An overrated, dull, non-story

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2003)

It seems that the apologies still have to go on. Call me a fascist but haven't there been enough holocaust movies that have done everything in the genre possible. This film takes one step backwards. The main character is not even a character. He is a non-active "participant" in a series of sketches showing how horrible the nazis were. Summary executions etc. all shown in scenes which provide nothing to the story and do not move the film along in any way whatsoever.
It seems that Polanski wanted to finish the book on nazi nastiness. Well, he succeeded. However, a good film this does not make. Having virtually every scene fade to black shows the lack of continuity and story in this movie. The protagonist is not a protagonist. He does nothing throughout and those around him are of little interest. There are no other proper characters and his "character" as I said before doesn't count.
I heard the book was great and went to see the film thinking that this guy was active in his own survival, somehow playing music for nazis and avoiding the gas chamber. That is not the story and what is presented is a little more than the straw that broke the camel's back in this type of film. There is nothing new, no story, no great characterisations and there is little that holds the viewer, except their unconscious or worse still, conscious guilt. The SFX are pretty cheap and it's overlong.
The best bit is the end, when he plays the piano for a long period over the titles. This is a clever gimmick as it means that you can't leave the cinema before the piece ends or you may seem to appear not truly affected by the "weightiness" of the subject. This film will bore you if you are not either, jewish, polish, or easily pleased when it comes to "worthy" material. Oh, also if you have no idea what film is about. Hopefully good film is about story. This is a non-story. 5 out of 10.