The Pianist (2002)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers:

Wladyslaw Szpilman (book)
Ronald Harwood (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | War

Tagline:

Music was his passion. Survival was his masterpiece.

Plot:

A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Warsaw | Warsaw Ghetto | Jewish | Nazi | Piano

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 45 wins & 42 nominations

Cast

Adrien Brody	...	Wladyslaw Szpilman
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Captain Wilm Hosenfeld
Frank Finlay	...	Father
Maureen Lipman	...	Mother
Emilia Fox	...	Dorota
Ed Stoppard	...	Henryk
Julia Rayner	...	Regina
Jessica Kate Meyer	...	Halina
Michal Zebrowski	...	Jurek
Wanja Mues	...	SS Slapping Father
Richard Ridings	...	Mr. Lipa
Nomi Sharron	...	Feather Woman
Anthony Milner	...	Man Waiting to Cross
Lucy Skeaping	...	Street Musician
Roddy Skeaping	...	Street Musician

Also Known As:

Der Pianist (Germany)
Le pianiste (France)
Pianista (Poland)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and brief strong language.

Runtime:

150 min | Spain:142 min (DVD edition)

Country:

France | Germany | UK | Poland

Language:

English | German | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Chile:TE | Denmark:11 | Egypt:(Banned) | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:12 (re-rating) | New Zealand:R15 | Norway:15 | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:AA (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

R.P. Productions

Trivia:

Proceeds from the Amsterdam, Netherlands premiere were donated to the Anne Frank House.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Early during the movie, when the family is listening to a BBC radio broadcast in the autumn of 1939, there's a brief overlap during which we hear a few German words being spoken. These are from a recording of the infamous Sports Palace speech by Joseph Goebbels, delivered in Berlin on 18th February 1943 - well over three years after the movie's scene takes place.

Quotes:

Henryk Szpilman: I thought you only recruited boys with rich fathers. Look at my father, look at us.
Itzak Heller: Yes, I'm looking at you, and that's why I'm here. Your whole family can have a better life. You want to go on struggling for survival, selling books on the street?
Henryk Szpilman: Yes, please.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Bernie Mac/Good Charlotte (#28.16)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Tantz, Tantz Yidelekh

the best holocaust movie ever made

last weekend, I saw Roman Polanski's The Pianist and what a movie. The grizzly reality feeling of the movie shell-shocked me in the first place but later on I recognized the pure feeling of the film: The horror what war does with innocent people truly is. the main story isn't about a war hero, but about people who don't want to die in this madness. Every aspect of the film is really done for an reason and in his place and you don't feel this as entertainment.

the music is what hit me the most. the classical tunes had such an enormous impact on me and portrayed the feelings of the main role of the pianist. The fact that there are no hero's in a war movie is for me more than a welcome benefit. No war in the world should have hero's who can't die. Everybody in this movie can die, every second of it. The scary moments are real scary.

bottom line: ten times as realistic as the also brilliant Schindler's list. and twenty times better than Saving private Ryan for the lack of hero's and there is no patriotism at all.

ten out of ten, best movie of 2002