Summary:
The movie takes place in Poland right after the Nazis started to take over Warsaw. The movie shows the life of
Wladyslaw Szpilman and what he and his family, as Jews, go through as more and more regulations are made through the Nuremberg Laws. Eventually, he gets separated from his family when they are sent to a concentration camp and he must learn to live on his own while living in the Warsaw Ghetto. One day, he meets one of his former girlfriends, and she and her husband help hide him, but shortly after the uprising, neighbors find out that he is a Jew. Consequently, he must run and hide, fighting for his own survival. One day, a Nazi finds him, and after hearing him play the piano, the Nazi decides to help him out rather than capturing and punishing him. By the end of the film, Poland wasl liberated, and the war has ended. Wladysaw goes back to living a relatively normal life playing the piano for a radio station.
Historical Analysis:
Upsides
The Pianist is a film directed by Roman Polanski who tried to keep it as historically accurate as possible. The film focused on the terrible treatment and unjust laws passed against Jews in Poland, concentration camps, families getting separated, bombardment, and Jews hiding from the Nazi party, struggling to stay alive with short food supplies.All of these key points were real and did happen, and the film did a spectacular job and portraying it. Additionally, the Nazi soldier got killed for helping the pianist without any justice or courts, and that was the way it was at the time.
Downsides
There aren't many inaccuracies that can be found within this film, but, of course there are a select few. Among them is the fact that there was water in the bathtubs in buildings after the bombings, but in actuality, there was no running water. Also, as Hollywood does best, some of the scenes were made more dramatic than it probably was.
Conclusion
The Pianist is an extremely accurate film. It is based off of the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman, and because it is non-fictional, the only major inaccuracies are bits of exaggeration here and there. Overall, it is a great historically accurate film about the Jews in Poland during the time of the Holocaust.