Thought Provoking

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2003)

I saw this film several nights ago and find myself still thinking about it several nights later. I will not bore other readers with a rehash of the plot, but I will say that this is certainly the most challenging film of about the Holocaust I have seen. Roman Polanski has delivered an amazing portrait of the horror and the beauty of human life. Polanski justly deserves every bit of praise and award he receives for being so honest and so skilled at delivering movie to the world. The role of randomness, fate and just blind luck in the survival of Szpilman, and by extension everyone who perished or survived those years, has humbled and horrified as a human being. That he survived to write out his story is amazing when you consider how many times he might have made the wrong turn, or said the wrong thing, knocked on the wrong door and met his end. That he survived and was able to write his story with unflinching honesty and without gloryfing his own actions is even more remarkable. How many of us could be so honest and not be tempted to cloak ourselves in heroic actions? Many people have commented on Szpilman apparent lack of heroism. They seem bothered that he was just a man who was pushed into freedom and helped along by many acts of kindness, as if this was a character flaw, that he would be more worth a movie if he had been more daring and noble. In an odd way it was his passiveness in the face of danger that in part gave him the chance to survive and then to tell his tale to the world. Szpilman, as a friend said to me, is an everyman, neither sinner or saint, hero or villian. None of us who have never experienced anything remotely akin to his situation can predict with honesty how they would behave if confronted with the same choices. We would all like to think we would behave bravely, nobly and honestly, but we can never be sure what the deep desire to live would lead us to do in our human need to cling to life. I would also like to add my appreciation for Adrien Brody's remarkable performance. It was so subtle that it appeared not to be acting. This was a performance of remarkable depth. He deserves an Oscar, although I doubt he will receive it. Subtle and understated never is well appreciated. I recommend this movie to anyone who has an ounce of taste and love of filmaking as an art. This will be something that will stay with you long after you leave the theater.