No Schindler's List

Rating: 5/10 (7 June 2005)

No one can deny the utter horrors of WWII against Europe's Jewish population and it is an important history lesson that should never be forgotten. Nevertheless, not all of the stories from this era translate very well into film and this is no exception. Polanski is so full on with the horrors that many of them fall into cliché and the result is that there is no emotional response left from the viewer for the rest of the film. For example, there's a woman who's had to kill her baby (how on Earth would they know?), there's a man who eagerly scoffs food of the filthy ground..and so on.. It seemed Polanski felt the need to cram in far too much. For heaven's sake he even crow-barred in Shylock's line from Merchant of Venice about being Jewish AND being human at the same time; how 'convenient' that the pianist's brother had the play on him! Nevertheless, there were some painfully wonderful moments such as when the pianist is in hiding in a room with a piano which he isn't allowed, for obvious reasons, to play. You have to see the moment to appreciate it. Unfortunately it is a moment which is all too rare. The part at the end, where he is made to play by a German officer would have been much more emotionally charged if we felt that this officer was a genuine threat. In summary, this film is too crammed with misdirected emotion to be as tear-jerking as Schindler's list.