Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. Szpilman was a pianist in Warsaw, Poland, whose music was known throughout the area from its exposure on the radio. As a Jew living in Nazi-occupied Poland, his life becomes a pattern of one restriction after another. This continues as he lives through the creation of the Warsaw ghetto and witnesses the infamous uprising. When the ghetto Jews are being liquidated and deported, including Szpilman’s family, he escapes and survives by hiding. He received no assistance, running from decrepit building to decrepit building, and witnesses firsthand the tragic state that Warsaw was left in from bombing and warfare. He spends his time alone, hiding without any family or friends. Szpilman struggles to survive, no matter what the cost.