The Pianist | Review

Polanski’s The Pianist is a brillaint symphony.

The Pianist is the very personal, return of force picture that Roman Polanski has treated with the ultimate care. European audiences might have acclaimed this winner of the Palme D’or at Cannes as the best picture of 2002, but I’m awfully curious how non-European audiences might re-act.

When Hitler and Co. decided to migrate plenty of his troops to Warsaw, Poland, not only did he destroy a city but he destroyed millions of lives along with it. Based on the true life-story account of the musically gifted Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody-Bread and Roses), this is the rising from the ashes survival tale that surprisingly doesn’t take place in a concentration death camp. In his misfortune, he was fortunate enough to have fate be decided by a bunch of freak occurrences and chance meetings with good people combined with a will to survive that is bigger than any hole made by a German tanker blast. Polanski rarely takes the viewer outside of the character’s space, stuck in a set of cold, inhumane, claustrophobic settings the story goes from the comfort of the family unit, to ghetto conditions to the numbers of safe zones. Polanski a survivor himself, tells Szpilman’s story with the use of hand-held camera as the character’s field of vision, peering through cracks and windows the viewer grasps the transition between an almost undefeatable German foothold, to the Jewish retaliation bravery to their eventually defeat.

With minimum dialogue, and plenty of point of view shots, the major weight of the picture is carried on the shoulders of Adrien Brody, shown in the process of deteriorating health and literal starvation,-Brody lost many pounds for the role bringing him down to a skeleton skin. Shown in a full out struggle with physical health and mental health, Polanski skillfully incorporates the theme of escapism, showing Brody play an ‘air’ piano along with the piano score that accompanies it within the character’s mind. There are plenty of scenes that will resonate, there are some rather disturbing horrifying acts towards humans and then there are poignant sequences that show a family separating a single piece of candy and a scene that sees Szpilman walking through the grandeur of a Warsaw in rubble.

Sort of like what Gangs of New York did for Scorsese’s career, The Pianist is the film that will make us forget about some of the most recent unimpressive efforts from the acclaimed director. In a year, with a number of great pictures, this one might not be draped in Oscar gold, but Brody’s delivers the type of career defining performance that embodies the pure emotional rawness found in My Left Foot’s Daniel Day-Lewis Oscar winning role. Despite the holiday release, you can put away the tissues; this is a picture that will touch you to the core and won’t leave you in pieces and definitely the type of picture that merits a trip to the theatre.

Viewed in with English subtitles.

Rating 4 stars