(CAR ALARM BEEPING)
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(POLICE SIREN WAILING)
(CAR HONKING)
JASON: Get your hands off me, man.
We got a gun. Yo, it's not mine, man.
I've got a feelin' that's the only thing that is yours.
Turn around.
Yo, you ain't got nothin' on me, man! What's up?
(JASON YELLING) So that's our man?
Yes, and no.
He is a part of our assignment,
but he's not a man yet.
Not a man at all.
How old is he?
He's 15, but he's been stealing cars since he was 12.
And if he doesn't make a U-turn fast,
he's not gonna live to see 16.
Yo, man, I know my rights! You gotta send me back to juvie!
I ain't goin' to no county! You got to send me back to juvie, man!
Send me back home to my mama!
I don't want him.
What?
Look, Mrs. DeLee, Jason is a minor.
Now, as the responsible parent...
I am not a responsible parent.
If I was, I wouldn't have to keep comin' down here.
You keep him.
What you doin'? You trippin'?
You'll have to sign some papers
releasing all parental authority.
And you're gonna have to talk to someone in Juvenile Services.
Then you'd better make the call.
God help you.
Any volunteers?
♫ When you walk down the road
♫ Heavy burden, heavy load
♫ I will rise and I will walk with you
♫ I'll walk with you till the sun don't even shine
♫ Walk with you, every time
♫ I tell you I'll walk with you
♫ Walk with you
♫ Believe me I'll walk with you ♫
(DISPATCHER CHATTERING ON RADIO)
Jason DeLee. Sit over there.
Step it up. Move 'er on down the aisle.
WATERS: Y'all ain't in church.
Hey, get off me, punk!
You wish, little girl!
Hey, get back.
Are you crazy?
This fool stepped on my shoes.
Whopper feet.
What's your name?
Rey. WATERS: Rey, what?
Estes.
Well, Mr. Estes, my name is Yes, sir.
I'm a director at this camp,
and the toes you best not step on are mine.
Sit down!
Hey.
Keep your mouths shut and your hands to yourself.
Do not speak, do not touch anything.
Do not sit, stand, or blow your nose
unless instructed by one of the officers.
(DOOR BUZZING)
TESS: Good afternoon, gentlemen.
Didn't your mothers teach you to rise
when a lady enters the room? Come on.
Lift those tushies off those seats
for your other facility director,
before I lift 'em up for ya.
Thank you. That was lovely.
Now, get going.
(DOOR BUZZING)
Nobody told me I was gonna have to train a new director.
Oh, I'm not the one who's getting the training.
I'll be training you. Say what?
The county has a new experimental work program they want to try out.
We don't do any experimenting here.
We already know what works.
Oh, it works fine.
Every time these boys come back,
and back, and back.
WATERS: We're missin' a pencil.
I got 15 people and 14 pencils here.
Nobody moves until we find that other pencil.
You know who kept his pencil, you'd better give him up now
before you end up with that number two point in your back
out on the playground.
WATERS: I'm waitin'.
I'm gonna count five and then I'm gonna call security
and lock this place down. Comprende?
Hello.
(BOYS WHISTLING)
(BOYS EXCLAIMING)
I don't know who you are,
but we're goin' to lock-down, so get out of here.
That's Monica. She's the coordinator for the work program.
It's nice to meet you.
Oh, did you drop a pencil?
(TESS CHUCKLING)
(BOYS LAUGHING)
What did I just tell you about a lady?
Give it up. Up, up, now. Up!
Sit down.
MONICA: What do you have for me?
This is a wealth of potential.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Monica,
and she's come to evaluate the forms
that you've just completed.
And, perhaps, give some of you a very unique opportunity.
Come on, baby. Give me an opportunity.
You watch your mouth, Mr. Estes.
Monica is heading a program that needs volunteers.
Strong, hard-working,
intelligent people who have a little time.
Now I know you got the time,
and you all look strong enough to me.
Hard work is left up to you.
And I guess we'll find out how intelligent you are
if you have sense enough to listen to what she's going to say.
Go ahead, baby.
Well, all of those accepted will be working as volunteers
every day at a facility outside this building.
All right, man, get me out of here.
Do we still got to go to school? Yes, you do.
But the volunteer hours will earn you academic credit towards graduation.
You could even get your high school diplomas earlier.
Earlier?
Like I can go to college and be a doctor in January instead of June.
(BOYS LAUGHING)
Yes, you could.
Jason DeLee.
You've left the line "Special Interests" blank.
Have you ever done anything that you've received
special recognition for?
Yeah, I stole a Lexus once.
You wastin' your time here.
Well, I've got all the time in the world,
but these babies' time is runnin' out real fast,
so I'm gonna cut to the chase.
I don't like your lifestyle.
Monica doesn't like your lifestyle.
God doesn't like your lifestyle,
and whether you know it or not,
you don't like your lifestyle.
Everybody that volunteers
will be helping someone else change their lifestyles.
Everybody's life's gonna be better, and you will like that.
Now what I need right now are some volunteers.
Volunteers. Volunteers.
Let's go. Get 'em up. Come on.
There you go, baby.
You came for me. I knew it.
I brought you your stuff.
Some underwear and a couple of magazines.
I got you some of the car ones you like.
I don't want no magazines. I wanna go home.
Tess said I did the right thing leavin' you here.
Look, I just want you to know,
I didn't do it 'cause I don't care.
I did it 'cause I do.
Monica has selected you for the new project.
I didn't volunteer for that stupid thing.
Well, Monica thinks you'd be wonderful 'cause it takes passion,
and, honey, you got that.
Baby, whatever it is,
whatever chance they offerin' you, you take it.
(YELLS) You hear me?
Can I go now?
Yes.
Honey, you did real good. Real good.
(CRYING)
Yes, you did.
Oh, honey, it's gonna be all right.
It's all gonna be all right.
WATERS: Dinner time! Let's go.
Move it or starve, DeLee.
(BOYS CHATTERING)
Yo, that's your moms?
I thought that was your pet monkey.
Are you doin' that volunteerin' thing, Estes?
Yeah. What's it to you?
Well, I'm volunteerin', too, then, punk.
I'll take care of you then.
WATERS: Up there!
ANDREW: Okay, everybody, listen up.
My name is Andrew. I am a volunteer with Juvenile Services,
and I am your bus driver.
I think you know the drill.
You stay in your seats. You do not change your seats.
You do not get out of your seat when this bus stops
until I give the okay.
You got that?
Heard you can't drive, DeLee.
Heard you cranked on a parked car.
The first chance I get, punk, I'm puttin' you down.
Ooh!
Man thinks he's a rider.
He could jack a car, but can't steal one...
Hi. Hello, Jason.
Do you mind if I sit next to you?
I'm happy to see you here.
Tess said that you might not volunteer at all.
What made you change your mind?
Fresh air.
And a chance to change somebody's life.
Right?
ANDREW: Okay, let's go.
Let's go. BOY 1: Yeah, okay.
Okay, come on. Line up.
Line up. Nobody goes inside till I do.
Inside?
I thought we were sweepin' and cleanin' up freeways and stuff like that.
(CHILDREN CHATTERING) There's kids in there.
You hear that?
Man, what is this place?
Let's go.
Good morning, children.
These are the volunteers I was telling you about.
Why don't you say hello to your new friends?
ALL: Hello.
Oh, man, no way.
Hi, there.
I'm JoBeth, and this is Mary, and we're teachers here.
We're really glad you guys are here.
This is the first time we've ever used volunteers from Juvenile Services,
and we're hoping it works out,
'cause we really need the help.
So, Mary and I are gonna teach you how to help us.
Hello, JoBeth. Hello, Mary.
I need to go to the bathroom.
Okay. Let's go.
ANDREW: Your two minutes are up.
So, Austin, you can work with Kim, okay?
It's just you and me, Special K.
And what about Gerard?
Not me.
Rey, are you volunteering?
Yeah. Easy.
So, Jason,
that leaves you and Miss Kelly here to make up the final team.
(SOFTLY) What's wrong with her?
Kelly was born with cerebral palsy.
And she came into this world unable to walk or talk,
even hold her head up.
She has to work very hard to learn to do all the things
that you just take for granted.
And I think you should talk to her.
You two could learn a lot from each other.
She looks funny.
Well, that's because you don't know her.
Has that happened to you?
Being judged before anyone knew who you were?
Yeah, I guess so.
Well, are you going to do the same thing to her?
Are you sure this kid you picked,
this gang banger, isn't gonna hurt my Kelly?
You believe me. He would not be here
if we didn't think he could handle it.
Now Jason, he's been into some trouble,
but he's never hurt anybody.
Not yet.
Oh, come on, Jason. At least say hello to her.
Hey.
I know you can do better than that.
I said, hey.
Kelly, little one your new friend, Jason, said hey.
(LAUGHING) Hey.
They take the kids out on playground Thursday after lunch.
We can lag behind 'em and get it on.
Man, you're trippin'. Man, you scared, ain't ya?
Man, you're scared of me.
I saw you at school, scared of that little girl.
Yo, fool, I ain't scared of nothin',
I'm gonna kick your butt but we're gonna set it up right,
'cause I ain't gettin' busted bustin' them.
Man, we'll give it a couple weeks
till they get used to us followin' a routine,
then we'll get it off on Thursday.
Yeah, I'm on, man.
Yo, you see them kids?
They look like my mama's old bean bag furniture.
And how 'bout those teachers?
Did you see how they were starin' at us?
Somethin' ain't right.
Probably some secret government experiment.
Shut up!
I hope we don't catch what they got.
Yo, I ain't catchin' nothin' 'cause I ain't gettin' that close.
Man, you're scared. I could tell.
Man, you ain't gonna last, man.
No, I'll be cool. You're the one who should be worried.
Man, I'm too hard.
Man, I'm gonna be the poster boy for that program.
I'm gonna get my bean bag rollin' so fast,
they're gonna think he's rollin' in a Dodge Viper.
No, man, that's nothin' compared to a Porsche Turbo.
Man, you wrong, man. Where'd you get your info?
Man, that's all I read about is cars.
I'll bet you, my bean bag's Porsche
can whoop your bean bag's Viper hands down.
Yeah, a pack of cigarettes.
All right, bet, fool. Let's get 'em rollin'.
Come on, this way.
Good, girl, Lara. Good. Keep going.
(EXHALING) That's phat.
She's trying to get your attention, Jason.
I think she likes the picture of that Ferrari
almost as much as you do.
Right. Stop ignoring her.
She can teach you as much as you can teach her.
BOY: I got you.
I'll catch you, don't worry.
Yeah, that was good. Good job.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
Okay, Kelly, you like this Ferrari so much,
I'm gonna take you for a little ride.
Varoom, room, room, room, droom, droom...
Watch out, punk. You're invadin' my space.
Yo, watch it, fool. ANDREW: Jason!
(YELLING) Hey! Jason. Whoa, whoa, hey, hey.
Hi, sweetie. What do you think you're doing?
What? I didn't hurt her.
This is not a game, Jason.
Can I go to the bathroom?
Come on. Two minutes.
That was scary, huh?
I love you.
(POLICE SIREN WAILING)
MONICA: Are you thinking of running away?
You can't come here. This is a men's room.
You'd be surprised where my work takes me.
Yeah, well, my work is over
so why don't you just send me home?
Home?
Back to juvie.
Oh, so that's your home now?
And how many homes do you plan to be locked up in?
If you go home, Jason, things won't be any different.
But if you stay here and do something
that takes real effort and commitment,
if you take the risk and allow someone to trust you,
you'll find that your life is changed completely.
Or is that what you're afraid of?
Look, I can't help her. She too messed up.
Well, that's what people say about you.
That you're a waste of time, that you'll never learn.
Yeah, well, they're right.
All right, me and her, we're just alike,
so why don't you just quit wastin' your time?
That's why you were meant for each other.
Go back in there.
Talk to her, like a person.
ANDREW: Jason, two minutes.
Come on, Kelly, look at me.
Hey, Kelly, if I hung my head down,
(LAUGHING) you couldn't see how ugly I was.
Did you laugh?
You're laughin'. You're laughin'. Oh, you're laughin'.
(KELLY CHOKING)
What are you doing?
She's only coughing.
She's not coughing. She's choking.
ANITA: He stinks. He's been smoking.
Jason, is this true?
What are you blamin' me for? I ain't done nothin' to her!
You know that smoking is prohibited.
These are children with disabilities.
You have to be responsible.
Now, you listen to me. You use your head, or you don't come back.
I told you he was dangerous.
I don't care what you do to punish him,
but just keep him away from Kelly.
(WHISTLE BLOWING)
What is Jason doing here?
WATERS: Real work.
Jason.
We're waiting on you.
I'm out. What do you mean, you're out?
Look, I messed up. Dude screamed at me.
He did not scream.
As I understand it, he gave you a choice.
You made a big mistake, Jason,
but people make mistakes every day.
That doesn't mean you don't get another chance.
Wait. I get another chance?
If you're able to accept the responsibility of your actions, yes.
And I would recommend that you listen to Andrew and use your brain.
You have a good one, you know.
(DOOR BUZZING)
Oh, baby, nobody said that to you before.
Well, you do.
God gave you a very good mind, Jason.
Now do you wanna use it to help Kelly,
or you wanna haul garbage all day?
Get on that bus. You're making us late.
We are not giving up on him yet.
You will. Oh!
(LAUGHING)
JoBeth.
RECORDED VOICE: JoBeth. See? That's my name.
JoBeth.
Yes.
What's he doing here? He came to work.
Well, then assign him to somebody else. You saw what he did yesterday.
Anita, you were so busy keeping an eye on Jason,
you weren't watching what was going on with Kelly.
What?
She laughed.
She laughed. I heard it.
Look, I'm sorry about yesterday, Kelly, okay?
I didn't realize that smelling like cigarettes was gonna get to you.
I should've thought of that.
See, all I think about is cars,
and last night, all I thought about was you and how you giggled.
At least, I thought you did.
You did, didn't you?
All right.
We're gonna work on those muscles, okay?
I mean, you'd say okay if you could, right?
All right, all right. Hey, give me the high-five.
All right, all right. Here we go. You ready?
Hey, kid, check this out.
Jason.
RECORDED VOICE: Jason.
Jason.
You ready?
Here you go.
REY: All right, come on, come on. Just come on. Push it. Push it.
Come on. I taught you this. Come on.
There you go. Come on, come on, come on.
Just push, just push it, just push it, just push it.
That's it, that's it.
Come on, come on.
(SIGHING)
(DOOR CLOSING)
Excuse me.
Don't you think he'd be better off if he used this
'cause he can't push the wheel?
Sure.
Make sure you're on nice and tight. Okay.
Hey, Gerard, can you try your feet, man. Come on, I'll help you.
There you go. You got it. Hey, that's good.
That's good. You got it. You the man.
There you go.
Yeah, all right, Gerard. Yeah, that's my man.
Yeah. Come on, let's go.
Hey, what's wrong, Kelly? You got tired?
All right, I'll help you. Keep on pushing, man.
Yeah, all right, Gerard. We smoked them.
You'd better break out them smokes
'cause that's the pack you owe me.
I'm on a winning streak.
I got a pack of smokes, and it's Thursday.
Don't forget, we got a date for me to kick your butt for real.
JOBETH: Okay, everybody, let's start taking the kids out to the playground.
You know something, Jason?
You are very good at this.
You should think about going to college, you know, getting a degree,
doing this full-time for a living.
It's funny. I never figured I'd live that long.
You know, your world has taught you to live your life to die,
but you are very, very far from that place now.
Maybe it's time for you to start living your life to live.
Let's get these kids outside, give them a little fresh air.
Close the door.
No, I'm not into it anymore.
Then run home to your monkey mama.
Hey, you guys gonna join us here?
What's going on?
Hey, girl.
I thought you were hard, man.
You're a mama's boy.
The boy's soft. He can't even stand up for himself.
Oh, man, be careful.
He might start to cry.
AUSTIN: Hey, Rey, saw you won that race, man.
That's right. Your bean bag is smooth.
I wanna get me one.
Yeah, my bean bag was straight rollin'.
What happened to your bean bag, punk?
She went soft just like you did.
Yo, don't call her that, man. What, bean bag?
Yeah. They're people. Man, listen to you.
Man, you been here too long, man. You're losing it.
You're sounding like a Sunday school teacher
talking about "They're people."
Yeah, man. You're weak.
You can't let nobody get to you like that.
(CAR ENGINE ROARING)
(ENGINE REVVING)
Andrew, great news.
I think I've found permanent funding for this program.
No kidding? I went down to the mayor's office in person.
He has very good coffee for someone who works for the city.
Anyway, I showed him Jason's case file.
He was impressed,
and he wants to come down here and see the program in action.
Where is Jason? He went to the bathroom,
about five minutes ago.
Ja...
Jason.
Kelly, sweetheart, Jason won't be here today.
Would you let me help you?
Kelly?
RECORDED VOICE: Jason.
Jason.
Jason, man, he really got into that kid.
I think it really freaked him out,
all that responsibility, you know.
See, none of us even thought those bean bags knew we were there.
But Kelly, man, she's hurtin'.
I guess we really do make a difference.
You're slick.
You always know how to cover your own butt.
Get out of here, Estes.
Even if Estes was tellin' the truth, your boy still ran away.
What do you think you're doin'?
Jason didn't run away because the program was a failure.
He ran away because it was a success.
Gee, if it gets any more successful,
maybe they'll all go over the wall and I can retire.
Jason ran off because he started to feel something again.
He lifted up his head
and he saw something he's never seen before.
Somebody who really needed him.
He saw love looking back at him and he thought he was gonna lose it.
Now let me tell you something, Mr. Waters.
The only way you get that kind of feeling is by giving it.
Now you do whatever it is you got to do,
but it won't be the police bringing that boy back.
Love will.
(HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYING ON STEREO)
(DOG BARKING)
Hello, Mrs. DeLee?
LENA: Who is it?
This is Monica from Juvenile Services.
Hello.
I've come to talk to you about Jason.
Nobody ever comes to the door.
They always call or send a letter.
Somebody coming to the door, I guess that means he's dead.
Oh, no, no, he's not.
I was just looking for him. He left the camp.
Oh, he ran away?
Yes, this morning,
and I wanted to find him before somebody else does.
What'd make you think he came here? Well, this is his home.
It's just his address.
Look, lady, I appreciate what you're trying to do,
but the truth is,
maybe Jason ran away this morning,
but he left a long time ago.
Do you have any idea where he might've gone?
If you find him, call me.
Maybe I'll bring him some more of those car magazines.
(CRYING) That's all he wants from me anymore.
No, it's not.
He wants more than that.
He wants all the love you ever tried to give him.
And when he comes back, and he will come back,
I think you'll find that he's finally ready to accept it.
(CHILD MOANING)
That's a baby.
Good baby.
Sweet baby.
That's a good baby.
Hello, Kelly.
I don't know how much longer
I can keep Waters from reporting him.
I know. I know.
All the way back here I kept praying
that I'd walk in, turn around, and he'd be here, but...
(CAR ENGINE STARTING)
(EXHALING)
You didn't really think this through, did you?
I know you love this car, but what are you gonna do?
Drive it through the door?
I thought you would've learned by now
that to reach a goal you have to work for it.
Yeah, well, I got tired of working.
Did you get tired of Kelly, too?
Yeah, she was gettin' on my nerves.
She had to get used to me being gone, anyway.
She'll learn not to get attached to nothin' or nobody.
I see.
And that is a good thing?
Yep.
No attachments, no commitments,
no responsibilities.
All that makes you free.
Pedal to the metal, baby.
So I'm out of here.
Out of here and going where?
Doesn't matter.
As far as I can till the heat catches up to me,
or I die.
And when will that be?
A couple years, I bet.
Look, most of my friends are already dead,
so I think it's a relief.
'Cause something tells me I'm just not made to live in this world.
Well, whatever that something is,
don't listen to it, Jason. It's a lie.
For the truth is
that God put you in this world to make it better,
and you've done that, and God is so proud of you.
I am an angel, Jason.
God made me for a very special purpose.
To travel between heaven and earth,
between this world and eternity,
to bring good news, and the good news is
that God loves you.
Well, I don't want him to love me.
It's too late.
(CRYING) I don't want anybody to love me.
Why?
'Cause...
'Cause I...
Oh, man, would you just get out of here and leave me alone?
Is that what you want?
Yes.
Okay.
I'll go, but you're not alone.
God is here,
and the fastest car in the world can't outrun him,
and the toughest heart in the world can't ignore him,
because wherever you go, Jason,
God will be there ahead of you,
waiting for you with a miracle.
People like me don't get miracles.
You already have one.
Her name is Kelly.
How's our girl doing?
Not too good, baby.
LENA: He was working here?
Yes, every day.
(CHILD MOANING)
He was working with a very special child,
and she was making great progress with him.
He's your son, Jason?
Yes, he is.
Do you know what your son did?
He let my little girl down so hard,
I don't know if she'll ever be able to get back up.
Your son is everything wrong with this world.
He's irresponsible, he's dishonest,
he doesn't care, and you know what?
It comes from parents who don't care, who are irresponsible.
I am his parent.
Just me.
I don't have a husband.
I don't have an education, I don't have money,
but as God is my witness,
I love him, and I did my best.
I prayed to God for a miracle that my boy would change.
Maybe the miracle is that he got arrested,
because if he found a little love here
and some meanin' in his life,
then maybe my prayers were answered.
I'm sorry.
I understand hard times.
I do.
And I'm sorry to be so hateful.
I'm just...
I'm just so worried about my child.
So am I.
(DOOR OPENING)
MONICA: Jason.
Hey, Kelly.
Jason,
you came back.
You know, I've been thinkin', thinkin' hard.
Maybe he was lost, but now he's found.
All my life I just wanted to get into a car and go.
I walked around and around
with those keys in my hand for an hour,
and I realized I can have any car that I wanted,
and I thought if I can get into one of them and start driving,
the only place I would go was here,
'cause I missed her.
And once I started missin' her,
I started missing you.
And then I started missin' people I don't even know,
like my daddy.
It's funny.
You'd think that'd be the strangest feeling in the world,
but it wasn't.
It wasn't at all.
That's because you weren't alone.
Hey, Kelly. How you doin'?
RECORDED VOICE: Jason. Jason. Jason.
(KELLY LAUGHING)
(MONICA CRYING)
That's it.