Lets go to the movies: The Pianist

If you're looking for an uplifting film for New Years Eve then look away from 'The Pianist' because this isn't it, and it will make you feel really bad about humanity, society and history and life in general.

But don't let this put you off the film which I think is really darn good.

'The Pianist' follows a Jewish musician trying to survive the second World War.

If the sound of a film about war has already made you feel like pumping Zzz then wake right up, because what makes this fiml so emotional and dramatic is because the War is the backdrop (albeit a very influential backdrop) to the film, and the focus is the biography of the musician Wladyslaw. There are so many moments where you're certain he's a goner but then somehow, he's still there although ultimately the film is a tragedy of the horrors of the time.

It is very graphic in mnay instances, it does not hold back on the most disturbing of scenes, one that sticks out in my mind is some soldiers throwing a man in his wheelchair out the window of a tall building.

But then there are really really small parts that warm your heart, or at least they warmed mine- the sympathy of one soldier, cutting a single toffee into six parts so that each family member could taste something sweet on their tongue, hearing Wladyslaw play the piano for the first time in such a long time.

I think 'The Pianist' is something really special, but made even better by the fact that it is based on a true story!