Good, but not Great.

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2006)

'The Pianist' is a very much a European film of the Holocaust: shot on location in Poland by a Polish director, French producers from a screenplay by an English writer, the film uses American (Adrian Brody), German (Thomas Kretchsmann) and English (Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emelia Fox)actors in the principal roles. These polyglot productions productions rarely work, yet 'The Pianist' is a rare exception. However, it never achieve the levels of cinematic tour de force that 'Schindler's List'did. Polanski's direction is restrained and often rather plain.
'The Pianist' of the title is Szpilsman (Brody), a middle class Polish Jew who plays concert music on Polish radio before the German invasion. The film is told through Szpilsman's eyes as his family are moved from their home into the Warsaw ghetto, then are deported to certain death at a concentration camp. Through the last minute actions of a friend - one of the Jewish police - Szpilsman is yanked from the row of people being herded onto the train and flees back into the Ghetto.
Later, he escapes the ghetto and lives, variously, in empty flats and an abandoned hospital, becoming a bearded, rather bizarre and solitary figure - like the last man alive in a post-holocaust world.
The budget restraints are evident in the film. The uprising in the Warswaw ghetto is seen entirely through the window of Szpilsman's flat and is represented by a handful of Germans firing at buildings and what looks like a few CGI shots of the burning ghetto. This is perhaps one of the flaws of Polanski's direction - it has no moment equally to the stunning clearing of the Cracow ghetto scene in 'Schindler's List'.
On the other hand, Brody is excellent in a demanding role as the increasingly isolated Szpilsman. Much of his role in the second half of the movie is wordless, and in one scene, he actually conveys an emotional release by miming playing the piano (later, he does it for real in the prescene of a sympathetic German officer - it is the first time in years he has played for real). There's no false 'watch-me' mannerisms of the method school here, and no sentimentality - so Brody's character seems all the more believable.
The other strength is Ronald Harwood's screenplay. Harwood underplays the Nazi barbarism - there are a few random executions and Szpilsman Senior is beaten up for walking on a pavement - to good effect. He also conveys the idea that music remains a civilizing influence even when around it looks like the world is ending. It keeps Szpilsman human when everything suggests he should be dehumanized by his experiences.