The Pianist

Rating: 6/10 (5 May 2020)

Follows a Jewish pianist (Brody) trying to survive in the Warsaw ghetto during WW2.
A film broadly of 2 parts, the first covering the arrival of the nazis and its impact on the Jewish community most particularly Brody and his family. This is full of tension brought about the German atrocities and as the family descends further and further into hell. In many ways this is the most harrowing part of the film in that there are so many vulnerable family members to worry about as they move from disbelief and outrage to fear and some form of resignation.
The bulk of the film though is a slow but fairly tense passage following Brody hiding and surviving alone in the empty ghetto, his life without food and warmth punctuated by moments of terror.
The film is tense and like Schindler's List you do have this dreadful sense throughout of disbelief that this could have happened by people to people. Brody is very good in the lead and overall it is a considerable achievement - important to be sure. I just found that some passages took long to make their point - sorry.