While I was astounded by Schindler's List, I never thought there would be such greater movie that would intricately lay down the Second World War, particularly the fourth partition - the German invasion of Warsaw. Focused on the renowned Pianist, Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish - Jew who survived the invasion and the "Holocaust", the keynotes get haunting as each scene slowly unfolds the true story.
The Nazi-led General Government continued the aim of Hitler since 1933 to exterminate the Jews with their Blitzkreig tactics effectively implemented on all Polish -Jews in the Warsaw. Warsaw ghettos were constructed and all Polish - Jews were transferred and made to stay there. It was apartheid to say the least, with the construction of the wall separating all of them from the entire city.
From these Warsaw Ghettos, they were forced to transfer to another ghetto known as Umschlagplatz. All of Szpilman’s family was transported to the ghetto, except him who was grabbed by a friend (a Polish Police serving alongside the Germans). He was left at the Warsaw Ghetto and was made a laborer. It was there that he became a conspirator of a civilian underground army. Polish laborers started to hide guns under those potato-filled sacks and every time they march towards their ghettos, they will throw these guns across the walls that divide them from the Jews as discreetly as possible. By the way, nobody from Szpilman’s family survived the war. They were ‘ashed’.
There were numbers of instances when Szpilman’s life had been at stake if not for his friends from the Polish Radio where he once worked and his other musician friends, it would be impossible to imagine how he would be able to survive the war.
Extrajudicial killings became rampant. While some of them were held captives and slaves, they were at the same time offered a thin ray of hope for them to live. The Germans mercilessly continued to starve them and just when they thought they can deal with the hunger, that’s when they get shot in the head right after they were forced to run for their lives in the Warsaw streets.
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| Polish-Jews laborers asked by a German Officer to line up. Any of them will be randomly picked and head shot. |
Szpilman went hiding. He was once locked up in one of those flats by one of his friends in a German district. That was when the Soviet Union forces came. While rumors started to spread around Warsaw that Russians were giving Germans a very hard time in negotiation, there were already a number of Polish who slowly create a civilian army to fight against the Germans. It was a cause worth fighting for. I mean, if you live at such a time, would you not get your hands dirty and for once, kill a German?
The Russians came and blew every building constructed by the Germans. And since Szpilman was locked up in one of those German district’s flats, he waited for his life to end. It was when the walls were totally blown that he was able to exit from the rooftop, down to the grounds, jumping over the backyard walls, crossing the other ghetto where the Jews were kept and boom, a TOTAL destruction welcomed him. It was as if the world has just ended and he was the only survivor left. He found solace in one of those destroyed houses and just when he thought he was living alone in hunger, he found a can of fruit chunks. In his attempt to open it, he was caught by a German Captain. When asked what he does, he answered he is a Pianist. He was given the chance by the Captain to play the piano and each time the keys were pressed, the haunting music resonated in the eerie silence of destruction. His life was spared.
There was a slim chance of agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany but while Germans still have some hold over the Jews, Szpilman continued to lurk in the attic and received food from the Captain. It was only when the Germans finally disembark from Warsaw that Szpilman, alongside with the other Polish-Jews who were hiding in the deserted place, were able to come out freely. Some Germans, including the Captain were arrested. As peace was eventually restored, Szpilman started his memoir and continued to play the music in his piano.
Szpilman died in 2000 as a survivor of the war and as a Pianist.
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Cinematography ✓
Cast and Acting ✓
Story Line ✓
Sound and Music ✓
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