Omaha Film Festival 2009

Set mostly in a NYC precinct, the plot follows the arrest of a homeless man who calls himself 'Banzai' after he's busted for taking a piss, unknowingly, on the Mayor's limousine at a protest demonstration. Once the media, a police captain and a homeless group get into the act, Banzai becomes the prize in a political tug of war. While Banzai is confined to a holding cell, three experienced detectives discover their "perp" is a former high school sports champion, who has hit the skids after suffering a personal tragedy.Bits of the emotional string that hold Banzai together begin to unravel as the detectives uncover his past. They find out he lost his family in a fire and that he savagely attacked the two arsonists who burned his house and killed his family. The cops admit they would?ve done the same. There's the dilemma. They feel bad, but he's a wanted man. Do the detectives arrest Banzai and add to his already living hell or say nothing and go against the Captain they resent for being more politician than policeman? Here lies the diagram of Banzai's destruction, not by his demons, but by image-conscious officials, by media manipulation and the ambition of would-be friends. They are what finally set loose Banzai's demons. In making his private world public, they sever the thin thread that connects him with reality and we get to look inside Banzai as he vanishes into darkness.