An eye-opener, a stunner and a breathtaking performance

Rating: 10/10 (28 June 2005)

If ever a movie deserved all of the Oscars it received, this is it. Admittedly, reading the book makes it very dull to watch, but as I read the book after watching the movie, I was stunned, and even watching it again on DVD makes the reality of the book sink in. The soundtrack and the images give it a wonderfully haunting air that words can't possibly do.
The Pianist is a movie about the Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman who finds himself and his family caught as Jews in World War Two. Although the whole war story is a bit clichéd (Anne Frank, La Vita e Bella etc.) I don't think I've ever seen a movie that captures world war two so perfectly. Once the Nazis have made a ghetto in Warsaw, Szpilman must fight to keep his family together at all costs, though after little more than a year has passed, his family are predictably taken away to a concentration camp, though Szpilman survives, being rescued by a Jewish policeman. After working in the ghetto dismantling the wall, Szpilman breaks free and begins his two year life in hiding while the city of Warsaw literally crumbles around him.
I think that this movie is driven by the true horror of world war two for the Jewish people. As I said in the introduction, it is haunting and sticks around with you for a few weeks. Also, the movie starts out very scary, but rather than building up to a climactic end, it gradually gets less and less 'in your face' and shocking. As it is a Polanski film, there is a lot of gore in the beginning and the true horror of WW2 is at its highest. I was more than pleased with the performances and thought that it gives us all an eye-opening account into what life was like sixty years ago. Performance - 9/10 (especially Adrien Brody as Szpilman). Writing: Book - 10/10, screenplay - 7/10. Costumes, makeup etc. - 9/10. Soundtrack - 9/10 (it was a great idea to dub Szpilman's own music).