The Pianist (Full Screen Edition) |  | Director: Roman Polanski
Actors: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox, Michal Zebrowski
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $2.48
as of 7/30/2010 08:13 CDT details
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New (34) from $6.63
Seller: Mr Thrift
Rating:  424 reviews
Sales Rank: 10020
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Live, Subtitled, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), German (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 150 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: MCAD23631D
ISBN: 0783292651
UPC: 025192363122
EAN: 9780783292656
ASIN: B000092Q7O
Theatrical Release Date: January 3, 2003
Release Date: January 6, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Music was his passion, survival was his masterpiece.
Amazon.com
Winner of the prestigious Golden Palm award at the 2002 Cannes film festival, The Pianist is the film that Roman Polanski was born to direct. A childhood survivor of Nazi-occupied Poland, Polanski was uniquely suited to tell the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew and concert pianist (played by Adrien Brody) who witnessed the Nazi invasion of Warsaw, miraculously eluded the Nazi death camps, and survived throughout World War II by hiding among the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto. Unlike any previous dramatization of the Nazi holocaust, The Pianist steadfastly maintains its protagonist's singular point of view, allowing Polanski to create an intimate odyssey on an epic wartime scale, drawing a direct parallel between Szpilman's tenacious, primitive existence and the wholesale destruction of the city he refuses to abandon. Uncompromising in its physical and emotional authenticity, The Pianist strikes an ultimate note of hope and soulful purity. As with Schindler's List, it's one of the greatest films ever made about humanity's darkest chapter. --Jeff Shannon
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 424
 DAVID, DAVID, DAVID - HOW NAIVE ARE YOU??? June 16, 2010
Rachel Dawe (Port Lincoln, South Australia Australia)
It staggers the mind just how naive the majority of Westerners are. Hitler WAS elected. Then HE began to make things so as no one could get him out of power and he got to have his way all the time, just like your Islamist, oops! I mean 'Christian' president Obama. When Hitler first appeared the people loved him, adored him like a movie star, if Springsteen and Oprah and Hailey had been around in the 20s and 30's they would have fawned all over De' Fuehrer, going on and on about him being the answer to all of our prayers. Hitler's only real mistake was to move things along a tad too quickly, Obama and the masters who are on the other end of his strings, or is it the other way around this time, have learned well this lesson to do things so slowly that the Davids of this world don't catch on. Build them stadiums and they will come! Did you know that less than 120 years ago, adults did not play sports, that playing games with balls and bats was believed to be something that children did to pass the time between being educated by their parents? When I was a child I thought and acted as a child, but when I became a man, I took that child out into the back garden shed and shot him dead so as I could become a man. Give them wide screen televisions with dts sound systems and all the choice food and alcohol they can comatose themselves with and they won't even notice the storm-troopers being assembled. Have them all walk around glued to their little texting devices and even though the world is blowing up around their ears, they will all be texting each other about how boring their day has been and how hot the girl-chick or boy-chook on Gossip Girl is. Huxley said Orwell got it wrong with the whole Big Brother spying on everybody thing. He said all you have to do is allow them to enslave themselves with their pleasures and desires and you can take over the world without anyone catching on. The other half that are not caught like this won't matter, they'll be too stoned on all the legal prescription medications they have become addicted too to be much of a bother. Create tribal religious activities like football or basketball, everyone wearing their colours. It doesn't matter if a man's personal life and career and marriage is slowly going down the toilet, just so long as he has a game he can tune into come the weekend, just so long as he has a team he can cheer on to the end of the season, and if they don't win, hey there's always next season. They have been studying us for a long time now, studying us with envious eyes, and oh so slowly, they have made their plans against us. Yes do watch this powerful movie, but keep one eye peeping out the crack in your curtains Westerners, because it's all about to get real 3D on us all, and just when you are thinking, wow, this dts sound systems ROCKS!, you'll suddenly realise that they just kicked down your door and are about to drag you to their newly improved concentration camps. Or hey! Maybe I'm just one of those Bible-thumping red neck crazy people with a placard around my neck screaming out in big bold print, "NO KIDDIN' FOLKS, THE END IS EXTREMELY NIGH', as I, and all of my other half-witted friends look forward with absolute glee to the end of the world as we know it. You decide!
 A good movie, but over-dramatized June 13, 2010
Derek Rubin
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'd like to note that I enjoyed this movie, but due to the overwhelmingly positive reviews, I will try to elaborate on some of the issues with this film to balance things out.
The acting is very inconsistent, as is the overall pace of the movie. Many of the actors are great, but some feel like they were pulled off the street. Powerful, superbly filmed scenes are scattered in between long blocks of total, complete filler. At worst, it becomes a bunch of "wah, feel sorry for us" slog. There was literally three minutes of them sobbing, cutting a piece of caramel into five little slips to distribute amongst themselves. What is this, a Disney movie? Enough with that kind of crap. Right when I start taking the movie seriously, suddenly another "waahh scene" pops up for attempted emotional effect.
They could have compressed this movie into a solid, one and a half hour package. The pace of this movie would have been improved dramatically without all the useless filler scenes and characters.
One of the Greatest Recent Films June 11, 2010
Bill R. Moore (Oklahoma, USA)
The Pianist is a low-key masterpiece, an unusually accurate historical film and deeply stirring human drama that reaches masterful heights without drawing attention to itself. Set in World War II Poland, it focuses on a unique Holocaust aspect and is essential for anyone interested in the terrible era or who simply wants a supremely emotional film.
It is the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a burgeoning pianist just before WWII who, like other Jews, is forced into the ghetto along with his family and suffers numerous hardships. Closely based on his memoirs, The Pianist is one of the most realistic films of its kind, as the documentary segment comparing era footage with the film makes clear. Szpilman was like many Jews in Poland and elsewhere in that he was variously dehumanized, and The Pianist's visceral depiction of Jewish suffering is truly heartbreaking. This is one of the most depressing films ever made in that it shows just how inhuman humanity can be; many like to think savage barbarism ended centuries ago, but it unforgettably shows otherwise. The movie's depiction of this sad time - perhaps history's most despicable - is thoroughly harrowing, a powerfully affecting experience that moves us physically through tears and otherwise. Yet, despite it all, it is a story of hope and optimism. Szpilman is above all a survivor, and the film vividly chronicles his determination to stay alive in spite of the grimmest odds. Thus, though often almost unwatchably bleak, The Pianist is ultimately inspirational, a tribute to the human spirit's power and endurance and an ode to hope amid hopelessness. Adding to all this is that director Roman Polanski is also a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor; he clearly identifies with it on a deeply personal level and even inserts some of his own experiences. His determination to tell the story as accurately and simply as possible is key. Also setting The Pianist apart from similar stories is its unflinching acknowledgement that not all the oppressed were good or all the oppressors fully bad. It is as epic and multi-faceted as life itself - a lofty goal that many movies strive for but very few achieve.
The film is so fundamentally modest in that it takes an effort to recognize its many and substantial accomplishments. Polanski and company do not let showy tactics get in the way of the story, which speaks for itself as few can and could easily have been undermined or even ruined by a less sympathetic treatment. The presentation is so stunningly realistic that we nearly forget we are watching a film - the highest praise a historical work or biopic can have. This all-important velvet touch also extends to the acting, especially Adrien Brody's deservedly praised role. His performance is remarkable in that he is onscreen nearly the entire time, often alone, and manages to keep us spellbound without being flashy. It is one of the most demanding roles ever - physically and mentally -, and he succeeds with aplomb. It is to the other actors' credit, though, that he does not steal the proverbial show; there is no weak performance, and the minor actors playing Nazis deserve special acclaim for frighteningly real depictions.
All told, The Pianist is one of the greatest recent films, a brilliant depiction of humanity at both its worst and most enduring. It is hard to watch, but everyone should watch it - to learn, to remember, to revile, and to admire. Powerfully touching us deep within and leaving us thoroughly moved, it is one of the few truly unforgettable films.
The Pianist May 14, 2010
John A. Jay (Dallas, Tx)
Even though this is a old movie I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. I have never seen it since it came out. I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes watching a movie based on true events that happened in the past.
A Beautiful, Powerful Movie May 12, 2010
Joshua Miller (Coeur d'Alene,ID)
Seeing the name Roman Polanski has become quite common nowadays, but that attention is focused more on his private life than the films he has directed over the years. The Pianist is one of his most celebrated films, winning 3 Academy Awards including one for Polanski as Best Director. It also won the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002. The Pianist is a Holocaust film, based on the autobiography of pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman. Roman Polanski survived the Holocaust and this was obviously a personal project for him; I think his personal history is (for once) relevant to the film, because his background makes him very aware of the Holocaust and the horrors that accompanied it.
The film begins in Warsaw, 1939 as Great Britain declares war on Nazi Germany. Wladyslaw "Wladek" Szpilman, a highly lauded pianist and his Jewish family see their happy existence crumble around them, as Germany's invasion of Poland is well under way.. They're required to wear armbands identifying themselves as Jews and soon are evacuated from Warsaw into a Jewish district.
There's not much more that needs to be said about the plot. Unlike many Holocaust movies, The Pianist gives a very in-depth look at the day-to-day life of Jews in the Jewish ghettos. What makes this so impactful is the way Polanski lets the story unfold. We know where the story is going, while Szpilman and his family do not...Yet, we're just as shocked as they are when things go from bad to worse. Don't think from what I've said that The Pianist is just another history lesson...There's a deeply human, intriguing story that draws you in and can be quite suspenseful.
The film itself is incredibly well-made and I applaud Polanski for re-visiting the unspeakable horrors that he lived through. There are scenes that are shockingly horrifying and they are filmed with an unflinching honesty. Polanski almost always keeps his camera detached from the action, making the audience feel like a helpless onlooker. In one of the film's most devastating scenes, Wladek is separated from his family as they're put on a train to what will be certain death. It's not only fantastic on a cinematic level, but an emotional one as well.
Adrian Brody won the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Wladek and he really did deserve it. He gives a believable, low-key performance completely without ego or bravado. Its perfection and power come from how human it is and his ability to never seem like he's acting. Brody IS Wladek Szpilman in this film.
Movies don't come more powerful than this film. It's a beautiful, heart-breaking, suspenseful film with one of the decade's greatest performances and one of the world's greatest directors.
There's a scene towards the end that is one of the most profound and powerful in the entire film...And it's just a man playing piano. It's a perfect example of how thoroughly Brody portrays Wladek, but also a testament to what an amazing director Polanski is. The Pianist is one of the greatest films ever made about the Holocaust, but it's also one of the greatest films ever made. It's an absolute triumph that shouldn't be missed.
GRADE: A
Showing reviews 1-5 of 424
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