The Pianist Page #11

SZPILMAN:

Believe me, they've picked him up.

HELLER:

Tough luck.

SZPILMAN:

Can you help?

HELLER:

Oh, you need me now, yes, now you

need me!

SZPILMAN:

Can you help us?

HELLER:

It costs.

SZPILMAN:

I've no money.

HELLER:

Then there's nothing I can do. He

should've joined us when I gave

him the chance..

SZPILMAN:

Yitzchak, they told me you had

influence.

HELLER:

Who told you?

SZPILMAN:

People I know. They said you're an

important man.

Heller just glares at Szpilman and then moves away. Szpilman

stands, jostled by the crowd, uncertain, forlorn.

EXT. ALLEY AND LABOUR BUREAU, LATER - MID-AFTERNOON

Szpilman, keeping to the shadows of the alleyway, watches

the front of the building. Comings and goings. German

Soldiers in evidence. The mob is smaller now.

Szpilman waits and watches, and then a POOR WOMAN passes,

carrying a can wrapped in newspaper followed by a RAGGED

OLD MAN, dragging himself along. He's shivering with cold,

his shoes with holes show his purple feet.

The ragged old man suddenly lunges forward and tries to

grab the can from the poor woman. They struggle desperately.

POOR WOMAN:

(screaming)

A snatcher! Help me, a snatcher!

The can falls to the pavement and thick, steaming soup

pours into the dirty street.

Szpilman watches, rooted to the spot. The ragged old man

stares at the can, lets out a groan, more like a whimper,

and throws himself full length in the slush, licking the

soup up from the pavement. The poor woman starts to howl,

kicking the old man and tearing at her hair in despair.

Then:

RUBINSTEIN'S VOICE

Boys, keep your peckers up! And

girls, keep your legs crossed!

RUBINSTEIN, a ragged, dishevelled little man, Chaplinesque,

waving a stick, hopping and jumping, approaches the Germans

outside the bureau.

RUBINSTEIN:

Don't let 'em get you down -

He approaches a couple of Shupos.

RUBINSTEIN:

Bandits! Crooks! Thieves!

He waves his stick at them. They laugh. One of them bows

low.

1ST SHUPO

Good day, Herr Rubinstein.

RUBINSTEIN:

If that means good day, I'm your

man, you gangsters, robbers,

pirates!

2ND SHUPO

(tapping his head)

Mad!

RUBINSTEIN:

Ich bin meshuge, you bandit!

Almost in tears with laughter, they give him a cigarette

and he goes on his way.

Szpilman almost smiles, then looks again at the building.

He waits.

EXT. ALLEY AND LABOUR BUREAU, LATER - DUSK

Sun just setting.

From the shelter of the alleyway, Szpilman continues to

watch the entrance of the bureau. No mob any more, but

people come and go - jewish policemen, shupos, a few jews.

Almost continuous sounds of distant shots and screams.

Then, Heller appears at the entrance, looks this way and

that and goes back inside the building. Szpilman alert.

Again Heller appears in the entrance. He beckons someone

inside. Henryk shuffles out. Heller shoves him into the

street. Henryk stumbles, falls.

Szpilman runs to him, helps him to his feet.

HENRYK:

(immediately on the

attack, furious)

You go to Heller, did I ask you to

talk to him?

SZPILMAN:

You're out, aren't you?

They start to walk.

HENRYK:

Did you beg, did you grovel to

that piece of sh*t, that cockroach?

SZPILMAN:

I didn't grovel, I asked him to

help.

HENRYK:

What did you pay him?

SZPILMAN:

Pay him? With what? With what could

I pay him? Every zloty I earn we

spend on food!

HENRYK:

I can look after myself!

SZPILMAN:

They were taking you away.

HENRYK:

It's nothing to do with you. It's

me they wanted, not you. Why do

you interfere in other people's

business?

SZPILMAN:

You're mad, that's your trouble,

you're mad.

HENRYK:

That's also my business.

They walk on.

EXT. CHLODNA STREET BRIDGE - DUSK

A wooden bridge has been constructed, linking the small

ghetto to the large ghetto. Few people about, mostly beggars

and children.

Szpilman and Henryk climb the stairs of the bridge, but as

they reach the bridge itself Henryk stumbles, sinks to his

knees. Szpilman gets hold of him, tries to help him stand.

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