Polanski's Most Personal Film

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 2019)

If I'm being honest, I think Polanski winning the best director Oscar for this film is sort of like Scorsese winning his Oscar for "The Departed"; both awards feel a bit like consolation Oscars. What do I mean by that? Well, I don't believe that this is the best film Polanski has put out; in fact, I wouldn't even put it in his top three. It is a good film, however, and with all the amazing movies that Polanski produced during his career I'm glad that he found a bit of recognition, even if it is for a film that isn't as polished as some of his others.
Polanski himself said that his was the most personal film he's ever made, and there's good reason for that. Polanski was in his preteens when WWII washed over Poland, and he, like Wladyslaw Szpilman, survived the ghettos while their families were less fortunate (Polanski's mother was killed in Auschwitz). "The Pianist" shows a side of the holocaust that we rarely see, for it's not from the perspective of the camps which we see most of the film, but from the perspective of one who has escaped the camps and is still forced to live in a prison of isolation and degradation.
As a whole, I think the story told in this movie is wonderful, and since it is based on a true story, it's hard to criticize it too much for structure, but at the same time, I do feel that this movie starts to drag in the second act. Most of the truly disturbing stuff happens in the first half of this film. The parts where Szpilman is separated from his family, the purging of the ghetto, the moving to concentration camps... all of that stuff happens within the first hour and fifteen minutes, and the last hour of this movie is mostly focused on Szpilman trying to stay quiet in apartments, trying to figure out what's gong on outside, and struggling to get over sickness. By no means does the story ever get boring- it's still fascinating, but the horrors of the first half of this movie are far more memorable than those in the second half.