Painful to watch

Rating: 8/10 (11 August 2003)

A very good piece of cinematic art, yet a very un-enjoyable way to spend 2+ hours. Yes, the nature of the subject matter. And I'm not (for a moment) suggesting that it should have been toned down. You have to hand it to Polanski, as much as I hate to compliment that reprobate. Excellent work by Brody, though I'm not sure it was the best of the year. An interesting, yet underplayed theme, that in the face of such evil, it was almost random in whether a given person would live or die. Szpilman survived through little effort on his own part. But the really heroic ones all died. What do you do? Well worth catching this film. But be ready for it. Grade: A-