The Pianist (2002)
Review of The Pianist (2002), directed by Roman Polanski
I have a confession to make: I had never seen a Roman Polanski movie until watching this movie. I had never heard of The Pianist and the only reason I became aware of its existence was the fact that I was specifically looking at what was leaving Netflix the month of September 2021. And so when I saw there was a limited time window to see this movie, I knew I had to see it.
You’d think I’d be sick of Holocaust narratives in the fact I would be exhausted with the death and despair that came with them, and the fact that I had consumed a large number of content about the Holocaust recently, but this story intrigued me. I had no idea until recently about the existence of the camps for artists and creatives, the one that was, essentially, a propaganda machine.
I also knew that the Holocaust in Poland was really close territory for the director. While I have never seen a Polanski movie, I know a lot about the man and his life.
He was born in France in 1933 to Polish-Jewish parents who moved the family back to Poland. His mother would be murdered in Auschwitz, and Polanski himself survived by living under a forged identity and by pretending to be Catholic. So it’s extremely fascinating to see a Holocaust survivor directing an English-language film about another Holocaust survivor.
I’ve said a lot already, so let’s dive into this.
Content
The Pianist is a biopic about the musician Władysław Szpilman, who was a Polish Jew living with his family at the beginning of the war in Warsaw. He is a renowned pianist in the area, and is playing at a venue when the Nazi bombing of Poland begins.
Warsaw quickly falls to the Nazis, and life for Szpilman’s family and friends drastically begins to change as they are forced into the Warsaw Ghetto and now have to wear armbands to show that they are different from Jewish society. It is here I find the film particularly interesting, because we get specific insights into life as a family inside the Warsaw Ghetto.
We see how an elderly man isn’t even allowed to walk on the sidewalk and is forced to walk in the muddy cobblestone road, how people are forced to dance for the soldiers’ amusement, and must wait to even pass from one part of the ghetto to another for the trains.
The real journey in this film begins as the family is going to be moved to an extermination camp in 1942. We were set up emotionally to be with the family, but the defining moment comes with this event. Władysław is pulled out of the line by a friend, is spared from going to the camp, and instead becomes a slave laborer.
His family is never seen again, and, after doing some research, I found out he was the only survivor. He then becomes involved with the Jewish revolt against the Nazis and is eventually smuggled out by a non-Jewish friend.
What I really liked about this movie is that it shows a Nazi officer who isn’t exactly inhumane towards Jews. Often we are fed with this narrative of all Nazis are bad, which isn’t exactly true. Some people were complicit with the actions of the Nazis, but they didn’t actually believe in them.
I imagine if you were an officer who didn’t believe in what Hitler was doing, one of the only options for you is death or to flee, neither of which the average person would pick. This doesn’t excuse their role in such horrible events, but I think we forget some of these people were humans and actually felt terrible about what was happening.
This is the case of Wilhelm Hosenfeld, who allows our main character to hide away in an abandoned house and even delivers food to him. This man was a Nazi officer, but, even in the face of such ugly evil, he committed an act of kindness. And he did this multiple times—he saved several Polish Jews from a terrible fate. It’s men like these that give hope in a terrible situation, and all of the people who helped Władysław survive and escape these situations.
The Pianist is a really slow, gritty film full of drama and suspense. We don’t know if our main character is going to live to see tomorrow, even as his comrade who helps him escape is shot in the head before his eyes.
We hold the heavy, emotional burden of the Holocaust as we watch this, knowing what’s happening all around Poland and Europe. And what’s particularly unique about this film is it actually starts out very colorful, but as the film and story progresses, the color is slowly drained from the scenes. This is an excellent use of coloring in cinema in order build character and story, to show decay.
It’s also music that saves this man’s life, which is so symbolic for so many artists throughout the world. Without our art, we could not live to see tomorrow. But in this one man’s story, it quite literally saves his life, for his piano-skills is what impresses the Nazi officer who feeds and hides him. We really feel like we’re in the ghetto in the war, and I think only Polanski could’ve done this because he lived through this too as a young boy.
Overall Thoughts
It’s a must-watch film. It won so many awards years ago, but has faded into more relative obscurity with the casual movie-watcher nowadays. But it tells the story of one man’s life and the power of music, as well as showing the horror of the Holocaust without any mercy.
We see the brutal violence before our eyes, the destroyed city and souls of its people. The point-of-view shots with the camera really establish and ground us into the life of Władysław, adding to this sense of hopelessness that permeates throughout the film. I genuinely think this is the best Holocaust movie I’ve seen.
