Powerful, Heartwrenching Tragic Drama

Rating: 9/10 (5 September 2004)

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** "The Pianist" succeeds frighteningly in examining the horror, tragedy, and despair of the Holocaust, as experienced by a personal witness. A story brilliantly told from the eyes of an aspiring musician torn apart from the events of the Holocaust is extremely effective in depicting what actually happened to ordinary, and in this case, successful people, many of whom went from riches to rags in a matter of months. Sad, honest, brutal, and timelessly compassionate, the story follows Wladyslaw Szpilman, in his quest for survival from the cruel horrors which have plunged him into despair. Brody is brilliant in this performance of a man once at the brink of fame, who is now tarnished into mere survival, who begins to see the horrors of the Nazis between his escapes and who soon becomes the subject of their potential extermination. One can feel the passionate, personal story of Roman Polanski, who apparently experienced much of the horrors in this story, and who puts his heart and soul into translating those experiences into a sad, potent, and important film which takes us into a world of despair as we earnestly hope for Szpilman's survival. This is a brilliant, devastating, and potent film, succeeding wonderfully in its difficult, harrowing message: Hope is the only inspiration for survival. Survival and passion are the resounding graces of this harrowing masterpiece, "The Pianist". **** out of ****