Rating: 
Summary: The personal survival of one living human being tells all
Review: The reviews hinted at what I thought would be an intimate and poignant survival story of one soul through World War II. It was the peformance of Adrien Brody that surpassed all reviews written and defies any attempt to put this performance into words. His every movement, every gesture, tone of voice, his whole demeanor held my attention without pause. The photography is that of "Room With a View" and "Passage to India". It has the historical scope and authenticity of "Another Country" and "Reds". You watch in horror that "Humanity" could ever sink and slither to this level. There are few films I could watch again and again, this is one of them. Your eyes need to follow the most subtle details, the myriad textures within each scene. The widescreen version enhances even on our small television screen. This is an important film both historically and in our continued need to self-examine ourselves individually and as a species.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie!
Review: This is the second movie, next to Uprising (highly recommendable too), that shows the tragic Warsaw uprising. Only, the Pianist goes beyond and tells the story of the Jewish-Polish pianist Szpilman. I was not only fascinated by the performances of the actors but - as a German - I felt sad and extremely sorry for what has happened to all those people in the name of the German people. Actually, it was hard to swallow to see a German officer walking up to some Jews, returning to the Ghetto, and randomly shooting some of them dead. It was the way it was performed that was utterly believable. This inhuman capacity that some Human beings have is shown brilliantly in this movie. However, it is not only the Germans but also the one Polish character that supposedly helps Szpilman to survive and simply betrayes him and almost let him die. It is the human dimension that makes this movie special. A very nice and very believable scene is placed at the end when Szpilman was saved by a German officer who eventually dies in a Soviet concentration camp. The film shows also that not all Germans were bad; something many movies end up doing: bad Germans, good Allies. However, life is not like that and there is a lot of grey in between black and white.
Rating: 
Summary: not typical survival Holocaust story
Review: The movie is bracketed with the first and last scenes the same--the pianist is playing a beautiful classical piece on Polish radio. In between the scenes is the destruction of the Warsaw Jewish community. Partly a 'normal', if that word can ever be applied to WW2, holocaust story with the associated emotions:
how can the participants in such horror ever get their just due?
why did the Jews go as sheep to the slaughter and not fight until the end?
an emotional 'never again' and 'i'd rather die fighting' but after all these emotions pass, as they do in the numerous other Holocaust movies this has several other things to recommend it.... first the stark graphics, several times you feel it is is black and white, strongly presented, the scenes of destruction and abandonment. street with dead and suitcases, blocks of destroyed buildings. but the last message is the one with him in the building attic when the German officer catches him. it is a most moving depiction of the randomness, the nonsense, the inability of man to control his own destiny despite his enormous desire and struggle to do so. Not just the Jewish but the German as well. He died 7 years later in a Russian gulag camp. A victim nonetheless but a willing one cooperating in his destruction by following and working for the Nazis. but in a way as undeserving of the fate that awaited him. Are we all victims of fate? moved by forces that mangle, destroy, crush us? the pianist is a struggling man, not a hero, but an antihero, he lives simply by dumb luck, held together by the music in his head, motivated by human needs just to survive. the authors of the movie seem to say that the randomness overcomes all. something more must emerge from the Holocaust, something more heroic, something more struggling to do good in the midst of great evil. but this movie shows only the banality of survival. but it is a good movie, not to be missed.
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Summary: I wouldn't say unless I were anonymous, but i cried...
Review: This film is one of two that made me cry in front of a girl (The Lion King being the other... dont pretend like you didn't). I couldn't help it... Amazing acting, excellent historical accuracy. The greatest story of WW2 atrocity I've ever seen. A must see, let alone have.
Rating:
Summary: A Moving Experience for the Heart
Review: It was very difficult for me to watch The Pianist. The violence depicted against the Jewish community was horrifying. Many times I questioned out loud how a person can do such things. I keep hoping for the best. Each time my wish was granted surprising me. It was an outstanding film. You can tell that a large amount of love was devoted from all who were involved providing the audience with one of the few perfect films. The praise presented from critics and film institutions is warranted. Adrien Brody has brought a new level of talent to the film industry. He has set a standard that those in the business need to study. Every year I watch a number of so called Academy films. They are boring. Actors fail to impress me. Plainly said they [stink]. Some are worse than other but you get the idea. Great movies are to have a special aspect setting them apart from all the rest. All the dimensions including Actors, Directors, Producers or Screen Plays should rise to the occasion. The Pianist achieved all this and more. If you have the time look up the number of awards won by The Pianist. I get chill bumps. Watching The Pianist is an experience I will not soon forget. The world is so lucky to have Roman Polanski. He is the director behind classic movies such as Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown both I recommend you rent this week. He is a genius. To express my feeling about The Pianist is hard. Rent or buy this movie before any other movie. You will be very glad you did. There is a reason it is #29 on imdb.
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Summary: Polanski is back in rare and brilliant form...
Review: Masterpiece tells of Warsaw Jewish pianist who must hide from the Nazis during the invasion of Poland. Incredible writing, first-rate acting, and utterly compelling direction breathe life into this moving, intensely personal, exciting, and important film. Beginning filmmakers should study this film long and hard to see how to create artful storytelling and overall subtlety. Brody is superb, but the entire production is magical. Ironically, I first watched this after I finished Mel Brooks' THE PRODUCERS. Rated R for wartime violence (but it is remarkably restrained).
Rating:
Summary: Instant no-nonsense masterpiece
Review: This must be one of the finest, amazing films I have recently seen. While the comparisons with Spielberg's 'Schlinder's List' seem unavoidable, they are also unfair to a degree. While 'Schlinder's list' does an excellent job of moving the audience to tears at the end, it still can't help bear a given "Hollywood-esque" feeling to it. Not so with The Pianist - The fateful scenes between Jews and Nazi Germans have that something that gives you that uneasy feeling that comes when you are watching something that is stark real and impacting, to the point you forget that you are actually watching a movie - now, that's quite a sign of movie mastery for me. While several parts of the movie could have been quite shortened without affecting the film as a whole (Spilzman' reclusion on the German zone apartment comes to mind), it is not a do-or-die factor either. Hey, SL lasts way longer than 2.5 hours and no one complains... Sure, the film doesn't uncover new ground in regards of the Nazi barbarie against European Jews either, but by the same token, what else can be said about it that hasn't been said before? 'The Pianist' doesn't attempt to be another Holocaust documentary film - but a history of the struggles of a young man to survive in the most hostile of environments. Leave the Holocaust setting aside and still can be a worthwhile argument for a movie. That said, if you're into SL and related films, you should try to see 'The Pianist'. This film will definitely make a worthy companion to those two.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Moving
Review: The Pianist is a true story about a Jewish pianist in Poland during World War II who manages to survive the horrors of the Nazis. The Jews are forced from their home and into a cramped Ghetto where there is starvation, few jobs, and horrors. Nazis take delight in bullying the Jews. Then, millions are Jews are forced into cramped wooden cars to go to concentration camps. The pianist doesn't go to concentration camps, however. He manages to stay behind, but his tortures don't end there. He is forced to help the other Jews build the wall seperating the Jews from the Germans. At night, the Jews take long marches, following the Nazis orders. The Nazis may randomly take Jews from the march and shoot them in the head, killing them. The pianish manages to escape this, but then he is on the run from Nazis. Good friends help them, but then he is alone when the city is bombed. I will not go on with the story (I left enough detail out anyway). I will, say, however, that the story is brilliant. The movie does an excellent job portraying the horrors, sadness, and torture the Jews had to face. The actors do a wonderful job of making the movie seem extremely real; it is as if you are actually at the scene, back during World War II, and watching this happen. I found each and every part of this movie horrifying, but at the same time, very moving and interesting. This movie is definitely one of the best I've seen.
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Summary: My Favorite film of the year!
Review: It was so strong with love and human goodness. It leaves one filled with optimism in the light of the one of the worst tradgedies of all time.
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Summary: Survival, Yes, But of What?
Review: When Adrien Brody received the Academy Award for best actor in a leading role earlier this year, I was at first surprised. (I had expected Daniel Day-Lewis to be elected because of his incandescent portrayal of William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York.) Then I began to think again about The Pianist and realized that Brody's character -- Wladyslaw Szpilman -- was the focal point of that film from beginning to end...and that most of his portrayal was non-verbal. (Some may assert that the Warsaw Ghetto, not Szpilman, is the main character. They have a point.) Directed by Roman Polanski who also won an Academy Award -- as best director -- and deservedly so, this film examines a five-year period during World War Two when Warsaw was invaded and occupied by German and then Allied forces. For me, the defining moment in this film occurs when a bomb exploding in the studio drives Szpilman from the piano and ends the broadcast of his performance. His obsession with creating art seems to exclude from his consciousness any deep concern about his family (parents, two sisters, and a brother) or about the brutalities amidst German occupation, especially in response to Jewish resistance. I have not read Szpilman's memoirs, first published as Death of a City (1946) and then as The Pianist (1998). All I know about him is based entirely on Brody's portrayal in the film. This detachment from the world around him is evident again later, as when Szpilman, in hiding, silently moves his fingers across a piano keyboard, lost in the creation of music only he can hear in that situation but which the film's soundtrack effectively provides. Polanksi's film obviously celebrates human survival during one of history's worst periods. I realize that comparisons and contrasts of Szpilman with other characters in other films is probably a fool's errand. However, at the conclusion of the The Pianist, I thought about Sol Nazerman (played by Rod Steiger) in The Pawnbroker (1964) who, at that film's conclusion, unleashes a silent scream of unspeakable pain. For whatever reasons, there is no such indication that what Szpilman has observed (if not experienced) has similarly affected him. The war ends. Life continues. Szpilman's career resumes. Perhaps, just perhaps Szpilman's own emotions can only be expressed through the creation of great art. It remains for others to express theirs in other ways, perhaps with a silent scream.
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