The Pianist Reviews

The Holocaust is an exhaustively done subject matter in popular culture, one that by this point feels like there’s nothing left to discover or witness about the atrocities. The Pianist is interesting because it doesn’t present itself as a grand sweeping statement on the time period, but rather presents us with one man’s personal journey through the hell and quest for survival. It is admirably restrained, and deeply felt. It quietly hums with a personal pain and knowledge of first-hand experience.

Roman Polanski lived through the Holocaust, admitting that only his own death will purge the memories and pain of his mother going to the gas chamber. What he brings to The Pianist is a tremendous sense of detail and guttural emotion. The story is about Wladyslaw Szpillman, but parts of it could easily be Polanski’s own autobiography. That amount of empathy makes The Pianist truly special.

Through good luck and survivalist instincts, we watch Szpillman survive the Warsaw ghetto, escapes going to a concentration camp, smuggles in weapons for the failed uprising, and hiding out as Warsaw falls. Not only that, but Szpillman watches his entire family gets torn apart, only dodging the camps because of a friend on the Jewish Ghetto Police, and managing to survive the Uprising through the discovery of a kindly German officer. Szpillman’s story is the kind that not even a great novelist could invent.

The only problem I had with the film, and even then it wasn’t a huge one, was Adrian Brody’s lead performance. Gravitas and seriousness aren’t his strongest assets as an actor, he’s more alive when tasked with playing mischief like his cameo as Salvador Dali in Midnight in Paris. While he is disturbingly gaunt, depressive, and stoic, most of his big acting moments are undercut. The scene where he is discovered by Thomas Kretschmann’s good German and plays the piano for him puts the focus on Krestchmann instead of Brody. Here was a chance to see the various emotional undercurrents going on in Szpillman’s mind as he plays his beloved instrument for the first time in ages, but instead the focus is put on someone else. This does not mean that Brody’s work isn’t moving, on the contrary, it is frequently deeply felt and moving, rather that The Pianist makes his character a walking/talking symbol more often than not.

The Pianist does a great job showing us the changing morality, in which the narrative of Szpillman transformed from praying that the interference of outside forces will save the day to his personal choices to save himself at all costs. This impassive quality displays the randomness and chance involved in so many of the stories of survivors. Perhaps Polanski is even holding up his cinematic gifts as a mirror, refracting his lingering guilt over living while his mother died. Either way, The Pianist is a deeply felt and moving work.

Kiedy Roman Polański bierze się za zrobienie filmu, to na pewno musi z tego wyjść coś naprawdę mocnego. Tak też jest w przypadku "Pianisty". Gdy pierwszy raz usłyszałem o tym filmie, pomyślałem, że jest to kolejny obraz tragedii wojennych, holocaustu, trochę oklepany temat, ale ze względu na twórców pewnie warto wybrać się do kina.

Po obejrzeniu jedno wiem na pewno − może i temat jest oklepany, ale trio: Polański, Edelman i Kilar, dodając do tego znakomitych aktorów zarówno polskich (Pieczyński, Zieliński, Małaszyński, Ostaszewska), jak i zagranicznych (Brody, Kretschmann, Lipman), stworzyli kolejny film, który wszedł do klasyki kina i jest obowiązkowy do obejrzenia dla każdego dorosłego widza, niezależnie od preferencji filmowych.

Jest to pokrótce historia genialnego artysty-pianisty żydowskiego pochodzenia, mieszkającego w Warszawie, którego dorosły okres życia i twórczości przypadł na okres II wojny światowej. Zderzenie delikatnej duszy artysty, w wykonaniu Adriena Brody'ego, z brutalną rzeczywistością okupowanej Warszawy. Czy tak znakomity talent ma szansę przetrwać piekło wojennej zawieruchy? Jakie piętno wojna wyciska na umyśle tak delikatnym?

W filmie od samego początku zaskakuje dbałość o szczegóły w przedstawianiu wszelkich realiów z okresu okupacji. Realizm scen i postaci jest naprawdę uderzająco perfekcyjny, wręcz namacalny. Kostiumy i charakteryzacja są dopracowane tak doskonale, że widz oglądając film, niekiedy nawet tego nie zauważa, pozwala pochłonąć się głównej akcji filmu do samego zakończenia.


Opowieść o tym, w jaki sposób wojna wpływa na zachowanie i charakter człowieka-artysty stykającego się na co dzień z brutalnością i przemocą, zmuszonego do ciężkiej i wyniszczającej pracy fizycznej, chwyta każdego widza za serce, doprowadzając do łez i śmiechu na przemian. Obraz skrajnych zachowań ludzkich w czasie okupacji, niekiedy wyzucia z wszelkich uczuć ludzkich, zasad współżycia, jest naprawdę wstrząsający. Mimo wszystko, wyłania się także obraz współczucia i heroicznej pomocy najbardziej potrzebującym, czyli Żydom skazanym na celowe i przemyślane wyniszczenie, oraz ratowania ich życia kosztem własnego istnienia.

Twórcy filmu doskonale zadbali również o prawdę historyczną, bez przesadnego patosu i wyolbrzymiania. Jest ona jakby wtopiona w główną akcję filmu i stanowi dla niego doskonałe tło. Niewątpliwym atutem jest wspaniała muzyka, stanowiąca zarówno jeszcze jedno tło dla filmu jak i element pierwszoplanowy, szczególnie w końcowych fragmentach filmu. To właśnie muzyka sprawia, że nawet najwięksi twardziele ukradkiem obcierają łzy wzruszenia w czasie oglądania filmu i powiem szczerze, wcale się z tym nie kryli.

Odniosłem też wrażenie, że film był poniekąd sprawdzianem dla plejady polskich aktorów, którzy potwierdzili w całej rozciągłości swoją wysoką klasę. To również jest ich zasługa, że film jest niejako bardziej "nasz, swojski" i tym chętniej się go ogląda.

Obraz filmu może czasem do złudzenia przypominać "Listę Schindlera" w swoim dramatyzmie, przedstawianiu postaci i sytuacji. Według mnie jest jedna istotna różnica: w "Liście Schindlera" bohater jest wieloosobowy, tu z kolei jest skupienie na jednostce i otrzymanie spotęgowanego dramatu ludzkiego.

Osobiście nie znam osoby, której film nie podobał się. Może to dziwne, ale w tego rodzaju produkcjach tak bywa, że po seansie wszyscy wychodzą w milczeniu, a dyskusje rozpoczynają się dopiero po pewnym czasie. Myślę, że dowodzi to głębokiego przeżycia, do którego zmusza także ten obraz, co jest niewątpliwym atutem. Jestem też przekonany, że między innymi taki był właśnie zamysł twórców "Pianisty".

My curiosity was instantly aroused when reading about The Pianist especially the fact it is a bio-pic set during World War II and is like another Holocaust film after Steven Spielberg's masterpiece Schindler's List. When you watch it, you are literally on the journey with Szpilman and you yourself feel like a victim who are suffering almost the same as the Jews within the film. In the majority of bio-pics, there are scenes where we see evil and ugliness between people especially in this one the ugliness and cold-hearted attitudes of Nazi Germany towards the Jews. However, on the bright side, we also see the good in the world and how Szpilman hung on the best way he could to survive.


The Pianist really could have turned out a great disappointment seeing as it is a true story set in Warsaw, Poland about Polish and German people and the fact that the majority of the film is spoken in the English language and still speaking in their normal accents but thankfully, there was some German language used. Plus, the way it was filmed, the pacing of it was it was precise and the very strong and powerful script still made it an absolutely outstanding film to watch.


Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is a gifted classical pianist born to a wealthy Jewish family in Poland. The Szpilmans have a large and comfortable flat in Warsaw which Wladyslaw shares with his mother and father (Maureen Lipman and Frank Finlay), his sisters Halina and Regina (Jessica Kate Meyer and Julia Rayner), and his brother, Henryk (Ed Stoppard). While Wladyslaw and his family are aware of the looming presence of German forces and Hitler's designs on Poland, they're convinced that the Nazis are a menace which will pass, and that England and France will step forward to aid Poland in the event of a real crisis. Wladyslaw's naïveté is shattered when a German bomb rips through a radio studio while he performs a recital for broadcast. During the early stages of the Nazi occupation, as a respected artist, he still imagines himself above the danger, using his pull to obtain employment papers for his father and landing a supposedly safe job playing piano in a restaurant. But as the German grip tightens upon Poland, Wladyslaw and his family are selected for deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. Refusing to face a certain death, Wladyslaw goes into hiding in a comfortable apartment provided by a friend. However, when his benefactor goes missing, Wladyslaw is left to fend for himself and he spends the next several years dashing from one abandoned home to another, desperate to avoid capture by German occupation troops.


Ok, first thoughts on the brink of The Pianist's release were ''Who is Adrien Brody?'' but even now after earning the Academy Award for Best Leading Actor for his outstanding performance as Wladyslaw Szpilman and appearing in the King Kong remake by Peter Jackson and in Predator's second sequel Predators, he still remains one of the most underrated actors of our time. I think that almost the exact same thing could be said for Roberto Benigni for his role and Academy Award Best Leading Actor win in Life Is Beautiful. Anyway, Brody's role as Szpilman doesn't only demonstrate the heartbreak that the Jews felt during the Holocaust but also the sign of faith and courage of those Jews who survived and aside from the Jews, Brody as Szpilman and especially the late Wladyslaw Szpilman himself expressed the beauty, bravery, inspiration and a sign of hope in the world that was such a dark time. Also, Brody's dedication to the film was an inspiration especially the fact that he had to lose quite a bit of weight due to Szpilman slowly starving in the ruins of Warsaw during World War II.


You know what the strange but ironic thing is? It is that there aren't that many characters in the film that we go great depth into and that the main characters are a Jew and a Nazi who was really a good man at heart despite his occupation and duty to his country. Thomas Kretschmann's performance as Captain Wilm Hosenfeld (later revealed in the ending credits and if you read into the story) was fantastic! Despite that the film is, in fact, mostly in the English language, I am very glad that even in both of their scenes together, there is spoken German language in it. Hosenfeld mainly showed us that, sure most Nazi's were racist and cold-hearted killers but Hosenfeld showed that there were perhaps a few who were good at heart. Another example, Oskar Schindler! He saved all of those Jews and still being friends with Nazi officers at the same time while doing so. It perhaps is unusual knowing that a Nazi helped a Jew during World War II but as I said, despite the fact that are still some sick people out there but there are a lot of good people out there.


Despite the man had a troubled personal life back in the 70s, Roman Palonski is still a great and hugely underrated director! Polanski as a boy grew up in Poland watching while the Nazis devastated his country during World War II, directed this downbeat drama based on the true story of a privileged musician who spent five years struggling against the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. His work on The Pianist was perhaps a gamble for both his career and for the film itself despite what he witnessed as a child and the great book and true story by Wladyslaw Szpilman seeing as it is a Polish book about a Polish man during World War II. However, he has crafted a film that isn't just something genuinely heartfelt and inspiring but the fact that it pretty much involves one guy, it is a suspenseful thriller at the same time and Polanski is a great director of thrillers (which he saw from him in Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby). As for the script, Ronald Harwood could have written a disaster script and a Polish/German screenwriter could have written it even better but he proved that only he could have pulled it off at the very highest standard especially his win for his Academy Award win for Best Adapted Screenplay.


Overall, The Pianist is a beautifully heartbreaking story that had back in the 40s and still has now a sign of hope in the world that we thought we had lost. The Pianist is an extremely underrated film despite its Academy Award wins and nominations (including a Best Picture nomination but shockingly lost to Chicago), but nevertheless it certainly rises up to the landmark standard of Steven Spielberg's World War II masterpiece Schindler's List or maybe even surpasses it.

Roman Polanski is one of my favorite directors and still in the 2000's he keeps making great pictures. Indeed, this story was harrowing and Adrien Brody also gave a huge performance (what happened to him ? Seven years later, starring in "Predators'... What the f*ck!). Still, I have to admit it, at first, when I saw that this movie was the best Polanski has made, according to the Imdb ratings, I used to scratch my head a little bit. I mean, do the people have any idea what this guy had done previously in his career? However, I have re-watched it recently and, indeed, I have to agree, it is a great movie, one of Polanski's best, and absolutely a great achievement. Apparently, for many years, he was toying with the idea about making a movie about this subject and even Spielberg asked him to direct 'Schindler's list' but, since he was himself a holocaust survivor, he felt really uncomfortable with this topic for many years which is quite understandable. Eventually, at 70 years old, when he felt that the time was right, he finally made his own movie about the holocaust, a heartbreaking true tale of another survivor, and he managed to make one of the best movies in this genre. To conclude, it is a very good war drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Polanski's work.

I've said it before, depression makes for good movie. This is the most depressing movies I have ever seen, and it's also one of the best. The Pianist is flawless. I hard as I try, I can not think of anything bad to say about it. Adrien Brody's performance is one of the best I've ever seen. Beautifully directed and choreographed. Roman Polanski may be a pervert, but he is an amazing film maker. It's hard to watch, but at the same time, hard to stop watching. Once you start watching it, you need to know what happens to this character, and even though it pains you, you have to finish it. In the end, this film will leave you speechless. It's intense, suspenseful and powerful. A definite must-watch. 9.9

''I don't know how to thank you.''

''Thank God, not me. He wants us to survive. Well, that's what we have to believe.''

A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.

Adrien Brody: Wladyslaw Szpilman

Thomas Kretschmann: Captain Wilm Hosenfeld

When we think of human suffering, of loss and despair. What is it that we think of in human history, a great well of loss? The answer is simple, the holocaust.



The Pianist tells a wonderful story of one man's journey through a tragic period in time that is ultimately one of my favourite areas of interest. The level of detail is captured perfectly from every last stone and structure, from furniture, to the very fabric of characters clothes. Roman Polanski has triumphed and blazed with his masterpiece that shines.
The music that Pianist emits is haunting and mesmerising. The scene in which he plays for the Captain will stay with me all my life, where he doesn't just play from his heart and soul but for the desire that he still wants to live and clutch onto hope.

Adrien Broody plays Wladyslaw Szpilman like no one else could. We along side him take the Journey with him as we watch him lose his family but ultimately gain his freedom away from persecution.
Thomas Kretschmann appears later as the Captain, a friend who helps Szpilman, his performance reminded me of Downfall. He's a fave of mine who shows once again he's an amazing actor even with his small but important part.

We see human suffering displayed from a man getting thrown from his wheelchair out of a window, to a woman asking ''Where are you taking us? only to be given the ultimate answer, a bullet to her head, the fate of Jews in the eyes of Nazi's, Eradication...death...

Schindlers List did the whole suffering of a people alone but with Pianist it is now not alone, it is paralleled with greatness with soulful rapturous playing that shows hate can always be overcome by the faint glimmer of hope.

Roman Polanski has crafted a masterpiece which i love and am haunted by in the deep recesses of my being. Such soothing pieces and the Moonlight Sonata crammed in there too, a ghostly vision of beauty and a song i play too that shudders through me when i hear it.

When I think of Pianist i think of unsurpassed greatness and I want to play the Piano more to let out the hurt.

Decent flick, not as powerful as other WWII movies out there but still gets the message across. The acting was great for the most part but I thought the pacing was a little sketchy. It felt genuine, which I appreciate a lot.