Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: GUEST,Wolfgang
Date: 02 Feb 05 - 06:51 AM

I second Susanne regarding the Szpilman autobiography. Hosenfeld's letters home have been published and according to reviews (I haven't read them yet) show how a former believer into the Nazi ideology was turned within about the first year of the war into a fervent enemy both of the Nazi practise he witnessed and of the ideology.

(I can understand with a bit of effort what has made the Nazi ideology attractive for some in the first place, but a thing I'll never understand is how anyone can have witnessed such events and still stayed a supporter of the Nazis)

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 07:23 PM

I've read the book and found it extremely moving in the matter-of-fact way it deals with events that would frighten anyone out of their wits, but neither tedious nor bland at all. It is true Szpilman does not sensationalise, but that's why I like it the better.

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 05:07 PM

Book is by Wladyslaw Szpilman, catagorised as non-fiction, autobiography, first published in 1946, in Warsaw.

Hosenfield was tortured and after several strokes, died in a prisoner of war camp under the Soviets. They didn't believe his story about rescuing a Jew.

He started out as a teacher, and by his sons' account, a very gentle one, he didn't beat his pupils. He once tried to save a boy from being shot after stealing an armful of hay from a barn. The SS were about to shoot the boy, Hosenfield told them they couldn't do it, and the SS said they would shoot him and the boy too... His son tells the story, and says it took him a long time to recover from the threat. Szpilman wasn't the only person that Hosenfield rescued from death.

LTS

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 03:51 PM

Who wrote the book? Was it an autobiog by Szpilman himself, a history, or just some movie tie-in? Strange how compelling good fiction can be, and how bad writing can make even the most dramatic story dull & boring.

Thanks for the photo of Wilm Hosenfeld, Wolfgang - does anyone know any more about him (except what they tell us at the end of the film)?

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 02:46 PM

I didn't get to see the film so I bought the book instead.

I really wish I'd seen the film, because the book was tedious and blech in the extreme!

I couldn't find anything moving, or grand, or noteworthy about it at all.... and I read Schindler's Ark (the original title) in one sitting.

LTS

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: Wolfgang
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 12:52 PM

Wilm Hosenfeld, the German officer turned anti-Nazi by what he saw in Poland.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: GUEST,Likes Philosophical Music
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 12:36 PM

I will try to see it.

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: The Shambles
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 12:29 PM

On the following site - there is a still of the scene you mention.

http://www.thepianist-themovie.com/

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 07:36 AM

Same here. I even bought the DVD of it, which is saying something because I rarely fork out for those. Anyone notice Lucy & Roddy Skeaping (The City Waites) as street musicians in the ghetto scene where the SS is forcing unlikely couples to dance with each other? Definitely recommended viewing.

Subject: RE: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: The Shambles
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 05:52 AM

I have only just seen it but I would also strongly recommend it.

Subject: Review: Polanski's 'The Pianist'
From: michaelr
Date: 20 Jan 03 - 10:16 PM

To anyone who thought, as I did, that "Schindler's List" was a bit on the sentimental side, I recommend Roman Polanski's take on the Holocaust.

This true story is based on the autobiography of Polish pianist Waczlav Szpilman, who survived the Nazi occupation hiding in Warsaw, and died in 2000 at the age of 88.

A powerful film, and it has great music. Highly recommended!

Cheers,
Michael