What's not to like about this movie?

Rating: 10/10 (20 October 2004)

The marketing departments of the different production houses always know how to make a huge hype about a movie. That's why I always try not to see a movie immediately after it gets many international prizes. I don't want to be disappointed because my expectations were just too high.
For 'The Pianist' I didn't make an exception and I'm glad I didn't. I just saw it for the first time on DVD and I can only say that this is a true masterpiece. No, not because it got so many awards, neither because Roman Polanski directed it and certainly not because this is a movie about the Jews. I think this is a modern classic and a true masterpiece simply because I was blown away by the story! It shows how the Jews had to live in the ghetto with so many people on so little space, how the Nazi's randomly shot people and humiliated them, but also that not all Germans were such horrible pigs.
Roman Polanski made an authentic movie about what happened in the Jewish ghettos and he did an excellent job if you ask me. He didn't portray the war and the Jews the way Spielberg did with Schindler's list. He shows us what happened by following Wvadyslav Szpilman - a young and famous pianist - from the last days before the beginning of the war until the war is over. Don't expect any images from the concentration camps like you saw in Spielberg's movie. The complete story is situated in Warsaw - in the Jewish Ghetto and never leaves it.
Roman Polanski did not only create a great visual experience with this movie, it's the music that gives this film an extra and subtle, even poetical touch. There are many scenes of war and destruction, the special effects are very realistic and were never intended to glamorize the movie. Every scene is frightening and realistic, but it is the beautiful classical music that makes all the depicted horrors a little less hard to chew...
I can recommend this film to everybody and I'm convinced that every one should see this movie at least once. But I think that the people who are interested in the history of the Jews during the second world war will love this movie the most. I guess that everybody who saw Schindler's list and loved it will love this one as well and I just can't say which one of the two was the best. I rewarded this movie with a 10/10. Don't hesitate to watch it.