Roman Polanski’s classic film "The Pianist", as a film produced by a great Polish director, reflects the brutal persecution of Polish Jews by the Germans during World War II. It is inevitable to choose Chopin's music as the dominant music of the movie. Polanski is unique in choosing music.
Polanski chose three nocturnes, two ballads, one waltz, one prelude, two mazukas and Grande Polonaise for piano and band at the end of the film from Chopin’s works. It is just right, and it is closely related to the structure of the movie, the transition of plot and scene, and the mood of the protagonist.
At the beginning of the film, the pianist recorded Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor in the studio. The calm and soothing beginning, the sad and broad tone, heralded the imminent end of the lives of millions of Jews.
What Polanski used here is entirely historical: on September 23, 1939, the legitimate pianist Szpilman recorded Chopin's "Nocturne in C-sharp Minor" in a recording studio in Warsaw, and the Nazi bomb fell mercilessly. .
One of the most shocking scenes in the movie is when the pianist's ordeal is about to end, he was found by a German officer by the fire in order to open a can of a hall.
Before this scene, Polanski had already used music to pave the way for what kind of person the German officer was. At that time, the pianist found that a German had returned and hid in the attic with the can. At this time, the sound of the piano in the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata faintly floated downstairs. The German military officer played this piece of music coldly, full of human sentiment, and melancholy and helplessness, which implied his heart. He is a keen music player, an appreciation and sympathizer of art, and it also implies that he doesn't have the ferocious nature of other German executioners in his bones. With this foreshadowing, as a German military officer, he ventured to save the fate of a lingering Jewish artist without appearing abrupt.
When the officer learned that the thin and helpless Jew in front of him was a pianist, he asked him to play something. The pianist hesitated for a while, seeming to be in a panic, because this moment may be the last moment of his weak life. After calming down, he chose to play Chopin's "No. 1 Ballad in G minor". This is an awe-inspiring choice. He wants to use the last moment of his life to express his resistance to the persecutor.
Chopin's Ballads were deeply influenced by the great Polish poet Mickiewicz's narrative poems. "The First Ballad in G minor" was written based on Mickiewicz's narrative epic "Conrad Wallenrod". In 1828, "Konrad Valenrode" came out, telling the story of the 13th century Lithuanian patriot Valenrode leading the people to resist the invasion of Germanic crusaders. Didn’t the pianist choose this piece to fight the Germanic demons unyieldingly and prepare to die calmly?
The supporting actress of the film, the non-Jewish cello artist who sympathizes with and helps the pianist, is also sublimated by Polanski cleverly with music. In the morning, the sunlight gently shines on the curtains, making you feel that this is more like a beautiful dream, with only warmth, without iron hooves and guns. She calmly focused, tolerated outside and strong inside, and played the "Prelude in G major" in Bach's "Suite No.1 Cello" in a religious contemplative way, giving her little life in her womb. Polanski asked an artist from an occupied country to play the music of the occupier. What he wanted to show was not only that music can transcend race, religion and national boundaries, but also that humanity can transcend race, religion and national boundaries!
This kind of human transcendence is not one of the greatest spirits of mankind! Menuhin has contributed to such a transcendence. He was the first Jewish artist to play in Germany after World War II, and he became famous among Jews. Quite a few Jews refused to forgive him for being an artist who once brought them pride. The same feelings and transcendence are also reflected in the 2003 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the German film "Nowhere in Africa". This is also a true story. In the early 1930s, when the persecution of Jews by the Nazis had just begun, a Jewish judge living in Frankfort was forced to abandon all his property and took his wife and daughter into exile to Kenya in Africa. But he and his wife's other family members who remained in Germany were all massacred by the Nazis. After the war, the Jew decided to return to Germany to do his part in rebuilding Germany.
Some people say that as a movie about musicians, there is not much music in it, which violates the name "The Pianist".
The big sound is loud, the elephant is invisible. A movie about musicians does not necessarily use too much music. A similar situation also appeared in the recent highly acclaimed French film "The Piano Teacher" (La Pianiste, nominated for Best Picture at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival). The music of Beethoven, Schubert, etc. is also just rightly selected. This movie may not be able to resonate and accept most Chinese people, because the sex inside is too real, but outrageous and disgusting.
Polanski's "The Pianist", in addition to the master craftsmanship on the soundtrack, the photography is also beautiful. The exquisite composition, the subtle use of light, the solemn tone, and the changing rhythm of the lens often remind people of Polanski's early romantic film-"Tess".
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