Horrifically real

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2019)

Holocaust films have always been morbidly fascinating to me. There's something so gripping about staring one of our worst atrocities in the face, whether it's portrayed in a stylized fashion like MAUS or slowly paced and cold like Schindler's List.
But upon re-watching, The Pianist stuck out to me as one of the best. It helps that it's a true story, for sure, but the directing and pacing bring it all together into an unflinching masterpiece.
The events of this film just happen. That's not to say there's no plot; it's there, as minimal as the connections between scenes can be, which is expected of a film based on real events. But there's never a moment where the characters are truly safe. There's no buildup to the atrocities shown on-screen, people are just alive one moment and then taken aside and shot unceremoniously in the next scene without a single word of protest. It never tries to force a reaction from the audience either, as some films like to hang on the details of a disturbing scene to evoke a reaction. It just presents the facts without buildup and leaves you stunned anyway.
Wouldn't be a review of The Pianist without mentioning Adrien Brody. He absolutely knocked it out of the park, both when he's delivering pages of dialogue in fluid long-take scenes and saying next to nothing for almost the entire third act but still managing to tell the audience everything they need to know through facial expression and skittish movements.
A film that, like its subject matter, shouldn't be forgotten for a long time.