The Pianist DVD Review

“The Pianist” eschews easy emotional connections and refuses to oversimplify, and I think it is one of the most powerful Holocaust films ever made.

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What I like best about “The Pianist” is its resolutely unsentimental approach to the important subject of the Holocaust. The film eschews easy emotional connections, and I believe director Roman Polanski wants us to think more than he wants us to emote. Based on a true story, the movie tells the tale of how a Jewish musician named Wladyslaw Szpilman survived the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. I admire Adrien Brody’s portrayal of Szpilman as an unheroic, often passive man who is nonetheless astonishingly resilient. I think the film derives much of its power from its refusal to oversimplify: there are good and bad Jews, good and bad Poles, and good and bad Germans. I think “The Pianist” is one of the best Holocaust films ever made.