Jan. 18, 2003 - 12:13 am
well we're almost done with the Oscar season of films. i'll probably be seeing one more tomorrow. this was a good one though. it took forever to come to Knoxville of course. and the theater wasn't even half full tonight. i can't believe that this Just Married movie is number one at the box office right now. how low has America sunk? into major idiocy i guess.
this is a new Roman Polanski film about a special victim of the German occupation of Poland. he was a concert pianist of great skill who had to learn to survive on his own from the beginning of the war to the end. he did it without leaving his homeland, which is nothing to sneeze at. especially considering how utterly destroyed Poland was at the end of the war.
this is a true story and is based on the autobiographical novel/account of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the pianist. i was just thinking while watching this that every different person's view of events during the Holocaust are fresh. this story can never get old because it's about the lives of so many individuals and how they were put in jeopardy. very terrible, but also incredibly entertaining. it's poignant drama.
and yes, i would say this is done very differently from Schindler's List (1993) because it is told from the perspective of only one person. you feel as though you are the pianist, scrounging for food and trying to stay alive and finding a place to hide. the film is also incredibly quiet, at least as far as dialogue goes. you could watch this film with the sound off and you really wouldn't miss anything. it's more visual than most films. and that does make it something good and original.