The Pianist Page #6

SZPILMAN:

How will we sleep?

MOTHER:

I'll sleep with the girls in the

kitchen. You, Henrykc and Papa in

here.

HALINA:

(at a window)

Look! Come and look!

They all go to the window and look out.

Their POV - the street.

Further along, men are building a wall across the street.

EXT. GHETTO WALL - DAY

A SERIES OF SHOTS:

THE WALL. THE WALL. THE WALL.

EXT. MARKET AREA, GHETTO - DAY

Winter. Cold, freezing day. Slush underfoot. Great activity.

People selling shoes, clothes, carpets, curtains, food. A

woman offers cakes under a barbed-wire cover. Noise, bustle,

restless wing and froing.

Among the traders, Henryk, slightly shabbier now, and at

his feet a basket with books. He holds a couple of volumes

in his hands, trying to interest passers-by.

Szpilman, also a little shabbier, wends his way through

the setters and buyers, the beggars, the passers-by, and

reaches Henryk.

Henryk drops the two volumes into the basket, takes a handle

one side of the basket, Szpilman the other. They set off.

As they walk, carrying the basket between them, passing

beggars and children asking for food:

SZPILMAN:

You sell anything?

HENRYK:

Just one. Dostoevsky. The Idiot.

Three zlotys.

SZPILMAN:

That's better than yesterday.

HENRYK:

Three lousy zlotys. And there are

people here making millions.

SZPILMAN:

I know.

HENRYK:

You don't know, believe me. They

bribe the guards. The guards turn

a blind eye. They're bringing in

cartloads, food, tobacco, liquor,

French cosmetics, and the poor are

dying all around them and they

don't give a damn.

Suddenly, a WOMAN appears in front of them, barring their

way. She's brightly rouged with thickly painted eyebrows,

dressed in an old green velvet curtain with an unsteady

mauve ostrich feather rising from her straw hat.

THE FEATHER WOMAN

Excuse me, but have you by any

chance seen my husband Izaak

Szerman?

SZPILMAN:

I'm afraid not.

THE FEATHER WOMAN

A tall handsome man with a little

grey beard?

They shake their heads.

THE FEATHER WOMAN

No?

(she is near to

tears, then smiles

artificially.)

Oh, do forgive me.

(as she goes)

Goodbye, sleep well, if you see

him, please do write, Izaak

Szerman's his name...

She wanders on. Szpilman and Henryk, too, continue on their

way. And as they go:

HENRYK:

Sometimes I wish I could go mad.

EXT. CHLODNA STREET - DAY

A stream of cars and trams. Jewish policemen and German

soldiers much in evidence.

Szpilman and Henryk join a large crowd of Jews waiting at

a barrier to cross the intersection. The crowd is agitated,

impatient for a policeman to stop the traffic and let them

through.

A MAN next to Szpilman and Henryk is becoming more and

more distraught, shifting his weight from foot to foot,

taking off and putting on his hat.

THE NERVOUS MAN:

This is totally insane; why do we

have to have a gentile street

running through our area? Can't

they go around?

HENRYK:

Don't worry about it, they're about

to build a bridge, haven't you

heard?

THE NERVOUS MAN:

A bridge, a schmidge, and the

Germans claim to be intelligent.

You know what I think? I think

they're totally stupid. I've got a

family to feed and I spend half my

time here waiting for them to let

us through.

Meanwhile, a street band begins to play a waltz. Jewish

policemen and German soldiers are clearing a space, shoving

Jews out of the way, including Szpilman, Henryk and the

nervous man. Other soldiers are clearing a space.

Two GERMAN SOLDIERS pull out of the crowd a tall woman and

a short man and haul them into the cleared space.

THE GERMAN SOLDIER

Dance!

The couple dance to the street band's waltz.

At intervals, German soldiers select even more unlikely

couples:
a fat woman with a painfully thin man, a young

boy with an elderly woman, two men, and two cripples.

The German soldiers are, to various degrees, amused. One

of them is almost hysterical with laughter.

SOLDIERS:

Faster! Go on, faster! Dance!

The couples dance as fast as they can. A soldier kicks one

of the cripples who can't go on any more.

SOLDIERS:

Dance! Dance!

Then a whistle blows, a policeman stops the traffic, the

barrier swings open and people swarm across in both

directions.

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