It's not necessarily good but maybe interesting. FWIW:
1. Testimony. It's the most accurate depiction of the Warsaw Ghetto yet made (based on what I have read and heard). The affectless inter-weaving of scenes showing cruelty, charity, compassion make it hard to watch at times but everything in it happened, for six years.
2. Moral complexity. The movie shows "good" Poles (and the German officer) and "bad" or morally compromised Jews (like the policeman) as well as the reverse, all without pulling its narrative punches. This is almost unheard of in Hollywood movies, particulary on this topic -- cf.Schindler's list, which Spielberg supposedly offered to let Polanski direct before taking it on himself . But to be fair, such complexity also wasn't shown much in older Polish films about set in this period (eg. Wajda's Kanal, Ashes and Diamonds) perhaps due in part to political censorship.
3. Absurdity of Fate. The NYT complained that the hero Szpilman is too weak. (He was after all a very talented musician, but that doesn't make him a better human being). I think Polanski means him to be imperfect, almost a cipher, so that his inexplicable survival (both from the Nazis and the Poles who almost kill him by accident near the end) then poses a problem for him: What do I do now? How do I live my life? He has only his art, perhaps, to see him through.
In short, I think Polanski identifies with him and his destiny. BTW Szpilman lived to be ninety and died in 2001. But in any case:
The French honored Polanski at Cannes and they are gutless weasels.
Polanski is persona non grata in Hollywood as he is a fugitive sex criminal.
And Gangs depicts downtown New York as a foul, rat-infested slum full of bigoted nativists and heroic immigrant, and bombarded by Federal troops, no less. How untimely can you get?
Therefore Chicago will sweep the Oscars. Hollywood will prefer a cynical musical about buying your way out of the justice system than a more complex view of the human capacity for good and evil.
I was moved to tears more than once by the film. One of the great moments was the scene of the Szpilman family boarding the train to the concentration camp. The Jewish cop pulls Szpilman from the line in order to save him, Szpilman's half hearted attempt to reboard and die with his family giving way to the stronger urge of self preservarion. That understated portrayal of his shame was really powerful.
Polanski drew heavilly upon his own war experience: He spent the first 9 years of his life in the Warsaw ghetto. One day while out stealing food to help feed his family he was fingered by a snitch. He fled and took a circuitous route home arriving in time to see the Nazi's hauling his family away. That was the last time he saw his mother and sister. He spent the next few weeks roaming the countryside to the point of collapse. Members of the resistance pulled his sick and half starved body from a pile of maggot infested manure, nursed him to health and basically forced him to fight against the Nazis.
Well, this settles it. There is definitely something wrong with me.
As if this wasn't clear already...
I'd like to retract my complaints against the Pianist and lodge them all and several new, and more biting ones, against City by the Sea. (Don't ask.)
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1. Testimony. It's the most accurate depiction of the Warsaw Ghetto yet made (based on what I have read and heard). The affectless inter-weaving of scenes showing cruelty, charity, compassion make it hard to watch at times but everything in it happened, for six years.
2. Moral complexity. The movie shows "good" Poles (and the German officer) and "bad" or morally compromised Jews (like the policeman) as well as the reverse, all without pulling its narrative punches. This is almost unheard of in Hollywood movies, particulary on this topic -- cf.Schindler's list, which Spielberg supposedly offered to let Polanski direct before taking it on himself . But to be fair, such complexity also wasn't shown much in older Polish films about set in this period (eg. Wajda's Kanal, Ashes and Diamonds) perhaps due in part to political censorship.
3. Absurdity of Fate. The NYT complained that the hero Szpilman is too weak. (He was after all a very talented musician, but that doesn't make him a better human being). I think Polanski means him to be imperfect, almost a cipher, so that his inexplicable survival (both from the Nazis and the Poles who almost kill him by accident near the end) then poses a problem for him: What do I do now? How do I live my life? He has only his art, perhaps, to see him through.
In short, I think Polanski identifies with him and his destiny. BTW Szpilman lived to be ninety and died in 2001. But in any case:
The French honored Polanski at Cannes and they are gutless weasels.
Polanski is persona non grata in Hollywood as he is a fugitive sex criminal.
And Gangs depicts downtown New York as a foul, rat-infested slum full of bigoted nativists and heroic immigrant, and bombarded by Federal troops, no less. How untimely can you get?
Therefore Chicago will sweep the Oscars. Hollywood will prefer a cynical musical about buying your way out of the justice system than a more complex view of the human capacity for good and evil.
- bruno 2-28-2003 11:12 pm
I was moved to tears more than once by the film. One of the great moments was the scene of the Szpilman family boarding the train to the concentration camp. The Jewish cop pulls Szpilman from the line in order to save him, Szpilman's half hearted attempt to reboard and die with his family giving way to the stronger urge of self preservarion. That understated portrayal of his shame was really powerful.
Polanski drew heavilly upon his own war experience: He spent the first 9 years of his life in the Warsaw ghetto. One day while out stealing food to help feed his family he was fingered by a snitch. He fled and took a circuitous route home arriving in time to see the Nazi's hauling his family away. That was the last time he saw his mother and sister. He spent the next few weeks roaming the countryside to the point of collapse. Members of the resistance pulled his sick and half starved body from a pile of maggot infested manure, nursed him to health and basically forced him to fight against the Nazis.
- steve 3-01-2003 8:18 am [add a comment]
Well, this settles it. There is definitely something wrong with me.
As if this wasn't clear already...
I'd like to retract my complaints against the Pianist and lodge them all and several new, and more biting ones, against City by the Sea. (Don't ask.)
- jim 3-01-2003 5:46 pm [add a comment]