Denial Page #16

take.

DEBORAH:

I see. And in this goddam country

is anyone allowed to say anything

at all?

101 EXT. ATHENAEUM HOTEL. NIGHT 101

DEBORAH, in a fury, gets out of the taxi, slamming the door.

Walks angrily across the pavement, past the saluting DOORMAN.

102 EXT. STREETS. NIGHT 102

Out she comes again, in jogging gear. A few PASSERS BY stare

as DEBORAH moves down Picadilly, an angry woman at speed. She

slows by an Evening Standard news poster: NO HOLES, NO

HOLOCAUST. She runs on, working out her emotion. Then by

Westminster Bridge she comes to the statue of Boadicea -

heroic as ever. She looks at it bitterly, her hands on hips.

103 INT. ATHENAEUM. NIGHT 103

From the shower, DEBORAH is watching the television through a

gap in the plastic curtain. IRVING is seen outside court.

IRVING (TV)

Professor Lipstadt is clearly

afraid to go into the witness box.

What is she scared of? She’s scared

of free debate. Is her case really

that weak? I’m alone in there and

I’m speaking. She’s got more than

thirty barristers, lawyers,

experts, historians and she’s

silent. She’s effectively pleading

the Fifth Amendment, and we all

know that’s traditionally the route

of people who’ve got something to

hide.

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DEBORAH, in despair, slaps the shower curtain and lets out a

howl of pure rage.

104 INT. ATHENAEUM HOTEL. NIGHT 104

A towel round her head, DEBORAH is at her computer e-mailing

JULIUS:
“Anthony, we have to talk.” The phone goes.

DEBORAH:

Hello?

LAURA (PHONE)

Deborah, it’s Laura.

DEBORAH:

Laura.

105 INT. LAURA’S FLAT. NIGHT 105

LAURA is in a bed-sitter. SIMON is serving supper. The bed is

behind. It’s warm, friendly. SIMON tries to move LAURA’s

ubiquitous work papers off the table, as though they were

just an inconvenience, but she grabs them.

LAURA:

I’m sorry, it’s none of my

business, but I wanted to make sure

you were all right.

DEBORAH (PHONE)

That’s kind of you, Laura.

LAURA:

I could see you were unhappy. I

know Anthony can be a little

brutal.

DEBORAH (PHONE)

No. Really?

LAURA:

But it’s from the best motives. He

really does want to help you. I

wanted you to know that.

106 INT. ATHENAEUM. NIGHT 106

DEBORAH:

That’s kind of you, Laura. But I

don’t want to be helped. I want to

help.

107 SCENE CUT 107

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 7878.

108 INT. RAMPTON’S CHAMBERS. NIGHT 108

RAMPTON is at his desk, buried below mounds of documents. His

lone light burns deep. His whisky bottle is empty, he goes to

the cupboard to get another. Finds a curly old sandwich left

over from lunch. Eats it. Goes back to his desk. Pours. As he

puts the bottle down, he sees the small piece of barbed wire

from Auschwitz. He picks it up, feels it.

109 EXT. LONDON. DAY 109

The sun breaking over the Thames.

110 INT. RAMPTON’S CHAMBERS. DAY 110

HEATHER arrives for work and knocks. Hearing nothing, she

goes in. RAMPTON is asleep at his desk. She touches his

shoulder.

HEATHER:

Richard.

111 INT. HIGH COURT. DAY 111

Faded black and white photos of ventilators, and doors with

peepholes and grills are set out on easels. IRVING is in the

witness box. DEBORAH looks round for JULIUS but he’s not

there. Instead RAMPTON turns and looks at her very directly.

She’s surprised. Then he gets up, no sign of the night’s work

on his face.

RAMPTON:

So now, Mr Irving, I will ask you

to explain why, if as you claim,

there were no gas chambers at

Auschwitz, the gratings taken in

1945 by the Polish authorities from

Morgue 1 of Crematorium 2 were

covered with cyanide ; and why the

camp’s chief architect, Karl

Bischoff, specifically refers to

Morgue 1 as a Vergasungskeller - a

gassing cellar. Well?

IRVING shifts slightly, before answering.

IRVING:

I am willing to concede that they

did indeed find in the ventilator

grating traces of cyanide.

RAMPTON:

They did?

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 7979.

IRVING:

Yes. And I will also concede that

the room was indeed a gassing

cellar.

RAMPTON:

It was?

IRVING:

Yes.

RAMPTON:

Good. So, gassing what?

IRVING:

I think the evidence is clear that

it was used as a gassing cellar for

fumigating cadavers.

RAMPTON:

Fumigating cadavers?

IRVING:

Yes.

GRAY looks up, frowns.

RAMPTON:

What exactly makes you say that?

IRVING:

That is what mortuaries are for. In

mortuaries you put cadavers.

RAMPTON:

What is the evidence for that?

IRVING:

I beg your pardon?

RAMPTON:

What is the evidence that they used

that room for gassing corpses?

IRVING:

That is what it was built for.

GRAY stirs, not understanding.

GRAY:

I am sorry, this seems a crude

question, but what is the point of

gassing a corpse?

IRVING:

Because, my Lord, they came in

heavily infested with the typhus-

bearing lice which had killed them.

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There is a pause. RAMPTON’S eyes narrow. He points to the

photos of the door with the peephole and grill.

RAMPTON:

Did they? Did they, Mr Irving? Did

they indeed? So why, then, please,

explain to me, why did it need a

gas-tight door with a peep hole

with double eight millimetre glass

and a metal grill on the inside?

It’s the kill. Time seems to slow to nothing. DEBORAH closes

her eyes.

112 EXT. BIRKENAU. DAY (IN DEBORAH’S HEAD) 112

For a brief moment, she sees the peep hole in the door.

Barely discernible, close-packed faces crying out in panic

and terror, fingers clawing at the metal grill. A small

girl’s face lost in the turmoil, terrified.

113 INT. HIGH COURT. DAY 113

DEBORAH whips round and stares accusingly at IRVING. He is

aware of her, but avoids her gaze. Time begins to move again.

IRVING:

You will remember at this time most

of Germany was under the weight of

Royal Air Force bomber command.

There was a concern about the need

to build bomb-tight shelters.

RAMPTON:

So now it’s an air-raid shelter, is

it?

IRVING:

I beg your pardon?

RAMPTON:

It is either a cellar for gassing

already-dead corpses, or else it’s

an air-raid shelter?

IRVING:

Did I say either or?

RAMPTON:

In early 1943? An air-raid shelter,

when you know perfectly well that

the first bombing raid near

Auschwitz was not until late ‘44?

IRVING says nothing.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 8181.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

And the placing of this supposed

air-raid shelter? If it was for the

SS, then it was a terribly long way

from the SS barracks, wasn’t it?

Have you thought about that? Two

and half miles isn’t it? They would

all be dead before they got there

if there was bombing raid.

DEBORAH is amazed, having at last realised what RAMPTON is up

to. An image of RAMPTON pacing out distances at Auschwitz

flashes into her head as she remembers.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

Do you really see a whole lot of

heavily armed soldiers running two

and half to three miles from the SS

barracks to these cellars at the

far end of Birkenau camp?

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