The Pianist Opening Scene - War

 

The pianist - a war film

 

The pianist, based on the book by Wladyslaw Szpilman is a film based in Poland during the start of the second world war – the time period and location are clearly established through the writing but also through the vintage film and it all starts off in black and white. It then switches drastically to a newer, more modern film with color and better focus and cuts to a man playing the piano – as the film is titled ‘The Pianist” it draws our attention.

As the opening scene is very short and the first minute is very peaceful and calm, we are expecting something to happen as the genre is war. We know from contextual knowledge that Poland was heavily involved at the beginning of  WW2 and so we are anticipating action. We don’t get much information as to what is going on because the dialogue is muted as we are seeing it in the Pianist’s point of view, this adds to the sense of uncertainty and tension. We are confused as to why he is being signaled to stop playing and yet refuses and as the diegetic tone of the piano gets faster and more stressful -  the closer you get to the explosion happening.

We can see that there will be some dark topics explored in this film as world war 2 was a very violent and horrifying time period meaning that the target audience for this film would probably be a more mature audience but would be seen by people who can someway relate to that time and place of war or people who are interested in thriller/ action films. Although we don't see much action apart from at the very end of the opening scene, the sound and lighting are used effectively, because the piano is playing through the very starting scene we are inclined to assume it's a non-diegetic sound piece, however, when it cuts to the pianist it makes it feel a lot more real -  because the piano is being played in a minor key it creates an unsettling atmosphere, combined with the location and time period we know something will happen. The lighting is used to create this atmosphere also as it presents how different things are inside and outside. Another contrast is from the pianist's point of view and the person in the room opposite to him, we can't hear the man talking so we assume he can't hear the piano - meaning that he is experiencing this situation a lot differently.  

The mood and atmosphere change drastically from an eerie mood to a terrifying one very quickly - the pianist is in his own world and doesn't stop playing even when  2 men are frantically miming for him to stop and making gestures that he will die. When the explosion happens this is the only time the piano stops playing signaling the end.