KELLY: Tell me about him.
DAVID: John was my best friend. We grew up together here. We believed the same things.
KELLY: Rebels with a cause?
David's eyes shift away from Kelly toward his memories.
DAVID: John got me to go to college. We worked our way through Oregon State. Then he talked me into theological school. (beat) John saved my life. The American Chemical Company had this secret plant stuck out in the Mohave Desert. One night we snuck in and I climbed the smoke stack. I was gonna try to block it. I didn't reckon on the guards though. I got shot. Can you believe it?
They make eye contact now -- and the level is deepening.
DAVID: (Cont.) I was bleeding bad, and I couldn't move. John faced down the guards and climbed the stack. I don't know how in God's name he did it, but he carried me down. He hauled me into Bakersfield. They said I had ten minutes to live. After that, we made a pledge to keep up the fight the best way we could against the American Chemical Companies of the world."
I'm not saying it will win an Academy Award but it is more relevant than much of what you see and it is true to the spirit of its text-source which is the Gospel of Mark.
