Far from cheerful viewing but an impacting and engaging film that helps keep history relevant

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2006)

Wladyslaw Szpilman is a musician living with his family in 1930's Warsaw. The rise of anti-Semitism starts to erode their civil liberties, making them have permits to work, requiring them to wear armbands that identify them as Jewish and generally treating them like second-class citizens and lesser people. This gradual slide becomes increasingly serious as all Jews are ordered into one small area of the city, where whole families are given flats with one or two small rooms to be shared among six or seven people. As the murders and control of the Jews continue, Szpilman is left to try and survive while the war rages across Europe.
I didn't bother to watch this in the cinema despite the Oscars and rave reviews simply because I could never get my head in the right space to spend my time on a subject that was never going to be an easy watch. With it coming onto television recently though I decided it was worth a look and easily got into it, which the emotional power of the story doing enough to carry it along for the duration. At times it does feel like watching war porn, as Polanski wheels out one more shocking atrocity after another and occasionally feels like he is involved in a game of one-upmanship with other Holocaust movies (so we don't just have a man thrown out a window, but a disabled old man thrown out a window). This was a bit of a problem for me because I wanted more to the film that just the horror shown to me. However the film does do more than that and generally does enough to be as impacting in the study of Szpilman as it is in just yet again reminding us of the terrible things done in Europe barely 60 years ago.
On both levels the film works while never being something you should try and watch expecting it to be a fun night in. Staying away from the front line of the war, the film focuses on the effects on the innocent, specifically Szpilman, who struggles to just stay alive. Up till this point the film had been a bit obvious, with bad things happening while the Szpilman's argue over what to do etc, with the film relying heavily on the shock and horror of what was happening. The rest of the film is more about him being left alone and hidden within Warsaw, which although slow is still impacting and engaging. At this point Brody also steps up and becomes much better than before, showing so much with just a horrified look but still containing enough of a character to be more than just our eyes. The rest of the cast are all good but generally it is Brody that carries the majority of the film. Polanski directs with a very good eye for the breakdown of this world and it looks totally of period and convincing.
Overall then, not a film to come to if you are hoping for a cheerful night in but one to watch to gain a wider appreciation of the atrocities that can so easily be allowed to take place. Ethnic cleansing and wars continue even as I sit writing these words so those that think this film is just an unnecessary wallow in past horrors would do well to take a minute and think. At times it could have been better but it is impossible to ignore the power of the story and the impact of the delivery.