Based on memoirs published 1946, The Pianist (2002) is about one man's survival amid the dread of Nazi atrocities. It is a sad, understated exploration of the brutality of war, and the dependence of one's fate on good luck and the kindness of strangers.
Wladyslaw Szpilman is a Jewish pianist in Poland who works in radio. One time he was playing, bombs fall, and invasion gets underway.
As part of the middle class, he initially refuses to be daunted by the German occupation. It seems they would be safe, especially since England and France are going into war. They think they wil prevail, and that all will be right.
But Szpilman's family lose their belongings, and are sent into the ghetto. Through a series of surprising incidents and accidents, he is saved from transport to the death camps and gets involved with the resistance.
What is most remarkable here is the passivity of the movie, even as violence is so casually inflicted.
Roman Polanski's direction and Ronald Harwood' screenplay choose to be straightforward, so Szpilman's story is not told any more nobly than others who had gone through the horrors of war. Often the movies show us heroes, but what we get here is simply a survivor whose narrow escapes have largely depended on chance and the good will of strangers.
Often actors show us the motivations that dictate what the characters will do, but here their lead actor has a role so passive, he is essentially just drifting. Brody turns in a restrained performance, a mix of resignation and quiet defiance.
In the end, Szpilman gets through the war, but it is hardly a triumph. For the rest of his life, he will get to play the piano among audiences, but he will be utterly alone.
The war may be a distant country from the past, but those who had gone through it never really got away.
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