The Eichmann Show Page #4

having this conversation?

The idea of Israel existed long before

Eichmann and his associates.

The idea but not the reality.

I do not write history, Leo.

Before I came here

I went to see a friend in Brooklyn,

he edits the Jerusalem Post

and I talked to him about writing a weekly

editorial of the Eichmann trial

to try and promote conversation between

the Israelis about the nature of fascism.

It's an idea worth being vigilant about,

wouldn't you say?

And did your friend

take you up on your kind offer?

- He was embarrassed by it.

- Are you really so surprised?

There's too much to contend with

in the present to keep looking back.

But my point is fascism didn't die

when Hitler blew his brains out.

Wherever people set up house,

fascism can exist.

Israel is a new-born calf, Leo.

Still struggling to its feet.

All in good time.

You were in Auschwitz, weren't you?

Yes.

As a survivor, what do you think of

Eichmann when you look at him?

I should get back inside.

The wind is picking up.

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight -

One more for the boss!

I know a song, it goes like this,

do you know it too?

Oh yes I do, yes I do,

it goes one, two, three, four.

Morning, guys.

Oh, aren't you grumpy?

They know where we live.

Ok. You two, go and play in your room.

Come on, go.

Thank you.

Eva, the police have

a security detail outside...

How good are they

if it didn't stop this?

What if it had been a bomb?

This isn't the first time, Milton.

They're just trying to frighten me

into pulling the production.

How can you be sure

it's just intended to frighten you

and not to warn against worse to come?

I can't. If you want me to stop, I'll stop.

And give the bastards the satisfaction?

I'll see you later.

I love you.

Go to work.

On behalf of us all, Attorney General,

do not f*** this up.

I'm nervous for him.

Does he seem nervous?

Well, he does have the eyes

of the world on him.

Start wide on Hausner, take three.

Zoom in as he begins.

- When I stand before you...

- Standby four.

Judges of Israel, in this court

to accuse Adolf Eichmann...

Take one.

I do not stand alone...

Shouldn't you go in tighter on Hausner?

We need to establish him

as a main character.

I'm not directing a soap opera, Milton.

It's evident that he's a main character.

Here with me at this moment

stand six million prosecutors.

But alas, they cannot rise

to level the finger of accusation

in the direction of the

glass dock and cry out

I accuse, ' against the

man who sits there.

Because their ashes have been piled up

in the mounds of Auschwitz

and the fields of Treblinka

or spilled into the rivers of Poland.

Their graves are scattered throughout

the length and breadth of Europe.

Their blood cries to heaven,

but their voice cannot be heard.

Thus it falls to me

to be their mouthpiece

and to deliver the heinous

accusation in their name.

Early this morning, Adolf Eichmann -

Whoever you are,

wherever you live, whatever you do,

remember April 1961.

The month the Cold War got hot in Cuba

and men finally defied gravity

to blast into space.

The solar system got a whole lot nearer

but the chance of peace

light years further away.

Contrary to what you believe,

we see real and widespread interest.

Thank you, friend, thank you.

How can Eichmann compare with,

say, Gagarin?

People bore of spectacles very quickly.

- It is ridiculous to compare the two.

- Really?

But, isn't your problem that people

may choose to watch one over the other?

Why would they?

They're entirely unrelated.

You don't think one represents the dark

past and the other our glittering future?

My wife is right.

Very little can compete as a spectacle

with the first man in space.

Although isn't it inherently ridiculous to

try one man for the deaths of six million?

- I'd be inclined to agree with that.

- Then why else should people watch?

To learn.

Excuse me.

Give me a sec.

- Goodnight, Leo.

- Goodnight.

Don't stay up too late.

See you tomorrow.

You're not letting them

get to you, are you?

I just don't need

the distraction.

- This is bullshit.

- Maybe.

What, you think they have a point?

We only have control over

how we film the trial

not how the network

sells it to the public.

Once the excitement of seeing

a real life Nazi on trial goes away

who's to say we won't

lose the audience? Mm?

- See you in the morning.

- Yeah.

Er, scotch, please.

Would not be used on the western front.

And accompanied by Bandi Grosz

on Eichmann's orders...

David.

- They can't all be watching Gagarin.

- No. He isn't and she isn't.

Most called away to cover Gagarin

have not returned.

And those that have are following

developments in Cuba.

Jesus. My children have

a longer attention span.

Journalists. They're like magpies,

Mr Fruchtman.

They're quickly drawn to the

shiniest object in their field of vision.

You promised the

Prime Minister an audience.

Hausner has just spent three days

delivering a dry-as-dust lecture

on Israel's right to put Eichmann on trial.

He's boring the sh*t out of me.

Are you surprised that people are going?

Is there nothing we can do

to make his oration more compelling?

Yeah, off the top of my head, just one -

tell him to stop.

Loaded 1,200 Jews into a deportation

train and sent it on its way.

Whatever you've got planned for the day,

scrap it and think of something better.

Shoot tighter, cut quicker,

whatever you do, add more pace.

Milton -

Gagarin and the Bay

of Pigs are killing us!

- We need to respond.

- We are responding, by holding our nerve.

We can die holding that, Leo.

No one's f***ing watching.

Listen, you hired me

because of my experience.

That's what I'm

trying to give you.

That would be enough in a perfect world.

But it's not perfect, Leo.

It's a world with a Russian in space

and counter-revolutionaries

running amok on a Cuban beach.

- We need to compete with that.

- Well, we can't.

Not until the witness testimony

starts to come in.

What if we've lost everyone by then?

Milton, I need my producer

to be visibly calm.

We all know you're anxious,

and none of us needs to see it.

We've got your back, trust us.

When the witness testimony starts,

the audience will come back.

And what if they don't?

Then you hired the wrong guy.

In the building where

Eichmann is being tried

the Israelis are trying to place

before the conscience of the world

the full facts of how

the Nazis and Germany

tried literally to exterminate

millions of the Jewish people in Europe.

We heard how the people

were told to go to the bath house...

Take one.

They all passed through the door

into a long corridor.

We did not know exactly

what was happening.

We were in the basement,

in the cellar.

But there were SS men with great sticks

and they beat the people and

forced them to board the trucks.

But do you know now

what these trucks were?

Yes, now I know what they were.

They were trucks where people

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