LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 12 December 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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M. S. Thirumalai
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The Treatment of Historical Element in The Pianist and The Chess Players

Muhammad Kamal Khan, Ph.D. Scholar

Abstract

The present article analyzes the treatment of historical element in two movies, The Pianist and The Chess Players. It looks at the various ways through which historical authenticity has been allotted to these films. The study evaluates these films as historical evidences, like with the help of setting, costumes, objects and the use of colors etc., and how these fictionalized historical films have the ideological function and serving up the respective national history of the collective past. A subsequent discussion addresses the philosophical point of view regarding the depiction of history. Finally it further explores that how such films show and achieve the authenticity and that what are the films' strengths and weaknesses as a historical record.

1. Introduction

The objective of this article is to analyze the treatment of historical element in the movie The Pianist (hereafter Pianist) dir. Roman Polanski (France 2002) and The Chess Players (hereafter Chess) dir. Satyajit Ray (India 1977). The main focus of the study is on the Oscar-winning movie- Pianist while the second movie, Chess has been used for the comparison with the former. We shall be looking mainly at the following questions:

1. How these movies are made to carry authenticity regarding the historical events presented through them?
2. How fiction and history have been mixed up in order to represent the record of everyday life and great events side by side.

The choice of these movies for the analysis of historical element was made because Pianist and Chess both are strongly related to the histories of their respective regions and, therefore both are of great importance. Pianist, apart from other awards and nominations, has won three Oscars and is regarded among the best historical films of World War- II. Similarly Chess is also award-winning movie based on an important event from the Nineteenth century by a well known Indian film director Satyajit Ray. Moreover there is a sort of similarity regarding the treatment of historical element in both the movies, Pianist and Chess, as both are dealing with great events at one hand and socio-cultural aspects of every day life on the other. World War II is the great event which is represented in Pianist as the documentary while the fall of Avadh, a state in Northern India to East India Company is the center of interest in Chess.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Muhammad Kamal Khan, Ph.D. Scholar (Newcastle, UK)
Chairman
Department of English Language & Literature
SBBU, Dir (U) KPK
Pakistan
mkkamazai@hotmail.com
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