The Key To Survival. (The Pianist (DVD))

Member Name: Emmald

Product:	The Pianist (DVD)
Date:	29/08/09 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A compelling storyline.

Disadvantages: It is heartbreaking at times.

It is strange how a film that has won three Oscars and has been awarded two Bafta's can be right under your nose but you never actually pick it up off of the video store shelf to watch it.
This 2002 Roman Polanski Film has been hailed as an unforgettable masterpiece, so when a member of the family recommended it and I looked at the reviews on Dooyoo I decided that it was my time to watch `The Pianist`.

The film is based on a true story which was taken from the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a much acclaimed young Polish pianist and it is set in Warsaw 1939 at the beginning of the Nazi Occupation.
The starring role goes to Adrian Brody who plays Wladyslaw Szpilman.
Wladyslaw is an accomplished young pianist, a reserved young man who lives in Warsaw with his family.
Maureen Lipman plays the part of his mother and she takes the roles and embraces it wholeheartedly as if she were indeed that Jewish mother back in 1939.
Frank Finlay is cast as Wladyslaw's father and I feel that Frank portrays the fatherly role with nothing short of excellence, an experienced actor who is able to relay the right emotions so that they deliver the correct impact.
Wladyslaw has a brother and a sister and from watching it is possible to `feel` just how close knit that family are.

The storyline covers several years of Wladyslaw's life, as the film begins the family are united. As the Nazi's start to occupy Poland life becomes far more uncomfortable and as bad turns to worse, in turn worse leads to utter tragedy.
The Jews in Warsaw are subjected to terrifying acts of inhumanity as the Nazi's invade their homeland and as you watch the film you are completely drawn into those horrific scenarios as a helpless onlooker.
Wladyslaw and his family are eventually forcibly separated and he has to go it alone and it is a nightmare journey from beginning to end.
Wladyslaw is on the run from the Nazi's, he is witness to the most barbaric acts as many of his fellow Jews are just gunned down in the street and left in the gutter to die.
As Wladyslaw tries to evade the Nazi's he has to cope with the weakness that comes hand in hand with starvation and the daily pressures that life as a hunted Jew brings.
Wladyslaw's fight for survival is long and arduous, friends try their hardest to find him sanctuary in the mad , mad whirlwind that is blowing all around him.

I would hate to spoil the storyline for you so I have given you the gist of the story and I am going to leave it there.
You will be engrossed and involved, you will be horrified and enraged and as you reach the end of the journey you may realise that there is often some good that comes out of bad. I only add this as an afterthought because at one point nearing the end of the journey that was a thought that crossed my mind.

Because of the intensity of the subject the filming is often grey and bleak and it would be all to easy to reach for the remote control in desperation. It must have taken immense effort on behalf of the special effects team to successfully recreate the devastation that you are privvy to. But throughout the film the soundtrack somehow manages to give you a sense of hope, the waves of classical piano move in time with the mood of the film.
There were times when I literally jumped out of my skin as the Nazi's relentlessly and brutally slew the helpless Jews. But at one point you will see Wladyslaw reunited with his first love, the piano and there is one poignant scene that helped to restore some of my faith in human nature.

Though the film has quite a large cast there are only a small number of principal characters that are very memorable. Among those characters is Captain Wilm Hosenfeld played by Thomas Kretschman - his performance deserves a mention.
So many of the large cast are transient as the situation in Warsaw intensifies.

`The Pianist` is not a film that you can take lightly, the story is a part of world history and as such it could be seen as a gruelling watch.
Warsaw is the recipient of so many Nazi bombs that the parts of the city that are shown during the course of the film look violated and desolate.

The film is rated a 15 and I feel that the rating is right, I would certainly hesitate before letting anyone younger watch some of the horrific scenes of mass slaughter.
Though `The Pianist` contains no sex or nudity it does contain strong language and much violence.
It runs for 150 minutes.

`The Pianist` is compelling viewing yet I found that the central part of the film moved a bit too slowly. It of one of those films that demands complete attention.
It is brilliant and well worth watching, it could plunge you into despair and make you weep but it still failed to hit me as hard as Shchindler's List did.

The Pianist can be found on the Amazon website for as little as £3.50.

Summary: `The Pianist` deserved those awards.