Review of The Pianist (2002) by Mara A — 09 Jan 2012

This had the makings of a spectacular movie. All the key elements were there...even Szpilman's own account of the events. A first hand narrative of being a Jew in Nazi-occupied Poland. The movie just seemed flat to me, as if we were looking at the war stoned.

Nothing grabbed my heart strings in this movie, and it wasn't the fault of the actors. The did an excellent job with what they had to work with. Adrien Brody was great, but any actor can only bring to the story what is written for him to do.

And putting my personal feelings of Roman Polanski aside (who I think is child molesting cowardly scum), to his credit he took great pains to follow Szpilman's writing and account of what he saw to the letter. And perhaps that was the problem. Szpilman is a concert pianist, not a screenwriter. I heartily applaud the idea of not sensationalizing anything, of not "Hollywood-ifying" this story...but it's so horrific, you don't need to....you just need to tell the story accurately, and in a way that can make people who were NOT there understand.

Perhaps it's that both the writer and Polanski where too close to this story, to portray it clearly for others? There is nothing about WWII that needs glorification, one of the darkest times in modern history, and yet...as seen through Polanski and Szpilman's eyes, I found myself not caring. Not about the war or the causes, but of the characters portrayed. I never felt like I *knew* them, never felt like I had a reason to care about them, who they were.

Throughout the movie there was a pervasive feeling of being "numbed out." It seemed detached from any true emotion. In fact I surprised myself when I realized that I hadn't cried. Not during a single scene, not even at the end. I can count on one hand the number of recent movies I've seen that didn't make me cry at some point...and likely have fingers left over. Even "Nanny McPhee" made me cry! Whatever "it" was, that Polanski was looking to capture....I didn't see it.