Short vintage video clips of Warsaw is shown at the beginning of the film. Showing regular everyday scenes of people in Warsaw. This is a small but strong contrast with the whole film giving reality to the audience.
This scene here is Wladek family celebrating news of hearing the new allies that have joined to take down Germany. Right before they were all in chaos ready to leave Warsaw but after hearing the news they all come back together and have hopes for the war to end soon.
Wladek father was wearing a Jewish armband as Jewish were told to identify, he passed a Nazi soldier and the soldier slapped him and told him to not use the sidewalk. And not much attention was paid to it as everyone around him kept minding their business.
This scene shows Wladek being encountered with children dying and screaming to find their families. He's walking around taking everything in that he can't do anything to help others or his own family and is found stuck and has no way to get out with his family.
This scene is right after he escaped with the help of Jewish officers, he's wailing alone in the streets of the Warsaw ghetto knowing that his family was sent straight to death camps. The background setting shows how Nazi soldiers took everything apart that belong to Jews even Wladeks family.
This shot is taking in a low angle showing how much control Nazis had. Just simply telling Jews to get in line and grabbed a couple and shooting them in the head and then telling the rest to continue walking and leaving their bodies behind.
After escaping various work camps and hiding away in friends apartments for months, Jews start to attack Nazis from buildings and the Nazis bomb the apartment that Wladek was hiding in. This long shot shows how broken Wladek is.
Wladek finds a building that's still intact and finds a can of food and struggles to open it, not knowing a Nazi soldier is quietly watching him struggle.
This scene shows Wladek playing the piano right before the Nazi soldier told him to play and prove to him that he's a pianist. This shot shows the Nazi coat and hat on the piano and Wladek can of food, showing that he's playing for his life. Also having a spotlight on him while he plays.
This shot shows the Nazi shoulder watching Wladek play the piano while having soft lighting on his face, telling the audience that he means no harm towards Wladek.
During the 1930s Warsaw was the second largest Jewish population. Poland was invaded by Germany in 1939, German troops entered the city and started discrimination against Jews. Jews were attacked on the streets and in their shops. From November 1939 on, anti-Jewish decrees started to be issued. Jews shops had to be labeled, taking away their daily freedom with labeled discrimination.
The pianist is based on true events. This film tells the story of Wladek Szpilman, a famous pianist in Poland. Wladek has a family of five. The first scenes of this film show Wladek playing piano in a local radio station. But is bombed while he plays live the first few hits Wladek refused to stop playing but eventually stopped. Wladek returns home to find his family in chaos trying to pack everything ready to leave Warsaw. They end up discussing on fleeing but instead decide to stay in their home. Later that night they find out that Britain and France have declared war on Germany.
The film shows how warsaw quickly changes towards Jews, it shows shops having signs saying “No Jews allowed”, shows Wladek father being mistreated by Nazis soldiers and Nazi soldiers making jews dance for their own entertainment. Jews start to struggle with money and its harder for them to get jobs. Wladek gets a job at a restaurant in the ghetto playing the piano. His family survives but the rest of the ghetto starts to worsen having jews die every day from starving and acts of violence by Nazi soldiers.
The last time that Wladek is with his family is when they're working for a German clothier, but soon the family is taken to Umschlagplatz with hundreds of other Jews waiting for trains to arrive. In these last moments, his father buys a piece of candy from a boy and splits the small candy with the family having their last meal together. The trains arrive and Wladek is yanked from the lines and watches his family get on the trains and never saw them again.
Wladek spends the rest of his time surviving by hiding in friends apartments watching the Jewish ghetto uprising that lasted through about two months in which he helped with smuggling the guns, but soon the Jews are defeated. Wladek blows his cover in the apartment he is in and goes to an emergency address and is taken to another hiding place but his caretaker lets him starve and almost having Wladek die of starvation. Wladek recovers but has to quickly leave the building and hides in a hospital but Germans decided to burn Warsaw and Wladek escapes and wanders off to the wasteland. He finds a building and finds food and tries to open it but he's being watched by a Nazi soldier, the soldier askes his name and what he does and Wladek responds with pianist so he starts to the play the piano beautifully and the soldier helps him to hide and gives him food.
Soon enough the Germans are defeated and Wladek is almost killed by wearing a German coat and he’s next shown playing the piano in a radio station and taken back to a farm where that German soldier was asking his friend if he knew Wladek.
This film had various dishearting moments from Wladek with the help of dull and monotones schemes that fit the mood of the pianist.
Five words: Pianist, Survival, Jewish, Buildings, Friends
Thesis Statement: A Jewish pianist that has to go through hardships for survival and finds hiding with the help of friends that take him to secret buildings to survive and himself finds a building that leads him to faith of survival.
