SYNOPSIS BY SONG
KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA
JFK’s speech is overlaid over the intro of “Knights of Cydonia.” John Wayne is projected shooting at bad guys onto a series of grey doors that line up to create a projection surface. The doors open one-by-one revealing the silhouettes of soldiers. The final door opens, and Sam, now 22-years-old, is pushed through, a disheveled mess, in handcuffs.
The year is 1969. Sam’s intake form is projected onto the doors. He is in the process of being institutionalized for PTSD and heroin addiction. The doors create an endless maze of hallways throughout the institution. As Sam goes through different modalities of treatment, he is revisited by hallucinations of his fallen soldier brethren and a mysterious female figure. He is eventually prescribed Electro Shock Therapy. However, he escapes and runs away from the facility taking refuge in a dark alley.
SOLDIER’S POEM
Sam knocks out a brick from the wall and pulls out a black tin. He unloads the contents, including a letter, a pistol, and his stash of heroin. As he prepares to shoot up, the memories of his fallen brothers invade his mind. He’s seeking relief, but the heroin isn’t enough. He inspects his pistol, wondering if ending his life is the answer, when the woman appears again.
UPRISING
The woman is Phoebe, his ex-girlfriend. She takes him back to 1967, before he was enlisted, to a protest she is leading. The protest turns violent against the police arrest Sam. He is taken to a judge and given the option of prison or enlisting. He chooses to enlist.
BUTTERFLIES AND HURRICANES
Phoebe can’t believe he chose to go to war. She reveals to him that she is pregnant. As much as he loves her and wants to stay, he can’t. He ships off to bootcamp as she grapples with their family being torn apart. Sam and his fellow soldiers board an aircraft carrier.
EXOGENESIS: SYMPHONY, PT 2.
As they are airlifted to Vietnam, Sam sees the gorgeous new landscape and contemplates his future. He is then dropped into battle. In the heat of the moment, Sam deploys a grenade, making his first kill.
PSYCHO
Sam falls deeper and deeper into the way of military life, abandoning who he used to be.
FEELING GOOD
Back on base, Sam encounters Tony smoking a joint. He reluctantly takes a hit, opening him up to the euphoric world of narcotics. Sam and Tony become fast friends as they experiment with drugs together, passing the boredom getting closer and closer. Meanwhile, Phoebe has grown more pregnant and sends Sam a letter with a picture of an ultrasound. Sam shares this with Tony as they relax, high, on base.
ENDLESSLY
We zoom into Tony’s longing. Tony cares about Sam in a way that is more than platonic. He fantasizes about what it would be like if they could be together in the way that he imagines. There is an unspoken tension between the two of them.
SUPERMASSIVE BLACKHOLE
The other men on basecamp are also dealing with their own sexual frustrations. In the barracks, they trade porn magazines and pictures of their girls back home. The horniness on camp is palpable. Tony and Sam’s relationship has only grown closer, and some of the men have grown suspicious. At night, Sam experiences a sexual dream involving both Phoebe and Sam that confuses him.
EXOGENESIS: SYMPHONY, PT. 1
The men stand around the opening of a Vietcong underground tunnel in a village. Sam and another soldier do rock-paper-scissors to determine who will go into the hole. Sam narrowly wins, and the other soldier goes down, where he is taken by the Vietcong and killed. The men erupt in anger and pillage the village. Simultaneously, Phoebe is in a tumultuous labor. In a fever dream, Phoebe gets out of her bed and tries to intervene in the war atrocity. But, just as Sam kills a civilian, Phoebe starts bleeding out.
SAVE ME
Sam, wracked with guilt from the war crime he committed at the village, tries to self soothe with heroin. Tony finds him and consoles Sam. In a moment of tenderness, their friendship crosses the line from platonic to sexual.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
The men all take some R&R and go to a bar. Sam is trying to prove his masculinity to the other men, sensing their suspicions and feeling shame after hooking up with Tony. He uses heroin and goes with a girl, leaving Tony hurt and alone. A suicide bomber appears and blows the space to smithereens. Everyone present, including Tony, are killed.
HOODOO
In a limbo afterlife, Phoebe and Tony meet. She tries to tell him that it’s ok, he can be free here. At first he is angry, but he reluctantly accepts her invitation to the other side.
BLACKOUT
Back stateside, Sam is banged up but alive. He was injured in the bombing and sent home, the only man in his platoon to have survived the bombing. He’s lost everything, including Pheobe, who is confirmed to have died in childbirth. Wracked with guilt, he continues to abuse heroin and experience PTSD episodes. Eventually, he is institutionalized and he goes through the motions of what we saw in “Knights of Cydonia,” landing back in the alleyway with the pistol in his hand.
DIG DOWN
As Sam questions whether or not he should take his own life, Tony comes to him and stops him. Pheobe and the other soldiers enter, empowering Sam to take action. He cleans up his act and speaks out against the war crimes in Vietnam. He feels some semblance of closure as he faces The Vietnam War Memorial, having grown older and lived his like in the honor of those who lost theirs.
