Haunting and visceral realism

Rating: 8/10 (5 May 2004)

I had not seen Schindler's List in it's entirety for a few years. The last time that I viewed it I was a lot younger and couldn't really digest it's complexities to the full.
Of course I was able to appreciate the excellence of it's aethestics and formalities, but it was the great depth to the characters that confused me: when you are younger you view the world in as black and white a vision as this film itself, as everyone knows.
I was mesmerised by the performances of Liam "I'm Retired" Neeson and Ralph Fienes.
Even Neeson's occasionally shaky accent can't hinder the fact that in his character he has realised the ambiguity and hinted capitalist, turned ever so slowly into a humanist by what should have been apparent to him all along - namely the unmotivated slaughter of his workforce. His motivations change ever so convincingly from money to conscience and by the end of the picture the most moving moment belongs to him and not to the survivors of the terror.
Fienes is such a complex character it's untrue. Spielberg has shot the pair throughout the film as equals-and-not-quite oposites. They are frequently intercut going through the same actions and mostly in the same space on screen) shot with an equally spaced two-shot. This brotherhood means that Fienes is hard(er) to detest than you might think. At times he appears to take on board Schindler's advice and passificity. He doesn't really hate the Jewish people eiether - he's a massacist, a lover of violence and a generally nasty bloke who just needs an excuse to abuse and kill. At one point we see him distressed at a gun misfiring again and again - it is not the gun not working, but the fact that his resolve to kill is failing after the first click of the trigger that is distressing him, i feel. At heart he is a vulnerable coward.
The various acts of violence are perfectly integrated into the flow of the picture and therefore as unexpected and unmotivated as their real-life counterparts, unlike Polanski's 'Pianist' in which they were insulting setpieces.
Spielberg's film has a much greater feel of authenticity than Polanski's and is much more powerful. It is full of touches in which you can relate to and understand, moments the summarise the best (and worst) in human nature, whereas the Pianist will feel like just one big cliche of the holocaust, after viewing 'SL'.
This really is a powerful film, its just a pity that nobody seems to have learned from what it is based on.
8/10