Has many flaws

Rating: 7/10 (30 April 2016)

The most moving parts of the film are at the very start, when the candle is snuffed out in an Orthodox Jewish family, and the very end, when real life 'Schindler Jews' place stones on Schindler's grave in Israel. I found the last scene In the actual movie, of workers solemnly presenting Schindler with the ring they made for him, comes across as terribly schmaltzy and fake. Just the way it's lit, set-up, scripted and the music. It almost ruined the movie for me. Spielberg can't help himself when it comes to schmaltz. He needs someone to stop him!! I also am not a fan of the way Ben Kingsley's character, Itzhak Stern, is written. The humour of him scheming and pestering Schindler is laid on with a trowel -- I guess the writers felt they needed some light relief, but I found it annoying and contrived. The film does have some outstanding scenes. Such as when Schindler and his mistress witness the liquidation of the ghetto; the depictions of camp commandant Amon Goeth's normal family home compared to the squalor of the concentration camp; the Jewish architect arguing with the German guards over poor construction of the barracks; Schindler concocting a story about kids' tiny hands needed for armament manufacture; and the rabbi who isn't shot after several of the Nazi guard's guns don't work. The movie is paced very well, and the locations and cinematography are excellent. Perhaps most importantly, Schindler's List could be a source for education about the Holocaust, and also, to its credit, it doesn't depict Oskar Schindler as a saint. He profited from cheap labour and cheated on his wife. But he did save over 1000 Jewish lives, at risk of his own life.