The Pianist plays the right keys. It's more A Minor than a B Flat. It's a cinematic masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 (7 February 2019)

The Holocaust is a dark and touchy subject for many. Those whom lived through it, are forever scarred by its horrors. Even today, few can muster the courage to bring themselves to discuss the subject. However, one person did, and his name was Wladyslaw Szpilman. Based off his memoirs of the same name, 'The Pianist' tells the story of how he was able to survive the war, while living in fear, under Nazi Control, Warsaw, Poland. Without spoiling this 2002 film, too much, I have to say director, Roman Polanski and screenwriter, Ronald Harwood tried to keep the motion picture as historically accurate as possible. Why? It's because Polanski's inspiration for the film, came from the fact that he himself, had been a prisoner of a polish ghetto during the war. He wanted to make sure, common folks see the harsh heart breaking realistic truths about the events similar to what Steven Spielberg did with his 1993 masterpiece's 'Schindler's List'; rather than viewing something that is semi-safe, sugar coated & crowd-pleasing like the fictional movies, 1997's 'Life is Beautiful' & 1999's film 'Jacob the Liar'. Plus, he wanted to make sure, that there was no stone left unturned for Holocaust deniers to say that the events, feature in the film, did not happen. While, the movie does have some scenes inserted just to express the horror of the Holocaust, they far from legends. They come from Polanski's own accounts. Nevertheless, there was a few minor inaccuracy, I found, that didn't happen at all. One such thing was the relationship between Wladyslaw (Adrian Brody) and Dorota (Emilia Fox). Not only, was Dorota appears to be a made up character for the movie, but there was no apparent love connection between Wladyslaw and any woman, during the war. While, I do understand, that this character was probably created, in order to give a look at Szpilman's life before the occupation and to evoke audience sympathy for all that he lost during the war, but it wasn't really needed. The chocolate dinner scene with his family was really strong. If that wasn't enough, just rewatch the part where the titular character walk, through the empty ghetto. You see the pain, through Adrian Brody's eyes & body language. No able of dialogue, can vivid depict, how haunting & powerful, the actor's facial reactions are, throughout this movie. It reach me on a deeper level. Much in the same way, how the actor lost weight, in order to look more exhausted & weary & Brody learning how to really play the piano, very well. It's no wonder, why Adrien Brody became the youngest person to date to win an Academy Award for Best Actor at the age of 29. He did a good job, here. He deserve winning that prize in 2003. Honestly, to tell you, the truth, Polanski & his crew has cast this movie nearly perfectly. However, due to the huge amount of supporting performers and the lack of screen time focus on them. They don't really stand out, much as I wish, even though, their acting was great. Despite that, nearly every performer look and felt authentic with the little amount of time, they had. However, some of the literary references calls outs like the works of William Shakespeare & Fyodor Dostoevsky from Wladyslaw's brother, Henryk (Ed Stoppard) felt a little bit jarring. I doubt, he quotes those works in real-life. Despite that, I did like how the film shows that there is good & bad people, within both sides of the fence through the actions of German Captain Wilm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann) & Szalas (Andrew Tiernan). Nice to see national groups so complex, than lopsided 100% demonic & angelic. The only real nitpick, I had on the historical value of them, were the fact that some of the army uniforms of the German soldiers, were a bit off. Nevertheless, the rest of wardrobe seem fitting with what people wore during that era. Another inaccuracy that, I notice in the film, was the idea that there was running water in abandoned bomb out buildings. In truth, water within the city, run out, way before the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. As for action, the film focused on the terrible treatment and unjust punishment that the Jewish & Polish people really had to go through. The violence are really graphic and somewhat hard to watch, at times. According to the bonus features of the DVD, many such acts of cruelty in the film were recreated from actual photographs and archival film footage shot by the Nazis. Nevertheless, the way, the movie was shot, was also amazing. A good example is the opening sequence, where we see a statue with its arm pointing to the left, and people & the city in the background. Every so often throughout the movie, we see the same figure, only this time, the background is more & more ruin by war, until nothing is left, but rubble. That is highly great use of props and scenery. Despite, the loss of his wife and her friends at the hands of Manson's family, and his infamous involvement with an 13 year old girl which forced him to flee the United States. Polanski in the midst of this controversies, has always been a great director, which to be reckoned with. Through the help of real-life locations in Europe, cinematic CGI effects and camera techniques, Polanski & his crew was able to immerse the audience in the determination and will for survival that was displayed by Szpilman. It's no wonder, why he won Best Director at the Academy Award. It's one of his best works. This motion picture is able to offer a voice to the millions of Jews who lost their lives to the Holocaust. Overall: It's a film that needs to be seen, both a history lesson and morality tale. A must watch for sure.