About a year ago, The Pianist, by Wladyslaw Szpilman, was mentioned
in several posts.  It's a wonderful book about a pianist's survival
in occupied Poland.  Had it not been for MCML, I'd never have heard
of it.  A few days ago, Elvis Mitchell, in The New York Times, said
of Roman Polanski's film based on the book:

   The movie is a bland, glib melodrama that softens its impact by
   robbing its protagonist of the resourcefulness and physical courage
   it must have taken to survive.

Today, I hear that the film has won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film
Festival.  Whether Mitchell or the Cannes jury have the right opinion,
it should be worth seeing.

Richard Pennycuick
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