The pianist - plot
In September 1939, Władysław Szpilman, a Polish-Jewish pianist, plays on radio in Warsaw when the station is bombed during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland at the outbreak of World War II. Hoping for a quick victory, Szpilman rejoices with family at home when learning that Britain and France have declared war on Germany. But Germany defeats Poland quickly and its troops enter Warsaw, where life for Jews deteriorates as the Nazi authorities prevent them from working or owning businesses and force them to wear blue Star of David armbands.
Photograph of Władysław Szpilman
By November 1940, Szpilman and his family have been forced from their home into the overcrowded Warsaw Ghetto where conditions only get worse. People starve, the guards are brutal and corpses are left in the streets. On one occasion, the Szpilmans witness the SS kill an entire family during a łapanka (raid) in an apartment across the street.
On 16 August 1942 the family are deported to Treblinka extermination camp, but Wladyslaw survives at the Umschlagplatz due to an intervention from a friend in the Jewish Ghetto Police. Szpilman becomes a slave labourer and learns of a coming Jewish revolt. He helps by smuggling weapons into the ghetto, narrowly avoiding a suspicious guard. He then manages to escape and goes into hiding with help from non-Jewish friend Andrzej Bogucki and his wife Janina.
In April 1943 Szpilman observes from his window the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that he aided and its ultimate failure. After a neighbor discovers him hiding, Szpilman is forced to flee and is provided with a second hiding place. He is shown into a room with a piano yet is compelled to keep quiet while beginning to suffer from jaundice.
In August 1944, the Polish resistance attack a German building across the street from Szpilman's hideout during the Warsaw Uprising. A tank shells his apartment, forcing him to escape and hide elsewhere. Over the course of the next months, the city is destroyed and
Photograph of Władysław Szpilman
By November 1940, Szpilman and his family have been forced from their home into the overcrowded Warsaw Ghetto where conditions only get worse. People starve, the guards are brutal and corpses are left in the streets. On one occasion, the Szpilmans witness the SS kill an entire family during a łapanka (raid) in an apartment across the street.
On 16 August 1942 the family are deported to Treblinka extermination camp, but Wladyslaw survives at the Umschlagplatz due to an intervention from a friend in the Jewish Ghetto Police. Szpilman becomes a slave labourer and learns of a coming Jewish revolt. He helps by smuggling weapons into the ghetto, narrowly avoiding a suspicious guard. He then manages to escape and goes into hiding with help from non-Jewish friend Andrzej Bogucki and his wife Janina.
In April 1943 Szpilman observes from his window the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that he aided and its ultimate failure. After a neighbor discovers him hiding, Szpilman is forced to flee and is provided with a second hiding place. He is shown into a room with a piano yet is compelled to keep quiet while beginning to suffer from jaundice.
In August 1944, the Polish resistance attack a German building across the street from Szpilman's hideout during the Warsaw Uprising. A tank shells his apartment, forcing him to escape and hide elsewhere. Over the course of the next months, the city is destroyed and