The pianist (The Pianist) is a 2002 military biographical drama film directed by Roman Polanski based on a screenplay by Ronald Harwood and the memoirs of Władysław Szpilman. The film is a co-production of France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom. The film premiered on May 24, 2002.
The film tells the true story of Polish pianist of Jewish origin Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), who in 1930 was known as the most talented pianist in all of Poland, and even in Europe.
At the outbreak of World War II, Szpilman became the target of anti-Jewish laws imposed by the invading Germans. In early 1940, Szpilman saw his world change from concert halls to the Warsaw Ghetto, and suffered as his family was deported to German concentration camps, and Szpilman himself was mobilized into German forced labor camps.
Finally, deciding to escape, Szpilman went underground as a Jewish refugee, where he witnessed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 19 to May 16, 1943) and the Warsaw Uprising (August 1 to October 2, 1944).
