Spielberg shows his incredible range, as one of the true greats comes to Blu-ray.

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2013)

Schindler's List is the kind of once-in-a-generation film that comes along and earns truly universal acclaim. The tale of Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi Party who saves well over one thousand Jews during the Holocaust through his cunning and selflessness, is a timeless exhibition of exactly why the very medium of filmmaking was invented. Approaching its 20th anniversary, Universal Sony has converted the original film into high-definition, allowing a new generation to experience its soaring story and visceral intensity.
Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a man who considers himself a businessman first and a Nazi second. In the throes of WWII, he sees opportunity in hiring Jewish POWs to work in his enamel factory. With the help of trustworthy accountant Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), he develops a godly reputation among the Jews despite originally being apathetic to their struggles. Naturally, his actions raise the curiosity of some high-ranking German officers, including the sadistic Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes).
The legacy of Schindler's List stands tall two decades after its theatrical release. The film took home seven Oscars at the 1994 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, while Neeson and Fiennes were bested in the Acting categories by Tom Hanks (Philadelphia) and Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) respectively. Today, Schindler and Goeth are considered arguably the finest moments of either man's distinguished career.
The Blu-ray conversion is virtually faultless at every turn. It is one thing to infuse a visual sense of wonder to a screen already populated by giant sharks, prehistoric beasts or cuddly other-worlders; it is quite another to invoke that same awe to a sombre tale filmed in monochrome, but that is precisely what has been achieved with this restoration. The update beautifully renders some of the most harrowing shots ever put to celluloid, including the massacre set to Bach and the first glimpse of Auschwitz; its steaming, monstrous pillars resembling a most ironic monolith of human evolution. The famous Girl in Red- for many, the emotive highlight of the film- is given new and ironic life through touched-up footage keeping her dress from fading into its surroundings, as was the case with the original negative.
For such a powerful piece of cinema, the mastery of Spielberg's direction is his ability to peel back as opposed to going for the jugular too early or too often. The film expertly traverses a near-impossible pitfall of melodrama. As he did with more contemporary histo-drama Lincoln, Spielberg's ability to blend the emotionally challenging and the humanistic is unmatched, in what remains not only his most personal project, but perhaps the most personal film of any A-list director ever.
The end result is still a depressing and, at times, highly disturbing piece of art, but one that concurrently remains an absorbing character study of the highest order. Schindler is not a wholeheartedly compassionate man; for him, it's all about the Benjamins- or in this case, the Reichsmarks- and he is offended- nay, enraged- that his workers would have the audacity to call his factory a 'haven', until his perspective on the war is forever changed. Likewise, Goeth, the man who kills Jews from his balcony with the same indifference as a man reading the morning paper, is the same one that secretly lusts after his Jewish maid.
Kingsley's Stern, then, just may be the most emotionally integral character, acting as the catalyst for Schindler's eventual change of heart while playing the role of the unshakeable moral compass and most accessible window for the audience into the lives of those persecuted.
It is this story of flawed good versus flawed evil that humanises these once mythical creatures. Appropriately, it isn't until the final half-hour that the immensity of their actions are realised in one of the most memorable, heartfelt endings of all time, in which Spielberg breaks every rule of conventional narrative filmmaking at once in order to pay his final respects.
The Blu-ray comes complete with a series of special features, including Voices from the List, a documentary featuring testimonies from some of the 'Schindler Jews' who survived the Holocaust, as well as a story on Spielberg's USC Shoah Foundation.
The intentions of Universal are salient here, as their features keep in line with the director's original intent to minimise publicity or self-servitude, to the point where he even refused payment for his work, citing 'blood money' as the deterrent. However, trivia buffs interested in some of the more allegorical tidbits of production (including the alleviation of on-set depression through Spielberg's screenings of Seinfeld and Robin Williams sketches, and the time a survivor trembled with terror at her first sight of Fiennes because he reminded her too much of the real Goeth) may be satiated by a 16-page companion booklet, featuring behind- the-scenes information on the incredible stories around an incredible composition.
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