DVD Review: The Pianist

By John_Lewis Feb 17, 2004, 15:23 GMT

The Film

The much deserved winner of Best Director and Best Actor at the 2003 Academy Awards, The Pianist, is a heart breaking story of one mans will to survive against all odds. Set during the Second World War, The Pianist tells the story of a Jew called Wladyslaw Szpilman, one of the most accomplished and respected Pianists of the time. He lives with his family in Poland and, as the story begins to unfold, he begins to experience the first violent signs of the Nazi uprising. As the Nazis begin to implement their relocation of the Jews to the ghetto we follow the story of Szpilman and how he and his family deal with living in the ghetto until his eventual escape and evasion from the Nazis.
The film is brilliantly acted and powerfully directed with Roman Polanski recreating the horror of the Nazi’s rule over Europe in a powerful manner. Adrian Brody, who plays the role of Szpilman, delivers a performance of sensitivity, which leaves the viewer emotionally drained.  His Oscar win was truly worthy in every way possible.  The film is quite hard to watch at times because of the disturbing imagery, but you won’t be able to tear your eyes away.  The film ends on an optimistic note despite the huge sadness that is shown throughout the previous two hours.  Simply put, this film is an involving and devastating cinematic experience.

The Picture

The picture is displayed in 1:85:1 Full Height Anamorphic Widescreen. The picture quality is excellent throughout and it contains very little grain.  You may only notice grain in some of the darker scenes but you would need to know what you are looking for.  You may be surprised with Polanksi’s use of bright colours in many scenes.  The scenes at the beginning showing the family home contain wonderful strong colours, which do not normally feature in wartime films.  This changes though as the film progresses into showing you the war torn Poland.  The excellent cinematography is beautifully transferred to the disc whilst still managing to preserve much of its film like lustre. Overall the transfer is excellent.

The Sound

I was a bit disappointed that the DTS soundtrack, which featured on the Region 1 release, was cut from the Region 2 version, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is still excellent.  The rear channels are kept to a minimum with the main sound usage coming from the front channels.  The rear channels are used in a few scenes one of which includes a tank making its way down a war torn street.  Surround usage may be kept to a minimum but overall recording quality is excellent. The music sounds particularly good and the Subwoofer (LFE), when present, is strong and supple. Dialogue, though often mumbled (particularly in the opening scenes), still sounds as clear as a bell and ambience is given good prominence in the mix. This is a pleasing and involving audio experience.  An English 2.0 soundtrack is also available.

The Extras

The second disc was not really needed because of the lack of special features.  They could have been added to disc one but nevertheless, Universal made the DVD.  The extras on the DVD could have been better with the notable absence of a Director’s Commentary.  There are three filmographies on Roman Polanski, Adrien Brody and Thomas Kretschmann.  An International trailer is also included as are a collection of the poster art for the film.  Not a great deal on offer but at least the documentary is good.  Overall you would expect more from a two disc set though.