The Pianist Film Review

805 Words4 Pages
The Pianist Staring Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, and Jessica Kate Meyer The film follows a Polish man named Wladyslaw Szpilman, who is a pianist working for the local radio. Szpilman and his family are Jewish. After Germany’s invasion of Poland, the German army begins to enforce strict laws discriminating against the Jewish people. Szpilman is reluctant to obey to these laws, but soon finds out that he has no choice. Szpilman is not only strong, but also intelligent, quick, clever, and talented. After being pulled out of the crowd of Jews being loaded onto trains leaving for the concentration camps by one of the Jewish police, Szpilman goes into hiding. His wits and intellect get him out of countless deadly situations. Staying alert and attentive helps him survive. In the first few minutes of the film, Germany has begun their invasion of Poland. We soon find out they’re successful in taking over the entire country. The Jewish people’s rights are slowly eroded and their living conditions slowly deteriorate. The Germans only allow each Jewish family to have a limited amount of money. They are forced to wear armbands with the Star of David to identify them as a Jew. If they don’t follow their orders they are punished severely. Eventually they’re forced into the Warsaw Ghetto. In the ghetto, they face hunger, humiliation, beatings, and execution. In one scene, a family sitting at the dinner table is ordered to stand up. An elderly man in a wheelchair is unable to stand, so the German soldiers pick him up and dump him off the three-story balcony into the street. Eventually the Jewish people are rounded up and loaded onto trains going to the concentration camps. This is where a Jewish Ghetto Police officer rescues Szpilman. Szpilman relies on help from non-Jewish families outside the
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