Polanski! How can you not love him despite this or because of this?

Rating: Null/10 (2 March 2003)

I've been a long time fan of Roman Polanski. Since seeing his "Tenant," many years ago I couldn't take my eyes off his movies, well with a few exceptions. To me, even the director himself is enigmatic and complex like his creations. However, I went in to see the "Pianist" expecting a non-Polanski film. What I saw was certainly not a typical Polanski film, but nonetheless I enjoyed the film tremendously for many reasons.

For one thing, I almost always don't like movies about the Holocaust, especially the overly serious ones made in Hollywood. You know the ones about the triumph of human spirit, good Jews vs. the evil Germans as if people were born into one of these categories. How is that any different from Hitler proclaiming that the Aryan race was inherently superior? Anyway, this movie is not without a measure of the afore mentioned. After all this entire film is about one man's struggle to hold out til the war ended, and he does triumph at the end. What makes this special is the way Polanski handled this man's struggle. He does this without being overly sentimental. Instead of people being heroes or villains in the traditional sense, the characters become human beings. Being a human being means many different things. Polanski shows the Jews in the ghetto engaging in the whole gamut of human affairs; being petty,being selfish,being cruel as well as being dignified,brave and most of all utterly human. Although the Germans are still portrayed as ruddy faced evildoers (and yes they were, I'm not denying that), there were moments in this film that made me see that some of them were probably ordinary people caught in the extraordinarily evil regime of Hitler. Perhaps they just didn't have the courage to take a stand, or see the truth. In this kind of situation, being evil was painfully easy.
Some have objected to the film for having no story. I say what the F*** was Brody character doing the whole time? For the most part we see him alone, but that doesn't mean that there is no story. I thought it was refreshing to see what life was like for those who were in hiding during that time. We've seen plenty of concentration camps, but what about the survivors who spents years in solitude waiting for the war to end? The terrifying loneliness and isolation are palpable in this movie. Some of these scenes reminded me of the Polanski's character in "Tenant." In a way, this film parallels Polanski's life. As Szpilman was forced into isolation from his art, and forced into hiding, Polaski also spent the latter half of his career in a form of hiding. Of course, the difference in these situations is glaring. Szpilman's predicament was not caused by him whereas Polanski allegedly did commit statutory rape. Regardless, when Szpilman is saved by the German captain who appreciates his art, and ultimately saves his life, I felt that somehow Polanki yearned for his own savior who would recognize his art.
I didn't think this was his best movie for I truly treasure his unique sense of humor in his other movies. I think this was his way of thumbing his nose at the world the way David Lynch did with "Straight Story." For some odd reason, festivals almost always prefer serious dramas dealing with the afrementioned triumph of human spirit. Polanski told the world, "Hey if I want to I can play your game, and play it better than you." Now that he proved his point, I hope he'll return to his old ways...