Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Pianist - Period 2
The motion picture, The Pianist is the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman who was the most accomplished piano player in all of Poland, if not Europe, in the 1930s. This film does an excellent job of explaining why it became impossible for the Jewish people living in Europe to escape the Nazis and what happened to them during the Holocaust. Post a reflective comment about the film and respond to at least one other student’s comment. Post is due at the end of the day.
Mr. Gallagher
22 comments:
I have seen parts of the pianist mainly during sophmore year but forgot a lot of it. It was hard for me to remember many of the scenes that I saw in the past. But, after seeing the opening scene I ended up remembering every key scene and anticipated what was going to happen next. To my surprise I was still in shock everytime I saw a violent and disturbing scene as if it was something I was seeing for the first time. The movie really keeps you attached to the characters and the situations they have to go through. What I really learned and saw was how the Jewish people were tried. I always thought that they kept the Jews in a stable enviroment so they wouldn't anticipate what would happen next but the film described the Nazi soldiers as being disrespectful and treating the Jews as animals even before they were sent to the death camps. I am looking forward to seeing more of the film and seeing what happens next because I have never seen the movie to the end.
-Saqib Zahid
well i thought the movie was really sad. at first what they did to the jews i didnt think it was that bad because they were just being segregated form other people. but then when they started to embarress them and treat them like dirt in front of other people, hitting them for no valuable reason. they were even told that thye could not have more than 2-3k in thier house hold. they were also being killed for the hell of it. Soldiers would breach and raid thier houses cause they were jews. that jsut represented how cruel and unjust Germany was to "Minorities".
The comment above is Mine !!!!!!!!!!!
Kevin H. MIne!!!!!
As saqib had stated, I too have watched this movie in a previous year with Mr. Gallagher, remembering the hardships the Jewish people were faced with. It is a heartbreaking film to watch however I do feel that it captures the true lifestyle of the Jews during the Holocaust. The intence imagery makes it difficult for a view to watch. I rememberd that the last time I watched this movie I almost cried when the Nazis threw that man in the wheelchair out his window, and again this time, wanted to do so. The film is so realistic that the view is filled with so many facts about all the occurences during the tragic events and keeps the attention of many wondering what will happen next. Although I have watched this movie before, I am in no denile of watching it again because like Mr. Gallagher said, everytime you watch a movie, you learn more and more.
~Jillisa S.
Well i have seen the pianist before but every time it remains just as shocking and gruesome. i feel that the film is necessarily brutal because it shows the dispicable things that the gestapo and the nazis did to the jewish people. it wasnt as though they were just calling the jews names and shoving them around. the gestapo and the nazis were murdering the jews, herding them like cattle into their pens. It really brings the situation and its severity to light because it shows you what it was like .. and shows you the hardships that the pianist's family had to go through, the things they saw every day and the struggle that they had to survive.
i agree with jilisa and saquib. the movie really does keep you involved and kindof throws that facts in your face. it is definately a film that sticks with you.
I have seen "The Pianist" many times before. Each time I watch it, I pick up on new details that add to the overall meaning. I agree with Cat that the film is necessarily brutal, in order to convey the effect the writer/director wanted the film to have on the audience. I find it very emotional to watch all of the horrible realities that the Jews faced during the Holocaust, and I know as we watch more of the movie, I will carry on that heart-wrenching feeling that I had today. I believe that this film is extremely important to our curriculm and our personal knowledge in preventing genocide and prejudice.
i have also watched this movie in previous years. i agree with jillisa when she says she wants to cry every time i see them throw the old man off the balcony . its so disturbing to watch and sad to see yet it is the harsh reality of how the jews were treated in the 1930s. they were beaten humiliated and rejected. its sad to think that people could treat a human being this way i could never imagine this happening today even though it is in certain ways with day to day racism.
- - melissa B
I have seen the pianist before yet like Saquib I too react to every scene of violence with shock and disgust even though I have seen the movie before. Despite knowing what will happen to the Jews, it is still incredibly heart wrenching the way the Jews were treated. The complete and upmost disrespect the Nazis had for the Jews makes me realize that the Nazis really did not view the Jews as humans. The movie truly gives me a glimpse of what horrors the Jews went through because of how deeply attached the viewer feels towards the Szpilman family.
Victor Z.
Jallisa points out that every time she watches the film she takes a lot of value from it. This is an important idea because it brings up the topic of denial. As I was watching it, I too felt awful and like I wanted to just escape from the room because it was so disturbing. I had to leave the room and I was walking the halls. I was thinking about how we are so sheltered as kids. I thought that no one should be sheltered from this kind of awful violence because it is necessary to see. We are too sheltered. Talking about the film to my friend after school I said that we watched an upsetting film and she said Ew that’s awful and I said it was awful, but it has too be seen because its history. And that I think is the point here. History has to be seen no matter how awful it is.
When I say we are too sheltered I mean that there is SOOO many TERRIBLE things that happen in the present and that have happened in the past. And I can speak for myself that I’m 18 years old and basically the worst thing I’m informed about or haven’t been sheltered from is my family’s own problems (which could definitely be worse.) Basically I don’t really know about what its like to experience anything bad and I haven’t been taught or informed either. Certainly, I hear about the terribly sad things that happen to other people, but at this point in my life I would say I’ve been sheltered from everything bad. All negative things can provide so much to learn from. Its like learning from your mistakes. Obviously I don’t mean depress us all but there has to be a more healthy balance than what we have now. So if we were more informed about negative things we would be much more well-equipped to handle things in our lives. I certainly don’t think that there would be clicks of people being mean to each other in our school. I don’t think kids would get made fun of as much. All these small little negatives about us as the youth could be eliminated if we were more informed about what is important in life and how bad things can get. Like that man getting thrown off the balcony while sitting in his wheelchair. That’s f ed up and the thing is that things that bad happen so often. We just don’t hear about it. It would make us have a much better perception of what we should value.
-Zack L.
I viewed this movie many times but yet every time I watch it again I can’t prepare myself for the horrific atrocities that acure during this movie. This movie however is extremely necessary because it doesn’t allow us to forget the atrocities that people suffered under the Nazi’s. This movie also does a great job explaining why the Jews didn’t flee when the Nazi's came which is something that for a person now a days to understand.
-mike L.
I have to agree with Zach. We as students are really sheltered and even though must of us don't have any idea of how these people suffered we can still learn from what has happened and although we can't change the past we can prevent things like this from happening in the future.
-mike L.
After watching the pianist today, I left class in shock. Even though, like many of us in the class, I have seen this movie before, it was haunting to see it all over again. The movie, as sad as it is, is so effective because it seems so real. They dont try to gloss over anything that's unpleasant. The movie made me think the rest of the day about how the rest of society could let this go on. One of the most disturbing things to me were the jewish police. The thought of turning your back on your own group for self preservation could be seen as a smart thing, but in this case it was one of the saddest parts of the movie for me. The courage these people had was amazing. It was hard enough to just get through a day at work, let alone try to escape Nazi germany.
I agree with Zack that we are too sheltered but I also think that we are shown terrible things every day, and that some things just dont seem to phase people anymore. I had some people ask what was wrong in my next class and I couldn't adequately describe what we'd just watched. Sometimes its necessary to see unpleasant things. I watch the 10 o clock news some nights and the stories on late at night are some of the saddest things I've ever heard. I definitely think that kids should be presented with hard information so that we can learn from it, and that many of us, myself included, would rather shelter ourselves than tune in for that report on teen violence. Or read the newspaper article about a school shooting. As Mr. Gallagher said, he wasn't even taught about the Holocaust in school. We've come a long way since then but its still important to try to get people to understand the problems that we all face, and understand history so that we dont make the same mistakes.
- Clarissa S
In the motion picture, The Pianist, I was moved deeply. I now see why it was in fact nearly impossible for the Jewish people to escape Europe while the Nazis occuppied it. I thought it was disgusting the way the Nazi people made the Jewish people dance, how they killed, or rather murdered, innocent children and old men. And the living conditions they sentenced them to were unsanitary. I really just do not understand how another person could do that to a fellow being. After seeing this movie I agree with Clarissa and Zack by how sheltered we are today in the world we live in.
Colleen Hester
There are countless moments in this movie that everytime I watch them, my stomach drops. The child being beaten as he was stuck in the face, soldiers punching an old man, soldiers throwing a crippled man off a balcony because he physically couldn't follow their orders to stand - they're all disgustingly unbelievable. A part that sticks vividly in my mind is the incident when the Nazis force the Jewish people to dance in the streets. While this isn't physically abusive, it still leaves a permanent mark. It's sickening to watch them pubically humiliate people like they're nothing. I was also disturbed by the old man stealing the women's food and then eating it off the floor. That showed the low level that people went to in order to get food.
I think Zack L. made a good point that a lot of us as kids are sheltered. This movie should most definitely be shown to all students to open their eyes to what can happen when the wrong people come to power. Like Lauren said, this is definitely a very important of the curriculum of this course.
Hannah R.
In the pianist i have never seen it before today many of the things in this film schockeed me. How they got into the ghettos and how quickly they locked um into those areas is facinating but also disgusting on the other part. How some group of people could treat humans like that is awful anyone who has feelings would have thought about what they are doing but they had no control. Thw Jews were unable to run because they got them into the ghettos so fast and kept them in also there was no word about going to the ghettos except like the day before but it was to late for anyone to get out. This just is awful to watch how people were treated so poorly and how it should have been stopped.
I agree with victo how i am schocked at every violence scene that comes up and also how you get attached to the family and can feel there pain.Also how the Nazis really don't treat Jews like people.
The movie The Pianist was very eye opening for me. Just seeing a few clips from the movie has made a major impact on me already. It has made a major impact on me because I think of everytime I made fun of someone because of their race or I called someone retarded or stupid, and then I think about what happened to the Jewish people. I think about the Jewish people and how they were forced to be seperated by everyone, and were forced to wear the star of David on their arms to show that they were Jewish. Also in the movie when a wall was built to keep Jews and Germans seperated. I can now see why it was so hard for the Jewish people to escape the Nazi's and how the Jews were so afraid that they would be the next family that was killed.
I agree with what Hannah said in how during the movie there are so many moments that your stomach drops, and you just feel disgustated that Hitler was able to do this along with all the Nazi's.
-Brittany Murphy
I thought that the movie was extremely good at portraying how it felt to be a Jew during the holocaust. The fear that was instilled in the Jewish people was immense as the Nazis ran their lives and constantly passed laws making it harder for them to live. I thought the part where the old man was thrown off the balcony was extremely tough to watch because he was so helpless and the Nazis so ruthless. I agree with Matt D,the violence and brutalities this film shows are a sharp reminder of just how bad the Jews were treated.
Kyle D
Looking back on the Holocaust, it is easy to say that we would have stood up against the Nazis. But in reality, and as the movie portrays, it is incredibly difficult to go against what everyone is doing. Fear truly is the number one motivator. When someone holds a gun to your head, there are not many things you won't do to survive. Zack makes a good point by mentioning the importance of kids like us seeing this film. We do not face problems like the Jews did during the Holocaust, and we would otherwise not understand what it was like for them without this film. I have seen the movie a few times and it never gets easier to watch.
Watching a movie of that magnitude gave me a lot to think about. Just to watch a movie that was based on a true story, and then to see that terrible images that are provided was very disturbing. The film, however vulgar and grousome, provides a great insight into life in Nazi Germany. Agreeing with what Zack said, growing up in the small suburban town of Westborough, a lot of us have never experienced anything like that. We all have problems, but the issues that the Jews faced in Germany are uncomparable. As tough as it was to watch the movie, it gave me a better sense into reality as a Jew. The utmost disrespect and treatment that the Jews recieve was dispicable. Its upsetting to think that this movie actually provides some justice to the treatment that Jewish people recieved in Nazi Germany.
-Dan F.
Watching a movie of that magnitude gave me a lot to think about. Just to watch a movie that was based on a true story, and then to see that terrible images that are provided was very disturbing. The film, however vulgar and grousome, provides a great insight into life in Nazi Germany. Agreeing with what Zack said, growing up in the small suburban town of Westborough, a lot of us have never experienced anything like that. We all have problems, but the issues that the Jews faced in Germany are uncomparable. As tough as it was to watch the movie, it gave me a better sense into reality as a Jew. The utmost disrespect and treatment that the Jews recieve was dispicable. Its upsetting to think that this movie actually provides some justice to the treatment that Jewish people recieved in Nazi Germany.
-Dan F.
Matt V.
I will be using a homework pass on this assignment.
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