Blows away that Disney-Holocaust Spielberg melodrama.

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2002)

The longer the 2nd WW is behind us, the more films and books fill in our perception of that event. The most important aspect to The Pianist is: it blows away that Disney-Holocaust Spielberg epic. Polanski is very modest here, and that suits him and the film. The fact that the things we don't see, but only suggested with, are even more horrific than the horror we do get to see is a fantastic approach. It is seldom we can see a picture where one has to think, an fill in, instead of being fed. But there is a downsize: the story stays very close to the book, in fact, it adds nothing new to it, except for the stunning images. With the same imagination we use in the film, we can read the book and get the same result.
But then again, the longer ago the event is, the more important nowadays it is for people to go and see this very solid and integer picture. If you are really up to it, go and see the Russian epic called "Go And See", and then you will have a truly visual experience what war against an innocent young man is really about...