Following the death of one of his refugee students, a Vietnam veteran turned art teacher must confront the circumstances of his own son’s tragic death in order to finally shed the burden of guilt.

SYNOPSIS:

The year is 2001. Art teacher Errol Freeman has a passion to be a practising artist. But this ex-Vietnam veteran in his early 50s is also a dedicated professional, still excited when he identifies talent in the classroom that he can nurture. But when he takes under his wing one of his senior students, the talented and passionate young artist Daoud Khemaned, he finds himself at odds with the student’s refugee father who insists the lad 's destiny lies in medicine, not art.

Errol encourages Daoud to plot his own journey but when he discovers massive bruising on the student’s arms, he suspects foul play on the part of the father and reports his suspicions to the authorities. Unable to reconcile his passion with his filial covenant, Daoud takes his own life. Although Errol is, for all intents and purposes, an ‘innocent’ player in this drama, he can’t ignore the seed of doubt that has been sown,

As the year progresses, Errol befriends an exchange drama teacher from the UK, Céline Molanda, of Zimbabwean heritage, with whom he shares a common interest in the theatre. A professional bond develops between them, and she becomes privy to Errol’s legacy – the death of his only child seven years earlier.

Wife Fran has come to terms with her grief, but Errol’s eternal guilt trip over their loss becomes too much for her and they separate.

In Fran's absence, Céline's once platonic relationship with Errol becomes emotional and indeed physical. A floodgate of confession and catharsis is opened, revealing the circumstances of the death of Errol’s son to leukaemia – caused, he insists, by his exposure to Agent Orange while serving in the Vietnam conflict in the late 1960s. This is his legacy that has kept him at odds with the government ever since. And it’s a cruel irony that his own son would now have been Daoud’s age.

But as year’s end approaches, Céline must return to the UK, and after farewelling her at the airport, Errol encounters Daoud’s parents about to return to Lebanon, the country from which they fled as refugees in 1984. In this awkward confrontation, Errol discovers that his suspicions were misplaced and that Daoud’s demise was due not to the sin of the father but to that of another, Ada, Daoud’s mother. The revelation is a harbinger for a new beginning, a fresh appraisal of life and death. Accepting that there are certain inevitabilities in life, Errol can now leave the past behind, reconcile with Fran, and, in deference to Daoud and his own deceased son, pursue his own passion as a practising artist.

LEGACIES