The Pianist

This is an adaptation of the autobiography of Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, who miraculously survived the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. When the first bombs fall on Warsaw, Szpilman plays Chopin on the radio. For the next two and a half hours of screen time, he will survive amidst the horrors of the Holocaust only thanks to inexplicable luck, the pity of a friend-policeman, and the love of a German captain for Mazurkas—circumstances entirely beyond his control.

Roman Polanski adapted this story as his own—not only in detail but also sincerely. Previously, he hid his deeply intimate expressions about the horrors of the Holocaust behind genre screens and masks of others' perversions, but in this film, he spoke from the first person. After all, Polanski himself, as a child, survived only because his father pushed him through barbed wire in time and survived, wandering through villages between Krakow and Warsaw, solely due to the kindness of random Poles and a series of circumstances.

 "Golden Palm Branch" of the Cannes Film Festival and three "Oscars": for screenplay, directing, and lead role