The Pianist
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Actor: Adrien Brody, Roman PolanskiBrand: NBC Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of The Pianist
DVD Review: One of the Greatest Recent Films
Summary: 5 Stars
The Pianist is a low-key masterpiece, an unusually accurate historical film and deeply stirring human drama that reaches masterful heights without drawing attention to itself. Set in World War II Poland, it focuses on a unique Holocaust aspect and is essential for anyone interested in the terrible era or who simply wants a supremely emotional film.
It is the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a burgeoning pianist just before WWII who, like other Jews, is forced into the ghetto along with his family and suffers numerous hardships. Closely based on his memoirs, The Pianist is one of the most realistic films of its kind, as the documentary segment comparing era footage with the film makes clear. Szpilman was like many Jews in Poland and elsewhere in that he was variously dehumanized, and The Pianist's visceral depiction of Jewish suffering is truly heartbreaking. This is one of the most depressing films ever made in that it shows just how inhuman humanity can be; many like to think savage barbarism ended centuries ago, but it unforgettably shows otherwise. The movie's depiction of this sad time - perhaps history's most despicable - is thoroughly harrowing, a powerfully affecting experience that moves us physically through tears and otherwise. Yet, despite it all, it is a story of hope and optimism. Szpilman is above all a survivor, and the film vividly chronicles his determination to stay alive in spite of the grimmest odds. Thus, though often almost unwatchably bleak, The Pianist is ultimately inspirational, a tribute to the human spirit's power and endurance and an ode to hope amid hopelessness. Adding to all this is that director Roman Polanski is also a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor; he clearly identifies with it on a deeply personal level and even inserts some of his own experiences. His determination to tell the story as accurately and simply as possible is key. Also setting The Pianist apart from similar stories is its unflinching acknowledgement that not all the oppressed were good or all the oppressors fully bad. It is as epic and multi-faceted as life itself - a lofty goal that many movies strive for but very few achieve.
The film is so fundamentally modest in that it takes an effort to recognize its many and substantial accomplishments. Polanski and company do not let showy tactics get in the way of the story, which speaks for itself as few can and could easily have been undermined or even ruined by a less sympathetic treatment. The presentation is so stunningly realistic that we nearly forget we are watching a film - the highest praise a historical work or biopic can have. This all-important velvet touch also extends to the acting, especially Adrien Brody's deservedly praised role. His performance is remarkable in that he is onscreen nearly the entire time, often alone, and manages to keep us spellbound without being flashy. It is one of the most demanding roles ever - physically and mentally -, and he succeeds with aplomb. It is to the other actors' credit, though, that he does not steal the proverbial show; there is no weak performance, and the minor actors playing Nazis deserve special acclaim for frighteningly real depictions.
All told, The Pianist is one of the greatest recent films, a brilliant depiction of humanity at both its worst and most enduring. It is hard to watch, but everyone should watch it - to learn, to remember, to revile, and to admire. Powerfully touching us deep within and leaving us thoroughly moved, it is one of the few truly unforgettable films.
Description of The Pianist
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and winner of 3, The Pianist stars Oscar winner Adrien Brody in the true-life story of brilliant pianist and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, the most acclaimed young musician of his time until his promising career was interrupted by the onset of World War II. This powerful, ultimately triumphant film follows Szpilman?s heroic and inspirational journey of survival with the unlikely help from a sympathetic German officer (Thomas Kretschmann). A truly unforgettable epic, testifying to both the power of hope and the resiliency of the human spirit, The Pianist is a miraculous tale of survival masterfully brought to life by visionary filmmaker Roman Polanski in his most personal movie ever.Winner of the prestigious Golden Palm award at the 2002 Cannes film festival, The Pianist is the film that Roman Polanski was born to direct. A childhood survivor of Nazi-occupied Poland, Polanski was uniquely suited to tell the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew and concert pianist (played by Adrien Brody) who witnessed the Nazi invasion of Warsaw, miraculously eluded the Nazi death camps, and survived throughout World War II by hiding among the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto. Unlike any previous dramatization of the Nazi holocaust, The Pianist steadfastly maintains its protagonist's singular point of view, allowing Polanski to create an intimate odyssey on an epic wartime scale, drawing a direct parallel between Szpilman's tenacious, primitive existence and the wholesale destruction of the city he refuses to abandon. Uncompromising in its physical and emotional authenticity, The Pianist strikes an ultimate note of hope and soulful purity. As with Schindler's List, it's one of the greatest films ever made about humanity's darkest chapter. --Jeff Shannon
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