Rating: 
Summary: 7 out of 10
Review: Long, boring. Nice, but not very strong. It looked like it was trying to master the formula that Schindler's List set. Ash raining? A bold try for realistic image. Actually, most of it doesn't look realistic. In the end, the holocaust survivors looked strong and mighty, at least verbally. So, it means that they didn't really suffer? 2 and 1/2 hours, that was a long time to watch. Oscar for Brody doesn't seem to be a worthy achievement. He looked all right in his role. When I compare his role to Jack Nicholson's role of JJ Gittes of Chinatown, Jack blows the doors off. I believe Roman is little bit off in matching the meticulously made film, Chinatown. I wish Roman could do something great as Chinatown again, but I think he needs to go back to the 1950's to 1970's formula, rather than 2000's formula, because it worked the best for him.
Rating: 
Summary: The best movie I have ever seen in my life!
Review: This movie is beyond inspirational. Adrien Brody was amazing and won his much deserved Oscar. Roman Pollanski created a masterpiece and also won a much deserved Oscar! To those who say "Well Pollanski had intercourse with that girl etc.", you need to see the Pianist because you cannot deny that this movie is a work of art and Pollanski needed to be recognized for that.This movie is a must see! It is the best movie I have ever seen in my life!
Rating:
Summary: 'Shine' meets 'Anne Frank's Diary'
Review: Summary:
Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is a concert pianist living in Warsaw just before the beginning of World War II. When the Germans do invade, Wladyslaw, who is a Jew, ends up in the ghetto with his family. Through a series of lucky turns and kind friends, Wladyslaw avoids being sent to a concentration camp and is hidden in a series of abandoned flats. As the war winds down and is coming to and end, all of the people that have helped him survive have either been killed or captured and he is left to fend for himself. He is finally caught by a German Captain, Captain Wilm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann), but instead of killing him, the Captain gives him food and helps him stay alive until the Russians are able to free the city.My Comments:
The movie really is pretty remarkable. I don't know that you can critique a movie like this without, in a sense, criticizing what happened, but I'll do my best. There are three things that, in my opinion, make this movie great. First, the cinematography and sets are stunning. You really do get the impression that this was filmed in Warsaw in the 1940s. There is one scene, when a tank shell explodes in his flat, that was superb - the sound was that of what Wladyslaw must have been hearing - a buzzing with everything else blocked out; incredible! Second, the cold brutality of the Nazi's comes out very clearly. People are killed for no apparent reason; dead bodies litter the streets. Death becomes something completely foreign to those of us that have never experienced war and cruelty like this; but for those that lived through it, death was ever-present. Third, Adrien Brody was pretty good. As noted above, the movie really does come across as a combination of 'Shine' and 'Anne Frank's Diary'. Considering how well these two stories have done over the years, combining them is bound to be an exceptional story. As for the problems with the movie... Neither of these is really a problem, just things that, if unintentional, could have been improved. However, if they were intentional, they just added to one's sense of what it must have been like. First, you never really get to know any of the secondary characters. If this was unintentional, then it is something that could have helped people relate easier. If it was intentional, then, in a sense, this is what Wladyslaw was living through, the loss of all those close to him. Second, the time that is spent in the different abandoned flats goes on and on and on. If intentional, this is undoubtedly it must have felt to Wladyslaw and that is probably why so much of the movie is made up of his time in these places. So, my two main criticisms aren't really criticisms, but rather pointing out things that could be seen as problems unless interpreted as having been intentional in order to help the viewer of the movie better understand the horrendous circumstances of Wladyslaw. Overall, the movie is very powerful. I hate to consider it slow, but it is kind of slow - but only because the war must have seemed interminable to those that were living through it. Be warned that the movie is very graphic with the cold violence of the Nazi war machine ever-present but, like Schindler's List, this is a movie that people should see to understand what it was like. Did Adrien Brody deserve the Oscar for his performance? He was pretty good; definitely more deserving than Denzel Washington for Training Day. But until I've seen all of his competition, I don't know that I can comment.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Wartime/Holocaust Films Ever Made!
Review: This is an outstanding film from top to bottom. From Roman Polanski's direction the Ron Harwood's brilliant adaptation of Szpilman's book, to an incredible cast - not to mention the heart-breakingly brilliant performance of Adrien Brody, this is arguably one of the best films ever made about World War II and/or the Holocaust. If there were any doubts that the young Brody could hold his own in a movie of this magnitude, his performance - and the 2003 Best Actor Oscar that he deservedly won for it - have all but shattered them. His performance is absolutely INCREDIBLE! Hollywood had better take notice.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, Moving, Breathtaking Historical, Captivating!
Review: Well I think my title summed it up! I am a very big history buff, and love anything to do with World War 2...as long as it is a true story! This movie was amazing! I was totally impressed with Adrien Brody!!! What Talent!!! Totally reccomend this movie! It takes you on a very emotional journey of life hope love and faith! Definatly a buyer!
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical True Story of Survival
Review: Jewish pianist Wladyshaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is considered to be the most gifted pianist in pre-World War II Poland. Music lovers eagerly await his shows on Polish radio, and fans travel to Warsaw to meet him. But when Nazi Germany invades Poland, Polish Jews begin to be persecuted. At first they are forbidden from public places, required to wear arm bands identifying them as Jews, and are restricted in the amount of money they can keep. Then all of the Jews in Poland were relocated to a small part of Warsaw that became a Jewish ghetto and confined there. Wladyshaw Szpilman and his family were among them. Szpilman managed to survive the difficult and terrifying life in the Warsaw ghetto for several years, until only 60,000 of the original half million Jewish occupants remained. He escaped to the outside before the ghetto was burned and was hidden by some friends in the Polish underground. Even with the aid of others, Szpilman became deathly ill and nearly starved to death on several occasions before the Russian army finally drove the Germans from Poland and he was free to come out of hiding. "The Pianist" is the story of Wladyshaw Szpilman's struggle to survive the desperate circumstances that Polish Jews faced under Nazi occupation, based on Szpilman's autobiography. "The Pianist" was directed by another Polish Jew who survived the Nazi occupation, Roman Polanski (whose parents paid for a rural Christian family to keep their son while they were taken to a concentration camp). Roman Polanski has said that he would never make his own story into a movie, and he waited a very long time to direct someone else's. "The Pianist" is a long movie, and it contains a lot of material that would not be essential to tell Szpilman's story. The extra material helps pace the film and is included in such a way as to give the film a lyrical quality, create mood, and enhance our understanding of the environment in which Szpilman and his countrymen were living. Presumably for personal reasons, Roman Polanski did not cut this one to the bare bones. That's fine because the added length gives us a chance to see more characters, some very fine cinematography, and more of Adrien Brody's excellent performance. "The Pianist" is engrossing enough that its length doesn't produce boredom. There are a lot of minor characters, and all of the film's performances are impressive. I highly recommend "The Pianist" for its incredible story of perseverance, great performances, beautiful cinematography, and inspiring tribute to the power of music.
Rating:
Summary: A most magnificient triumph of the human spirit
Review: The Pianist is by far the most emotional, magnificient motion picture about the triumph of the human spirit since The Shawshank Redemption. A shattering, at times overwhelming account of Spilman's struggle for survival during the Poland invasion, this film is as depressing, maybe even more so, than Schindler's List. However the ending is one of the most uplifting finales since Dead Poets Society, and will leave you feeling as if you have gone through what Brody's character experienced, and you'll leave with the most awesome feeling of inspiration and love.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Movie
Review: Now, I obviously see a lot of comparisons of The Pianist to The Schindler's List. These are probably only two images of holocaust Americans seem to have been exposed to on the silver screen so no wonder (which in itself is pretty sad). Not going into the discussion which one is closest to the historical reality, one must say that these are two very different movies despite the subject matter. They are different because the directors are different. Look at Polanski's movies, especially his best early period (to name Knife in the Water at least). Polanski is an observer of the reality. Yes, think of this lonely child wondering the streets and trying to survive like he did and looking at the world with attention and sometimes fear. That really is reflected in his movies. He is a great documentarian so to speak of the story he tells us about. He does not develop the characters, does not go into their motivations and internal struggles. He lets us observe. That is why he maybe critisized for being removed from the story and "cold." I disagree. I love Polanski and I love a lot of his movies (and hate a lot of them as well) but he has a certain way of telling the story. From this perspective, "The Pianist" is great. And obviously I loved the fact that unlike so many American movies, this is a movie about a regular person, not a hero, not a bad guy but someone just like you or me (yes, a great pianist of course!) a decent person trying to survive the madness and horror of history - being helped and being screwed by others at the same time. In this way he is an everyman. I did enjoy that. I did enjoy the portrayal of Warsaw (the city I was born and raised in and which was leveled be the Nazis - and by the way, he was the only director who ever thanked people of Warsaw for their patience during the shooting as many streets had to be closed) but I was not thrilled by the cinematography. But yet again, this is not his style. He is not a Gone-With-The-Wind-larger-than-life imagery. This is again not a review of Schindler's List but comparisons are inevitable. SL, which I give 5 stars as well and make it a must see movie as well, is much more of an American picture. There has to be a "human spirit prevails" and happy ending and some long unrealistic speaches etc ect. That's the target audience and that's what they are used to. They look for closure and something uplifting. I can understand that. Besides that SL, while being very different from The Pianist, is a great movie. It has a phenomenal cinematography (I just can't wait for a DVD release, what's up with that?!), some breathtaking and powerful moments and most of all great character development. Ralph Finnes role is a masterpiece of its own. He is so incredibly believeble and horrifying. The change happening in Schindler. SL pays more attention to detail, makes better use of terrain and supporting characters. All this makes for a great movie. Yet, a movie very much in a hollywood style. It uses points to get the message, The Pianist is much more linear in conveying the story (should we say as life is...). That is why some may criticize it as being monotoneous. Well, if it is, so are our lives. Definitely the best movie of the year (which means nothing considering the competition). Go see it and judge it for yourself. Now I expect some bad movie from Mr. Polanski. He seems to be true to this good/bad/good pattern for years now.
Rating:
Summary: A sober account of life in the ghetto in poland.
Review: This movie, unlike many of it's predecessors, namely Schindler's List, Life is Beautiful and the TV movie Nurmberg, show what life was like in the streets of the Warsaw ghetto. Polanski concentrates on what the Nazi program was doing to the average Jew. The story does not focus on infamous Nazi's such as Hitler or Himmler etc. Nor does he focus on the now familiar atrocities of concentration camps such as Auschwitz. There are no scenes of the the historic trials at Nurmberg. There are no battles scenes of Americans coming to the "rescue" as in "Life is Beautiful". (Infact the movie for once acknowledges the contribution of the Allies OTHER than the Americans and in this case the often uncredited Russians in defeating the Nazis. But even this is done discretely and with restraint not in keeping with the over the top style of most Hollywood account of WWII. Instead the film shows what life was like through the eyes of a young Polish Jewish pianist as he struggles in hiding to survive in Nazi occupied Warsaw. The movie portrays the evil of the Germans, but he also shows that there were good Germans as well. Furthermore he also shows there there were evil Jews who collaborated with the Nazis. All in all a very sober and realistic account of Nazi occupied Polish city.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, Amazing, Did I say Amazing? Film!
Review: Wow! Where do I begin? This movie left me sitting in my seat at the end, and I watched all the credits, for the first time ever because I was so riveted by the movie. This movie was touching especially towards the end where you see how hard it has been for the pianist to survive (sorry, his name, I still can't figure it out, even after reading the back of the DVD, I'm only 16)! Though I loved this movie, it is not what I expected, but was pleasantly surprised, and quite honestly, I do not know what I expected from it... but I know I got more than I expected... Adrien Brody was captivating in this film... if he wouldn't have won the Oscar, something had to have been wrong with the Academy! He is brilliant, one of my favorite scenes is when he plays the piano without touching the keys... but I have a favorite scene, but I won't tell you what it is, you MUST watch it, and when you do see it, you'll probably know which scene I'm talking about. On that note, WWII is my favorite period of history, because the cruelty of Hitler makes me wonder, and interests me because I don't see how a human being can be so cruel, and this movie doesn't answer the question, it just makes it harder to understand why because the story is true. It's hard for me to write a review, (as you can see, I jump from subjects, and ramble), because this movie can't be explained in words, only by watching it can you experience the feeling of the movie in all its glory!
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