Denial Page #12

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 5757.

CLERK:

Sir, they’re ready.

GRAY:

Thank you.

GRAY closes the book. It’s HITLER’S WAR by David Irving,

covered in post-its and handwritten notes. GRAY finishes his

cup of tea then puts it down on a desk covered with evidence

submissions, video-tapes and tottering mountains of books. He

gets up, nods at the CLERK and leaves the room.

81 INT. CORRIDOR & COURTROOM. DAY 81

GRAY sweeps along the corridor and into the court.

COURT USHER:

Court rise.

Everyone stands. GRAY takes his place. The whole court bows.

JULIUS whispers to DEBORAH.

JULIUS:

Bow.

DEBORAH:

I’m American. Everything else but

no bowing.

82 INT. COURTROOM. DAY 82

Later. The court is packed except for the solitary area

around IRVING. He is on his feet and addressing the judge,

eloquent, commanding, his hands mostly behind his back.

DEBORAH is watching closely, trying to get his measure.

IRVING:

My Lord, I intend to show that far

from being a Holocaust denier, I

have repeatedly drawn attention to

major aspects of the Holocaust.

These defendants have done very

real damage to my professional

existence. By virtue of the

activities of Miss Lipstadt and

those who funded her and guided her

hand, since 1996 I have seen one

fearful publisher after another

falling away from me and turning

their backs on me when I approach.

My Lord, if we were to seek a title

for this libel action, I would

venture to suggest “Pictures at an

Execution” - my execution.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 5858.

RAMPTON, a compulsive cartoonist, is drawing IRVING in the

side of a document. DEBORAH, looking round, sees an OLDER

WOMAN, VERA REICH, small, upright, 70s, Polish, watching from

the public gallery.

IRVING (CONT’D)

These defendants did not act alone.

They were part of an organized

international endeavour to

discredit me. The word ‘denier’ is

particularly evil. The phrase is a

poison to which there is virtually

no antidote, less lethal than a

hypodermic with nerve gas jabbed in

the neck, but deadly all the same.

For the chosen victim it is like

being called a wife beater or a

paedophile. It is enough for the

label to be attached for the

attachee to find himself designated

as a pariah, an outcast from normal

society. It is a verbal Yellow

Star.

IRVING has turned to look at DEBORAH, putting the accusation

to her. DEBORAH stares back. RAMPTON’s cartoon shows IRVING

hanging from a gallows, the noose captioned ‘Facts’.

Underneath he has put the title “Pictures at an Execution.”

83 INT. HIGH COURT LOBBY. DAY 83

Recess. Everyone is pouring out of the court into the vaulted

hall. DEBORAH is with LAURA, JULIUS and LIBSON.

LAURA:

So, what you did think of him?

DEBORAH:

Irving? I thought he was oddly

impressive.

JULIUS:

Impressive?

JULIUS smiles, patronising.

DEBORAH:

The only thing that confused me...

It was like Irving already knew all

our questions and points.

JULIUS:

Yes of course. We sent them to him.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 59.

DEBORAH:

You sent all our questions? In

advance? I don’t get it. Isn’t that

revealing our strategy?

JULIUS:

Deborah, we have no strategy. We

plan to box him in with the truth.

84 INT. COURT. DAY 84

DEBORAH watches IRVING closely as RAMPTON rises to his feet,

at all times addressing GRAY, never once looking at IRVING.

RAMPTON:

My Lord, Mr Irving calls himself a

historian. The truth, however, is

that he is not a historian at all,

but a falsifier of history. To put

it bluntly, he is a liar.

DEBORAH looks sharply across at RAMPTON, realising he is

using her words. RAMPTON has two books in front of him,

separate editions of HITLER’S WAR. He holds up the first and

then the second.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

Between the publication of the

first edition of Hitler’s War in

1977, and its second edition in

1991, Mr Irving’s views about the

Holocaust underwent a sea-change.

In 1977, he accepted it as a

historical truth in all its

essentials - systematic mass murder

of the Jews in purpose-built

extermination factories. But in the

1991 edition, all trace of the

Holocaust in this sense has

disappeared. What are the reasons

for this astounding volte-face? The

principal reason can be expressed

in one word:
Leuchter.

DEBORAH:

The man with the dirty underwear.

DEBORAH is so rapt she has spoken to herself. LIBSON shoots a

glance to JULIUS behind, who has also heard her.

RAMPTON:

According to Mr Irving, the

Leuchter report is “the biggest

calibre shell that has yet hit the

battleship Auschwitz”.

(MORE)

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 60.

RAMPTON (CONT'D)

Unfortunately for Mr Irving, the

Leuchter report is bunk and he

knows it. So why then did Mr Irving

embrace the Leuchter report with

such enthusiasm? Why did he choose

to publish it himself and even to

write an introduction? The answer

must be that he wanted it to be

true. After all if the Holocaust

never happened, then Hitler cannot

have ordered it or known about it.

DEBORAH:

And that’s the point.

This time JULIUS puts a finger to his mouth to bid silence.

RAMPTON picks up another piece of paper and reads from it.

RAMPTON:

In September 1991 Mr Irving spoke

to an audience in Calgary, Alberta.

This is what he said: “I don’t see

any reason to be tasteful about

Auschwitz. It’s baloney. It’s a

legend. Oh you think that’s

tasteless? How about this? There

are so many Auschwitz survivors

going round, in fact their number

increases as the years go past,

that I’m going to form an

association of Auschwitz Survivors,

Survivors of the Holocaust and

Other Liars called A-S-S-H-O-L-S,

pronounced no doubt ‘asshols’...”

RAMPTON puts down the paper. The court is silenced. Nobody

moves. IRVING looks away, uninterested.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

My Lord, this is obviously an

important case. For if it be true

that Mr Irving has devoted his

energy to the deliberate

falsification of this tragic

episode in history, then by

exposing that dangerous fraud in

this court, the defendants may

properly be applauded for having

performed a significant public

service, not just in this country

but wherever in the world anti-

Semitism and bigotry is waiting to

be fed.

85 INT. HIGH COURT ATRIUM. DAY 85

A buzz as everyone flows out into the echoing space.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 61.

DEBORAH:

Wow! I thought we were pretty

effective.

JULIUS:

Really?

DEBORAH:

That was a pretty good start.

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