Excellent effects, authentic display of Nazi-violence, but lacks otherwise

Rating: 7/10 (19 April 2003)

(no spoilers) This movie displays very detailed the cruelty and inhumane treatment particularly of Jews in Poland during the Nazi regime. The special effects in the movie are as brilliant as you would expect them to be after having seen movies like Saving Private Ryan, for example.
However, when it comes to a logical and interesting story-line the movie really would not have suffered from improvements. I mean, displaying Nazi cruelties has been previously well shown in other WWII movies (Schindler's list for example) and alone it doesn't represent anything original and neither does it add up nicely to an interesting plot. Although it might have been very important to Polanski to stress the war crimes committed, a pure listing of horrifying events does surely not make a good movie, it rather fills you with disgust.
The pianist's love towards music, the emotions during the loss of beloved ones and during separation in addition to those horrifying scenes of cruelty and in general more plausible acting rather than a mere run-and-hide movie would have made this movie less boring (if you can describe horrifying scenes as boring).
During the first 45 minutes I wondered if I actually wanted to watch this movie at all. Later in the movie I felt better, though. In general, the movie shouldn't need to be that long.