The Pianist is a 2002 production from Canal+ and Babelsberg Studio. The movie is directed by Roman Polanski, with the script written by Ronald Harwood, based upon Wladyslaw Szpilman’s autobiographical book of his story. The film stars Adrien Brody in its central role, alongside numerous minor characters played by actors such as Emilia Fox and Ed Stoppard. The film scores an 8.5/10 on IMDb, placing it in the top 50 movies. It received a similar 85 Metascore.
The Story
Most World War II movies are either action films taking place in the heaviest battles of the war or movies based upon Jews in concentration camps. The Pianist shows us another, different, side of the war: the cities in the middle of these wars. We see Warsaw turn from a vibrant city to a destroyed piece of land. And the story of Szpilman effortlessly shows us the time in-between.
We start right at the beginning with the war coming to Warsaw. The Polish people got hope from the messages that England and France declared war but forget to think about the time it would take to reach them. The family of Szpilman doesn’t leave their home and stays with a celebratory dinner. The beginning of what would become an awful story. It’s rather simple setpieces like this that set the story up to be so compelling.
As a viewer, you get sucked right into their shoes. You feel their joy, their despise and their loss. Loss is the main theme in this film. We are shown how the Jews slowly lose all their rights. We are shown how Szpilman loses his family after they are separated. We are shown the loss of life through countless unneeded shooting right in the middle of the streets of Warsaw. All these powerful, heartbreaking moments are then portrayed through cinematically beautiful shots, like Szpilman walking through the empty streets of the Jewish area.
As time passes, it becomes a story of survival. He leaves his Jewish companions to hide within the city, after which the Jews take up arms against Germans and are likely are killed. He needs to survive on the next to no supplies he has, alone, in a locked room. When the Russian close in on Warsaw the area becomes reckless, people take up arms all around the city, destroying the complete city in the progress. Szpilman strolls the ruined city, scavenging food and water wherever he can. Beautifully shown.
In the end, he survives because a German commander gives him food, while he is hiding an attic above their base of operations. I like how this was added in. Not every single Nazi soldier was a bad man, they’re just taking their orders. The German officer helping him survive shows that wonderfully. And all of that because Szpilman was still able to play the piano after all that time. The minutes-long setpiece of him playing the piano, worn down and broken, in front of the Nazi; amazing.
The Characters
The movie is really about one single character, Wladyslaw Szpilman of course. You could always argue that his story isn’t fully true because it largely based upon the recollection of the man himself, with few eyewitnesses. Nevertheless, it is an amazing story of this Jew who survived the war. And Adrien Brody’s Oscar-winning performance was truly amazing. Going from sleek piano player to being literally dragged through to mud was truly astonishing.
The Production
The Pianist shows the true horrors of war. Most of the gruesome details are shown and not shied away from. From shooting people in the streets without a reason to people jumping out of burning buildings. It truly helps to portray the story and its underlying terrors. A particular detail that I noticed was the amazing sound design during the tanks attack on the flat. We got to hear the high-pitch noises of someone who would’ve heard a tank shot from that up close.