2. Chicago (2002)
At the 1973 Academy Awards show, "Cabaret" nearly swept the categories it received nominations for. It only lost two awards, Best Picture and Best Screenplay based on material from another medium, both to "The Godfather." Nowadays, more people have seen and still watch "The Godfather." It's more widely praised by audiences. Thirty years later, "Chicago" wins Best Picture, but Rob Marshall loses Best Director to Roman Polanski for "The Pianist." I don't know if Polanski's rape situation persuaded academy voters to not vote for "The Pianist." I doubt it, especially since he won Best Director. "The Pianist" tells the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish pianist hiding from the Nazis. Adrien Brody won Best Actor for his portrayal of the titular character, becoming the youngest winner in Oscar history. The invasion of the Warsaw ghetto is where the movie starts, and Szpilman turns to family, friends, and strangers throughout the movie for any help he can get. Families are torn apart with some getting on trains not knowing where they're going or if they'll see their family again. One moment that is more disturbing than others was a night scene in the ghetto. A family living in an apartment building across the street from where Szpilman's family is hiding gets rounded up by Nazis. The family is having dinner when the officers enter the room with no warning. They order everyone to stand up. Everyone in the family obliges except for an elderly man in a wheelchair, because he obviously can't stand on his own. I won't say what happens. But Polanski gives you a clean, steady, medium shot leaving nothing to the imagination. Steven Spielberg did an incredible job with "Schindler's List" showing how dark, melodramatic, and disgusting the genocide of innocent Jews was. Though I am not Jewish myself, "The Pianist" truly made me fear the Nazis. Polanski was able to show the true horrors of the Holocaust because he survived it himself.