The Pianist (2002)

The Pianist ended and I sat with it for weeks. The survival and human dignity theme kept circling back. I'd be doing something mundane and the German officer hearing the piano would pop into my head. That kind of resonance is rare.

The Pianist deals with the Holocaust in a way that's genuinely uncomfortable at times. But that discomfort is the point. Roman Polanski never lets you look away, and the film is better for it.

I went into The Pianist knowing nothing — no trailer, no plot summary. I strongly recommend that approach. The art as resistance hits much harder when you haven't been primed for it. Go in cold.

The Pianist has been praised so heavily that no film could live up to the hype completely. It's an excellent film — the restrained direction is genuinely remarkable — but it's not the untouchable masterpiece some claim.