The motion picture,
The Pianist, is based upon the true life story of Wladyslaw Szpilman and his family. Mr. Szpilman was one of the most accomplished musicians in Poland before the Nazis attacked the country in 1939. The film does an excellent job of explaining why it became impossible for the Jewish people living in Europe to escape the Nazis and showcases the plight of hundreds of thousands of Jews forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto. What did you learn from the film that you did not know before?
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After watching "The Pianist" I realized just how helpless families were during this time. Even though they were desperate to stay together, it was basically impossible to support and feed all of them while trying to stay alive in the ghetto. There was one scene where a mother was running around the ghetto holding her dying son and begging for just a drop of water. Parents were desperate to keep their families intact. More often then not, families were torn apart. Kids were taken from their parents and they never saw each other again. I do not understand how the Nazi soldiers, and even the Jewish policemen, could be so heartless and cruel. Learning about the Jewish policemen was also a new piece of information for me. I had no idea that a substantial amount of Jews became "policemen" in hopes of protecting themselves and their families. However, in the end they were killed as well.
After watching the film "The Pianist" I learned the horors and the reality of what it was like living in the gehtos. It was impossible for the familes to stay together, and when they did it was trouble. One family got killed for no reason, they were gunned down. The Nazi's showed no mercy and killed anyone who they didn't like. This was a real tragedy and the text books dont give you a true understanding.
I learned that the Nazis forced Jews to live in harsh, cramped conditions and people were killed or beaten and left to die in the streets. I also realized that people would try to undercut Jews by offering significantly less money for their possessions, like the man who was trying to buy a hundred thousand dollar piano for a few hundred dollars. I also saw that there were Jewish police who took advantage of other Jews and followed orders of the Nazis. People were forced to starve so much so that they would eat food off the ground, and innocent kids and families were killed. Many of the people in the Warsaw ghetto were sent to die at Treblinka. I have come to realize that one should stand up for oneself and not go along with orders from others.
I was absent during this film.
I was absent during this film.
Before, the film I did not know about the Jewish police. I thought the Gestapo was the police force, and I wasn't aware that some Jews were assigned as policemen to regulate the laws; however, once again they were manipulated and were eventually killed along with the other Jews. I thought the film successfully portrayed life in the ghetto and the struggle to keep a family united.
For me, “The Pianist” created an image of what life was like for the Jews unlike any textbook or documentary I’d ever seen before. I learned just how ruthless the Nazi’s were in their treatment of the Jews, and how easy it was for them to kill. I learned about how some Jews became Jewish police in order to save themselves and their families, and had to commit murders and other crimes just like the Nazis. I also learned that it was nearly impossible for Jewish families to stay together or else they’d surely be killed. I was horrified by the fact that the Jewish police, among others, were aware of what was being done to the Jews and yet did nothing about it. This film made the starvation and suffering seem real, especially when the older Jewish man stole the old woman’s meal and ate it off the ground. It also showed how “immune” to death people in the ghettos had become, Jews included. This was evident by the fact that people no longer seemed horrified to step over a bodies on the street, even if it was that of a young child. Overall, this film was very enlightening as to what life was actually like for a Jew during that time period.
After watching the pianist, I learned the desperation people were faced with in the ghettos. It really got to me when the man ate the food off the ground and the woman smothered her own child to save him from starvation and misery. No one should have to make a choice like that. I also saw desperation with the Jewish police. its amazing that they were willing to do awful things to their own people in order to try and save themselves and their family. These people were all faced with hard choices and no clear answer.
I learned a lot while I was watching this film. Before I saw it, I didn't know that there were Jewish police in Warsaw. I had assumed that the Germans had just put the Jews in the ghetto, then left them there. Also, I was under the impression that none of the Jews had any money during the war. However, the scene where Wladislaw was playing the piano for the rich, I realized that some of them were able to escape the poverty. I don't know how, but i'm guessing that they had friends in the government. That's what I learned in from watching The Pianist.
While I was watching this movie, I found myself thinking about a book I read ages ago, called "Milkweed." It was about an orphan child in the Warsaw Ghetto, written through the eyes of the child. I remember things in that book like "Dr. Korczak," who was the man who took care of all the children in the Ghetto. The scene with the little kids following around the old man made me think of "Dr. Korczak" in Milkweed, and it made me realize what I was taking away from The Pianist. I had always heard of what went on inside the Warsaw Ghetto, and what type of atrocities took place. But, the Pianist really put this into visuals to me. It was different reading about the Warsaw Ghetto on a page compared to the actual visual representations of what went on there. I felt as though I was closer to what the characters in the movie were feeling, and that I could really get a sense of the hopelessness of the situation that I had not grasped previously.
Watching the "Pianist" I feel as though I learned a lot. All the stuff in the film was brand new to me it was something that an article or book can't describe. I actually understood the pain those people were feeling. It was a horrid thing to watch what the people of the ghettos had to go through. I shocked by that even having a work permit you were sent away, and there was nothing that could stop you from being taken away. I learned how terribly harsh the conditions were, how hungry those poor people were, and how family members were just dying left and right and you never know if that could be you next and they never have to have a reason to kill, it just happens. This movie put a lot of things into perspective to me and i understand so much, and hope i have the opportunity to finish it,
"The Pianist" taught me a lot about the harsh conditions of the ghettos. I never really had a full grasp of what happened in the ghetto, and this movie really opened my eyes. I never realized the extent of the awful conditions the Jewish people were placed under in the ghettos. This film introduced the Jewish police to me for the first time, and I found it hard to grasp that people would turn against each other in life or death situations. I also wasn't fully aware that the Nazi's would often come into ghettos and kill families for no reason. This film had an extremely large impact on me and left me thinking about it for a long time afterwards.
Before watching this movie, I didn't understand how harsh the conditions were in the ghettos. I always thought that the concentration camps were where most of the cruelty took place. I never realized the amount of suffering and the helplessness of these people before seeing this film. I learned how the Jewish police were aiding the Nazis, knowing full well what they were doing. The Jewish police shocked me; I was totally unaware that Jewish people were involved in the suffering of these people.
this film was very educational to me. I knew about the generality of the holocaust and ghettos in Germany, but I was not fully aware of the living conditions, locations, and the restrictions. The living conditions in the ghettos were terrible; specifically, the amount of dead bodies. the movie showed dead bodies lined in the streets, I never knew that the dead would just be left on the streets. I was also not aware that there were Jewish police. It was interesting to learn that some people would go against their own people. in the movie Wladyslaw Szpilman and his family were from Poland. I did not know that polish Jews were sent to ghettos.
when we first started watching the pianist I was surprised as to how the jews were treated in the ghettos. I always thought the conditions in the ghettos were not as bad as the concentration camps but this film showed me otherwise. Seeing how they were treated in the ghetto was hard to watch at some points. Even though it was just a movie seeing someone get killed knowing they were hopeless to stay alive is not a pleasant feeling. Although I was absent for the last part of the film I learned a lot about the ghettos that I didn't realize before.
I was not in class on monday when we finished the movie but from the clips i saw i was able to conclude a lot. The first thing that caught my eye was how quickly Nazi Germany was able to take over Poland and instill their radical beliefs amongst the entire country. Another thing that surprised was how ruthless the Nazi's were they persecuted and killed jews like it was nothing at all, and showing absolutely no remorse. The clip demonstrated this the best was where the Gestapo came into the Ghetto late at night and dropped the grandfather over the railing and killed the rest of the Jews that they sent out as target practice. It horrible that these criminal acts were legal and no one had the power or influence inside the Reich to do anything about it.
The two main things I didn't know before watching the film was the implementing of pick up crews, and the impact of the Jewish police and their outcome. I had no idea that bodies would lay on the roads for hours, maybe days and it was somebody's job to clean them up. That must have been one of the most scarring jobs in history. The Jewish police really gave me a weird feeling. I understand the motive to try to save their own families, but going up against your friends, neighbors, and people must have been unimaginable. I wouldn't be upset with the Jewish police because they did what they could to to help their family. It shows how brutal the Nazis were that even though these Jews went against their own people, they still ended up in camps and murdered.
I never knew that the Jewish police existed before watching the movie "The Pianist." I also learned just how bad the conditions were. I never knew that people would just die in the middle of the street and then not be picked up for days because there were too many bodies to clean up. I always knew that conditions were terrible, but I never realized just how bad they were. Seeing the film really put the information into perspective because physically reading documents is not always the best way to try to understand something. I had also thought that there was not that much violence or death in the ghettos because I assumed that it all took place inside the concentration camps. This movie made me feel even more disgusted with The Holocaust than I did before.
This film definitely opened my eyes to the harshness of the ghettos. One of the scenes that struck me the most is when the man mugged the old lady and knocked her food to the ground. I was shocked to see the man fall to his stomach and eat the food off the ground in such an urgent manner. Another thing that struck me was the harshness of the Jewish police. Th police were acting so violent towards their fellow Jews, people that they we're probably friends with or knew their whole lives for the sake of their own safety. I understand that people will do whatever it takes to survive but to see it with my own eyes is a completely different story.
I thought this film was great because it allowed me to see exactly what the Jews went through in ghettos. I knew how they suffered in the concentration camps and how before that they had their rights taken away. I didn't realize how severe the conditions were in the ghettos. I also learned more about the severity of the Nazi troops. I was horrified to see them kill innocent Jews at night. They were successful at creating fear in the Jews through murder and other violent acts. It was hard to watch. In addition, I learned that not all the Jewish people came together like I assumed they did. Some of them became Jewish policemen and were sometimes as cruel as the Nazis. I couldn't believe how they could act against people who were already being tortured, but at the same time I understand why they wanted to save themselves.
From the film I learned that death camps and concentration camps are different. I also learned that Jews were organized in segregated areas of cities called ghettos where it was very hard for them to find work and make money to buy food. I also learned that even before the Jews were segregated into ghettos they were segregated from shops, parks, and many other public places.
after watching this film it gave me more of a feel for what it was like to be a jew at this time. it really put you in the jews point of view. the terrable thing they did to the jews was really amazing i never knew how brutal they were. all i reaqlly knew about the gettos before the movie was that they were bad but i didnt think they were that bad to the point that they were comming in the middle of the night to kill your whole family for no reason. this movie really gave me a better understanding of what happend durring the holocost
when I watched the movie the pianist i liked watching the main character try to save his family. there were a lot of struggles against the jews and he did his best to survive them.
"After watching The Pianist I learned much more about the life of Jews during this time. Before this movie I did know about the Jewish Police and that even in the end they would get killed. I did not know that the Jewish Police had the right to come into a familys house take their stuff and even come right in and kill them. I also learned the difference between a death camp and a concentration camp. I thought they were all the same. I also did not know that people were left on the side of the road left to die. I was very surprised to see this. I learned a lot from this film."
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