Rating: 
Summary: Everyone Should See This!
Review: A true story about pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman and his life working in Polish labor camps during WWII, and how he escaped deportation and capture by living in Warsaw's ruins. It is a truly mesmerizing story. While it is somewhat slow in the beginning at sucking you in, you will be fully there by the end, I guarantee.
The movie doesn't ever get political, nor does it get graphic or gory. It's simply one man's account of what it was like to be a Polish Jew and live through that time in history. Oh, don't get me wrong, there's plenty of violence and death. It's just not dwelled on. Nor are the horrors of Auschwicz, though we know what's happening through what we studied in history class and what we do see on screen. When thousands of Jews are "relocated to the south" we know fully where they are going and what their fate will be.
While I admit I have not seen all the nominated performaces as yet, Adrian Brody must surely have desreved his best actor Oscar. His performace was absorbing, as was the movie. Even if you're not a fan of Holocaust movies, this one is highly recommended. Not as a history lesson, but as an uplifting story of human survival even through the worst of times.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, impartial look at the Holocaust
Review: I think that one of the major strengths of this movie is that it shows two sides of the Holocaust and Nazi occupation in general. It shows that there were good Jews and bad Jews (Jewish police at the ghetto), good Poles (non-Jews) and bad Poles, good Germans and bad Germans. It points out that Poles, often accused of being indifferent to the fate of the Jews, faced automatic death sentence for helping them. Many did it anyway. Others would profit from turning the Jews in. An extreme situation like the Nazi occupation brings out the best in some and the worst in others.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Film About the Holocaust
Review: Shindler's List may be bigger, grimmer, more bloody, but The Pianist is better by far. Roman Polanski shares his own memories of German persection with Wladislaw Szpilman's riviting story of survival. Adrien Brody's performance as the detached, sensitive pianist is the core of this film. From the first moment of he appears on screen we understand his character - he plays on as bombs fall - music is more important than life. Contrast this with the numerous scenes Spielberg used to present Shindler's character. Polanski's ecomony is excellent. We understand relationships without interference, we live the anxiety of a throughly assimilated Jew forced into a nightmare of instant death. Polanski's filmmaking here is perfect. I can't think of another film I've seen lately that is so well-shot, yet unobtrusive. The director understands the strength of the story and the strengh of Spzilman to carry the film, and Polanski steps out of the way. As someone who is not only Jewish, but a decendant of Crackow Jews, I found Schindler's List almost too much to bear, yet I did not identify with any of the characters, and to be frank Rafe Fiennes Nazi steals the picture. In the Pianist, the focus is right where it belongs: on the character and suffering of Spzilman. The German animals who destroyed innocent lives are just that, animals, and the quiet dignity that Adrien Brody projects makes that quite clear. At the climax of the film when Spzilman is finally discovered by a German officer after hiding for over two years, he must play to save his life, just as he has done in the Warsaw Ghetto many times. The officer Hosenfeld, played with cool compassion by Thomas Kretschmann, gives Spzilman his life by treating him like a fellow human. Watching Brody protray this ray of light soak through Spzilman's emaciated body is moving beyond words. For once the Academy gives an acting Oscar to someone who really deserves one. I loved this film so much I watched it twice, then bought it, then found the amazing book and bought that. Do I identify with Spzilman? You bet. Watch this film. Read the book, which contains Hosenfeld's diary entries. Amazing work here.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Powerful and Uplifting Movie
Review: This is simply the best movie I have ever seen. The directory, acting, and soundtrack are flawless. The very next day, I purchased the origional book, DVD, and soundtrack. This story is about a jewish pianist man and his family trying to survive in the Nazi Ghetto. This is just the best movie I have ever seen. F I V E S T A R S ! ! ! !
Rating:
Summary: WOW! (IN REF. TO THE 3 - DISC LIMITED SNDTRCK EDITION)
Review: I had a few regrets at first when I bought this film because I have never seen a Polanski film in whole before and my mom begged me to at least take a chance and buy the movie. I seen it for a real good deal (...) and grabbed it without any thoughts. I guess the reason why I wanted to buy this film instead of renting it is because I collect movies and the word of mouth that this film has recieved especially in my town has been absolutely stunning. So one night (late, late, late at night) I had the chance and I took it by taking the DVD and putting it in my DVD player. The first scene takes place in a radio studio where the character Szpillman (Adrian Brody) is playing the piano over the Polish Radio. Then out of nowhere in the background a thrusting explosion is heard and soon the building in which the pianist is playing gets bombarded with bombs as the German take over goes unknowingly underway. This is how the film starts! With an instant beginning the film instantly begins the character's run through survival. After the families get weekly decrees from the German Nazis of rules on how Jews can only live and from then on the brutal reality of history portrayed by Roman Polanski is something you just have to see for yourself. The movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes long and it definitely will be a fast two hours because the scenes ,dialogue and whole story is so beautifully connected that it will almost feel that you were by his side the whole time as he tries so desperately to survive by hiding in bombed up buildings and ghost towns and a hospital that was evacuated after it was emptied by a fight from the Germans against some Jews who had some guns. Well this movie is one that I am happy I just bought because just writing this review makes me want to watch it right now!!! This is a beautiful film and I think Roman Polanski did everything right towards the making and story line of the film. It just has such a heavy atmospheric and emotional feeling when this film is watched and you won't move out of your seat, I guarantee it!
Rating: 
Summary: Tedium -- another kind of Holocaust suffering
Review: Films like The Pianist are important to watch for those of us born after WWII. It is hard to believe such things actually happened, and if we forget such utter depravity is possible it will happen again. This film shows how one average Jewish Polish family was destroyed during the Holocaust. It portrays well how powerless human beings truly are against institutionalized evil. That being said, I could not help but compare this film with "Life is Beautiful (LIB)." At first I thought LIB was the better film because it is more "entertaining," meaning there is a greater range of emotion -- you laugh and cry. The Pianist elicits mostly negative emotions, and can get tedious. But then I realized that this is also a part of the suffering that the protagonist went through -- fear without relief for 5 years, waiting and not knowing what had happened to his family or what would happen to him, having to remain silent, hiding and waiting. This movie is probably closer to the truth of human experience than LIB. Although both protagonists of The Pianist and LIB are very talented, The Pianist does not idealize the life of its main character as does LIB. The Szpilman family is also not ideal -- they do not seem to be particularly pious or observant Jews, they do not know each other well and there seems to be the average amount of family discord and jealousies. Wladyslaw (the protagonist) is more lucky than brave or smart. He survives by playing dead, but then is almost shot by Russians for wearing a German coat. He allows himself to be separated from his family and is not able to return a kindness to a German officer. He appears stunned and numb for much of the movie, simply focused on survival. In short, he is an Everyman with one great talent -- like most of us. So, is The Pianist a good movie? It depends -- if you are looking to somehow be entertained by a Holocaust movie -- then watch LIB instead. However -- if you watch movies to engage your mind and you want to understand the realities of war and evil -- then this movie will help you imagine how terrible war is, and how powerless everyone becomes in its face. This can be the first step towards whatever action your conscience leads you to take. The worst evil of all is apathy.
Rating:
Summary: Tedium -- another kind of Holocaust suffering
Review: Films like The Pianist are important to watch for those of us born after WWII. It is hard to believe the Holocaust actually happened, but if we forget such utter depravity is possible it is possible it will happen again. This film shows how one average Jewish Polish family was destroyed during the Holocaust. It portrays well how powerless human beings truly are against institutionalized evil. That being said, I could not help but compare this film with "Life is Beautiful (LIB)." At first I thought LIB was the better film because it is more "entertaining," meaning there is a greater range of emotion -- you laugh and cry. The Pianist elicits mostly negative emotions, and can get tedious. But then I realized that this is also a part of the suffering that the protagonist went through -- fear without relief for 5 years, waiting and not knowing what had happened to his family or what would happen to him, having to remain silent, hiding and waiting. This movie is probably closer to the truth of human experience than LIB. Although both protagonists of The Pianist and LIB are very talented, The Pianist does not idealize the life of its main character as does LIB. The Szpilman family is also not ideal -- they do not seem to be particularly pious or observant Jews, they do not know each other well and there seems to be the average amount of family discord and jealousies. Wladyslaw (the protagonist) is more lucky than brave or smart. He survives by playing dead, but then is almost shot by Russians for wearing a German coat. He allows himself to be separated from his family and is not able to return a kindness to a German officer. He appears stunned and numb for much of the movie, simply focused on survival. In short, he is an Everyman with one great talent -- like most of us. So, is The Pianist a good movie? It depends -- if you are looking to somehow be entertained by a Holocaust movie -- then watch LIB instead. However -- if you watch movies to engage your mind and you want to understand the realities of war and evil -- then this movie will help you imagine how terrible war is, and how powerless everyone becomes in its face. This can be the first step towards whatever action your conscience leads you to take. The worst evil of all is apathy.
Rating:
Summary: Harrowing, horrifying telling of the Holocaust in Poland
Review: THE PIANIST [Adrian Brody / Directed by Roman Polanski / 150 minutes / Rated R for violence and brief strong language] "The Pianist", Roman Polanski's remarkable drama about the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust in Warsaw, Poland in the early 1940s, is the best depiction of the subject since Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List"; in fact, in some respects it is a better movie. While Spielberg and his family grew up in the safety of the United States, Polanski [born in 1933] and his clan were Polish victims of the Nazi atrocities. If there is a problem with "The Pianist", it is that some viewers will find it too painful to watch. This is a horror movie in the literal sense because it depicts man at his worst in real life. To this day, I have difficulty accepting emotionally that all this occurred just sixty years ago, though intellectually I know that it did. Adrian Brody plays real life pianist Wladslaw Szpilman, who was on track to becoming one of Europe's foremost performers when the Nazis invaded Poland. Within months, he, his family and more than 500,000 other Warsaw Jews were crammed into a ghetto comprising a few city blocks. It wasn't long before more and more people disappeared, having been shipped off to concentration camps. The pianist uses every trick he can think of to survive in a living nightmare which goes on and on and only gets worse. Mr. Brody won Best Actor and Mr. Polanski Best Director at this year's Oscars. At the time it seemed a surprise upset to many people. In retrospect, the awards were richly deserved. Because of its subject matter, "The Pianist" isn't suited for everyone. [Children should have a grasp of history before seeing it, for example. But it is also very rewarding and a great example of the art of movies.
Rating:
Summary: BEST MOVIE IN YEARS!
Review: #1 best movie in years! Went to see it the first day it was out and got the DVD the first day too.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone Should See This!
Review: A true story about the life of pianist, Wladyslaw Szpilman, and his life working in Polish labor camps during WWII, and how he escaped deportation and capture by living in Warsaw's ruins. It is a truly mesmerizing story. While it is somewhat slow in the beginning at sucking you in, you will be fully there by the end, I guarantee.
The movie doesn't ever get political, nor does it get graphic or gory. It's simply one man's account of what it was like to be a Polish Jew and live through that time in history. Oh, don't get me wrong, there's plenty of death. It's just not dwelled on. Nor are the horrors of Auschwicz, though we know what's happening through what we studied in history class and what we do see on screen. When thousands of Jews are "relocated to the south" we know fully where they are going and what their fate will be.
While I admit I have not seen all the nominated performaces as yet, Adrian Brody must surely have desreved his best actor Oscar. His performace was absorbing, as was the movie. Even if you're not a fan of Holocaust movies, this one is highly recommended. Not as a history lesson, but as an uplifting story of human survival even through the worst of times.
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