The Pianist (2002)

Based on the autobiographical memoirs “The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945”, The Pianist depicts the life of the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman in Warsaw during German occupation in WW II.

In September 1939, Władysław Szpilman is playing live on national radio in Warsaw when the Germans bomb the city during their invasion of Poland. From here on the recognized Jewish piano player sees his world gradually changing as anti-Jew laws are imposed by the Nazis and World War II progresses.

In 1940, Szpilman and his family are forced from their home to live in the Warsaw ghetto where conditions are crowded, brutal and inhuman. As part of the Operation Reinhard in 1942 the family is on their way to the Treblinka extermination camp, when a friend in the Jewish Ghetto Police recognizes Szpilman and separates him from his family. After escaping deportation, he is conscripted to work in a German Labor Compound in Warsaw from which he manages to flee.

With the help of non-Jewish friends and strangers he goes into hiding. He watches the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 and the Warsaw Uprising (the rebellion by the Polish resistance) a year later from his hiding places. Szpilman struggles to survive in the ruined city and later is discovered by the German Wehrmacht Officer Wilm Hosenfeld who admires his piano playing and, instead of following Nazi protocol, helps him out with food and shelter.

The Pianist was highly praised and received numerous awards including the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, three Oscars for Best Director (Roman Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood), and Best Actor (Adrien Brody), the BAFTA Award for Best Film and BAFTA Award for Best Direction in 2003, and seven French Césars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. It was included in BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century.