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In Reply to: Divided We Fall posted by Victor Khomenko on January 18, 2005 at 19:42:54:
I posted a short time ago in the Harmonists thread that I enjoyed that we are seeing a trinkling of movies that are less about the major battles than about the little stories.I forgot to include this one. It is certainly a worthwhile film that can very, very crudely make you aware of the risks and costs involved in Nazi Germany in what many would consider moral behavior. We often forget that the Czechs were also a victim of the onslaught.
But I must disagree with your analysis of The Pianist. From what I have read, this was a very personal film to Polansky (who, because of his criminal background, cannot make a film in the United States, and whose name still bears a certain stigma, which would seem to actually make him "un-Hollywood"), who was a victim of the Nazis. That it has a happier ending does not make it necessarily "Hollywood", as long as it sticks closely to the facts. There were certainly happy endings in Germany after the war, and those happy ending should not be made to be less important compared to the tragedies which occurred. I have no problem being given a story about someone's perseverance resulting in a happy ending.
As an example of Hollywood's need for a story, I would point to Disney's "Iron Will", a "true" story about a young kid that overcomes insurmountable odd and wins the Iditorod (sp). Problem is that he never even finished the race. That is an example of a Hollywood created happy, make you feel good, ending.
I would not place the "Pianist" in that league.
Follow Ups:
It was not an happy ending that did make this film an Eurotrash film a la Hollywood ( this ending was anyway a part of a true story ) but the whole visual and moral construction !
"Visual Construction?" I am not sure what that means. If you mean that it was filmed to make it look the best it could, or that it was filmed to provide as much visual detail as possible, or that it was filmed to provide accurate, vivid colors, I do not see how those are bad things."Moral Construction?" I must admit to being really confused. Certainly, the film did not take a positive spin on the Nazis. Frankly, I do not see how the "moral construction" of the film was any different than "The Pianist", "The Harmonists", or "Divided we Fall." Which is simply that when confronted with their own demise, some people who were moral absolutists become moral relativists, and some people who were moral absolutists remain moral absolutists, even in the face of being killed for their beliefs. Like I prefer great athletes telling me about the nuances of their sport rather than "commentators", I likewise appreciate filmmakers who were victims of a plight telling me about the plight rather than a regular filmmaker doing so. It lends an air of authenticity to the proceedings.
Which dovetails back to Polansky and "The Pianist." I assume that his personal experiences came through in the visual style of "The Pianist", that his resources allowed him to show us what that time and place looked like.
Visual construction? It is a way Hollywood and the rest of the industry also now in Europe as opposed to art are using their clichés, there are so previsible that it get so boring.
It was not meant to attack the professionalism of well set images! The contrary of course.
See the filming in Bergman films as opposed to Polansky " Le Pianiste ".
The same vein for the moral construction. All set up and utterly boring.
I am so severe because Polansky had long time ago a magical touch. Seems to me lost for ever. Since " The Pirates " maybe.
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