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Summary: Polanski and Brody Bring Szpilman's Story To Life-Brilliant!
Review: Director Roman Polanski had much personal history to draw on, when he directed "The Pianist." He spent his own childhood in Poland, and escaped from the Krakow Ghetto, although his mother, and other family members, perished in the Holocaust. Polanski makes this his most personal and powerful film to date, and deservingly won the Academy Award Oscar for Best Director."The Pianist" is the agonizing story of Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's survival of the Nazi's destruction of Polish Jewry. The film begins in 1939, with Szpilman playing Chopin on the piano for Radio Warsaw, as the Germans bomb the city, and finally force him to stop playing. History has documented well what happened in Warsaw over the following two years - the Jewish ghetto was constructed and settled, racial laws were written and enforced, people died of starvation, illness, or Nazi murder. Then the "resettlement" roundups began. Szpilman was waiting at the Umshagplatz to be deported to Treblinka, with his family, when fate seemingly intervened, and he was spared. His survival story is a different kind of hell than others that I have seen or read about. Szpilman watches the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and subsequent destruction, from the outside, looking in. Usually, accounts of the Jewish uprising are from former fighters, or survivors, who were inside the ghetto at the time. I can only wonder if Szpilman longed to join his fellow Jews and fight the Nazis, rather than remain in his solitary apartment overlooking the ghetto, with his own end unknown. The story is told from a uniquely unsentimental point of view. I felt at times that Szpilman, brilliantly portrayed by Adrien Brody, had distanced himself from all emotion, except for the periods when he played the piano in his imagination, and listened to music in his head. Perhaps this detachment was the mechanism that allowed him to survive emotionally. The well-written screenplay, by Ronald Harwood, was adapted from Wladyslaw Szpilman's memoirs published in 1946. During some of the movie's most emotional parts, there are amazing camera shots of snow falling, or leaves blowing across an empty street, or the snow covered ghetto ruins that look like the end of the world, with the only sound - Chopin's piano music. These film takes add emotion to the film, compensate for, and contrast well with Szpilman's emotional isolation. There is a haunting scene, near the film's end, with Szpilman and a German officer, that still moves me to tears when I think about it. The film is a remarkable in its sensitivity, and portrayal of one man's struggle to survive. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Moving. A must see film.
Review: I am surprised I did not hear more about this film when it was in theaters. It is an amazing film. Well crafted.
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Summary: This is a movie worth buying
Review: There have been many movies made about the holocaust. What does this movie add to what has already been said about the holocaust? In my opinion, many such movies understandably and justifiably emphasize realism and factual represention of events. Unfortunately, many directors do not have the skill to realistically depict hope under such circumstances. For example, Spielberg's Schindler's List resorts to rather sophomoric narrative devices in its depiction of hope in the face of adversity. When the list is first generated, we see Liam Neeson and Ben Kingsley desperately thinking of name after name of people to save. There is a build-up that felt like a scene in the locker room of the underdog team before the big game, or the "you can do it" speeches given to someone who's failed at something in the past. It is typical Spielberg and it makes you feel like cheering Schindler on. And, in the end, when Schindler laments he should have saved more, there is a sense of artifice and overdramatization. This was not the holocaust. There was no cheering and overdramatization. People were scared for their lives, alone, focused on self-preservation, acting in secrecy and desparation. The mood of Schindler's List overall was certainly sad and the scenes "realistic", but I felt that Spielberg oversimplified and overdramatized the emotions and some events in order to emphasize hope. It is this over-emphasis of hope that undermines Schindler's List, because it feels forced. In The Pianist, no such simplification occurs. This is an uncomprising, unflinching view of terrible events in one man's life that sustains hope for survival without phony plot devices and oversimplification. It is somewhat documentary in style, without very much dialogue, special effects, or forced dramatization. The events unfold simply, without artifice, and without prejudice. If Spilzman died it would seem natural and expected given his circumstances. The fact that he survives is exhilirating. This holocaust movie reveals the goodness in human nature in the face of the most terrible atrocities realistically and without compromise. That has not been achieved in past holocaust movies very often or very succesfully.. The DVD itself is well designed. The special features are interesting and revealing. The video and sound transfers are excellent.
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Summary: The Best Film of The Year
Review: Forget the Oscars. Forget the Golden Globes. The Pianist WAS the best film of 2002, no doubt about it. A great movie is supposed to make you feel all sorts of emotions, make you experience things you'd never thought you'd experience. The Pianist does that an more. The fact that the movie is a hard one to watch probably didn't play well with award voters last year. There isn't much happiness in this tale of WW2 war prisoners and concentration camps. But Brody embodies his character so well - a young Polish pianist who has nothing to live for now that that war has started and who's only way to stay sane is by playing piano in his mind - that he more than deserved the acolades he received for this role. With this film, you almost feel as though you are living one of the darkest pages of history. Director Roman Polanski brings you back to a time of death and sadness and makes you feel all of these emotions as if you were there in person. There are not many films that can make you feel such a strong slew of emotions. The Pianist is a film that will go down in history. It will still be remembered - and celebrated - fifty years from now. It is truly one of the best, and most affecting, films about the holocaust.
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Summary: A Good Movie that suffers from comparison to Schindler
Review: I liked the film in general. It was an unbelievable story and Brody was terrific in the part. However, as it rolled on in the theatre I found myself ticking off when the ghetto uprising would start, when the deportations would start, when the russians would start, and realized that, inspite of it being an absolutely horrific period in history, the pacing of this movie is way too familiar. For me it di not have the heartbreaking drama of Schindler's story, and in fact seemed too often to too closely mirror it.
I was not aware that this was a true story (I tend to live under a rock), so I thought some of what this poor man goes through to be incredulous, and when it looked like he might be shot at the end by mistake, I presumed it was just another manifestation of Polanski's sick imagination. Finding out that it was true did not move me any closer to the heart of the story. See for yourself. As a film, it has undeniable strong points technically. As a story, I just kept thinking that this was redundantly Schindler.
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Summary: Flawless Masterpiece
Review: This critically-acclaimed film follows the life of a young Polish pianist as his homeland is taken away and turned into a Nazi labor/death camp. A remarkable testament of human survival and courage, this film is absolutely the most wonderful and tragic story I've ever seen. This movie delivers so much emotion to the viewer that you'll finally understand a little bit about what those times must have been like. Absolutely wonderful from beginning to end, this film is a masterpiece. Adrien Brody is wonderful, Roman Polanski delivers yet another priceless directorship, and the production is outstanding. Don't pass this film up!
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Summary: Best Holocaust Survival Film Since "Schindler's List."
Review: Not since "Shindler's List (1993) has such a poignant tale of Holocaust survival been brought to the screen. The team of Roman Polanski (Director) and Ronald Howard (screenplay) have faithfully adapted Wladyslaw Szpilman's touching memoir to produce one of the most realistic human dramas in recent years. Polanski's own recollections of his childhood spent in the Cracow ghetto are added to Howard's screenplay. The result is a brilliant and artistic testimony to the human spirit's will to survive. Adrien Brody plays Szpilman, an accomplished pianist from a well-to-do Jewish family in Warsaw. He is playing over the Polish radio station when the Nazis conquer the city in September 1939. Forcefully moved into the Warsaw Ghetto, Szpilman is spared the fate of his family who are loaded into cattle cars and "relocated" to the concentration camp at Treblinka. With the help of others, Szpilman escapes the ghetto and goes into hiding. He is hidden by a close knit group of Polish gentiles who risk certain death if they are caught. Szpilman is nearly starved to death while locked in a flat when a shady accomplice sells Szpilman's food ration on the black market. Szpilman watches helplessly from his perch while the Warsaw Ghetto uprising is quelched and the city turned into a smoldering ruin. Forced to live the existence of a rat, burrowing through the gutted city in search of food, Szpilman is saved by Hauptmann (Captain) Wilm Hosenfeld, like Schindler, a good German. Ironically, Szpilman is nearly shot by the Russians at war's end because he is wearing the officer's great coat Hosenfeld had given him to keep warm. The human will to survive in the most horrible circumstances is the film's central theme. The ability to keep one's humanity and moral integrity under such conditions was the true test for Szpilman. It was his love of music, that flowed through his veins when nutrients could not that saved his soul from crumbling like the city walls around him. Besides the horrible atrocities committed by the Nazis, Polanski displays the darker side of non-Germans as well. The Jewish police and Polish Militia, who brutally beat Jews and herded them onto awaiting transports are accurately portrayed. With the exception of one neighbor who tries unsuccessfully to turn Szpilman into the Nazis, all the other Polish gentiles depicted in the film are sympathetic to the Warsaw Jews. Anti-Semitism was equally as rampant a problem in Poland as in the rest of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. Perhaps Polanski was trying to remain loyal to Szpilman's perspective, but a stronger dose of Polish anti-Semitism would have seemed more believable. On the whole, The Pianist is a wonderful film. The set design and wardrobe are authentic down to the finest detail. Every scene is a gem. The acting job by Brody and supporting cast are superb and the soundtrack hauntingly beautiful. The DVD's behind the scenes extras are a fine tribute to Polanski's artistry. I rented this DVD, now I have to own it. Five stars and highly recommended.
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Summary: Man's inhumanity to man
Review: In this well-made film, we see WW II through the eyes of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew who is a concert pianist. His comfortable life goes steadily downhill after the Germans occupy his country and bit by bit, force the Jews into the ghetto. At first his family is optimistic that things will improve, but gradually the terrible truth of the Nazi's plans becomes clear.
By a series of seemingly miraculous occurances, Wladyslaw is spared the horrors of extermination in the death camps, but he lives a life spent in hiding and in fear of being discovered by the Nazis. A kind German soldier helps him survive until the Russians take over Poland, and at last we see some redemption in the closing scenes. This is a powerful movie which is not always easy to watch but which tells a story which needs to be told again and again so that it will not be forgotten. This is a very worthy Academy Award nominee.
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Summary: Adrien Brody handles role of Szpilman with sensitivity
Review: Roman Polanski's epic film The Pianist is a wonderful retelling of the life of Wladyslaw Spilman, a Polish Jew and magnificient piano player whose career was cut short when the Germans invaded Poland. At first the restrictions placed on Szpilman and his family don't seem so bad, but as time goes on they are forced to move into the Jewish ghetto, where they are eventually loaded onto a train bound for one of the concentration camps. As Szpilman is waiting to board the train with his family, however, he is pulled from the crowd by one of the ghetto police, Jews who are working for the German officers in hopes of better treatment, and told to run away. From that point on his life becomes a struggle for survival, working for the Germans until they liquidate the ghetto, then being smuggled from one safe house to another until he is finally discovered in the bombed-out ruins of a flat by Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, a German officer who is so moved by Szpilman's music that he decides to keep the secret of the pianist's survival until the Germans retreat from the city. Adrien Brody played the role of Wladyslaw Szpilman with great sensitivity, showing Szpilman to be a man of deep feeling who is witnessing the horrors of the war all around him, but doing what he must to survive. Adrien Brody was able to make the character of Szpilman so believable and human that I found myself near tears several times during the course of the movie. Thomas Kretschmann was also very good as Capt. Hosenfeld, the young German officer who provides aid and comfort to Szpilman after hearing him play the piano. While I was watching this particular scene I could actually see Hosenfeld being torn between his duty to his Motherland and doing what he knew to be right as a human being, and Kretschmann played it just right. In the end, The Pianist was a wonderful movie, and one of Polanski's greatest achievements. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't seen it do so at the first available opportunity.
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Summary: Not the same old Holocaust/WWII movie
Review: The movie pulls you in and takes you for a ride. It is an emotional roller coaster, taking you from one end of the spectrum to the other. The heroism and pettiness of the characters is truly moving. Like a car crash, it is hard to look but concern over the people makes you want to see the outcome. This movie is not your Hollywood version of the Holocaust or WWII. It shows the true horrors of German occupation in ghastly detail, from start to finish. I was astounded by the historical detail of this film. This is a great movie that I would not miss.
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