The Pianist
We continued watching the Pianist today. Some of the points we discussed include:
Judaism vs. Being Jewish - we made the point that generally religious affiliation is a choice, albeit a choice often made by parents for their children early in life based on family tradition or regional/cultural/social norms. In the case of the Holocaust, Jews were targeted by the Nazis not so much for a religious affiliation, although this was obviously part of the story, but for what the Nazi's called racial inclusion, that is, Jews were Jews by birth and nothing could change that. Therefore they were of an inferior race, according to Hitler, and thus should be eliminated because of the harm that the Nazis said Jews were responsible for in Germany and the rest of Europe. I pointed out the statistic that in 1939 Europe's population was approximately 0.5 percent "Jewish" - it does not stand to reason that such a small proportion of the population could be responsible for the harms for which they were accused by the Nazis.
Instilling Fear - one of the strategies used in any conflict is to instil fear into the local populations. In this case the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were witness to daily killings at the hands of the Nazis which frightened everyone and decreased their sense of control over their own lives.
What Can Be Done About Injustice? - we discussed the fact that under the Nazis it was extremely dangerous to resist or comment or mount any kind of resistance, therefore most of those witness to injustices were helpless to change the situation. Hopefully by witnesses some of these atrocities in a film like this you are more willing to stand up for injustices anywhere in the world - in Canada we have freedom of speech and association and it is, generally, very safe to stand up for what is right in a free country like ours.
Family - near the end of today's viewing we witnessed the death of Szpilman's family - he was rescued at the train transfer station while the rest of his family was sent on to Treblinka, an extermination camp in occupied Poland. Every Jew today has family that was killed during WWII. Yesterday I recounted a time when I met Spilman's daughter after she commented on a piano player's playing of a particular song that her father played often when she was a child, that is, Szpilman himself. He was this woman's father.
Judaism vs. Being Jewish - we made the point that generally religious affiliation is a choice, albeit a choice often made by parents for their children early in life based on family tradition or regional/cultural/social norms. In the case of the Holocaust, Jews were targeted by the Nazis not so much for a religious affiliation, although this was obviously part of the story, but for what the Nazi's called racial inclusion, that is, Jews were Jews by birth and nothing could change that. Therefore they were of an inferior race, according to Hitler, and thus should be eliminated because of the harm that the Nazis said Jews were responsible for in Germany and the rest of Europe. I pointed out the statistic that in 1939 Europe's population was approximately 0.5 percent "Jewish" - it does not stand to reason that such a small proportion of the population could be responsible for the harms for which they were accused by the Nazis.
Instilling Fear - one of the strategies used in any conflict is to instil fear into the local populations. In this case the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were witness to daily killings at the hands of the Nazis which frightened everyone and decreased their sense of control over their own lives.
What Can Be Done About Injustice? - we discussed the fact that under the Nazis it was extremely dangerous to resist or comment or mount any kind of resistance, therefore most of those witness to injustices were helpless to change the situation. Hopefully by witnesses some of these atrocities in a film like this you are more willing to stand up for injustices anywhere in the world - in Canada we have freedom of speech and association and it is, generally, very safe to stand up for what is right in a free country like ours.
Family - near the end of today's viewing we witnessed the death of Szpilman's family - he was rescued at the train transfer station while the rest of his family was sent on to Treblinka, an extermination camp in occupied Poland. Every Jew today has family that was killed during WWII. Yesterday I recounted a time when I met Spilman's daughter after she commented on a piano player's playing of a particular song that her father played often when she was a child, that is, Szpilman himself. He was this woman's father.
Today's viewing is fairly self-explanatory and further depicts "in"humanity, that is, humanity at it's worst. Many of you discussed wanting to do something about social injustice and today we saw the results of the uprising against the Nazi occupation of Warsaw - the ghetto was levelled and any resistors who were caught were quickly executed.
When Szpilman is finally confronted by an articulate and finely cultured German officer in the abandoned building in which Szpilman is hiding, the tone of the story changes dramatically (sorry for the pun). We know that the young officer is cultured as we hear his music coming from the main floor - Beethoven's Sonata opus 27 #2, 1st Movement(popularly known as the "Moonlight Sonata"). For the first time we see exactly what it is about a human being that could account for him (in this case Szpilman) being fully human and not sub-human as was decreed by the Nazis at that time . . . through the eyes of a Nazi. The officer asks Szpilman to play the piano and, despite years of not touching a keyboard, he sits at the piano and plays, quite beautifully I might add, Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor(Op. 23, No. 1) - (in the actual event the real life Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne No. 1 in C# Minor which is a much gentler tune, it's a nocturne, afterall, but it would have not been nearly as dramatic as the piece played in the film. Notably, Nocturne No. 1 in C# Minor is the melancholy theme music throughout the music. This is seminal moment in the film as it depicts Szpilman as a human being, an entity worthy of protection, comfort and the rights of any other citizen. The German officer begins to question his own views and the actions of the Germans in the war.
When Szpilman is finally confronted by an articulate and finely cultured German officer in the abandoned building in which Szpilman is hiding, the tone of the story changes dramatically (sorry for the pun). We know that the young officer is cultured as we hear his music coming from the main floor - Beethoven's Sonata opus 27 #2, 1st Movement(popularly known as the "Moonlight Sonata"). For the first time we see exactly what it is about a human being that could account for him (in this case Szpilman) being fully human and not sub-human as was decreed by the Nazis at that time . . . through the eyes of a Nazi. The officer asks Szpilman to play the piano and, despite years of not touching a keyboard, he sits at the piano and plays, quite beautifully I might add, Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor(Op. 23, No. 1) - (in the actual event the real life Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne No. 1 in C# Minor which is a much gentler tune, it's a nocturne, afterall, but it would have not been nearly as dramatic as the piece played in the film. Notably, Nocturne No. 1 in C# Minor is the melancholy theme music throughout the music. This is seminal moment in the film as it depicts Szpilman as a human being, an entity worthy of protection, comfort and the rights of any other citizen. The German officer begins to question his own views and the actions of the Germans in the war.
