The Pianist
August 2003 Reviewed by: Wes Phillips Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

The Pianist is the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Polish Jew and concert pianist who witnessed the Nazi invasion of Warsaw, evaded the Nazi death camps, and, hiding within the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto, survived World War II.

In many ways, The Pianist runs counter to conventional storytelling. Its protagonist is a witness, and the film is meticulous in presenting only his point of view, which lends it more than a touch of claustrophobia. Further, Szpilman is not a conventional hero; he isn't the instrument of his survival. He survives precisely because the universe is capricious, and outcomes, such as a single man's life or death, hinge on ridiculous coincidences beyond his control. In Szpilman's case, the coincidence is a chance encounter with a Nazi officer moved by his artistry -- properly depicted as just one more improbability, rather than a triumph of art over barbarism.

Director Roman Polanski, of course, is no stranger to fate's lack of logical cause and effect. He himself survived the Holocaust when his mother thrust him from a train trundling toward the death camps. Polanski, like Szpilman, survived to bear witness -- and he knows how easily it could have been otherwise. That is, perhaps, why his best films have featured an almost cosmic sense of detachment and moral ambiguity -- in Polanski's world, a powerful universe grinds down weak individuals.

Szpilman is not weak, merely powerless. The Pianist derives it power from the specificity of his story -- Polanski chose not to burden his tale by widening it to make the story inclusive of all Jewish experience during that dark age. Instead, he hews powerfully to Szpilman's singular experiences. At the beginning of the film, Szpilman is one of the world's winners -- he has the natural assurance of the extremely talented that things will turn out just fine. All of that has been pared away by the end of the film, and all that he has left is an instinct for survival. He's no hero, except that simply surviving such madness is heroic in itself.

Portraying this reality without blinking is perhaps The Pianist's greatest triumph.

But not the film's sole victory. Brody's performance is exemplary; he won a well-deserved Academy Award for it. The film's mise en scène is extraordinary, too. Filmed partially in Poland and partially on a German soundstage, the movie presents a convincing picture of prewar Warsaw and the rubble of the post-uprising ghetto. It's almost too convincing and Pawel Edelman's cinematography captures it all with phenomenal detail and realism.

A major criticism of the film has been that it is too long -- that Polanski lingers too mightily over Szpilman's time spent hiding and trapped. It does feel prolonged, but it gives us a real sense of the desperation Szpilman endured and is, therefore, artistically defensible, if not necessary.

The DVD transfer is beyond reproach. It is clear and extremely vivid. The soundtrack is clean and sharp in both Dolby and DTS. The extra features are sparse, but include an enthralling 40-minute feature, "A Story of Survival," which includes behind-the-scenes footage and numerous interviews with Polanski, Edelman, Brody, and Thomas Kretschmann, among others. In addition, there are clips of Szpilman playing piano -- a very satisfying inclusion. The rest of the extras are not nearly as exciting, consisting of static filmographies and an obligatory trailer.

The Pianist is an exceptional film that has received the DVD treatment it deserves. It belongs in your collection -- and your memories.

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