The Pianist
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Movie Reviews of The Pianist
Movie Review: Definitively an inspiring epic...
Summary: 5 Stars
'The Pianist' is definitively an inspiring epic that celebrates the tenacity and fortitude of the human spirit... It is a remarkable tale of human survival sensitively brought to life by Polanski... The film carries us to the horrible reign of terror, where condemned people wearing the emblem of humiliation and oppression, are deprived of their rights, their human values and dignity, before being shipped to 'labor camps.'
In Polanski's movie all the conventional elements of the drama are at peaks of excellence:
Family union: When a father has to bargain to buy a single piece of caramel and divide it in six pieces to share it with each member of his family...
Starvation: When a ghetto inhabitant assaults a helpless woman for a bowl of soup...
Confusion: When a distraught woman wails on a platform because she smothered the cries of her baby with her hand...
Love: When a young musician turns to his younger sister and utters with sad regret, "I wish I knew you better."
Survival: When one man observes the war through his hide-outs around the city...
Cruelty: When an old man in a wheelchair is thrown off the balcony by the Nazis because he failed to stand upon their entrance...
Fear: When a talented musician sits down at the old piano, and pretends to play his music, keeping his fingers flowing with control above the vertical ivories...
Discrimination: When bored Nazi guards entertain themselves by forcing grotesquely mismatched old and sick couples to dance to a Jewish street band by the ghetto gate...
Horror: When condemned Jewish workers lie face-down in the street, while one SS guard walks down the line, shooting without remorse each one in the back of the head...
Isolation: When a fugitive emerges from his harrowing hiding place and walks through a field of deserted ruins exactly like the last man alive on Polish soil..
Adrien Brody gives an absolutely moving performance (based on descriptive facial expressions) as the Polish composer and pianist who stays alive as a Jew, and remains true to his ideals... Brody captures the character's desperation, his anger and grief, his willpower and perseverance, his passion and love of music... Polanski gives us the chance to better know his shock and disbelief, his ordeal and tragedy, his hope for fairness and humanity...
Nominated for seven Academy Awards, this captivating drama went on to win three Oscars, including Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay... Once Brody took the stage to accept his Oscar, he was so overwhelmed with happiness, that he swept the gorgeous Academy Award-winning Halle Berry off her feet with a long, steamy kiss...
Movie Review: The best that 2002 had to offer!
Summary: 5 Stars
Winner of the Golden Palm, should have taken home the Oscar, `The Pianist' is, in my humble opinion, the best film of 2002. It's one of those films that truly speaks to me on so many levels and resonates with me long after I'm done watching it. Adrien Brody's masterful performance was rightly rewarded during that years Oscar ceremony, as was Roman Polanski's brilliant directing and Ronald Harwood's excellent screenplay. The heart of this film, of course, is found in Adrien's performance, a tour'de'force as they call it.
Brody plays Wladyslaw Szpilman, a famous pianist who is on the cuff of fame when the Nazi's invade Warsaw and he's forced into hiding. `The Pianist' chronicles Wladyslaw's perilous journey and sheds light on those who helped him along the way, those who put him up, provided for him and even those who left him to die. One reviewer noted that this is merely a story of one man's survival, and they alluded to the fact that that was a bad thing. I disagree for it's a wonderful testament to the will to survive, that will in each and every one of us. Just because Wladyslaw may not have done anything overly important with his life doesn't mean that his heartbreaking and uplifting story needn't be told.
`The Pianist' helps the viewer to realize the horrors of the holocaust, the fact that more than what you think you know happened. An example of this is found when a group of Jews are stopped while they are marching to work. They are all lined up and a few men are randomly selected from the group and executed. This is an act I never gave to much thought to. I think for the most part when we think about the holocaust we think about the concentration camps, which were awful in themselves, but even outside those walls these people were treated horribly. Even just the constant mocking and random beatings are a true testament to the atrocity that was that dark time in human history.
As a side note I wanted to mention that, while he's only in a few minutes of the film, Thomas Kretschmann pulls out such a moving performance towards the end of this epic film. As Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, Kretschmann shows so much emotional weight in his few frames as a man who feels pity for Szpilman and his condition and helps him the best he can. There's one scene in particular when both Brody's and Kretschmann's eyes alone speak volumes. Just after they meet Hosenfeld tells Wladyslaw to play something for him on the piano. That scene alone carries the emotional crutch of this film, for in Wladyslaw we see this fear and pain as he begins that slowly transforms to this remarkable release and in Hosenfeld we see this admiration and concern that comes over him.
Other supporting actors that must be recognized are Frank Finlay and Maureen Lipman who play Wladyslaw's parents as well as Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner and Jessica Kate Meyer who play his siblings Henryk, Regina and Halina respectively. Michal Zebrowski, Ruth Platt, Ronan Vilbert and Emilia Fox, among others, show beautifully that some humans do indeed care for more than just themselves as they play a few of the people that try to help this man survive.
I don't understand how anyone couldn't be touched by this remarkable film.
Movie Review: Entering Into a Deep Dark Nightmare.
Summary: 5 Stars
As many other people I was avoiding seeing this movie. I thought nothing really new about The Holocaust may be filmed after seeing "Schideler's List" (1993), "Kap?" (1959) or "La Vita ? Bella" (Life is Beautiful 1997) amongst others. I was mistaken.
Roman Polanski has created an emotive and deep film. With poignancy that only a survivor as himself could give.
The screenplay is based on the autobiographic book of Wladyslaw Szpilman a well known pianist and Warsaw's Ghetto survivor.
Szpilman was an artist dedicated to playing and composing music when war came to disrupt his life and that of millions more people.
His burden was double: he was a defeated Pole and Jew.
The film shows how step by step a nightmare is constructed around the Jewish Community. First they were limited on what amount of money they were able to keep at home; then they were banned from restaurants; next they were banned from public squares and so on until they are massively relocated into the infamous Ghetto.
Vexations increases: starvation, murder, deportation to the camps.
All this is shown from the interior of Szpilman's family. How they are affected, how their relationships are stirred. Every scene rings true and touches the raw nerve of the spectator.
Adrien Brody fleshes his character with sensibility and accuracy: an outstanding performance.
Polanski is at par with his best productions and won 2003 Best Director's Oscar.
Even if this is a sad film, I highly recommend it in order to have an inside glance to this terrible historical period.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
Movie Review: THE PIANIST IS OVERRATED!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
The Pianist...that pretty much covers the story cause thats all its about. Adrien Brody's performance is dreadfully dull. He doesn't give that much understanding to his character or show any emotion. Let's face it, his character is a complete coward. He only cares about himself and doesn't do anything to save any jews. He didn't show too much emotion when his family was taken to a conserntration camp.
I can't believe Brody won an oscar while competing with Jack Nicholson's exceptional performance in 'About Schmidt & Nicoloas Cage's best work yet in 'Adaptation'(One of my favourite films) Why would anyone make a film set during the Holocaust about a man who just 'survives'? A lot of people survived during the most harsh of times. Why is this guy so important? The film strives to look inspiration but it is just impossible to care about the main character. No where near inspirational compared to Oskar Schindler in 'Schinder's List'.
I must admit, Roman Palanski's directing was visually a tour-de-force even though I don't like Palanski the man. The man who was charged with rape and so fled the USA to escape the charges. Thats why he wasn't at the oscars in 2003 when he got an oscar. He made his speech via satalite. Most of all the film lacks a story. There are plenty of stories of the Holocaust that are a lot more interesting. Can you believe this film got won an oscar for best adapted screenplay? Whats a laugh. Just because his film is based on a true story and set in WWII it doesn't mean it should get the praise it got. It shouldn't have reseaved as many oscars as it got.
Movie Review: Hard-Hitting and Realistic
Summary: 5 Stars
THE PIANIST is a very fine movie about the survival experiences of a Polish pianist during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw in World War II. The film contains many memorable scenes reflecting both the worst and best of humanity under extremely trying conditions. One such scene shows German soldiers bullying and mocking elderly Jewish refugees and another depicts a Russian tank blasting a building in which the pianist is hiding. In contrast, there is a scene in which a German officer finds the pianist playing the piano in an otherwise vacant building. The German officer seems mesmerized by the music and grateful to be able to experience such a pleasant interlude in the midst of the horrors of war. Immediately a bond is struck between the two men. The role of the pianist is played by Adrien Brody. Also in the cast are Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, Jessica Kate Meyer and Michal Zebrowski.
THE PIANIST was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Oscars were won by Adrien Brody for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Roman Polanski for Best Director. Ronald Harwood won an Academy Award as well for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published. In addition, Polanski won a Golden Palm for this motion picture at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.