Rating- * * * * * (5/5)
On first glance, there are a lot of reasons not to like this movie. If you’re a knee-jerk moralist like me and your first instinct is to hate seeing immoral people succeeding in the world, then you have good reason to dislike this movie for its director, Roman Polanski. For those of you unfamiliar with Polanski’s story (I myself am largely unfamiliar with his work), he faced the horrors of the Nazi death camps as a child and was saved when his father shoved him to freedom through a barbed-wire fence. Polanski escaped and became a successful filmmaker in America. In the 1970’s, Polanski’s life hit another snag when his wife, Sharon Tate, and unborn child were brutally murdered by the Manson family. After making a few more successful movies, Polanski became involved in a scandal when he was indicted for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski was convicted and sentenced to jail-time, but fled the country to Europe in order to escape incarceration and has been living in exile ever since. He released this latest film, shot mostly in Poland, at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and received rave reviews and the festival’s top prize, the Golden Palm. The film has since opened to great reviews in America and has been nominated for the Best Picture awards at both the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. Another reason not to like this movie is because it seems to primarily focus on the atrocities of the Holocaust. My first thought when I see a Holocaust movie is about like this: another one? I mean I know the Holocaust was awful but can you really make another effective, interesting Holocaust movie after Schindler’s List? The answer: The Pianist is the Holocaust movie you make after Schindler’s List. In many ways, this film is similar to other Holocaust movies, but in several profound ways it is very different. The story begins with a well-to-do Jewish family, the Szpilmans, in Warsaw as the Nazis begin their bombing campaign. Nobody seems to think to much the bombings since they have been happening quite regularly lately. Wladyslaw Szpilman, the younger brother of the family, is a radio pianist of semi-celebrity status and continues playing his piece when he hears the bombs, unfazed until the windows of the radio station are blown out. This is the first phase in what will ultimately be the slow and demoralizing deaths of the Szpilman family and many other Jewish families in Poland, but unlike the traditional portrayals this family seems to be completely unsuspecting about the Nazis’ intentions for them and are not particularly worried about the developments going on around them. When the order goes out that Jews must wear a mark and walk in the gutters, they seem offended but not afraid. When Wlady (pronounced like Vloddy) has to stand on the street corner with a date because he is barred from the coffee shops and parks, he is embarrassed and annoyed, but not scared. The point is that most likely, the European Jews in reality had no idea of the atrocities to come and were not wailing and screaming in the streets as they may have been portrayed in other movies. In fact, many, including Polanski, believe that a large reason that the atrocities of the Holocaust were allowed to occur was because of the passivity of the Jews. Polanski attempts to show us that these Jews, although completely unaware of the scope and truly horrifying nature of the Nazi plans, were never willing to resist until it was too late. The rights of the Szpilmans and the rest of the Polish Jews are taken away one by one until finally they are packed into trains and shipped off to the death camps. Were it not for one incredible coincidence after another, Wlady would have gone the way of the rest of his family. Wlady is pulled out of line at the last second by a sympathetic Jewish police captain and given a second chance at life working as a slave laborer in Warsaw. Wlady escapes death at every turn as members of the workforce are randomly murdered and the underground revolution movement is slaughtered just as Wlady escapes the ghetto. Wlady escapes the Nazis with the help of a wealthy Polish couple who are part of the underground revolution and he is locked away in an apartment overlooking a Warsaw street. By watching the S.S. office, the military hospital and the walls of the ghetto, Wlady can tell everything that’s going on in the world around him, from how the war is going to how far along the underground movement has come. We follow Wlady as he survives the entire war, often by the skin of his teeth. The final climactic scene between Wlady and a war-weathered Nazi officer is absolutely breathtaking and one of the most memorable scenes in recent film history. So why is Polanski so focused on showing us a man who barely escapes the Holocaust, and only then by sheer luck or providence? Polanski is trying to clear up yet another misconception about the Holocaust Jews. In most films, Holocaust survivors are often portrayed as heroic, determined figures but Polanski, and many others, see things in a different light. Polanski believes that most of the survivors made it through not by their own determination and will but by coincidence, luck and divine intervention. Wlady is more typical of an actual Holocaust survivor than what most people picture and Polanski can easily identify with him, since he too escaped the Holocaust by luck and fortunate circumstances. This film, besides having incredible realism and depth, also has some of the most beautiful and dramatic moments one can hope to experience in a film. One that jumps out in my mind is the scene where the Szpilmans are getting ready to board the trains to the death camps and Wlady says to his sister in a breathless and slightly apologetic tone “I know this is an odd time to say this, but I’m sorry I don’t know you better.” “Thank you” replies the sister with painful surprise in her voice, and they march off never to see each other again. I can’t even think about that one without getting a lump in my throat. Another great scene is when Wlady, after being locked in an apartment where his survival depends on complete silence, discovers a piano sitting in the living room. Playing the piano would give such joy and relief to Wlady but he must resort to playing the air above the keys and hearing the music in his head. The wealth of cinematic moments in this film makes it an essential for all lovers of film and a worthy contender for the Best Picture Oscar. This is one of the best films of the year and will certainly be a classic when film lovers look back decades from now.