THE RECKONING

Knowing his days are numbered, a once resilient, now frail

old man is reduced to spending his final moments bed-
ridden, in the company of his favourite nephew, distracting himself from the finality of his impending death.

It's the 1950's, and the world is bracing itself for a potentially devastating Cold War. Flitting in and out of consciousness, Aleksander is reminded of the fiercest battles he himself faced as a younger man. 

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Lecturing Toma on the necessity of 'social justice' and 'ambition', Aleksander first recounts the memories of his experiences fighting in 'the noblest of wars' some 50 years ago, against a tyrannical political state, as part of the resistance. The scars of those memories run deep, and pave the path for the man Aleksander will become in the years to follow.

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Almost ten years later, we are introduced to an older Aleksander, colder, embittered and detached. A misunderstanding at a picnic with friends proves to be the hammer blow in his relationship with the one woman he'll ever truly love, and the consequences of his actions, lead to a lifetime of regret. 

Slowly, the facade of the strong and unwavering hero is reduced to a desperate and fragile man crying out for forgiveness for the pain he has caused... not least of all, his own. 

This pain dictates his life, until at the end, all he has left are
his empty halls, his anguish, his epitaph and the senile old
tramp, asleep on his tomb, shielding himself from the damp
with a crumpled-up copy of the Telegraph.