User:Stephenfisher2001/sandbox/The Pianist

The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war drama film produced and directed by Roman Polanski, with a script by Ronald Harwood, and starring Adrien Brody. It is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist (1946), a Holocaust memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman, a Holocaust survivor.

Plot
In September 1939, Władysław Szpilman, a Polish-Jewish pianist, is playing live on the radio in Warsaw when the station is bombed during the Nazi German invasion of Poland. Hoping for a quick victory, Szpilman rejoices with his family at home when he learns that Britain and France have declared war on Germany, but the promised aid does not come. The fighting lasts for just over a month, with both the German and Soviet armies invading Poland at the same time on different fronts. Throughout occupied Poland during the war times, he faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive long before a group of Allies takes over the parts of German-occupied Poland.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The movie stays really true over Władysław Szpilman's miserable life in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.
 * 2) Tons of horrifying, shocking, and depressing moments.
 * 3) Adrien Brody gave a fantastic performance as a Władysław Szpilman, a
 * 4) The setting in Nazi-occupied Poland is exactly well shot and it stays faithful to the real-live events in Poland during the war and occupation.
 * 5) The cinematography is absolutely phenomenal.

Reception
The Pianist was widely acclaimed by critics, with Brody's performance, Harwood's screenplay, and Polanski's direction receiving special praise. The film holds a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 182 reviews, with an average rating of 8.24/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and dramatically moving, The Pianist is Polanski's best work in years."