the earth, most of 'em.
Most of em is goin back.

[chirping continues]
[birds calling]

[engine whooshing]

[dog barks
in distance]

[birds singing]

[belt clicks]

[dog barks in distance]

[speaking
in other language]
[rooster crows]
[children speaking
other language]
[somber melodic music resumes]


[woman speaking
other language]

[child giggling]

[birds chirping]
[motor revving]

[woman speaking
other language]
Do you want to be in the photo?
[woman] No, honey, you're good.
I like it with the blue, though.
Its a nice contrast
with your yellow shirt.
Ah, that's excellent!

[woman speaking
other language]
[man]
Do you have change?
Change, change.
[man] Ah, thank you.
Whats your name?
-Pete!
-[man] Pete? How old are you?
-Ten.
-[man] 10.
-Yeah. Yeah.
-[man] And you live here?
-Yes.
-[warmly] Ah.
[woman] Oh!
[man] Careful.
All right, well done.
See if I can do this.


[trees rustling]

[birds singing]
[woman speaking
other language]
[woman speaking
other language]
[splashing]

[woman speaking
other language]


[children yelling excitedly]
[scraping]

[clucking]
[cheerful chattering]

[sombre melodic music]


[playful chatter]
[cheerful chatter]

[music fades]
[metallic groaning]
[low reverberating drone]
[slow dripping]
[low reverberating drone]
[dissonant synth instrumental]
[soft footsteps]
[man speaking French]
[woman speaking French]
[man speaking French]
[metallic creaking]

[man speaking French]
[door creaks then clanks]
[rustling]
[squeaking]
[hissing and sparking]

[thud]

[clanging]
[whirring]

[spritzing]
[man speaking French]
[melodic instrumental music]

[man speaking French]

[speaking French]

[speaking Spanish]
[birds squawking]
[man speaking French]

[birds squawking]
[clanging]
[resounding clangs]
[hissing]
[sparking]

[flames whooshing]
[man speaking French]
[metal ratcheting]
[hissing]
[creaking]
[clattering]
[man speaking French]

[man speaking French]

[birds chirping
in distance]
[light piano music]

[rattling]

[squeaking]
[John] Just brings
back all the memories
from the old days.

Has meaning, a lot of meaning.

These machines were
very important to people
because it made
their life a lot easier.
They spent a lot
of money buying these,
so you weren't real
quick to get rid of it.

The farmers would pull
these old pieces of equipment,
which is
basically an old dinosaur--
it kind of looks
like an old dinosaur--
pull it up on the hill
and create a conversation piece.
We're losing a lot of our
history and it's sad to me.

[rustling]

I have such an emotional
connection to this place.
This is my home.

We raise quarter horses
and cattle.
[morose strings instrumental]

When you work cattle, people
really depend on each other.
Your neighbours
really come to help you,
and you depend on em.
If I'm ever looking for
something really kinda special,
people will come out
of the woodwork
to bring me what I need.
[clicking]
Okay, now don't--
Try to hold it.
[laughs]
Watch your feet.
[loud thud]
[jangling]
[man 3] Like I said, I hope
that they'll work for you.
[John] They're perfect.
Thank you, sir.
[man 3]
Here you are, John.
Glad we could bring em out.
Well, we'll get out
of here so you can work.
[John]
All right. Thanks, guys.
[man 3]
And we have a birthday party--
[John]
Okay.
[jangling]

[hissing]
It's kind of interesting
to do these sculptures
made out of the scrap metal
that's been left behind.
[zapping]
[tools whirring]

Every one of those items
is attached
to someone
that used them in the past.

It adds that little
extra human element.
So each one of those pieces
has a story of its own.

I'm hoping that
my sculptures can honour
those people
that worked so hard.
They worked
their fingers to the bone.
[grass rustling]
[metal clattering]

[factory din]
[Saumya]
We don't think about our scrap.
We consume and we discard,
but we don't really think
about what happens with all the
waste that were producing.

All these pieces of our lives,
these metals and scraps
and rubbers and wires
kind of find
their own way to their grave.
[melancholic string music]
[factory din
increases in volume]
When we become
a photo journalist,
we come with the impression
that were really going to
change the world, you know?
[chuckles]
[camera clicking]
When there are issues
that bother me, the only thing
that I can do is photograph
it and put it out.

[camera clicking]
[plastic snaps]
It's good to know
that it's being treated.
But on the other side,
we also know
that there's
such a big percentage
that we're doing nothing about.
[drill whirring]
We just either
don't have the capacity
to deal with it,
or we just arent aware.
[yelling indistinctly]

Here, when you come, you
realize everything has a life.
Despite the fact that we
might not need it any more
doesn't mean that we can
just get it out of our lives.
We might not have it
in front of our eyes,
but it goes on to affect
us in the longer run,
at a scale that we probably
don't realize it does.

In order to convey
what that waste really means
to this Earth, to the people
who are engaging with it,
I think it is important to
bring in the human experience.
[banging]
[metallic tinkling]
All those workers tirelessly
just segregating the waste,
doing the same job
day-in/day-out,
cleaning up our waste so
that we can be entertained.
People might not want to see it,
but that reality
becomes undeniable.
[women chattering]
[Saumya speaking in Hindi]

My goal would be
to give a certain life
to the things
that I'm seeing here.

Even if these wires
and all this metal,
even if these are not
the prettiest thing you see,
when all of them get together,
it's beautiful.
[low horn instrumental]

Reusing and minimizing
wastage has always
been a part of the culture here.
[metallic clinking]
My moms saris
have become cushions,
and they've become runners,
and they've become mats.
This is the idea that
I find romantic, in a way.
Everything that's
been a part of my life,
I can be attached to it,
you know?
[metallic clinking]
With the use and throw culture,
that emotional value
that you had with things
is getting lost.

We might say that
it's impacting the environment,
but what it's really
impacting is us as human beings.

[birds squawking]
[motors humming]
[distant hammering]
[sloshing]
[engines humming]
[slow grinding]
[tapping]
[light splashing]
[metal groaning]
[man speaking French]
[squeaking]
[solemn strings instrumental]

[man speaking French]
[water rushing]


[strings crescendo]
[hissing and sparking]
[clanking]
[water gushing]
[squeaking]
[wind whistling]
[wind whistling]
[footsteps]
[thudding]
[John]
When I get a lot of pieces,
you can see
the old scars.
Like, where it's broken
and somebody re-welded it,
or put a new piece over it.
The old timers, they like
to take the time to fix it.
It reminds me of my dad.
He had a thing for scrap metal.
He never made things
but he always
would make me look
at things a certain way.
He made me look
at things closer.
[rattling]

[engine vrooming]
[clanking]

All right.
I think we're good.
Okay.
-I love ya.
-[John] Love ya.
-Good luck.
-[John] Yeah.
-Thanks for your help.
-I'm proud of ya.
Dad would be proud too.
Yeah. It looks great.
Im excited.
I'll go to Mobridge
and see it.
-Okay.
-As soon as I can. Okay.

[John] I started
making my sculptures
after I went to college.
These wild cowboys
and horses and cows
and going in different
directions and lots of action.

And then my Aunt Effie,
who is a very
big supporter of mine,
was killed in a car accident.
Effie was the glue that kind
of held us all together.
It really kind
of changed things for me.
I moved down
to where her husband
was living on their ranch.

My uncle wanted
to build a cemetery.
I cut up these little blue
bottles that Effie collected.
I cut the ends off of em
and I put em
in this cross so that when
the light shine through it,
you could see the blue.
I wanted to build this angel
for the top of the gate.
So instead of sculpting one
and casting it in bronze,
I thought,
I'll just make one
out of found objects.

It all started with--
with Effies cemetery.
This explosion
of creativity just hit me
and I started
building these sculptures.
[bell tolls]

All these different
items that come from my friends,
family, ranchers,
all these people
that I have a history with.
Whoever this item belonged
to does live on forever
because it's
in a public sculpture
that everybody gets to see.

[birds chirp]
[metallic clanking
and clattering]
[phone dial clanking]
[phone ringing]
[man ] It's like
a field of soldiers, sentries.
They were very protective
and they stood
on street corners
and they were there
at all kinds of weather.
So to see it go, it's
like seeing an old servant go.

When people come visit,
very often
they start touching the kiosks.
It's like when you touch
a trunk of a tree.
There is the age to it,
its got gravity.
So they feel that very
definite connection to it.

Originally,
they were going to be scrapped.
There was no plan
for them to be reused
or anything like that.

We decided to buy up a stock.
We thought,
We can't let them go.
Theyre just--
We can't just see these go away
and just go to scrap.
They've got
to be more than that.
[train rattling]
[somber and melodic
piano instrumental]
[banging]
They're the opposite
of how you make things now,
where your things
are quick and disposable.

[scraping]
Its a number six kiosk.
G.P.O: General Post Office,
M.F: thats McFarlane
Foundry up in Scotland.
And 37/1.
That's the first quarter, 1937.
So this is
a pretty early kiosk.
[scraping]
The more recent things
are hard to restore
because they're temporary
materials and plastics
and pressed steel, and things.
But cast iron is wonderful
because underneath
all that paint and glass,
its still there.

If you could
bring them back again
and get
a second purpose of them.
It's nice to see
the effort put back in.

[high-pitched squeaking]
[low-pitched squeak]
We've restored about 2,000.
We see them used
for defibrillators
and libraries
and swap shops and galleries.
So, as an object,
they're still viable.
[footsteps]
When I finish a restoration,
it's a confirmation of the faith
that I had in the kiosk,
that beneath all this rust
and decay and flakes
and smashed glass,
that underneath it,
there is the original kiosk.

[exhales]
You get the feeling
that you're doing something,
you're bringing something back
and you're leaving
something behind as well.
[romantic strings instrumental]
[train chugging]

I think sometimes
people just want something
to just slow down a bit
and just not lose
everything very quickly.
[birds chirping]

And they like
that stability and security
of having an object.
It will always
going to be unchanging,
something constant.
Theyre like
anchors with the past.

[soft footsteps]
[gentle panting]
[exhaling]
[panting]
[Ed] We were actually
going to restore
some of these cars.
And at the very last minute,
our financing had problems.
[outdoor din]
[melancholy string
instrumental]
Plan B was to put
everything here,
and wait for
the next opportunity.

[metal groans]

My first trolley ride
was when I was probably
old enough to walk.
[bell clangs]
I was fascinated
by the trolley,
the appearance of it,
the clickety-clackety sound.
Id stand up by the motorman
and watch how he operated it.
[switches clicking]
By the time I was
four or five years old,
I think I could drive
that streetcar
as good as he could.
[whimsical horn instrumental]

[insects chirring]
There's an interesting
possibility with this car
from the Twin Cities
that at some point
my wife rode on this car,
because she lived
up in the Twin Cities.

Even though we graduated
from high school together,
we didn't see each other
for 61 years.
[melancholy
classical instrumental]
About four or five years ago,
I reconnected with June.
And one thing led to another,
and the rest was history.

We had
three good years together.
[somber piano instrumental]

I'm moving primarily
because my three kids,
it would be a lot
easier for them to respond
to anything I might need.
Here's Iowa Trolleys.
Omaha, Nebraska streetcars.
[thudding]
There's a lot
of interest in these cars.
June understood the reasoning
for it.
Urban renewal.
When you put
a streetcar line in,
all at once things turn round.
New businesses move
in along the line.
Restoration of the buildings.

I know that many
of these can be restored.
[metal screeching]


I sold these cars to Kenosha.
[operator] Oh, did you?
How many of these do you own?
Oh, about 30.
-[operator] You own 30 of them?
-[Ed] Yeah.
Right on.
[dinging]
[Ed]
Its very satisfying to see
these cars running again.
It just brings back
a lot of good memories.
I've got a few more
opportunities I'm working on,
and I have a feeling that one
or more will be successful.

[street din]
[Saumya] My biggest focus
would be to have people
become a little more
aware of their lifestyles.
[low chatter]
I'm not saying,
"Abandon city life,"
but I think we can
make more conscious choices
in terms of the materials
that we're using
and what is the kind
of afterlife it has.
[street din]
When I was young,
I've seen this little factory
very close to our house,
where once a year
everything would stop because
that was Vishwakarma Puja.

Everyone was supposed to worship
the machines because
that is the source of income.
And that's the source of living.

[crinkling]
[dripping]

[chanting in Sanskrit]

Ill place them there.

I find it fascinating
that we worship machines
at a Hindu festival.
[metallic scratching]
The idea is to be grateful
for the things we have.

On the other hand, we also
end up being very callous
towards the very things
we worship.
Hello, everyone.
Thank you so much
for coming to my show today.
These photographs that you see
are a eulogy to modern life.
In my opinion,
it's important to know
and understand
what happens to the things
that we discard
after they exhaust our use.

Theyre the people
who least use the technology.
So what was their take on seeing
so much waste being produced?
They said,
It doesn't matter.
At least
we getting work out of it.
Yeah, but that's true.
Like, what is waste for us
is creating jobs for them, so.
[Saumya] Yeah, while we are
trying to be philosophical
about this idea of our waste
as being treated
by someone else, theyre
so matter of fact about it,
you know?
As long as it's--
it gives them their livelihood,
they don't want
to think beyond it,
which I think is fair.

I think the project
would be complete
when it reaches
the people who engage
with technology
in their daily lives.
[low chatter]
Even if out of,
I don't know, 1,000 people
who see my photographs,
even if five decide
to change their lifestyle,
even that's something achieved.

[wind whispering]
[rustling]
[John]
After I found out that my dad
was diagnosed
with lung cancer,
I just started in on this tree.

[hissing]
I wanted to do a tree
that looked like it had been
through a lot because
my dad has been through a lot
in his life.

It's twisting and turning
and it's old.
Yet, it comes up to
these branches that are blooming
little green sprigs of life.

[metallic clanking and scraping]
There's so many things
that dad has brought
to me through the years.
And I tried to put
a few of them in there.

There's an old man's face
in the tree.
A lot of times people
don't see the face at first.
It's like my dad's peering
out of the trunk of this tree.
He always would tell me,
Now, don't do
a half-assed job.
[laughs]
I know this tree
is going to live forever
because it's made out of iron
and it is made for my dad.
[rustling]
[melodic and whimsical
piano instrumental]