Treatment of 'Secrets'

After weeks of planning and discussion we were given the objective to within our groups individually write a treatment of our thrillers. This means to write a whole movie plot to go with the idea of our thriller opening.

Opening: The movie will begin with a diary being altered by gloved hands. The music and filming present within the opening scene identify the man to be the movies antagonist and that what he is currently doing is in some way covering up what he has done. Words are changed within the diary in order to make it sound depressing and suicidal. The diary is even soaked with blood at one point in order to make the child look as if he was self harming before his murder.

Act One: An ageing detective (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is shown sitting half naked within an urban apartment . The flat is big and looks expensive but it is very poorly looked after with clothes all over the floor and unwashed dishes overflowing the sink. The man seems to be recovering from a night of heavy drinking and takes a shower whilst his phone rings repeatedly. He gets out of the shower and looks at a picture of a woman whilst smiling, the man is alone and has recently been left by this woman. His phone rings again and he pauses on the phone listening to the other line before saying he will be in right away. The detective arrives at the police station where his name is unveiled as Jack. Amongst his piers he is shown to be a lot older and it is implied that he will perhaps be leaving the force soon due to pressure to retire. He is brought into the office where he is informed about the suicide of an eleven year boy named Henry and presented with the background of the the child's life. The head of the police station believes that it was murder and that the suicide had been framed as suicide is very rare amongst children below 15. Reluctantly Jack agrees to take on the case but claims if they have no inroads in the next days he will quit.

Act Two: Upon leaving the police station Jack is confronted by the stepfather of Henry who is called Sam (Sean Penn.) Sam discusses Henry's problems growing up but states himself that he does not believe that the child committed suicide and that he will do anything he can to help. That night Jack goes to a seedy bar where he excessively drinks, he dances with a younger woman before he begins to harass her. The woman slaps him and he returns home while still under the influence he begins to ponder the case using files given to him at the police station. Still drunk Jack begins to have flashbacks to his youth where it is lightly implied that he subjected to an uncaring father and an alcoholic mother which may be the reason for his drinking. The abuse he suffers at the hands of his mother are not properly shown until later on in the movie. Jack for the first time visits the house of Henry where he meets the mother Karen (Marcia Gay Harden.) Jack acts hostile towards Karen questioning how little she seemed to know about her son and her lack of grievance for his death. Sam, who is also home, tells him of a Recreational centre where Henry spent most of his time.

Act Three: Later that day Jack goes to the recreational centre where he speaks to a few children who offer no meaningful information. He then speaks to the head of the recreational centre a man called James (Jon Voigt) who is a Vietnam veteran. The two talk for a while about Henry and about how James had taken the child under his wing following the death of his father and that the child did not like his stepfather Sam, James speaks about how he had met with Sam three days prior to the death of the child. James leaves the room briefly to go the toilet. As soon as he leaves Jack, suspicious of James's behaviour, frantically looks through James's draws. When he looks through his draw he finds a picture of three naked children that leads Jack to believe that James is a pedophile and is responsible for the death of the eleven year old, however the pictures are in no way malicious. When James returns he is confronted by an angry Jack who accuses him of the murder. James states that the picture had been planted there and that he had never seen it before. Jack does not believe James but knows he has no damming information as the picture was not malicious and that he must keep searching for the truth. Before Jack leaves James tells his of a diary that the child constantly wrote in.

Act Four: The next day following another late night out Jack returns to Henry's home in the evening order to find the diary, Karen is home but Sam is out at work. When questioned about the diary Karen seems sheepish to talk about it lying about its whereabouts. Sam shortly returns home, Jack questions Sam about the diary. Like Karen he seems nervous about Jack finding the diary but helps Jack find the diary which is hidden in Henrys room. The diary is very thick spanning over two hundred pages. Jack states that he will read the diary when he is home. However after leaving the house he is sidetracked and ends up in the bar again, excessively drinking. He returns home again very drunk and begins to read the diary. The diary spans from when the child was 9-11 starting following the death of his father. Within the early stages of the book he talks about how his mother started acting strange following her fathers death and began acting borderline neglectful towards him. The diary goes on to say how he greatly loves his stepfather Sam and how he looked after him very well. The diary goes on to talk about how the mother had become increasingly violent and it is is made evident that the mother was an alcoholic. Jack has flashbacks to his youth where his mother would drink excessively and physically and emotionally abuse him, finishing with a flashback of his mother putting a hot iron rod against young Jack's skin, the mark is still present. Jack reads on about Karen's alcoholism and becomes increasingly upset. The diary goes onto talk about James, the head of the recreational centre, and how much Henry loved him. It then swiftly changes to how James began to hurt him and eventually sexually abuse him. There are bloodstains in the diary where the boy had apparently been selfing harming himself, which is in detail written about in the diary.

Act Five: The next day Jack returns to the recreational centre where he arrests James. At the police station aggressively questions James who remains adamant that he was not responsible for the murder. Jack speaks to both Sam and Karen about the Jon who both have very contrasting views. Karen strongly believes that James has nothing to do with the murder and that he is completely innocent, Jack due to what he read in the diary as well as his previous experiences has no trust for Karen and shouts at her claiming she didn't know her son. He then interviews Sam who believes that James is responsible for the Henry's death furthering Jack's believe that he is correct about James, unusually though Sam denies ever meeting with James. Following the interviews James returns to the recreational centre to search for more clues so that James can be sent to jail. He looks through the draws but is unable to find anything else of use. He spots a surveillance camera in the corner of the room which means he can find out if James and Sam ever actually met. The video he watches clearly shows James and Sam in a long meeting which shows them shouting at each other and arguing, James is shown leaving the room at this point the video shows Sam placing the photo of the naked children in the draw, Sam is also wearing black gloves, like the man shown earlier editing the diary. Jack then realises that all this time Sam had manipulated Jack into finding James and believing he was responsible for it. Jack confused by what he has just discovered visits Henry's body at the morgue. He speaks to the doctor whose examination has discovered that Henrys self harm marks were made Post Mortem. Jack realises that Sam had altered the diary so that Jack would believe James was responsible and that Sam is the murderer of Henry.

Act Six: Jack gets in his car and quickly drives to Henry's home in order to arrest Sam. He gets into the house where it is completely silent, however two cars are parked outside which leads Jack to believe that Sam is home. He heads upstairs into Sam and Karen's room but no one is there, he then goes into Henrys room where Karen is tied up and has her mouth taped closed. Jack goes to her rescue but is attacked by Sam who was hiding behind the door. He torments Jack who is on the floor still wounded and explains to Jack how this is not the first time he has done this and claims Jack's mistrust for woman has led to the loss of his wife, his alcohol problems and ultimately his death. Sam then points the gun at Jack and shoots him in both his legs. The movie then finishes with the Henry's house burning to a huge fire. Sam is shown driving away alone in his car smiling whilst the house burns in the distance. It can be assumed that Jack and Karen have been left to burn alive in the house.