Must-see War Drama. Informative, emotional and inspirational.

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2008)

I watched Schindler's List a week ago in U.S history class, and at first I thought "Oh great!. I'm watching a movie on the Holocaust in black and white. How can this actually make me learn any more about the Holocaust than I have in a textbook?" My teacher put the tape on, and the first hour was a boredom fest, but as the characters such as Stern and Schindler develop their personalities, the movie becomes inspiring and hooked. I then removed the "boredom fest" aspect of my thinking, and transformed it into "necessary story development/build-up" At first we think Schindler is heartless, but having a personality and morales, he experiences the death of Jews firsthand. Of course, seeing such mindless mass executions will boggle anyone's mind. Schindler, who happens to be rich off of the Jews in WW2, helps them. The first hour of the movie is devoted to making the last 2 hours as commiserable for the audience as possible- making us feel connected to Schindler's emotions. "What if we were in his shoes?" not only that, the movie is an excellent depiction of the Holocaust. Black-and-white does the film justice, as it gives the movie a "WW2 feel." If it were in complete color, it's effects would not have been as strong. Watch this movie if at all possible. Emotions cannot be depicted by learning about the Holocaust in a classroom- you are simply being educated about the facts. Schindler's List reinforces this classroom learning by supplying empathy with the facts. After reading about WW2, this is one of the few movies that are a must-see. The acting, directing and editing is marvelous. Only problem I had was the length of the movie.