Roman Polanski's The Pianist, 2002

I highly recommend The Pianist (2002), Roman Polanski's A-grade top shelf adaptation of Polish pianist Władek Szpilman's World War Two memoir (Das wunderbare Überleben / [The Miraculous Survival] / The Pianist, 1998, originally published as Śmierć Miasta / [Death of a City] shortly after the war.

Set in Warsaw just before and during the war, it takes on the Holocaust from the perspective of Szpilman, a respected and popular Jewish pianist who, through luck, tenacity and perhaps fate, survives the Nazi-led German takeover and subsequent policy of extermination of Polish Jews. It's an absorbing, riveting, compelling tale, told without ham-fisted Hollywood-style sentimentality. One of the best historical films I've ever seen, without question.

The plot took me in immediately: a very functional family is forced by circumstances far beyond their control to deal with the escalatingly brutal German management of Warsaw. From the protagonist's limited viewpoint while in hiding, Polanski's images and sounds of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 and the second Warsaw Uprising in 1944, are highly effective. A tale that bears witness to both specific and global history. Simple things like lack of food and water compete with large-scale violent cruelties to make survival in these circumstances a near-miracle.

Today's Rune: Warrior.