Review of The Pianist (2002) by Stuart K — 30 Apr 2014

Directed by Roman Polanski and written by Ronald Harwood (Australia (2008) and Quartet (2012)), this is a true story based on the autobiography written in 1946 by W?adys?aw Szpilman. It was also a very personal film for Polanski, as he'd grown up in the horrors of the Kraków Ghetto during the war, and he could identify with Szpilman's plight.

It's a harrowing film, but it's a powerful and shocking tale of survival. In September 1939, Polish-Jewish pianist W?adys?aw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) and his family including his father (Frank Finlay) and mother (Maureen Lipman) are caught up in the Nazi invasion of Poland and they're soon forced to move out of their expensive apartment and move to a designated Ghetto in Warsaw.

They struggle to survive, but W?adys?aw makes a living as a pianist making what money he can. However in August 1942, when his family are rounded up and sent to an extermination camp, W?adys?aw escapes and tries to survive in the almost deserted ghetto with what friends he has left, and he faces a tough struggle for survival in Warsaw.

It is a powerful and upsetting film, but it is a film about an unbreakable spirit, and someone who refused to do what the Nazi's said, Brody is magnificent as Szpilman, and he rightfully picked up an Oscar for his performance, plus Polanski and Harwood picked up Oscars for bringing this story to the screen.