Pianist Directed by Roman Polanski. Specifically, it

¶ … Pianist directed by Roman Polanski. Specifically, it will imagine every part of "The Pianist" that was violent or contained swear words was simply removed from the film. Censorship in film has always been a contentious issue, and with the advent of Clean Flix, the situation has come to a head. While it is certainly a person's right to view entertainment that they do not feel is offensive, for a company to "clean" offensive content is simply alteration of the work, plain and simple. This alteration changes the meaning of the work, and alters the integrity and very foundation of many films. Clean Flix may provide a valuable service, but it is at the cost of the film and what it stands for.

Artistic integrity versus "offensive" content. It is a difficult question for both sides to discuss, and whatever changes are made to a film; they constitute some kind of alteration and compromise. In the case of the film "The Pianist," the censoring of "offensive" content alters the meaning of the film, and alters its impact. "The Pianist" has a very important message about the brutality and hatred of the Nazis for the Jews. This is expressed in the extreme juxtaposition between the magnificence of the music and the viciousness of the Nazis. Removing all of the swear words in the film would also remove this juxtaposition, and make the Nazis seem less brutal and unforgiving than they really were. For example, in one scene near the end of the film, main character Szpilman is nearly killed when he is discovered wearing a German officer's coat. He cries, "No. Please. I'm Polish. I'm not a German," and the soldier replies, "Then why the *****ing coat?, to which Szpilman comments, "I'm cold" ("The Pianist"). This sums up the general feeling about the Nazis succinctly and brutally. The Nazis were horrible bullies, and the world recognized it. The language in this film may be brutal, but it is not nearly as brutal as the Nazis, and it is necessary for the impact of the film. To change the language is to whitewash the Holocaust and what happened to the Jews, and that is not acceptable, nor is it history. Removing the language would change the overall effect of the film, and would lessen its impact on the audience. It would also make the movie a farce, for if it could not accurately portray the brutality and viciousness of the Nazis without watering it down, it would make the viewer wonder what else was altered in the film. It would create doubt in the mind of the viewer, and it would bring questions of other portrayals and history into suspect. Altering the language and violence of this film would make the film weak, and would remove the impetus for viewing the film. It would not be true to the memory of the pianist it chronicled, or to all the Jews who died during the Holocaust.

Of course, the vicious language is not the only thing that makes this film memorable, or makes the Nazis brutal. For example, Polanski continually illustrates the violence of the Nazis with graphic scenes, such as the one where they break into a Jewish home and order everyone to stand. When an old man in a wheelchair cannot comply, they simply toss him out a third floor window. The scene is horrible to watch, but it contains the truth of what happened to thousands of Jews, and without it, the film would not have the impact or meaning that it does. Removing the violence and graphic language might make the film more appropriate for a wider audience, but that is the point of the film - it is not meant for everyone, and it should not be meant for everyone. Children probably will not appreciate this graphic look at history, and if we water down every film we view, we will eventually water down our own view of the world and world events. Graphic violence and language may not always be easy to view, but making everything easy to view takes away our choice in life, and also removes our ability to make our own decisions about what has happened in the world around us.