The Pianist
Oscar prognosticators are touting the Best Picture battle as a two-horse race between favorite Chicago and challenger The Hours. But gaining steam is a dark horse named The Pianist, a haunting Holocaust drama that Focus Features is smartly billing as "The year's most riveting, wonderful, epic masterpiece. Just ask anyone who's seen it." Great point, because the more people who see this powerful film, the more who seem to call it the Best Picture of the year.
Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is a renowned Polish pianist, circa 1939. In the film's opening sequence, Szpilman plays the piano for a Polish radio program. We see his cool, confident demeanor and prodigious musical talent. Then, a series of sudden explosions rock the studio and demolish the station's wall, abruptly shattering the calm atmosphere. The Germans have arrived, and life will never be the same again.
At first, Szpilman and his upper-class family desperately hold on the belief that the German occupancy will be a short-term situation. Gradually their hopes wane as they're forced to move to the Warsaw Jewish ghetto and endure cramped living spaces and terror around every corner. Random executions at the hands of the Nazis are the rule, and even if the inhabitants of the ghetto can avoid those, they're faced with the prospect of being packed into a train en route to the death camps.
Eventually, Szpilman escapes the ghetto, and his life becomes a brutal test of endurance. When's he not escaping a harrowingly close call with the Nazis, he's living in hiding -- a situation that consists of little food or water, numbing loneliness and total silence (lest he be heard by a neighbor and turned over to the Nazis).
Beautifully adapted by Ronald Harwood (a Best Screenwriting nominee) from Szpilman's book, this film's attention to detail rings true. Oscar-nominated Director Roman Polanski, who helmed such classics as Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown, is himself a Holocaust survivor whose mother died in a concentration camp. He pours himself into this film, and the result is an incredibly powerful viewing experience filled with haunting images and unforgettable scenes.
Adrien Brody, who had a promising supporting turn in Spike Lee's underrated Summer Of Sam, gives an astonishing performance in The Pianist that's earned him a well-deserved Oscar nomination. Whether unleashing his emotions with a dazzling piano number, reacting to yet another atrocity, or stumbling through the city's ruins, Brody's performance commands your attention at every turn.
It's difficult to pick a best scene out of all the great ones here, but a late-film encounter between Szpilman and a German officer is tough to beat. Beautifully acted, directed and scored, it'll linger with you long after you've finished watching this movie.
A Holocaust drama without a big-name actor is a tough sell, but The Pianist deserves to be seen by a wide audience. If you're avoiding this flick out of fear that's it's a historical snoozefest, you're foolishly missing an unforgettable epic that just may be the best picture of 2002.
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Remember the "Seinfeld" episode in which Jerry and his date make out during Schindler's List? Enough said.
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