Even though the theme resembles the one in Schlindler's List, it is not the same movie at all. I watched so many movies about Nazi Germany and its horrors, that I thought the Pianist would not show anything new. And in a sense, it doesn't.

However, it does outline the true survival story of a Polish pianist throughout WWII. You can quickly imagine yourself in his shoes. What you can't imagine is living through his survival saga and the horrors he witnessed in such horrible period in human history. If you're looking for a movie filled with piano masterpieces, this isn't it. As a matter of fact, you'll hear a few wonderful piano pieces only at the beginning and a bit at the end of the movie. This movie is not about playing the piano, it's about survival. It's about history. It's about ____ (fill in the blank with anything dramatic that will move you).

I watched the movie with my wife and she had to close her eyes during certain scenes. There is one scene where a Jewish woman asks a Nazi official "Where are you taking us?" He simply turns around a shoots her. Point blank. And it is pretty graphic. If you can't deal with scenes like this one, I still encourage you to watch it. Just don't let your children see it.

All in all, this is a great movie. A great movie for me is the one that you keep thinking about it long after you've watched it. And this is no doubt one of them.

Explanation of my rankings:
Action: 1 -- It's not an action movie, but a drama.
Humor: 1 -- I can't remember anything funny about it.
Violence: 10 -- Disgusting at times, but true and well portrayed.
Family appeal: 7 -- not suitable for children or young teens.
Special effects: 5 -- Good, since they're so subtle.