The Pianist (2002)


The Pianist (2002)

The Pianist (2002)

The Pianist (2002)

The Pianist (2002)

The Pianist (2002)

The Pianist (2002)

The Pianist (2002)

The Pianist (2002)


The Pianist (2002)


Director: Roman Polanski


Cast: Adrien Brody as Wladyslaw Szpilman, Emilia Fox as Dorota, Michal Zebrowski as Jurek, Ed Stoppard as Henryk, Maureen Lipman as Mother, Frank Finlay as Father, Jessica Kate Meyer as Halina, Julia Rayner as Regina, Wanja Mues as SS Slapping Father, Richard Ridings as Mr. Lipa, Nomi Sharron as Feather Woman, Anthony Milner as Man Waiting to Cross, Lucy Skeaping as Street Musician (as Lucie Skeaping), Roddy Skeaping as Street Musician, Ben Harlan as Street Musician



I can remember when this film came out I was adamantly against seeing
it. I had my preconceived notions that it would be some other heroic
Jewish Holocaust film where good triumphs over evil and in between we
would see some brutal atrocities committed by the Germans to add some
flavour.

How wrong I was.

This is one of the best films I have ever seen and what it did to me I
cannot describe in words. But in a nutshell, it moved me, made me cry,
made me feel like I was in the Polish ghetto in 1940, and ultimately
made me kiss the sidewalks as I walked out of the theater and thanked
God that I live in the free society that I do.

Roman Polanski has proved that he is a great director with films like
Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby but this is his crowning achievement. I
think the fact that this won the awards that it did at this years
Oscars goes a long way to validate the brilliance of this film. I
believe that the Oscar's are rigged for the most part and films and
actresses and such win based more on their pedigree or business
associations than anything else, so when it won best actor and director
and adapted screenplay this year, it tells you that it should have won
best picture but the Weinsteins seem to have a spell over everyone,
hence a charlatan like Chicago takes top prize. Sorry for the
digression here but when you compare a "film" like Chicago to a
masterpiece like The Pianist, there really is one clear cut winner.
They handed out the statue to the wrong movie.

The Pianist follows up and coming piano player Wlad Spielzman from his
days as a local hero to a prisoner of war to his time in the ghettos,
surviving only by the kindness of strangers. I think many people have
touched on this before but what makes this film so amazing and well
crafted is because Spielzman is a man that we can all relate to. He is
not a hero, he is not a rebel and he is not a kamikaze type that wants
and lusts after revenge. He is a simple man that is doing everything in
his power to stay alive. He is a desperate man and fears for his life
and wants to stay as low as he can. Only from the succor he receives
from others does he manage to live and breathe and eat and hide. And
this is how I related to him. If put in his position, how would I
react? Exactly the way he did. This is a man that had everything taken
from him. His livelihood, his family, his freedom and almost his life.
There is no time for heroics here. Adrien Brody embodies the spirit of
Spielzman and his win at this years Oscars was one of the happiest
moments I have had watching the festivities. His speech was even better
but that is a topic for another time.

Ultimately it is his gift of music that perhaps saves his life and the
final scene that he has with the German soldier is one of the most
emotionally galvanizing scenes I've witnessed. With very little
dialogue, it is in the eyes, the face, the mouth and the sounds that
chime throughout their tiny space that tell you all you need to know. I
think it is this scene that won Brody his Oscar. This is one of the all
time great performances.

I think Polanski spoke from the heart here. He has taken a palette of
memories and amalgamated them with what he has read and given us one of
the best films of our generation and any other. I think The Pianist
will go down as one of the best films of this century and when all is
said and done, Chicago will be forgotten the way Ordinary People was
forgotten and when people talk about the film The Pianist, they will do
so with reverence and respect. This is a cinematic masterpiece.

10 out of 10

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