Wednesday, December 16, 2009
"The Pianist" - Period 1
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.
20 comments:
Watching the movie, The Pianistn has changed my perspective on how the Germans rounded up the Jewish community. All the stories, articles, and documentarys and that I have seen don't convey the systematic nature that the Germans took away the rights of the Jewish community and than eventually sent them to extermination camps. One of my biggest questions while learning about this was why didn't the Jewish people just leave, but by seeing this movie it really explains the plight of the Jewish people, they didn't have much chance of escape and were at the whim of the Germans and Poles at all times.
I fount this film to be one of the most powerful we have watched thus far. Unlike the documentaries about he holocaust which speak of the atrocities commited by the Nazis, this film does a very good job of depicting the horrors faced by the Jews. Actually seeing the acts commited by the Nazis is much more impactful. It would take a heartless individual to not feel sympathy and disgust in response to seeing what the Jews went through. As of now, I feel that the most impactful seen of the movie was the one in which the Nazis interrupt a family's dinner to through a man in a wheel chair off a balcony and kill the rest of the family. The disregard for human life displayed by the Nazis was terrible.
This movie really stuck with me because of the powerful scenes in it and its portrayal of the destruction that was done to the Jews. I think that this movie did a really good job of displaying just how heartless the Nazi’s were toward the Jews. I agree with Max and that it takes an incredibly heartless person to just be able to consciously destroy someone’s life by mercilessly killing either them or a member of their family. By following the life of one family, you are able to really side with the family and feel what they’re feeling. You are able to sympathize with the Jews and not only see the cruelness of the Nazi’s open up in front of you but actually feel the brutality as well.
I was very disturbed after watching this film. It was difficult seeing how brutal the Nazis were and how helpless the jewish community was. I agree with Chris when he described how "The Pianist" showed the true nature of the Nazis. I also think that Max is correct in saying how powerful this movie was. I was so surprised to see people killed mercilessly, without reason, and so violently. I could not believe how the Nazis treated Jewish people who did not cooperate "perfectly".
Prior to seeing this film, I always thought that there had to be somebody on the opposing side to the Nazis, on the side of the Jews. I see now that the Jews had only themselves to rely on.
The blonde woman, who was obviously not Jewish, was also aware of the obscene, disgusting, and heartless nature of the Nazis. I did not expect her to do anything against the actions, but it was also good to know that not every non-Jew was in favor of the Nazis.
Its odd, you would think that a documentary would be able to drive the point home about how terrible the conditions were in Nazi Germany, but nothing has stuck with me as vividly as the scene in that movie when the family is evicted and told to run in the street, only to be shot in the backs. It was heartbreaking to say the least. Honestly I was still a little confused as to why they didn't leave Warsaw, especially as they saw things get worse and worse. The only reason I could find was when they were listening to the radio, saying that with the war declared these conditions wouldnt last forever.
Even though the documentaries we have watched in class are real people and their experiences, this movie answered a lot of questions i had about the Nazis. It is a powerful movie so far and does a great job of depicting what the jews went through. One of the biggest unanswered questions i had was why the Jews didnt just leave Germany and Poland and this film has made that more clear to me. I agree with Max that seeing how the Nazi;s treated the Jews and watching what they did, torchering and systematicly takiong away every right they had was much more powerful than just hearing people talk about it.
Before this movie I though I had seen everything I needed to see about Nazi Germany, and I was wrong. All the documentaries and interviews that we've seen so far describe how bad the Jewish community was treated during this time but you don't actually picture it in your head up untill this point. I agree with Max that "The Pianist" does show a true depiction of the Nazi and how they took the command to exterminate all Jews. Like Lyndsey and Rebecca mentioned, the Nazi's were so merciless. The dinner scene with the handicapped man is definately so far the most impacting scene we gave yet seen. However on top of that I thought the scene with the father walking on the sidewalk stopped by the Nazi soldiers was pretty significant. I knew that the Nazi's treated them as so to only make their lives miserable but what dint make any sense was hitting him for not bowing down then making the old man walk on the road. There's clearly no sense in that action. The Nazi's truely found every way possible to degrade a human being to the smallest sense.
I always knew that the way the Nazis took over Germany was done in a process but to see the way they slowly took steps to dehumanize the Jews and take away their rights blew my mind. I agree with Rebecca that this movie really shows how cruel the Nazis were to the Jews, they didn't value their lives at all. When they threw the man in the wheel chair over the balcony and when they shot the young girl in the head over asking a question, I was shocked and disturbed. It was unreal to see the way Jews were treated like moneys and being forced to dance. This film brings to life the way the Jews were treated so it's not just words but people that you are seeing and you can relate to them, it really makes you pay attention to just how bad some of the jews were treated.
This movie is a cut about the rest. All the other movies this year, as far as ones having to do witht he Holocaust, have not had nearly the impact that the beginning of this movie has had on me. Even just the scene with the family with the old man in the wheelchair was enough to feel so many emotions. For one, a severe hatred for the Nazi's and what they decided to do to people. For another, the pain and sympathy for the families that had any affects from the Nazi's, which was unfortunatly too many. I want so to see more of this film and to see what happens to the pianist and his family. I walked away from the film with an impact which will stay with me for a while. I also walked away from the film with a deeper understanding of the pain that, again, too many families feel in relation to the Holocaust, and for that matter, any genocide. I think this is a film that everyone should see at some point in their lives, among many, many more.
I agree with Chris in that my perspective of how the Germans executed the Holocaust has changed because the Pianist shows exactly how it happened. I never really knew that it was such a gradual change I just assumed that it all happened at once. After watching a portion of the Pianist today it got me wondering how families that were being treated this way didn't rebel more often. It doesn't seem like its worth living your life if your basically going to be a puppet to the Nazi guards and do whatever they say. The life of each Jewish person was in the hands of the Nazis and at any moment a Jew's life could be taken away. I think it would be worth at least trying to rebel rather than just sitting around and letting another country come in and enslave you.
I also agree with Kruse when he said that this is the most influential and powerful film we've seen so far. Even though the other documentaries had people that actually experienced the Holocaust and we saw how they were affected, The Pianist actually shows us what happened. Although it isn't real footage its not hard to watch the movie and imagine that the horrible things that are happening in the film actually happened to people.
Correction: I agree with MAX KRUSE
I completly agree with Max Kruse. Actually seeing what the attrocities commited by the Germans was like made a much larger impact on me than just hearing about it in a documentary.
It is one thing to read about how the Nazis killed Jews, but it is quite another thing to actually see it; the scene where the Nazis threw the old man in the wheelchair off of the balcony because he couldn’t stand up was absolutely chilling. It showed just how heartless the Nazi’s could be, and angered me because I know that many crimes committed by Nazi soldiers went unpunished.
I agree with Max that The Pianist is one of the most powerful movies that we have viewed to date, especially because the film does such an excellent job illustrating exactly what happened to the Jews of Warsaw.
Nimish Sahani
Watching this movie, how the Germans treated the the Jewish people. how they were killing everyone didn't care about anything, making them dance making fun of them. treating them like they were living in gutters. i just hated how the Germans made all these new laws and rules for the Jewish coummunity. i think by watching this movie it has changed alot of views on the Germans.
Many scenes in this movie are very disturbing to me in the way they depict the utter desparity of the jews in their attempts to cooperate with the Gestapo, in order to be spared punishment. You could see the fear in every Jew's eyes that made them dance when the officer told them to, and the hunger that drove the old man in the street to eat an old woman's food off the ground. The things the nazi police did could only be labeled as atrocities, especially the scene where the officer told everybody to stand up, and because this old man happened to be crippled and UNABLE to stand, the officer just FELT like throwing him off the balcony, 3 stories down to his death... wow, just saying it conjures up so many thoughts about what i would like to say to the maggot that committed that awful, hateful, terrible act...
The above comment was made by Dave Rowe.
watching the film as well i agree with max kruse, this flm i powerful. while watching it it made me feeel terrible bout what was happening with the jews and questionable as well of why did the jews stay and not flee away from the germans. This film gves me a much beter understand of how the jaws felt then the nazi film watched the other day. All day i couldnt get this movie out f my head the part where th german invaded some jews apartments and threw and old man over the banister because he couldnt walk. then made them run into thest to dodge some bullets.
I agree with Rebecca and monicca this film stayedwith methrough out the day nd made me think of nly one qustion is Why?. A partt that stood out to m wasa women getting shot in the head just bausese asked the german soldeir where was they taking them. this isa vry trng film and its givng mea more better view of what the jewish people wen through.
I believe this film does an excellent job of representing both what it was like for the individual to be a Jew in Nazi Germany, and also for what it was like in the larger scope of things for all Jews. It really helped me understand how the Jews slowly having their freedom taken away, and I also realized how effective the Germans plan was, despite how horrible it was.
I agree with Tim about how much more effective this film was at evoking strong emotions than a information rich documentary. I believe that this was in part due to the excellent acting but also due to the realism and absurdity it was able to show at the same time.
Post a Comment