sommaire

Transnational Learning Network

We wanted to tell you about  an upsetting film that we watched recently at the cinema. This film’s name is The pianist and it is directed by Polansky. It is a biography of a Jewish Polish musician during the Second World War in Poland.

If you have not seen this film we will sum up its story and afterwards we will bring out the points which touched us and we will emphasise our impressions felt during the discovery of this touching film and the impressions felt after the watching.

First of all, let’s have a look at the plot. The protagonist is a Jewish pianist who lives in Poland with his parents, his brother and his two sisters. The story occurs during the Second World War.

We follow the protagonist through the sadly famous town Warsaw, from the ghetto to his hiding-place.

As the film is a biography, this story relates real facts inside a human and undoubtedly realistic point of view.

We can conclude that we and the spectators become witnesses of a people’s destiny during their persecution in the 40’s, through the story of one of them.    

On the other hand, this upsetting film presents a lot of interest which touches and dismays  the viewers because of its terrible story.

Firstly, The pianist retraces the facts in their reality even if it mainly deals with an introspection. Indeed, the facts really existed, these are historical facts. This makes the film still more captivating and all the more distressing. The spectator feels the injustice of  war and  nazi persecutions  so much that one feels like crying and helping the victims. Nonetheless the major feeling is one of helplessness.

Moreover we see the reality of the war: Two sides are represented: the victims and their tormentors. But we are made to realise  that each group actually is composed of  a bunch of good and naughty people.

Yet,, as this story is a biography, it helps to denounce the atrocity of this period, principally against the Jewish population. Moreover, as it occurs in Poland, it indicates that the nazi persecutions didn’t only take place in France but in other European countries as well. To be more precise, the scene takes place inside some Polish ghettos and not inside some concentration camps. In France camps had been heard of  but not ghettos really.

Last but not least, the music holds an important place in the film whose name is besides The pianist. Indeed, the protagonist is saved by music. It helps him to survive and to overcome the different terrible afflictions he has to suffer from.

By a way of conclusion,  it can be asserted that The pianist remains  a really upsetting  and moving film which retraces a real story. It is difficult to imagine what the Jews lived during that horrible period but this film helps us to understand. We would like to cry, to shout, to help them, the hero as well  but we remain powerless. We could almost qualify this film as being a documentary.

We cried, we wept almost during all the film and when we went out of the cinema we kept weeping: the film really upsets us but it is definitely worth seeing !

Aurélie, Emilie, Margot, Nolween I°S2