A local reviewer says The Pianist is about “the triumph of the human spirit.” Maybe so. But what is the human spirit? Is there really a “human” spirit?
The Pianist takes place in Warsaw, Poland, during World War II. Wladyslaw Szpilman, a member of a Jewish family, plays the piano professionally wherever and whenever he can get work. As the movie opens, the Germans are invading Poland, and shortly thereafter they begin their murderous treatment of the Jews in Warsaw, forcing them to move to the “ghetto” and building a wall around that section of the city. Once the wall is built, German treatment of the Jews gets worse and worse: they’re forced to give up most of their money, can work only in very restricted jobs, and have little to eat. Many of them are brutally mistreated or killed by German soldiers. Eventually most of the Polish Jews, including Szpilman’s family, are shipped off in railroad cars to concentration camps, but Szpilman himself is a survivor. He somehow gets separated from the others and manages to escape the death sentence of the concentration camp. He’s helped by other Jews and eventually is befriended by some non-Jewish Poles, who in risking their lives to feed and hide him show that they love their neighbors as much as themselves. Conditions in Warsaw become worse and worse, and it gets harder and harder for Szpilman to survive. But survive he does.
The Pianist is about the horrors of war, of course, and it’s certainly about man’s inhumanity to man. But it’s also about the transcendent quality of art. Music is one of God’s greatest gifts, and the film almost seems to suggest that Szpilman survives because he’s the bearer of a transcendent quality — the beauty and the uplifting power of music.
That brings us back to the “human spirit” question. In one of the film’s most beautiful and riveting moments, Szpilman is discovered in his hiding place by a German officer. For all Szpilman knows, this is the end — the German officer will arrest or kill him. But this isn’t your usual German officer. He seems genuinely interested in Szpilman, what he is doing and what he is about. When the officer learns that Szpilman is a pianist, he asks him to play something. Then he lets him go, saying, “It is God taking care of us. Or at least we have to believe that.” Perhaps we can say that The Pianist is really about the triumph of God’s spirit working in us.
The Pianist won one Academy award for its director, Roman Polanski, and another for its star, Adrien Brody — both well deserved awards. It should appeal to anyone who appreciates music, anyone who is interested in history, and anyone who believes that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. The movie is rated R, probably because of the war violence and some raw language near the end (though none that’s gratuitous).
Highly recommended
My Rating: 3 ½ stars
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