Polanski has poured his heart and soul into this picture!

Rating: 10/10 (17 March 2003)

Acclaimed director Roman Polanski (`Rosemary's Baby,' `Chinatown') brings us one of the most stirring Holocaust pictures ever seen, `The Pianist,' based on the book by Wladyslaw Szpilman, who is a Jew that survived a Nazi ghetto in Warsaw, Poland. Szpilman is the central character of the film, portrayed by actor Adrian Brody (`Summer Of Sam') who provides such greatness in his performance that it's hard to find a better actor in any film of 2002. Undoubtedly, part of `The Pianist's' magnificence can be attributed to the real life conditions that Polanski faced while growing up. He himself lived in a Nazi ghetto as a child, until he escaped. Both of his parents spent time in concentrations camps, where his mother eventually died. However, Polanski was reacquainted with his father in 1945.	While watching the film, I couldn't help but feel absolute humility for the real-life characters. Even though most people are aware of the revolting things that Nazis did to Jewish prisoners, it's still quite heart wrenching to watch. For example, from the simple embarrassment that Jews endured in the ghetto of having to dance in the streets for the Nazi soldiers to another scene that depicted Nazis throwing an elderly man out of his wheelchair from an apartment building into the street, only to run over his body later.	One scene in particular that showed the devastation of the war was one in which Szpilman walks down a deserted city street in the later part of the film. The landscape sent chills down my spine as the street stretched for miles and there was nothing but charred remains of buildings blown out by the onslaught of the war. All that could be heard was artillery fire in the far distance. On this street is where Szpilman spent the last weeks of the Nazi occupation, living in the attic of war-torn house.
`The Pianist' is being nominated for Best Picture, although I don't feel it was the best film of 2002; my pick for Best Picture is `The Hours.' However, this film is absolutely remarkable. Polanski has poured his heart and soul into this picture, and he certainly deserves an Oscar for Best Director. But it's unlikely he will get it due to the fact that he fled the U.S. in the late 70s for Europe after his conviction for statutory rape. Among other Oscar nods that `The Pianist' has going for it are Best Actor (Brody), Best Cinematography (Pawel Edelman), and Best Screenplay (Ronald Harwood, Wladyslaw Szpilman). ****