Monday, June 09, 2008

The Pianist. (Y)

The Pianist is a 2002 Polish-French-German-British co-produced film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman.

pianist

the pianist


The story had deep connections with director Roman Polanski because he escaped from Krakow Ghetto as a child after his mother died. He ended up living in a sympathetic farmer's barn until the war's end. His father almost died in the camps, but they reunited after the End of World War II.

Principal photography on The Pianist began on 9 February 2001 in Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany. The Warsaw Ghetto and the surrounding city were recreated on the backlot of Babelsberg Studios as they would have looked during the war. Old Soviet army barracks were used to create the ruined city, as they were going to be destroyed anyway.

The first scenes of the film were shot at the old army barracks. Soon after, the filmmakers moved to a villa in Potsdam, which served as the house where Szpilman meets Hosenfeld. On 2 March 2001, filming then moved to an abandoned Soviet army hospital in Belitz, Germany. The scenes that featured the Germans destroying the hospital with flame throwers were filmed here. On March 15 filming finally moved to Babelsberg Studios. The first scene shot at the studio was the scene Szpilman witnesses a resistance mounted by the Jews from the Ghetto, which is eventually ended by the Nazis. The scene was complex and technically demanding as it involved various stunts and explosives. Filming at the studios ended on 26 March and moved to Warsaw on 29 March. The rundown district of Praga was chosen for filming because of its abundance of original buildings. The art department built on to these original buildings, re-creating World War II–era Poland with signs and posters from the period. Additional filming also took place around Warsaw. The Umschlagplatz scene where Szpilman, his family and hundreds of other Jews wait to be taken to the concentration camps was filmed at a local Military Academy.

Principal photography ended in July 2001, and was followed by months of post-production, which took place in Paris, France, where Polanski was born and now resides

pianist

The Pianist





I know it is an old movie but all the harsh executions and punishments in the movie made me curious to watch it once more. Why would the Germans do such things?

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