The Life of Emile Zola Page #5

for me to desire.

Pardon, monsieur.

There's a lady to see you.

- A lady?

- Madame Dreyfus, monsieur.

Dreyfus?

- You didn't tell her I was home?

- Yes...

You blockhead!

Why didn't you come ask me?!

- The lady will hear you, Emile.

- You knew I was busy.

- Well, well, well. Just ask her to come in.

- Yes, sir.

Madame Dreyfus, please.

- Madame Dreyfus?

- Yes, Monsieur Zola.

Please forgive me for intruding like this...

...but I had to see you,

talk to you about my husband.

But, madame, what can I do

for your husband?

He's innocent, monsieur.

I've absolute proof here.

But no one will listen to me. No one.

Naturally, as his wife,

you believe him innocent...

...but he was lawfully convicted.

Lawfully convicted of a crime

he did not commit.

Oh, Monsieur Zola...

...you're the only man in all of France

who can make them listen.

All your life, you've stood

for truth and justice.

I'm hardly the man to help you. I...

I'm just an ordinary citizen, and l...

Besides, I have my work,

my books to write. I can't...

What is this new proof

you say you have?

- A certain Colonel Picquart...

- Oh, that.

It was all in the papers.

Picquart came back from Africa...

...and accused Esterhazy of writing

the bordereau.

Esterhazy was acquitted.

Of course he was. Acquitted by the same

army group that convicted my husband.

But don't you see?

They had to acquit Esterhazy...

...to save the face of the general staff.

They'll stop at nothing...

...to protect themselves,

even to sacrificing one of their own class.

That's fantastic. Childish, madame.

The general staff has more important work

to do than...

What do you mean,

"sacrificing one of their own class"?

Colonel Picquart has been arrested

and imprisoned in Mount Valerien.

They've arrested Picquart?

Well, why?

- What had he done?

- Nothing.

Nothing except speak the truth.

But, madame, we must deal in facts,

not irony.

I have all the facts, Monsieur Zola. Here.

These are letters written to Picquart

by the assistant chief of staff...

...proving beyond doubt

that the general staff knows...

...my husband is innocent

and Esterhazy is guilty.

Well, why weren't these used

in the Esterhazy court-martial?

Colonel Picquart's a good soldier.

He kept silent at the command

of his superiors.

You mean they knew...

...and ordered him to suppress the truth?

Why, that's monstrous.

Oh, Monsieur Zola, you will help,

won't you?

How can anyone help you?

All France believes your husband guilty,

hates him as a traitor.

They would destroy any man

that would dare champion him.

There must be some way

to right this wrong.

Your husband's case is closed.

There's nothing that can be done.

Nothing.

Unless some fool were to publicly

accuse the general staff...

...and get himself dragged into court

on a charge of libel.

Then, possibly, they would...

I've lived my life.

I've had enough of fighting...

...turmoil, strife. I'm happy,

contented here. Why should I...

I'm sorry, Monsieur Zola.

It was only my despair

that brought me here.

I was thinking of my husband,

condemned to suffer a living death.

I dared to hope that perhaps

if you would...

Madame, if I could...

Madame Dreyfus!

Madame Dreyfus!

- Hello, Clemenceau.

- Labori.

- Why has Zola called us here?

- I know no more about it than you.

Hello.

How do you do, Madame Dreyfus?

Do you know...?

- I asked him for his help, but maybe...

- Why involve Zola in this hopeless mess?

Absolutely useless, beyond all remedy.

Oh, here he is.

- Oh, hello, Emile.

- Hello, Anatole.

Labori.

- You're going to be busy.

- What are you going to do?

- Explode a bomb.

- A bomb?

Thank you for coming, all of you.

- What is it?

- A letter...

...to the president of the republic.

"Mr. President of the republic...

...permit me to tell you

that your record without blame so far...

...is threatened with a most shameful blot:

This abominable Dreyfus affair.

A court-martial has recently, by order...

...dared to acquit one Esterhazy,

a supreme slap at all truth, all justice.

But since they have dared,

I too shall dare.

I shall tell the truth.

Because if I did not...

...my nights would be haunted

by the specter of a man...

...expiating, under the most frightful

torture, a crime he never committed.

It is impossible for honest people

to read the bill of accusation...

...against Dreyfus

without being overcome with indignation...

...and crying out their revulsion.

Dreyfus knows several languages. Crime.

He works hard. Crime.

No compromising papers are found

in his apartment. Crime.

He goes occasionally

to the country of his origin. Crime.

He endeavors to learn everything. Crime.

He's not easily worried. Crime.

He is easily worried. Also a crime.

The minister of war,

the chief of the general staff...

...and the assistant chief never doubted

that the famous bordereau...

...was written by Esterhazy...

...but the condemnation of Esterhazy

involved revision of the Dreyfus verdict...

...and that the general staff

wished to avoid at all cost.

For over a year, the minister of war

and the general staff have known...

...that Dreyfus is innocent...

...but they have kept this knowledge

to themselves.

And those men sleep...

...and they have wives

and children they love.

One speaks of the honor of the army.

The army is the people of France

themselves...

...and the Dreyfus affair is a matter

pertaining to that army.

Dreyfus cannot be vindicated without

condemning the whole general staff.

That is why the general staff

has screened Esterhazy:

To demolish Dreyfus once more.

Such, then, Mr. President,

is the simple truth.

It is a fearful truth.

But I affirm, with intense conviction...

...the truth is on the march,

and nothing will stop it.

Mr. President...

...I accuse Colonel Dort of having been

the diabolical agent of the affair...

...and of continuing to defend

his deadly work...

...through three years

of revolting machination.

I accuse the minister of war

of having concealed decisive proofs...

...of the innocence of Dreyfus.

I accuse the chief of staff

and assistant chief of staff...

...of being accomplices in the crime.

I accuse the commander of the Paris

garrison of the most monstrous partiality.

I accuse the war office of having

viciously led a campaign...

...to misdirect public opinion

and cover up its sins.

I accuse the first court-martial

of violating all human rights...

...in condemning a prisoner

on testimony kept secret from him.

And finally...

...I accuse the Esterhazy court-martial...

...of covering up this illegality by order,

thus, in turn...

...committing the judicial crime

of acquitting a guilty man.

In making these accusations,

I am aware that I render myself...

...open to persecution for libel,

but that does not matter.

The action I take is designed

only to hasten...

...the explosion of truth and justice.

Let there be a trial

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