Thursday, February 7, 2008

The Pianist

Tonight our Singles Club held a pizza and movie night. At our last meeting we took a vote and the movie selected was, "The Pianist". I was quite surprised that so many of the ladies chose not to watch, especially since so many voted for it.

Some said it would be too depressing. I didn't find it that way. For those not familiar with it, it is a true story of a Polish pianist on the radio who was a Jew during WWII. It was a very hard time, we see him and his family being sent to the ghetto in Warsaw, then the naziis come and force them all onto a railroad car to a camp. The pianist is saved and along the way he meets several people who hide him and bring food.

He is found by a nazii officer who brings him food and then just as the Russians are entering Warsaw, he gives him his coat, which almost gets him killed when the Russians think he is a nazii officer.

Eventually he is free and resumes his life playing the piano on Polish radio. This was a true story. I don't remember his name, but he continued playing in Warsaw and died at 88.

This story, while showing the brutality of war, shows the will of the human spirit to survive and that there are some people who will help at the risk of their own lives. It was a good movie and I enjoyed it even though I had to sit still for about 2 1/2 hours.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I looked it up and found that the name of this brilliant Polish Jewish pianist was Wladyslaw Szpilman.
You can almost hear the music playing in the peoples' homes.
The radio is a great part of technology!