Redemption through music

Rating: 8/10 (7 October 2003)

I've just watched The Pianist for the second time and once again feel utterly compelled to comment here. The first time I saw this film, my mind was filled with the horror of the story - and my alarm at some of the fairly unpalatable comments others had posted.
This time too, I find myself almost overcome with emotion but now because of the music, which somehow seemed incidental to me before. The scene where a ravaged Szpilman plays Chopin (Ballad No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23) for the German officer left me shattered. The beauty and sheer elegance of the piece simply annihilates darkness for as long as it lasts and its memory provides a benchmark for the human spirit when the last note has faded. Even in the midst of the incomprehensible darkness of the Holocaust there was still light, even if it was only able to shine in the hearts of people able to remember its warmth.
I consider myself an informed music lover but I believe this is the first time in my life I've ever truly understood its deepest beauty. For me this confirms The Pianist as a truly great film. It's certainly not unflawed but if a definition of Art is that which provokes genuine realisation in its audience then Polanski has here become an artist.