"One of the final title cards in Roman Polanski’s film The Pianist tells us that the titular character lived in Warsaw until his death in the year 2000 at the age of 88, and when we read it after watching his experiences in World War II Poland, it sits there without any kind of emotional resonance. It forces one to wonder why that is. Is it because the subject of the Holocaust has been explored so many times that new stories about it hold no weight? One of the things of which the film reminds us is that this is one chapter in history that needs to be told over and over again so that we may never forget. Is it because this specific angle of the story has been told before? The main character escapes the horrors of the concentration camps and spends the length of the war on the lamb. It’s not that either, because I, for one, am not entirely knowledgeable on this piece of history nor do I recall a film before this dealing with it. This truly is a remarkable tale of survival, full of powerful imagery and sorrowful experiences. That Polanski captures these moments on film with such strength is important, but that’s all the film ultimately adds up to—a series of experiences. What happened to the pianist and what he saw are clear, but who he is and what these experiences meant to him are absent."

Mark's Full Review