Polanski's Best?

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2003)

This is debatable, but The Pianist may be the best work Roman Polanski has ever done -- although this may be one of his most un-Polanski-like films. Unlike Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby and The Ninth Gate, here evil eventually has to give way in the face of good.
The film is also timely. There has been in recent years an upswing in anti-Semitism. Jewish studients in US and Canadian colleges report verbal and physical abuse by faculty and other students. European nations ignore the rise of anti-Jewish violence in their own countries. Arab press and websites praise Hitler, deny the Holocaust and call for a war of genocide against Jews. (How can one both praise Hitler and deny the Holocaust is beyond me, but I have read the articles!)
The Pianist is based on Wladyslaw Szpilman's autobiography. But in watching this film,I do wonder if Polanski took any artistic license and added any autobiographical material of his own. Szpilman's and Polanski's wartime experiences are similar. This may well be the most personal film Polanski has ever made.