Norman Page #5

How did you meet him?

(SIGHS)

I bought him a pair of shoes.

(SCOFFS) What?

You bought him a pair of shoes?

You never know.

(SING-SONG) You never know, you never know.

What do you mean

you bought him a pair of shoes?

(IN NORMAL VOICE) You never know.

A pair of shoes.

The most expensive shoes in all of New York,

but the best investment I made my whole life.

May I ask what you do for a living?

Sure. I'm a businessman.

Oh. What sort of business?

Um, consulting. Mostly.

Who do you consult?

Well, businesses, organizations, individuals.

It varies, you know.

Sometimes I consult other consultants.

But do you have a specific area of expertise?

Can you explain to me

how your business works?

If it is not too complicated. I'm curious.

(INAUDIBLE)

(CAMERA CLICKS)

(LINE RINGING)

NORMAN:
Hello?

Hi. It's Alex. From the train just now.

Alex. I was just getting into a cab.

Should I give you a ride? Where are you?

I'm still at Penn Station.

Are you on the street?

No. I'm still inside.

I just realized

you didn't have my telephone number.

So I just wanted you to have it.

(NORMAN BREATHING HEAVILY)

Norman, are you okay?

Yes, of course I am.

No. Everything is perfect.

Couldn't be better. No.

This whole evening has been like...

Been like floating on a cloud.

WOMAN ON PA:
May I have your attention,

please, Amtrak passengers?

All ticketed passengers

are required to have valid identification

at all times.

Randomly selected passengers,

their baggage, handbags...

(SIGHS)

Everybody, go home. Go to sleep.

The historical bond between

the United States and Israel

has never been stronger, you can all relax.

At least till tomorrow morning. Right, Duby?

If I have to shake one more hand tonight,

my fingers will fall off.

One more hand to shake, I'm afraid.

Bruce Schwartz.

Special Middle East Coordinator.

It's good to finally meet in person,

Prime Minister.

We don't have to shake hands.

You're not going to make me

put on my shoes, are you?

No. No. No. This is as informal as could be.

Good. The formal me needs a rest.

Bruce would like to go over some points

before tomorrow's meeting with the President.

Well, it's less about

your meeting with the President

and more about the statements

you will be delivering

elsewhere around town.

Now, as someone who occupies

a fairly tough job himself...

ESHEL:
Excuse me, let me stop you. Please.

Tell the President that

I am here to say "yes" to peace.

I'm sorry "state of peace",

as we agreed to call it.

I fully accept his vision.

I understand it and I believe in it.

No internal politics will change

my commitment to the Wye document.

This evening I had to, uh...

How do you say, uh, mas sefataim?

- To pay lip service.

- Yeah, I had to pay lip service

to a few organizations on a few minor issues,

but I promise you, it has no substance.

BRUCE:
Well, I'm sure the President

will be very...

You know what I've found out

in the last couple of weeks

since I was elected?

- Maybe the President can identify with me.

- (CHUCKLING)

For the first time,

I don't have political worries.

Somehow, God put me in this job.

It's not that I didn't work very hard

to get here, I did,

but hundreds of other potential leaders

worked and campaigned just as hard as I did,

and for some reason,

I'm the one sitting in this chair today.

The top spot.

I've reached the top of the ladder.

Why me and not someone else? (SCOFFS)

Who knows?

Believe me, I'm as surprised as anyone else.

But this is the interesting thing,

instead of feeling the burden

of that great responsibility,

I'm feeling...

How do you say goral?

- Fate.

- Fate. I feel fate.

If God put me here,

he must have had a good reason.

Now, I'm not free to run away from this job,

but to be honest,

no single human being can really claim

to be big enough for this job either.

I would be very happy

to go over our itinerary...

What is it that really worries the President?

Tell me.

What doesn't he want me to say?

Well, you have been saying

different things in different forums.

And I think we're just trying

to get a better understanding

of what is the singular message

you wish to deliver.

Oh, the "singular message"?

(CHUCKLES)

You were there tonight, right?

Hanna? Hanna, how many

completely opposing organization leaders

came up to me and said, "We're behind you"?

Fifty? 100?

Each with a completely different agenda.

There is no such thing as a singular message.

And anyone who tells you

he's got a singular message

is probably teaching at a university

or writing a blog.

- Okay, I didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry...

- I'll tell you what my singular message is.

I'm going to end this conflict.

How? I'm going to say "yes" to compromise.

To everybody!

Because the opposite of compromise

is not idealism.

The opposite of compromise is not integrity.

The opposite of compromise

is fanaticism and death.

Life is compromise.

I not only believe in that, that is who I am.

That is why I'm here, in this position.

(SIGHS)

If it works,

I will go down in history

as the leader who ended this epic conflict.

If I'm wrong, and my compromise

leads to another catastrophic bloody war,

I will blame God for giving me a role

I was clearly incapable of performing.

(DOOR CLOSES)

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)

Oh, look who showed up.

Our savior has finally arrived.

Sorry I'm late.

No reason to kill me.

Can you get rid of the nuts, please?

The situation is very simple.

The National Council

has decided to sell the building.

To be practical, we need to raise

approximately $14 million

to save us from the wrecking ball

and ensure our future here.

Or we start wandering

from one temporary arrangement to another

which, in my humble opinion,

would mean the end of this community.

MAN:
Exactly what we talked about before...

Okay. Well, all right, let's not despair.

This is where our friend

Norman Oppenheimer comes in.

Norman?

(LINE RINGING)

Norman, Philip tells me you can help me.

You will have my best effort, yes.

Here, talk to Bill.

- Norman, this is Bill.

- Is Jo still there? Can he hear me?

Jo had to step out.

- Let me tell you what we need.

- Okay.

Colleague of ours needs a friendly

introduction at the State Department.

- State Department?

- Yes.

And if Eshel can help us with that,

we'll see what we can do

about your synagogue situation.

All right, I got it.

Hanna, Hanna, please,

just give me a minute with him on the phone.

One minute.

I'm sorry, Norman. The Prime Minister

is not available to speak right now.

Look, Hanna, this is a special request.

The Prime Minister asked me

to look into it, okay?

These are just very busy days for us.

Unfortunately, I can't be more specific,

but I'm sure you understand.

I understand, of course I understand.

All right. All right, all right, all right.

Please tell the Prime Minister

it would be great

if we had a short conversation

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