Despite The Over Familiarity A Good Film

Rating: 8/10 (20 September 2009)

The problem with making a holocaust film is that it's a subject that's been done before . Everyone from Steven Spielberg to ( Amazingly and somewhat hypocritically I say ) Vanessa Redgrave has made a film centering around the Nazi attempt to exterminate European Jewry . I have a problem with this because it denigrates history to an extent . If people have to make a film featuring man's inhumanity to man as a reminder what does this say for the rest of humanity ? Can't the rest of humanity watch a documentary like SHOA or the Genocide episode of THE WORLD AT WAR ( My first introduction to The Holocaust ) or read a book of the accounts of Nazi mass murder ? Would it be too cynical to point out how well rewarded Holocaust movies are ? It's also noticeable how formulaic these type of movies are . We start at the beginning of the war and follow the protagonist's survival until they're liberated by the allies in 1945
That said THE PIANIST does have merits of its own even though it doesn't really bring much to the table originality wise . Actually the food allegory is appropriate though slightly confusing . Early in the film we see the terrible conditions in the Warsaw ghetto as its Jewish population are effectively walled up from the rest of the city and left to die . Cut to a restaurant interior as Wladyslaw Szpilman entertains the guests by playing the piano as the patrons grow fat by gorging themselves on food , fine wine and cigarettes as their fellow Jews fall dead in the streets . With a little editing you might find yourself thinking this part was directed by David Irving instead of Roman Polanski ! One thing THE PIANIST does do well is include the apocryphal tale of the Jews discussing their fate at the hands of the Nazis with no one wanting to believe for a second that the lone voice stating the Nazis are deporting them to be murdered may in fact be talking the truth no matter how unbelievable and horrific the truth may be
Like I AM LEGEND the story suffers from the fact that the protagonist has no one to speak to for large portions of the narrative but there's so much incident on screen such as the Warsaw uprising it's not a major problem . You could make the point that Szpliman then becomes a spectator to Polish history rather than a character in his own right and you'd possibly be correct but these scenes are very well choreographed and filmed that it shouldn't be made as a criticism . There's also the introduction of " A good German " that we've seen before in films such as MUTTER'S COURAGE but Hosenfeld is so well drawn and acted by Thomas Kretschmann it's very difficult not to feel sorry for his fate
In truth THE PIANIST follows the usual structure of holocaust movies but unlike some movies of this particular genre certainly deserved much of the critical acclaim hoisted upon it . As can be expected it's not a feel good movie but is definitely a well made and acted story of human suffering and endurance