We live in an age of biopics, and musicians are an unusually common theme that dominates that genre. In recent years, we’ve seen biographical dramatizations of Elton John (“Rocket Man”), Elvis Presley (“Elvis”), and Amy Winehouse (“Back to Black”). As of this writing, the most recent entry to the musical biopic genre is “A Complete Unknown,” where Timothée Chalamet channels what can only be described as a “pretty good” iteration of Bob Dylan. The cascade of musically-infused biographies won’t slow down any time soon, either. We’ve got projects on Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Louis Armstrong, and The Beatles (among many others) on tap for the next few years.

The barrage of pop chart biopics begs the question, which one is the best? Is there a biopic of a musician that is considered better than all the rest? The answer, according to IMDb, is yes. In fact, there is one film that stands head and shoulders above all others in its genre. The film in question? “The Pianist.”

The tragic movie was released in 2002 and depicts the life, times, and wartime career trajectory of acclaimed Polish Jewish musician Władysław Szpilman as he navigates World War II and the Holocaust. It was directed by Roman Polanski and written by both Ronald Harwood and Szpilman himself. Adrian Brody portrays the main character on the screen, where he delivers a rip-your-heart-out performance that leaves you moved by the music and devastated by the story. As far as the “best” moniker is concerned, the movie doesn’t just make it onto IMDb’s top 250 movies of all time. It lands all the way up at #32 on the list. The ranking is based on the site’s crowd-sourced ratings system, which doesn’t factor in nuanced things like critic’s ratings or published reviews (as is the case with other sites like Rotten Tomatoes). It is purely a depiction of the mass appeal of each movie, and “The Pianist” maintains its crowdsourced acclaim on this prestigious list over two decades after its release.

While it technically counts as a musically-themed biopic, at its core, “The Pianist” has much bigger fish to fry. The story centers on the Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman throughout his early rise to fame against the backdrop of the simultaneous rise of Nazi Germany. Poland is invaded by the Third Reich in September 1939 (not long before Szpilman’s 28th birthday), and from that point on, the movie takes a very serious shift from the stage (or more accurately, the radio — Szpilman made his bread and butter over the audible airwaves) to survival.

As the Nazi armed forces occupy Poland and the Holocaust picks up in earnest, the protagonist’s story turns into a captivating one of harrowing danger and desperation. He is confined to the Warsaw Ghetto, hides for extended periods of time, and even survives the apocalyptic destruction of his city after the Warsaw Uprising.

While the music lies low for much of the movie, it remains a large part of what makes this one so powerful. Despite his tragic circumstances, Szpilman remains a musician at heart. The scene where he plays piano for a German officer, for instance, is filled with equal parts heart-rending sorrow and dramatic tension. The entire affair is dripping with drama, giving it an added dimension of seriousness that few other biopics can remotely hope to emulate. The fact that Szpilman survives the horrifying experience and then proceeds to live to be 88 (he died in 2000) even gives it a redemptive ending (albeit a sobering one).

The natural next question is, well, what other musical biopics are considered all-time classics? The answer, unfortunately, is not many. Few top-shelf films in that genre have managed to reach the list at all. “Amadeus” is 73rd. After that, you’ve got to bend the rules to even find anything else remotely like a musician biopic. (You could technically say that “The Sound of Music,” which is 235th, is about a family of musicians, but again, that’s stretching it.)

There are other common themes, though, that run in the same vein as “The Pianist.” One of these is “Saving Private Ryan,” which comes in at 24th and also takes place in a World War 2 setting. The Holocaust also features heavily toward the top of the list, with “Life Is Beautiful” ranking 27th and “Schindler’s List” coming in all the way at 7th.

Not far behind “The Pianist” is the Studio Ghibli emotional wrecking ball “Grave of the Fireflies,” a film that takes place in wartime Japan and was part of the studio’s own Barbenheimer-level event. Right after Szpilman’s biopic, we even get “Gladiator” at 33rd, which is another story about a protagonist facing catastrophic misfortune. There’s a frequent pattern there. The relatively happy ending of Szpilman’s stunning misfortune even mirrors number one on the list: “Shawshank Redemption,” which highlights innocent suffering, the endurance of the human will, and ultimately, survival and healing. The connections are comforting. In a world where empty action-hero flicks are commonplace, and reality television is king, it’s good to know that the entertainment experiences that rank highest — be they biopics, fiction, or anything else — are still those with an exceptional story to tell.