What I didn't like about it

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2005)

Well I just saw this movie in 2005, 12 years after it came out, for the first time. I had expected much, much better. Things I didn't like.
1. The long sequence depicting the Jews getting hauled out of the Ghetto, as Schindler watches from a hill-top on horse-back for seemingly at least a half hour (in movie running-time). Totally took the movie off course, and steered it away from the story of Schindler and his factory, and turned it into a historical account of the Holocaust (with nothing to do with Schindler). This tries to do too much at once, and is one of the reasons the movie is too long. The movie should stick to being a movie about Schindler's Jews.
2. The Germans shooting bullets upwards through the ceiling in to the rooms above, shortly after their fellow Nazi soldiers had run upstairs to root out the Jews. Made no sense. Classic Spielberg goof up.
3. Schindler kissing Helen. This came out of nowhere. Why did he walk downstairs in Goeth's "villa"? Oh, right, to get the wine. Then he just randomly decides to have a long conversation with her? The conversation was long, as is implied to be actually longer than was shown, as we see a cut in the scene at one point, and when we return, Helen is in the middle of a story she is telling to Schindler. This whole scene made no sense, and it is supposed to be some kind of turning point for Schindler (now he's sympathetic to the Jews). Just after talking to Helen? 4. Goeth's instant "transformation" into Mr. Nice Guy after Schindler talks to him, and tells him that "real power" is forgiving people or whatever. Totally unrealistic and too fast a transformation. It makes you think that either Goeth is an idiot or Spielberg is an idiot. I think it's a bit of both.
I'm not sure why it has such a high rating. Perhaps because of the emotional feelings it can induce, and because it tells a story about a horrific historical event. It is a great story, Spielberg just didn't do a great job telling it. Roberto Benigni's, la Vita e Bella is just superb. Focuses very squarely on one story, and doesn't deviate.
I give the movie a 6/10