Free Essay: The Pianist and the Plight of the Jews.
One of the differences with another movie in the genre, Schindler’s List, is that the pianist is a film that is based on one person. Schindler’s List is broader in dealing with the holocaust in terms of the point of view. The pianist narrows down the holocaust by concentration on one man’s story.Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes International Film Festival, The Pianist tells the story of a celebrated Jewish pianist and composer surviving in Poland during the onset of World War II. Based on the autobiography of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the film stars Adrien Brody as Mr. Szpilman and is directed by Academy Award-nominated director Roman Polanski (Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown).His music floods out like a cry of anguish and hope. This is the central image in Scott Hicks' “Shine,” based on the true story of an Australian pianist who was an international prodigy, suffered a breakdown and has gradually been able to piece himself back together. The musician's name is David Helfgott.
The 1994 movie Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont tells the familiar tale of Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, a successful investment banker turned convicted felon who must spend the rest of his days at Shawshank Prison for murdering his wife and her lover.In the movie The Pianist, one such victim’s story is told, Wladyslaw Szpilman, a well-known Polish composer of the time, lived to write about his experiences in the Warsaw ghetto and the persecution of the Jews at the violent hands of the Nazi Germans.
Between these Solal worked simultaneously on Breathless and Jean Cocteau’s Testament of Orpheus, a film mentioned by Melville’s character during the Orly interview with Seberg in Breathless. Godard knew that in Solal he had a world-class pianist, and so, during editing, he asked him for improvisations.
