Schindler's List Page #20

Schindler's face changes like a wall going up, a mask of

indifference like in the portrait of Adolf Hitler on the

wall behind him.

SCHINDLER:

Who says that?

MISS KRAUSE:

Everyone.

Schindler glances away from her. He seems weary suddenly,

depressed.

MISS KRAUSE:

My name is Regina Perlman, not Elsa

Krause. I've been living in Cracow

on false papers since the ghetto

massacre.

(pause)

My parents are in Plaszow. They're

old. They're killing old people in

Plaszow now. They bury them up in

the forest. I have no money. I

borrowed these clothes. Will you

bring them here?

Schindler glances back at her, his face hard, cold, and

studies her for a long, long moment before --

SCHINDLER:

I don't do that. You've been misled.

I ask one thing:
whether or not a

worker has certain skills. That's

what I ask and that's what I care

about, get out of my office.

She stares at him, frightened and bewildered. She feels tears

welling up.

SCHINDLER:

Cry and I'll have you arrested, I

swear to God.

She hurries out.

INT. ADMINISTRATION BUILDING - PLASZOW - DAY

Schindler barges into Stern's office. In a foul and aggressive

mood, he dispenses with pleasantries in order to admonish

the accountant --

SCHINDLER:

People die, it's a fact of life.

Stern has hardly had time to look up from the work on his

desk.

SCHINDLER:

He wants to kill everybody? Great.

What am I supposed to do, bring

everybody over? Is that what you

think? Yeah, send them over to

Schindler, send them all. His place

is a "haven," didn't you know? It's

not a factory, it's not an enterprise

of any kind, it's a haven for people

with no skills whatsoever.

Stern's look is all innocence, but Schindler knows better.

SCHINDLER:

You think I don't know what you're

doing? You're so quiet all the time?

I know.

STERN:

(with concern)

Are you losing money?

SCHINDLER:

No, I'm not losing money, that's not

the point.

STERN:

What other point is --

SCHINDLER:

(interrupts; yells)

It's dangerous. It's dangerous, to

me, personally.

Silence. Schindler tries to settle down. Then --

SCHINDLER:

You have to understand, Goeth's under

enormous pressure. You have to think

of it in his situation. He's got

this whole place to run, he's

responsible for everything that goes

on here, all these people -- he's

got a lot of things to worry about.

And he's got the war. Which brings

out the worst in people. Never the

good, always the bad. Always the

bad. But in normal circumstances, he

wouldn't be like this. He'd be all

right. There'd be just the good

aspects of him. Which is a wonderful

crook. A guy who loves good food,

good wine, the ladies, making money...

STERN:

And killing.

SCHINDLER:

I'll admit it's a weakness. I don't

think he enjoys it.

(pause)

All right, he does enjoy it, so what?

What do you expect me to do about

it?

STERN:

There's nothing you can do. I'm not

asking you to do anything. You came

into my office.

But it isn't Stern who needs convincing; it's Schindler

himself. It's doubtful he even realizes this, but it's clear

to Stern. Schindler sighs either at the predicament itself,

or at the fact that he's allowed Stern to place him right in

the middle of it. He turns to leave, hesitates. He conducts

a mental search for a name and eventually comes up with it:

SCHINDLER:

Perlman, husband and wife.

He unstraps his watch, hands it to Stern.

SCHINDLER:

Give it to Goldberg, have him send

them over.

He leaves.

EXT. BALCONY - GOETH'S VILLA - NIGHT

Distant music, Brahms' lullaby, from the Rosner Brothers way

down by the women's barracks calming the inhabitants. Up

here on the balcony, Schindler and Goeth, the latter so drunk

he can barely stand up, stare out over Goeth's dark kingdom.

SCHINDLER:

They don't fear us because we have

the power to kill, they fear us

because we have the power to kill

arbitrarily. A man commits a crime,

he should know better. We have him

killed, we feel pretty good about

it. Or we kill him ourselves and we

feel even better. That's not power,

though, that's justice. That's

different than power. Power is when

we have every justification to kill --

and we don't. That's power. That's

what the emperors had. A man stole

something, he's brought in before

the emperor, he throws himself down

on the floor, he begs for mercy, he

knows he's going to die... and the

emperor pardons him. This worthless

man. He lets him go. That's power.

That's power.

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