A story that needs to be told and retold

Rating: 10/10 (17 April 2003)

The story of the Holocaust is one that needs to be told and retold. Tragically, it could happen again, to another group of people, to us or to our children. History too often repeats itself...
For me, "The Pianist" is one of the most moving and powerful films of my lifetime. Each person brings to a film a different life experience. I have been to Warsaw and seen the ghetto; I have been to Auschwitz. I will never forget the sadness I felt. It had to be a horrifying and hopeless time for Polish Jews, and for those few who were able to survive the Nazi occupation. The story of Wladyslaw Szpilman mesmerized me; I was close to tears throughout much of the film.
Polanski's filming of Szpilman's story is honest and unsentimental. All aspects of the film, especially the music of Chopin, add brilliantly to the whole. The actors are well-chosen - family members, friends, strangers who helped. Thomas Kretschmann as the German officer is perfect.
Yet it is Adrien Brody's performance that triumph's in "The Pianist". He portrays Szpilman as a man of many layers and moods - first smug and self-satisfied, next mystified and unwilling and unbelieving, finally strunggling to help his family survive. When he is cut off from those he loves, his music, his life, Brody is especially powerful. He shows us Szpilman's hopelessness, boredom, frustration, longing, fear, his desperate will to survive. I could not keep my eyes off his expressive eyes (and eyebrows). I will always cherish this compelling film depicting both our humanity and our inhumanity. I was ecstatic when a surprised Adrien Brody won Best Actor at the Oscars. Roman Polanski's well-earned win was also deserved. And for me, it WAS the best film of 2002. Congratulations to all who were a part of its making!