The Pianist Details

Roman Polanski laid some personal ghosts to rest with this poignant Holocaust drama based on the memoirs of survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman, and won an Oscar as best director in the process. Evoking his own childhood experiences in the Krakow ghetto, this emotionally and visually compelling triumph stands as a companion piece to Schindler's List. As with Spielberg's masterpiece, Polanski's authentic and objective depiction of the Jewish experience in Nazi-occupied Poland underscores the depth and sophistication of his talent. Events are seen through the eyes of Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Jewish concert pianist who escaped the Warsaw ghetto as deportations to the death camps began, but witnessed its systematic destruction while in hiding. Although Brody never quite gets under Szpilman's skin, his performance remains admirable, and he was rewarded with a best actor Oscar. But the power of this film lies in Polanski's disciplined style, combined with his stunning attention to detail. By avoiding the simplistic and manipulative clichés of good and evil usually found in Holocaust films, Polanski has added a new layer of understanding to the cinematic depictions of the period.

A moving, dispassionate account of survival, based on a true story, and told in the style of 1950s war movie with often searing imagery. It becomes digressive and over-long, but still retains a haunting power.