Resilience. The heart of a young boy who wants to pursue his dreams by honing and learning his craft to achieve what he wants to do in his life. That’s the main focus in this beautifully shot short film called ‘The Pianist’, directed by Kaia Hathaway.
The title needs no explanation to what the story really is about. But for those who have to watch it, let’s dive deeper into the boyhood dream of becoming a Pianist. The story is set up in a back alley with a bright young kid with glasses and his backpack encounters a few bullies for his bookish look and without any provoking from the boy himself. He gets shoved to the ground and his books ruined and is left with the pile of trash, possibility as a symbol to what the bullies perceived of him.
Even though the boy was bullied, he did not seem phased by them. His mental toughness got him to dust off, stand up, and just accept that it happened. He then encounters an abandoned piano that was placed in the same area where he was around. The discovery was like a metaphor to one man’s trash could be one man’s treasure. The treasure in this case is his destiny and purpose to play the piano.
The scene of the boy looking to try out the piano suddenly gave him something to focus his positive energy on. The moment he hit his first few keys have grown organically for him to want to learn more about the piano. We would see shots day by day where he would work hard to earn some cash and get piano sheet music and books where he can be self-taught of the skill he was destined to do. The idea that the piano could not be brought home and left in the same alleyway was a sign for him to continue his craft at that location.
What comes after is seeing how certain roadblocks would get in the way of his life. For example, it appears he has a divorced father who is not supportive of his arts and even goes to scrunch up his sheet music and tossing a football to him to indicate he should be playing sports. He was short on money to buy the music textbooks, so he would do grunt work like taking out the trash just to get enough money. The father scene was about discouragement and lack of support. The second scene is working hard to earn something he wants.
No matter the case, he still has someone important in his life that will support him. That special someone is his mother. While she may not be shown in the film, a note was all it took to remind him of who he is and that he can fight for his dreams if he really wants it. The heart of a mother is more than enough of support and serves as a great reminder that even though there are people around him whom he may or may not know could discourage him for how he looks or for what he does in his life, these are the kind of people who project their own securities onto him. The young boy’s resilience show that he can drown out the noise and continue on the journey, because if his mother can show support to him, there’s bound to be others out there that will show the same support when he’s made it.
The willpower to continue pursuing his path is a great reminder for the audience to find a purpose in their life that brings joy and happiness in them. The key to living a full life is to know that ten years from now, you can look back and know that you made the right choice in the path you wanted to take. There are a lot of people out there who may not be as fortunate enough due to many reasons that supposedly prevents them from doing what they love. There goes a saying that one who really want to do something will find a way. Those who do not, will find an excuse.
The moral of the story of The Pianist is, the young boy never found an excuse to stop. With his hard work paid off and the people recognizing his talents from all his piano training, he has become an inspiration to others. And with no dialogue needed, ‘The Pianist’ is poetry in motion in delivering that beautiful message.