TVA International

In 1939 Warsaw is invaded by Nazi Germany, Wladyslaw Szpilman is performing live on a radio station as it is dive bombed by the Luftwaffe. He continues to play until he is almost killed. This opening scene sets the tone for the story of a man so driven by his passion for music even in the face of adversary. As the film continues we watch the establishment of the Warsaw ghetto and the beginning of the reign of hate towards the Jews by Nazi Germany.

The Warsaw ghetto is full of stark contrasts we watch as people die in the streets from hunger and others prosper by bribing guards and importing goods, we see Germans helping Jews escape from the ghetto and Jews who join the ghetto police in an attempt to save themselves. At one point in time the ghetto contained over 500,000 people, as the war continues Wladyslaws family and most of the residents of the ghetto are loaded onto trains and shipped off to concentration camps never to be seen again. Those who are left over are formed into work camps by the Germans and start an uprising. Threw all this Wladyslaw survives even when he comes face to face with a Nazi officer who finds him hiding in their headquarters. The officer knows that the war is almost over as the Russian army is fast approaching and brings him food in exchange for listening to him play.