The Pianist Page #9

Szpilman shrugs.

JEHUDA:

Five hundred. You know how many

people on average read one copy?

Twenty. That makes ten thousand

readers. These will start the

uprising. Majorek hides them in

his underpants. And leaves them in

toilets.

SZPILMAN:

Toilets?

MAJOREK:

As many toilets as I can find.

Germans never go into Jewish

toilets. They're too clean for

them.

Jehuda loves this too, but his laugh makes him cough

appallingly.

INT. GHETTO APARTMENT - EVENING

Summer. The windows are open and the sounds of the ghetto

can be heard in the background. The family sit round the

small table as Mother comes with a saucepan of soup and

starts to serve.

MOTHER:

And, please, tonight, for once, I

don't want anything bad talked

about. Let's enjoy our meal.

HENRYK:

Okay, then I'll tell you something

funny. You know who I mean by Dr.

Raszeja.

REGINA:

The surgeon?

HENRYK:

The surgeon. Well, for some reason,

don't ask me why, the Germans

allowed him into the ghetto to

perform an operation...

HALINA:

On a Jew? They allowed a Pole to

come in to operate on a Jew?

HENRYK:

He got a pass, that's all I know.

Anyway, he puts the patient to

sleep and starts the operation.

He'd just made the first incision

when the SS burst in, shoot the

patient lying on the table, and

then shoot Dr. Raszeja and everybody

else who was there. Isn't that a

laugh? The patient didn't feel a

thing, he was anaesthetised -

He laughs. No one else does.

MOTHER:

Henryk, I said nothing bad.

HENRYK:

What's the matter with you all?

Have you lost your sense of humour?

SZPILMAN:

It's not funny.

HENRYK:

Well, you know what's funny? You're

funny with that ridiculous tie.

SZPILMAN:

What are you talking about, my

tie? What's my tie got to do with

anything? I need the tie for my

work.

MOTHER:

Boys, boys...

HENRYK:

Your work, yes, playing the piano

for all the parasites in the ghetto,

they don't give a damn about

people's sufferings, they don't

even notice what's going on around

them!

FATHER:

I blame the Americans.

The others look at him.

SZPILMAN:

For what? For my tie?

FATHER:

American Jews, and there's lots of

them, what have they done for us?

What do they think they're doing?

People here are dying, haven't got

a bite to eat. The Jewish bankers

over there should be persuading

America to declare war on Germany!

Suddenly, there's a roar of engines and a screech of brakes.

Slamming of doors.

The family rush to the windows.

EXT./INT. BUILDING OPPOSITE AND GHETTO APARTMENT - NIGHT

A Gestapo vehicle has entered the street and screeched to

a halt. Helmeted, jackbooted SS MEN, led by an NCO, pour

out of the vehicle.

The Szpilmans gather at their open window to watch. Regina

turns off the lights before joining them. They are all

terrified. Their half-eaten meal still on the table behind

them.

POV - from Szpilman apartment: the building opposite.

The SS men pouring into the building opposite. Sound of

the jackboots on stairs. Lights go on floor by floor.

In an apartment directly opposite, a businessman, his wife,

three young people and an old man in a wheelchair sit at

their dining table. The SS men burst in, machine pistols

at the ready. The family is frozen with horror, remain

seated.

The NCO scans their faces.

NCO:

(in a towering rage)

Stand up!

The family rise to their feet fast, except for the old man

in the wheelchair. The NCO bears down on him.

NCO:

Stand up!

The old man in the wheelchair grips the arms of the chair

and tries desperately to stand. But he can't. Without

warning, the SS men seize the chair with the old man in

it, carry him out on to the balcony.

THE SZPILMANS:

Mother SCREAMS, Father shrinks back, Halina comforts him

and Regina comforts Mother.

Szpilman's and Henryk 's POV - the apartment opposite:

The SS men throw the old man in his wheelchair over the

balcony. He seems to hang in the air for a second then

drops out of the chair and out of sight. But there's a

terrible thud as his body hits the pavement and a clatter

as the wheelchair follows him.

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