Son of Saul Page #12

Shooting Draft April 25, 2014

62.

SS OFFICER 5

(in German)

Kapo, what’s going on with the

numbers??

Schlojme does not move for seconds. And then...

SCHLOJME:

(in German)

Abgang, Herr Untersharführer.

SS OFFICER 4

(in German, indifferent)

We’ll see at roll call.

+

The officer moves away.

The gates open. They enter the krematorium.

CUT TO:

37 INT. KREMATORIUM - BACK OF THE OVENS / ATTIC STAIRS /

PRISONERS’ HALL UNDER THE ROOF - SAUL’S CORNER - NIGHT

The group of exhausted prisoners, among them Saul and Braun,

walk behind the silent ovens. They climb up the stairs.

Frankel reaches Saul at the top of the stairs. Yankl follows

them as they go further in the attic.

FRANKEL:

(in Yiddish)

Why did you bring this one in?

SAUL:

(in broken Yiddish)

Rabbi. +

Frankel looks startled. They reach Saul’s corner. Braun

enters and lies down on the camp bed.

Saul turns to Frankel, who is still behind.

SAUL (CONT’D)

(in broken Yiddish)

For the dead. +

FRANKEL:

(in Yiddish)

We carry our dead ourselves.

A beat.

Shooting Draft April 25, 2014

63.

FRANKEL (CONT’D)

(in Yiddish)

People come to me. +

SAUL:

(in broken Yiddish)

I did.

FRANKEL:

(in Yiddish)

I said a Kaddish.

Saul doesn’t answer. Yankl catches them up. He peers into

Saul’s corner.

YANKL:

(in Yiddish) +

This is a bandit who snores. +

Saul enters his corner. Frankel and Yankl leave. Braun is

asleep.

Saul points to a sheet below a little curtain in the hidden

corner of the room.

SAUL:

(in Yiddish)

That’s the boy. I hid him. +

Braun doesn’t wake up.

SAUL (CONT’D)

(in Hungarian)

You’ll tell me what to do.

Saul goes to the body, kneels down, touches the sheet.

When he turns back, Braun has fallen asleep.

Saul gets up, pours some water from a tank in a dish and puts

it next to the boy. He is about to uncover the body when he

hears murmurs from outside. +

Saul hurries back to the bed.

Then, he goes back to the body and uncovers it. He looks at

it for some time.

With delicate gestures, he pours some water on the frail

chest, and cleans the skin. He clears the face as well. A

smile on his face. A strange light illuminates his eyes. +

Shooting Draft April 25, 2014

64.

He gazes at it and eventually puts back the sheet onto the

body.

CUT TO:

INT. KREMATORIUM - SAUL’S CORNER / PRISONERS’ ROOM UNDER THE

ROOF - NIGHT

Steps can be heard behind the door.

Saul gets up and goes to the curtain. Abraham stands in the

doorway, Saul keeps the door half-closed.

ABRAHAM:

(in Hungarian)

Where have you been all night?

SAUL:

(in Hungarian)

I was taken to the pits.

ABRAHAM:

(in Hungarian)

Where’s the powder?

Saul looks up, confused.

ABRAHAM (CONT’D)

(in Hungarian, impatient)

The package sent by the women?

Saul feels his trousers, looks up.

SAUL:

(in Hungarian)

Fallen...

Abraham looks at him, terrified.

ABRAHAM:

(in Hungarian)

How will we blow up this thing now?

Angry, Abraham pushes Saul inside his corner. Braun wakes up.

Abraham looks at Braun and back at Saul, astonished.

In a rush of wrath, he grabs Saul’s collar.

SAUL:

(in Hungarian)

He’ll help us tomorrow!

Shooting Draft April 25, 2014

65.

ABRAHAM:

(in Hungarian)

You found him?? +

Abraham lets go of him. +

ABRAHAM (CONT’D)

(in Hungarian, whispers)

You pick a rabbi from the dead? +

Vassili appears, looking at the scene. +

VASSILI:

(in Russian, to Saul)

Where’s the bundle?

Abraham leans toward Vassili, explaining something to him.

VASSILI (CONT’D)

(in Russian)

Stupid Jew.

Vassili looks at Saul, anger blurs his eyes. He punches Saul

in the stomach, cursing in Russian. Abraham stands there, he

does not intervene. Saul falls on the ground.

ABRAHAM:

(in Russian)

Stop!

Vassili hits Saul one last time and leaves. +

When Saul gets up again, Abraham has uncovered the body and

is kneeling by him. Braun is watching from the bed.

Saul goes to the body and covers him back.

ABRAHAM (CONT’D)

(in Hungarian)

Who is this?

SAUL:

(in Hungarian)

My son.

ABRAHAM:

(in Hungarian, dismayed)

But you have no son.

He tries to remain calm.

SAUL:

(in Hungarian)

I do.

Shooting Draft April 25, 2014

66.

Abraham looks at Saul.

SAUL (CONT’D)

(in Hungarian)

I have to bury my son. +

ABRAHAM:

(in Hungarian,

annihilated)

You don’t need a rabbi for that!

+

SAUL:

(in Hungarian, pointing at

Braun)

At least he will do what’s right.

Abraham goes toward the curtain. He keeps an eye on Braun. +

ABRAHAM:

(in Hungarian, to Saul)

This man stays in the room. You get

rid of the body.

Abraham leaves.

CUT TO:

38B INT. KREMATORIUM - SAUL’S CORNER - DAWN

Saul goes to Braun, takes a razor out of his pocket and

starts shaving the man, looking at his face.

Braun does not look into Saul’s eyes. +

CUT TO:

39 I/E. KREMATORIUM - COURTYARD - CONSTRUCTION AREA - MORNING

Saul and Braun are digging in the ground with shovels. Next

to them, there is a cart covered with a canvas.

They are standing in an area partially covered by a large

canvas in a corner of the courtyard. Bricks and boards are

aligned on the side, along with shovels and other tools.

Around them other PRISONERS are busy working.

Saul stops when he feels a hand on his arm. It is Feigenbaum.

FEIGENBAUM:

(in Yiddish)

Don’t dig here!

Shooting Draft April 25, 2014

67.

SAUL:

(in Hungarian)

I don’t understand.

He resumes his digging.

FEIGENBAUM:

(in Yiddish)

What did you say?

Braun stops and looks at Feigenbaum. Feigenbaum tries to

speak to him in Yiddish. +

Feigenbaum loses his patience.

FEIGENBAUM (CONT’D)

(in Yiddish, to Saul)

This is my spot! +

An alarm goes off somewhere near the Krematorium.

The men are seemingly confused.

Prisoners run out of the building, ordered by guards to

gather in the courtyard. .

+

+

A Kapo comes toward Saul and Braun.

KAPO:

(in German)

Schnell!

Feigenbaum and the workers run out of the work area toward

the courtyard where the guards have already started directing

the prisoners into a side entrance.

+

Saul loses Braun and engulfed in the crowd, enters the

darkness of the side entrance.

+

CUT TO:

40 I/E. KREMATORIUM -COURTYARD - COAL STORAGE ROOM - DAY

Saul is standing still among the other prisoners. The room is

packed. The worried faces of many men can be seen around him.

Some whisper to each other. No sign of Braun.

Saul pushes the men around him and looks at the faces as he

proceeds forward in the room. He looks for Braun. +

A low rumble of mixed voices can be heard, in all languages.

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