Comparing Director and Style to Szpilman and the Emotional Intensity of this film

Rating: 9/10 (27 November 2011)

The Pianist is a true story full of grit, fate, and even a little bit of hope. Director, Roman Polanski, understands the horrors of this 1940 Nazi invasion due to his experiences of being a survivor himself. He, like the main character Wladyslaw Szpilman, has experienced the mortifying encounters of murder, separation, torment, torture, and even a conclusion of hope. Viewers can understand his experiences through the eyes of Szpilman. The Pianist is not a story of one holocaust survivor. Rather it's a story of two, portraying the director's emotional and intense experiences as well as Szpilman's in this realistically accurate film.
This film is truly honest in the depiction of what the Polish Jews saw and experienced during the Nazi invasion. Right at the start of the film, the viewer already experiences the hardship of the war with the bombing of Szpilman's radio station. From there, viewers continuously get hit with unbarring, cringing scenes. About thirty minutes in, we see the first true death of Jews by the Nazis. The Nazi Police take an elderly man in a wheel chair and throw him off a balcony. This scene is brutal as we hear the cries of Szpilman's mother, adding more emotions and intensity.
Throughout the movie, a viewer can see Polanski's directorial style. He consistently portrays sad or emotional scenes through the eyes of the protagonist. In the ghetto, a Jewish man attacks a Jewish woman for food. The food falls on the floor, but the man does not cease. He lies down and eats it right off the muddy dirt. First, Polanski shows Szpilman and then the elements of this unfortunate occasion. These types of shots occur throughout the movie. Also, officers are mostly shown with low angle shots and Jews getting killed with high angle shots. This shows how the officers are superior and Jews are inferior all the time.
The Pianist reflects intense reality. The part that is one of the most realistic scenes is when a Nazi Officer stops the Jews and simply chooses certain people to lay down in the middle of the street to meet their fate of getting killed. The rest have to watch this painful action and continue on with their day as if nothing occurred. It shows the true character of the Nazi's and the torment and torture of the Polish Jews.
The film is extremely powerful. Every element, every scene, every shot is crafted to show the power of the Holocaust. It makes a viewer cry, feel the heartbreak, cringe at the sight of death, and feel sympathy for what the actual Jews had to go through. One of the best emotional scenes is when the Nazi Officer aided Szpilman and helped him in his hideout, giving him food and water. It shows how one life, good or bad, can make a difference. Szpilman did everything he needed to do to survive. He was not a "hero" or a fighter. He was just another man trying to make it through, just like Polanski. They both received an enormous amount of good luck. In the end, hope came through and leads them to freedom and a better life.