[lighter clicks]
[loud, driving music]
[loud voices, boots banging on stairs]
What are you laughin' at?
Hey!
Oh, I'm sorry.
- What the fuck you doin'? - I did not see you.
You stupid fuckin' Paki!
Now I'm gonna smell like Indian food for a month!
I- I'm sorry.
Please...please--
No!
You ruined my fuckin' night, huh!
Fucking bitch.
Mike! Stop it!
No!
[loud, primal scream]
Hi.
You goin' to meet that skinhead?
Yeah...I'm gonna go see what's what.
Don't sleep past your ride.
OK.
[door banging]
[men chattering]
[loud buzzer sounds]
Thank you, Peter.
[buzzer sounds, door slams shut]
How many legal aid lawyers have you met with?
What do you mean?
None.
How many before me?
In my life?
I'm going to indulge in a little colloquial language
for a moment here.
Don't get fucking smart with me.
It's just a little personal commentary, you understand?
Uh huh.
Is that a yes or a no?
Yes.
No way am I doing this.
What did I do?
I don't want to hear you say "uh huh."
The court's not going to like that.
What would you like to hear?
I'd like to hear you say "I understand you were making
a little off-the-record personal commentary."
I understand that you're making a little
off-the-record personal commentary.
Mr. Dunkleman.
Mr. Dunkleman, sir.
You bein' smart?
No, sir.
Don't call me sir.
OK.
Do you know what kind of name Dunkleman is?
I know it's not Irish.
Exactly...it's not Irish, not in the least.
It's a Jewish name, which makes me--
A person with a Jewish name.
Right.
You're a Jew.
- That's not what I said. - Well what are you then?
What difference does it make to you?
I'd like to know where I stand.
All right.
If they sent you a legal aid lawyer who's Jewish,
how would you feel about that?
That works fine for me.
You know what, it actually works out pretty
great if you think of it. You any good?
No...I failed everything.
I failed my entrance exams, the Bars.
That's why I'm working as a lawyer.
I'm totally incompetent.
I like your sense of humor.
That's great.
You know, I don't mind if you're Jewish,
if that's what you're wondering about.
Thank you, thank you so much. I'll wire my parents.
Better yet, I'll wire Moses, ask him to tell God
they're lightening up down here.
You're a little prick, aren't you?
So your parents, they're Jewish?
Fuck you, sport.
You're really, really annoyed.
I don't like skinheads. I don't like neo-Nazis,
and I'm not particularly fond of tattoos.
I think the crime you're charged with is ugly,
so I'm not much inclined to like you.
You think I want you to like me?
Get someone else assigned to your case if you'd like.
You think I expect you to like me?
I don't expect anyone to like me.
For your knowledge, for the record, I did the crime.
Yeah, I did it, okay.
But for the record, I was heavily intoxicated.
Did the police test your blood?
I think it was pretty obvious when they picked me up.
What did you drink?
A lot of scotch... and about three or four pints.
So you were quite inebriated.
I was pissed out of my skull.
Anything else?
No.
Where did the drinking take place?
At a concert.
Which was?
By a band called HURC.
That's something to do with Hercules?
What kind of name is HURC?
No, no it actually stands for... Holy Useful Racial Cleansing.
It's a pun.
Actually it's an acronym.
It says here you were wearing steel-toed,
black leather combat boots. Is that right?
Yes.
It also alleges that you kicked the victim thirty-odd times
while wearing those boots. Is that right?
Yeah.
Why were you wearing those particular boots?
Steel-toed combats?
Because it's part of a recognizable uniform, Mr. Dunkleman.
Do me a favor - just don't say my name.
All right.
Would you mind reading this to me?
The victim suffered heavy internal hemorrhaging
and structural damage to the spine, which would have
made walking again difficult, at best.
The attack is characterized as prolonged.
The examining physicians feel that it must have lasted
one or two minutes. He lost sight in one eye.
He died three weeks after the incident
from related internal hemorrhaging.
Anyway, Mike, what I'd like to know to get an idea of how
you might present in trial, is how do you feel about this?
Can I ask you something?
Sure.
Are you going to answer my question?
Yeah, I'm going to.
I just wanted to say you don't look like a Jew.
Oh, well, neither do you. You don't look like a Jew.
That's because I'm not a Jew.
You're kidding.
That's funny because you don't look like one.
Okay, knock it off.
Are you going to hurt me if I don't?
Knock it off.
Okay, Jewboy, whatever you say.
Cut that fucking shit out!
How do you feel about what happened?
Stupid fuckin' Paki!
Too many fuckin' Muslims on this planet anyway.
Fucking sand nigger!
And fuck you!
I think that's going to need a little going over.
I believe the gentleman was from India to begin with.
Yeah?
Fuck India!
How do you think-- what kind of defense am I going
to concoct for someone like yourself?
What do you mean, someone like myself?
For someone who seems to feel no remorse.
Who isn't in the least - who seems to be--
I feel remorse!
You think I wanted to kill the guy?
Do you think I was trying to kill the guy?
You know what I think you're trying to ask?
How can anyone, let alone I, defend a white supremacist
skinhead punk?
Is that right?
For the moment, let's assume you're dead on the money.
I don't want to be tried as any one of those things.
Oh?
Because those are my ideas, if you follow me.
They're completely separate from who I am as a person,
an individual on trial for an act - an assault.
You will be very lucky to be convicted of manslaughter,
much more likely second-degree murder.
I'd look for mitigating circumstances if I were you.
I wanna be on trial for what I did.
Are you following me on that?
No.
I don't wanna be tried as a skinhead because then they're
trying the movement and not me.
The movement?
Yeah, yeah, the movement. It's a youth movement.
Listen, Mike...a lot of your bullshit makes me very hot
under the collar, and I'm not sure that makes me
the best person to argue your case.
Maybe there are lawyers in your movement who could put forward
your case more sympathetically.
No, no, look, look. All I'm asking is that I be
tried and not the ideology of the skinhead movement.
The Crown Attorney will prosecute you
however he or she can. And I would be in the unenviable
position of defending you.
You know what?
I think you're all right.
I think you're a good guy.
Well, I frankly don't think very much of you.
I'm inclined to think that you're a shit.
It's all right.
It's okay because you're still gonna help me.
Oh! Am I?
Yes.
What makes you so certain?
Type of person you are.
Which is?
Liberal thinker.
Checks and balances, everybody deserves a fair trial,
blah, blah, blah blah.
Is it wrong? Is it a wrong way to think?
When faced with someone like you.
Oh, what type of person am I?
Let me ask you something.
Did you have a little checklist, an agenda for today?
Yep.
So? Where are we?
You tell me, Danny Dunkleman, where are we?
I don't know.
Can I trust you?
I can be trusted to perform my duties as an attorney.
If I need to talk to someone, can I call you?
If you need anything in the way of legal counsel
and it can't wait, you can call my office.
I am going to represent you.
I'm going to take you through the preliminary hearing.
Yeah, I know.
After that, we'll see.
We'll see?
Yeah. One step at a time.
Thank you.
Why?
Uh...what?
Why are you agreeing to represent me?
For the preliminary hearing? I don't know.
I guess it's a big challenge.
Big challenge, eh?
Well, it's not your eye color, sweetheart.
I think you're an intelligent kid and on some level
I find it difficult to believe this was a premeditated act.
Maybe a jury would feel the same way.
I'll be in touch.
Just keep your mouth shut and your head down.
Okay, boss.
Do you have a reason for wanting me on this?
Like I said, you're a humanist, liberal Jew,
so you gotta do your very best.
Oh, yes, that's right. I forgot.
Pete!
In an ideal world, I'd have you eliminated.
In this world, I need you more than anyone.
[buzzer sounds]
[loud stomping]
Quiet!
We'll set a date for the sentencing hearing
as soon as possible.
Yes, you give them a chance.
Even the Arabs who want us dead?
Especially the Arabs.
They want us dead!
That's why I said especially them.
You've got to take good care of people that want you dead.
Where does it say that?
Where does it say anything different?
"Hashem will bring might to his nation."
It's the job of the mighty to look after the weak,
the diseased...
Sounds like Jesus talk.
He didn't live in a vacuum.
Even when they say they want you dead?
What else? You going to kill them?
You going to nuke them?
If you do, you're worse than they are,
because they only talked about it, and you did it.
It doesn't sound right. It sounds soft.
Soft?
It's the hardest kind of right there is.
Otherwise the killing won't stop.
Somebody has to stop the killing -
and that's you and that's me. "Thou shalt not kill."
It's the basis of our entire civilization.
Okay, okay.
Don't "okay" me. You're not using your head.
I know Dad, "You might as well have stewing beef in there."
Or Gelfilte fish.
Or Mazo ball soup
Oh, my God.
I am at present mostly immobilized in hospital.
The brain injury which I have been caused,
together with my back, disallows me to walk
or move in a regular fashion.
I cannot stand, nor can I properly sit.
In general, I have the appearance of a man
mauled by an animal.
[grunts in pain]
[buzzer sounds]
[door slams]
Hey, boss!
That was fucking disgusting.
[buzzer sounds]
You didn't like that?
Made me look like a hack...
a cheap, stupid hack.
How did I do that?
I won't have that.
Don't play stupid.
You didn't like the skins being there?
Ten pair - twenty combat boots in the courtroom
with me and my client.
"Murder in the first degree, and for motivation,
ladies and gentlemen, turn your heads to the assholes
in the peanut gallery."
I didn't invite nobody. They came.
You didn't invite nobody means you invited somebody.
You're playing at being stupid.
I didn't ask them to be there, okay?
You've got a "crew" in the courtroom and I'm supposed
to stand up there straight-faced and tell the room
the crime was not racially motivated.
You can tell them whatever you want.
No, I can't...and I won't.
We do this better, smarter, cleaner,
or I don't do it at all.
Where did you go to school?
Mixed.
Where was the last place you were in school?
Montreal High School.
Okay. Grade what?
Grade ten, mostly - some subjects.
Other grades higher.
So don't play stupid. I know you're not.
I can't separate out your views from those of the skinheads
when they're sitting there like a crew.
It's open to the public.
- You smiled at them. - They're my friends.
Do you have any idea what kind of time you're looking at
if we don't perform some kind of amazing tap dancing routine?
Yeah, yeah, a lot of time.
You could be looking at more time than you have lived so far.
Got it?
Longer than I've lived.
Before parole. After that, I can guarantee
you won't know how to live any more.
How's the number 7,299 days sound?
Years...years.
I wonder what music will sound like then?
I get the picture.
I wonder how it would feel to be a 40-year old man
who knows nothing but prison. You'll never get laid again,
without a couple of hundred bucks to spare.
Yeah, that's a lot of time.
Because you're not a juvenile anymore, and this isn't
a little scrap at the Montreal High School Dance.
Wait, you saw about that?
Your juvenile record.
Yeah, quite a career you've built.
That guy pushed me.
Well, he was black.
Yeah, yeah he was. And they got gangs.
And he got stitches, Mike.
There's always going to be someone pushing you -
high school, whatever.
Where did you go to school?
McGill Law.
Near where my parents, at one point in the past, lived.
I brought you a dossier.
See this? This is a dossier.
I had to get special permission for you to have this.
What's that thing for?
This is your briefcase - your version of a briefcase.
They wouldn't let you have one like mine.
The steel in the hinges, in the snaps, the side guides.
Apparently they don't want you to have steel.
Weapons, right?
Yeah, whatever.
They make weapons from anything inside here--
Listen, I don't want to hear about it.
I want you to concentrate on this.
What's this for. What do I need it for?
Every document I have, you have. Every piece of paper,
transcripts, statements of import and everything
from your juvenile career. Look through it carefully.
Don't miss a thing.
Wait, Danny, where you going with this?
This is your casebook. You're going to need it.
For what?
Because you are going to be involved in this trial.
Very involved... Or I will walk.
I'm gonna be involved in this trial?
Yes, one way or another. So wake up.
That's your job.
I'll worry about my job and how to do it,
and I'll tell you what your job is.
Danny, the courtroom? They got me.
They got a lot. The Crown, what is he?
Solomon? Jewish?
You? You, you're Jewish.
The Magistrate...
The Magistrate? He's Irish.
From a very old Montreal Black Irish clan of lawyers.
Three generations.
He looks like a Jew.
Never can be too sure about the dark-haired ones, right?
Whatever, this is your world. This is multiracial Montreal.
The word is multicultural.
That's newspeak - multicultural.
Guard!
Wait, wait, wait.
Guard!
Wait, don't go. Don't go.
Why not?
So, you've noticed there's a few Jewish lawyers in the system.
Yeah, there's just a few.
Tell me something, Mike.
What were you doing when you were 12?
When I was 12?
I was playing street hockey mostly...with my friends -
with tennis balls.
What did you do?
I used that case every day, almost every day,
after school and weekends. It had all my papers in it.
For what?
I was learning how to read and do a little writing.
At 12?
Torah study. I was learning how to read
one of the world's more ancient languages,
how to pray certain prayers--
So you think that makes you better than me.
You're in jail, Mike. I'm visiting.
You hurt someone deliberately, and he died.
You're in a stinking mess, and it's going to take work
and study and energy on your part to get out of it.
Maybe I can try it. I don't know where you're
going with this though.
You pick the direction.
Review the material, review your record,
read everything carefully and then you tell me
what's the right way to go.
This-- this is your job.
What am I going to come up with? You're the lawyer.
Yeah, I'm the Kike lawyer you have to play
street hockey with now.
If we're not a team, we both go down.
I want to think about this.
What's that on your arm? Get into a scrape?
- It's a symbol. - What is it?
Nothing yet, it's not finished.
Why don't you just tattoo guilty across your forehead?
I was bored.
Well, now you've got some reading material.
There's about 250 pages there related directly
or indirectly to you.
My point of view?
That we're losing Canada.
That we're losing our English, Canadian, white way of life,
which is something that I want to hold on to,
which is completely separate from what I did in the alley.
It's not separate, Mike!
If multiracial societies worked they wouldn't have to sell it
to us for tax dollars for millions a year.
Millions of immigrants a year arrive and are being
born in our country!
All right, maybe that's your angle.
Now, think about it. You want to get up there
and say you resent the hell out of what's happening
to this country and that's what made you do it?
Okay, but I am gonna want a precise, logical,
cogent argument from you. You okay with those words?
I understand what you're saying.
But this is completely--
I don't want to hear about it.
Read all this material carefully.
I'm not meeting with you again until you've done that.
Not until you come up with a plan of attack.
And if I can't, what if I don't do--
You can. You will.
What if I don't want to?
All right.
If I take a walk, someone else will be in my seat.
You want me to play hack to your idiot?
Don't want to use your head?
Might as well have stewing beef in there then.
Stewing beef? What do you mean?
If you don't do anything and I don't do anything,
this is how it goes: I make $7000 from handling
you badly. You go to prison
for a very long time. I take 18% of my 7000
and I put it into an RRSP, a retirement fund,
which guarantees me that when you get out,
I'm playing golf somewhere nice in Florida.
I get the picture.
No, no. I want you to know what
a Kike lawyer does with his money.
You might learn something.
I buy a cigar for $30 from the Socialist Republic of Cuba.
I smoke it one lazy afternoon.
I take a couple hundred off the top and I take my wife
to a restaurant that you could only ever look into.
We laugh, get along famously. I take my wife home
from the restaurant and we make love.
While you are fending off advances from men.
Are you getting a clearer picture?
Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much.
We don't want anyone saying there was a conspiracy -
that you didn't get a good crack at the bat.
Worst case scenario, they declare you a dangerous
offender and you never, ever get out.
You never have anyone to tell a dirty joke to,
play cards with or play husband and wife with.
All right, all right! Talk, talk, talk, talk!
You talk too much! Shit!
Yeah, well, you're going to have to do a lot of talking yourself.
I'll look at the papers.
And you'll start by putting together
a brilliant defense strategy.
I'll do... Okay...okay.
Let me show you a little something about this dossier.
This belonged to my Dad.
Yeah, he brought it here before the second world war -
a time you seem to have indicated a passing interest in.
This is nice, old world, full process work.
Hand stitching, see?
Just a needle and thread.
And you're giving me this.
I'm lending it to you.
I want your brain out of neutral.
I want you engaging life on some level.
I'll do my best.
You'll have to do better than that -
much, much better.
Guard.
Hey, Danny.
What's it like outside?
It's getting cooler.
[scratching on wall]
[laughing]
It's not me.
That's not me.
Take that, you Jew piece of shit.
Mike! Stop it!
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi.
Damn fucking shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit!
[whimpering]
Ah! Ah!
Here it is.
[chattering]
Home at last.
Super Liberal returns to his form as a mere mortal Jew.
Nice to see you too, Sam.
Sam, don't start.
What?
Danny's busy constructing a landmark defense for a kid
who kicked a hard-working immigrant to death
in an alleyway.
Well, we almost made it to dessert without any shop talk.
Almost.
Let me guess, we're having you to dinner.
Yes, well, you had us to dinner.
I'm sorry. I really apologize.
It's okay, Danny. I'm just teasin'.
Dinner was wonderful.
Good, I'm glad.
Uh, I have a witness.
He could only see me after 6 today so I thought we'd meet
for 15, 20 minutes, then an hour or something later--
No, three - three hours and something later.
A witness now?
Well, the kid deserves a fair hearing.
What witness?
A key person at the Holocaust Remembrance Foundation.
He's going to testify on the indoctrination
of kids as skinheads.
Some wine, please?
The indoctrination?
Yeah, that's what they call it when you get brainwashed.
What do they call what happened to you?
It's called being late. I apologize.
Oh, no apologies necessary. Of course it's accepted.
I do not accept it.
Sam.
I will speak for myself.
I gave Danny a case he couldn't fumble,
get a little media buzz, and he's turning it
into some kind of watershed.
If you feel that way, Sam, you can feel free to leave.
Just get the fuck out.
Danny!
Come on, Danny, he's just-- you know, it's Sam.
He's up to his old tricks.
Just playin' around, Danny. Same as always.
Get out.
See, he's leaving.
We haven't even had dessert yet!
C'mon you guys, stop acting like two macho Jews
and let's have the cake!
Have you forgotten who you are?
What are you talking about?
What your family went through?
What mine went through? Try not to forget.
Sam, I don't forget anything.
Well, whatever you do, come out smelling roses, okay?
Do good and I can get you a partnership.
Make a mess, and you're out on your ass.
Okay, uh, excuse me.
Took me three hours to make this meshugana cake.
Danny's mother insisted on talking me through it
over the phone. I thought I was gonna kill her.
So, fellas, you sit down, you shut up and you be nice
or you'll have hell to pay. Okay?
What a gorgeous cake.
Three hours. Believe it?
So beautiful. No, I don't.
Three hours on the phone with your mother-in-law?
Danny!
How ya doin'?
What's up?
What the fuck?
Mike, what's the matter?
What's up?
Are you annoyed with me?
Well, I'm annoyed--
With me? You didn't take my calls.
Only this last week.
I've got no one to talk to in here.
What are you annoyed about?
Mike, what do you need?
Um, I've been think-- I'm thinking--
I've been thinking.
Okay, good. That's good.
You read all the documents that I--
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I've read them over almost practically every day.
And?
And...I...
I don't-- I don't know.
How many times do I have to come down here
and walk you through all this?
I don't know how or where to start.
You gotta start somewhere.
What've you got?
I haven't... I haven't got anything.
I don't have anything.
You don't have anything? Nothing?
Essentially, yeah, that's right.
You've read everything?
I've read it all, yeah.
Everything you need in order to--
What did you call me down here for then?
I need to get some ideas of how to start.
I'm not giving you ideas, Mike.
Your ideas are what we're dealing with here.
Your thoughts.
But I needed to talk to you to see what you thought.
Well, for the moment, it's irrelevant what I think.
You can suggest!
You just called me down here to yank my chain, didn't you?
I want your help.
I expected a little bit more.
I thought maybe you would have...
Ah, shit.
What?
You have been sitting here for a very long time -
four months. That's an eternity
for someone your age.
And you have no fresh-- no fresh fucking thoughts.
What are you, a moron? Damn it!
You're really, really annoyed. Why are you so annoyed?
It's a helluva day. It's a day in the city
and it's getting to me. And I told you
not to call me unless you had something new to say!
You're not making it easy for me.
Hey, it's not supposed to be easy.
You're not supposed to make it hard.
All right, all right.
What are you gonna do?
When?
When do you think? Now!
You've got 90 days left to come up with a strategy.
How can it just be me?
How come you're not doing your job?
I do my job. I do it everyday,
at the expense of my home and family where necessary.
I already have my degree.
We're not testing my abilities or thought processes.
Okay, I know that.
How can you have read this and...
And what?
How can you have read all this material and not even
come up a little tiny idea to start, a place to start.
Because people say I'm stupid.
You said-- you said moron.
All right, I'm sorry.
But, you know, you're acting like one.
I'm just too stupid.
Cut the self-piteous, dying baby seal crap.
Okay, all right. I will.
I've got a little time left.
Gotta meet somebody, but what do you wanna do?
It's your time - paid for already
in my little agenda book.
For starters, I hear nothing from my skins.
No one's called me, no one's--
Your skins? Who are they -
your boys in boots?
They're a tribe of ill-educated, white-trash, sons of bitches
who have as their strictly avowed purpose--
Be careful what you say.
-- the annihilation of the memory of a people
who have already been killed once,
who want to shit on the graves of my ancestors
and who would prefer to wipe out my race,
for nothing more than blood sport because they are
too stupid to make a go of it for themselves
in the best possible part of the entire world.
What the fuck happened to you today?
Shut up, listen to me!
This could be your last stop - right here.
Are you going to get your head in gear and build a sharp,
fully functioning defense, or not?
Do you have trouble understanding me?
No! No to the last question.
Yes, I'm totally with you.
I don't want to be made a fool of in court again.
All right!
Do you know what's going to happen to you in there?
They will take you apart - your head, your emotions,
your soul, your history. They stamp around
in those things, Mike. They take kicks
at your thinking. They try to figure out
who you may one day be.
Did you ever hear about what the Romans did with birds?
No.
They pulled them apart, looked at their guts
to determine their future.
That's sickening.
Yeah, and the court is gonna take you apart,
and you can't break, you cannot waiver from whatever
defense you construct.
And they will not stop simply because you admit guilt.
You've got 90 days left. You've wasted 120 so far!
Okay, okay.
Mike, listen. You are going to have to get
into your feelings. And that's not simple.
You're gonna have to recognize an honest emotion
if it jumps up and bites you in the ass.
I still have feelings.
Well, that's a good starting place.
I like you.
I think you're a smart guy.
Yeah, well, I feel like hitting you.
You do?
Yeah, I feel like punching you and knocking sense -
beating logic into you.
Well, why don't you?
What? Hit you?
Come on, don't be silly.
Yeah...yeah hit me, Danny.
It'll get rid of the feeling. Hit me, Danny.
Mike, I'm not--
Hit me, Danny.
Mike, don't do this.
Hit me, Danny. I want you to hit me.
I'm not going to.
Even a liberal can throw a punch now and then.
C'mon, hit me.
No.
A real Jew... would love to hit me.
What are you, a wannabe? Are you wannabe Jew?
Is that it? A fuckin' wannabe?
Six million, huh?
You liar - bunch of liars.
Sit down, Mike.
Why?
I said sit down now, Mike.
I wanna know why.
If I started hitting you, I might not be able to stop.
Now you know how it feels.
That's my starting place.
[siren in distance]
Oh, Christ.
I'm all right.
What?
Hey, c'mon. What?
[sobbing]
I'm sorry...I'm sorry.
It's clean.
What?
Your window's clean.
Yeah.
I'm sorry. I, uh--
It's okay.
Here.
It's on the house.
It's on the house?
Super liberal.
What is it, you too with the Super Liberal?
What is that?
Danny, a little humor is possible, you know.
Well, this isn't funny.
You're losin' it, you know.
I'm getting to be fed up with this one.
Anna, it's almost finished.
It's just this, then the hearing, and it's done.
That's good, because I'm really sick of this case.
What, I'm not supposed to take care of my client?
I'm not supposed to do my job?
Yeah... That's good.
Hey.
Could you turn that down?
Anna, please?
Turn it down a little bit?
Could you turn the music down, please?
Are you gonna turn it down or what?
This cloth, filled with my father.
You could practically ring him out of it
into a tub of cold water.
The oil of my father's skin, the back of his neck,
almost 60 years against this cloth.
His smell... His smell throughout it.
Almonds is how he smelled.
Black stripes.
How do you make such a pattern?
At the edges, both edges, loose-tied together
the tiniest of knots - tied by father's
13-year-old fingers, he told me.
At the corners, reinforced,
a material that looks like pieces of a parachute,
though it's not. I asked more than once.
Through these four corners, eight thick strands
through each, tied into five ornate double knots.
Ten knots per corner, from eight strands.
Days of knotting, days of tying.
Ten knots: "That ye may remember and do all my commandments,
to affect the mending of that which was shattered,
and to be holy unto your God."
[paper crumbling]
[buzzer sounds]
You're late.
Couldn't get a razor.
Who's that for? You expecting someone?
Possibly.
Who?
It's a Passover tradition. You set an extra place, a glass.
Let's get started. You've got your dossier.
Yeah.
Are you ready for this?
You know, I'm sick of it. I'm sick to death.
I confessed to everything.
What more do they want from me?
We'll see.
They want me to sign a piece of paper that says I'm no good -
I'm a waste to the system?
I don't think that's what they're after.
That's what I am -
a wasted person, waste of a body.
Lighten up on the self-pity.
It's like a rack I'm on. They keep turning the wheel
a little bit more.
This is a very fine needle we're trying to thread here.
It's only going to work if you stay with me, okay?
To get into the spirit of things, please state your name.
Michael Downey.
So everyone can hear you.
Michael Downey.
My name is Michael Downey.
You may be seated.
Good morning, Mr. Downey.
What do I say?
Try good morning.
Okay, start over.
Mike.
Good morning.
How long have you been incarcerated on this charge?
Six, going on seven months now.
And you have been where?
Administrative segregation, City Jail.
Any family or friends in the courtroom today?
Yeah, I think... I think my mom is gonna come--
Mike, straight answer. And speak up.
My mother is here.
And Jill, Jill Healey, my fiancée.
Oh, you're engaged?
Yes.
I hope to be married.
At some point in the future?
Yes, when I get out.
Looking forward to a better future?
Yes. I'd like to live a good life.
Do you think it's right that you can look forward to a future.
I think it's-- I think it's right.
As compared to your victim, who is dead?
His family? Not so much future right now.
What am I supposed to say to that?
What do you have to say about that?
I've been through a certain amount.
I don't like what I've done--
Mike, don't go on too much.
Try to keep the answers concise, short.
I was explaining.
Yeah, but we don't want too much explaining from you
because it clouds things.
Okay.
What is this certain amount you've been through?
Realizing what I've done is wrong.
Mike, that's not going to do anything.
What's wrong with that?
The answer's too short to begin with,
and you're not really saying anything.
What happened to concise?
Just answer the questions. That's all you have to do.
What was it again?
What have you been through?
I've been thinking. I realize how wrong I was.
How I went off any kind of normal path.
My action was criminal and it was influenced by society,
and it was influenced by...my past.
It was influenced by--
Mike, stop.
I told you before, don't make excuses.
Talk about what you feel, what you're going to do,
what you want for the future.
Concise, more, this, that, which is it?
All of them.
You're trying to piss me off, right?
Maybe.
It's uh...
What?
It's not working.
Do yourself a favor, son - try to avoid ums and aahhhs.
Mouth sounds in general make you sound stupid.
Make me sound stupid?
Yes. You, in particular,
sound stupid making stupid mouth sounds.
Know what? I'm not stupid!
Really?
You're not gonna get to me.
You're not gonna get me to respond.
Just want to make sure.
All right. Answer the question.
I'm sorry, your honor, my client seems to have
forgotten the question again.
What are you, stupid? Think!
It's not gonna be as bad as this.
It's going to be a lot worse, Mike.
Just stop pushing me, okay?
Do you consider yourself to be white trash?
They can't ask that.
Are you white trash?
I come from a working-class, white upbringing.
Is that white trash?
No, it is not.
What is white trash?
It's what's called a derogatory term.
Who does it describe?
White people...with no school, who act badly.
Are you white trash?
No, I don't like think of myself that way.
Are you though? You fit the description.
No, I just said that I'm not.
What are you going to do with your time in prison?
Get whatever education I can take from the system.
Would you care to rephrase your answer, Mr. Downey.
I'm gonna take advantage of the opportunities for education -
to finish high school to begin with, and whatever else I can.
Thank you.
I'm gonna take what I can get, like all good white trash.
You know, Mike, one crack like that and they're going to throw
the fucking book at you. You understand me?
Longest sentence possible - 25 years to parole.
Who's getting angry?
I'm allowed. I'm not being assessed.
Keep asking.
We're hanging over a ledge with this.
I know.
And you could make a really good reputation, too.
You think I am doing this for myself?
Just keep asking the questions, okay?
We need to know, Mr. Downey, the court needs to know
what was your intent while kicking the victim.
I was angry, I was out of control.
Not your condition, Mike, your intention.
What was it you were trying to do?
I think at that time I was trying to get even.
For what?
I look at this man... and I said to myself,
this man's working in a burger joint.
I can't even get a job at a burger joint -
and this man's working at one?
I think that I was blaming him for what was wrong in my life.
Do you still feel that way?
No, I could probably get a job doing what he was doing.
What else.
Wasn't his fault...
What was wrong in my life wasn't his fault.
Were you trying to hurt him?
Yes.
Would you liked to have killed him?
No, no, absolutely not.
That wasn't my intention.
Not even for a minute?
No, if I wanted to kill him, he would have died right there!
Mike, you can't say that.
Yeah, well, it's the truth.
I don't care if it's the truth or not.
You don't need to speculate on what you would have
done had you felt differently.
Okay, you're doing all right, but there's a couple of
important things we need to go over.
What else?
I'm going to ask you directly, while you are under oath,
how you can explain this crime.
Wait, you told me not to explain.
But I am asking you directly to explain.
What do you have to say about this crime?
Mike, this is a vital part of what I asked you to do
and you agreed. Remember?
Yes.
Okay.
Coming as I did, from my particular background...
I had a feeling at that time, that as a white male
I was getting a bad deal.
How so?
There's no hiring incentive for white males.
Not for the Fire Department, not for the Cops,
not for any of the traditional jobs for my people.
Go easy on talk like 'for my people', okay?
In fact, if anything it is just the opposite for the white male.
In those jobs and in many others,
in many other areas, it's just the opposite.
Even if I go to school like my cousin did,
they can't hire a white male to be a professor anymore,
and that's really, really discouraging.
In all of those jobs that I mentioned,
the opposite is true.
You have a case where everyone else is considered first.
This, by-the-by, is in direct violation of the
constitution of Canada. Everyone else is encouraged
and given a chance over the white male, who is left last!
This is unbelievable, Mike. I can't believe this.
These are excuses again... and there is no excuse
for what you did. You need to present an argument.
I'm giving you an argument!
This is pathetic.
We've been over this material, Mike.
I want to hear something new.
I had a feeling that...
that there were too many immigrants.
The immigrants were taking over this country--
No, no!
It was my feeling that the white male had completely lost--
I don't want to hear this watered-down version
of skin thoughts! I'm asking you to tell us,
here in the court, why you killed someone,
how that happened and what you feel now.
I--
With everything in this dossier, can't you say anything else?
Like what, Danny?
Okay, I said I killed him! I said I was wrong!
What the hell else am I gonna say?
You won't hear my defenses.
Because they're not good enough, Mike.
You've gotta go deeper, you've gotta get down to sinew.
I don't want to!
Mike, you have to.
For God's sake, you must have something else to say.
I could say that I'm sorry, I could say that I'm...
I'm very sorry for what I did--
Not good enough.
I'm on a torture rack here, Danny.
Tell me why you killed him and what was wrong with you.
What's, what's wrong with me.
Yes. What is wrong with you?
Ladies and gentlemen, what's wrong with me?
Great, Mike.
What's wrong with me?
Okay, you little son-of-a-bitch, you're gonna go to prison
for 25 years, you could spend 25 years
in administrative segregation.
No, no.
Mike, what the hell happened in that alley?
I said I killed him, all right?
I killed him by mistake.
And what the fuck, if anything, has it taught you?
Zip!
Fuck all asshole.
You just lost it.
Nice going.
I didn't lose it. You know, I just got it.
Sit down, Mike.
Fuck you!
Sit down, Mike.
I am renouncing my cooperation with the forces
of The Zionist Occupational Government.
All right, take it easy. We went a little bit too far--
My name is Michael Downey. I am a foot soldier
in the Great Aryan Resistance, to the Forces of ZOG.
The ZOG has given me a so called Social Insurance Number
and I refuse to utter that filthy number.
Mike, stop this please.
I declare my Undying Membership to the The White Aryan Church
of Jesus Christ Our Lord the Redeemer.
I declare with furious, white pride that the Jew -
Jews like the man in this room - are holding me,
a true Patriot, hostage.
Michael, you are not a hostage.
I am a political prisoner being tortured, and forced
to read from documents that are not relevant to my
actions as a soldier. It is my firm and ardent belief
that the Jews, who are monitoring my every word,
controlling my every action, are the slayers of Cain,
the slayers of Christ Our Lord the Redeemer.
The Jew Creatures, the leaders of all
the lesser mixed grey races have instigated
international communism, while at the same time control
the world banking system. I declare my act of violence
to be not an act of hate, but a sensible, compassionate
act of love and pride, for the great white race.
No, no, no, no!
The Jews, are the spawn of satan, descended of Cain
and must head the list of all inferior races to be eliminated
in order to make a clean, unfilthy world for the return
of Christ Our Lord The Redeemer.
The only way to stop the murder is by killing.
The killing is perpetrated first and foremost by the Jews,
and so, first and foremost, the Jews must be eliminated.
Then will come the inferior. In this trial,
I am as an innocent lamb, to the slaughter--
[sobbing]
Ahh!!
Foot Soldier Downey! Stand up straight!
I will not cooperate with the forces of ZOG.
Soldier, I'm commanding you to stand up straight.
Yes, sir. Standing up, sir.
What seems to be the problem?
Seven months in administrative seg, sir.
You do not like administrative segregation?
No, it is making me lose all my mind.
I'm trying to save you from 25 years, Michael.
[sobbing] Twenty-five years!
You have to sit at this table... and read this document.
Who are you, sir?
An officer.
An officer of who?
The Queen's court.
Yes, sir. Sitting down, sir.
Read the document.
I don't think I can do that, sir.
I happen to know for a fact that you can.
I've read it, sir.
Not for me you haven't!
Why?
You may be required to do it in court.
And if I don't?
You will be held in contempt.
I'll try, sir.
No...you will do it.
I am, at present, mostly immobilized in hospital.
The injury which I have been caused, together with my back,
disallows me to walk, or move in a regular fashion.
I cannot stand, nor can I properly sit.
In general I have the appearance of a man
mauled by an animal.
Lastly I have difficulty seeing from one eye
and only hope for better. I am still in hospital
in case of more complications from the attack.
My wife and two children live now in some fear
for their lives. They're not at present, secure.
It is my greatest hope to regain wellness,
that I may be of some utility to my family
and all the rest of society.
I give thanks to all those who have helped me so much
and pray for them that they may be rewarded for their efforts.
As for the young man who so brutally attacked me
with no provocation whatever on my part...
I feel this young man must be kept from society until a time
when he has a full rehabilitation and is again
able to live in a society with many colors.
In his Christian Bible it is Joseph who had a cloak
of many colors, and that is what we find in life.
He may one day wish to pick up that cloak for himself.
Finally, I wish to say to him that
I bear him no grudge in any way.
Though I am not a martyr and take no pleasure
in this incapacitation, which is not of my doing...
if I am destined to die...
leaving behind this world, as a Hindu it is my great honor
to offer him my forgiveness in a world where forgiveness
seldom exists.
I wish him only goodness, comfort, and shade,
in this most difficult walk which he has embarked on...
through the many harsh days and nights,
which can at times be life. As well, I hope that he finds
a better road to walk.
In Heaven, and Heaven alone,
can each be judged according to his merits...or demerits.
Please.
Holy fuck! Holy fuck!
I beg of you...
Please...stop.
He begged me.
He begged me to stop, but I didn't stop.
Holy fuck!
Oh, God! Oh, my God!
[crying and wailing]
I didn't mean to do it!
I didn't mean to do it.
Michael.
Oh, my God...
Stand up.
Michael.
C'mon.
I want you to sit at this table and read the document again.
What the fuck are you doing to me?
Just read it.
No whining, no crying, no puking.
What are you trying to do to me?
I'm taking you through the eye of the needle, Michael.
You are the thread.
Once you go through that eye, you can decide.
Decide what?
What part of the fabric you want to be.
Because that's what it all is, Michael -
society, reality, time. It's all about
the threads of a cloth. A divine cloth.
You want to be a lone thread? Go ahead.
You want to rip at the fabric, have at it.
I don't know what you're talking about anymore.
You want to believe that I'm your "ZOG rep,"
that's your choice.
You want to stick with your fucking hatred, go ahead.
God knows we've all got some measure in us.
I still have some good in me.
I know I still have some small good.
I don't doubt it.
You doubt it. I know you doubt it.
I don't even know where the hell I am.
You don't know who the fuck I am.
I know exactly who you are, Michael.
You are Michael Downey.
Jesus Christ.
What am I supposed to do now?
Read the document, like a grownup...
with a full voice.
Everyone is going to want to hear you.
You're in your twenties. You're not a boy anymore.
All right.
I am, at present, mostly immobilized in hospital.
The injury which I have been caused, together with my back,
disallows me to walk, or move in a regular fashion.
I cannot stand, nor can I properly sit.
In general I have the appearance of a man
mauled by an animal.
Lastly, I have difficulty seeing from one eye
and only hope for better.
I am still in intensive care in case of more
complications from the attack.
My wife and two children live now in some fear for their lives.
They are not, at present, secure.
It is my greatest hope to regain wellness...
Anna, please. Don't!
Anna!
I present a very particular problem to this Court
and to this society. If you ignore this problem
or you try to deal with it simply by incarceration,
it won't go away. It will only get worse.
I ask for the tools of rehabilitation to be made
available to me.
If you the Court, or the people of this society
turn a blind eye to this problem, not only will it
not go away, but it will get forever worse.
It'll break the back of your society.
I have admitted my guilt and do not ask you to excuse it
or forgive it. I ask you simply to see this
problem as not only mine, but as somehow
slightly yours, and that something be done about it.
The hand of hatred, the foot, the weapon will not be defeated
simply with equal force, but only and forever,
always with the intelligence that some of you have had the
good fortune through your days to come into possession of.
That's all.
Thank you very much for listening to me.
(Reporter) How do you feel about the verdict?
There's a need for tolerance in this society.
No questions, please.
I know now it's not tolerance, but love...actual love.
Some of our viewers might find it odd to hear that
coming from you, a convicted murderer.
Could you elaborate on that?
It's not enough to tolerate.
Some observers have charged that your recanting your views
is a conversion of convenience. What do you say to that?
That's not the case.
My speaking out could get me killed.
Others have charged that you spoke out against Skinheadism
for your own purposes or to demonstrate contrition.
No, I'm in jail.
I knew I'd be in jail.
I'm not required to be contrite.
On an anti-racist coalition web site, you're described
as a "former Skinhead." Is that correct?
Yes it is, as is the description.
I prefer to think of myself more as a "former normal person"
who went down a very bad, very wrong road.
How do you spend your time in jail?
I read a lot of history to re-educate myself...
to de-educate myself from what I believed.
I see a psychologist to improve myself.
I also do A.A.
And I sit in the sun whenever I get the chance
to bleach out my tattoos.
It may seem to many, that you've come out of this rather well.
Your sentence is more in line with a manslaughter charge
than with a racially motivated murder, a hate crime.
Yes.
To what do you attribute this stunning reversal of fortunes?
Would you say it's your lawyer, Danny Dunkleman?
Absolutely.
Danny reached me; he changed my path.
I had to ask myself: If this man Daniel - Danny -
if this man is willing to help me, how could he possibly
be a spawn of satan?
Danny took an interest in me... gave me another chance -
as did my victim, with what he said on my behalf.
Can you honestly say that you won't be a risk to society
once you are released?
In prison I'll be no harm to anyone.
One day, I'll get out. I'll be set free.
I think and I dream of that day.
(Mike) I haven't been able to reach you for months.
(Danny) I haven't been reachable for months.
Deliberately so.
What happened to you?
I was promoted at work. I'm a full partner.
You're talented.
The media attention we got solidified my career,
put me in another league.
My wife left me.
She did?
Yeah.
Why?
She was tired of me.
That's tough.
What was her name?
Anna.
I'm sorry.
It's not your fault.
I didn't think that--
Did you think that it was my fault?
I blamed you. I blamed everyone.
I blamed myself. It's no use.
I was in bed for two months. Fell to pieces.
And now?
Now? Walking around in a stupor.
You know, you can't do anything with it.
What do you mean?
It'll take a long time.
And then?
Eventually, over the course of time, you forgive yourself
to some small extent.
You start to find pleasure in small things.
I still can't work.
This is the first thing I've done in two months.
And you still have your job?
Yeah, they want my name on the letterhead.
I've made some changes.
My secretary summarized your letters.
You couldn't read my letters.
Mike, I look at what I've done with you -
you could be back on the street in three years.
I find myself staring into this dark, debilitating,
riddle, beaten up by the meaning of everything.
I find a taste in my mouth that's--
I don't even want to know.
I try to pray, and instead I find myself hating you.
What about your ideas? Your eye of the needle?
Ah, the dossier.
You can't have it back. It's actually got my
grade 11 homework in it.
No, it's yours.
I want you to have it, Michael.
Thank you, Daniel.
(Mike) I've learned one thing:
I hope...and I hope... and I hope.
(Danny) These seven threads comprise a cloth:
Spirit, Light, Time, Space, Birth, Death,
and the Seventh Thread, which is the Mystery of the Universe.
This Seventh Thread is also the opposite of Spirit,
the opposite of Light, the opposite of Time,
the opposite of Space, the opposite of Birth,
the opposite of Death.
The Seven-threaded Dimensional cloth, which is the very fabric
of the Un-nameable. The Fabric extending out
from any point of our Universe.
This movement, this animation, this extension in the cloth is
The Divine Dance of Eternity.