Being interested in World War 2 era history, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to watch a movie about the time period that I had never seen before.  Typically, when I think of WW2 films, I think of movies filled with battles and fighting.  However, The Pianist illustrated the horrors of war from a perspective I haven’t really seen before: the struggle faced by the Jewish population during the Holocaust.

While the film itself was captivating and emotional, I was particularly intrigued by how it didn’t depict every German soldier in the movie as evil or strictly confined to antagonizing.  While a considerable amount of German soldiers seemed to readily perpetuate the persecution of the Jews in the movie, one German officer aided the protagonist, a Jewish pianist hiding in Warsaw from the Holocaust.  After discovering the man was Jewish, the officer did not report him but rather returned with bread, supplies, and even eventually gave him his coat.  This showed that WW2, and war in general, is not black and white because there are people willing to do the right on both sides.  Ultimately, the film itself and the lesson it taught made for a well spent Friday night.