Awesome! Makes one forget Schindler's List.

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2003)

You can imagine the reluctance of big-studio and money people to make a film directed by a felon still persona non grata in the US, centered on a protagonist who is much more a scurrying rat of a survivor than any kind of hero. But all such considerations are irrelevant when one experiences The Pianist.
The power of this film lies in its ability to once again shock viewers familiar with the Holocaust and cinematic accounts of it such as Shoah (1985) and Schindler's List (1993). Once again, and seemingly for the first time, it leaves one astonished not only at the brutality of humanity is capable of, but also of the miraculous ability people have to survive the deepest psychological wounds of incomprehensible trauma.

Adrien Brody's performance is a wonder, especially since he seems to appear in every scene, if not every frame, of this epic tale.

Oscars, please, for Brody and director Roman Polanski, and a lesson to "Gangs of New York" director Martin Scorsese in how to forge a grand-scale, historical drama into a masterpiece.