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The Pianist (2 Discs) | 
| Director: Roman Polanski
Actors: Adrien Brody, Frank Finlay, Thomas Kretschmann, Maureen Lipman, Katarzyna Figura
Studio: Tva Films
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 14.95
Buy New: CDN$ 11.06
You Save: CDN$ 3.89 (26%)
New (7) from CDN$ 11.06
Rating:  213 reviews
Sales Rank: 965
Format: Ntsc
Languages: French (Original Language), English (Original Language)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
UPC: 824255050524
EAN: 0824255050524
ASIN: B00009KO08
Theatrical Release Date: 2002
Release Date: December 9, 2003
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****SHIPS WITHIN 24 HRS DIRECTLY FROM CANADA USING CANADA POST, NO DUTY FEES TO BE PAID, WE ARE THE SOURCE FOR MOVIES, GAMES AND MUSIC~~~~
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.ca
Grand gagnant de la course aux recompenses de l'annee 2003, ILe Pianiste/I de Roman Polanski meritait amplement sa palme d'or, ses trois oscars et ses sept cesars. Adapte de l'autobiographie de Wladyslaw Szpilman, ce film empreint d'une grande dignite raconte la lutte pour sa survie d'un pianiste juif, en Pologne, pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. P Polanski, lui-meme juif, a attendu des annees avant d'aborder ce sujet douloureux. Avec un classicisme tout en retenue, loin de la dramatisation excessive, le cineaste au passe sulfureux tente ici d'exorciser des demons qui hantent le monde et sa vie depuis plus d'un demi-siecle. De la construction du ghetto de Varsovie a la liberation de la ville par les Russes, Polanski nous fait vivre, de l'interieur, l'incomprehension puis la terreur absolue de ce peuple persecute. P Porte par l'interpretation subtile et emouvante d'Adrien Brody, en accord parfait avec la sobriete de la mise en scene et du propos, ILe Pianiste/I offre des scenes finales bouleversantes, porteuses d'espoir. Un film qui, au-dela de l'horreur, a le merite de laisser croire que l'humanite peut renaitre de ses cendres. --IHelen Faradji/I
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| Customer Reviews: Read 208 more reviews...
 A Treasure August 19, 2008
Poetkitty (Victoria, British Columbia)
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but the word 'cowardly' grates on my nerves when describing the action or inaction of the central character. Unless one is in the same situation, how can we know how we'll react? It's unfathomable. We must remember that the persecution, confinement, and ultimate genocide of the Jews in Europe was a process that took many years. The Jews were systematically disenfranchised and dehumanized. Watching the mini-series Holocaust hits this truth home - and there is a scene in Holocaust near the end where the main character and his friend walk resignedly off to the gas chambers...We wonder how, we wonder how 2 armed soldiers could lead twenty men shambling to their deaths....We also wonder how Jews can serve the Nazis in positions of authority over their own people. People survive in different ways. People also, after years of dehumanization, realize the futility of their own actions. When the load becomes too heavy, even death can be a relief. Different people, different situations, different responses.... br / br /As far as the character in this movie, and his lack of resistance, we are omniscient observers. We know how long the war will last and how it will all turn out. We know how many Jews are ultimately slaughtered. We understand the motivation of the 3rd Reich. The character doesn't! But he is plucked out of that line and given a chance. He survives by waiting. How do we honestly know if we'd do anything different? One could say that his inaction makes him a hero because he must be warring within himself. The gentle artistic man faced with a world of unimaginable ugliness. br / br /This movie is a treasure.
powerful wartime drama about one humble man and his music August 18, 2007
falcon (canada)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
this is an absolutely brilliant movie set during World War 2.it stars br /Adrian Brody as Jewish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman,whose only escape br /from the wartime hell is playing the piano.the screenplay is written by br /Ronald Harwood,based on the book by the real life Wladyslaw br /Szpilman,and is directed by Roman Polanski.the movie is touching and br /heartwarming,and also heartbreaking at times.it can be depressing,but br /is is also an inspiration.one man survives hell through music.but more br /than that that,others too are uplifted and have hope,all because of one br /humble pianist.Brody is brilliant ,as always,inhabiting his br /character,as he always does.i don't think he's made a bad movie yet.or br /at least,he's always been great in every film,even if the film itself br /isn't.in this case,though,the film is brilliant. and say what you want br /about Polanski,he knows how to direct a movie(we won't count br /"Rosemary's Baby").if this film doesn't have an impact on you,i'd be br /surprised. 5/5
Caring and sharing September 8, 2005
Mikyoung lim (KIKI) (Algonquincollege)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The pianist is a film based on the life of Wladyslaw Sziplam, a Jewish pianist. It is set in brGerman labour camps and the Warsaw ghetto. The ghetto is populated by Jews who have been placed there by the Nazis during the Second World War. The ghetto is basically a prison, with no one being allowed to leave, and is surrounded by German guards. I found this film very sad at times and caught myself with tears in my eyes on more than one occasion. This film made me feel quite emotional.p It never ceases to amaze, sadden me and evenbrgive up hope for mankind when human beings commit such atrocious, brutal, sadistic and inhuman acts such as those committed by the Nazis during the second world war.brMaybe the saddest thing of all is that such acts continue today in the 21st centaury, and that many countries ignore blatantly ignore what is going on around them because there is no political or financial gain to be had. That is of course unless oil is involved.pThe only thing that gives me hope is the absolutely incredible strength, courage, tenacity, ingenuity and resilience demonstrated by mankind when faced with adversity. Adversity at times it seems, brings out the best in most people ( not all) in terms of caring and sharing.pIf only we could all live in harmony and share.
For shame June 30, 2004
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Even though barely deserving a rebuttal, some of the reviews here are so beyond asinine that I cannot restrain myself, particularly with regard to those reviewers who had the gall to call Mr. Szpilman a coward. Mr. Szpilman risked immediate death every time he helped to smuggle a weapon or ammunition into the ghetto. The ghetto uprising itself was essentially a suicide mission, and everyone involved probably knew that. So Mr. Szpilman was a coward because he wanted to live, then? How dare you. While I don't believe that any work of art should be above criticism no matter what its subject matter, I have not read a single negative review here that has any remotely intelligent criticism of this film whatsoever. They pretty much describe it as boring or another Holocaust movie. Schmucks. One reviewer couldn't even remember the protagonist's name, yet had no shortage of would-be scathing things to say about the movie. Almost as absurd are the unfavorable comparisons to Schindler's List. Yes, Oskar Schindler was a great man, but the very straightforward good vs. evil nature of the subject matter must have appealed to Steven Spielberg's very American sensibilities. The Pianist, on the other hand, boldly treads a ground that is decidedly messier, morally less clear-cut, and I think that only a man like Roman Polanski, who understands the particular time and place where these events transpired, could have made this film. And Adrien Brody fully deserved the Academy Award for this performance. And, yes, he does spend a good deal of time searching like a rat for food. What do these buffoons think it means to survive in such an environment? Idiots. Anyhow, this film is a masterpiece, an artistic triumph of the highest rank. The naysayers have not been able to level a single legitimate criticism against it.
Some lied when they vowed "Never Again" May 27, 2004
ken yong (Kuala Lumpur)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
For the record, let me comment on Dennis Littrell on his same review of this film. I find his opening statement repulsive, as he used the persecution of Jews during WW II as an excuse to justify Zionist persecution against the Palestinians here. Littrell is solely wrong if he thinks The Pianist is a film of Jewish supremacy overcoming all odds. Adrian Brody commented that in Szpilman's book (which this film is based), he narrates his experiences in an objective view. There were not just evil Nazis running around persecuting Poles and Jews, but there good Poles and bad Poles, good Jews and bad Jews and even good Germans among Nazi ranks. Even Polanski allows this in his film, where poor and suffering Jews complain of rich and influential Jews doing nothing to allevate their suffering. You can see the extreme contrast of rich and poor gap where you see the Jews in the restaurant where Szpilman plays the piano and the streets where you can see corpses lying on street, victims of starvation.pIn the beginning of the film, the Germans have invaded Poland and the Szpilman family are adjusting their lives to the new ruling of the Nazi Germans. They find their living conditions deteriorate as they are hustled away from their comfortable home to Ghetto and finally to the "melting pot". We see two brothers conflicting with each other as Hendrik, Szpilman's brother did not like the way he supposedly grovel to the authorities and using his privilage as a famous pianist which many Jews may envy. Even Hendrik was ungrateful when his brother freed him from prison. "Are you mad?" Szpilman asked. Hendrik's reply was "That is also my business."pSzpilman's influence was so great that he was spared when his family was sent off to the gas chambers. He lost every one of his family and when he goes back to the Ghetto where virtually all Jews were wiped out, here is a man completely devastated. We see the second half of the movie being akin to The Fugitive where he wriggles away from the claws of ever-suspecting Nazis. pWhen caught by Captain Wilm Hosenfeld and asked to play the piano, he plays the piano for the first time in a few years he had to be in silence for fear of alerting those around him (in apartment where he lives, he cannot play the piano as to alert everybody around him that there is a hiding Jew). This is one of the most redemptive scenes in the history of film, Szpilman plays the Chopin's Ballade reflecting the ordeal he went through. It is akin to Furtwangler conducting the great Beethoven Ninth in 1942 with battlefield sounds heard from distant.pAt this age, where we cannot foretell the conclusion to the Middle East conflict and Americans squandering up their operation in Iraq, the pathetic music of MTV is contrary to music in Szpilman's time. Great music can only be created with great suffering. Gustav Mahler said that if his life flows like a calm meadow, he would not have the ability to compose anything. The classical music age has lost it's Szpilmans, Furtwanglers, Menuhins and the like. When another horrific World War comes, will there be another artist like Szpilman? Time can only tell.
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