Szpilman hiding in the ruins of a house during World War II
★★★ 1/2 out of ★★★★
The Pianist (2002)
Runtime: 150 minutes
MPAA: Rated R for violence and brief strong language.
Tragedy ensues, as Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is newly separated from his family.
The Pianist is a melancholic and agonizing tale of the incredible survival of the famous Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman. Though it starts rather slow and not exactly engaging, it becomes more compelling and shocking, thanks to its vivid depiction of the cruel treatment of Jews, and the psychological effects of war.
The Pianist is the actual story of Władysław Szpilman, who in the 1930s, was widely regarded as the most acclaimed piano player throughout Poland. At the emergence of the Second World War, however, Szpilman and his family become subject to anti-Jewish laws imposed by the conquering Germans. By the early 1940s, Szpilman endures the Jewish Ghetto of Warsaw and then suffers the tragedy of his family deported to a German concentration camps, while he is conscripted into a forced German Labor Compound. Ultimately, Szpilman escapes and goes into hiding as a Jewish refugee. He painstakingly observes the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Warsaw Uprising and struggles to live to see the end of the Second World War.
We get an insight into the eyes of the extremely fortunate pianist, who, with the help of many friends and acquaintances, barely survive the torturing ordeal of the Second World War. Can you imagine desperate people screaming for help, not getting any accommodation or dying in dark and desolate streets of the cities?
Adrien's character endures situations that get progressively worse, in which I will not spoil because you have to see it for yourself. The actor himself portrays Szpilman so well, his face conveys the sign of hopelessness and sometimes desperate survival. It is because of the script's awareness and impressive writing that you really care for the character most of the time. The Pianist is also, historically, extremely accurate and pays major attention to minor details, thus enriching this probably twice-in-a-lifetime experience, after Schindler's List.
There are many haunting scenes in the film, like Germans throwing a man in a wheelchair off three floors, mass and shocking shootings, Szpilman pretending to be dead and explosions including one where it hit Szpilman's accommodation but fortunately not him. Not only that, towards the final act of the movie, where Szpilman meets a kind German soldier named Wilm Hosenfeld, there is a calm yet powerful scene of Szpilman finally playing the piano after five years. The camerawork here is nothing short of amazing.
It also shows the true nature of how evil we can be, and many people in dire situations looking for food, running water, a place to stay, safety and all other basic necessities. People will do everything just to survive a day longer. The Pianist also reminds us to appreciate what we have for the moment, because when we don't, and the time comes that we don't have these, it's too late for us to start to truly appreciate it.
In the end, The Pianist is probably director Roman Polanski's most personal film - he experienced the Holocaust himself and survived World War II, but unfortunately with a dead mother and a traumatized childhood. He has transferred words from the autobiography of Władysław Szpilman to screen so effectively it feels like you're in the place itself.
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