Wonderful direction, Flawless performace.

Rating: 10/10 (2 May 2003)

I just saw this movie last night. I was amazed, moved and touched, especially by Adrien Brody's performance, which was nothing short of flawless. The whole direction the movie takes and the truthfulness with wich Polansky tackles some of the most jarring events is amazing. Polansky doesn't want us to shed a pool of tears, he keeps the flow of events swift, doesn't dwadle on any particular scene where the atrocities of war are being shown. As a result, we don't get lost in the melodramatic aspect of war. This is instead, a survival story, and one told from the point of view of a very charismatic person.
Adrien Brody is simply superb in his role as Wladek Szpielman, his performance is one I will quite possibly never be able to erase from my memory. I was taken by his character from the get-go, especially by the sweetness of his personality, his frankness and simple humanity. People were drawn to him immediately, and would risk their safety to help him. I am not a religious person by any means, but just before the movie ended I found myself thinking, not without a tinge of shame, of the biblical phrase "The meek shall inherit the earth". Wladek survived. He lived on because his only eartly passion was for his music, and this was enough to see him through genocide and live on to be 88. He never let himself be consumed with hatred or anger. There's something we can all take from that.
NK