PIANIST, THE 249
Szpilman is happy to learn that Britain and France have declared war on Ger-
many, but hope is short- lived; the Allies do not intervene as promised. Hostilities
last only 35 days before Poland is crushed by the Nazi invasion from the west and
Soviet invasion from the east. The conquering Nazis prohibit Jews from working
or owning businesses and also require them to wear blue Star of David arm-
bands. By November 1940, Szpilman and his family are evicted from their home
and forced into the teeming Warsaw Ghetto, where starvation and Nazi brutality
rule— during a round-up, the Szpilmans watch helplessly as the SS kills a family in
a house across from them. In August 1942, Szpilman and his family are awaiting
transport to Treblinka extermination camp at the Umschlagplatz as part of Oper-
ation Reinhard (the secret Nazi plan to exterminate all Polish Jews) when a friend
in the Jewish Ghetto Police recognizes Władysław and separates him from his
family. Szpilman toils as a slave laborer but also helps the Jewish re sis tance by
smuggling weapons into the ghetto. He eventually manages to escape and goes
into hiding with help from non- Jewish friends Janina Bogucki (Ruth Platt) and
her husband, Andrzej (Ronan Vibert). In April 1943, Szpilman watches the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising unfold in the streets below his win dow. A neighbor finds
Szpilman, forcing him to escape to a new secret hideaway. In August 1944, during
the Warsaw Uprising, the Armia Krajowa (AK) attacks a German building across
the street from Szpilman’s hideout. Gunfire from tanks forces him to flee once
again. The Uprising fails, Warsaw is utterly destroyed, and Szpilman is left alone
to search for food and shelter in the ruins. He treks through the streets and man-
ages to locate a home containing an unopened can of cucumbers. As he attempts to
open the can, Wehrmacht officer Wilm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann) finds
him and discovers that Szpilman is a pianist. He requests that Szpilman play
and, despite extreme hunger and fatigue, the pianist obliges with Chopin’s “Bal-
lade in G Minor.” Hosenfeld allows Szpilman to hide in the attic of the empty
house and brings him food on a regular basis. In January 1945, the Germans are
in retreat from the Red Army. Hosenfeld meets Szpilman one last time, giving him
a greatcoat to keep warm. In the spring of 1945, former prisoners of a Nazi concen-
tration camp pass a Soviet prisoner of war (POW) camp holding captured German
soldiers. Hosenfeld, one of the prisoners, hears a fellow inmate complain about
his past violin career. The violinist confirms knowing Szpilman, and Hosenfeld
asks that the pianist aid him in his release. By the time Szpilman is brought to the
site, it is deserted. Later, Szpilman works for Polish Radio and performs Chopin’s
“Grande Polonaise brillante,” Op. 22, to a large, appreciative audience. An epi-
logue says that Szpilman lived to 88 and Hosenfeld perished while in a Soviet
prison in 1952.
Reception
The Pianist premiered at the 55th Cannes Film Festival on 24 May 2002, where it
won the Palme D’Or. The movie’s American premiere was in Los Angeles on 4
December 2002. It went into wide release in the United States on 28 March 2003.
The film did well commercially, grossing $121.1 million at the box office— a result
bolstered by a good showing at the 2003 Acad emy Awards, where The Pianist