Review of The Pianist (2002) by Paul W — 20 Feb 2011
What starts as a depiction of daily life in Warsaw in 1939 quickly becomes sinister as restriction after restriction is placed upon Poland's Jews, which you experience through the troubles of one middle-class Jewish family.
From 1940 on, as occupying Germans force Warsaw's Jews into what became known as the Warsaw ghetto, and then as the Nazis begin to round up inhabitants of the ghetto to ship them to the camps, the full horror of what happened there hits you right in the gut.
Ultimately, the movie follows the wartime life of one member of the original family, Wladyslaw Szpilman, as he grimly survives, first escaping shipment to Treblinka, then escaping the ghetto, then returning to the now-depopulated and bombed-out ghetto to hide and await the end of the war.
I was glad that Polanski included the Warsaw uprising, even if it was just background scenery to Szpilman's story. Polanski gives the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman and the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto the full Dickens treatment, overwhelming you with squalid and cruel detail, and you almost want to say "enough," until you remember it all happened .
.. and much worse.
This review of The Pianist (2002) was written by Paul W on 20 Feb 2011.
The Pianist has generally received very positive reviews.
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