Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Judas sold Christ.

Dreyfus sold France.

MAN 1: My editor has an idea for an article,

about how every few years, the world goes mad.

That entire nations lose their heads.

MAN 2: Your editor isn't as much of a fool as I thought.

MAN 1: He wanted me to ask you about the Dreyfus affair.

About all those men, like Picquart and Zola, Esterhazy.

MAN 2: [SCOFFS] The Dreyfus affair.

It's ancient history.

It was nothing.Nothing?

France was completely torn apart for 10 years.

Well, the French! So ridiculously passionate about such little things.

It was only a simple case of espionage.

It was so amusing to watch them.

The whole country should have entered a madhouse consumed with guilt.

Spot of tea.

That's right. Well, here we are.

What does Esterhazy feel about his part in it, looking back, I wonder.

Is there any remorse?

Remorse?

My dear fellow, the whole thing was a comedy.

A tragicomedy.

Esterhazy needed money.

None of this would have happened

if his wife had had as much as she claimed

before trapping him into marriage.

But the world was turned upside down

and the French Army never really recovered.

It may have been one of the things that convinced Germany

it could safely go to war.

And all because Esterhazy chose the wrong wife?

You see, a comedy.

MAN: Captain Dreyfus!

You are unworthy to bear arms.

In the name of the people of France

we degrade you.

[DRUMROLL]

[CLANKS]

DRUM MAJOR: Captain!

I'm innocent.[BAND MUSIC PLAYING]

I swear, I'm innocent!

I love my country!

-[OFFICER SCREAMING ORDERS] -[BAND PLAYING LOUDLY]

Fortunate the Drum Major had the presence of mind to strike up the band

and drowned him out.

As if he hadn't disgraced the nation enough already.

Is there a single yid in the world that would have behaved differently?

No.

Even if he's a traitor, he's still an army man.

Should have had the presence of mind

to take his punishment like a soldier,

and not like some hysterical dressmaker.

[LAUGHING]

Dreyfus, hysterical dressmaker.

[ALL LAUGHING]

That's very good, Picquart. Very good indeed.

What did he look like?

Jailed for life.

And he acted like some Jewish tailor,

counting the cost of the buttons

as they were ripped off his uniform.

[MAN LAUGHING]

[PLAYING PIANO] ♪ Soldiers of the French army

♪ We're joining with the cavalry

♪ Fighting yids and is all we need

♪ Wiping out those filthy deeds

♪ French men, we must all unite

♪ To fight the yids with all our might

♪ Citizens it is your right

♪ To send these vermin out of sight

♪ They can't talk right

♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah

♪ They can't walk right

♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah-nah-nah ♪

[CONTINUE SINGING]

[CHUCKLING]

And the two candidates?

Major Henry and Colonel Picquart.

Who do the military police recommend as a replacement

for the late, lamented Colonel Saunders?

Major Henry has been a damn good number two

at counterintelligence for some years.

You could simply promote him.

DE PELLIEUX: He has experience and enthusiasm.

He's pulled himself up by his own bootstraps

and he did a splendid job on the Dreyfus case.

That's a load of damn nonsense and you know it.

The counterintelligence section is in absolute shambles.

I know you caught Dreyfus by mistake.

Had the German military attache been more careful

and not left incriminating documents in his waste paper basket,

we'd still have no idea that he had bought Dreyfus wholesale.

What's needed is a good staff officer.

BOISDEFFRE: Even if he does come from the cavalry.

Somebody that will ensure

that counterintelligence dates and files its paperwork.

Does Picquart want to go to counterintelligence?

He'll go wherever he's sent.

And he'll make a success of it.

Picquart. One of us.

When you get settled in, I want you to take a look at the Dreyfus file, hmm?

Why did he do it?

That never came out at the court-martial.

Why out of the blue,

after 15 years in the army,

does a model general staff officer

sit down and write to the German military attache

offering him that shopping list of information?

Why?

Well, it's hardly for love of the Germans, sir.

He made that patently clear, when he was my student.

Blackmail? Mistresses?

No, he had a family life that was almost indecently moral.

Little boys' bums?

He wouldn't know what to do with them.

Why don't we know? What did we miss?

Thank goodness, I won't be around long enough

to see too much fighting in the 20th Century.

Things have changed, Picquart.

No fun in being a soldier.

Not anymore.

That's exactly what I said when they put me here, General.

I'm a soldier, not a policeman.

It had to be done.

Best man for the job.

[CHUCKLES]

Major Henry angry at being passed over?

We managed to work together.

I keep telling myself we're in the same army after all.

Succeed here and your career is made.

You can get anything you want.

Even the War Ministry.

Is it important to know why Dreyfus did it?

After all,

he is a Jew.

You know, what they're like.

Captain Dreyfus was not court-marshaled for being a Jew.

No. Of course not, sir.

But perhaps, it was a mistake to make

one of them a general staff officer.

I remember, at military academy he always tried too hard.

Ask a question, he always answered first.

You can't despise a man for being clever.

But for wanting everyone to know about it?

He's dead. As good as.

On Devil's Island in solitary confinement.

Put the case to rest first.

Bury him.

HENRY: We have the book?

I was just a garrison soldier before this,

but there were no opportunities for promotion.

Once through here, Colonel, you're not a virgin anymore.

Ten years ago, without any warning,

the army sent me to China.

I had to start from scratch

knowing virtually nothing about the climate or the natives.

Now, they put me here, in counterintelligence, where I know even less.

The army is about getting men to blow other men to pieces.

It's about reading other people's mail.

Blackmail.

Paying servants to spy on their masters.

Up top, it's easy to forget.

Not down here.

There.

The note Dreyfus sent to the German military attache

offering military secrets.

And the sample of Dreyfus's handwriting we took after his arrest.

The Dreyfus file.

They say that at the beginning,

the court-martial seemed to be going Dreyfus' way.

Then counterintelligence saw the judges in secret.

That's right.

And you told them that it didn't matter

how flimsy the handwriting evidence was,

you had incontrovertible proof

that there was a traitor and it was, in fact, Dreyfus.

Yes.

I expected to see such evidence in the file.

National security.

Can't go leaving that sort of stuff around.

Well, the proof has to be somewhere.

The proof is Dreyfus was found guilty.

Fair and square. All above board.

Is there any secret evidence?

Look,

only half a dozen general staff officers

had access to the information being offered

and were also in Paris that week.

It wasn't hard.

Not when everyone else was a loyal Frenchman.

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]

What country does a Jew have? Hmm?

Where is his loyalty?

True enough. Age-old question.

Still,

shouldn't handwriting samples have been taken from the other officers?

Just in case?

In case of what? We had him. Why bother?

No doubts?

No... No second thoughts?

Even with Dreyfus persisting in denying everything?

Well, he would, wouldn't he?[PIANO PLAYING]

If it wasn't the yid, who was it?

WOMAN: [SINGING] ♪ Arise children of the fatherland

♪ For glory is ours by right

♪ Hateful banners all raised against us

♪ Evil banners of tyranny

♪ Do you hear the savage soldiers in the fields?

♪ Killing our sons and our loved ones

♪ We must take up arms, citizens

♪ We're not safe

♪ With filthy yids around us[ALL LAUGHING]

♪ Destroy these filthy yids

♪ Restore our honor and our gold

♪ Till not one more

♪ True traitor stands

♪ In France

♪ Our fatherland

Tell me about this man Dreyfus allegedly spied for.

He's a German military attache, Von Schwartzkoppen.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: The German had, shall we say, some individual tastes.

Which enabled Picquart to put a man on him, so to speak.

And in a couple of months, there was another letter.

PICQUART: Dismissed.

Esterhazy.

Colonel Picquart.

Thank you.

I have the honor, General Boisdeffre,

to report my assignment complete.

No reason can be found for the treachery of Captain Dreyfus.

Because the traitor is, in fact, another man.

Army Intelligence intercepted this postcard

from the German military attache.

It was addressed to one of our general staff officers.

Colonel Picquart immediately sent for that officer's files

and in looking through them came across that officer's handwriting.

It reminded him of the handwriting in the Dreyfus file.

It turned out that that officer wrote the incriminating letter.

Not Captain Dreyfus.

That officer's name is Major Count Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy.

Esterhazy?

Esterhazy.

He drinks, he whores, he gambles, he's no husband,

and he tries to make up for all these faults by being a lousy officer,

but that doesn't make him a traitor.

What about this handwriting?

I mean, it's almost as good a match as that of Dreyfus'.

Inconclusive, at best.

We can't arrest a general staff officer

on the evidence of a scrap of paper.

That is exactly what happened to Dreyfus.

He was a Jew and a traitor.

So, there was no real investigation?

Dreyfus covered us with...

Excrement, begging your pardon, sir.

Now we got some of our respect back

because we moved fast and we got our conviction.

Open this up again, think how bad it makes the army look,

not just counterintelligence.

I cannot ignore this.

Can you ignore the damage to the men down there?

HENRY: Any day now, we're going to be at war with the Prussians.

That's what all this is about.

Do you really want them asking questions?

I say piss on anything that gets in the way

of teaching these poor bastards

how to shove their bayonets three foot up a German gut.

You were right to bring this matter to the attention

of your minister, Boisdeffre.

Thank you.

There are political questions to be considered here,

not just military ones.

I don't see how we can avoid it, sir.

Esterhazy is the sort of person that would do anything for money.

And did he also have access to the information offered to the Germans?

Yes, he did.

He was also in Paris that week.

It now appears possible that Dreyfus was not.

Forget Dreyfus.

Dreyfus had nothing to do with it.

Dreyfus has been tried and found guilty.

Now what this latest information tells us

is that there were two spies on the general staff.

The Jew Dreyfus and the leper Esterhazy.

That's your way out, General.

Isn't it perfectly plain?

Doesn't it fit all the facts?

Thank you.

[BELL RINGS]

Yes, sir.

Two spies.

And known to each other.

One with a motive, and the other without.

[CHUCKLES]

Neither the public nor the press will believe this.

They're not going to know anything about it.

The Minister doesn't want the public's confidence in the army

stretched any further.

Now you keep a discreet eye on Esterhazy.

Make sure he doesn't try and steal anymore of the family silver.

Dreyfus stays where he is?

Of course he stays where he is.

BOISDEFFRE: Oh, come now, Picquart.

Can you honestly look into your heart and say you know that he's innocent?

More to the point, have you got any proof of it?

NARRATOR: Picquart did have one weakness.

His love for the wife of another man.

And now he took up an even more dangerous one.

He wrote a letter.

PICQUART: "It is with regret that I must formally set down

"my fears and reservations

"over the outcome of this trial,

"this miscarriage of justice.

"Something has to be done.

"Sooner or later, this will all become public knowledge.

"Already there is a disgraceful agitation in the gutter press."

MINISTER: [READING] "Against the sentence itself and the army.

"How much better we take the initiative to investigate further

"rather than wait for it to be forced on us."

Initiative?

I suggest we forge a letter,

from Von Schwartzkoppen to Esterhazy

asking for a meeting.

If Esterhazy shows up,

we've caught our spy.

There are two spies.

[CHUCKLES]

As Chief of Counterintelligence, General Gonse, I must insist,

there is no evidence against Dreyfus and never was.

[CHUCKLES] Dreyfus.

What does it matter to you?

What does it matter to any of us if one Jew rots on Devil's Island?

He may be innocent.

You're our shining star, Picquart.

Nobody has a brighter future in the army than you.

I have shared your doubts.

But, perhaps at the end of the day, we are wrong.

Perhaps Dreyfus is guilty. That's all they're asking us to accept.

Dreyfus is beside the point.

Esterhazy must be investigated.

Be reasonable, Picquart.

Dreyfus's widow...

I'm sorry, his wife, has gone to the press.

Is that what you want?

Is it? You want us dragged through the mud?

Leave it to your superiors.

No more letters.

DE PELLIEUX: Your responsibility is to the army.

GONSE: No more senior officers.

[GRUNTS]

[PHONE RINGING]

Colonel?

Colonel, we are a republic.

When we come to fight the Germans, we'll be at a disadvantage

because we can't send men to war for anything as romantic as

a king, an emperor, a crown.

No sensible man would allow himself to be sent to war

for a politician.

Thus, there is the flag.

He'll fight for that

and the army holds the flag.

And I am responsible to tens of millions of French men and women

to ensure that nothing is done to destroy the prestige of the army.

What would you do, Colonel?

What should I do, sitting behind this desk,

balancing a possible injustice to one man

against the lives of millions?

This goes into service next month.

The Germans have it too.

It fires 600 rounds a minute.

It won't wound you, it will saw you in half.

From now on, survival on the battlefield

will be a matter of statistics,

not of individual merit or bravery.

The only thing that will keep a man in the firing line will be discipline

and the belief that the high command knows best.

That it will never, that it can never, make a mistake.

Are you prepared to destroy that belief, Colonel?

Men also fight for honor.

It's not honor you're struggling with, Colonel.

It's conscience.

And conscience is a private thing.

When you put on the scarlet and the gold, Colonel,

you give up the right to a private conscience.

You accept the conscience of the army

as expressed in its code of honor.

And that takes precedence over any personal code you may have.

You're being spoken of, Colonel,

as someone who could even occupy this desk one day.

What do you say now?

I don't believe that my personal code of honor

and the honor of the army are in conflict.

I would like to continue the investigation of Esterhazy

for the reasons already stated.

Even though you know the risks you're running if the word gets out?

Yes.

Very well. You must do as you think best.

But bring me the answers.

Order.

[RINGS BELL]

Thank you, sir.

I wanted to have a word with you about Picquart.

He's being very insubordinate.

He is also very ambitious.

A month out of Paris, and he'll come round.

He's one of us.Mmm.

Esterhazy is to be arrested.

Yes, sir. Very good, Sir.

You're ordered to leave Paris.

Immediately.

There.

I understand they're sending me on an inspection tour

of the eastern defenses.

Lucky you.

To keep me out of the way.

We all believe in you, Picquart.

Nobody wants to see you destroy your career over this.

Not even the minister.

[CLICKS TONGUE]

Will Esterhazy be arrested?

Until further notice, you have no...

No official connection with the Esterhazy affair.

[PLAYING PAINO]

And Dreyfus?

Damn it, you're well out of this mess.

You should be thanking me.

General, are there things I don't know?

Can you assure me that I'm wrong?

That Dreyfus is guilty?

That there is some secret proof that he is, in fact,

a German agent?

Dreyfus stays where he is.

That is how he can serve his country best.

There is more to this than the career of one artillery officer.

PICQUART: Eloise.

For how long, a week?

Two weeks? A month?

[INHALES]

I don't know.

Poor you.

All those dreary, provincial garrison towns.

What happened?

Did you tread on somebody's toes?

[GIRLS SINGING] ♪ Alfred Dreyfus, Alfred Dreyfus

♪ Dirty Jew, dirty Jew

♪ Safe on Devil's Island safe on Devil's Island

♪ Let him stew let him stew ♪

They amuse us.

GONSE: Picquart is returning to Paris today.

Is he still agitating about Dreyfus?

DE PELLIEUX: Yes, he is.

Our North African bases are due for reassessment any time now.

I was wondering who to dispatch.

Well, Picquart's the man. It's obvious.

You get his marching orders in the morning.

Certainly.

[PIANO PLAYING]

Algiers first.

Then Tunisia.

God knows where else.

I'll be seeing rather a lot of our overseas possessions, I'm afraid.

But you've already been away from Paris for weeks.

It's too bad, you've missed half a season.

I've received my orders. I leave Paris tomorrow morning.

I had hoped that I would have a chance to say goodbye to you.

Properly.

I can't.

We have guests for dinner.

[SIGHS]

I miss you.

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]

Thank you. It was lovely. It really was.

Would you be so kind as to play another for our guests?

The last piece was wonderful.

Thank you.

[DOOR OPENS]

DE PELLIEUX: News from Tunis.

Poor old Picquart is laid up in hospital.

Riding accident.

Oh.

Bad luck.

Do you think he'd mind if I commandeered his office for a while?

It's getting a bit cramped in here.

I'll make it official.

[SHUDDERING]

PICQUART: "My recent escape from death prompts me to set pen to paper

"from a conviction that I do not want to die knowing what I know,

"and leaving behind nothing.

"I address this letter to the President of the Republic,

"to be given to him

"only at my specific instruction or upon my death.

"These are my personal observations

"on what has become known as the 'Dreyfus Affair'.

"In the hours following the discovery of a spy on the general's staff,

"it is possible that a terrible injustice was done.

"The original injustice was compounded

"by the refusal to take action when Esterhazy's misconduct came to light.

"I accept that certain of my fellow officers

"still sincerely believe Dreyfus to be guilty.

"Others, I regret, have decided he should be sacrificed

"in the name of a greater good,

"the prestige of the army.

"I believe them, however, to be more concerned

"with their own prestige and careers."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I see you're settling in.

What's that noise?

Mahler.What?

A Viennese Jew.

Picquart is very fond of him since he became a Catholic.

[LAUGHING]

Can a leopard change its spots?

Picquart is on his feet again, and he wants to come back to Paris.

Does he now?

I was just about to send him to Libya.

Things are hotting up there again.

It's just the place for an ambitious officer.

[GLASS SHATTERS]

BOISDEFFRE: Whatever you think of him,

whatever has got into his head,

Colonel Picquart is the sort of officer

that the French Army cannot do without.

I will not have him put at risk skirmishing

with native tribesman.

This has gone far enough.

Bring him back.

[INDISTINCT SCREAMING]

MAN: Dreyfus is innocent.

Those who are persecuting him fail to perform their patriotic duty.

They are scoundrels who degrade the name of France!

This shall rise!

Dreyfus sold France.

[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]

PICQUART: I sent these to you as my lawyer for safekeeping.

I suppose I was afraid I'd only imagined writing them.

There's nothing to add.

Shall I just leave them in the safe?

Yes.

I took the liberty of telling someone that you'd be here.

Madame Dreyfus.

And her attorney, Monsieur Labori.

I need someone from the military to speak out, now.

Madame, I am a serving officer. I'm under an oath.

You believe, that he's innocent?

I cannot tell you that.

But you do.

You do believe that?

I cannot answer that question.

You had no right to do this.

I resent it. I resent it deeply.

I will decide my own actions in this matter.

It is I who employ you.

The name Esterhazy keeps cropping up.

Is counterintelligence investigating him?

Can you tell us that?

Can you?

I can neither confirm it nor deny it.

MADAME DREYFUS: Is Esterhazy the spy?

Is there a case against him?

Colonel Picquart has been ordered to stay silent on these matters.

I regret having troubled you all by arranging this meeting.

MADAME DREYFUS: My husband is a brother officer.

Is he not entitled to as much loyalty as the generals?

As Esterhazy?

I have done what I can.

Perhaps I should not even have done that.

I can do nothing more.

Help me right this wrong, Colonel Picquart.

Tell yourself that is what the honor of the army really requires.

Tell yourself that's what loyalty really means.

Tell yourself anything.

But help me.

[SOBBING] Help me...I am not for hire, Madame.

Excuse me.

Say those papers were to be left

by an oversight in this room for 20 minutes.

Say that Madame Dreyfus and myself happen to be here,

and accidentally found them.

Wouldn't that leave you in the clear, in honor

and in conscience?

France will fall the day her army takes instruction

in matters of honor and conscience from her lawyers.

MADAME DREYFUS: Without you, there can be no retrial.

He's dying, Colonel.

PICQUART: I almost died in the Libyan desert, madam.

My trade is soldiering.

So is your husband's.

MADAME DREYFUS: Colonel Picquart?

If he weren't Jewish, wouldn't you have done more?

[MUSIC PLAYING ON GRAMAPHONE]

I'm being followed.

My mail is being read.

Welcome back to Paris.

You've been placed on indefinite leave.

Enjoy it.

[DOOR SLAMS SHUT]

PICQUART: I don't know anything but the army.

If you take that from me, what am I?

Who am I?I hate them!

I hate them for what they're doing to you.

When Dreyfus was arrested, they left him alone with a pistol for 10 minutes.

Sometimes...

Sometimes, I wish he'd used it on himself.

[DOOR CLOSES]

[EXHALES]

Esterhazy, Esterhazy, Esterhazy!

You're obsessed with him.

Is it a grudge?

Why have you got it in for him?

Esterhazy is a traitor, that's what I have against him.

Petty of me, I know.

GONSE: No doubt this is all rubbish.

This is nonsense. No, no, no, no.

You, you...

You can hardly be right about Esterhazy and everybody else wrong.

It doesn't work that way.

He can't be... [SPLUTTERING] All right, then.

Mmm.[SNICKERING]

Look at the trouble you are causing for yourself, for all of us.

Now it's official. That ignorant oaf, Henry, has replaced you for good.

Yes. And you are siding with that ignorant oaf, Henry,

in protecting Esterhazy.

Any day now, someone is going to come up with a bright idea

that you are working for the Germans yourself,

trying to destroy the morale of the army,

the soldier's faith in his officers and the high command.

That's right.

You see...

[GRUNTING]

How could you be right and everybody else wrong?

You know how rumors get around?

"Picquart is in it with Dreyfus."

"Picquart has sold out too."

"Why else should he be fighting so hard for the Jew traitor?"

"He must be in the pay of the Germans himself."

And how does such rumors get started?

Major Henry, perhaps?

You've got to be very careful, Picquart.

All the military police would need would be one scrap of paper

with your name on it.

And get this into your head, Colonel.

Your fellow officers are determined

that the Army of the Republic will have the strength and the pride

and the confidence in itself to defeat the Germans in the next war,

even if it means that a dozen Picquarts rot on Devil's Island

alongside a dozen Dreyfus'.

[CLATTERS]

You can tell

my brother officers

that I will not go to my grave

knowing that the army has protected a traitor,

and disgraced an innocent man.

All this for a Jew?

Yes.

Terrible business.

Hateful business.

How did we get here?

Who knows?

Hardly seems to matter anymore

whether Dreyfus did it or not, do you see that?

Principle now.

Who is to be believed,

us or the muckrakers?

Who runs the country?

The mob.

Shameful, but there you are.

Principle, sir.

Exactly which principle are we talking about?

It's all very clear to me now.

For a while back there, like you, I didn't know where my duty lay.

Counterintelligence works for the real government, the state within the state.

Black is white there sometimes, maybe most of the time.

The decent thing isn't doable.

Your duty is to do what you might otherwise find distasteful.

Nose-pickings like Major Henry are born knowing that.

Men of honor,

like you,

like me,

have to learn it.

General, look at the evidence with me.

Argue with me.

Show me that I'm wrong.

If Major Henry is the face of the army of the future,

then I need somebody with a sense of honor watching the watchers.

Do you understand that, Colonel?

I'm sorry, General.

The first thing I would do if my leave of absence was lifted

would be to ask for an official inquiry

into both the Dreyfus and the Esterhazy cases

from the very beginning.

I am sorry, Colonel.

It is too late now.

A few weeks ago, perhaps.

But now it is too late, I cannot help you.

And you were the best of us.

[ORGAN PLAYING]

Well?

He's adamant. I can't change his mind.

You try and think of something.

There's another problem.

Count Esterhazy. He's been to see me.

He knows he's under suspicion.

He wants his name cleared.

Otherwise, he's quite prepared to make difficulties.

Does he suggest how we can do that?

A public inquiry.

He wants a public inquiry?

As long as he can be assured of the verdict beforehand.

Who would believe that we need Esterhazy now more than he needs us?

Esterhazy demands.

Esterhazy positively insists.

[CHUCKLING]

He knows his rights.

He demands a public inquiry. Hmm?

[CHUCKLING]

If I understand this rightly, Major Esterhazy,

you received a mysterious communication, unsigned,

asking you to be on the Alexander Bridge at a specific time.

A lady in a veil approached you.

She did not reveal her identity,

but said she heard Colonel Picquart talking in his sleep.

He was talking about the Dreyfus affair.

And about his part in "Destroying evidence

"that linked Dreyfus to the case."

Then he started raving that you, Major Esterhazy, were his enemy,

and that he would do anything to implicate you.

Shocked by Picquart's duplicity,

this loyal Frenchwoman recounted this information in a letter,

which she handed to you.

She disappeared into the crowd.

You opened the letter. It confirmed all she said.

You gave the letter to your superiors,

who gave you this signed and dated receipt for it.

Sadly, before a copy could be made, the letter disappeared.

Alas, no trace of it has come to light,

and neither has the veiled lady.[ALL LAUGHING]

Well, that seems clear enough.

You may stand down.

BAILIFF: Call Colonel Picquart.

NARRATOR: Now, at last, the truth can be told under oath.

You think so? [LAUGHS]

The generals had other ideas.

And I wish to hear Colonel Picquart's evidence in camera.

Clear the court.[CROWD GASPS]

WOMAN: What?[INDISTINCT TALKING]

This tribunal finds

Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy

innocent of all charges.

Court dismissed.

What is happening to justice?

NARRATOR: Now do you see the lunacy of it all?

The generals so devoted to France

rushed to shake the hand of a man they knew to be a traitor to France.

[CHUCKLES]

The farce was observed by Emile Zola.

Two days later, he gave his opinion.

MINISTER: Zola accuses you by name and by rank.

General Gonse, General de Pellieux,

General Boisdeffre, and half a dozen others.

First he has you botch the regional investigation,

then add lie to lie to cover up and to shield Esterhazy.

Libels! Criminal, wicked libels!

Gentlemen, you must defend yourselves.

Bring an action for libel against him in court.

And drag it into the light of day?

Put it all in front of a jury?

Damn press!

MINISTER: We have nothing to hide.

The people love the army. They trust their generals.

What about Colonel Picquart?

Zola's bound to call him as a witness.

NARRATOR: Zola was delighted to be sued.

Was he France's most famous, brilliant novelist, as the public thought?

Or a tireless self-promoter as I thought?

Whichever, he did get the story fixed in the public mind, once and for all.

And now Picquart sees the lunacy of it.

If the generals could shake hands with a traitor,

then he was free of his oath,

at least in his own mind.

Captain Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment

on the evidence of a single scrap of handwriting

which was as much like the handwriting in that incriminating letter

as yours or mine.

The panic in counterintelligence that morning was such

that had a dog with a pen tied to its tail made any markings on paper,

they would have sworn that the dog had written the letter.

Provided, of course, that it was an unpopular dog.

A Jewish dog.

A half day's work and they might have had the traitor then and there.

Esterhazy right under their very noses.WOMAN: Traitor.

Esterhazy in Paris that week, and in possession of all the relevant information.

Esterhazy!

They could have had him in jail by lunchtime!

And we need not have torn ourselves apart like this.

WOMAN: Jews are not traitors!

[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]

[GAVEL BANGING]

I shall be brief.

I confirm on every point and every detail

the evidence given by my fellow generals.

That is all I have to say on the evidence.

MAN: General...I will not be questioned upon it.

BOISDEFFRE: But allow me, as a soldier, to tell you all something.

You are the jury.

You are the nation.

If the nation does not have confidence in the chiefs of its army,

if the nation does not have confidence

in those responsible for national defense

in these troubled times,

then we are willing to hand over this heavy task.

You

simply have to say the word.

That is all I have to say.

Except I refute, in the name of the Armies of France,

every word, every mischief,

every lie spoken

by the former Chief of Counterintelligence,

the renegade Colonel Picquart.

[CROWD CHEERING]

[ALL CLAMORING]

I know Picquart tampered with the evidence because I saw him with my own eyes.

He's right.

Things were added to the Dreyfus file.

He should know because he put them there

in an effort to throw doubt on the conviction.

You saw me do this how many times?

At least once. I was passing your office door.

I tampered with the evidence forgetting that my office door was open?

I recognized his handwriting, Your Honors.

You recognized my handwriting from the open office door.

I am an expert in counterintelligence work.

Would I make a mistake about something so important?

What I said stands. Picquart is lying.

To that I oppose the most categorical denial!

[GROANS]

[SWORDS CLANK]

[BOTH YELLING]

MAN: Just a flesh wound.

[GROANS]

[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]

JUDGE: In the name of the French people,

the accused, Emile Zola, is guilty. Take him down.

It is the army that is guilty, not I!

[CROWD CLAMORING]

I'm an innocent man!

[GAVEL BANGING]

Dreyfus is innocent! The proof is on the man!

NARRATOR: Zola spoke the truth and was convicted of libel.

Picquart spoke the truth and was charged with treason.

I'm afraid the guard broke some while inspecting your things.

No matter.

These will do for now.

You'll be tried for espionage.

Which means a military court.

Which means, you don't get a chance to put your case to a jury.

If any jury would acquit me, anyway.

That day in my office you refused Madame Dreyfus.

I know part of the reason was her race.

I'm not here for Madame Dreyfus.

[SIGHS] Or even Dreyfus himself.

I refused Madame Dreyfus because I was bound by an oath.

When the army dismissed me, I was released from that oath.

You're an army officer to the tips of your boots.

Georges, people will wonder where your loyalty's gone.

My loyalty is not to any individual but to the institution of the army.

The idea of the army.

Listen.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

What is it that you hear?

Eighty men,

overweight, most of them,

the brass, drunks, most likely.

The lead violinist beats his wife,

the flutist has bad gums and his breath will not be flat at 20 places

and the private life of the conductor is a scam.

But that is not what you hear.

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

That...

That is what you hear.

The idea.

The idea.

The spirit.

MINISTER: With Picquart safely where he should be,

I think we can confidently say,

"Dreyfus affair? There is no Dreyfus affair."

Well, that's a relief! Ooh, yes, lovely.

Mmm.

Thank you, Minister. Yeah, lovely.

Gentlemen, I think I should tell you,

I have been awarded another department.

Congratulations, Minister.Thank you, Pellieux.

However, before I leave this office,

the President has asked me

to ensure that the public mind is set entirely at rest.

MINISTER: Captain Cuignet.

Captain Cuignet.

Captain Cuignet, you will conduct a final and complete investigation

into the documentation contained in the Dreyfus file,

and in the file relating to Major Esterhazy.

You'll be thorough and impartial

and you will demonstrate once for all

that the General's staff and the Minister of War

have conducted themselves impeccably

throughout this whole business. Thank you.

[STOMPS FOOT]

That Captain Cuignet, Minister,

are you satisfied with his credentials?

Rest assured, General.

The man's a plodder. Nothing more.

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING][DOOR CLOSES]

Yes?

Documents have been added into this file.

[EXHALES]

Well?

Apart from all the stuff which pertains to the trials,

we keep finding new evidence.

Finding it? Or manufacturing it?

I beg your pardon, Captain?

At least one of the documents is a forgery.

Two letters have been joined together.

The top half of one added to the lower half of another.

It's not possible.

Look at it.

How dare you speak to the head of counterintelligence like this?

I'm acting under the direct orders of the Minister for War.

I demand an answer.

Who forged this document?

How many other forgeries are there?

Well?

I thought you should know, sir.

The plodder is ransacking Henry's office.

And Henry is still in bed with his wife, I suppose?

No, sir. He's under arrest.

Telephone the Minister for an immediate appointment!

This is all getting out of hand.

No need to announce me!

But, Sir...I am expected.

I really must do something about this plodder of yours, Minister.

MERCIER: He's treading on far too many toes.

Good morning, General.

As you can see, I have stepped into my predecessors shoes ahead of schedule.

I'm glad you anticipated my need to summon you here.

Captain Cuignet delivered his report.

I'd appreciate your comments.

I deny it. I deny everything.

For pity's sake, it's not even a very good forgery.

It was only one piece of the evidence.

It means retrying Esterhazy, court martialing you, bringing Dreyfus back!

It means that France will go on tearing itself apart

while the Germans look on!

You know the pressure we were under?

He was covering his tracks. We have to make the case water-tight.

We believed you! We believed everything you told us!

No, General Gonse.

We believed what we wanted to believe.

I have a wife and a little boy, Captain.

I have a wife.

And a little... [SOBBING]

Major Henry will know what he has to do.

He understands the requirements of honor, I hope.

But if he does not,

we must help him.

"I am a victim of Jews and their allies

"and I entreat you to tell our son that I deny to my dying breath

"having forged anything.

"The letter is genuine.

"If there is a forged letter in the file,

"it was put there by Picquart and his supporters

"to discredit the generals and myself.

"There is a secret file of evidence that cannot be revealed

"for reasons of national security.

"Please believe that I am innocent.

"And that one day, the truth will come out,

"and Dreyfus and Picquart exposed for the traitors they are."

Fine sentiments. Nobly expressed.

Now, all you have to do is sign off with a flourish.

"I love you,

"as I love my country.

"Pray for me.

"Your devoted husband..."

All this talk of love.

Not too flowery, is it?

No. Not at all.

Sign it.

[CLEARS THROAT] I, uh, I...

I have bought you a few creature comforts.

There are some excellent Havanas there.

There is also a shaving kit which includes, quite naturally, a razor,

which has a particularly fine edge.

I selected it myself.

Make us proud of you.

Give him 10 minutes, not a second longer.

And leave that by the body.

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

[BELL TOLLING]

GUARD 1: Wake up! Come on, wake up!

GUARD 1: Get up this minute! Get up now!GAURD 2: Come on, get up.

Come on, move it! What is all this rubbish here!

Come on, move yourself!

Prisoner to be transferred to the Cherche-Midi

and held in military custody until further notice.

I want it under record that if I'm found dead in my cell,

it will be murder and not suicide.

Silence! [BANGS GAVEL] Take him down.

Remanded in military custody!

Make sure they all know,

I would never take that way out.

Still think the army has a soul?

Still hear the music?

Yes. More than ever.

Sometimes, don't you wish you'd never thrown your lot in with Dreyfus?

Hmm, I had no choice.

Somehow, I'm...

I'm tied to him.

Oh, I know, I'm a level-headed soldier, but still...

Somehow, I'm tied to him.

I was his teacher at the military academy.

On the morning he was arrested,

even before he knew he was to be charged,

I happened to be there.

I was the last person to speak to him as a free man.

I was a witness at his degradation.

And of all people, they chose me to finally lay his case to rest.

The irony is,

I'd never been able to think of him as anything but a Jew.

I never liked him.

[SIGHS]

Isn't that strange?

BOISDEFFRE: The circumstances

surrounding Major Henry's death

compel me, sir, to resign my commission.

When I was a young soldier,

I found my commanding officer in a dead drunk one night.

Two of his troopers had been kidnapped by tribesmen.

A headman was brought in.

And it was soon clear that he would rather die under torture

than say where they were.

My commanding officer stepped in.

Time was running out.

He explained to the headman

what his honor meant to him as a soldier.

And he promised him, on his honor,

that if the troopers were returned, he'd take no action.

They got the men back

and you can guess the rest.

They had the headman and his son shot.

Burned the village down.

He had to.

That's how it is. Didn't like it. Got drunk after.

But he'd done the right thing.

When it came to honor our duty,

duty came first.

I will not have the Army of the Republic destroyed by Dreyfus!

The traitor and pornographer Zola was right about one thing,

there is a conspiracy here,

between the Jews and socialists.

We are fighting now for the life of the state itself!

We shall fight on.

NARRATOR: In San Francisco, they greeted every arriving boat with,

"Is Dreyfus free? Is Picquart still in prison?"

In Australia, in Finland, in Saint Petersburg and Lima,

fistfights broke out at the very mention of the affair.

But at the center of the storm, in prison for 12 months,

Picquart, they tell me, was at peace.

[KEYS JANGLING][DOOR OPENS]

The original verdict is annulled.

Dreyfus is to be shipped back from Devil's Island and retried by court martial.

You are to be freed immediately, pending your own trial.

[DOOR CLOSES]

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]

[AUDIENCE CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]

WOMAN: Dreyfus the vampire!

MAN: Go on, traitor!

WOMAN: Watch out!MAN: Hey, watch out!

MAN: It's Picquart!

The maestro.

MAN: Picquart is here!

[CROWD YELLING]

NARRATOR: This is the France that gave us the Age of Reason.

Picquart, Lafayette.

You didn't know who you were.

You weren't alive unless you knew where you stood on the affair.

[CLAMORING]

Picquart loved two things,

the army and Eloise.

He'd lost the army already

but Eloise had always been there.

Georges. Georges.What is it? Are you...

They've told him about us.

They want him to kill you.

They'll do anything to silence you.

Are you sure you're all right?

Georges, you can't stay here. You have to leave.

Leave Paris? Now?

They're taking me away tonight.

But my things are packed.

We can be gone within the hour.

Where? Where would we go?

We could go to Montreal.

I have friends there...Eloise, I want nothing more than...

I...

Georges.I have to testify.

I'm a soldier.

I'm the only one who can speak out and be believed.

Georges, don't you understand?

This is our last chance.

We'll never see each other again if we don't go now.

I do love you.

Then you'll come away with me.I can't.

I'll see you at the station at four o'clock.

[CLAMORING]

NARRATOR: They moved his trial from Paris.

They were afraid Paris couldn't stand the storm.

So the storm followed the trial

to the city of Rennes.

Name?Alf...

[WHISPERS] Alfred Dreyfus.

Alfred Dreyfus, Captain of Artillery,

39 years old.

This letter was sent to the German military attache.

Did you write it?

[TREMBLING]

[TEARFUL] I...

I am innocent, my Colonel.

[PROTESTING]

Inspector Bertillon.

The conclusion is inescapable.

Dreyfus wrote the letter in a handwriting

deliberately chosen to look like his own

so that if caught he could claim

someone had copied his own hand in order to throw the blame on him.

If I understand you, Monsieur Bertillon,

you're saying that my client

deliberately imitated his own handwriting.

JUDGE: Monsieur Labori, please.

On this, they want to send Captain Dreyfus

back to life imprisonment,

in solitary confinement,

in irons chained to a bed 24 hours a day

under constant guard.

Conditions of imprisonment are not the concern of this court martial.

Bring in the next witness.

If there was the slightest doubt in my mind,

I'd be the first to tell Captain Dreyfus

I was honestly mistaken.

But you know I'm innocent. You know!

If there'd been a mistake,

I would have done everything to put it right.

It is your duty!

[CLAMORING]

I know what my duty is.

Monsieur Picquart.

In the late summer of 1894,

Major Count Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy

offered his services as a spy...

[CLAMORING]

Silence in the courtroom!

[NARRATOR CHUCKLING]

Did anyone dare wonder about the journey he had made?

He'd been one of them.

And now he could explain how they'd each told their first lie

for perfectly understandable patriotic reasons

and then watched as their lies became evil.

Evil by men of goodwill

in the name of their country.

Amusing, isn't it?

So, here we are after all this time.

The generals will still insist that black is white...

[CLAMORING]

And water runs uphill.

And in the teeth of the evidence,

there are some who still believe them.

All I ever wanted,

all I ever asked,

was that the truth be told.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]

[BOOING]

The nation could've been spared all this

if those involved had asked themselves this simple question,

"What is the truth?"

Not...

Not...

"What would I like the truth to be?

"What would my superiors, my colleagues,

"my country like to hear?"

[AUDIENCE JEERING]

NARRATOR: He had infuriated the mob already.

But then he had the audacity to hold out his arm

to the wife of the Jew.

[AUDIENCE JEERING]

Acquit.

Acquit.

Traitor!

Acquit.

[CHEERING]

Convict.Convict.

Convict.

Convict.

What! No!

Convict.

[ALL SINGING]

In the name of the French people,

by a majority of five votes to two,

the accused is guilty.

[CHEERING]

There are, however, extenuating circumstances.

[AUDIENCE GROANING]

Accordingly, the accused is sentenced

to deportation and exile on Devil's Island.

They are placing an offer on the table

that we will have to take very, very seriously.

They are considering a pardon

and a general amnesty.

It means that he doesn't go back to Devil's Island

and that all charges against everyone in the affair

will be dropped.

But I will still have the right to sue those who libeled me

and drove me from the army?

No.

What about the forgeries?

All charges, Colonel. All.

[SOBBING]How can I thank you?

Is it really true, I...

I hardly dared...

I hardly...LAWYER: It is true, Captain.

And he won't have to go back?

He will be free.

He will be with you.

And he will be stained.

If you accept this pardon,

you will be virtually admitting your guilt.

You have to be willing to prove your innocence,

even if it means going back there.

As ever, the Colonel is right.

To hell with a pardon,

we want to hear "Not guilty."

We want Dreyfus free,

and the generals in the dock, and the politicians.

I know you're tired.

The whole world is tired.

A shabby compromise.

Shall we fight on?

We will accept the pardon.

Colonel.

Colonel.

A pardon says you did it.

And now you ask for mercy.

That isn't what I've been fighting for.

I will die there.

You will keep your honor.

It will kill me, Colonel.

Captain Dreyfus, you chose to be a soldier.

NARRATOR: He was such an inflexible thing,

a man of too much honor.

A great man.

Well, there was a bit of greatness there.

Nobody's perfect.

MAN: I hereby name you Knight of the Legion of Honor.

NARRATOR: It took six more years for the army to relent and reinstate Dreyfus.

Picquart was there to see it.

He had finally forgiven Dreyfus for being human.

Picquart became the Minister for War. [CHUCKLES]

He never had a chance to show his stuff.

He died just before the war they'd all been waiting for.

You see, a comedy.

Would you care for some brandy?

No, thank you, no. Please.

A glass of brandy, my dear, would you?

Your editor mentioned a small fee.

What's even odder, there really was no crime committed in the first place.

No information actually changed hands.

And it was worthless anyway.

The Germans knew it all to begin with.

What did Esterhazy think of Picquart?

Picquart. [SNIFFS]

Picquart did what he had to do,

just as Esterhazy did.

But who could trust a man without any flaws?

Well, he had flaws, he didn't like Jews.

That's right, he didn't like Jews.

Now, Esterhazy... Esterhazy liked Jews.

It was the French he didn't like.

Hmm.

Ah, well, there's no doubt that Picquart was really the best of them.

Only really from the last century.

Then can I perhaps say that Esterhazy

was the only 20th century man among them?

My dear fellow,

the first 20th century man.

Would you mind autographing this book

about the Dreyfus affair for me before I leave?

Ah.

[CHUCKLES]