Roman Polanski's adaptation of Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman's autobiography scooped an armful of accolades: the 2002 Palme d'Or, three Oscars, a brace of BAFTAs... It was a worthy winner all right - though more in terms of its subject matter than its quality.
The story of how renowned pianist Szpilman (Adrien Brody) was sent to a Warsaw ghetto when the Nazis invaded Poland - and then escaped, hiding out in an empty apartment as the war raged around him - it sees Polanski in unusually restrained mood. Such objectivity is remarkable considering his own mother was a Polish Jew who was killed in Auschwitz, but it also threatens to err on the side of Sunday-TV tasteful. There's no doubting Brody's input, though, his pained, pinched face holding the attention through long, wordless stretches.
DVD Extras:
No commentary from Polanski, but he's the main talking head in doc A Story Of Survival. While the helmer compares and contrasts his own World War Two trauma with that of Szpilman, Brody reveals a Day-Lewis-like devotion to keeping it real: before the shoot he ditched home and car, and starved himself. Equally underweight, this spartan two-discer has no more to add than pics, posters and a plug for the soundtrack.
