Denial Page #13

JULIUS:

I’m glad you’re happy.

DEBORAH:

I saw his face. When we called him

a liar. I don’t think he’s used to

hearing things like that. It was

exciting.

VERA has put herself in DEBORAH’S way.

VERA:

Excuse me. Miss Lipstadt?

DEBORAH:

Yes?

VERA:

May I speak to you?

DEBORAH:

You go ahead, I’ll catch up.

DEBORAH has said this to JULIUS who hesitates, then goes on.

VERA:

I want you to come and meet some of

my friends. Friends with something

in common.

VERA rolls up her sleeve. A tattooed number. DEBORAH stares.

VERA (CONT’D)

We want to know:
How can you let

this happen? We don’t understand.

How can it be happening? This is

what you call a strategy? None of

us have been called. We have to be

heard. The voice of suffering has

to be heard. A trial of the

Holocaust and no witnesses? How can

that be right?

DEBORAH looks, her own doubts confirmed.

VERA (CONT’D)

There’s a whole group of us.

Deborah, we have to testify.

(MORE)

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 62.

VERA (CONT’D)

We have to. On behalf of the

others. For the dead.

DEBORAH nods slightly. They are in a quiet corner. She

reaches out and touches VERA’S arm.

DEBORAH:

I make you a promise. The voice of

suffering will be heard. It will. I

promise you that.

86 EXT. FLEET STREET. DAY 86

DEBORAH comes out into the roar of traffic. The others have

gone. She steps out and nearly gets run over by a bus,

forgetting they drive on the left. A passerby calls out

“Watch out!” A close thing.

87 INT. BRICK COURT. DAY 87

DEBORAH runs up the stairs and into chambers. It looks like a

party. LAURA, NIK, THOMAS, HEATHER etc. RAMPTON is opening a

filing cabinet and getting out a bottle of red wine.

RAMPTON:

I see this could well become a

ritual. A welcome ritual, don’t

misunderstand. Deborah?

DEBORAH:

No, thank you.

RAMPTON:

A well-known Attorney General

taught me very early on, one’s

always a more effective advocate

after a few glasses of claret. And

some sandwiches.

With a flourish, he opens a dusty cupboard and inside there

are plates of cut sandwiches. Everyone laughs and piles in.

DEBORAH moves across to JULIUS in the corner.

DEBORAH:

I need to talk to you. It’s urgent.

I’ve just spoken with a survivor.

JULIUS:

Yes. Well that’s likely. I’ve seen

several in the court.

Someone hands JULIUS a glass of wine.

JULIUS (CONT’D)

Deborah, we’re not going to discuss

this again.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 6363.

DEBORAH:

Why not?

JULIUS:

I’ve explained to you.

DEBORAH:

I don’t think so.

JULIUS:

Whatever you say, the survivors are

not on trial. That’s how it is.

They confuse the issue. Keep them

out of it.

JULIUS has raised his voice. RAMPTON is alert to every word,

but pretending not to listen.

DEBORAH:

You can look them in the face, can

you, you can look survivors in the

face and tell them they have no

right to testify? They were there!

They have the authority.

JULIUS:

Deborah, these people came out of

hell. I understand that. After all

these years, they still haven’t

processed the experience. I know

that too. But a trial, I’m afraid,

isn’t therapy. Still less is it

vindication. It isn’t our job to

give emotional satisfaction to a

whole lot of people who can never

forget what happened to them.

DEBORAH:

You think they want to testify for

themselves? They don’t give a damn

about themselves. It’s the others.

It’s their families. It’s their

friends. If you were in their

shoes, what would you feel?

JULIUS just looks, not answering.

DEBORAH (CONT’D)

Anthony, I promised them they would

be heard. I made a promise.

JULIUS:

Well then you’d better go back out

and break your promise.

DEBORAH looks straight at him, then leaves.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 6464.

88 EXT. BRICK COURT. DAY 88

DEBORAH is sitting on the wall opposite, watching as the

happy little team comes chattering out of RAMPTON’S chambers -

JULIUS, HEATHER, NIK, TOMAS, LAURA. She looks grim, alone.

They pass into the distance, chattering. But before they

disappear, RAMPTON turns back, unseen, and looks at DEBORAH.

89 INT. ATHENAEUM HOTEL. NIGHT 89

DEBORAH, with boxes of Chinese takeout half-eaten, is

watching one of her videos: scratchy film from 1962 of an SS

MAN, HANS STARK, being interviewed. He speaks German,

overlaid with an English interpreter.

STARK (GERMAN)

One day I was ordered to pour

Zyklon B into the room because only

one medical orderly had shown up.

The Zyklon B was in granular form,

so it trickled down over people as

it poured in. Then they started to

cry out terribly because they knew

what was happening to them. After a

few minutes, there was silence.

DEBORAH stares.

90 EXT. BIRKENAU. DAY 90

In her head DEBORAH sees a flash of what STARK is describing:

a slit of bright daylight as the hatch is opened, gas mask,

blue pellets pouring down touching bare flesh, a hatch

slammed shut. Screams and cries.

91 INT. ATHENAEUM HOTEL. NIGHT 91

DEBORAH closes her eyes.

92 EXT. DEBORAH’S HOUSE. ATLANTA. NIGHT 92

LIBBY is house-sitting. She is on the deck, legs in front of

her, in the dark. The Mutt is beside her.

LIBBY:

What’s wrong? You don’t sound

happy. What’s happening?

DEBORAH (PHONE)

How’s The Mutt?

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 6565.

LIBBY:

The Mutt’s lonely. He’s putting on

a show but he’s not fooling

anybody. You?

93 INT. ATHENAEUM. NIGHT 93

DEBORAH is sitting on the side of the bed. Her room is an

unvisited tip. She says nothing to LIBBY’S question.

DEBORAH:

I’ll tell you what’s happening.

Today one of the lawyers, the

creepy one, told me if I’d promised

anything to the survivors, I’d have

to break my promise.

LIBBY:

He said that?

DEBORAH:

Libby, I arrived in London, I

thought ‘These men know best, it’s

their country, it’s their system.’

I’m with a lot of people who

understand the facts. They know all

the facts. But God knows where they

keep their hearts.

94 INT. HIGH COURT. DAY 94

ROBERT JAN is in the witness box. He has toned down the

colour of his hair and he has a perfect three-piece suit.

Arranged on easels are large colour photographs of Birkenau

and Auschwitz. Beside them are black and white drawings of

the gas chamber interior. IRVING is examining him.

IRVING:

May I first of all welcome you to

our country and say what a great

pleasure I had in reading your book

on Auschwitz. You were deeply moved

to visit the actual location?

ROBERT JAN:

More than moved. I was frightened.

It's an awesome responsibility.

DEBORAH looks to the gallery. VERA’S look back is unwavering.

IRVING:

Professor van Pelt, would you agree

it is the duty of historians to

remain completely unemotional?

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 6666.

ROBERT JAN:

One’s duty is to be unemotional, to

be objective, but one's duty I

think is to remain human in the

exercise.

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