Beautifully heartbreaking.
The Pianist (2002) is directed by Roman Polanski and based on the real life Wladyslaw Szpilman’s novel and screenplay written by Ronald Harwood. Adrien Brody stars in this gritty drama biography.
The film follows a polish pianist (Szpillman) as the Nazi’s take over Warsaw. He navigates the horror of the war while working and hiding in the Warsaw ghetto. All the while the Russians speed in and help take the Nazi’s down.
As said above, this film is beautiful and heartbreaking. Beware though, this film is violent. It has many scenes in which people, all kinds of people of different ages, being killed… it was a hard watch. I’ve been wanting to see the film as it is on Amazon Prime and I finally sat down to watch it. It was difficult. But I’m glad I did.
The acting is immensely satisfying. Adrien Brody is incredible as Szpilman. A painfully emotional ride of life during war. From luxury to nothing in a matter of days – you can feel the pain, anger, and confusion. His family does an amazing job – they are terrified and trying to navigate this time and it plays out so well. It’s realistic and gritty almost to the touch. Shell shocking in some ways because of the realism that the film presents. It’s not so much a Holocaust film as it is an ‘escape and live’ film – like Cast Away. We see him scavenge for food, hide, outlive the war and just attest pure luck in some cases.
I think the film played out well – it’s slow in some later scenes, but other scenes happen so quickly you barely get time to breathe. It’s painful and represents the war in a gritty way that made me tear up in some scenes. As for a good quarantine film…. it’s emotional, so just be ready for that. I think it’s worth a watch and it’s a film you won’t forget. I give The Pianist a 9/10.
Thanks for reading. Stay safe y’all.
Knapp On The Go 