The Pianist
HD DVD Title: The Pianist Rated: R Screen format: 1080P, 1.85:1, VC-1 Encoded High Definition Studio: Universal First theatrical release: 3 January, 2003 Other DVD or HD Releases: Anamorphic Widescreen DVD released 5/27/03 Director: Roman Polanski Starring: Adrian Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, Jessica Kate Meyer Sound Formats: Dolby True HD 5.1, English and French Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Length: 2 hours 30 minutes Subtitles: English & French |
Plot: 5/5
In The Pianist, director Roman Polanski (himself a Holocaust survivor) adapts a screenplay by Ron Harwood, based on Wladsylaw Szpilman’s autobiographical book of the same name, into a chilling recounting of the extermination of Polish Jews from Krakow. If it were just that, it would be a worth-while remembrance and reminder to the world, helping to ensure that nothing like it would ever be allowed to happen again. But by fusing his own memories with the personal perspective of the original author and by focusing on the little human moments that have huge impacts down the line, The Pianist achieves greatness that few holocaust tales have reached, separating the atrocities and utterly unthinkable acts from the will and pure luck it took to survive.
Famous pianist and radio station DJ Wladsylaw Szpilman (Brody) and his family are our conduit to this story. As the film opens, the Germans have invaded Poland and have begun ratcheting up the demands they place on the people they consider undesirable, including gypsies and of course those of the Jewish faith. The Szpilmans, like most of their neighbors, meekly comply, and those who do not comply find themselves abducted by night and dealt with out of view. Emboldened by the compliance of the populace, the Germans increase their demands, moving the undesirables first to a walled ghetto within the city and eventually packing them in to cattle cars, allegedly to a settlement camp. But no-one ever returns from the camp and no supplies are ever sent, and the trains always return empty. Rumors surface that the Germans are exterminating those they have sent away. Szpilman cracks, and through luck and desperation escapes the trains, leaving his family to whatever fate may dictate for them, and runs back to the now deserted ghetto, finding a place to hide and barely survive.
The film’s one true weakness is that it is then suddenly jumps into Szpilman’s future, some months later, with little explanation. He is out of hiding but now working in forced labor for the Germans, at first as a bricklayer and later as a cook and errand person. The labor gangs have no illusion about their standing, they are there to work or die, and the Germans will execute them on a whim, sometimes just pulling a percentage of their force apart and shooting them on the spot.
I suspect most viewers will be as shocked as I was that rather than at least die trying to fight off these killings, after all if you are sixth in line and the first four have been shot in the head, what do you have to lose trying to fight or flee? But it is not our place to question this, and we cannot possibly know what it was like to have been there to face these life or death decisions after having been through so much other cruelty…
For his part, Szpilman escapes a second time, first using his high society contacts to find refuge in abandoned apartments and later, using animal instinct, to hide out in the decimated ruins of the ghetto. In his final hiding place he meets an unusual German officer, Captain Wilm Hosenfeld (Kretschman) and the interaction between these two will lead to life for one and death for the other, but perhaps salvation for both.
Sound Quality: 4.5/5
Presented in full lossless Dolby True HD 5.1, The Pianist features both exceptionally clean musical works and dramatic (but sparse) environmental effects. The music, including both new works and those that are accurate to the period, are stunningly brought to life by Wojciech Kilar, and include both orchestral pieces and solo piano movements. The piano pieces, as expected are vibrant and lush, acting as a counterbalance to the horrors that Szpilman and his countrymen are facing. The music is in fact Szpilman’s one escape, and he is shown in one scene playing a phantom keyboard above a real piano that he dare not touch for fear of being discovered.
As noted the environmental effects are minimal, tho the sounds of the city and ghetto are brought to life in a few notable scenes where the crowds swirl around the viewer. There are also a number of artillery attacks and similar battle scenes where the bass is accurate and disturbing, and split channel effects work their magic quite well. While this film is more Schindler’s List than Saving Private Ryan, there is no loss of fidelity to the terror that the machines of war bring to those confronting them.
Visual Quality: 4.5/5
While the vast majority of the film is set during the dreary days of the ghetto and the vibe on screen matches this with muted colors, the beginning and ending segments are quite colorful and pleasantly lit. Sharpness is consistent and deep throughout, even in close ups of faces and detail level is also quite high, allowing viewers to see fabric patterns and other small but important minutiae. I never once noted any edge enhancement or other digital artifacts or over-sharpening, and this is a very clean transfer, free of any pops or scratches (except the beginning sequence which is damaged on purpose to look like old film). Overall I was fairly pleased with how the film looked and felt it was among the better looking transfers I’ve seen.
Extra Features: 1.5/5
There is only one extra, but it’s a doozy: a 45 minute long behind the scenes look at the genesis and making of this film, titled ‘A story of survival’. What makes this particularly insightful is the contributions Polanski makes, giving small snippets of details about his own holocaust recollections and a few key decisions he made during filming based on those memories. Also, if you are a fan of online features, you can collect ‘My Scenes’ to share, but I give this about zero credence as it’s a feature that I can’t possibly ever see using and another poor example of wasted effort in trying to find ANYTHING interactive that might stick, and failing miserably once again.
Overall: 4/5 (not an average)
I have no idea how I missed out on this film theatrically but I am very pleased that I have had the chance to view it, and it immediately became one of my recommendations to friends and family who also miraculously never seemed to have heard about it despite its Oscar wins. That it is bundled with such high audio and visual quality makes it further easier to recommend, as does its low cost being a catalog title with no DVD side to drive up the price. If there is one thing keeping it from greatness, this disks only minor weakness is its dearth of extra features, yet even those cannot keep it from getting a solid ‘Recommended’ from me.
