Release Date: December 27, 2002
Starring Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Written by: Ronald Harwood
Distributed by: Universal Pictures (Focus Features)
MPAA Rating: R (violence, brief strong language)
The Pianist marks Roman Polanski’s latest achievement on the big screen, and with it, many would say he’s “back.” The film won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, but that much is only the beginning of the recognition this film deserves. Adrien Brody’s performance as the brilliant pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman and cinematographer Pawel Edelman’s detail-oriented eye helped Polanski create one of the best true stories adapted to film about surviving the Holocaust.
The Pianist retells the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman and his time in the Warsaw ghetto. Szpilman, a talented Polish pianist and a Jew, is able to avoid the concentration camps and survive on limited clothes, food, and shelter. After many close calls, he finds safety in the ruins of the burned-out city. Fate eventually catches up with him as a German officer, Capt. Wilhelm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann), finds Szpilman nesting in the attic above a Nazi headquarters building. But instead of executing Szpilman on the spot, Hosenfeld provides him food and security while the Nazis continue to work in the space below.
This is one story that comes out of the Holocaust that will induce tears but also hope and smiles. Schindler’s List, Life Is Beautiful, Jakob the Liar, the mini-series Holocaust, and the television movie Escape from Sobibor all focused on relationships surrounding the tragic events in Nazi Europe during World War II, but The Pianist dives into the horrors of the beginning of the Holocaust and the toll it took on one particular individual. Not only does it showcase an intense example of strength and hope, but it also manifests the human warmth and love people share through music. It is art, whether through music, paintings, or even film, that has withstood the horrors of the human race and kept us unified as one people, and the film is powerful enough to show this.
Screenwriter Ronald Harwood adapted the inspirational true story from Wladyslaw Szpilman’s autobiography; with a running time of 148 minutes, it’s hard to imagine how you’d fill up all that time with one man’s story, but Harwood, despite a background in television, was up to the task. His screenplay is surprisingly sparse when it comes to speaking parts; most of the film has Szpilman moving through the ghetto, avoiding close calls with the Nazis, and surviving on his own in relative silence. The audience is so intently attuned to the goings-on that they won’t realize the passage of time (marked by the distant pattering of machine gun fire rather than dialogue).
Unfortunately, Szpilman died in 2000 and was unable to view the results, though he surely would have been pleased. Since Polanski himself was a child survivor of the Warsaw ghetto and his own mother died at the hands of the Nazis, he was an apt choice as the one to tell Szpilman’s story, possibly inflecting it with own experiences.
Polanski’s last film, The Ninth Gate, had nowhere near the effort and mastery that he put into this one. It may be safe to say that he hasn’t directed a film with such flawlessness since the 1970’s when he made Chinatown, The Tenant, and Tess.
Polanski achieved this perfection with much help from his cinematographer, Pawel Edelman (whose main body of work has been foreign films). Edelman’s stunning visuals and ability to capture Allan Starski’s realistic production design of the Warsaw ghettos produced many indelible images. Starski, who was on hand for Escape to Sobibor and Schindler’s List, has a clear vision of what it must have looked like where broken glass and ash-coated debris lay across the abandoned cities that once thrived with Jewish communities.
Wojciech Kilar accompanied the setting and mood with the original score, adding to the growing heartache of the visuals. Since the film is about a pianist there are plenty of solo piano pieces that break up the harsh reality of the war. Mozart, Chopin, and Bach will touch the viewer’s ear, while thoughts of countless executions remain in the back of the viewer’s mind.
It was clever of Polanski not to star a well-known actor in the lead -- the role could have been cheapened and the focus would have been lost. Instead, Adrien Brody fully inhabits the person of Wladyslaw Szpilman, capturing the man’s suffering and triumph in a wonderful performance. He is, to say the least, extremely convincing; the audience will feel for him much like they did for Roberto Benigni’s character in Life Is Beautiful.
Polanski takes a subject he knows too well and explodes it on the screen with meticulous aim and care. The Pianist captivates the mind and warms the heart in two-and-a-half hours -- time that is well spent.
all contents © 2002 Michael J. Eiff