The scene that almost brought tears to my eyes ( I say almost cause my dad was next to me and i thought it would be embarassing) and my heart sank was when the russians star shooting at Szpilman and with his last remaining piece of strength his shouts out "i'm polish" and they ask him why u wearing that coat and he says "I'm Cold". That entire scene i was like "dont shoot him please" in my head
shareScenes of brutal murder aside, I would say one of the most moving scenes for me is when Szpilman was made to play the piano for the German officer at the end.
Szpilman put his soul into that piece, and you can almost feel the shame that the officer felt as he watched Szpilman playing, knowing the horrors of what the Germans did to Szpilman's family and friends.
ITA with both these posts - what also really got me in these scenes was how Szpilman clung for dear life to the tin of pickles that he'd found. He was undoubtedly starving, however I also saw it as symbolic of his fight to stay alive.
shareto me it's the scene where he and halina was walking to the train and the he said "i wish i'd known you better" that line just makes me so sad ..
shareThe scene with the tin of vegetables was so heart breaking, he clung on to that for dear life even with a German officer right in front of him. Its really something else.
shareThe Most heartbreaking scene was when they threw a man in a wheelchair off a balcony i actually felt it and it was just horrible to watch
shareAgreed, that was the scene that stood out for me...I was thinking the German officer was thinking about the countless dead that too had talent, i.e. meaning.
shareI think in that scene, the German Officer was feeling melancholy, nostalgically mourning the loss of everything beautiful in his world, like art & music, that made life worth living. Just think about how ugly and cold the world had become, even for the Nazis. War brings out the worst, ugliest, most repulsive and hateful in human beings. I think he gave the pianist a chance because he wanted to keep some small secret shred of beauty for himself. I think he continued to help him, because he wanted to absolve some of his guilt over the destruction of so much beauty, by preserving that small shred of it. It was an act of repentance. Perhaps a way to save his soul from going straight to hell.
shareThat is a brilliant perspective, Mermaid. I was thinking the same thing..... Except not nearly as articulate... That war turns a perfectly imperfect human-- complete with compassion and understanding-- into a disgusting minion.. What a brilliant scene to a very moving picture.....
shareIMO, the most moving scene had to be when the man ripped the pan of food (or something that was supposed to constitute food) out of the woman's hands in the Warsaw ghetto. Then when the food falls to the floor, the desperation to not waste it is so strong that he starts to lick it off the concrete- while the woman breaks down into a panic....the desperation of the scenario coupled with fact that things like this were most likely a "normal" occurrence in the ghetto- just look at all the children who could do nothing but helplessly starve to death in the streets- was unbelievably heart wrenching to me.
shareBeautiful reflection!
They make it seem that way in the movie, but Hosenfeld was actually a hider of Jews and Polish people throughout the war. His high rank helped him get important papers and even jobs for many of them, and in 2008 he was given a Righteous People of the Nations award by the State of Israel, an award which was also given to Oskar Schindler. He "gave the pianist a chance" because he helped Jews whenever he could anyway, though I'm sure he did find the piano playing lovely and grieved the other Jewish dead as well.
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*That* comment of yours is the one that makes sense here. :)
shareThe scene where he is watching his pregnant female friend playing the cello through the half open door.
He's not just watching a woman playing the cello; he's looking at the life he could have had that has been lost - the marriage he could have had, the child he could have had, the love he could have had, the simple human peace he could have had. The enormity of that loss is hitting him very hard as he watches her.
A subtle yet very powerful scene in a brilliant movie.
You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.
The moment I mostly found touching is when Dorota opens the door and she is so suprised to see him, and confused as well.
There you get the greate sense of injustice for what happened to her as well, her love and plans taken away with violence beyond the point of no return.
It reminded me of the similar estranged feeling from Helen Hunt's character in Cast Away.
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Say what again. SAY WHAT AGAIN. I dare you, I double dare you, motherf*r! Say what one more goddamn time!
The German officer giving Szpilman food, then him going back to his hiding sapce, discovering that the officer gave him a huge loaf of bread and a large amout of jelly. And the look on Szpielmans face after he tastes it with his finger.
Then the caption that says all that is known of the German officer is, he died in a Soviet labor camp, in the 50's.
One ounce of humanity, in absolute hell.
And the part, in one of his early hiding spaces, where he has a piano, but can't play it, so he runs his fingers over the keys, as if he was.
"You people voted for Hubert Humphries! And you killed Jesus!" - Raoul Duke
I really liked the scene where he climbed over the fence and saw that everything was bombed. it was very good directing. Love the camera work
shareTo me the most moving scene was when the Zpielman family shared the little candy piece at the little camp they were on. So moving.
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Him crying walking down the street after his family is forced to get on the train.
shareWell, for me it was towards the end of the movie.The scene where a friend of Szpilman walked passed through a bunch of Nazis detained inside the barbed wire after they had been defeated.He threw his fit and spat them.Among them was a German prisoner, who turned out to be Hosenfeld,Captain Wilm Hosenfeld who had helped Szpilman before.He then,walked to him and begged him to get Szpilman.You could see the expression on Spilzman's friend face when he promised to help him out.I choke when I saw that scene
My favorite has to be the scene before yours, when he is playing the piano in the radio station and he has tears in his eyes and he smiles. Wow, what a scene, Adrien sir you are truly a gifted actor. I must have been screaming at the TV during the scene with the German coat, lol my parents thought I was going insane. I was screaming "leave the coat, leave the coat, they are going to shoot you."
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For me it was the tiny scene when all the Jews are in that huge courtyard and there's that small girl who's lost her bird; even though she only had that tiny, small thing the circumstances she was in had taken it away from her. Just the little things like that push the film off the edge for me.
Believing in God is a gamble. If you win you gain all. If you lose you lose nothing.
the bird scene kills me every time! i also can barely make it through the scene when the woman in the ghetto has her food stolen by the man and he is so far beyond any sense of shame or pride, he falls to the ground and eats it off the dirty cobblestones like an animal, and she is crying and weakly hitting him. i just think of her having to go home and have no food for a couple of nights at least.
also when he is struggling with the pickle jar or whatever the preserved food is, just the way that he clings to it like it's a baby or something, he carries it around with him and tries so hard to open it
I think the most significant scene for me was when the German officer gave Szpilman his coat. Up until that point you could have said his actions were done out of sympathy for a poor, tattered Jewish man, but really it was well beyond that. There was something very touching about that scene. Great movie!
shareI thought it moving when Spzilman saw the German officer, at war's end, sitting behind the barbed wire, and recognizing him, and then walking away, feeling totally helpless on the one hand, yet relieved that there is some small measure of justice for the hell the Jews of Poland have been through.
And then returning later to that exact same spot is etched into my memory when remember this film.
There are many, but one that stayed with me was the officers shoving a pregnant woman into the train. And the old man behind her said to the officer "Careful, she's pregnant" (or something like that) and the officer casually just turns around, shoots the old man, and then just goes about his business.
Worse, he smashes him on the back of the head with the butt of his gun until the old man is dead and his corpse is dragged away.
I thought it moving when Spzilman saw the German officer, at war's end, sitting behind the barbed wire, and recognizing him, and then walking away, feeling totally helpless on the one hand, yet relieved that there is some small measure of justice for the hell the Jews of Poland have been through.
"I thought it moving when Spzilman saw the German officer, at war's end, sitting behind the barbed wire, and recognizing him, and then walking away, feeling totally helpless on the one hand, yet relieved that there is some small measure of justice for the hell the Jews of Poland have been through"
"Um...I mean no offense but what on earth are you talking about? Is that like an alternate ending of the movie that I wasn't aware of?"
Spzilman ignoring the chance to save his savior NEVER happened!
It wasn't Spzilman who saw the German officer, named Hosenfeld. It was a violinist and friend of Spzilman. He was approached by Hosenfeld who asked if he knew a pianist named Spzilman. The violinist said of course he knew Spzilman, and asked Hosenfeld's name. I don't remember if he heard it, because a Russian guard forced Hosenfeld away from the wire.
shareAgreed. The German giving him the coat made me cry. Easily the number one moving scene in this film.
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A boombox is not a toy
When he opened the package that Wilm (german general or something not sure) sent him. It included a bread, jelly and a TIN OPENER. that brought tears to my eyes . How thoughtful that man was :(
I was about to cry when that German officer begged that guy who shouted at german soldiers,to tell spielman that he helped him and he wants him tp help back. That was sad and I was feeling so bad when spiel man came to the field and it was empty:(
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I can't pick one either, because I cried at least 5 different times watching this movie...
shareI remember three scenes especially. First is the scene at the gathering place before they are taken on the train. That scene is just so well done, I guess partly because it's based on Polanski's own experience. Also the scene when Spilman is separated from his family and the scene where the old man plays with the kids at the ghetto and asks cigarettes from the Germans. Scenes like that feel somehow very real, like they were based on real experience.
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