Thursday, April 14, 2011

PERIOD 3 - "THE PIANIST"

The motion picture, The Pianist is the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman who was the most accomplished piano player in Poland, if not all of 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 the plight of hundreds of thousands of Jews living in Warsaw. Post a reflective comment about the film.

26 comments:

Jack said...

This film as a whole is a truely amazing story. I was very disapointed that we were not able to finish but the message was clear. The jewish people were put in a terrible position with no room to change. There was no law to protect these people thus they were at the wimb of the nazi storm troopers. The pianist story shows the true terror experienced by so many people in the warsaw ghetto and allowed are class a better veiw into the tragedys that occured threw these hostile years. I am very interested to see what happens next and I will be sure to rent the film.

Ricky Packer said...

The film did a good job at showing how gradual the change was from freedom to death over the war years, and how the Jews in the ghetto became hardened and used to it, looking out only for themselves or their immediate family. It is very hard to imagine what it would have been like to be trapped, waiting for the Allies, without any practical way to escape. I reccomend the second part of the film to anybody who has not seen it. I thought the film was very well done, although I thought "Schindler's List" was even more powerful.

Nicky Simard said...

This film had me captured in the experience the pianist was going through. I, myself, am a musician and play the piano, flute, and guitar and it was really hard for me to watch someone with great talent be treated poorly and be branded just by being a part of the Jewish religion. This film showed the obstacles a jewish person had to confront daily. Their struggle in finding food and water as well as avoiding the Nazi troops and Jewish police. I could not believe how accustomed the people became to death arround them. Everyone was soley focused on their instinct of survival and would do anything they possibly could in order to live another day. I became emotional while watching this film. And I feel the more I watch about this tragic event, the more I will understand about people and try to be the best person I can be and to help those who are less fortunate than I am no matter the consequence.

Andy Tabb said...

I thought that this movie did a fantastic job of letting the viewer see what it was like to be a Jew during this period of time. They were living in fear, and had no idea what was going to happen to them. They had no food, water, or money; all they had was their family. I can't even begin to imagine living like they did. One of the things from the film that stood out to me the most was when one of the Jewish women asked a Nazi what was going to happen to them, and the Nazi just shot her like it was nothing. He didn't even react, he just continued directing the Jews around.

Nick E said...

In response to Andy's comment, I do was also shocked that the Nazi officer just shot the Jewish woman for merely asking a question. All she wanted to know was where she was going. The officer could just have simply lied to her or ignored her. The fact that he shot her without hesitation is a clear indication of Hitler's absolute control over his troops. In the officer's mind, the woman was probably not a human being on their "level of evolution". She wasn't part of the "Aryan race" as the Germans called it; and therefore it was completely acceptable to for the Nazi officer to murder an unarmed Jewish woman. That scene was a very disturbing to me. But overall, I think that the movie did an excellent job at revealing what life was like at the Warsaw ghetto.

Berit Bancroft said...

"The Pianist" was a hard film for me to watch. The Jewish people were treated very poorly. This film made the experience of the Jewish people very real to me. I was in disbelief when the Nazi soldier shot the woman in the head for asking a question and then when one of them beat the old man to death with his gun. I cant imagine what these people must have gone through but it made me want to find out more and rent the film.

Berit Bancroft said...

I agree with Nicky about the fact that I was shocked how people could just walk around the dead bodies in the streets as if they weren't even there. The whole thing was just extremely difficult to watch.

Natalie Donabedian said...

Unfortunately, I missed the majority of the film but from what I saw, I can really say that it changed my perspective about the Holocaust and made the harsh reality of it stick out a lot more. That last scene we saw when the old man was getting beaten to death by a policeman's gun made me very upset. I couldn't watch. Some horrific things happened during the Holocaust.

Natalie Donabedian said...

I agree with Nicky's statement that the people became accustomed to the death around them. They walked past dead bodies on the streets and seemed to think nothing of it because it was just something they saw so often.

Tony Silva said...

I thought the film The Pianist was a great way of showing how the jews were truly treated during the 1930's. We often read about it or see documentaries, but this film painted a picture that was very clear and showed how miserable that time truly was.

Tony Silva said...

I agree with Jack that this film was truly an amazing story.

Andrew_Lipke said...

The film did a very good job at showing how humans will instinctivly focus on the survival of themselves and immediate family, and everyone is almost avoided. It also does a very good job at show the deterioration of human rights during the time. Its a shame that we didn't finish the movie, it is quite well made.

Isaiah Mutesasira said...

I found the movie "the pianist" to be a very inspirational and moving picture. it displayed the struggle that all jews rich or poor had to go through and the hardships of keep a family together during the holocaust. The part that gt me the most was when the lady got shot in the face just for asking where the saoldiers wre taking them and also people laying in the streets dead and being step over because they were used to it.

Andrew_Lipke said...

I also aagree with Ricky about how the Jewish community became hardend to the devastation and death, as if it was just normal after a while.

Brenton Croteau said...

In the film "The Pianist", following the lives of Mr. Spellman's family provides insight as to the process by which the Jewish people were executed. At first, all the people needed were working papers and they would be safe. Gradually, as Ricky said, life became more and more dangerous for the Jews. Eventaully, they were confined to the Warsaw ghetto where many were executed. The film does a good job showcasing the uncertainty that many faced. They did not know what would become of them. The Nazis gradually tricked the Jewish people to their deaths. It shows the many injustices. For example, the Jewish police that aided in killing their own.

clark masterson said...

The pianist is a very sad but inspirational movie. Even in the midst of death in the Warsaw ghetto, many jews managed to keep faith when their fates had already been sealed. Reduced to beggars by the Nazis, it is a testament to their strength that they continued to drag on and on even though they knew of their imminent deaths. The violence experienced every day must have been interolerable. It is horrific that a group of people could do such terrible thing to another group and feel not the slightest bit of remorse.

Ellen Donahue said...

I thought this movie was incredibly powerful yet difficult to watch. I think that the part that stuck out the most to me was when a man stole an elderly woman's soup and she walked away sobbing. It shows how these things just became common place because no one even attempted to stop him.

Ellen Donahue said...

I agree with Clark that it was terrifying to watch people be so cruel and heartless. It seemed natural to them, which is unnerving. It made me uncomfortable at multiple points.

Dan underwood said...

I agree with jack that The Pianist was an amazing story. This film did a wonderful job of depicting the horrors of the Warsaw ghetto, and how people were forced to live in it. I thought the scene when the Jews were being led onto the trains was very descriptive, as it is hard to imagine something like that actually happening.

Gabby King said...

The parts of the movie that we saw were very good and also very sad and depressing. Seeing the way the Jews were treated was awful and the violence was hard to watch. This movie shows the harsh reality of what actually happened to the Jews when the Nazis invaded Poland.

Gabby King said...

I agree with Berit. I was so shocked when the Nazi shot the woman in the head just for asking a simple question. I was in disbelief when he killed her so quickly and easily.

Chris said...

This film was so powerful and memorable the director is amazing. He really showed a true depiction of how cruel the Jews were treated and did not shy away from gory and bloody scenes that make viewers cring. I admire the family that is shown in this story fir managing to stay so united and strong during that time even though they had to continuously face harsh obstacles. I am so angry we did not get to finish it. This film really conveyed the terror that the Jews had to live in.

Chris said...

I agree with Berit's comment about how this movie was hard to watch. One scene in particular really stood out to me. It was when the Jews were waiting to cross the street and the officers made them dance as they mocked and laughed at them. The soldiers even made a crippled man dance and they just stood there and laughed at him as he stumbled about and then eventually face planted into the ground. It was so cruel and I am puzzled aout how anyone would even find that funny.

Fernando Silva said...

The Pianist was a very interesting movie, because we saw how the Nazis affected the Jewish people mot only in Germany, but also in the neighboring countries. If the German Jews escaped to the neighboring countries, they still would have been caught in the unjust and cruel treatment of the Nazi government. We also got to see how the conditions in the ghettos were, and imagining how painful it was to live in the place.

Fernando Silva said...

I agree with Jack, the movie portrays the terror, and horrible conditions that the people in the Ghettos lived in. This movie made me more interested in what actually happened in in the camps, and how the Nazis forced the people to do what they wanted.

Steph Debs said...

I was absent on this day.