The Pianist (2 Discs)

Polanski, lui-même juif, a attendu des années avant d'aborder ce sujet douloureux. Avec un classicisme tout en retenue, loin de la dramatisation excessive, le cinéaste au passé sulfureux tente ici d'exorciser des démons qui hantent le monde et sa vie depuis plus d'un demi-siècle. De la construction du ghetto de Varsovie à la libération de la ville par les Russes, Polanski nous fait vivre, de l'intérieur, l'incompréhension puis la terreur absolue de ce peuple persécuté.

Porté par l'interprétation subtile et émouvante d'Adrien Brody, en accord parfait avec la sobriété de la mise en scène et du propos, Le Pianiste offre des scènes finales bouleversantes, porteuses d'espoir. Un film qui, au-delà de l'horreur, a le mérite de laisser croire que l'humanité peut renaître de ses cendres. --Helen Faradji

It never ceases to amaze, sadden me and even
give 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.
Maybe 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.

The 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.

If only we could all live in harmony and share.


For shame   June 30, 2004
 6 out of 6 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
 1 out of 1 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.

In 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."

Szpilman'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.

When 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.

At 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.


A Stunning Achievement   May 26, 2004
The depiction of the brutality of the Nazis toward the Jewish population of Poland is heartbreaking and unforgettable. This film captures the range of emotions that a family experience as they subjected to the gradual increase in persecution that ultimately leads to Treblinka.
Adrien Brody is a marvelous actor and is perfectly cast as Spilmann the famous pianist who is the only member of his family to survive. Spilmann's Survival depends on the kindnes of others who take great risks to protect him. Thes heroic acts are contrasted with the forementioned brutality of Germans to great effect in the film. A final act of redemptive kindness by a german officer near the end of the war brings the absurdity of the circumstances we have just witnessed into full relief.

Based on Spillman's memoirs , the film is very accurate relative to the book. The cinematography is astounding, particularly the transformation of Warsaw to a spectoral ruin where Spillman struggles to survive. The movie is well acted, well written and shocking in it's realism.

IT will leave you numb if you haven't seen it yet.