Factual error: In the scene where the Germans are bombing the wall, the rebels are hiding behind. You can see that the bricks which came out of the wall because of the bombing are lying on the "non-Jewish" part of the wall and not on the ghetto side as it should be.
The Pianist (2002)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Starring: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Michal Zebrowski
Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) survives the war thanks to a German officer who spared his life, gave him food and let him stay hidden in the attic of that house. The German officer (and the rest of his men) are sent to a Russian prison camp. Szpilman goes back to playing piano and unfortunately, never learns the name of the officer who saved his life. The name of the officer is Wilm Hosenfeld. Wilm Hosenfeld died in a Soviet prison in 1952. He was posthumously awarded the Yad Veshem's title of "Righteous Among Nations" in October 2007. Szpilman was not the only Jew he saved during WWII.
Kretschmann
More mistakes in The Pianist
Wladyslaw Szpilman: What does my tie have to do with anything? I need it for work.
Trivia: Adrien Brody could not play the piano. The film producers hired four professional piano teachers to teach him the piece from scratch.
Question: I want to know how the scene with the Nazis dumping the man in the wheelchair off the balcony was done. How did the man/stuntman manage to survive this fall?
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Chosen answer: In the scene, we see the old man being lifted in his wheelchair. Then, there is a cut-away to the family watching from across the street. Then we see someone being dumped from the chair and falling, but we never see him hit the ground. My guess from watching the scene is that the stunt person fell into a cushion which was removed in post-production. Generally, when confronted with a question such as this, I like to refer it to someone who would be in the know - in this case, the stunt team on the film. I looked up that team on IMDb.com, and searched for the individuals on Facebook. Of the twenty or so stunt people and coordinators, I could only find three with unique profiles that made me think I might have the correct individuals: Janusz Kadlubowski, Stella Kuczynska and Zbigniew Modej. I posed your question to them. However, given that I am not connected on Facebook to any of them, I have no idea if or when they would see my message and respond. I will update this answer if I receive further information.