Roman Polanski’s The Pianist is a
remarkable achievement that chronicles the
amazing life of Wladyslaw Szpilman. Szpilman (Adrien
Brody) was a Polish Jew condemned to the
terribly wretched streets of the Warsaw Ghetto
during the Nazi occupation. The Pianist
is much more than the average Holocaust movie,
however. Polanski cleverly merges his own
brilliant shots, with real images and small bits
of video from actual
Warsaw, to
produce a masterful result. This film is
monumentally moving, and is one of the best
movies of all-time. The Pianist can’t
quite top Spielberg’s Schindler’s List,
but comes close. As horrific and intensifying
all of the video may be, it is some of the most
respectable material to come out of the industry
in years. Szpilman’s story is unbelievable, and
to see it captured on film is heart wrenching.
He is a figure that should be remembered when we
think of the incredibly tough times that the
Jews endured. While The Diary of Anne Frank
is probably the most popular novel in Holocaust
literature, Szpilman’s auto-biography definitely
deserves more recognition.
Living in
Warsaw,
Szpilman was an accomplished concert pianist. He
would play on Polish radio, and took deep pride
in his profession. Music was clearly his
passion. As the bombing of
Warsaw
commenced, and more and more Jews were being
killed, Szpilman still remained true to his art.
The tough times did consume his body, but he
wouldn’t let them overtake his personality. But,
despite his attempts to try to live life
normally, his career took a downfall when the
recording studio that he worked in was blown-up.
He was able to flee from the building, just in
time to save his life, but was left without
work. This event was the beginning of a long
chain of downwardly spiraling events. The most
impactive of the occurrences to Szpilman’s life,
that followed, was that the Jews living in
Warsaw were
contained to a smaller radius of land. His
family was moved by the Nazis to a small
apartment building, and shared rooms, most of
them without work. Szpilman, however, was able
to find a low-paying job as a pianist in a
Jewish restaurant. Before long after this, his
family was taken away, to be shipped off to
concentration camps. While his father, mother,
and siblings had no choice but to hop on the
train to take them to the horrendous places,
Szpilman was able to escape. This began his long
session in hiding, which is referred by to most
as incredible.
Adrien Brody’s
performance, as Szpilman, is deeply moving.
There is not one scene where he is stiff, or not
convincing. We always see him as his character,
and not just an actor. Partially because he
isn’t a familiar face, but more so, by his
tremendous knowledge and skill in acting. Quote
me on the ladder. Most of the screen time is
occupied by his character, and I am relived by
the fact that the casting directors picked the
actor for the role. Without him, the entire film
could’ve gone desperately wrong. Polanski pieced
the scenes where Brody is supposedly playing the
piano together carefully, and produced an
effective result. As a secondary pianist’s
fingers were actually playing the instrument, we
see Brody’s face sweating away as if he were
really playing the classic Chopin pieces. He
captures the spirit of Szpilman beautifully, and
should definitely be an Oscar nominee. Brody’s
performance excellently combines with Polanski’s
masterful direction to make The Pianist
an instant classic. Is this the best movie of
the year? The outlook is good, as it stands
right now, but I have not seen all of the
releases from two-thousand-and-two just yet; so
nothing is for certain.
The Pianist is
an extraordinary achievement made possible by an
extremely talented cast and crew. Polanski’s
direction is unflawed, and captures a beautiful,
yet depressing portrait of the time period.
Brody’s performance is, hands-down, amazing, and
is probably the best I have seen this year. This
film is superior to all others that have seen
the light of release in recent days. The
Pianist is an engaging experience that tells
one of the most incredible stories ever put to
film before. When I make my end of the year
list, expect to see this film in one of the top
spots. It is certainly one of the best movies of
the year, and all-time.
-Danny, Bucket
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