The Pianist Page #27

INT. 4TH FLOOR LANDING - DAY

The attic door being kicked in by a German boot.

A German soldier, wearing his gas mask, bayonet fixed,

enters the attic, looks round, sees nothing, then:

GERMAN VOICE:

At the double, Fischke!

The soldier turns and hurries out.

INT. ROOF, BACK OF BUILDING - DAY

On the sloping roof, Szpilman clutches the skylight and

has his feet in the roof gutter.

He listens - all quiet in the house.

And then a bullet ricochets off the tiles beside him.

Szpilman, terrified, drops, involuntarily catching a lower

edge so that his feet dangle above a balcony below. More

shots. He drops on to the balcony and looks back.

EXT. ROOFTOP, TWO STREETS AWAY - DAY

Two German soldiers are firing at Szpilman.

INT. ROOF, BACK OF BUILDING - DAY

Szpilman clambers back into the building through the smashed

balcony door. A couple of shots dangerously close.

INT. STAIRCASE - DAY

Smoke. Szpilman staggers down the stairs, stumbles over a

corpse and almost falls headlong.

EXT. GARDEN AND BACKYARD - LATE AFTERNOON

The sun is setting.

Szpilman crawls into the backyard. He hears German voices

shouting commands. He hides behind three garbage bins by

the wall.

He waits. Listens. Silence

EXT. STREET - EVENING

Deserted. Buildings on fire but dying out. Corpses in the

street, including the woman who was shot, still in her

strange kneeling position.

EXT. FRONT DOOR AND STREET - NIGHT

Szpilman watches from the doorway. Then, dropping down, he

crawls across the road on his stomach, threading his way

through the dead bodies, now besieged by flies, and makes

for the hospital opposite.

German soldiers appear from around a corner. Szpilman

immediately lies still, pretending to be just another

corpse. Flies alight on him. When the Germans pass, he

sets off again.

INT. RUINED HOSPITAL, OPERATING THEATRE - NIGHT

Dark. Szpilman crawls into a corner, rests. He's exhausted.

He tries to take stock of his surroundings. He can make

out the operating table. He manages to drag himself on to

it.

He lies there, his eyes grow heavy. He sleeps.

EXT. RUINED HOSPITAL - DAY

German soldiers dragging the corpses into a pile.

A sergeant douses the bodies in petrol, then sets them

alight.

The bodies burn.

INT./EXT. RUINED HOSPITAL - SZPILMAN'S POV - DAY

From a shattered window on the first floor, he looks at

the burning bodies.

Two German soldiers wander into his eyeline. He draws back

a little but watches them warily.

They sit just beneath him, chatting, and take out their

food-tins, drink coffee and eat bread.

INT. PASSAGE AND WARDS, RUINED HOSPITAL - DAY

Szpilman wanders down the passage, sees into the wards,

the empty beds, the broken furniture and medical equipment.

INT. KITCHEN, RUINED HOSPITAL - DAY

Szpilman opens cupboards, drawers, searching, but trying

to be as quiet as possible.

He sees the refrigerator, quickly gets to it, pulls open

the door. Empty.

He looks around and notices a red fire bucket with a spade

and a box of sand next to it. The bucket is full of water,

covered with an iridescent film and full of dead flies.

He drinks as much water as he can without swallowing the

flies and, while he's doing so, he spots a couple of sacks.

He opens the first: potatoes. The second contains barley.

He tries to eat the uncooked barley but can't.

Later:

A fire on the floor. Szpilman holds a saucepan over it and

is cooking the barley and some potatoes. He manages to

scoop out a spoonful, blows to cool it, then eats.

INT./EXT. RUINED HOSPITAL - SZPILMAN'S POV - DAY

Szpilman at a window sees autumn leaves thick on the ground.

And at the end of the street, a line of Poles, some with

their hands in the air, others with hands on heads, being

marched away by German soldiers.

INT. WARD. RUINED HOSPITAL - DAY.

Szpilman lies in bed under several layers of blankets. Ice

on the windows. He hears German voices shouting commands.

He sits up.

INT./EXT. RUINED HOSPITAL, SZPILMAN'S POV - DAY

Szpilman gets to a window and looks out.

German soldiers with flame-throwers are burning the

buildings opposite.

One soldier, with a bucket of white paint and a brush,

numbers the building.

Szpilman cranes to see them reach the end of the street,

then cross over and start on the buildings on his side,

working their way towards the hospital.

He pulls away and makes for the back of the hospital.

INT. BACK OF RUINED HOSPITAL - DAY

Szpilman goes to a window, jumps out. He twists his ankle.

He's in pain. He crawls across the back garden and climbs

over the wall.

EXT. RUINED STREETS - DAY

Devastation, not a human being in sight.

Nothing. Emptiness.

He is alone.

Szpilman hobbles away.

EXT. RUINED VILLA - EVENING

Cautiously, Szpilman limps towards the villa, a once grand

building, but now partly damaged by shell fire.

He makes his way in.

INT. HALL, RUINED VILLA - EVENING

Szpilman enters the hall, still showing signs of its former

opulence. I Silent. Ominous.

He looks round anxiously, then sees the stairs leading

down to the basement. He hurries towards them and descends.

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