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The Pianist DVD Review

From Ivana Redwine,
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Guide Rating - rating

The Bottom Line

“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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Pros
  • Powerful, fact-based Holocaust drama
  • Excellent period feel (World War II Warsaw)
  • Resolutely unsentimental
Cons
  • Eschews easy emotional connections
  • Has a few longueurs
  • Somewhat depressing view of human condition

Description

  • DVD containing English-language film “The Pianist” (2002)
  • Movie is a Holocaust drama based on memoir by Wladyslaw Szpilman
  • Won Oscars for Best Director (Roman Polanski), Best Actor (Adrien Brody), Best Adapted Screenplay
  • Won Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival
  • DVD is two-sided with feature film on one side, extras on the other
  • DVD’s best extra is 39-minute feature “A Story of Survival”
  • Excellent picture quality
  • Excellent sound quality

Guide Review - “The Pianist” DVD Review

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.
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