Rating: 
Summary: MOVING HOLOCAUST DRAMA
Review: Roman Polanski's film of holocaustal suffering based on the memoirs of Polish classical pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman is stirring yet boldly suggestive of other holocaust dramas, most notably Spielberg's "Schindler's List" and the TV miniseries, "Holocaust". It breaks out and cuts its own path during the second half surmounting to a soul-cleansing climax with a piano in a burnt out Warsaw ghetto. Although we can never forget, must we be constantly reminded with vicious movie cliches that are by now impenetrable to the senses?
Rating:
Summary: One of the BEST Cinematic Depictions of The Holocaust Ever
Review: The Pianist tells the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, who managed, through incredible luck and determination, to survive the terrible events of WWII Poland's occupation by Nazi Germany. Szpilman is played by Adrien Brody, in a sensational performance that is definately Oscar-worthy. Director Roman Polanski conveys the horror of day-to-day life in the Warsaw ghetto in a way I've never seen before; There wasn't a person in the Theater that didn't cry at some point in this film. The film drags somewhat in the last hour, but the images Polanski delivers are burned into my mind forever. The Pianist is a must-see movie that should become part of the curriculum at every school. We must NEVER forget what happened in World War II....
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good.
Review: The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)Trying to compare The Pianist, which seems to be everyone and his mother's pick for 2002's Best Picture, with The Ring, my pick for 2002's Best Picture, is like trying to compare having a flat tire with having your transmission jump out of your car, do the shimmy, and go rocketing off into the atmosphere. So I'm not even going to try. Of those critically-acclaimed films I've managed to see in the backwater where I live (City of God and The Crime of Father Amaro haven't even opened here yet, and we're two months into the next year!), The Pianist is easily the best of them. For the first time in his career, Adrien Brody proves he can actually act. Gone is the snot-nosed kid of Summer of Sam and the whiny kid of Oxygen and the clueless kid of The Thin Red Line and... well, you get the idea. Brody, in the title role of Polish pianist Wladislaw Szpilman, approaches the part with a quiet dignity and a sense of adaptability that would have been perfect for just about any role he's played in the past, but it took this part, and this director, to bring it out in him. (I never would have thought him capable of the delivery of the simple line "I'm cold." as well as it is done in this movie. If you've seen it, I'm sure you can't forget the scene I'm talking about.) The only real problem with The Pianist is that at times it can't quite figure out what type of film it is. This is not to say it doesn't do the things it does well. At times it's a survivor-type story of Szpilman attempting to live on his own, evading capture, in an odd mixture of Cast Away and The Fugitive. At times, it wants to be an action movie-stuff blows up. (A lot of stuff blows up.) At times, especially during the last hour, it almost wanders into buddy-cop territory, in a plot twist so unbelievable that it never would have got off the cutting room floor were this not a true story. Yes-sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Polanski handles these shifts with aplomb, something he's learned to do well over his career (The Ninth Gate is almost as schizophrenic in its jumpings and shudderings as is The Pianist), but the film still exudes an air of unsurety now and again about what it is. That said, among the films actually nominated for Best Picture in 2002, it should be a shoo-in. Among those too under the radar, too foreign, too low-profile, or too tainted with genre to be noticed by the Academy, it still holds it own impressively. It's certainly better than I thought it would be going in. ****
Rating: 
Summary: Polanski opened the window
Review: "The pianist" is a true story of the survival of a Jewish pianist-Wladyslaw Szpilman during the Nazi occupation in Warsaw, Poland. Thinking of survival, we may hope all charactors we love in the movie could be alive at the end like many melodramas, but in "The pianist", Wladyslaw Szpilman and his parents, sole brother and two sisters did not all pass the brutal era. He (Wladyslaw Szpilman) was the only survivor of his family. The miracle here is about not only a attraction of this movie, but also a truth in the history that about half a million Jews were forced to live in Warsaw ghetto from October 1939 only 20 kept alive when Russian soldiers came to Warsaw in January 1945. One of them was Wladyslaw Szpilman. The movie begins with a piano melody of Chopin played by Wladyslaw Szpilman as live music for a Polish radio in 1939. Suddenly the music was stopped by the bombing of Nazi. What happened next in this movie is a chain of cruelty, both visual and mental; a Jewish old disabled man was thrown down from the balcony of building simply because he was sitting on his wheelchair when he was ordered to stand up by German soldiers, a Jewish woman was shot on the head because she asked a German soldier where she would be brought to, and Jews were roughly paired to dance in front of German soldiers for entertaining them. And what about our hero of the movie? he escaped from place to place under the help of different people; Jews, Polish and even a Nazi officer. What we see is the scene of being survive under the brutality. Our hero did all he can to find food like an animal, he was keeping perfectly quite when he saw the killing on the streets through the window. At the end, when the whole city was turned into rubbles, he had to escape again, this time he was saved by a Nazi German, more acurately, by playing piano for him. The German officer gave him food and left him his coat when Germans evacuated from Warsaw, by the way, our hero was almost killed by Russians when they misjudged him as a German for wearing that coat. The director of the movie-Roman Polanski made this movie that differs from other WWII holocaust tragedies. There is neither tear-jerking music like "Schindler's list" and "Life is beautiful" nor passionate ending speech like Chaplin's "The great dictator". What we can see is more like a documentary feature. Polanski told us this incredible story but avioded to crank up sentiment, he didn't provide the time for the audiences to tear. What I feel from this movie is to accept an unbelievable truth of survival happened in a such inhuman world. Polanski renovated holocaust movie by setting up a window for us, like the window through which Wladyslaw Szpilman saw the carnage. The director simply opened that for us to watch and understand the life and death of Jews in Warsaw ghetto.
Rating:
Summary: stunning
Review: Whew, is this some movie. It's a serious drama and doesn't seem very much like a "movie" after 10 minutes, its filled with sadness and desperation and horrible scenes that stay in your mind for time to come. but dont get me wrong, its one of the best movies of the year, and movies of this substance rarely get mad. if you liked schindlers list, youll love this.
The Story of Wladyslaw Szpielman, A world famous Polish Pianist who happens to be stuck in the circumstance of being Jewish..during the Holocaust, right at the time when the Germans want to start the infamous Warsaw Ghetto, the most notorious area where jews were held during ww2.
taken from being a pianist, and turned into a hopeless man, Szpielman lives and dies in his rebirth and life in short existences again and again being terribly afraid of the germans.The movie traces the arc from Szpilman's pre-war days as a comfortable and already famous cultural figure in Poland through to the end of the war.
there is so much tension running throughout this movie,mostly because we know what a horrible fate the characters are going to endure...and see....and its so painful to watch, its one man's journey to hell shown from his eyes very realistically....the director's mother was also executed at auschwitz and he escaped..he finds some hope in telling this story of great suffering.
Szpilman is shown as a survivor from day to day trying to stay alive and getting ready for his end, he isnt shown as a fighter or a hero. the film is technically brilliant, directed by the famous roman polanski. adrien brody as the main character DESERVES an oscar....i cannot say enough, one of the best acting ive seen in years...he disintegrated from a upright moral somewhat rich man to a homeless bum right in front of our eyes...not by makeup and costume alone but by his eyes..and mannerisms..it truly is a heartbreaking performance and film...such powerful films takes guts to make...and it should be seen...if you dont like moving dramas or want action or excitement or the rhythm of an avg hollywood movie,..your not going to like this..but if its the opposite..youll love it its a true story. A portrait of hell so shattering it's impossible to shake.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant look at the survival of the human spirit
Review: Roman Polanski's The Pianist is a harsh, shocking and frightening look at one man's fight for survival during the Holocaust. It's the true story of concert pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Polish Jew caught up in World War II's most harrowing atrocity. It's through this film's brutally honest portrayal of the Holocaust via Szpilman's personal journey that its brilliance shines. This is by far one of Polanski's best films, if not his very best. Every minute of this movie breathes life into its subject while the lives of countless Jews around Szpilman are extinguished. But the heart of the film doesn't lie in its portrayal of Holocaust atrocities. It's in the struggle of an artist who can no longer perform his life's ambition, trading it for mere survival and hiding in one play or another longing for the day he can once again play piano. In some of the film's most beautiful scenes, Szpilman hears the call of the piano. At one point, he's hiding in an apartment with a piano, but cannot play it without alerting the Germans to his presence. As his fingers dance inches above the keys, we can hear the music as Szpilman hears it in his mind. The release seems enough to keep him fighting to survive for that one day he can truly play again. That scene sum up the entire spirit of the film. Unlike Schindler's List, which tells a broader story on the Holocaust, The Pianist is much more personal. Adrien Brody transforms his character through the years of isolation from a strong pianist to a sickly man teetering on the edge of death and despair. His performance is well worthy of an Oscar. The Pianist is absolutely one of the best films of 2002. This is one everyone should see at least once, for it shows from what depths the human spirit can survive and is inspiration for all those struggling artists out there. My highest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: The Undeniable Choice for Best Picture
Review: It would be an unspeakable tragedy in the event that The Pianist fais to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Furthermore, Adrian Brody should, despite stellar competition, be given serious consideration for Best Actor as well. Roman Polanski, the controversial, yet immensely gifted in his craft, directs this infinitely provocative masterpiece of a film. Having heroically survived The Holocaust, Polanski proves to be the most preeminently qualified individual in the world to direct this tour de force. ... We all gleefully stayed to witness the extraordinary piano exhibition during the credits. It was a true testament to the sheer power of The Pianist. It was as if we were all entranced by the amazing perseverence, and not to mention the unwavering will of survival, of the highly endearing protagonist, Szpilman. And to think that the heinous and unspeakable attrocities so expertly chronicled in the movie actually transpired. .... Go see this movie today! It is THE best picture of the year - without any inkling of a doubt whatsoever. Pure genius on the big screen. The Pianist is the most moving and poignantly provocative picture I have had the pleasure of witnessing - in quite some time.
Rating:
Summary: AFI's new #1
Review: For the person that truely appreciates the art of film... and the art of story telling... The Beauty of life... The Pianist is perfection... Pure Perfection...
Rating:
Summary: Must See Movie
Review: I went into this movie without any idea what it was about. I was very surprised at how graphic this movie was. It tells the story of a Jewish pianist and what he went through during WWII. I am not a huge history buff so I do not know much about the holocaust. I also never saw schindler's list. Bottom line everything about this movie is great. Go See It.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing,Incredible,Must See
Review: I have a PhD in history and have been a student of WW2 for a number of years. This film was so gripping that NO ONE moved from their seats. There was NO TALKING, NO COUGHING. The theatre was absolutely silent and at the end NO ONE got up to leave.
This is because this film is so incredibly well done that you cannot help but become personally involved. It is a true story as well. I urge everyone who wants to see what life under the 3rd Reich was like in their Eastern Conquests to see this. Not only are Jews murdered indiscriminately, it also shows the effects on Poles and the scenes of a destroyed Warsaw stop you in your tracks.
When you leave this film, you will know you have seen one of the finest films EVER made, Polanski's masterpiece. It tells of events that are changed from words into visual scenes, and individual people. The effect is awesome. Please go see it.
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