An Adrien Brody show

Rating: 9/10 (10 March 2007)

After waiting for quite long after seeing its trailer, I finally saw the pianist. The movie was entirely different from what I thought. Set on the backdrop of the holocaust in Warsaw, 'The Pianist' tells the gripping story of how a Polish Jewish musician, Wladyslaw Szpilman, survives the pogrom. All the humiliating decrees that were issues right from the Nazi invasion of Poland are brought through different characters and the general sufferings of the Jewish families are brought through Szpilman's family. Szpilman's family is sent to extermination camps along with all other Jews. But Szpilman is saved by his piano lovers(5 of them on various occasions).
Adrien Brody with his desolate face has breathed life of a pianist in this movie. Some reviews here complain that just because he was a pianist doesn't make his life valuable over others. In my view,the pianist in him had made him a character one wouldn't allow to die. Born in the same family, while his brother is rebellious, the pianist is benign. As it is said here, musicians don't make good conspirators and the piano makes him a soft and lovable character. He never shows an outburst of emotion at any point in time. He doesn't participate in the uprising thought he helps it. The gentle way he talks to his lady love(supposedly) while moving to the ghetto or during their meeting on the road, the way he talks to anyone for that matter in a pleasant and soft voice speaks much about his demeanor. The scene where he asks for a loaf of bread in hunger after much hesitancy and the one where he plays the piano in air(unable to control his passion) are deeply moving.
Though Roman Polanski doesn't convey anything significant here as in Schindler's list,'The Pianist' shall send you to deep melancholy wherein you shall find your soul strike a resonant chord with his music combined with sadness and sufferings . The music is still ringing in my heart..