This is a story of redemption; the transformation of a little girl who thought she was broken.
Bethel Arkansas. 1943. Imagine…
The sound of a girl’s feet is HEARD as she dashes up and down a hard linoleum floor. Nine-year-old MARY HUTCHINSON frantically runs in a hospital corridor. She’s the prey. Although Mary has the speed and agility of a gazelle, the little one is ambushed by a sneaky doctor hiding behind a corner. Two big burly men dressed in white and wearing bowties quickly strap Mary to a gurney before whisking her away to a patient room. In the room waiting are three nurses and two doctors. One nurse inserts a wooden peg into Mary’s mouth while grasping her chin shut. The second dabs liquid on Mary’s temples while the third puts a cotton-lace headset on her. Mary, still thrashing, tries to escape but the two burly men are stronger, barely. A moment later the lights dim as little Mary’s body convulses then stiffens. During these everlasting few seconds Mary SEES a barn engulfed in flames but it DOES NOT burn. She begins to walk forward almost yearning for it with arms outstretched. She’s suddenly yanked away by an UNSEEN FORCE. A doctor abruptly bursts into the room shouting.
“This child’s not the patient! She was looking for her mother!”
Days later in a typical third grade classroom at Otter Creek School, Mary notices her hearing and eyesight are diminishing. The students taunt her, and her teachers (not knowing Mary’s condition) think she’s a dim-witted daydreamer. The worst part: Mary believes them and convinces herself she’s broken.
Over the course of several weeks on the family farm with her loving and God fearing GRAMPS, Mary slowly becomes an emotional wreck. Gramps, leaning on God for guidance, teaches his grand-daughter finger-spelling (which is tactile sign language). With no emotional improvement, Gramps decides to take her to the Wisconsin School for the Deaf and Blind in Janesville Wisconsin.
While at her new school, several doctors, including psychologist and antagonist DERWOOD JASTROW (think Niles Crane) are present as Mary takes routine vision tests. During the tests, Mary has her FIRST FLASHBACK of WILDLY RUNNING IN THE HOSPITAL. The doctors, unaware of her flashback, discover Mary has an acute sense of smell and touch. Jastrow, however, thinks she’s faking the tests.
Somehow the press discovers Mary’s very unusual gifts. The press portrays her and Gramps as hucksters. During a press conference Mary has her SECOND FLASHBACK of running towards the GLOWING barn.
After the conference, psychologist PROFESSOR NETTLETON suggests that Mary be suffering from shell shock. He cites a French soldier who also lost his eyesight because of shell shock but was able to regain his vision through psychoanalysis. Jastrow thinks it’s a waste of time because Mary’s faking it anyway, nevertheless he agrees to analyze her for his own narcissistic reasons. This causes a CONFLICT between Gramps and Jastrow. Gramps does not want to have Mary relive her electroshock nightmare, yet, there is a chance Mary might regain her eyesight. Gramps relents and allows Jastrow.
The first session begins. Making things easier, Jastrow knows how to finger-spell which allows easier communication, however, Mary still does not like Jastrow ever since he called her a fake. So Mary fights it the only way a girl her age can: by shutting down. During this shutdown Mary has her THIRD same FLASHBACK, only now it is MORE VIVID.
The second session goes worse. Mary melts down. Jastrow, however, begins melting himself by showing empathy. The third session reveals…nothing except Mary’s FOURTH same VIVID FLASHBACK with a TWIST: she’s walking towards the glowing barn AND madly running in the insane asylum. Jastrow pressures her to open up which she does, explosively. All Jastrow can do is take notes and melt a little more.
The fourth session has its BREAKTHROUGH CLIMAX. Her emotions are mixed through greater, MORE REVEALING FLASHBACKS at the barn and the asylum. Before her zenith, Mary shuts down again. Once again Jastrow waits patiently. While Mary naps, he goes to the next room to prepare coffee. He comes back to discover Mary is in ‘another time and place’. She is RELIVING the asylum and glowing barn.
In haste, Jastrow connects with her. Once more, Mary shuts off like a switch. Suddenly Mary bolts out the room as if she could see again. Jastrow quickly follows her towards the adjacent room – which is now ON FIRE caused by the coffee machine. Outside the BURNING room Mary stands motionless ‘watching’, which her mind’s eye perceives as NOT being consumed by flames. In a flash, Jastrow ducks around her to put out the fire. As if someone is calling her, Mary SEES the GLOWING room but not a frenzied Jastrow. With arms outstretched, she slowly begins walking into the room.
As the credits roll: Her eyesight restored, 85-year-old Mary teaches children at the Otter Creek School for the Blind.
Takeaway: The Potter must mold us and put us into the fire so He can transform us into a beautiful vase.