One of Polanski's better efforts

Rating: Null/10 (28 June 2003)

Roman Polanski has the curious habit of oscillating between pure masterpieces such as Tess, Rosemary's Baby and Frantic and unadulterated rubbish like Fearless Vampire Killers, Lunes de Fiel and Pirates ( to name the extremes ). The pianist is, I think one of his better efforts. First of all, the picture quality, the music and the sets are absolutely perfect. The story line too is very watchable and nicely simple. We know who the good are and who the bad are, even if the various characters are probably a little over-stereotyped in their traditional roles, notably the Nazis who are portrayed as generaly fat, extremely cruel and heartless.
The scenes of violence are, nevertheless coldly cruel and realistic, such as the herding of jews into the cattle wagons, the indiscriminate picking out of certain people to be shot on the spot, and the scenes where the Germans force the jews to dance to keep warm. There is a lot of violence in the film but, hard to take though it is, it is probably in conformance with the reality of the time.
I would nevertheless contend that the film is a little overlong and should have been kept down to under two hours. The first half, and of course the very end are the most interesting. Too much time is given over to Szpillman's staking it out in the flat where nothing too much happens. This is not to say that the reality was not thus, but for the spectator, it gets rather boring. The "boredom" is suddenly cut short when local resistance members start attacking the Germans and we see some more action, as during the first half.
I was most impressed with the sets of "burnt out Warsaw" and do wonder where they were actually shot.
I therefore maintain that the film has documentary qualities and shows to those who were not alive at the time the terrible conditions in the Poland Ghetto. So, certainly recommendable, and I shall probably end up buying the DVD which has just come out in France.