Much like Chopin, this film is overrated

Rating: Null/10 (12 March 2003)

Seeing as how popular culture has all but killed classical music, I am always interested in the public's reaction to a film like this. I find that many people seem to like pieces that are short and don't involve too much patience to listen to, whether they are aware of it or not. I think that these people will love this film because Chopin's glorified elevator music is prominantly featured.
For those of us hoping for something a little more interesting, this film is pretty dull. If Polanski had really wanted us to know what the concentration camps were like, he could have used any of a number of different 20th century composers, some of which actually lived in these camps. As it is, this film fails to capture the imagination. It is just a series of deadpan reactions interspersed with action sequences of questionable accuracy. By the end of the film Szpileman is just a grizzled looking vagrant to us; he doesn't bear the weight of his experience on his soul. It's a valiant effort, but ultimately this film is just average.