Customer Reviews

El Pianista (The Pianist) 2 DVD Special Edition [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]

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This has to be one of the very best Holocaust films ever made not just because of Polanski's talents but his sensibility as a Holocaust survivor. The film based on Wadyslaw Szpilman's life tells a story of the survival of the human spirit in extreme adversity and his encounter with a German Officer Wilhelm Hosenfeld who helped him in his hiding. Don't miss Disc 2 with the bonus material on the making of the film and the interviews with the cast and crew. Polanski sums it all up in his interview saying "... I saw the cast who was dressed up as the Nazi monsters in the movie-screening again as they actually are - they are Germans with earrings....charming, intelligent and delightful people and really nice people and that was a shock to me...and I come to the realisation that anyone is capable of anything, at a given time in history...The audience will walk away with the lasting emotion...and identify with the victims of that period and I hope that this film may somehow contribute to the efforts of those who don't want this type of scenario re-occur in the nearest future."

Hat off to a Master Film-Maker and the rest of the cast and crew. This is a brilliant and extraordinary film which earns the well deserved Oscars for Polanski (Best Director); Adrien Brody (Best Actor) and Ronald Harwood (Best adapted Screenplay) and watch out for the very fine performance of Thomas Kretschmann who plays the German officer.