The Pianist

[Jeff Matthews]

Someone mentioned a movie you could only watch once. This is one of those. A very, very good movie with some heavy drama. It's a must see.

[Colin]

Its good, I grant, but Schindlers List, Saving Private Ryan, Saints and Soldiers and Life is Beautiful are all better WWII movies.

[Amy]

I loved this movie as well.

It's worth seeing as well as the others Colin mentioned because it give the perspective of people living in Poland at the time. Not a widely covered topic, and some very compelling cinematography of a war-torn Warsaw.

[Jay481985]

from what I can recall of the movie it wasn't supposed to be a direct

competition to say saving private ryan etc etc. It had its own agenda

[Def Leper]

I mentioned that watching Schindler's list once was enough to last me a lifetime. I own the Pianist, though, and have watched it several times already and enjoy it very much. Comparing it to other WWII movies like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" isn't really fair though, since the story is a biography that tightly follows one single person, and is probably much closer to being "real life" than either of the Spielburg films. Although all three films are based on real events and people, I think The Pianist is much closer to being a documentary and the others are historical dramas in the genre of "The Lion in Winter" and "Kingdom of Heaven." Spielburg films are always Spielburg first, and story second, and I think The Pianist was not as ego driven a project.

I haven't seen Saints and Soldiers and Life is Beautiful. I'll check them out.