The Pianist

Continuity mistake: There is a scene where the Nazis are executing some fighters after destroying their stronghold, and they line them up facing a brick wall. If you look one of them is kneeling down when they get shot, and the bullet line across the wall would not have hit her, especially as she seems to go down before she's even hit.

David Mercier

Continuity mistake: When Wladek Szpilman is watching the Polish uprising out his window, several rebels attack the German hospital and police station. The pavement starts out icy, but when the Germans run out of the police station, the ice has completely melted.

Continuity mistake: There are various disparities between Szpilman's hair from shot to shot. This is most noticeable when he is told to leave the first apartment; he has a centre parting which changes to being combed back when he starts to smoke the cigarette. There are also continuity problems with his beard and stubble length in some scenes.

David Mercier

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Wladyslaw Szpilman is in the parlor speaking with the German officer (just before he's about to play the piano for him), you can see his breath in the cold air every time he speaks, yet when the camera pans to the German officer, his breath isn't visible.

Factual error: An old man appears with children following him. This is supposed to be pedagogue Janusz Korczak. It appeared as if he was just wearing a suit and a Jewish arm band. In the Warsaw Ghetto, Mr. Korczak never wore an arm band and wore his WWI Polish Army Uniform, both as acts of defiance. He was beaten and almost put to death (he had connections) for not wearing an arm band so having one on in the movie is inaccurate.

More mistakes in The Pianist

Wladyslaw Szpilman: They bombed us, we're off the air.
Henryk Szpilman: Warsaw's not the only radio station.

More quotes from The Pianist

Trivia: Adrien Brody could not play the piano. The film producers hired four professional piano teachers to teach him the piece from scratch.

More trivia for The Pianist

Question: Why does the narrator have to move to new hiding places?

Answer: In the first hideout, neighbors discovered Szpilman, forcing him to flee. His next hiding place was damaged in a bombing. He then moved from location to location finding shelter and scavenging food wherever he could until the sympathetic German officer hid him in the attic.

raywest

More questions & answers from The Pianist

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