The Pianist/Awesome

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jewish pianist in the World War II movie The Pianist, believes he has met his end when he encounters a German Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, but instead of killing him, Hosenfeld, upon discovering Szpilman is a pianist, asks him to play something on a nearby grand piano. Cue a beautiful playing of Chopin's Ballade in G minor in a desolate, war-torn, abandoned Warsaw. Hosenfeld is so impressed that he allows Szpilman to hide in the attic of that house, which is turned into a German command post, and secretly brings food to him, until the Germans evacuate the position from the liberating armies.

Szpilman: * wearing Hosenfeld's coat* Don't shoot, don't shoot! I am Polish!
Polish Soldier: Da, he is Polish. Why the fucking coat?
Szpilman: I'm cold...