History Film / ThePianist

* DeathOfAChild: When you see the corpses of children that had been shot...

* PinballProtagonist: Szpilman manages to survive the Holocaust only through the goodness of strangers and sheer dumb luck. Of course, this is totally justified considering it's based on a true story, and the real Szpilman's real experiences.

* ForegoneConclusion: Most of pivotal elements of the story, like German victory within a month, fate of Jews in the ghetto, both uprisings (and their fate) and of course the conclusion for both Szpilman and Hosenfeld are historical facts. That doesn't make the story any less dramatic.

** Let's not forget about the two bankers testing gold coins on marble table, ''while already being in the ghetto'' and acting as if it was business as always.
* HateSink: The woman who nearly exposes Szpilman. She's given no characterization, other than being a despiscable bigot who tries to have a weak and starved man arrested out of pure spite.

* HopeSpot: [[TruthInTelevision Truthfully]] for citizens of Poland at the time, Szpilman family is overjoyed when hearing in the radio that both Britain and France have declared war on Germany in response to their invasion. While at dinner, they even make a toast "to England and to France", obviously convinced that Poland is no longer fighting this war alone. However, if you did your homework, you are probably aware that no help from the West is going to arrive, since in real world history, neither Britain nor France did anything to aid their Polish allies in 1939.

* WouldHarmASenior: The SS officers, who drop a wheelchair-bound Jewish grandfather from a balcony just to be pointlessly cruel.

* TruthInTelevision: Sadly enough. Polański supplemented Szpilman's memoirs with some details from his own experience as a Holocaust survivor. The moment where Szpilman is stumbling away from the Treblinka train and the Jewish policeman says "Don't run!" was something that happened to Polański.

* LonelyPianoPiece: Evoked in-story when Szpilman plays Chopin's "Ballade in G minor" for Hosenfeld.

* HeyYou: See BilingualBonus above.

* MeaningfulName: See BilingualBonus above.

* PunctuatedPounding: After Szpilman -- while doing slave labor at the construction site -- accidentally drops some bricks from the scaffolding, one of German guards beats him with a whip, shouting "Hunds!" ("dogs!") with each lash.

* UnwantedRescue: Szpilman is rescued from joining the rest of his family on the carriage to their deaths on the sympathetic whim of a [[LesCollaborateurs Jewish Ghetto police]] leader. This was the same man whose ego Szpilman had stroked in an earlier scene.

** It's worth mentioning that all German Officers were required to be members of the Nazi party, regardless of their beliefs.

It was adapted from the memoirs of Władysław Szpilman. Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is an accomplished concert pianist with a thriving career in Warsaw, Poland in 1939. He still lives with his family, consisting of his mother and father, his brother Henryk, and his sisters Halina and Regina. They are Jewish--assimilated, Polish-speaking Jews, as opposed to the Yiddish-speaking Jews that constitute most of Polish Jewry.

On September 1, 1939, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII begins with the German attack on Poland. Within a month, the badly outnumbered and outgunned Poles are defeated by the Nazis. Life is worse for everyone but it is particularly terrible for the Jews of Poland, as the Nazis immediately institute a raft of anti-Jewish laws and begin mercilessly persecuting them. Things get worse and worse, as the Jews of Warsaw are crammed into a tiny ghetto and cut off from the rest of the world, and used as slave labor. They begin to starve. Finally the day comes when the Szpilmans are rounded up and put on cattle cars bound for the death camp of Treblinka. However, Szpilman is taken out of the line for the train at the last second by a Jewish ghetto policeman. Three more years of struggle lie ahead for Szpilman as he hides in Warsaw, struggling to survive, helped by his pre-war Gentile friend Dorota (Emilia Fox), and, later, by German officer Wilm Hosenfeld (Kretschmann).

* TalentDouble: Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak, who also performed much of the soundtrack, appears as Adrien Brody's piano-playing hands.
** It's worth noting that Adrien Brody studied piano for the role and actually learned to play the pieces Szpilman performs on-screen, though the playing you hear on the final soundtrack is Olejniczak's.

* {{Jerkass}}: Władysław's brother Henryk is rude, sarcastic, tries to joke in situations which are hardly funny (for example, he tells a story of a Jewish doctor and his patient who were murdered by the Germans in the middle of an operation and laughs at it) and spends most of his screentime mocking and antagonizing others for no reason. This is probably his way of coping with stress stemming from Szpilman family's (and Jews in general) current situation, but it still makes him come off as an obnoxious asshole.

It was adapted from the memoirs of Władysław Szpilman. Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is an accomplished concert pianist with a thriving career in Warsaw, Poland in 1939. He still lives with his family, consisting of his mother and father, his brother Henryk, and his sisters Halina and Regina. They are Jewish--assimilated, Polish-speaking Jews, as oppposed to the Yiddish-speaking Jews that constitute most of Polish Jewry.

* KickTheDog: Used extensively by the Nazis.

* Jerkass: Władysław's brother Henryk is rude, sarcastic, tries to joke in situations which are hardly funny (for example, he tells a story of a Jewish doctor and his patient who were murdered by the Germans in the middle of an operation and laughs at it) and spends most of his screentime mocking and antagonizing others for no reason. This is probably his way of coping with stress stemming from Szpilman family's (and Jews in general) current situation, but it still makes him come off as an obnoxious asshole.

* HopeSpot: [[TruthInTelevision Truthfully]] for citizens of Poland at the time, Szpilman family is overjoyed when hearing in the radio that both Britain and France have declared war on German in response to their invasion. While at dinner, they even make a toast "to England and to France", obviously convinced that Poland is no longer fighting this war alone. However, if you did your homework, you are probably aware that no help from the West is going to arrive, since in real world history, neither Britain nor France did anything to aid their Polish allies in 1939.

* MadnessMantra: Why did I do it? Why did I do it? Why did I do it? WHY DID I DO IT?

* RefugeInAudacity: Discussed. The Szpilman family argue about where to hide their money from the Germans. Henryk suggest putting the money under a cloth ''in front of the Germans'', thinking they would never look somewhere so obvious.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The Germans, and especially the SS, are shown committing numerous atrocities on Polish civilians. The Soviets are also briefly shown treating the German prisoners, including Hosenfeld, like cattle. He later died in captivity, as did many others.

* AllGermansAreNazis: {{Subverted}} with Wilm Hosenfeld who, despite being a captain of the German army, helped main character Szpilman escape from death and regularly gave him food. The Real Life Wilm Hosenfeld also fits into the subversion, having helped hide and rescued many Jews. Hosenfeld technically ''was'' a Nazi (he had joined the Party in 1935) but grew disgusted with them.

* RefugeInAudacity: Disucssed. The Szpilman family argue about where to hide their money from the Germans. Henryk suggest putting the money under a cloth ''in front of the Germans'', thinking they would never look somewhere so obvious.

* InfantImmortality: Averted when you see the corpses of children that had been shot.

** Brought to new extremes when a Nazi lines up workers on their faces and shoots them all in the head, even reloading when his magazine runs out. No reason beyond amusement can be understood for this. Other actions include beating up an old man for not saluting and for walking on the pavement.

* DressingAsTheEnemy: Accidentally, and at the worst possible time. Szpilman receives a coat from Hosenfeld, which causes the Russian soldiers arriving later to mistake him for German. Szpilman barely escapes being shot.

* UnwatedRescue: Szpilman is rescued from joining the rest of his family on the carriage to their deaths on the sympathetic whim of a [[LesCollaborateurs Jewish Ghetto police]] leader. This was the same man whose ego Szpilman had stroked in an earlier scene.