Cinemashrink Says "Straight to the point of today's concern, The Pianist shows how the terror of war reduces even the most refined, intelligent and talented human being to the level of a rat scratching for food, fearing for its life. Polanski details the transformation of his protagonist from an internationally acclaimed pianist to pathetic rodent with the Kafkaesque skill of Metamorphosis." Reviewed by Jane Alexander Stewart, Ph.D. Something special emerges from Polanski's film, The Pianist. The film is visionary and convincing about the need to resist war as a method of problem solving. In this way, The Pianist goes much further than what it is -- an inspirational story of a world class Jewish pianist who survived Germany's occupation of Poland and its steady determination to exterminate Polish Jews. The events and eventualities of Hitler's vendetta against the Jews may be specific but they are not particular. A story like The Pianist is often told to avoid forgetting the holocaust. But The Pianist is not particular to Jews in its examination of how a fine young man can be transformed into the equivalent of a rat under the pressures of starvation, desperation and disorientation. And, The Pianist does more than reinforce, one more time, the truth of how a life, snatched from the jaws of war by the skin of his teeth, can give humanity an extraordinary gift and continue to a ripe old age of 88. The value of every man, woman and child who dies in war is made plain by Wladyslaw Szpilman's story. Remarkably, The Pianist plucks Szpilman's story from the horrors of an old war and makes it thoroughly modern, completely timeless and, sadly, too close for comfort today. The film shows how arbitrary, shocking and continuous acts of terror can stir up a fear in people, breeding rigid rules and nasty indifference to human rights. The intimidating effect of terror on everyone -- any one -- regardless of what side they find themselves in a war can turn a perfectly reasonable human being into a monster shooting a gun or beating his neighbor. This is the special message The Pianist brings to a theater near you. It is the small acts of kindness that slip out from the uniforms and rags of The Pianist that never failed to provide hope. From persons quite unexpected, in situations seemingly bereft of any chance of kindness, come the most astonishing offerings that saved Wladyslaw Szpilman's life or lifted his sagging spirits. And, perhaps, that is what keeps anyone going under siege. The surprises that remind us that a human being is so much more than an enemy restore hope that - somehow - someone will come up with a better idea than war as a way to resolve conflicts. By the way, did anyone else notice that Szpilman wore a suit throughout most of the movie? Although I still vote for Metamorphosis as the key metaphor for Polanski's film, there's something to be said for the message of never losing hope by wearing a suit to the holocaust. Szpilman did, in fact, get back to his dream of living an everyday life in a suit. Directed by Roman Polanski Written by Ronald Harwood Performances by Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann