The Pianist Page #17

Suddenly:

YOUNG SS MAN:

Halt!

The column halts before a young SS man, wild-eyed, with

his sleeves rolled up and wielding a pistol. He talks

excitedly to the policemen then turns, walks along the

column dividing them up: some men to the right, others,

seven of them, to the left. Benek he orders to the left,

Szpilman to the right.

Young SS man turns to those on the left.

YOUNG SS MAN:

Lie down!

Terrified, they obey. He stands over them and, one by one,

shoots them. When he comes to Benek, the seventh man, his

pistol runs out of ammunition. He changes the clip, shoots

Benek and marches off.

EXT. BUILDING SITE, OUTSIDE GHETTO - DAY

Szpilman, bent almost double, carries a hod on his back

piled with bricks. He is mounting a wooden ramp that runs

up beside scaffolding on a small building site where an

extra floor is being added to a house. There are Polish

workers, too, who don't, of course, wear armbands as the

Jews do. There's a wooden hut serving as a store on the

site.

Halfway up the ramp, Szpilman hears someone whistle. He

stops, turns to see, at the bottom of the ramp, Majorek,

smiling and giving a discreet wave.

Later:

Szpilman and Majorek sip gruel out of mugs. They sit apart

from the others who are also taking a break.

SZPILMAN:

How long have you been here?

MAJOREK:

Since last night. I was pleased to

see you.

Brief silence.

MAJOREK:

They're going to start the final

resettlement now. We know what it

means. We sent someone out. Zygmunt.

A good man. His orders were to

follow the trains out of Warsaw.

He got to Sokolow. A local

railwayman told him the tracks are

divided, one branch leading to

Treblinka. He said every day freight

trains carrying people from Warsaw

forked to Treblinka and returned

empty. No transports of food are

ever seen on that line. And

civilians are forbidden to approach

the Treblinka station. They're

exterminating us. Won't take them

long. We're sixty thousand left.

Out of half a million. Mostly young

people. And this time we're going

to fight. We're in good shape.

We're organised. We're prepared.

SZPILMAN:

If you need help...

Whistle blows.

A little later:

Szpilman again mounting the ramp with a hod full of bricks

on his back. The noise of airplanes overhead.

EXT. SKY - DAY

A swarm of Russian bombers. Anti-aircraft fire. Puffs of

exploding shells.

EXT. BUILDING SITE - DAY

The workers look up. So does Szpilman and, as he does so,

the bricks slide off his hod, crashing to the ground below.

ZICK-ZACK

You!

An SS man, ZICK-ZACK (his nickname), with a whip, approaches

Szpilman.

ZICK-ZACK

Here!

Szpilman goes to him. Enraged, Zick-Zack grabs him by the

hair and presses his head hard between his thighs and then

beats him mercilessly.

ZICK-ZACK

(with every stroke,

hissing through

clenched teeth)

Und-zick! Und-zack! Und-zick! Und-

zack!

After a dozen or so strokes, Szpilman falls forward and

lies in the dirt. Zick-Zack nods, satisfied.

ZICK-ZACK

Get him away from here.

Two Poles, without armbands, one of them Bartczak, drag

him away.

Bartczak and the other man help Szpilman to his feet.

BARTCZAK:

Hope you played the piano better

than you carry bricks.

POLISH WORKMAN:

He won't last long if he goes on

like this.

BARTCZAK:

I'll see if I can get him something

better.

INT./EXT. STORES AND BUILDING SITE - DAY

Winter. Rain. Cold. The store, a wooden hut, contains wood,

nails, tools, paint, metal brackets.

Szpilman sits at a table, where a line of workers has

formed. Szpilman makes a record in a ledger of the tools

each worker takes out on the site.

A worker puts his head into the store.

WORKER:

(hissing)

Trouble.

A GERMAN VOICE:

Assemble! Fall in! Only the Jews!

Poles go on working! Only the Jews!

Poles go on working!

The Jewish workers start to assemble on the site in

haphazard ranks as an SS Captain strides in.

The SS Captain, with much jollity and jokes, hops up on to

scaffolding and stands, beaming broadly, surveying the

workers.

SS CAPTAIN:

(in English)

I have important and good news for

you. There are rumours circulating

that resettlement measures are

again going to be taken.

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