Masterpiece with the director's personal touch

Rating: 10/10 (3 March 2017)

Roman Polanski's The Pianist" is a film that will either haunt you, make you feel sad, angry, overwhelmed, deeply touched or disturbed, but it will definitely not leave you feeling indifferent. It will play with your emotions and it will smartly and slowly pull you into the ruins of the 1940's Warsaw, Poland.
Although it touches the global theme of the Holokaust, it actually tells a story of an individual, named Vladislaw Szpilman. The director brilliantly displayed simple scenes in front of the viewers. He showed everyday situations and the acts of torture one after another and gradually exhibited the true nature of merciless and cruel Nazis. Once the story has finished, the viewers are left with a magnificent portrayal of the most brutal, darkest and deranged era in human history. And all that through the point of view of the leading character.
*Spoilers* When Poland was invaded by the Nazi Germany in 1939, Szpilman's family knew that there would be some trouble and they could sense danger. However, nothing could prepare them for the events that were about to happen. Nazi soldiers striped the once-prosperous and affluent Jewish population of their properties, homes, money, jobs and finally, they destroyed and took their lives. As Rose said for Jack Dawson in Titanic: He saved me in every way a person can be saved.; something in that style, but with the totally opposite meaning, could be said for the Nazis: They destroyed them in every way people can be destroyed.
The Nazis not only took their lives, but also, before the killings, mocked at everything that meant something to them. Jews were forced to wear David's stars so that they could be recognized at any point. They were not allowed to gather at public places, to go to cafe bars, to walk on sidewalks... Many of them were annihilated just because they were picked on, for no real reason.
Adrien Brody's acting was superb. He walked through the city streets, witnessed horror, executions, starved children and dying old people, and there was nothing he could do. He just walked, day after day, hoping that we would survive for one more day.
And he did survive, but not because he did something extraordinary. He was just lucky and he managed to find himself at a right place at a right time. Brody showed his gradual physical and physical decline: he lost weight, he was barely possible to run away and hide, he got ill and was very close to death. He transformed from an elegant and sleek piano player into a human wreckage. He was full of life while courting a young music player at the beginning of the film and later, he became a lost, hungry, desperate griever who lost his entire family. He was a walking skeleton looking for shelter where he would wither in peace - survival was just a dream in the end. The wonderful flow of events and gradation at its best, once again!
A turning point in the film happens when Szpilman was hiding in an abandoned villa. He was looking for a can opener when he was approached by a German officer. To our and Szpilman's surprise, the officer showed understanding, compassion and his love for music! This wonderfully-played character made a point: that humanity lives within human beings regardless of their nationality and position. The relationship between these two men should be a guide to all human relationships. The officer Hosenfeld was not compassionate because he wanted something in return (although he needed Szpilman's help later in the film) but he was moral, just and humanity was part of him.
If I had to describe this film in only one word, it would be "masterpiece'!!!!