YMMV / The Pianist

• Award Snub: Some felt this way when Chicago won Best Picture over this at the Oscars.
• Funny Moments: Yes, even a grim and depressing movie like this has a chuckle-worthy moment.
  Szpilman: (wearing Hosenfeld's coat) Don't shoot, don't shoot! I am Polish!
  Polish Soldier 1: Yes, he's Polish.
  Polish Soldier 2: Why the fucking coat?
  (beat)
  Szpilman: I'm cold...
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Wilm Hosenfeld. The German officer who is moved by Szpilmans performance and works to hide him.
  • Szpilman's brother Henryk is well-liked, paticularly for his suggestions in the scene where the family argues about where to hide their possesions.
  • The old man taking care of a bunch of local children who gets away with mocking the Nazis by not acting serious.
  • Rebel Leader Majorek
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Japan was the film's highest grossing foreign market. In fact, the film made almost as much money in Japan as it did in North America.
• Narm:
  • Many people actually admit laughing when an old Jewish man in a wheelchair is thrown to his death in the ghetto street from a balcony by German soldiers while it's no laughing matter at all. The scene's timing makes it involuntarily comedic, not to mention the absurd demand of the German officer to the man (ordering him to stand up while he physically can't), and the weird scream heard while the old man is falling produces some Vocal Dissonance.
    • Of course, it becomes far less funny when you know a thing or two about the life in occupied Poland and are thus aware that expecting a crippled man to stand up (and killing him when he doesn't) would definitely not be the most sick way of toying with their victims that Nazis came up with during their "stay" — things like that (or even worse and even more grotesque) actually happened. And when you notice that "weird scream" is actually produced by Mrs Szpilman, before she's silenced by one of her daughters. There's nothing weird about screaming when you witness a man getting brutally murdered for fun.
  • This is a relatively mild one, but — "I wish I knew you better". It's true, you can always learn something knew about people you think you know well enough, but still, it's kinda weird thing to tell your own sister, with whom you've spent most of your life.
  • The scene where a starving Szpilman tries to open a can of pickles plays more like a Looney Tunes skit than what has up to this point been a seriously depressing wartime drama. Whole cinemas were literally in tears of laughter watching it, only to nearly choke on it when Hosenfeld entered the picture and before it was established he was a token good Nazi.
• Nightmare Fuel: This movie is about one of the worst crimes against humanity ever. This is a given.
  • There is that poor old man tossed from the balcony by the Germans because he was too feeble to stand up.
  • The numerous times Szpilman barely escapes from death: surviving being deported with his family, escaping from the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, nearly being exposed by one particularly loudmouthed woman, nearly being killed when the city is leveled during the Warsaw Uprising, and finally barely escaping shot when a group of Soviet soldiers mistake him for a German soldier.
• One-Scene Wonder: The woman who nearly exposes Szpilman (played by Polish actress Katarzyna Figura) is memorable for being incredibly loud and vile.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The debate about whether or not Roman Polański should have been awarded the Best Director Oscar for this film can sometimes overshadow the film itself. On the one hand there's those who simply agree that yes, Polanski was a fully deserving winner. Others see his award as either a Consolation Award for his even more highly-regarded works earlier in his career, or a Dark Horse Victory resulting from two of the other Best Director candidates (most likely Martin Scorsese and Rob Marshall) splitting the vote. And then there's those who feel that due to his controversial past, Polanski should not be considered for an Oscar or any other award.

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