Octaves of Emotion. Review on The Pianist Movie

The Plot:

The Pianist is a classic tale based on the German Occupation of Warsaw. It tells the story of the great pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman,a Polish Jew. Set in the chaos that follows the German bombing of the city,the movie accurately and painfully captures the life and times of the people,and of their struggle to remain alive. Directed by the famed Roman Polanski,this movie is yet another allegory to Polanski's characteristic depiction of the struggle of the common man against the weight of an oppressive and powerful force,shown in its usual gallows humour,callous nakedness.

On the fateful day of 1939, Szpilman(played by Adrien Brody) returns home,after what was supposedly the last piano recital to be aired on the Warsaw Radio,and finds his family members down with anxiety. It isnt shown directly,but from the way they all gather close to the radio,in that well-furnished exorbitant flat,the way in which they look at each others face,they know that its only a matter of time that the Germans land and force their anti-semitic laws. And slowly,it starts to pour

down on them, heavily,forced to vacate their warm house,onto the streets,coerced to wear the typical bands that labels them as Jews,people being loathed with stones and rotten eggs,of their kin getting brutally killed in cold blood,like the old man who refuses to leave his house,and is thrown from the 4th Floor in his wheelchair,crashing down the stony pathway as the German motors runs through them all.

Szpilman decides to be a silent spectator,almost numb with the sudden shock and grief,clinging onto his coat,almost in tethers now. He observes the long line of Jews waiting for their deportation to the Ghettoes,of emaciated Jews fighting with each other,licking the food off the floor,it does pull some heartstrings along the

way.But Szpilman escapes,barely. As the Jews queue-up for the pre-inspection by the Nazi soldiers,he steals away.

He is offered help by some of his friends to hide in a secret apartment,locked from the outside. He nibbles on the scant food that is left,he starts at the slightest sound he hears outside,frighteningly pathetic. And there he sees a piano,covered and not used for ages. His inner self suddenly becomes alive,and he takes off the cover of the keys,playing them with his nimble fingers,not touching them though in fear of raising suspicion from the other occupants, playing a silent tune that only he can hear,deep inside.

It is from the windows of this very one-room apartment that he sees some agitation from his fellow Jews, gunning down Nazi soldiers,perched up on an abandoned building. But like the last flicker of the candle just before it goes out, they are also

taken down. Its not long before Szpilman is discovered and he escapes again to an abandoned Ghetto. The scenes of ruin,of grand buildings razed down to ashes in an almost faded grey overtone has been wonderfully sketched by the director amounting to a rare ingenuity,equalled perhaps only by such movies as Schindler's List and Life Is Beautiful.There He finds refuge in an old attic and eats perverted canned-food to keep alive,waiting for the impossible to happen.

A Nazi General(Itzak Heller) discovers him one evening. Whatever the real truth, Polanski shows Heller in a state of controlled docility, perhaps the effect of the German defeat at the hands of the Russians and their arrival to the city,he asks Szpilman his name-''Ich bin Wladyslaw Szpilman'',he says. And Heller learns that the emaciated almost dead Jew infront of him is a pianist. The next moment,Heller tells Szpilman to play a tune for him, one that Szpilman does really well,the music flowing out of the dark room,out into the wilderness of the colossal ruin outside.And Heller asks Spilzamn about the radio he plays for. ''I will wait for you to play''-he says.And he lets him go with the last line -''What do you think you're doing Szpilman? I saved your life. Now go! Get out!...Don't run!''

Personal Review:

I believe no review howsoever carefully done can do justice to the immaculate script,photography and direction of this movie.Polanski could have perhaps shown more grace to Szpilman. Instead of running away from the pain of separation and death from his family,maybe Szpilman could have been portrayed as his brother with a tinge of frustration,if not with arms.But this was sacrificed for historical authenticity. And then sometimes silent observation sparkles more of an internal determination. Szpilman lived, and it was his passion for music which made him live. The last scene is one that strikes me the most. It shows the futility of it all. No physical power,misery and even death can overshadow the effect of music ,and in effect any form of art. Because this is the one thing that lies within,safe and always free. This is the only aspect in which this movie differs from The Schindler's List and Life Is Beautiful,and comes out as a champion,a victory of art over oppression. And perhaps it is this very universal appeal that won the movie three Academy Awards, including the award of Best Actor to Adrien Brody and the best Director to Polanski.