Summary
Szpilman decides to wait out the conflict in his flat, but when he hears German soldiers in the hall, he grows nervous and prepares to jump out the window. Just before he goes to do it, however, the soldiers leave the apartment complex.
One night, Szpilman lies in bed listening to his neighbor play the piano. He gets up and goes to the kitchen, trying to get something from his shelf, but accidentally breaks the shelf, causing a stack of plates to fall to the ground with a smash. His neighbor, who has been playing the piano, comes over and knocks furiously on his door, demanding that he open up before she calls the police.
Szpilman collects his things and prepares to leave the flat, but when he comes out of his door, the woman next door is waiting for him. He tells her that the flat belongs to a friend of his, and that he has just come to visit. "Have you got your identity card?" she asks him, and suddenly begins yelling at him, calling him a Jew. Szpilman manages to escape, running out into the snowy night. He pulls the address Gebczynski gave him out of his shoe, and makes his way there.
When he arrives at the address on the note, Dorota, Szpilman's old friend, answers the door. She is shocked to see him, and invites him in. Dorota is visibly pregnant, and the man on the card that Szpilman has is the name of her husband, Michael Dzikiewicz.
He sits down at the table and tells her he needs somewhere to stay. "How long have you been married?" he asks, and she tells him it's been just over a year. She tells him Jurek is dead, and that her baby is due at Christmas. Suddenly, Dorota's husband comes in and tells Szpilman that he should sleep on the sofa that night, and they will move him to a new apartment the next day.
The next morning, Szpilman wakes to the sound of Dorota playing Chopin's Cello Sonata perfectly. He listens from the dining room for a moment.
Later, Dorota's husband shows Szpilman his new apartment, which has a piano. Before he leaves, Michael tells him that the flat is in a very German area and there is a hospital across the street taking in wounded people from the Russian front. He tells Szpilman it's the safest place to be, "right at the heart of the lion's den." Before he leaves, Michael locks Szpilman in and tells him to be as quiet as possible.
Left alone, Szpilman opens the piano and sits down to play, but only gestures at it, rather than actually playing. In his head, he hears beautiful and complicated pieces of music without ever touching the keys.
One day, Michael and a man named Antek Szalas bring him some food. Michael tells Szpilman that Szalas will be looking after him, and that he's with the underground. Szalas tells Szpilman that they have met before, when he was a technician at the Warsaw Radio. "I'm sorry I don't remember," Szpilman says, pouring them each a drink. Michael tells them that there is news that the Allies have been bombing Germany relentlessly. They toast to the hope that the Nazi reign is almost over.
The scene shifts and we see Szpilman, now bearded, making beans in his apartment when Szalas enters with some sausage and bread. Szalas pours some vodka for both of them, as Szpilman tells him that he thinks he has jaundice. Szpilman asks Szalas why he hasn't come sooner, since it's been over two weeks since his last visit. Szalas tells him that he needs to raise money to buy the food, but it's not easy.
Szpilman takes off the watch he is wearing for Szalas to sell. "Food's more important than time," he jokes. Szalas tells him that the Allies have landed in France and the Russians will soon send reinforcements to Poland to fight the Nazis.
Dorota and Michael come to visit Szpilman, finding him very ill in bed with jaundice. Dorota wants to get a doctor, but Michael thinks it would be too dangerous. Michael tells her to stay with Szpilman and goes to find someone himself. Dorota puts a hot towel over Szpilman's forehead and tells him that they are going to stay with her mother, where it's safer. She then tells him that Szalas has been pocketing the money he's earned for food the whole time.
A doctor comes to visit and says that, while very sick, Szpilman will live. He says he will get him some medicine, but that it will not be easy.
August 1944. Szpilman is recovered and moving around the apartment now. When he looks out, he sees a shootout on the street. It is the beginning of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and the Poles are fighting to resist German incursion.
When the water stops working in his building and the Germans surround his building, Szpilman must flee to the streets, but finds that he is locked into his flat. He looks out and sees a German tank blast his apartment building and calls for help. When a large explosion occurs in his building, he is able to run out through the hole that the bomb made and climb up to the roof to escape the Nazi soldiers who are inspecting the building.
On the roof, Szpilman avoids getting shot and climbs into a nearby window, running out of the apartment building and escaping death once again. That night, he pretends to be a dead body to avoid getting killed. When the coast is clear, he runs into the abandoned hospital and hides. In the light of day, he looks around the hospital for food.
Analysis
Szpilman's hiding out in the flat does not last long. One night, while rummaging in a cupboard, he manages to alert his antisemitic neighbor to his existence and she screams at him, asking for identification. Before she manages to call the police, Szpilman runs out of the apartment and escapes, rattled by the incident. This moment shows us that while there are some generous civilians, such as Janina and Andrzej, many of the non-Jewish civilians in Poland have been completely turned against the Jews by the Nazi occupation.
The emergency at the first flat leads Szpilman rather unexpectedly to the home of his old flame, Dorota, who is now married and pregnant. Conditions have changed a great deal since their first coffee date, and now Szpilman is weathered and traumatized by his horrific experiences. Dorota's calm smile has been replaced by a look of grave concern, as she recognizes the face of her old friend, the acclaimed pianist. The reunion is at once serendipitous and tragic, representative of how far apart two mutual admirers have been pushed by the incursion of the Nazis.
The film's title is made all the more profound by the fact that a majority of Szpilman's time is spent completely deprived of music. The first scene shows Szpilman fiercely committed to his craft as a pianist, and upheld as an acclaimed player by the Polish public, but when the Nazis arrive, he is cut off from music and must focus only on his survival. While staying at Dorota's apartment, he wakes up to find her playing a cello sonata, and listens from the other room. In this moment, we see just how deprived of music and fond emotion Szpilman has been, the toll that the Nazi occupation has taken not only on his safety, but also his ability to enjoy the pleasure and beauty of music and art.
In his new flat, Szpilman finds a piano, but he is tragically not allowed to play, as it would let people know he is living there illegally. In lieu of actually playing, he sits down at the piano and imagines he is playing in a concert hall. He touches none of the keys, but gestures as though he were playing for an admiring audience. This act, simulated and imaginary though it may be, buoys the musician, who has been deprived of so much. Just the promise of having a piano in his room, and the memory of what it is like to play one, sends him into a revelrous relief.
The film is largely silent, often showing simple scenes of Szpilman figuring out new ways to survive under the direst of circumstances. Szpilman is a solitary figure, who encounters helpers along the way at different points, but must often look out for himself. He faces everything from bombings to starvation, and still manages to find a way to safety. His story is one of resilience and solitude, the triumphant will of the human spirit to find its way even in the face of grave danger.
