Denial Page #20

The court overflowing now. RAMPTON comes across to DEBORAH.

RAMPTON:

Is your survivor friend in the

court?

DEBORAH:

Why?

DEBORAH nods up to VERA sitting in her place. RAMPTON puts

his hand on her arm, then moves across to address the court.

RAMPTON:

My Lord, I start with this, that if

one had read some of the media

reports, one might have supposed

that Mr Irving had been dragged

into this court to defend his

freedom of speech. The history of

the matter is quite the reverse.

The defendant did make serious

charges. But, as it turns out from

the evidence, the accusations are

true in every significant respect.

RAMPTON shares a look with DEBORAH before continuing. He

really wants her to hear this.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

The Holocaust took place in stages.

The first stage, beginning in 1941,

consisted of mass shootings carried

out by specially formed SS groups

and their local allies.

DEBORAH closes her eyes. There is a moment as the faces of a

multitude of people are shown on the walls of the court, as

if the ghosts of the dead were present.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 9898.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

This resulted in the deaths of up

to 1.5 million Jews living in

Russia and the Baltic States. The

second stage, which began in

December 1941, consisted of the

gassing of Jews of the Warthegau

and Poland. This resulted in the

deaths of probably as many as 2.6

million. The third stage, beginning

with mass deportations in 1941,

culminated in the gassing, mostly

at Auschwitz, of Jews from Central,

Western and Southern Europe. This

stage lasted until late 1944.

At this point RAMPTON looks to DEBORAH then turns and looks

up to the gallery where VERA and the other SURVIVORS are

sitting. He addresses them.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

The total achievement of this

systematic mass murder was probably

between five and six million

innocent souls.

RAMPTON bows imperceptibly to VERA who stares back, moved.

The multitude disappears. DEBORAH watches, not breathing.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

It is wildly implausible therefore

to present Adolf Hitler as a

somewhat harried business

executive, too preoccupied to know

what was happening in the branch

offices in Treblinka and Auschwitz.

During this trial we have heard

from Professor Evans and others of

at least twenty five major

falsifications of history. Well,

says Mr Irving, all historians make

mistakes. But there is a difference

between negligence, which is random

in its effect and a deliberateness

which is far more one-sided. All Mr

Irving’s little fictions, all his

tweaks of the evidence, all tend in

the same direction: exculpation of

Adolf Hitler. It is, to use an

analogy, like a waiter who always

gives the wrong change. If the

waiter is honest, then we may

expect his mistakes sometimes to

benefit the customer, sometimes

himself. But Mr Irving is the

dishonest waiter. Every one of his

mistakes works in his own favour.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 9999.

For once at the trial DEBORAH smiles.

RAMPTON (CONT’D)

How far, if at all, Mr Irving’s

anti-Semitism is a cause of his

Hitler apology, or vice versa, is

unimportant. Whether they are taken

together or individually it is

clear they have led him to

prostitute his reputation as a

serious historian for the sake of a

bogus rehabilitation of Hitler, and

the dissemination of virulent anti-

Semitic propaganda.

GRAY stirs at this point.

GRAY:

Yes, this is a question I have to

ask you, Mr Rampton.

RAMPTON:

By all means, my Lord.

GRAY:

My question is this: if somebody is

anti-Semitic, anti-Semitic and

extremist, he is perfectly capable

of being honestly anti-Semitic?

Yes? He is holding those views and

expressing those views because they

are indeed his views.

RAMPTON is thrown, unsteady, bewildered by the question.

RAMPTON:

Well, yes.

GRAY:

And so it seems to me, if it comes

down to it, that the anti-Semitism

is a completely separate allegation

which has precious little bearing

on your broader charge that he has

manipulated the data?

RAMPTON:

No, my Lord. No. The whole

endeavour of the defence has been

to prove that the two are

connected.

GRAY:

Yes, but he might believe what he

is saying. That is the point. That

is why it’s important.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 100100.

DEBORAH looks to JULIUS, who looks equally alarmed. For a

moment, RAMPTON is lost.

RAMPTON:

My Lord, if we know for a fact that

Mr Irving is an anti-Semite, and if

we also know that there is no

historical justification for

Holocaust denial, then surely it’s

not a great stretch to see the two

things must be connected?

GRAY:

Yes, thank you. Carry on.

DEBORAH turns again to JULIUS, who is shaking his head.

DEBORAH:

What the f*** just happened?

JULIUS looks to RAMPTON, for the first time fear in his eye.

129 INT & EXT. DEBORAH’S HOUSE. DAY 129

The Mutt runs happily across the kitchen to be beside

DEBORAH, a towel round her neck, fresh from jogging as she

vigorously throws cut lemons into a blender. The blender

whirs. She makes an icy jug of lemonade. She takes the

lemonade through to the pretty terrace where LIBBY is

sitting.

LIBBY:

Well? How was it?

DEBORAH:

Oh...

LIBBY:

You’ve hardly said anything since

you got back.

DEBORAH looks at her, as if finally about to say.

DEBORAH:

I’ll tell you what happened at the

end. We summed up. Irving summed

up.

LIBBY:

And?

DEBORAH:

Everyone kept saying, this is all

great, everything’s going to be

fine. Then suddenly this judge,

this unbelievable Englishman from

Masterpiece Theatre -

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LIBBY:

I like Masterpiece Theatre.

DEBORAH:

OK. At the last moment he looks up

and says “Well maybe Irving

actually believes it. He’s an anti-

Semite and he believes it. You

can’t say someone’s lying if they

say something they genuinely

believe.”

LIBBY:

But that’s crazy. It’s mad.

DEBORAH nods as if to say ‘Yip.’

DEBORAH:

And that’s when I thought ‘I’ve

been suckered.’ I’ve stared at this

judge for forty days. I thought I

saw wisdom, but maybe I was just

looking at prejudice. He doesn’t

understand anything.

LIBBY:

What can you do?

DEBORAH:

Just wait.

LIBBY doesn’t know what to say. DEBORAH drinks her lemonade.

130 INT. JUDGE’S CHAMBERS. DAY 130

GRAY puts down his cup of tea at the table, piled with more

documents. He clears a space and takes a clean sheet of

paper. He writes DAVID IRVING VERSUS PENGUIN BOOKS AND

DEBORAH E. LIPSTADT. JUDGEMENT.

131 EXT. BARBECUE. DEBORAH’S HOUSE. NIGHT 131

DEBORAH is barbecuing on a great Southern night, doing

burgers and chops. The old crowd, SAM, STORM, LIBBY, all

relaxing with wine. Behind, a convivial table is discussing

the Atlanta Braves.

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