19/35
Scenario
Elwood Curtis’ college dreams are dashed on a two-lane highway in Florida. Carrying the weight of an innocent mistake, he is condemned to the underworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reform school in the deep Jim Crow South. He meets another guard, Overview Turner. The two black teenagers form an alliance: Turner offers hints of basic survival, Elwood clings to his optimistic view of the world. Against the backdrop of the growing civil rights movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence seems alienated from the world by the polished oratory of the Rev. Martin Luther King. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood struggles to maintain his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.
