Francisco

Created by Simon Bolton-Gabrielsen, The Pitch 2014

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Description

Coming to LA in the 70s to search for a better life, Francisco had to face losing his brother to an act of violence from a border Police officer. But after years of bitterness, he chose a different way, becoming a man of faith, a pillar of the community and the boss of a successful cab firm, supporting many young Mexican immigrants like his younger self. When a naive young employee, Martín, gets into trouble thanks to the unsavoury influence of Pedro, a fellow cab driver, it falls to Francisco to handle this life-or-death situation. Despite the pain of the past, in an act of simple, calculated trust, he puts Martin's fate in the hands of a higher power. His statement of faith leaves a famed preacher and healer lost for words... and Martin saved from the clutches of death. Ultimately, the conflicts and fears of the American immigrant experience give way to the power of a good man's wisdom and simple faith.

Biblical Connection

Asking myself who really speaks to me in the scripture, it's often the secondary characters who stand out, the 'real' people. In Matthew's Gospel (chapter 5), Jesus meets a Roman centurion, a man who represented everything foreign and unwelcome in the world of the Jews. The centurion's servant is ill, near to dying, and he has come to ask for help. When Jesus offers to come to the man's house, the centurion says it's not necessary. He is a man who understands authority, and if Jesus has authority from above, then he believes that Jesus need only say the word, and his servant will be well. Jesus remarks that he has never seen such faith before, and tells the man his servant is healed. I want to open up the story of this man in a new context, to consider what brought him to a place where he had such clarity about his universe, and such ability to trust in something greater than himself.