Images, nr 21-22, 2013

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Zagłada miasta. Warszawa w Pianiście Romana Polańskiego
(Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM w Poznaniu; Wydawnictwo PWSFTViT w Łodzi, 2013) Jazdon, Mikołaj; Hendrykowska, Małgorzata; Śliwińska, Anna
This article is an analysis of Roman Polanski’ The Pianist, focused on presenting how the city space in this film, both its exteriors and interiors, makes it a story of Warsaw during the Second World War. The gradual destruction of the city is presented in two supplementary fashions. On the one hand, there is as a quasi-documentary reconstruction of the past based on literary (Władysław Szpilman’s diary) and visual (archive photographs and films) material, while on the other, there is a symbolic narration, where particular places and events bear hidden meanings. Next to Chopin and his music, the piano, interiors and city walls, the most meaningful symbol in the film is a monument of Jesus Christ carrying the cross, a statue standing in front of The Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, a motif that appears in the second shot of the Pianist and returns three more times during the film.