The Pianist

Director Roman Polanski has been doing intense, interesting work for many many years. The first thing he directed was a Polish film in 1962 called Knife In the Water. That was a long time ago, kids.

Since then, Polanski has endured many scandals, in the U.S. and abroad. Sounds like he's probably a scumbag, but who am I to judge? I've never met the guy. But where there's smoke, there's fire, so maybe Polanski is guilty of some of the charges against him. (This is a family blog, so I won't go into detail about his charges.)

Anyhoo, as a fan of obscure horror, I'm ashamed to admit I haven't seen any of Polanski's earlier work. Semi-classics like The Fearless Vampire Killers and Rosemary's Baby helped make him famous. Roman Polanski also seems to gravitate toward making movies out of classic works of literature, such as 1971's Macbeth, Tess in 1979, and Oliver Twist in 2005.

The only two Roman Polanski films I've seen are The Ghost Writer (2010) starring Ewan McGregor (which had interesting moments but was flat overall), and The Pianist (2002).

Roman Polanski is a concentration camp survivor himself, which I didn't know when I first saw The Pianist. Even without knowing this, The Pianist is a captivating, enthralling movie. Adrien Brody was born to play Wladyslaw Szpilman, Polish professional pianist during World War II. He is hiding from Nazis and trying to avoid being tossed into a concentration camp. (hmmm....anyone drawing connections between this guy and Polanski?) It is beautifully paced, very well edited, shot, and acted. Adrien Brody won an Academy Award for this role. Roman Polanski also won Best Director.

The Pianist is also supposedly based on a true story, which adds to the fascination. The Pianist is a thoughtful, heartfelt, and captivating look at Wladyslaw Szpilman's experiences during WWII. Even though I view Schindler's List as a nearly sacred film about the Holocaust, I believe The Pianist may be historically considered a superior dealing with the delicate and horrendous subjects of World War II, oppression, and concentration camps. If you haven't seen The Pianist, you should. It is Roman Polanski's best work. Well,..it's better than The Ghost Writer, since that's the only other Polanski film I've seen. And, I'm just taking a wild guess that it's better than The Fearless Vampire Killers. But until I've seen it, who am I to judge?

The Pianist is rated R, and has some pretty intense violence in places. I would definitely recommend this for people over 17.