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  • Post last modified:August 18, 2019

The Pianist: The Art of Survival

MUSIC WAS HIS PASSION. SURVIVAL WAS HIS MASTERPIECE.

thepianistThere’s a scene in Roman Polanski’s film where a Jewish ghetto police officer pulls the main character out of a line waiting to climb aboard a train to a death camp. After being told that his life was just saved, the protagonist begins to run away, but the police officer snarls at him: “Don’t run!”. That last part was actually included by the director himself. Wise from experience, Polanski knew that he shouldn’t be running but walking. At a young age, the director survived the Krakow Ghetto while his parents were sent to the camps. Along with Wladyslaw Szpilman’s story, which he published as early as 1946, those are the experiences that form the backbone of The Pianist.

The film begins in September 1939 – but Wladyslaw “Wladek” Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is not worried. The Germans may have invaded Poland, and the Warsaw studio where his classical piano performances were taped has just been bombed, but Wladek still finds it hard to believe that his family is in immediate danger. However, the Germans soon institute new rules for the Jewish citizens of Poland and plans for a huge ghetto in Warsaw are announced in 1940. The Szpilman family are moved there along with 400,000 other Jews, facing a life of poverty and SS oppression. When the Germans finally decide to deport everybody in the ghetto to Treblinka a few years later, Wladek is unwillingly saved by that police officer.

On the run, Wladek helps other Jews organize a violent uprising, and later goes into hiding outside the ghetto with help from allies. But his existence in an empty apartment becomes increasingly tough to endure…

Handled with a delicate touch
The Pianist
, Polanski’s greatest film since Chinatown (1974), may seem like it was tailor-made for the Academy Awards. It is undeniably the kind of fare that Academy members favor, but it is also one of the director’s most personal projects. One of the reasons why he chose to make this story was that Szpilman’s memories were committed to paper so shortly after the war, making them intensely realistic. Polanski had his own similar memories to deal with and making a movie about the famed Polish pianist made it possible for him to fuse his experiences with those of Szpilman.

Wladek’s real quest begins at the moment when he’s separated from his family in the line for the train to Treblinka; initially, he’s stumbling away crying, but sorrow turns to determination as he spends the following months suffering through everything – hard labor, starvation, loneliness, mental problems and finally, when the resistance are fighting the Germans in the streets in 1944, the challenge of simply staying alive in a city turned to debris. Polanski offers numerous examples of Nazi cruelty, but is never sentimental about it… except perhaps near the end when he introduces Thomas Kretschmann as a Wehrmacht captain, Wilm Hosenfeld, who ends up protecting Szpilman after hearing him play a Chopin piece on a piano. Still, this part of the film is also handled with a delicate touch, and one can’t help admire Polanski’s talent; there are times when he makes this journey so compelling, even exciting.

Adrien Brody’s tall, thin body doesn’t look like it’s ready for the ordeal, but his whole being indicates that survival is all about what’s in your mind, not your arms and legs.

What strikes me after watching this film is Szpilman’s loneliness. None of his family members survived Treblinka. His German savior, Hosenfeld, perished in a Soviet camp. He spends large parts of the film hiding alone. He’s a tower of strength… but what a price to pay for survival.

The Pianist 2002-France-Germany-Poland-Britain. 148 min. Color. Produced by Robert Benmussa, Roman Polanski, Alain Sarde. Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay: Ronald Harwood. Novel: Wladyslaw Szpilman. Cinematography: Pawel Edelman. Cast: Adrien Brody (Wladyslaw Szpilman), Thomas Kretschmann (Wilm Hosenfeld), Frank Finlay (The Father), Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard.

Oscars: Best Director, Actor (Brody), Adapted Screenplay. BAFTA: Best Film, Director. Cannes: Palme d’Or. European Film Awards: Best Cinematography.

Last word: “You know, many times I read things that could more or less make a movie on that subject, but they were usually too close to my own personal experiences of the war. I didn’t want that. Here, however, we are dealing with the Warsaw Ghetto – I was in the Cracow Ghetto. I could use my own experiences in the script without making it an autobiography. It was easy for me to work on this script because I remember that period all too well.” (Polanski, Film Scouts)

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