Rating: 
Summary: Graphic, Mesmerizing, Disturbing, and Brilliant!
Review: The Pianist is about the virtuous pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) who is put into the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw with 500,000 others during World War II. He continues on in ghetto life, but with ruthless cruelty towards humanity where adults and children starve on the streets, suffer from vicious violence, and lose all hope. However, as time passes a rumor spreads that they will be shipped off to a different camp in the east. The situation seems bleak as they are loaded onto the trains, but somehow Szpilman is saved from the trains. Polanski gives the audience a descriptive account of one man's struggle for survival in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, as he saw it. Overall, the Pianist will leave the audience gasping and terrorized as they view this brilliant film.
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Summary: Warsaw Chopin and a Miracle
Review: I read the book this film was developed from in December of 2001, I enjoyed it a great deal, but I was not aware it was to be made in to a film. Movies more often disappoint when they attempt to bring a book to the screen, but Director Roman Polanski did a brilliant job in changing from the written word to a visual presentation this true tale. Mr. Polanski was a childhood survivor of the Poland of the Nazis, so if there is a director that could bring personal experience to help make this film authentic, he has those experiences.One of the unfortunate aspects of films like this is that they are not generally vehicles for making money so they do not get placed in very many theaters. This past weekend the film was in a total of 258 cinemas even though it was nominated for a variety of awards and had already won other prestigious recognition. By comparison, though also in relatively few theaters, "Chicago", was available in 557, and "Catch Me If You Can" was in 3,050. I am not suggesting, "The Pianist" should be in thousands of cinemas, but to have it shown in so few keeps the film from many who may want a chance to view it. Unless it gains notoriety at The Academy Awards many will not have a chance to see this film until it is released on DVD. The story is told in Warsaw as the war begins through the transfer of Jews to the Warsaw Ghetto, the uprisings, and finally the end of World War II. To have been a Jew and to have survived the entire war in Warsaw Poland is by definition a miracle, to do so in the manner that Wladyslaw Szpilman did, is almoat unimaginable. He did so through luck, cunning, and help from the kindness of non-Jews who risked and lost their lives, and finally from the most unlikely savior of all, a German Officer. Mr. Polanski did a remarkable job of using technology to show just what the final devastation of Warsaw and many other cities of Europe looked like after the war finally ended. I think it was wise that he took the step to use special effects to show just how complete and vast the destruction of Europe's major cities was, as opposed to confining the backdrops to what could be constructed only on sets. Adrien Brody did a tremendous job of portraying Mr. Wladyslaw Szpilman, I read at one point his weight dropped to 138 pounds prompting the director to have him cease as he feared for the actor's health. It reminded me of some of the massive weight swings that Robert DeNiro has put himself through for some of his films. The soundtrack is also beautiful and is performed by over a dozen different pianists, and Adrien Brody took lessons to credibly perform on screen as well. The final credits of the film are even a pleasure to view, as they are shown over the keyboard that is being played in front of an orchestra after the horrendous disaster that struck the world had once again been brought to a halt. I wish I could say to go out and see this film, but it is likely to be difficult to find unless you live near a larger market as defined by the studio that has released the film. If you must wait for the film on video, rest assured it will be well worth the wait and your time once it does arrive. I plan to add the DVD to my collection.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST FILMS
Review: THE PIANIST is undoubtedly one the best films depicting the Warsaw Ghetto during World War Two. Roman Polanski tells the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a young Jew who has a remarkable talent for playing the piano. Wladyslaw is able to find work playing the piano at a Jewish cafe but his family continues to be hungry. Life inside the walls of the ghetto becomes more bleak as days pass. He is fortunate enough to escape the cattle cars headed towards Treblinka and begins a journey to simply survive in the midst of one of history's darkest moments. One of the things I appreciated most about THE PIANIST was how Polanski characterized the motivations of individuals during the holocaust as being more complex than many believe. We cannot merely state that all the bad guys are bad and all the good guys are good. It's not as simple as that. German soldiers can help hid a Jew and a resistance worker can exploit a Jew he states he is helping. This film enables the audience to receive a glimpse of how people on both sides of the conflict react under extraordinary circumstances. The cinematography is beautiful and stunning. I cannot imagine being in Warsaw after the Germans destroyed all buildings right before the Russians invaded and the city becomes a pile of rubble and dust. Adrien Brody should be commended for his honest protrayal of Wlasyslaw Szpilman. THE PIANIST is definately a film well worth seeing.
Rating: 
Summary: Well done, realistic, though conventional treatment.
Review: Roman Polanski's film The Pianist is a fresh realistic take on the Warsaw Ghetto, focusing on Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a famous Polish-Jewish pianist stuck in the Warsaw Ghetto. Filmed on location, Polanski gives much attention to detail and realism, perhaps basing the sets on his own childhood memories.
For anyone who's never seen a high quality Holocaust film this one is a great place to start. For those who have seen Sophie's Choice, Triumph of the Spirit, Shoah, etc. there will be few surprises here. A conventional story of a Pianist surviving in the Ghetto and hiding out from Nazis 'til the Russians come. The reason to see the film is for high quality acting and European realism (vs. American unrealism ala Schindler's List).
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Summary: "The Pianist" - Polanski's Magnificent Epic of Redemption
Review: Only twice in my forty years on this earth has a movie of such power and grace literally pinned me to the back of my chair with rapt appreciation and respect. "The Pianist" was one of those films. Roman Polanski rightly won the coveted "Palme D'Or" at last May's Cannes Film Festival for his evocative and respectful treatment of the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a talented pianist who barely escaped the Nazi terror in 1940s Poland. Polanski's subtle mastery of the art of filmmaking draws us in to the story of a young man whose entire family was exterminated by Nazi bestiality, yet who managed - again and again - to escape the nagging jaws of death and evil. Drawing upon his musical skills and his own strength of will, Szpilman was able to not only survive but to prosper in post-war Poland, his musical gifts intact. "The Pianist" is a staggeringly brilliant film that conveys the strength and beauty of the human spirit in the wake of overweening barbarity - and the power and dignity of music in the midst of roiling terror and uncertainty. Not insignificantly, it is the 69-year-old Polanski's triumph as well. Forty years after leaving his homeland, the director has made his finest film. Sixty years after barely escaping the Nazi occupation of Poland, Polanski has once again gifted us with his singular talents and meticulous attention to detail. "The Pianist" is indelibly stamped with the director's genius for subtlety (he powerfully draws us into the story without gratuitously presenting the myriad horrors of the Holocaust), and it makes for an unforgettable experience. It's the kind of movie this reviewer walked several miles in her own (well-worn) shoes to see. It's the kind of film I gladly risked hypothermia to enjoy - and I am a better person for it.
Rating:
Summary: NO WORDS.
Review: There are bad movies, good movies, very good movies, the classic movies, and the memorable movies. "The Pianist" is one of them; one of the movies you applauded to after it finished. This is the one you do not leave the theater until it is over; the last frame and the last sound. What makes a movie memorable? A touching story compounded with and multiplied by an excellent acting and a good cinematography would do the job every time. But, really, how often does it happen? Should I name a few, which I remembered for hours, days and would remember for life? We all have a special place for movies like this. Now I have one more movie to store there.
The story of this movie is well familiar to us. The war and the betrayal of the whole world let the Germans to occupy Poland. Well, it was not just an occupation it was rape of Poland on the scale not known in the history. Great Britain and France (the Polish partners in peace) were standing aside swallowing hard while the Russians were holding the victim, raped by the Germans, down. Poland was pillaged, raped and dismantled and who paid the price - as always the Jews. They were assembled, isolated and disposed of with the well-known German efficiency. Almost three million Polish Jews had perished with the smoke of hard working chimneys. The Jewish question was solved and everyone took a turn solving it. The hero of the story survived and he told the story. That helps us to separate the good from the bad. I read the book before I saw the movie and the book was just one of the books covering the subject I knew so much about. But the movie shocked me and turned me around. I attribute it to the genius of Roman Polanski. Roman Polanski well deserves to be among the best directors.
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Summary: Tour-de-Force of Mans Brutality
Review: When you watch a movie about a massive tragic event, it is hard not to become desensitized. Often, the images on the screen, no matter how horrible they are, lose some meaning after a constant stream of them. The hard part for the director of such movies is too keep the message fresh, to make the violence and death last inside a persons mind. The Holocaust is a prime example, as brutal cruelty was so common in the actual era. This barrage of violence anesthetizes the viewer to some extent. The Pianist manages to buck that trend, by providing a dramatic and breathtaking visual narrative of mankind's darkest era, through the eyes of a truly remarkable man. The Pianist begins on the first day of World War II, as the Germans invaded Poland. We are introduced to the main character, the young Jewish pianist from Warsaw, Wladyslaw Szpilman. He and his family, along with much of Warsaw, are heartened when they hear of Britain and France declaring war on Germany. They sense little danger. Unfortunately for them, the Germans quickly conquered Warsaw, and the 350,000 Jews of the city were at their mercy. The movie makes the important point that the deportation and liquidation of the Jews was a somewhat gradual process of confinement and starvation. This gave many Jews hope that they would be able to grit their teeth and bare the occupation, that any kind of resistance was foolish. How could anyone at the time, especially the Jews, imagine death on such a titanic scale? However, as the months passed and more and more were slaughtered, it became apparent that the outcome would be total destruction. Wladyslaw manages to survive the ghetto system by a combination of cleverness and shear luck. His closest associates are not so lucky. He works on a labor detail, until, using pre-war contacts, he manages to escape. Amazingly, it gets almost as bad on the outside. It's one man's tale, but that makes it even more intriguing. Following up on that prior point, the Pianist tells the story of the Holocaust through one mans eyes. This makes it fairly unique among Holocaust movies, but no less poignant. In fact, I felt the personal view was even more effective. It made the events almost personal, as you looked down and watched the world collapse around your narrator. Much of the movie is shot in this first person witness style, which is as unique as it is fascinating. The set is great, everything is effective down to the last detail. Some moments are amazingly tense, and the viewer is just spellbound. The acting, especially by Adrien Brody as Szpilman, is top notch. Brody really undergoes a striking transformation that drives the movies point home. His love for music and the piano is his one connection to the real world, as he is surrounded by such inhuman horror. This is one of Polanski's best films and should be considered as one of 2002's best pictures. Never forget.
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Summary: The Watcher
Review: Somber, serious, with only a hint of his trademark wit and sarcasm ("Why are you wearing that Nazi Coat?"..."I'm Cold," replies Szpilman (Adrien Brody) Roman Polanski presents a film of the Holocaust from the point of view of those in Poland; specifically The Warsaw Ghetto.
"The Pianist" is a true story based on the experiences of the pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman but unlike say Otto Schindler, Szpilman is a watcher rather than a participant in the action of his own story. He's an Artist not a Fighter, you might say. Actually he's a very lucky person in many ways, for because of his celebrity as a radio pianist he has many friends who help him escape the concentration camps and thereby survive the war.
There is an over-riding sense of truth to the way Polanski handles this material as there are very few big dramatic, handkerchief at the ready scenes and more business-as-usual scenes of the atrocities of the Nazi's. Polanski is smart enough to realize that we've seen it all before and seeing it through the eyes of Szpilman: the public executions, the beatings, the starvation, the vermin, the degradations become so commonplace that it takes us a second to realize how very horrible it all is: he's saying there was so much of it that we all got used to it...it became commonplace, a natural occurrence and consequently more horrendous in the viewing and in the contemplation afterwards.
Adrien Brody plays Szpilman very quietly; very passively...he is more acted upon that acting. As the movie unfolds he loses more and more weight, grows a beard and his eyes get bigger and bigger and more vacant: since he spends most of the film alone in hiding much of his role is really silent film acting; done with the eyes and body language: truly a masterful performance.
Polanski's "The Pianist" is Polanski at the top of his form very much unlike "Chinatown" for example but just as resonant with feeling, superior move-making and respect for his audience's intelligence.
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Summary: good movie
Review: the music on this movie is great!!!
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Summary: The Real Thing
Review: Almost a documentary. This movie is true to the life story of Szpilman, the pianist, and almost to the letter follows the book Szpilman wrote. The only major licencia poetica I noticed is the placement of Szpilman's hideout in the routinely destroyed and totally deserted city - a result of the two uprisings: in 1943 and most definitely that of 1944 - at the very same building that the good natured German officer selected for army offices. Polanski wanted the true and most dramatic story to speak for itself and on purpose gave up on these well known movie tricks that make less powerful stories squeeze our tears so generously in the movie theaters. To be honest - this is a pity. A real story AND a popular touch make for the most effective works. But perhaps I understand Polanski's reasons for this and I certainly respect them. You just do not want any semblance between depiction of tragedy of such proportions and the regular every year productions. And also - Polanski was part of the drama of 1939-1945, living not further than two hundred miles from the place where the Pianist lived and survived, too. "The Pianist" has a feel of a documentary. The movie structure - a series of glimpses of Szpilman's life, each of them grabing your total attention, because each of them is almost more than an average human being experience in a whole life, at least as most of us know life today. A word said, the timing of entering a staircase, a positioning taken in a row of forced laborers is a decision - or - a circumstance of life and death consequences. Being from that country I will not dodge the sensitive issue. There are many bad people and some good people in this true story. There are many good Jews, and some bad Jews. There are many good Poles, and many bad Poles. There are many bad Germans and one good German. The last one stands out. Courtesy of that "national background" his decent acts - not killing Szpilman (a heroism in pure form it is not), and giving him food and a coat stand out. I watched this movie at 9:15 a.m. in a cinema filled with youngsters sent by the schools. The silence in the room, all over those 130 minutes or so, was stunning.
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