This holocaust drama is based on a true story. Set in Warsaw, Poland during the second world war, the titular pianist is a cultured young Jewish man. We experience the Nazi invasion of Poland, and their growing repression of the Jews. When his family is sent to the concentration camps, he manages to escape, and has to fend for himself for the rest of the war, until the Russians arrive. In the process he goes from artiste to caveman, more or less.
148 minutes, No persons under 13 (Violence, Prejudice)
Drama, War
Ian Douglas: This film has already picked up a few awards, which leaves me in two minds... it undoubtably has merit,
but I don't feel it is necessarily better than some of the other strong movies it is competing against. This
is a personal view, you are welcome to differ. I think the age restriction of 13 is a little generous, since there are
several violent scenes in the movie, and the violence is brutal and cold-blooded. The movie fully shows the horrors that
occur when people put other people into groups and go to war against them, a lesson the world seems to have forgotten these
days.... It is basically a ''survival'' movie, or in some ways a road movie, both in time and place. It is worthwhile for younger
people to see this, that they can understand what happened in the past, and hopefully learn from it...
