Film and Music

There is no question that use of the soundtrack in films has powerful role and can often be as complicated to incorporate as the image on the screen. This because the function of music in films is to tell the audience how to feel, it sets a tone and creates a mood from one moment to the next.
For this reflection, I choose to share “The Pianist” one of my favorite films and one I thought tied well to this week’s reflection. The Pianist follows the dramatically moving story of a Polish-Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman who played the last live music over polish radio before it was interrupted by the first strikes of Nazi artillery of World War II. When I saw this movie for the first time and then again for this review what struck me the most was not only the plot and the characters but the music. Once you hear it every feeling of terror and helplessness the characters went through enters your own body, the music still echo’s in my mind. The music in this film was used brilliantly, as it guided the emotional response intended for the audience. For instance when it was used to present Szpilman, the music was an uplifting anthem, sending positive energy to the viewers, which made his character more amicable. As for the soundtrack in a fast paced scene of war, it would match this with a fast-paced tempo piano piece, which spilled over into the audience as a running sensation. Another example would be the classical pieces used, which had a clear general mood and Szpilman’s character weighed heavily on the substance of the music. The uses of soundtrack for the purposes of foreshadowing were very obvious with deep sounds or loud dramatic pieces before a scene of sorrow or uproar. I believe music in this film was used as an expression of Wladyslaw Szpilman mental state, using music as a hallucinatory coping mechanism. It is Szpilman’s music that provides the most unfettered insights into his inner life, with very powerful musical pieces played throughout times of inner