The second movie I watched was "The Pianist." I thought it was a great movie. It kept me interested in what I was learning about. I learned more ways on how people were treated and what they had to do to stay safe from the police.
In September 1939 Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish- Jewish pianist, is an amazing player that plays on a radio stations. One day, when he was at the radio station playing, a German bombing with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland was the outbreak of WW2. Szpilman and his family, hoping for a quick victory, rejoice at home when learning the Britain and France declared war on Germany. The German army defeats Poland and captures the Warsaw ghetto.
The living situations decline for the Jews. They are allowed a limited amount of money. Jews also have to wear armbands with the Star of David on it. In November 1940, they are forced into horrible living conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto, where Szpilman and his family witness how the SS raid an opposite apartment and kill everyone there. Later after the event, the family is rounded up to go to the Treblinka extermination camp. Szpilman is lucky, and is saved by a friend in the Jewish Ghetto Police.
Szpilman becomes a slave laborer working on the Aryan side, where he survives a random mass killing. Later, he helps other Jews by smuggling weapons into the ghetto. He manages to escape and goes into hiding with help from a friend. In April 1943, Szpilman observes the rise and fall of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from his window near the ghetto wall. After a year of hiding in that spot, he is discovered by a neighbor, and forced to move by his friend. In the second hiding spot, he is shown into a room with a piano but forced to keep quiet.
In August 1944, there was an attacking across the street from his hideout. A tank shells his apartment and is then forced to leave that hiding spot. Over the next couple of months, the city is destroyed and all the people leave except Szpilman. Szpilman is searching for shelter and supplies among the ruins. Later on, he is discovered by a police man, and the police man finds out his is a pianist. The police man asks him to play from him on the piano that wasn't destroyed from the fight. The police man allows him to hide out in the attic of the house, and brings Szpilman food regularly. As the war comes to an end, the police man promises to listen for him on the radio.
Elsewhere, former inmates of a concentration camp pass a Soviet prisoner of war camp for captured German soldiers and verbally abuse them, with one ranting that he used to be a violinist. The police man, now a prisoner, asks the violinist, if he knows Szpilman. The violinist says that he does and asks if Szpilman can return the favor. The violinist brings Szpilman to the site. Later, Szpilman performs in front of a large audience.
(The real Szpilman)
Comments
Well done Andrea!