Horrific, brilliant, almost uplifting

Rating: 10/10 (8 February 2006)

It's widely believed that Roman Polanski has been in decline as a film-maker for a long time; but in 'The Pianist', he has produced a movie both brilliant and important, and fully deserving of its Oscars. He takes on a big subject - the holocaust - and brings to it a mastery of cinematic procedure and a surprisingly sure touch to a subject highly sensitive and also, through its terrible enormity, innately prone to melodrama if represented on screen. Like most films of its type, it tries to avoid this danger by steering clear of Auschwitz, which is probably incapable of inclusion in any sort of story without completely overbalancing it and isolating it from any point of connection with normal, human themes. But the horrors of what happened are in no sense hidden in the story of a survivor of the Polish ghetto who witnessed the most dreadful events, depicted here in a straightforward chronology encompassing the entire war. What happened first was that a community was forced to co-operate in its own extermination, induced to do so by the basic human need for hope; the eventual uprising was heroic but as doomed as non-resistance. By the time this happens, the hero has already escaped, but Polanski focuses on the desperate reality of his "fortunate" situation: the lack of heating, food, water, and also intellectual nourishment; and the near-unbearable psychology of living when any moment might be your last. And in this remarkable film, everything seems both appalling and yet natural; the movie is littered with arresting images that in no way seem forced upon the viewer; and every performance is spot on, with Aiden Brody superb in the lead (Frank Findlay in particular is also excellent, but there are no weak points at all). While very detail that is needed to make the story convincing is covered - Brody's body double (who actually plays the piano for him) has long, pianist's fingers, we know this man to be a pianist as surely as the German officer who eventually pities him.
And such is the skill with which the film is made that in the end, it leaves one not only reminded of the dreadful depths to which humanity can sink, but also of what is wonderful in our dubious species; and, after frequently implying the question, "what is it that separates us from the animals?", provides part of the answer in the redeeming power of music. This is simply the best movie on its subject I have seen; and the also best movie Polanski has ever made.