Blogcritics: Comments on The Pianist�

Comment by Emma Catling

Wed, 14 May 2003 07:40:43 EDT

What none of you seem to realise is that it is only by watching films like 'The Pianist' and 'Schindler''s List' that we can in any way hope to stop such horrors like those depicted from happening again! Given the media frenzy culture in which we live our children learn much more about history and moratlity form the TV and films than they ever do in the class room or at home, and as wrong as that may be, the fact that there is a medium that can at least attempt to teach deceny and virtues to our future generations should not be abandoned. Polansky and Speilberg may be film makers, they may make their living from providing us with entertainment, but I do not believe that either of them intended their films to be watched solely for that purpose. The very fact that I am engaging in discussion with you demonstrates that they have achieved their goal - to get people to interact and think about the awful atrocities that have been done in the name of humanity and to try to understand why we live in a world where this can still take place (I write this the day after mass graves were found in Iraq). The reason Mike that you had to leave the cinema means that in many ways the director has hit a chord with you, I too felt that the easiest thing in the world would be to walk out - but Wladyslaw Szpilman could not simply walk out - and I felt that I owed it to him, to his memory and to that of his family and the millions of others who died, to stay, to watch, to try to understand. Polanski wasn't showing us violence simply for dramatic effect (although I agree it did achieve that) but because it actually happened - that and much worse. There are different ways of making films as you all have suggested, but that doesn't mean one way is better than the other. Would we be here engaging with this film if it had simply been a monologue to camara by Szpilman - I don't think so! And how can you say that The Pianist offered no hope - that is surely one of the main reasons for telling it, that it offers the greatest example of hope possible, of one man's ability to overcome the worst possible adversity, to live in fear of death for everyday day for six long years and then to triumph on the world stage, as one of the greatest pianists that ever lived.

Comment by Ross

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 12:55:12 EST

Ah. You did go to a matinee. Missed that on first reading. Wait for it on video, but please see it.

Comment by Ross

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 12:53:36 EST

I actually just saw it this weekend, and was going to post my review of it here, but I couldn't get my act together. It was disturbing, but brilliant. I do understand where you're coming from though, Michael. My wife, who works in the field of domestic violence, had a similar response to you (although she did not leave). She sees horror and senseless violence daily, albeit on a person-by-person, rather than population scale. I think the movie benefits from seeing it in a big dark theater uninterrupted. However, I can see how more people might be comfortable watching at home, hitting pause and taking a breather when needed. My suggestion would be, if you want to try again, see it as a matinee, so you have the time and energy to find ways to lift your spirits afterwards.

Comment by Mike Finley

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 10:40:11 EST

I regret not seeing it. I just kinda freaked out. And I have read up on it since, and understand better where Polanski was going. I hope to catch it on the smaller screen some day. I know what you mean about Schindler. But ... it was still easier for me to watch. Perhaps the world was not knee-deep in PTSD that year, for openers. Second, the Schindler story itself offered hope for a few, and that gave hope to viewers. In the first 50 minutes of this movie, on the other hand, I had nothing to grab hold of ... and I fell.

Comment by Steve Rhodes

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 00:21:45 EST

It is worth watching to the end though I can understand your reaction if you aren't prepared for it. It isn't manipulative in the way that Schindler's List is. Blindspot: Hitler's Secretary is in opening slowly in large cities. It opens Friday in San Francisco along with another film on the Holocaust, Costa Gravis' Amen. Claude Lanzmann has a film Sobibor on an uprising at that death camp which I saw at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival last year. It is mainly made up of an interview with one survivor.