Stupendous story told through an equally impressive film.

Rating: 8/10 (5 May 2008)

That first scene where Wladyslaw Szpilman (Brody) plays in the recording suite, in Warsaw, for the Polish radio station sums up not only the entire film but Szpilman's dedication and attitude towards his music and his ability to play music. He is sitting there, live on air, as bombs rain down on the city before one hits the building he is in. People are starting to panic behind a soundproof window but it is a suspenseful panic because whilst we in the studio can see the panic and stress the disc jockey is going through, we are tantalisingly put on hold in terms of the horror of the attack. Then a bomb hits the studio room we're in and we wake up to what's happening, as does Szpilman. He must stop playing after previously continuing.
The next time Szpilman plays the piano in a war zone where his life is threatened will be the crescendo for not only the Second World Wartime journey of horror Szpilman must endure, but also for the last time danger is that close to him as is a piano. There are scenes in the film where he is so close to a piano and yet playing it would result in his quick demise; but he is strong enough and powerful enough to be able to remember the music and play on through his mind  that adds extra importance to that near-the-end wartime scene when he must play with 'danger' watching on.
The film begins and ends in Poland, during the Second World War and we are taken through the various stages of horror imposed by the invading Nazi Germans during their assault on most of mainland Europe. The film's opening third acts not too much like a documentary that might shovel the message: "The Germans were evil people" down our throats and not too much like an over the top experimental art film. I read that the film is European produced which should come as no surprise because its aesthetic is very much that of realism, the dominant European aesthetic. So we learn of one family's struggle through the days of the Nazi rule and the film presents us with a hierarchy of Nazi invoked violence. There are the initial scenes of humiliation as a man must walk in the gutter for the crime of being Jewish but there is also the equally awkward to watch as I'm sure it was to shoot scene at a cross roads when Jewish strangers must dance together. From here, the levels are cranked up further and further and it's not long before stone cold violence is being presented to us.
But The Pianist is much more than a realistic take on Polish struggles at this time with a few scenes inter-cut to show some atrocity. The film is a breath of fresh air and suggest to me that Roman Polanski has viewed previous Second World War film efforts and corrected them where he thinks corrections should be made. Not a fan of Saving Private Ryan for its lack of mentioning other Allies? Well, Polanski takes time out here for his characters to mention the British and the French over the radio they listen to. Squeamish enough to look away from heavy violence in Second World War films but maintain an interest in the subject anyway? Well here, Polanski shoots his action and his violence in such a way that just these scenes alone go a long way in helping label him an 'auteur'.
These scenes and shots are littered throughout the film and contain a certain point of view thinking behind them. For instance, when later on in the film there is guerrilla fighting between Germans and ghetto inhabitants, we always see the action from Szpilman's perspective that is to say the camera never cuts to ground level to show the violence or to try and sell it as entertainment. All we know is that one side is over there, one is over here and they fight; another touch being that for most of the time we do not see the rebels or where they shoot from but we do hear the gunfire. Likewise, when a German soldier is hit the camera never cuts to that level to confirm us the kill  everything is done in point of view format from the window and is kept that way. This gives a scene when Szpilman is actually on the ground level and close to a corpse of a woman he saw get shot a few days ago an extra bite because now we are closer to the kill, it is our first proper look at the result of a gunfight that has been and gone  our conscience and awareness catches up with us.
And this tactic is used by Polanski more than once. When a crippled Jew is thrown from his balcony, we see it from the Szpilman's window but when Jews are executed by way of the gun, we are helplessly trapped on that ground level and must witness the atrocity, partly because Szpilman is not there watching from afar in his home or from a window. The added disturbance for these kills is that the cripple cannot defend himself and the fact the officer must reload his gun  also notice how each Jew lying down has their own way of dealing with the inevitable: some keep their face down on the floor but others look ahead giving everything added tragedy. The Pianist works on many levels of storytelling and informs as well as shocks without relying on neatly plotted stories  it is a war fought between superpowers told from the point of view of someone who is not a superpower, and the result is brilliant.