I thought it was *FICTION!!* The Pianist Reaction: FIRST TIME WATCHING (Adrien Brody) 

What is your favorite WWII movie?

Regarding the German who helped Szpilman, Wilhelm Hosenfeld, he was helping Poles and Jews escape holocaust throughout the war, and was very aware of the crimes of Nazism. A couple of his journal entries are included with the newer editions of The Pianist (book).

FYI, Adrien Brody learned how to play the piano for this movie. He didn't want a stand in so sequestered himself to learn how to play Chopin. He also became the youngest actor to ever win an Academy Award for best actor for his performance. He was 29 and to date, still the only actor under the age of 30 to win that award. He also lost 30 pounds to play the role so the look of starvation was authentic.

Hosenfeld's fate after the war was very sad indeed. He was imprisoned because of his unit affiliation at a time when he oversaw a sports academy. He was tortured for months in soviet captivity. Both Szpilman and other people he saved found out where he was. No matter how much they pleaded for him, the soviets would not let him go. He died after a stroke and partly paralyzed because of internal bleedings

That scene where they throw handicapped man off the balcony still gives me chills

Nominated 7 Oscars including Best Picture but won for Best Director Best Actor Best Adapted Screenplay.

I read the book before seeing the movie. I cry every time I watch the piano scene with Spizlman and Hosenfeld, knowing this is real and how it ends, and desperately wishing it would end different this time. This movie, with a few minor things, kept VERY close to the book. They even have people fall and die in the exact positions he describes. That just makes it all the more chilling. Hosenfeld used his position to help save people. You had two choices if you were in the German army--either stand up and be labeled the enemy, or be a Nazi. Hosenfeld is an example of someone who didn't speak out (possibly for his or his own family's safety) but did what they could to help. We all would like to think we would be outspoken and brazen, but would we really?

Roman Polaski says in the film's commentary that his family was in the Warsaw Ghetto, he was 10 yrs old and a German Soldier standing near a break in the fence to Run, he did and got out . He thought it was a game . He never saw his family again.

17:08 You're thinking of the show MASH for the story of the lady that killed her baby, and the guy replaced his memory with a chicken instead.

This film still cuts deep… I’ve seen it in school with the entire class during Maatschappijleer (I am Dutch), which is like a cultural/historical/social/religious class, about all sorts of aspects in peoples lives in society during different times. We watched it while we were like 14/15 years old. Bizarre. But I am still glas I did. Because it made us all a little more serious and understanding about these heavy times. I am just 9 minutes into your reaction video so I will be continuing now 😅

No, the reason the German officer spared the main character isn’t because he likes piano (although he prob does). It’s because he still has his humanity. He sees how evil the Nazis are and was helping many Jews to hide and escape.

This film is based on the account of Szpilman's life and hiding in Warsaw, city he refused to abandon. His book was written right after he was rescued is one of the most harrowing reports of the change a city and people went through that I have ever read. It does not indulge in detail and is very matter of fact reporting of everyday things. The film is beautifully made but the book is such a masterpiece and deserved a better person to adapt it. Most of the things in the film are faithful to the book but the book is of course richer in Szpilman's internal thoughts. There is a moment when he reflects on the regret of never truly getting to know his sisters which always just breaks me (they included this in the scene right before he gets separated from them all).

Yes, the soldiers were given orders to "clear out" housing blocks. Those in charge new exactly what they'd go.

Also, why the city looks totally destroyed at the end of the movie is because Hitler ordered the soldiers to destroy it. They managed to completely destroy 80 to 90% of that beautiful historical city. The majority of museums, art galleries, theatres, churches, parks, and historical buildings such as castles and palaces were completely obliterated.

The piece that he played at the end was Chopin's Ballad no. 1, they cut out the whole middle part of the piece for time and cut to the "coda" which is the final furious part he played. That coda is extremely difficult and only a professional pianist would be able to play it, so even if Adrien Brody learned some piano for this movie, it would take him probably a good 10+ years to get to a level to be able to play the Ballad coda that well.

When he is with the watermelon can and the German finds him I started to laugh at loud and nerviously (My nerves were on edge) at the cinema and everybody looking at me like wtf. I mean at that point the pour men was a living miracle, he finally finds food and boom! this perfect looking German stared at him and because of his talent helped him. And the irony is that he couldn't help him back.

I'm from Warsaw and Szpilman has been a well known figure in the cultural sphere. There's a memorial on the house where he was hiding, not far from city centre. We commemorate both Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 43 and Warsaw Uprising 44 (tho it's still a hotly debated subject by the historians and frankly everyone because it led to complete destruction of about 80-90% of the city and about 200k civilians killed). It's the time period I'm very invested in so I could definitely rec sources both on Poland during WW2 and its treatment by the Allies. One film I always mention because of how unique and crucial it is is Warsaw Uprising. It's a "fictional" film created using exclusively material actually filmed during the Uprising that was meticulously restored and colorised, with added sound and dialogues. It's just a fascinating insight into reality of these days. I don't think it's necessary a reaction material but if someone wants to know more about the time period. I think some people in the comments already explained a lot of facts so I'll just add some Varsovian tidbits: the city actually burned down. After the Uprising the Germans had orders to destroy it building by building, street by street so that it's razed to the ground. I remember as a kid in the 80s there were still parts that were being reconstructed. Some, like Saxon Palace, were never rebuilt and some, like Palace on the Isle in the Royal Baths, have drilled holes for the dynamite - the only reason they didn't blow it up was time running out. Any help to Jew meant risking death penalty for you and your entire family. Any Varsovian staying in the city after Warsaw Uprising was risking death penalty (the leftover population was resettled to a camp on the outskirts of the city before being sent to other German camps). Iirc only less than 1k people managed to stay alive in Warsaw after Uprising, Szpilman being one of them. Finally have a video of actual Wladek Szpilman playing Chopin at his home in Warsaw (playing Polish music, including Chopin, during ww2 was also punishable by death). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-n9oQEa-d5rU.html

My mom and I went to see this movie at the theater and after the movie ended she cried for an hour. On the way home I found out that the pharmacy or "Apteka" in the movie was my Grandpa's when the war broke out. He had saved many Jewish families by hiding them under the kitchen floorboards. The man was a hero!

I watched this in the middle of the night last year instead of writing a college paper due the next day. Honestly was worth having to scramble to finish that paper last minute. I don't regret watching this. Made me cry. Edit: I could only find it for free in Polish with English subs too. Hit me even harder than the English dub probably would have.

I watched this a few years ago didn’t even know about it but it was amazing. 💜

Life is Beautiful is a italian movie, it has a different aproach on the events of WW2, however is such a beautiful and inspirational story... Please consider adding it to the list, you won't regret it! (Edit: Sorry, i JUST now heard you saying you will definetly react to it!) Can't wait to see your reaction :)

I'm so glad I found your channel! I love your film choices and very well thought out commentary. It's easy to see you really love what you do.

You mentioned another movie where someone smothered a baby and thought it was a chicken - I think you may be thinking of the 1983 series finale of MASH in which Hawkeye is relating to his therapist a situation in which a woman on a bus wrung the neck of a chicken because he told her to shut it up, but in the end he realizes he has blocked out of his mind the awful truth of what really happened.

Others mentioned that the German officer who helped Szpilman toward the end of the movie, Wilhelm Hosenfeld, also helped hide or rescue many others during the war. He was recognized by Israel in 2009 with a “Righteous Among Nations” award, which honors non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews. Just a thought: I would suggest looking up whether a movie is a true story or not, before reacting to it. It really doesn’t spoil anything for you, and I think it must enrich your viewing experience knowing something is true. Just my two cents….

Another WW II movie you should see is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. One of my fav scenes in The Pianist is wen Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann) finds Brody and asks him to play the piano when he tells the Werrmacjht captain he is a pianist. Hosenfeld's face goes from total scepticism to admiring believer!

"Grey Zone" - another WW2 movie that takes a look at groups of Jews that worked in concentration camps and an uprising that occured. Based on real events.

22:24 - it is always easier for people to blame their problems on someone else, rather than take responsibility for choices made. After WWI when Germany lost, Germans needed to blame someone for ruination and embarrassment and Jews were convenient.

This movie ripped my heart out the first time I saw it.

Brody WON the Oscar for this picture. He was brilliant.

What a GREAT, thoughtful reaction! …All of the piano playing scenes - including the hand close-ups - were Adrien.

Adrian Brody is so underrated as an actor

Lovely reaction. When you mentioned them not understanding the consequences when they hear other countries declaring war on Germany: we look back with 2022 hindsight, don’t forget. These people, some of them, remember the german occupation from WW1 which was peaceful to an extant, jews were left alone etc. such a tragedy that we cant go back and warn them

Since you’re on a whole WWII tangent, you should definitely check out « The Book Thief ». One of my favourite novels ever and a pretty decent cinema adaptation. It’s so underrated and under appreciated.

Great reaction!

Make sure to watch The Boy In the Striped Pajamas for your WWII movie reviews! Also, watch Adrian Brody in the movie, The Jacket.

Brody won Best Actor Oscar for this role. Well deserved. Thank you for reacting to this. Unfortunately this history and Schindler's List is just a small part of the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust. The history of how Dr. Mengele performed medical experiments on the Jewish women still needs to be told in a movie. But a topic of torture is probably not a big box office draw. Women were treated like mice in experimentation. Mengele was trying to create the perfect blond blue eyed race. And he would shoot blue dye into their eyes. That's just a small part of all the horrible things he did to the Jews.

A powerful, well made, well executed film that showed the world exactly what Adrien Brody was capable of as an actor. He was excellent in this, and is still one of my favorite actors out there. The true story this is based on is fascinating as well, if, of course, tragic. A movie Adrien Brody did that doesn't get a lot of love but that I think is brilliant for being a spot on deconstruction of the type of movie it is(sci fi horror) is Splice. You might enjoy it as well, Mr. Thor. A WW2/Holocaust focused movie that seems forgotten about that I like is The Devil's Arithmetic, maybe you'd also like that one. Cheers!!!

Real life story Adrien Brody actually won the Oscar with this

another must watch ww2 movie is land of mine. it was a Danish movie set just right after ww2 when german soldier POWs were set with having to clear the beaches of landmines. its set in Denmark and the german soliders are all teenage boys forced to clear the beaches. its a really good movie.

I'm a little late but there was a human behavior experiment with college students. It was a prison set up some were prisoners some were guards. The experiment was called off early

Favorite scene here? When Hosenfeld finds Spizlman because of the pickle can and, when told he is a pianist (and being very doubtful), tells him to play. Thomas Kreutschmann's facial expression going from total sceptic to admiring believer is a joy to see ..

Good review, one of my favorites in my War Collection. Once you see the end of the movie it's clear this was about a famous Polish pianist. Another WWII classic that I highly recommend is THE BOOK THIEF. One of the few WWII with the story from a German point of view. Outstanding cast including Geoffrey Rush & Emily Watson. This one will touch everyone's soul.

I remember watching it for the first time with my family never will forget it what a great movie

Adrien Brody really went all out for this movie, he starved himself, put himself in awful conditions, he even broke up with his girlfriend to get in the sad mood, very committed to his craft :) zloty is Polish currency, its like 0,25 dollars

After watching this movie i was heart broken for a week kept thinking about it and i still think about the wheel chair/balcony scene and other things, it showed the horror people had to go though and SHEESHH i feel my heart crac

Look for the book this is based on, it's basically Szpillman's memoir and it has more information about Hosenfeld, you'd be pleaseantly surprised of him.

I saw this film for the first time about 10 years ago. I rewatch it every few years, and it never fails to completely shock me. The Nazis were pure evil. As I'm watching, I just keep thinking "are we (humans) really capable of committing such atrocities?" Yes, yes we are. The film is based on a first hand account. It happened. It actually happened. Millions of souls were cruelly taken during WWII. It's unthinkable. And we never learn. It continues to happen even today. 😞

Unbroken is INSANE. Really good but heartbreaking. Based on a true story about a POW in Japan during WW2.

Hey Thor. You should definitely react to The Terminal (2004). It stars Tom Hanks

As a Russian my five cents to add: I don't think the *most* cruel people think they are doing the "right thing". There was unrelated paper that shown that the most violent criminals are *not* mentally ill. They just want to take advantage of the weak.

The movie “Hope and Glory” is set in England during WWII and has THE best tag line… “A world at war. A boy at play”! It’s great but you still need to see “Boy in the Striped Pajamas” and “Sofie’s Choice”.

There was an excellent TV movie called Escape from Sobibor, based on the largest, most successful escape from a concentration camp, led by a Russian-Jewish officer, who planned it. Very moving.

It is definitely true. The scenes in the Warsaw ghetto are realistic because the director was confined in the Krakow ghetto as a child (the one portrayed in Schindler's List). The ghetto uprising really happened, and so did the Polish Resistance attacks on the German soldiers. Warsaw really was leveled in retaliation. Truth can be way crazier than anything a person can make up.

10:12 They were printing the leaflets Majorek was distributing in toilets. Way-back printing press ;-) 15:00 The 4 lenses are different focal lengths. To change the magnification of the image you would rotate the assembly to the desired lens. Usually a range from wide-angle to telephoto. I don't think zoom lenses were too common back then.

also other movies based on true events (loosely termed) Tea With Mussolini, Monuments Men, The Imitation Game, The Dirty Dozen. One of my favorites is Joyeux Noel.

I think it's safe to say that my favorite scene from the movie is when he plays the piano in front of Hosenfeld. The pure emotion in it, the sentiment, the acting by both actors, it makes me tear up every damn time. It is such a masterful scene in my opinion. I may hate Roman Polanski (because of you-know-what), but I can't knock down the man's directing skills.

I've said this before, but I appreciate your heart.

Poland suffered tremendously.

The guy that plays Itzak Heller ( Roy Smiles) who saves Wladyslaw Szpilman ( Adrien Brody) is a really good friend of mine! This is such a heartbreaking yet beautiful movie!!

I love your commentary! This is one of the best films I've ever seen !You need to check out another film called Uprising ( 2001 film) with Hank Azaria, and Donald Sutherland it's a fantastic film!!

Have you seen Cruella?

Unbelievably tough movie... Each person affected by the war has his own vision of events and his own unique story. My two brave great-grandmothers in different parts of Ukraine hid Jews in their homes during the occupation, while on the main squares of the cities there were gallows with hanged people for demonstration (like in the movie Jojo Rabbit ). How brave these women were, they risked their own children to help someone else. Have you noticed how cynical and cyclical history is? Again the war , again incredible cruelty and lawlessness in the occupied territories, again hundreds of thousands of people are taken out in an unknown direction (including children), again huge losses among the civilian population and unbelievable destruction. I see a lot of similarity with WW2... I think this film is worth to watch, at least , because a lot of military-themed movies are romanticized. There is nothing romantic in war, only pain and fear, which is very clearly demonstrated. Thanks for the video

Adrien Brody was not only nominated, but got an Oscar for the part (I think he was the youngest actor to win an Oscar at that time, at age 29). It's a true story based on Władysław Szpilman's book. He worked as a pianist for the Polish radio (back then, radios would broadcast live music played in their studios), and he was also a composer of classical, movie and what we would consider "pop music" nowadays. Hosenfeld was a good person, he helped many people from different backgrounds. It's so sad what happened to him, when so many true Nazis managed to get back home and to go back to their lives as if nothing had happened. It's hard to fathom what Szpilman must have gone through, not only the loss of his entire family, but the hunger and the cold... Most people nowadays (at least in the western part of the world) don't understand what real hunger feels like. He must have had a very strong survival instinct, many would have given up (he took some sleeping pills at some point, but on an empty stomach, luckily, he fell asleep almost immediately, before he could even swallow enough of them to kill him, so he eventually woke up).

Inglorious Bastards is a must for WW2 movies.

17:08 - you are probably thinking of MASH tv show. The finale had a similar plot line.

The actual pianist live to be 80 something years old..

Underrated (well not really but underrated in the sense that no one reacts to them on RU-vid) WW2 films to consider: -The Great Escape (1963). Inspired by a real escape attempt from a German POW camp. There’s a lot of prison break movie tropes that originate here. Plus there’s an iconic chase scene that features Steve McQueen trying to jump a motorcycle over several barbed wire fences - Letters from Iwo Jima (2006). This and Flag of our Fathers are Clint Eastwood’s double feature that look at the Battle of Iwo Jima from both sides. I personally prefer Letters which shows the Japanese perspective

Based on a true story, The Pianist also earned Adrian Brody is first and only Academy Award for lead actor. He played the piano, not sure if he did 100% of the piano playing. Most of the look and some some of the atrocities portrayed are partially from the director’s (Roman Pollanski) first hand account as a holocaust survivor, but a very controversial figure in cinema because he ran away from his court hearing in a rape charge against him of a 14 year old girl 😬.

It is a true story

Please could you react to shutter island?

For an excellent old movie about WW2, watch The Shop On Main Street, it's a Czech movie from 1965. Black & white and subtitled.

One of the best polish movies😊

One of the best films ever😁👍

You should watch Memphis Belle. It’s probably my favourite WW2 movie

❤❤❤

if you are really curious about the social and psychological aspect of a german soldier in the WWII, you should definily read: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt. As the tittle sugests its about how evil can and was normalized in a daily basis and how this continues to happen even today.

You should watch "Joyeux Noel" a Christmas movie about WWI soldiers on the front.

Thanks for the video!! See you later!! Stay safe.😊

17.10 That was in the MASH finale. 17.44 That was from the brilliant "The Society of the Snow". 19.51 It was completely random. You're doing what most of us do, desperately trying to make a situation make sense when it clearly doesn't. It's just blind hatred. It's the one thing Earth people never learn. "Monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground..."

This is in a Jewish ghetto, specifically the warsaw ghetto. They actually filmed where the ghetto was during the holocaust. Warsaw Poland. Also the officer really did let him live. You were more likely to live at the concentration camps than the ghetto because of the lack of food in the ghettos. The nazi commander also helped many other Jews during the war, not just this pianist.

Due the title of this movie I didnt watch this movie the first few years when it came out (walking the video-rent store)

You should watch Der Untergang (Downfall). It’s about Hitler in his bunkers during the last days of WWII

This is probably the saddest and most horrifying movie I have seen that is based on true events. I watched it when I was probably in gr.8..so hard to watch. The scene with the old man in the wheelchair getting thrown out of the balcony is just so horrible, terrifying, disturbing, and cruel.. I remember watching this movie called the experimenter where a psychologist created a study at Yale after WW2 and it was based on people being obedient to authority figures and even following orders that they thought would seriously harm or kill someone. I think %65 were obedient and it just demonstrates the dangers of obedience and how it could even happen somewhere like America.

It is not only terrifying what happened during World War II (by the Nazis and the Soviets) - concentration camps, mass murders, the killing of 6 million Jews, stripping people of their dignity - and later after the Soviet Union took power in Poland and Eastern Europe, but also the fact that many people have no idea what the Holocaust was (!), have forgotten about this tragedy, don't even recognize this word, and have no idea about the injustices caused by communism and what this ideology really is. It's just scary not to know history and not to know where hatred and blind adherence to ideology can lead. Such films should be shown frequently in schools, since a normal history lesson on this topic does not capture students' attention. After all, in history, we should learn how to prevent such situations from happening again. Meanwhile, Ukraine is burning, there are mass murders of civilians, and children are being kidnapped into Russia, just because we allowed it to happen.

Now. As an American understand that it's not over and it hasn't disappeared And some rights should be cherished

My favorite Adrian Brody movie is Dummy.

Sometime you should see the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and the miniseries Band of Brothers. Both well worth your time...

So people who want to know about the price 4,5 zloty is like 1 euro, don’t ask me for the change with dollars. A pro piano at 1940 was like 40 000 - 50 000€, the change was different 70 years ago so we can’t really know exactly the price of the piano, but as a pianist and polish I think 2000 Zl it’s not even 1/50 of the price of a piano like that :/

He had a German officers coat on...

22:18 The Nazi Doctors by Lifton is an interesting read

My initial reaction to the pianist can be summarised in two words: GOOD GOLLY

The child smothering scene I believe you are thinking of is from an episode of M*A*S*H.

True Holocaust movies to watch: Defiance with Liev Schreiber and Daniel Craig Resistance with Jesse Eisenberg Island on Bird st. Also, the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto were deported to Treblinka which was a death camp. So no one from his family survived.His Brother and sister were selected to work so if they did not join the rest of the family they might have survived. Yes The piano was worth much more. However, they were lucky to get 2000 zloty for it. The Germans or the person who bought it could have just taken it away . So the purchaser actually did them a favor

Check out the movie Come and See, a Russian Movie made in 1985 with English subtitles.

You should do Sweeney Todd!!✨

Hosenfeld died in a labor camp but he helped alot of Jews and gypsies

the thing is in those days those kinds of restrictions on jews wasn't unheard of in other european countries in memorable history that's why so many jewish people didn't believe it would get as bad as it did, it was only when they actually got to the camps that they knew it was real trouble.

This German helped many jews in real life!!

True isolation and dread: the movie. T_T

This is why I prefer The Pianist over Schindler's List. In Schindler's List it's implied that people survived the Holocaust whereas in The Pianist it's implied that no one did. All that survived was the music.