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Ronald-Reagan
Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I bet many of you wonder what our ex-President is up to. Turns out, he spends most of his afternoons in the AICN chat room, and occasionally he sneaks off to advance screenings of films like Roman Polanski’s new one, THE PIANIST. I’m going to try to catch up with this film this weekend. In the meantime, here’s Dutch with his take on things...
“The Pianist”
Directed by Roman Polanski (Chinatown) and set in Warsaw, “The Pianist” is a film based on the true-life story of a Jewish piano virtuoso surviving Nazi persecution in the middle of World War II. He finds an unlikely friend in a film mostly free of the melodrama present in most films dealing with the Holocaust.
Adrien Brody plays Wladyslaw Szpilman, who plays the last piano piece on Warsaw radio before the Germans invade in 1939, trying to finish his Chopin performance even as artillery shells hit the radio station. He tries to keep that same detached attitude toward the German occupation. He ignores what’s going on around him as his family tries to cope, but reality sets in as he struggles to meet in public with his Gentile girlfriend and sees the city’s Jews beaten and sullied by the German occupation.
Szpilman, along with his family, is finally herded up into Warsaw’s infamous overcrowded Jewish ghetto, which is walled up by the Germans into a tiny section of the city soon made unlivable by the squalor. The ghetto scenes are full of tragic, gripping imagery as strangers fight for their survival. Still, “The Pianist” does little that other movies dealing with the Holocaust haven’t already done until Szpilman is yanked away from his family, bound for the concentration camps. The film never explores the camps and instead follows Szpilman as he escapes from the Germans, going from safehouse to safehouse with the help of the Polish Resistance, living in hidden rooms and closed closets as he observes the war unfold.
The film explores the loneliness of its protagonist, who is completely dependant on strangers for survival. The safehouses become his prison, where he is not allowed to make a sound, lest he raise suspicion. Thankfully, the Polish resistors are friendly, and at one point he meets his old girlfriend, now married and with child, who is only one of many who help him in the course of the movie, most of whom never sees again.
Later, completely alone and on the run towards the end of the war, he’s found by a German officer, played subtly by Thomas Kretschmann (Blade II), who lets him live in the last days of German occupation. In the unimaginable cruelty of the age, Szpilman is touched by kindness throughout the war, letting him live while so many around him die.
“The Pianist,” although never flashy, can at times be visually striking, showing us the landscapes of death in a city gripped in violence. Szpilman, more than once in the film, is left to fend for himself as he hobbles around the lifeless, eerie remains of the Warsaw ghetto and later Warsaw itself, grim in its empty ruin.
Szpilman can only observe the war from his hiding places. Indeed, the film emphasizes survival over resistance. Seeing the Jewish rebellion in the Warsaw ghetto, Szpilman remarks on its futility as the Germans find and execute the rebels. Later, he sees a wider Polish rebellion start and fail, engulfing Warsaw in flames.
The film keeps the same detached tone of Szpilman’s memoirs, from which the movie is based upon, and is tempered by Polanski’s own memories of wartime Poland, saving it from the excess emotion that films with similar themes suffer from. There’s no sweeping full-orchestra score, only the introspective music of Wojciech Kilar. The film has little need for melodrama—just the casual cruelty of the Nazis is really enough to give the film emotional power (one Nazi answers his own question about why they’re beating up one group of Jews one night. Its New Year’s, he says).
The main character is constantly looking from windows, from keyholes, cracks in the wall, often literally and figuratively kept in the dark as those who help him are forced to flee. He, like so many others caught in the middle of war, is just trying to survive another day, not caring much about the politics or the passions that drive the conflict. I think this is the experience most civilians have when they’re at war. Survival itself can be a heroic matter in such times, and Polanski manages to show this, especially with the drab greys so omnipresent in the latter half of the film.
The film deserves at least an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, although from what I hear Polanski isn’t allowed to set foot in the United States, wanted for statutory rape. It’s easy and tempting to say “separate the artist from the art” and leave it at that, but I understand it if the film doesn’t quite get any Oscar acknowledgement.
That being said, it would be a shame if the movie doesn’t get some honorable mention from American critics when it’s given limited release Dec. 27. “The Pianist” won the prestigious 2002 Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in Cannes, France, which is given every year for the festival’s Best Feature.
Studio Canal
Dir. by Roman Polanski
148 mintues. Rated R
E-mail me HERE!! As always, RR, thanks for sending this one in, and if the rest of you are in New York or LA, you can see this film starting in limited release today.
"Moriarty" out.
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What's the protocol if Polanski gets nominated for an Oscar? Since he can't set foot in the US (30 year-old statuatory rape charges), will they have him live via satellite from Europe for the Oscars? Just curious - anybody have any ideas?
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the statue
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Dec 27, 2002 1:46:38 PM CST
Isn't Polanski the guy who went insane after Charlie Manson gutt
by neofromthematrix
Yeah, that was the sick fuck. And the French won't extradite him to the States for his trial 'cause they don't consider what he did to be a crime. Explains why every French porn site I go to has free pics and videos of teenage French girls gettin' raped up their asses by hairy French peasants. France rules!
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Dec 27, 2002 2:18:34 PM CST
Um this reviewer has the Foreign film Oscar category confused
by pablojakaffo
The particular category in the Academy Awards recognizing foreign films is "Foreign Language Film." This means "The Pianist" is not one of those which will be nominated since it's in English.
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...could you possibly employ more idiotic ''correspondents'' harry? ronald reagan here's got about as much smarts as the man himself. did this idiot really bring up polanski's past troubles? find some minions who know a thing or tow about a thing or two. no oscar buzz? and foreign picture nomination? why's that sir? 'cuz they speak occasional german and polish? oy...
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This film really sounds worthwhile -- Also follows the classic Polanski style of "watching" -- Much of "Rosemary's Baby" is seen from Mia Farrow''s point-of-view -- Much of "Chinatown" is seen from over Nicholson's shoulder -- It's all about watching --
None of this means Roman should be allowed back stateside -- He has issues that he's apparently never dealt with -- Those issues fuel his art, but also make him a dangerous individual to have around children -
The press went mad around Polanski - he actually handled it as well as to be expected. This statutory rape thing: Polanski met the girl while she was hanging out at Jack Nicholson's (sp?) home smoking pot, then they had sex. He believed her to be of age and in the "swinging 60's", didn't think to ask. The girl's mother found out about it and flipped out. The girl herself later said that she knew she looked much older than 13, that the charge should have been dropped and that she was embarrassed by the whole thing. Polanski was willing to pay a fine, do community service, and public apologize but was scared to death of going to jail (I believe his sentence was 45 days). He's very claustrophobic.***Considering that O.J. and Winona are still walking around freely, the fact that this charge against Polanski (who is over 70 yers old now) still exists is ridiculous. Now you know kung-fu and a bit more on Polanski. Good day to you.
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I saw a Polanski interview (Possibly a True Hollywood Story thing, Im not sure) in which he said something close to this. "I happen to like young teenage girls and for some reason they seem to like me too." This was some years after the incident. So no matter what you think about the seriousness of the charge I think its pretty clear that he knew she was underage and that he isnt sorry about it. Didnt he also bang Klaus Kinskis' kid when she was like 16?
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he was more guilty than you suggest. it wasn't some narcotics-induced orgy at nicholson's house with a willing girl who looked older than her age. far from it. polanski planned everything. he waited till he had the house to himself and arranged a photoshoot with the girl, who was a minor. polanski knew this. he drugged her and raped her. she woke up during the rape. ******IN his defense, the girl and her parents seemed fairly ruthless themselves, i'm not sure though. they must have suspected there was something wrong with sending their daughter to jack nicholson's deserted house with an adult male.... why didn't anyone go along? if this was one of the conditions, didn't that arouse suspicion? unless they were hoping to cynicallly get something out of the whole thing. who knows? ******NEOFROMTHEMATRIX yes, i have lived in france and there seems to be nothing wrong at all with an older man "befriending" a 15 year old girl while shagging her silly. public figures admit to this and there is no embarrassment or shame. When you think of it, every third french film is about a 15 year old french girl "discovering her sexuality". BTW, polanski spent many years in france and speaks impeccable french. maybe he thought it was okay or that he could get away with it.... who knows? it depends on your cultural values. whatever the case, in the US, it's a crime. period.
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to see polanski act. and in french! his french is near perfect and man, i think he missed his vocation. he shouldn't have been a director but an actor.
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Is not knowing someone's age a defense to a charge of statutory rape? So if I sleep with a 17-year old girl who looks to me like she's at least 18, and who would look to the average Joe to be at least 18, can I raise that as a defense? Or is it incumbent upon me to ask before I sleep with her? Any lawyers out there?
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Jan 01, 2003 10:53:39 PM CST
According to one newspaper, German audiences are calling this mo
by the g-man
No kidding. The 12/25 Jerusalem Post has an article by a reporter, William Grim, who attended a screeing of this film in Germany and the middle class German audience was laughing at the scenes of torture and degradation of Jews. Looks like German history may be, sadly, repeating itself.
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ok his wife and unborn baby were slaughtered by the manson family and you guys get onto him just for one act of statutory rape? Jesus guys, shows where your heads are up.. i'll give u a hint: it starts with a 'b' and ends with 'utt'. I personally loved Polanski's "Ninth Gate" and a lot of his old silent short films like the two men and the dresser.
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he did bang Klaus Kinski's daughter (better known as none other than Nastassia Kinski) when she was 16 or 17. i don't know the details, but it may have been a case of mutual exploitation. sure, polanski took advantage of her, but she ended up starring in a slew of films directed by Polanski, including Tess of the D'Ubervilles. So she got what she wanted too. *********This doesn't excuse Polanski's behaviour. but it does raise the question: did Polanski take advantage of Kinski or did Kinski, knowing Polanski's weakness for young girls, take advantage of him???? ********IS THIS a sick defense mechanism on his part? he's tired of being the victim, as a Jew in Poland, as a victim of the Warsaw ghetto and now he gets back the only way he can by exploiting young girls from a position of power???? pretty sad.
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