Just trying to survive the war, so he could play piano again.

Rating: Null/10 (26 June 2004)

This movie is too long for what it depicts, one Jew's struggle to survive Nazi-occupied Warsaw during the second world war. The movie doesn't cover any new ground, the audience doesn't learn anything new. However, being a personal project for the director may account for its length. I hadn't planned to see it, because if you've seen one holocaust film, you've seen them all. And that is not in any way intended to minimize the horror of the mistreatment of the Jews, but how many times does a person need to see it reinacted to grasp the message? It happened, it was bad, we all need to do our part to see that nothing like that happens again. But I saw it for Adrien Brody, the hawkish actor who won the best actor Oscar for his performance. And, after seeing it, I believe it was deserved. The first hour of the movie established the setting and danger, the middle hour spends too much time showing the protagonist trying to survive, hiding in bombed-out buildings, scratching for food. We know it all happened, but if you show everything, the movie is 6 years long!!
The movie starts with actual black and white film footage of 1939 Warsaw, and we see its residents leading normal lives for that period. Then, cut to the movie, the pianist is playing for a live radio broadcast when bombs or artillery shells begin to explode and all Jewish families begin their fights for survival. Forced to wear identifying arm bands, eventually they were banished to their own ghetto, then the trains came.
SPOILERS are contained in the rest of my comments, for my own recollection, please read no further. The last half hour of the movie pulls everything together. The pianist is helped by a German soldier who discovers him, has him play piano for him, then secretly brings him food as the war winds down. When the Russians finally come to Warsaw, the few remaining Jews are out of danger, the Germans are imprisoned, and eventually the pianist is playing again for the radio, and the final scene is his playing a concert before a live audience. The pianist was a real person, this movie is a true story based on his book.