Chuck Barris
Chuck Barris is the creator of "The Dating Game," "The Newlywed Game," and "The Gong Show." He also composed the themes for each show. The new film "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is based on Barris' 1980 autobiography in which he claims - while he was creating game shows - he was also a CIA assasin. "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is George Clooney's directorial debut. (REBROADCAST from 1/28/86)
Other segments from the episode on January 10, 2003
Transcript
DATE January 10, 2003 ACCOUNT NUMBER N/A⨠TIME 12:00 Noon-1:00 PM AUDIENCE N/A⨠NETWORK NPR⨠PROGRAM Fresh Airâ¨â¨Filler: By policy of WHYY, this information is restricted and hasâ¨been omitted from this transcriptâ¨â¨* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *â¨â¨Interview: Queen Latifah discusses her career as a rapper andâ¨actressâ¨BARBARA BOGAEV, host:â¨â¨This is FRESH AIR. I'm Barbara Bogaev, in for Terry Gross.â¨â¨In the new film "Chicago," Queen Latifah plays the tough prison matron Mamaâ¨who does favors for her female prisoners in return for their intimateâ¨friendship and cold cash.â¨â¨(Soundbite of "Chicago")â¨â¨Ms. QUEEN LATIFAH: (As Mama) Ask any of the chickies in my pen. They'll tellâ¨you I'm the biggest mother--hen. I love 'em all, and all of them love meâ¨because the system works, the system called reciprocity. Got a little motto,â¨always sees me through. When you're good to Mama, Mama's good to you.â¨There's a lot of favors I'm prepared to do. You do one for Mama, she'll doâ¨one for you. They say that life is tit-for-tat, and that's the way I live, soâ¨I deserve a lot of tat for what I've got to give. Don't you know that thisâ¨hand washes that one, too? When you're good to Mama, Mama's good to you.â¨â¨BOGAEV: That's Queen Latifah from the soundtrack of the new film "Chicago."â¨Her performance earned her a Golden Globe best actress nomination. She alsoâ¨has a new album, a collection of hits released in December called "She's aâ¨Queen." Queen Latifah's first CD in 1989 established her image as anâ¨Afrocentric, independent woman who didn't like the misogynistic bent of someâ¨fellow rappers. The strength that she portrays in her music has carried overâ¨into her roles on TV and in the movies. She was one of the stars of the Foxâ¨sitcom "Living Single" and has co-starred in the movies "Brown Sugar,"â¨"Juice," "Set It Off" and "Living Out Loud."â¨â¨Terry spoke with Queen Latifah in 1999 after the publication of herâ¨autobiography, "Ladies First." Let's start with a tune from her 1994 Grammyâ¨Award-winning record "U.N.I.T.Y."â¨â¨(Soundbite of music)â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: Oh, oh, U-N-I-T-Y, U-N-I-T-Y, that's a unity. U-N-I-T-Y,â¨love a black man from infinity to infinity.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) Who you callin' a bitch? Here we go.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) You gotta let 'em know.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y, that's a unity.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) You go, come on, here we go. Here we go, uh.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) You gotta let 'em know...â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: Love a black woman from infinity to infinity.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) ...you ain't a bitch or a ho. Here we go.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) You gotta let 'em know.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y, that's a unity.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) Come on, come on and here we go.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) Yeah, you gotta let 'em know...â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: Love a black man from infinity to infinity.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) ...you ain't a bitch or a ho. Instinct leads me toâ¨another flow. Every time I hear a brother call a girl a bitch or a ho, tryingâ¨to make a sister feel low, you know all of that gots to go. Now everybodyâ¨knows there's exceptions to this rule.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: Yeah.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) And I won't be getting mad when we playin'; it'sâ¨cool. But don't you be callin' me out my name. I bring wrath to those whoâ¨disrespect me like a dame. That's why I'm talkin'. One day I was walkin'â¨down the block. I had my cut-off shorts on, right, 'cause it was crazy hot.â¨I walked past these dudes. When they passed me, one of them felt my booty.â¨He was nasty.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: Yeah.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) I turned around red. Somebody was catching the wrath.â¨Then the little one said...â¨â¨Backup Singer #2: Ha-ha, yeah, me, bitch.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) ..and laughed. 'Cause he was with his boys, he triedâ¨to break fly. I punched him dead in his eye, 'said, `Who you callin' aâ¨bitch?' Here we go.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) You gotta let 'em know.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y, that's a unity.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) You go. Come on, here we go.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) Yeah, you gotta let 'em know...â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: Love a black woman from infinity to infinity.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Singing) ...you ain't a bitch or a ho. Here we go.â¨â¨Backup Singer #1: U-N-I-T-Y.â¨â¨TERRY GROSS, host:â¨â¨In this rap, you talk about what you don't like about `bitch' and `ho' kind ofâ¨language. Elaborate on that for me.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Laughs) Oh. You know, honestly, the record was really made inâ¨response to--at the time, there were so many records coming out with, youâ¨know, rappers calling women, you know, bitch this, ho that. And I justâ¨thought it was, like, getting out of control and it was becoming a bit tooâ¨much. And I'm not saying that I don't, you know, use expletives when I'mâ¨hanging out with my friends, you know, and, you know, I mean, we may say someâ¨of those things, but we say it in joking. But when it's meant to be reallyâ¨derogatory or to disrespect people constantly, you know, it just got to be tooâ¨much. And so I felt like saying something about it, you know?â¨â¨GROSS: Did you feel that that language represented larger attitudes towardâ¨women in the music world or the rap world or among your friends?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Well, definitely some people use that word to apply to allâ¨women, you know, and it seems like the word--I mean, I could call a guy anâ¨M-F, but it's not gonna be as harsh as him calling me a bitch. There's aâ¨difference. It sounds worse and it feels worse. You know what I mean? So Iâ¨felt like, you know, it was time somebody said something about it because itâ¨was just--it's still out of control. It's still out of control, you know, butâ¨I think that that helped bring awareness to it. And the record wasn't so muchâ¨about the word `bitch.' The record was about--the first verse is about, youâ¨know, the respect and respecting a woman. The second verse is about abuse, aâ¨woman being beaten by her man and finding the strength to leave. And theâ¨third verse was about young girls, like, who wanted to be tough, wanted to beâ¨gangsta B's. You know what I mean? I mean, the record was really about a lotâ¨of different things. And the point of the record was unity. Let's bring itâ¨all together. Let's put all of this stupid stuff to the side and let's beâ¨together, man. Let's stop pushing each other away from each other and let'sâ¨be down with each other.â¨â¨GROSS: The first name that you rapped under was Princess of the Posse. Howâ¨did you decide on that name for yourself?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: No, Latifah was my name. The Princess of the Posse was just myâ¨little title, you know, because I was like the only girl in our crew. Andâ¨Ramsey was kind of like--Ramsey and DJ Mark the 45 King were like the heads ofâ¨the crew, you know, so to speak. They were like the heads of the crew, but Iâ¨was--I mean, I didn't go with either one of them, so I couldn't be like theirâ¨girlfriends or anything like that. So I just took the little--I was like theâ¨little sister. So I took the Princess title.â¨â¨GROSS: So what was it like being the only female in your posse?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: I wasn't the only female, but I was the only female rapper. Itâ¨felt good. You know, I was cool with it, you know. And then all myâ¨friends--I introduced, like, a lot of my friends to the guys in my crew, andâ¨some of them hooked up with the guys in my crew, so it was like--it was cool.â¨We had a big old family. We had a female deejay, this girl named Gingerâ¨G(ph). She used to deejay. So she was the female deejay; I was the femaleâ¨rapper. And you know, we had a couple of other people, you know, down withâ¨us, but that was it. And it was actually a good experience for me, 'cause Iâ¨got to be around guys and see how they think and what they do, and they couldâ¨be natural around me. They didn't really hide anything, you know, in front ofâ¨me because it wasn't like I was their girlfriend, you know. So they didn'tâ¨have to front and, you know, be phony or whatever. I learned a lot.â¨â¨And then, you know, I had them right there to help me practice. We allâ¨practiced around each other. We would write and then we would bounce theâ¨rhymes off of each other to see what the other person thought and getâ¨constructive criticism. It was almost like a school for rap. It was realâ¨good.â¨â¨GROSS: How did you decide what you wanted your image to be?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: I kind of just wanted it to not be like anybody else that wasâ¨already out. So you know, when the record company gave me some money to goâ¨shopping, you know, to get clothes and stuff for my promo pictures, you know,â¨I didn't have a stylist, so they basically just gave me money to go shopping.â¨So I went and bought, you know, a couple of outfits, you know, some stretchâ¨pants and a nice shirt or whatever, you know. But then I was walking down theâ¨street downtown in Newark called Halsey Street and I passed this Africanâ¨store, and I had already decided my name was Queen Latifah by this point. Andâ¨then I was looking at some of the clothing and I liked the way that the pantsâ¨were made. It was like a drawstring thing. It was beautiful embroidery. Iâ¨saw this fabric and I asked the lady could she make me a suit, basically, youâ¨know, a shirt and some pants and a hat to match, like a crown. And she saidâ¨she could do it, and she hooked it up for me and it came out real cool. So Iâ¨took my first promo pictures in it. And I was barefoot in these pictures,â¨squatting with this African suit on, and it was like, `Whoa, who is this?'â¨You know, my look was just automatically different from then on.â¨â¨GROSS: It's good you had your clothes made, too, because you write in yourâ¨book that you hated the full-sized women's shops; you didn't like the clothesâ¨in there.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Well, yeah, most of the time it's just some big, you know--Iâ¨mean, things have gotten a lot nicer since, you know, then. That was like 10,â¨12 years ago or whatever. But yeah, things have gotten--they've come a longâ¨way. You know, I still think that the bigger ladies need some really flyâ¨clothes to wear, because most women--I mean, most women that I know are justâ¨small women, you know. They need to have really nice things made for them soâ¨they can look just as beautiful as, you know, these little size 6's. It's allâ¨good. Share the love.â¨â¨GROSS: Now you write that when you were growing up, you were uncomfortableâ¨with your body because you were big. Is that something you had to get overâ¨before you started performing, or had you already gotten over that?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Yeah, I basically had gotten over that by then. I mean, myâ¨concern, my initial concern wasn't because I was big, 'cause I wasn't likeâ¨big, fat, you know. I was bigger than every other girl in the class, though.â¨â¨GROSS: You were playing basketball.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Yeah, I was, like, always the tallest girl in the class, alwaysâ¨the biggest girl in the class until, like, this other girl came to schoolâ¨named Shania(ph), and I was so happy because she was bigger than me, and Iâ¨didn't think it was possible, but I was so happy because she took the pressureâ¨off of me for a minute, which was nice. But it was like my breasts, you know,â¨I developed--the women in my family are pretty well-endowed up top. So I gotâ¨pretty well-endowed pretty early in life. I was like 11 years old, popping upâ¨with these things, and I'm like, `Oh, God, what do I do with this? What areâ¨you doing here? Why-y me?'â¨â¨And then they just grew, so my friends would, like, tease me sometimes. Theyâ¨made me feel a little bit uncomfortable about it. But as I grew older, I grewâ¨to accept them. I grew to love my body, you know, and it was reinforced byâ¨certain people that I was involved with intimately. They loved it, too, soâ¨I'm like, `Man.' And now I love my breasts. This is the best thing in theâ¨world.â¨â¨GROSS: You know, you use your size on stage as power, too.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Yeah. Why not? I am statuesque. My stature goes right alongâ¨with my personality.â¨â¨BOGAEV: Queen Latifah speaking with Terry Gross in 1999. She plays theâ¨prison warden Mama in the new film "Chicago." We'll hear more of theirâ¨conversation after the break. This is FRESH AIR.â¨â¨(Soundbite of music)â¨â¨BOGAEV: If you're just joining us, we're featuring a 1999 interview Terryâ¨Gross recorded with Queen Latifah. She stars in the new film "Chicago."â¨â¨GROSS: You have been doing, you know, a lot of acting. You were the star ofâ¨the TV series "Living Single." You've been in several movies, includingâ¨"Juice" and "Get It Off"--Is that what it's called?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: "Set It Off."â¨â¨GROSS: "Set It Off," yeah. I saw it, but I forgot the title.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: "Get It Off"? What you thinking about over there, huh? Uh-huh.â¨â¨(Soundbite of laughter)â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: "Set It Off."â¨â¨GROSS: "Set It Off." And, oh, "Living Out Loud."â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Mm-hmm.â¨â¨GROSS: When you got into acting, did you--had you planned to get into acting?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Well, it was something that I always wanted to do.â¨â¨GROSS: Since you were a kid?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Yeah. I mean, I acted in school plays and stuff. I never hadâ¨any, like, really formal, formal training as in classes or anything like that,â¨but I felt like I had a talent, you know. And I felt like it would beâ¨something good for me to do, and I wanted to do it, because I never looked atâ¨myself like I'm the best rapper ever on the planet. And unless I could sayâ¨that, then I would never be comfortable just being a rapper. I needed toâ¨have, like--I needed to diversify and have things to fall back on, so actingâ¨was definitely a passion that I wanted to pursue.â¨â¨GROSS: Your first movie was "Juice," right?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: My first movie was--was it "Juice?" "Jungle Fever."â¨â¨GROSS: Oh, "Jungle Fever." OK. That was, like, a small role, very smallâ¨role, right?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Yeah, one day.â¨â¨GROSS: OK. And then in "Juice," you had a larger role as a deejay, so it wasâ¨kind of pretty close to who you are.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Right.â¨â¨GROSS: You didn't have to, like, reinvent yourself completely...â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: No. Exactly.â¨â¨GROSS: ...for that. Was that a good way to get started, you know, in a roleâ¨that was pretty close to home?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Well, you know what? It was, I guess, in a way, but then itâ¨wasn't. You know, it was kind of like I got sick of playing what peopleâ¨thought Queen Latifah was in their scripts. Like, people would look at myâ¨image or who they thought I was, and then they'd write me in there basically,â¨but it wasn't me, you know? It wasn't me. I was much more rounded. I wasâ¨much more well-rounded than the linear characters that they kind of had meâ¨playing. And they would just like this remanufactured version of Queenâ¨Latifah. I was happy for the opportunity to be in a movie and kind of learn,â¨so it was good learning some of those things without having to stretch too farâ¨from who I really am, but that's not something that can sustain you, andâ¨that's not something that can establish you as an actor. So I was dying forâ¨the role that was not me, that was not anything remotely like me, so that Iâ¨could really show my skills, my talent, use it.â¨â¨GROSS: What's the closest you've come to a role that's not remotely like you?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: "Set It Off," Cleo.â¨â¨GROSS: Describe her character.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Cleo in "Set It Off." She was basically orphaned at a youngâ¨age. She had no one left, really, but her friends. Her friends were the mostâ¨important thing, you know, in her life to her. She would die for them. Sheâ¨was very strong, but real tender on the inside. She was a lesbian and in aâ¨monogamous relationship with someone, although she did like to flirt. Andâ¨that was basically--she just really cared--you know, she kind of cursed a lot.â¨She liked to drink, and, you know, she liked to smoke her cigarettes. She wasâ¨a little bit wild, but she was a very caring person. She really was reallyâ¨down for her friends, and that was, like, the bottom line, so...â¨â¨GROSS: Did you see a lot of homophobia surface after your performance?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: No. You know, I didn't. People had love for that character,â¨and that was what I really wanted to do. I wanted to make them really loveâ¨her. You know, that character was so great, and the script was so great forâ¨her, because she got to really go all out for her friends. You had to loveâ¨her. If you didn't care about her, then you needed to really examine your ownâ¨emotions and your own feelings, because anybody who basically would say,â¨`Look, you guys go, run,' and take the heat and knew she was going to take theâ¨heat, knew she was probably going to die and knew she was going to meet herâ¨end, you know, but sacrificed herself so that her friends could, you know, beâ¨free like that, that's a true, true, trooper. That's a true friend. And so Iâ¨figured that, you know, if you don't have love for this girl by the time thisâ¨movie is over, you're just twisted. So, I mean, basically, the--there's aâ¨scene in there where I kiss this girl.â¨â¨(Soundbite of kissing sound)â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: And I have yet to watch this scene, because I can't watch it,â¨you know, myself. I don't think I can just watch myself be intimate, period.â¨It wasn't the fact that she was a girl. But it was the fact that, just, I'mâ¨kissing somebody, you know, and I can't watch me do that, I don't think. Butâ¨it was kind of funny, because I went and saw the movie, like, eight times, youâ¨know, when it came out. And I would see it in regular theaters, like, creepâ¨in and just sit in the back of the theater with a regular audience and seeâ¨how they reacted. And every time that kissing scene came, people was like,â¨`Ah! Eww! Ooh!' You know, people--I mean, you could hear this big roar inâ¨the theater. But by the time the end of the movie came, they were, like,â¨cheering for the girls, like, cheering for us to, like, get away, to win, youâ¨know? So they couldn't remember, you know. It wasn't like their mind stayedâ¨focused on that one thing, you know, which was good for me.â¨â¨GROSS: So they're cheering or jeering, and you're turning your head from theâ¨screen at the same time, 'cause you don't want to watch yourself beingâ¨intimate?â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: Pretty much. Ew, ah! Pretty much, yeah.â¨â¨GROSS: Queen Latifah plays the prison matron, Mama, in the new film,â¨"Chicago."â¨â¨(Soundbite of music)â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Rapping) Dana Owens aka Queen Latifah. Yes, I'm here toâ¨testify. No, I gotta speak on my behalf. You don't even know what happened.â¨Can I just tell you what happened?â¨â¨Unidentified Back-up Vocalists: (Singing) He had it coming.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Rapping) He had it coming.â¨â¨Unidentified Back-up Vocalists: (Singing) He only had himself to blame. Ifâ¨you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, I think that you would have doneâ¨the same!â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Rapping) I mean, imagine--why was he hittin' this woman. Whyâ¨was she takin' that? Now picture her fightin' back. Think of the assâ¨kickin'. Think of his ass flippin' down the stairs and me at the top smilin'.â¨He should have stopped whilin'. Now could you picture me tryin' to finish himâ¨off? See why? Picture me on this side of the law. High heels leave holes.â¨You'd have thought I was gunned. Now the cops comin'. I ain't runnin'.â¨â¨Unidentified Back-up Vocalists: (Singing) He had it coming.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Rapping) Girl, you should have seen it. Sure did bob andâ¨weave before the cops come, got a couple of clean hits. ...(Unintelligible)â¨couldn't take the abuse, but I couldn't explain that to the state troops.â¨But you know, girl. Yeah, you go, girl, 'cause I look real cute in orangeâ¨jumpsuits. That's the story I'm tellin', and I ain't changing nothin'. Iâ¨just needed you to know, your honor.â¨â¨Unidentified Back-up Vocalists: (Singing) He had it coming.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Rapping) He had it comin'.â¨â¨Unidentified Back-up Vocalists: (Singing) He only had himself to blame. Ifâ¨you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, I think that you would have doneâ¨the same! He had it coming.â¨â¨Ms. LATIFAH: (Rapping) He had it comin'.â¨â¨Unidentified Back-up Vocalists: (Singing) He only had himself to blame.â¨â¨BOGAEV: Queen Latifah with Lil' Kim and Macy Gray from the soundtrack ofâ¨"Chicago."â¨â¨Next Tuesday, Terry Gross will talk about the making of "Chicago" with theâ¨film's director and choreographer, Rob Marshall, and also with Paul Bogaev,â¨who supervised and conducted the music. In the interest of full disclosure,â¨he's my brother.â¨â¨Coming up, David Edelstein reviews "The Pianist," the new film by Romanâ¨Polanski. This is FRESH AIRâ¨â¨* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *â¨â¨Review: Movie "The Pianist"â¨BARBARA BOGAEV, host:â¨â¨Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" is based on the life of Wladyslaw Szpilman. Heâ¨was a celebrated Warsaw pianist when the Nazis invaded Poland, and he survivedâ¨the war in Warsaw. "The Pianist" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Filmâ¨Festival and was chosen Best Picture of 2002 from the National Society of Filmâ¨Critics. It's favorite of critic David Edelstein's. Here's his review.â¨â¨DAVID EDELSTEIN:â¨â¨The first time we see the title character of "The Pianist," he's playing aâ¨Chopin "Nocturne" live on Polish radio when German bombs hit the Warsawâ¨station. It's 1939, and Wladyslaw Szpilman, played by Adrien Brody, isâ¨annoyed. He wants to finish. He keeps playing after the technicians haveâ¨fled until he's literally blown off his piano bench. And there, in those fewâ¨seconds, is the central tension in the movie. It's between the artist'sâ¨stubborn classical detachment and the violent contortions of the outsideâ¨world.â¨â¨As the Nazis round up and brutalize the Jews of Warsaw, "The Pianist" pushesâ¨that tension to the breaking point. The movie is grueling; for longâ¨stretches, wordless. Yet nothing in its nearly two and a half hours feelsâ¨unnecessarily prolonged.â¨â¨Roman Polanski and his screenwriter, the English playwright Ronald Harwood,â¨keep the scenes short and severe, framed by fade-outs and fade-ins like cruelâ¨blackout sketches. Not long after bickering about where to hide what littleâ¨money they have, Szpilman and his family watch from their apartment window asâ¨a wheelchair-bound old man in a building across the street is dumped off aâ¨balcony, then the rest of his family shot down and run over. The sequence,â¨with its helplessly restricted vantage, is like a circus of horrors viewed byâ¨someone frozen to a seat in fear. It's no wonder the Jews go collectivelyâ¨insane, that they even come to prey on one another.â¨â¨Szpilman's stature gives him an edge. He makes money playing in a ghettoâ¨cafe, where the Jewish beau monde tries to act as if nothing has changed. Andâ¨he has an offer to work for the collaborationist Jewish police. The offerâ¨sickens him, but it's the collaborator who made it, who pulls him out of theâ¨long procession that leads to the freight train to Treblinka, where the restâ¨of his family will perish. Szpilman is treated as a kind of preciousâ¨commodity. He's shuttled by a small network of artist friends from apartmentâ¨to apartment while he slowly wastes away from lack of food, human contact andâ¨music.â¨â¨"The Pianist" is classical in its rigor, but radical, I think, in the camera'sâ¨eerie distance from the central action. Through windows, from a fixedâ¨perspective, the pianist watches the Jews starved, shot and deported. Heâ¨watches the Polish resistance make a final stand. He watches the remainingâ¨inhabitants of the ghetto mount a rebellion that is crushed. History goes byâ¨while he peers out from his hiding place, sometimes pretending to play a pianoâ¨that, for fear of discovery, he can't actually touch.â¨â¨This is a major performance by Adrien Brody. Brody lost 30 pounds from hisâ¨already skinny frame. And, no, I don't think that torturing your body andâ¨mind and great acting go hand-in-hand, but in this case, you can feel as ifâ¨you're watching someone actually suffer and, in that suffering, hit notesâ¨you've never heard before.â¨â¨One of my colleagues has complained that the film doesn't tell you whatâ¨Szpilman learned from this experience. I'd say he learned that when peopleâ¨want to kill you, you hide, and if you're starving, you look for something toâ¨eat. I'd say that he learned that if the world is a circus of horrors, thenâ¨there's a kind of heroism in clinging to Chopin, because maybe, with your art,â¨you can still touch someone, even a Nazi someone, with a glimpse of a higherâ¨order.â¨â¨For those who believe that art should be a more radical force for change,â¨Polanski's validation of Szpilman's detachment might seem like a bourgeois orâ¨even sentimental notion, but there's no sentimentality in "The Pianist." It'sâ¨drenched in stoicism. The detachment of the artist is a force of nature inâ¨its own right, not a match for fascism. That would be sentimental, like theâ¨movie, "Life Is Beautiful," but more than just a palliative.â¨â¨Polanski has said that he could only tell his own story of escaping as a smallâ¨boy from the Krakow ghetto, where his mother died, through Szpilman's eyes.â¨That story is not so much in the movie's events, but in its tone. We can feelâ¨in "The Pianist" the source of the cruel stoicism in Polanski's other work,â¨even in his early films, before the senseless murder of his pregnant wife,â¨Sharon Tate. He had to deaden something in himself to survive. Yet an artistâ¨can't be deadened. And so the compromise is this rigorous detachment, whichâ¨allows him to show us, without flinching, the kind of horror and the kind ofâ¨heroism that other directors are afraid to go near.â¨â¨BOGAEV: David Edelstein, a film critic for the online magazine Slate.â¨â¨(Soundbite of music)â¨â¨(Credits)â¨â¨BOGAEV: For Terry Gross, I'm Barbara Bogaev.