HST 1014
DR. Fain
12/04/14
RESPONSE PAPER “THE PIANIST”
The Pianist, released in 2002, is a film directed by Roman Polanski and written by Ronald Harwood. Based on the book written by Wladyslaw Szpilman. The film has a long list of actors, including Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Fox, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, and Jessica Kate Meyer. The film provides the viewers with amazing actors and actresses playing wonderful characters, their realistic costumes and locations, and a breathtaking storyline in a movie that is longer than the average movie. The movie begins in 1939 in Warsaw, Poland. Wladyslaw Szpilman, the main character is a Jewish concert pianist from Poland. Wladyslaw Szpilman is the main focus in this film. He is played by Adrien Brody. Brody does a wonderful job portraying Wladyslaw Szpilman. In fact, the resemblance between the actor and the man he portrayed is remarkable. Szpilman’s role is huge. At the beginning of the film, Szpilman tells his mother, played by Maureen Lipman, that he is not going anywhere. His mother then said, “Don’t be ridiculous; we’ve got to stick together” . From that point on, Wladyslaw Szpilman made it his job to make sure that his family stayed together. In order to not get killed or beaten, they needed work permits so that they could work in factories. Wladyslaw’s father, played by Frank Finlay, was the only one who could not get a working permit. His siblings Halina, Regina, and Henry were all able to get their permits. The whole family, including their mother, found work at the same place, so they were able to stay together, working and being treated like trash, their clothes also started to look like trash. People were slowly dying and disintegrating due to the lack of food and the terrible mistreatment, which they had no energy to fight. The German soldiers would throw them down in the dirt and beat them. The Jewish people had to wear the Yellow Star of