Pianist

Theatrical Release Date: 2002 12 27 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 025193088529

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Watch With Your Teen]

Summary: Filmmaker Roman Polanski, who as a boy growing up in Poland watched while the Nazis devastated his country during World War II, directed this downbeat drama based on the true story of a privileged musician who spent five years struggling against the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is a gifted classical pianist born to a wealthy Jewish family in Poland. The Szpilmans have a large and comfortable flat in Warsaw which Wladyslaw shares with his mother and father (Maureen Lipman and Frank Finlay), his sisters Halina and Regina (Jessica Kate Meyer and Julia Rayner), and his brother, Henryk (Ed Stoppard). While Wladyslaw and his family are aware of the looming presence of German forces and Hitler's designs on Poland, they're convinced that the Nazis are a menace which will pass, and that England and France will step forward to aid Poland in the event of a real crisis. Wladyslaw's na?vet? is shattered when a German bomb rips through a radio studio while he performs a recital for broadcast. During the early stages of the Nazi occupation, as a respected artist, he still imagines himself above the danger, using his pull to obtain employment papers for his father and landing a supposedly safe job playing piano in a restaurant. But as the German grip tightens upon Poland, Wladyslaw and his family are selected for deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. Refusing to face a certain death, Wladyslaw goes into hiding in a comfortable apartment provided by a friend. However, when his benefactor goes missing, Wladyslaw is left to fend for himself and he spends the next several years dashing from one abandoned home to another, desperate to avoid capture by German occupation troops. The Pianist was based on the memoir of the same name by the real-life Wladyslaw Szpilman; the book was first published in 1946 as Death of a City, but was banned by Polish Communist officials and went out of print until 1998, when a new edition was issued as The Pianist. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Director – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Picture – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Picture – National Society of Film Critics Best Actor – National Society of Film Critics Best Director – National Society of Film Critics Best Screenplay – National Society of Film Critics Best Cinematography (Runner-up) – National Society of Film Critics Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Actor – Screen Actors Guild Best European Cinematographer – European Film Academy Best French Film – French Academy of Cinema Best Actor – French Academy of Cinema Best Director – French Academy of Cinema Best Sound – French Academy of Cinema Best Sound – French Academy of Cinema Best Sound – French Academy of Cinema Best Screenplay – French Academy of Cinema Best Original Score – French Academy of Cinema Best Cinematography – French Academy of Cinema Best Costumes – French Academy of Cinema Best Production Design – French Academy of Cinema Best Editing – French Academy of Cinema Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Palme d'Or – Cannes Film Festival Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Director – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Cinematography – American Society of Cinematographers Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Insight into the making of the film and its authenticity
Roman Polanski's own story of survival during WWII
Behind-the-scenes interviews with Oscar winners Roman Polanski, Adrien Brody and Ronald Harwood
Clips of Wladyslaw Szpilman playing the piano

Pianist

Format: DVD

Release Date: 08/22/2006

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 150 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: Spanish,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Pianist
1. Warsaw, 1939 [8:14]
2. No Jews Allowed [6:21]
3. Segregated [6:03]
4. A Visit From Itzak [8:05]
5. The SS [8:06]
6. To the Labor Camps [12:26]
7. Itzak Again [12:53]
8. Potatoes and Bread [9:29]
9. In Hiding [11:59]
10. On the Run [9:51]
11. In the Lion's Den [5:11]
12. No Food [5:00]
13. The Uprising [11:00]
14. Mass Destruction [6:08]
15. The Pianist [9:41]
16. A Benefactor [7:11]
17. A New Life [4:51]
18. End Titles [6:26]

Adam Bregman

This powerful film by Roman Polanski tackles a subject matter and time that has been covered exhaustively in feature films, TV movies and documentaries, but The Pianist is another exceptional story that needed to be told. There have been plenty of dramas regarding the Warsaw Ghetto and the Jewish resistance, but less about the nearly complete destruction of Warsaw by the Nazis near the end of the war just as the Russians were closing in. The Pianist is mostly from the perspective of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), who escapes the concentration camps by luck and is briefly involved in smuggling guns into the Warsaw Ghetto. He escapes the Ghetto with the help of the Polish resistance and spends the rest of the film struggling to survive, while watching the unfolding events in Warsaw as the city is torn to pieces by the Nazis. It is a harrowing and moving story and Szpilman is a completely sympathetic character who doesn't seem at first cut out to survive under such conditions. There are both good and bad Jews, Poles and Nazis in the story, though most of the Nazi characters with the exception of Captain Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann) are monstrous. Aside from the relentless horrors that Szpilman witnesses, there are moments of great beauty in the film especially in the scenes where he plays piano. The cinematography by Pawel Edelman is fantastic. Beyond being a great film, The Pianist is a testament to the incredible struggle of the Polish people during World War II. ~ Adam Bregman, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Katarzyna Figura  Actor 
Timothy Burrill  Executive Producer 
Ronald Harwood  Screenwriter 
Wojciech Kilar  Composer (Music Score) 
Roman Polanski  Director 
Roman Polanski  Producer 
Lew Rywin  Executive Producer 
Alain Sarde  Producer 
Robert Benmussa  Producer 
Henning Molfenter  Executive Producer 
Adrien Brody  Actor 
Thomas Kretschmann  Actor 
Frank Finlay  Actor 
Maureen Lipman  Actor 
Emilia Fox  Actor 
Ed Stoppard  Actor 
Julia Rayner  Actor 
Jessica Kate Meyer  Actor 
Ruth Platt  Actor 
Michal Zebrowski  Actor 

Country: France,Germany,Poland,UK