Here are some examples of films that The Pianist remind me of:

Europa Europa
Divided We Fall
The Shop on Main Street

And a few others I forgot about, I'm sure.

Although, to its credit, I thought The Pianist was about on-par with Europa Europa. As an Oscar winner, it is quite deserving. But as a Palm D'Or winner, "the Pianist" is definitely lacking.

I just The Pianist for the second time today and I'm so happy I made that choice because I liked it much more the second time around. I thought the film worked better and I understood the film much more than the first time, but that's not to say I didn't like it the first time. Adrien Brody's performance is really quite amazing, but it is a little hard to see at first compared to the flashier performance of Daniel Day-Lewis and of course Jack.

So, I just have to say this film is really appealing to me and like it very much, and I'm thinking about reading the book by Szpilman to explore this story of survival even more.

I would lay a lot of praise on Jack Nicholson's performance in About Schmidt, but the one thing I wouldn't call it is "flashy." Definitely a change from his usual acting (I haven't been a big fan of his recent stuff) and a nice change of pace with some understated acting.

That being said, Brody's performance was brilliant and I felt he (or any of the other nominees for that matter) were definitely deserving of the award. Good to see a relative newcomer get it though. And great speech to boot.

Saw this one in a matinee this afternoon.

Very very good film.

Brody, IMHO, deserved the Oscar for his performance.

I'd like to see it again, pick up a few things I'm sure I missed.

sorry to bring this thread back but seeing as it's coming out next week i wanted some opinions.

i really want to see this film because of all the praise i've read about it. the only thing is i don't typically do well with movies like this, ones that are this emotionally challenging and based on true life. case in point: i had to leave the theater during the beginning of schindler's list because i just couldn't handle it (yet i had no problems with the opening sequence of saving private ryan...go figure!) holocaust movies are just very hard for me.

so with that said, should i chance this as a blind buy or would i even be able to watch this? what is the violence like in this?

hgar: The violence is not as graphic as it is in Schindler's List, but it is VERY disturbing. The Pianist doesn't go for the showy, in your face barbarities as depicted by SL, instead it's rather cold and detached, as if you were watching if from far away. This, to me, makes it far more realistic and just plain unnerving. One of the problems I had with SL was that its Black and White photography, while beautiful and haunting, made the film look way too artificial. Blood looked like chocolate sauce.

Back to the topic at hand. hgar, be prepared for one really bad scene of offscreen violence. It still gets to me, just because it involves a child.

Keeping up with the Holocaust them, has anyone here seen The Grey Zone? I know that it got some bad reviews, but I liked it. It didn't for the cheap sentimentality or self-importance of SL. It just depicted the extremes to which human beings will go to just to live one more day. One place where I think it superceded was SL was during


But to me, the one scene in a movie that encapsulates the truly evil nature of the Nazi regime is the "choice" in Sophie's Choice.
I broke down after watching it.

We much to thank our vets. It's just a shame we didn't act sooner.

I'm bringing this outta the archives because I didn't see an answer in this thread.

I believe the music is Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata".

I think this can be "unspoiled", as you're revealing nothing certainly no detail...

getting to the point - WHAT?!?

I hope I missed something in the movie, because I DON'T remember seeing Hitler in The Pianist.

You're not referring to the chief of the Warsaw police, are you?

If you TRULY believe that it was hitler who helped Szpilman....

Either I am just wrong, or you are....something I can't say without being banned

Hitler didn't help him, per se. He just thought the diary was an autograph book.

What's wrong with Blaster? Thinking that that guy was Hitler??

My God...

Great movie. I'm not sure why nightcrawler didn't just warp out. I was completely lost in this movie. It was remarkable movie. I liked how the war was more of backdrop to what was happening to main guy, kind of heroes are in the comic Astro City.

You know the funny thing is I didn't know what this movie was going to be about. I kind of thought it was going to be about a piano teacher having a love affair with a student but wasn't sure.

A 3 1/2 year old Groucho joke still makes me laugh!

You're thinking of the Michael Haneke film La Pianiste, which was released in 2001.

Right you are. Just added it to my movie queue.

Just a polite warning: La Pianiste is a fantastic movie, but it's incredibly disturbing.

I just watched this for the first time. I was happy that the movie was subtle unlike Schindler's List which just went on scene after scene reminding us how bad the Nazis were.

For anyone that owns an HD-DVD player, the U.K. HD-DVD looks beautiful.

The Pianist >>>>>> Schindler's List

I watched this film again recently and I was astounded how much more I enjoyed it. I'm glad it's in my collection. I can't compare it to Schindler's List. Schindler's was "different", not lesser, just "different".

The problem that I always had with the Pianist was the film seemed to hold some sort of artistic arrogance. As if the message was his life was more important than the lives of his countrymen that he watched die from the window. It made me feel less sympathetic to the character. Personally, I don't believe that ability to play the piano makes anyone's life more worth saving.

Obviously, I cannot speak to how I would react in a similar situation, but as a film watcher I found it off putting. Also, while it's been a number of years since I've seen the movie I remember thinking at the time that the film didn't earn the right to show the Nazi atrocities. I thought it traded on the memory of more important works.

I haven't seen this movie in years. I remember loving it though. It is without doubt a much different film than, say, Schindler's List. I happen to consider both movie's brilliant. I need to go out and buy this movie... I'm glad I saw this thread. It has been a while since I even thought about it.